As always, I loved reading your letters. I´m sitting here in a cyber right now, next to my comp. It´s raining outside, and the Argentine radio station is playing American music. I will probably buy us an alfajor on the way out.
We had a great week! The ´traveling zone leaders´ came to visit us for a couple days this week. The idea is this: these zone leaders spend weeks at a time working with the Elders in their areas - fortifying the area, meeting the investigators and the members, and helping out with every aspect of the work. Well, this week was our turn. But, because of transfers, they had to cut it short, so we only got 2 days with the zone leaders instead of a week. But still, we did a fair amount of work. During those 2 days, we found 12 new investigators and got 63 names of people to return to. (Most of those will fall, but still - that´s a lot of people who said we come back to teach them!) And, more than that, I learned some things about how to work better: If you expect to succeed, you are a lot more likely to succeed. Low expectations are a self-fulfilling prophecy, and, if you want to have good results, make good plans. (Makes sense.)
The trick is keeping up the success after the zone leaders are gone, but we´re doing pretty well with that. We did find 7 more new investigators together without the zone leaders. We´re getting a lot better at telling people who we are and what we do -- and why it´s important to them.
There´s a missionary-related quote that´s been coming to my mind recently: ´You cannot convert someone past the level of your own conversion.´ I´m starting to understand that principle.
We had a great week! The ´traveling zone leaders´ came to visit us for a couple days this week. The idea is this: these zone leaders spend weeks at a time working with the Elders in their areas - fortifying the area, meeting the investigators and the members, and helping out with every aspect of the work. Well, this week was our turn. But, because of transfers, they had to cut it short, so we only got 2 days with the zone leaders instead of a week. But still, we did a fair amount of work. During those 2 days, we found 12 new investigators and got 63 names of people to return to. (Most of those will fall, but still - that´s a lot of people who said we come back to teach them!) And, more than that, I learned some things about how to work better: If you expect to succeed, you are a lot more likely to succeed. Low expectations are a self-fulfilling prophecy, and, if you want to have good results, make good plans. (Makes sense.)
The trick is keeping up the success after the zone leaders are gone, but we´re doing pretty well with that. We did find 7 more new investigators together without the zone leaders. We´re getting a lot better at telling people who we are and what we do -- and why it´s important to them.
There´s a missionary-related quote that´s been coming to my mind recently: ´You cannot convert someone past the level of your own conversion.´ I´m starting to understand that principle.
When an investigator decides to stop investigating, you have to find out why. You have to get past the superficial and really try to convince them to open their minds to a new idea. And to be able to do that, you have to enter into a discussion that really tests your own testimony and conversion to the truth. It forces you to ask yourself, Do I really know this is true? If God told me that my current set of beliefs was wrong, would I have the courage to follow that answer? Because really, that´s what we´re asking people to do: to accept the possibility that you might be wrong in order to really find the truth. I think that part of asking God with ´real intent´ to help you find the truth means that you´ll follow the answer that He gives, even if it´s an answer you don´t want. It takes courage. You have to really be looking for the truth, not the answer you want to hear.
I´m getting a lot better at recognizing the voice of the Spirit. Several times this week, I was prompted to stop what we were doing and contact a person, and the person was good and let us teach them. The tricky thing is, it´s not a clear voice that says to me, ´Go back and contact that guy.´ It´s just an impression - very easy to ignore, because we´re on bikes and that would be our of our way. Sometimes it´s easy to follow a prompting, sometimes it´s harder... but every time I follow a prompting, we have results! And then I feel good because I followed the Spirit. So, that´s fun!
My companion and I bought ingredients to make burritos! Mmm, mmm! They´re going to be good. Though, this will be the first time I try cooking with meat here on my mission. I´m a little afraid to do it, but... you have to try sometime, right?
Elder Wells had a birthday (shout hooray)! In honor of the occasion, we bought facturas, which are delicious Argentine donuts. We also found 3 promising new investigators.
This weekend should be pretty exciting! The Buenos Aires Temple is going to be re-dedicated! Three General Authorities (including President Eyring, I believe) are coming down for the dedication. We get to attend the celebration beforehand, and we´ll watch the dedication from our own stake centers. Should be good! But - the other thing I´m looking forward to is that President Eyring is going to have a special meeting with all the missionaries of the Buenos Aires mission. Excellent! I´m secretly hoping for a private interview. I know it´s not likely, but that would be super! He´s my favorite of the first Presidency. Well, with President Monson, of course. ...And President Uchtdorf. Anyway.
I think that might be all for today. I´ve got to get back and wash all of my clothes! And write letters. And, make burritos. Mmm!
I love you all. Thank you for being so diligent in writing me - it´s a great blessing and a great strength to me! Have a fantastic week.
Love, Elder Stockton
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