 |
| A delicious (and nutritious, I´m sure) chocolate milk |
 |
| Bragado from the 10th floor of ´The Tower´ |
 |
| Mighty Missionary! |
 |
| More rain in Bragado |
 |
| Another mighty missionary? |
 |
| Oreo night! |
 |
| My companion´s morning ´exercises´
(not really... they´re usually a little more effective)
|
 |
| The ´time to clean the pench´ shirt |
Dear Family,
Hi! It´s been a quite a week here! Last week, Elder Correa and I were
walking around in campo when we got a call on our phone. It was Elder
Douglass, one of the assistants. Huh? Why would Elder Douglass be
calling? He asked me to pass the phone over to Elder Correa. Elder
Correa listened for a few seconds, then said, ´Yes. Sure. All right.
9:00. Okay, thanks. Bye.´ He then turned to me and said ´Well, I guess
I´ve got to go start packing my things.´ At the time, we had no idea
why Elder Correa was being transferred, nor why it was happening two
weeks before the end of the transfer. But as it turned out, he was
needed in one of the other areas in campo, to fill a gap made my a
change of organization. (Our zone leaders have now become ´traveling´
zone leaders - they will be spending weeks at a time in each of our
other areas in order to train us and help us in our work.) He was sad
to be leaving Bragado, but relieved not to be leaving campo.
I was a little more anxious, as one seems to always be before big
changes happen. In the past, Elder Correa has always been there to
´save´ me if I was having trouble communicating with someone, and it
was usually him who was the bolder one in lessons, directing the
lesson and answering the hard questions and that kind of thing. He
just did it naturally, because of his facility with the language and
because that´s how he is. I suppose I´d been guilty of leaning on him
a little too much to guide the area.
But suddenly, leaning on him is no longer an option - I am suddenly
the one who must lead and direct the area - the lessons, the plans. I
am the one who needs to be bold and challenge people to baptism. It´s
like I´ve been pushed into the deep end of the swimming pool, for the
first time without a flotation device, and now I have to sink or swim.
And, know what? It turns out I swim! As I´ve been taking charge of
situations and really leading the area for the first time, I´ve been
blessed to experience much success, and to find out that I can do it!
I´ve found out I can talk to people more than what I thought I could.
I can take control of lessons, I can answer hard questions, and I can
issue baptismal challenges. I´ve found abilities, and confidence, that
I didn´t know I had. I think that this was what I needed to start
realizing more my potential. More evidence that God knows what each of
us need to realize and reach our potential. (And I know that it´s not
just me - I´ve really felt His Spirit in me, directing me, helping me
know what to say, and to helping me to say it boldly and with
confidence.)
My new companion is Elder Wells, from California. We entered the MTC
on the same day. And, know what´s cool? Before getting his visa to be
able to come to Argentina, he served a temporary assignment in, guess
where? The Arizona Tucson mission! Wow! Surprise! So I got to see the
mission notebook that President Killpack gives to the missionaries
there, and photos of some familiar-looking areas. Did you know that
that little office they built on the side of the chapel is the office
for the whole Arizona Tucson mission? I had no idea, but that´s the
case. Kind of cool.
Hi! It´s been a quite a week here! Last week, Elder Correa and I were
walking around in campo when we got a call on our phone. It was Elder
Douglass, one of the assistants. Huh? Why would Elder Douglass be
calling? He asked me to pass the phone over to Elder Correa. Elder
Correa listened for a few seconds, then said, ´Yes. Sure. All right.
9:00. Okay, thanks. Bye.´ He then turned to me and said ´Well, I guess
I´ve got to go start packing my things.´ At the time, we had no idea
why Elder Correa was being transferred, nor why it was happening two
weeks before the end of the transfer. But as it turned out, he was
needed in one of the other areas in campo, to fill a gap made my a
change of organization. (Our zone leaders have now become ´traveling´
zone leaders - they will be spending weeks at a time in each of our
other areas in order to train us and help us in our work.) He was sad
to be leaving Bragado, but relieved not to be leaving campo.
I was a little more anxious, as one seems to always be before big
changes happen. In the past, Elder Correa has always been there to
´save´ me if I was having trouble communicating with someone, and it
was usually him who was the bolder one in lessons, directing the
lesson and answering the hard questions and that kind of thing. He
just did it naturally, because of his facility with the language and
because that´s how he is. I suppose I´d been guilty of leaning on him
a little too much to guide the area.
But suddenly, leaning on him is no longer an option - I am suddenly
the one who must lead and direct the area - the lessons, the plans. I
am the one who needs to be bold and challenge people to baptism. It´s
like I´ve been pushed into the deep end of the swimming pool, for the
first time without a flotation device, and now I have to sink or swim.
And, know what? It turns out I swim! As I´ve been taking charge of
situations and really leading the area for the first time, I´ve been
blessed to experience much success, and to find out that I can do it!
I´ve found out I can talk to people more than what I thought I could.
I can take control of lessons, I can answer hard questions, and I can
issue baptismal challenges. I´ve found abilities, and confidence, that
I didn´t know I had. I think that this was what I needed to start
realizing more my potential. More evidence that God knows what each of
us need to realize and reach our potential. (And I know that it´s not
just me - I´ve really felt His Spirit in me, directing me, helping me
know what to say, and to helping me to say it boldly and with
confidence.)
My new companion is Elder Wells, from California. We entered the MTC
on the same day. And, know what´s cool? Before getting his visa to be
able to come to Argentina, he served a temporary assignment in, guess
where? The Arizona Tucson mission! Wow! Surprise! So I got to see the
mission notebook that President Killpack gives to the missionaries
there, and photos of some familiar-looking areas. Did you know that
that little office they built on the side of the chapel is the office
for the whole Arizona Tucson mission? I had no idea, but that´s the
case. Kind of cool.
Elder Andrew Stockton
No comments:
Post a Comment