Hello from Villa Amelia!

My calendar!
Apparently I have already finished a good chunk of my mission. 

I´ve been transferred to an area called Villa Amelia, which is in the zone of Castelar. My new companion is a Latino, which brings new challenges and new advantages. (The main challenge being that I have to speak in Spanish all the time, and the main advantage being that I have to speak in Spanish all the time. ;-) ) My companion´s name is Elder Emerson Carazas. He is from Kuzko, Peru -- from Machu Picchu! He showed me a lot of cool pictures of Machu Picchu that he took with his family. He tells me that Kuzko is rich in cultural history. It would be fun to go there someday and experience some of it! He´s nice, and he´s funny, and he likes to keep the pension clean, which I think is just awesome.

There are some challenges that come with a new companion, however: Mainly, that everything about him is so different from what I am used to! His way of talking to people is different, his way of doing street contacts is different, his approach to teaching ... everything is so different from what I´m used to. I know I´m supposed to learn from every companion, and there are good things I can pick up from him. (For example, how to be bold in beginning to teach people.) I can see that he succeeds in situations in which Elder Berglund and I didn´t. 

Elder Carazas, my new companion. And me.

So, a little about the ward! It´s a unique one. The Villa Amelia ward purportedly has around 700 members, roughly 80 of which are active. It seems like there are a lot of reactivation efforts that need to be made here! We´ll do what we can.


We went to Stake Conference last week! And so you know, Dad, the boil-a-frog analogy even exists in Argentina. I think it must be Church doctrine. ;-) Are you sure it´s not in a manual somewhere?


A few days ago, we were out contacting. Up until that day, my companion had been doing all of the contacts. (Just because he was used to it, and I was feeling inferior because he speaks Spanish so much better.) I knew that I needed to help, too, though. I finally worked up my courage and contacted a family... who listened to us and said they would like to hear more of the message. :-) We´ll see what happens! Every day I´m trying to overcome my fear and become the missionary God wants me to be.


A week later ...

I´m happy to say that Elder Carazas and I have become friends. I´m not sure how it happened, but suddenly, we were friends and opening up to each other more. I´ve also come to realize that his way of doing missionary work, although very different from mine, is equally effective. Elder Carazas´ style of teaching reaches different types of people than Elder Berglund´s and mine. Where one method of teaching works with a person, the other would fail, and vice versa.

This last week, we found a great family who we are currently teaching. They were a reference from a member. (Of course! I´ve realized since going on a mission that that´s the most effective way to find people to teach.) The family consists of a single mom with 7 children, 4 of whom we are teaching. The mom wants to find the ´right church´, but has a lot of doubts concerning prophets and new books of scripture in these days. Elder Carazas impressed me with how he used scriptures from the Bible to ease her doubts. She is reading the Book of Mormon now. The three younger children are more receptive. (Two of them came to church yesterday and loved it.) 

It´s incredible and sad how many single moms there are here. Most of the families that we teach do not have a father in the home. (Including the 4 families we are working with now.) It really, really makes me thankful for the incredible blessing of having a whole, complete, and functional family.

A lot of investigators came to church yesterday, including one who we weren´t expecting! (We invited her and she said ´Ah, vamos a ver´, which translates to ´we´ll see´ but frequently means ´no´.) She arrived during Sunday school with her toddler child, and immediately started participating - asking and answering questions. It was great! She stayed for Sacrament Meeting, even though she didn´t want to at first. (I think she liked the Sunday School class.) Her child was very noisy and very active during Sacrament Meeting, so much that I was afraid one of the ward members was going to say something unkind to her. But thankfully, no one did. :-) And our investigator seems to have gotten something out of the meeting notwithstanding the distractions.

Fun stuff:

High Priest in Spanish translates to Sumo Sacerdote, Sumo for short. So the ward members occasionally talk about calling the sumos to help teach.

A kid told me I look like the blond kid from Meet the Robinsons. Another family told me I look like Harry Potter, but blond. 

Harry?  or Lewis?

The members still feed us too much.

I can get 30 eggs for about $2.50! Guess what I eat for breakfast? (That, plus oatmeal.) Also, cake. Because Elder Carazas makes cake every P-day. Don´t worry, Mom! I´m still brushing my teeth. 

Milk comes in a bag

His lunch vs my lunch. :-)
(Of course, I ate cake for breakfast this morning, so I can´t really say anything.) 

I fell in love with my new apartment because this cup was there. 

It makes eating oatmeal 10 times more epic.

Love,
Elder Stockton

Our rather disappointing e-mail to open on Monday ...

Sorry, I guess it will have to be a quickie today - the guy who runs the internet wants to close for the siesta.

Oh, rats. He´s closing... right now. Er, hmm. I hopefully can write later! Love you all!



But thankfully another email was waiting for us the next day!

April Fools! I was cut off yesterday before I could finish reading and writing! Fortunately, the Assistants gave me permission to write off a quick email today. As always, it´s fantastic to hear from you! Give Grandma Greenwood, also the rest of our family, my warm regards! 

At a District Meeting. Beautiful church building, isn't it?

Elder Bower -- meeting up with a friend made in the MTC

General Conference, from what I heard of it, was fantastic! We weren´t able to watch the Saturday sessions, except for Priesthood session, but I hope to read and listen to those talks soon. And, on Sunday, two of the talks were ´just for me´. I felt the Spirit during General Conference. I felt uplifted and happy . . . and that it´s all about spreading happiness. The disappointing thing was that of our 2 families, 2 single investigators, and various less-active members that were going to come to Conference, only 2 less-active members came. (And we are very happy for them. :) ) I expect that the others weren´t there in time to catch the bus to the Castelar Stake Center.

Speaking of spreading happiness, have you ever read all of the verses to Scatter Sunshine? (View and/or listen here) I´m discovering that hymns are an excellent way to feel the Spirit and to encourage myself to do better. I´ve started memorizing hymns as we walk to far-away appointments. President Monson said, ´If you love the Lord, if you love His doctrine, you´ll love the hymns. And when you love them, you sing them!´

And, last week was a good week. Here´s a journal entry from last week.
´We went to the house of Mirian to teach the Restoration retention lesson to her recently-baptized children. Upon arriving at the house, we found all 5 of the children running around outside, playing together. They were all laughing and screaming and having fun. We went inside and taught the lesson. They were excited and participated. The 4-year-old wanted to say the closing prayer, and did so with help from her mom. The thing I loved so much about the whole thing was that everyone was so HAPPY. I think it was the happiest gathering I have ever seen, and I loved to be there. I loved to be a part of it. Another great thing: The kids have been reading in the Book of Mormon! Although they are young, they are reading! And excited about it! I know that the Lord is blessing them as a result of their faithfulness. I would like to always be happy like I was with them. Afterward, we were walking down the dirt road to our next appointment. The air was cold, but my heart felt warm. I felt love. This is what the Gospel brings to families, and to individuals.´

Some ´joy in the vineyard´. :-)


All my love,
Elder Andrew Stockton