May 12, 2013
Ah, Happy Day! We all enjoyed our Mother's Day phone call from Andrew! It was so great to hear his voice, and feel his enthusiasm for the work he is doing. He loves the Savior, and loves sharing the gospel with those who are seeking a spiritual change.
May 13, 2013Dear Family,
Nice to hear your voices yesterday! Can you believe that was my last phone call home? Time´s going quicker and quicker... I´ve got to take advantage of these last few months!
Well, most of what´s been happening lately, I told you yesterday. We had a really good church meeting yesterday. The bus ride there was fun, too - we were seated with Y and her 3 kids. Then some members got on the bus as well. A few stops later, K and her daughter got on the bus, and we all rode together to church. That was nice!
We first took the kids to Primary, where they walked right in with no fear and sat down with the other kids. Then we took Y to Relief Society and left her in the care of the sisters. They had a lesson about the family, which apparently was just what Y and K needed.
And I already told you about Gospel Principles - how it evolved into a testimony meeting by recent converts and investigators, and they just shared and strengthened each other.
After the meeting, when we asked Y how she liked church, she told us, ´To tell the truth I loved it.´ She also commented that she would be coming next week, and she wanted to bring her husband, and also she would like for her children to come to Piano/English class. So, all around, a good day of church! It´s great to see that the ward is getting better, too - they´re reaching out more to the investigators and recent converts, and everyone feels more comfortable.
It was fun to hear that K, although tempted, has had nothing of coffee since they committed to live the Word of Wisdom. Hurrah!
There´s another investigator that we found a while ago by offering to help him move a ton of bricks into his yard, who we finally got to teach again this week. His name is O, and he also wants to be a good father for his kids and to raise them in a good environment. He accepted the message of the Restoration of the Gospel as something that makes sense, and committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We asked him whether he would be willing to continue in the Church if he felt like this was God´s path for him, and he said, ´Of course! If I feel like that´s what God wants for me and my family, of course I´ll do it.´ Preach My Gospel says that people with that desire won´t take long before they feel the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the Gospel. I love working with families! It´s too bad that so often the desire only comes from one of the parents.
We had a Family Home Evening with A´s parents and their whole family last night, previous to my phone call. It went well - the dad is a musician, so we played around a bit on their various musical instruments first. Then we had the lesson and invited them to start praying as a family. It will be really great if we can have the whole family in the Church.
That´s all I´ve got for today! I love you a lot and I´m glad to read your letters. Send photos when you can! Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Stockton
May 20, 2013
Dear Family,
Well, I think this must have been the quickest week ever. It seems like just a couple days ago that I was talking to you over the phone!
It´s been a good week.
Recently President Carter has implemented a change what activities are measured and reported, encouraging us to work more with the members in order to have more and better investigators. So these last few weeks, we missionaries have been struggling to adapt to this new style of work. This last week, Elder Lee and I put forth extra effort to plan and carry out our plans, and saw a lot of good results. Unfortunately, we didn´t achieve the results we hoped for, but I won´t get down about that. Results will come with time if we keep working diligently, putting forth all of our effort.
We found a great new family this week - a mom with two kids, one who moved here recently from Paraguay and is having a hard time making friends, and a 6-year-old who is in a wheelchair and also needs friends. She is looking for spiritual peace and also a place where her children can make good friends. She likes what we've shared of the Gospel so far.
We had a follow-up visit with Y this week to see how she liked church, and she commented, ´Everything I want for myself, my marriage, and my kids is all there: a good environment for my kids to grow, family unity...´ She´s a really excellent mother, and she´ll make a great addition to the ward. She sent her 11-year-old son L (who is a stud) to the church to learn piano on Friday. He learns quick! She´ll have a piano player in her family if he can find a way to practice.
The B family (A´s family) gave us a scare this week. Hna B (the grandma) and her husband and daughter were taking their son J to the hospital - he has asthma and had stopped breathing - and their taxi crashed. It sounds like Hermana B fractured her shoulder and S (her daughter) banged up her knees, but that everyone else was okay. We´re grateful it wasn´t worse than it was. Accidents are scary. Your prayers for the family would be appreciated!
