Elder Andrew Stockton: Latest News

FYI: Andrew's comments in black ... Sally's commentary in green.

Wow, another week already. Let´s see, what happened this week?

An old man thought that I was an Argentine. That made me feel pretty good about my language abilities, until the next lady who we talked to told us that she knew we were North Americans because of our accents.

Andrew & his companion have been teaching a couple who got married last week.

Marcelo & Teresa got married! Weddings here don´t seem to have the same sentimental feelings that they have in the U.S. You just dress up (or not, depending on how important you think it is), show up at a building that looks a little like the DMV, fill out some paperwork, and then head into a side room for the ceremony. The ceremony consists of more paperwork, signing your name, and giving each other rings. Wow! They had a better ceremony at the Church later, but we couldn´t go to it because we had another appointment.

They also have been teaching a woman who accepted the challenge to read the Book of Mormon. She believed it was true scripture, but didn't think there was anything else to be done. Andrew and his companion didn't quite know how to proceed. They wanted her to realize the significance of her feelings, but didn't want to scare her away.

And that´s when the right thing to say just came into my mind - something like, ´So, you feel that the Book of Mormon is true because when you read it you feel the same as you do when you read the Bible. Will you take the next step and come to Church with us to see if you feel the same good feelings there?´ And, we talked a little more about how she will be able to recognize the true Church of God by the things she feels. She agreed to come to Church. I think her conversion will come a step at a time. But what I said to her was exactly the right way to approach the situation! It wasn´t me! I had no idea what to say. It was the Spirit giving me what to say in the moment that I needed it. And that was great. I felt so good after that. My greatest desire for my mission is for me to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord, and I feel like that happened.

More on life as a missionary . . .

For several days I thought I was hearing gunshots outside our apartment. Then I realized that the noise I had been hearing comes from these giant, heavy pinecones falling from the high up in the tree across the street and exploding on the sidewalk. (The one pictured fell from lower down and didn´t blow up.) I would hate to be standing underneath when one of those fell. (Fortunately you can hear the sound of it breaking off the tree for a second or two beforehand -- kind of a ´fire swamp´ experience.)

The seeds from the pinecone. Could they be edible?

(Guess Andrew's never heard of pinenuts!)

I think Andrew wanted to make sure we knew he and Elder Berglund were working hard, so he sent these pictures.

(Do I see an attention-enhancing package of Oreos in Andrew's hand? :) )

Apparently, though, it is not all hard work . . .

Meh-eh-eh-eh-eh

And, let´s see... we just got back from a trip to the zoo! It was pretty fun. Actually, it´s pretty much like zoos back at home, just not as well kept-up, and you can go in and touch the animals here. (All the animals! My companion kissed a bear.)

Too close for comfort?

At the zoo in Luján you get very up-close to the animals. It´s one of the big attractions of the zoo. I didn't, though --- I was thinking about the missionary who got mauled by a tiger fairly recently.