Before that, A´s parents had started praying every day as a family, as we had invited them to in the FHE. That´s great! But since the accident we haven´t been able to get in contact with them.
One night this week I woke up at 2:00AM coughing and spitting up phlegm, not feeling very good. I prayed and asked God to make me better so that I could be ready to work in the morning. After a while, I feel asleep again, and when I woke up the next morning I felt fine. I think missionaries get extra help sometimes, because we´re in such an important work. I´m grateful for it!
Oh, another success this week was that H came to church! H and his partner N have been passing through some rough times in their relationship, and H realized that he by himself can´t solve the problem. He made the decision to come to church to show God he wanted help, and followed through - he beat us to church! We were happy about that, because we needed to see some more action on his part for us to continue visiting him. We´re praying that he and N can resolve their problems, because they have a lot of potential as a family.
Well, I think that´s it for today. Thanks for your letters; it´s great to hear from you! Enjoy the warm weather! I love you all so much.
Elder Stockton
May 27, 2013
Dear Family,
Well, hello! Reading your letters, I felt a little like I was with you and the Harrises, visiting, eating, taking a walk and chatting together. Fun times! I´m sure we´ll do it again in some future. Maybe when Jacob is on his mission! Man. Time flies! Say hello to the Harrises for me.
This week has been a long one, with some definite high points.
We had interviews with President Carter on Thursday. Interviews are always good. I love them because President Carter is just inspired. He guides me and helps me to know how to improve, lets me know what is expected of me and tells me I can do it. This interview, the main theme was that the Lord wants me to become more of a leader and really guide the work in the way it should go. He gave me some really good tips to know how to have success, not just in missionary work but with everything in life. He told me that these last 6 months of my mission are my time to cement for my future life a better me. I remember that Dad, and Nathan, mentioned the same thing to me - the last 6 months can be the best time of the mission. I want to leave it all on ´the field.´
President also hinted to me that I most likely wouldn´t be in Jardines for much longer.
I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting, again. This time the theme was Missionary Work! Woohoo! What an awesome topic! The goal of my talk was that the members realize that their efforts to share the Gospel will really change the lives of their friends and family. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE in the life of someone who really needs help. I also tried to help them realize that their efforts in sharing the Gospel don´t have to be forced or unnatural - they can find many ways to naturally share the Gospel while simply being a friend. As a part of the talk, I read the story you emailed to me about the conversion of [the new members in your ward]. (In Spanish, of course... Elder de Leon helped me be looking over my rough translation and correcting a few errors.) I think the talk went well. It´s a great story, though! Thanks for sharing it. How are they doing?
Elder Lee bought a pull up bar for the apartment! Say hello to an improved exercise routine!
We saw the B family last night. Hermana B is healing, but they´re all still a little shaken up and sad. We were able to help raise their spirits a little bit, and share a message about how the Lord ´visits (His) people in their afflictions.´
VH is now our Ward Mission Leader! We´re training him and teaching him how to do it. It will be a good calling for him to have while he´s waiting to turn in his mission papers. I told President about it, and this is what he told me: ´If you can train V to be a good ward mission leader, you will bless the lives of countless people in Jardines. ... Will you do that?´ What else can you say, but, ´Yes, President, I will´? We´re looking forward to working closely with V in the work.
While we were visiting with a family last week, they asked us to deliver a Book of Mormon they had promised to one of the mom´s former students, named L. We found the house later and delivered the book, and asked if they would let us come in to explain more what it is. They did, we passed inside and taught the boy and his parents about the Book of Mormon, and about how the Gospel blesses families. They seem promising! Those are some fruits of member-missionary work!
That´s all I´ve got for today. Have a fantastic week! Enjoy your summer vacation, Jacob! Learn a new skill! :-)
Take care! All my love is with you!
Elder Stockton
