October

October 1

Hello, family!
We had another good week this week - full of walking, contacting and teaching. This month we`ll also include baptizing to that list. :-)

I thought maybe you`d like to know a little about some of our current investigators!

The family of 6 was sort of progressing but, sadly, unwilling to do what it took to come to church. After 3 weeks we had to drop them. Although we love people and want them to progress, they have to be willing to put forth the effort to do what is required to gain a testimony. [Other contacts have also fallen through.]
That`s the way it goes sometimes! No conversion is ever easy, but is riddled with challenges and obstacles all along the way. We just have to keep trying, and to get more and more effective at following up and staying in touch and keeping people in the processes, helping them to overcome obstacles and reach the goal.

Here are some of our other investigators:

[We are teaching] a 24-year-old guy who is studying to be a chef. We found him knocking doors 3 weeks ago. He was interested to hear what we had to say, so he let us in and we started to teach him about the Restoration. We wanted him to come to church on Sunday, but weren`t able to get in touch with him the day before to firm up the plans, so the likelihood of his coming was only about 10%. Imagine our surprise when we arrived at the chapel, bummed because the investigators we went to pick up had failed us, to find him already there. He told us, `I told you I`d come!` That rarely happens. And he stayed and was alert and attentive for all of Sacrament Meeting! 

Later, we taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ - that is, about faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. As we talked about faith in Jesus Christ, we learned more about his religious beliefs. He believes in Gauchito Gil*, one of the `popular saints` of Argentina. We discussed how Jesus Christ is the only one who can cleanse us from our sins, because of His love and atoning sacrifice for us. We invited him to pray and ask God if Jesus Christ is real, and if He suffered for our sins. He said that if he receives an answer, he will take all of the faith that he has formerly put into Catholic saints and put it into Jesus Christ. 

So, he is progressing nicely. He`s a cool kid.

*Gauchito Gil is a Robin Hood-type cowboy saint, not officially approved by the Catholic church. Many people here put up shrines and give offerings to Gauchito Gil, hoping to be blessed with better health, help finding work or help escaping the law. If you want more info, you can probably look him up on Wikipedia.

[Another investigator] is a 70ish-year-old man who teaches guitar and has a radio show where he reads and analyzes poetry that youth send in. His wife is an inactive member, and his son is a former branch president. He investigated the church once in the past, but didn`t progress towards baptism. Now, he feels like it is time to be baptized. We`ve taught him the majority of the lessons and he accepts everything that we teach, including the Word of Wisdom which we thought might be a problem. He is blazing through the Book of Mormon and coming to church every week. We expect that he will be baptized this month!

Well, rats. Do you know I`m already out of time? I've got to learn to either type faster, or to not go back and keep revising what I've already written. Anyway. It was a good week. Other things:

We had a zone conference, where President Carter came and told us how to BE better missionaries. It was really good!

I got sickish for a day, but we kept working and that day was really successful. And, I'm better now.

Anyway! I love you all so much. I loved to see the pictures and how happy you all look. It makes me even happier just to see you. In almost no time we`ll be back together again. I fondly look forward to that time! (But still appreciating this time! I don`t want it to go TOO fast.)

Love you so much!
Elder Stockton

October 8

Dear My Family,

Ha ha! We get a temple in Tucson! How fantastic! And what a General Conference! This was one of the best ones I can remember! I got to watch every session, happily. Most of the members opted to watch Conference on their home computers, but there were a few there with us in the chapel. When President Monson announced that a temple will be built in Tucson, I couldn´t restrain an excited yell and a fist-pump in the back of the chapel. (I hope that was appropriate.) Tucson will have a temple. My home will have a temple! 

I guess it´s almost like a tradition for us in our family to, when the Prophet announces where new temples will be built, cross our fingers and hope and pray that he´ll announce ´Tucson, Arizona.´ And on Saturday... he really did! I was so excited! I would love to have been at home with you when the news was announced, as I am sure that you too must have shouted for excitement and joy. (Well, except maybe Mom, who was in the chapel.) (Well -- I did let out a little shout too -- along with the Tucson missionaries and a handful of other people in the chapel! Couldn't help it!) How special. Shortly after the conference I received a phone call from Elder Bower (who is now in my same zone - with Elder Correa, my former companion. Lucky Elder Correa, to get 2 Tucsonans in a row!), and we excitedly surmised together about details regarding the future temple. What will it look like? Will it be a big or a small temple? Will it have an Angel Moroni? Where will it be located? How long will it take to build? Who will dedicate it? Will we get to participate in the cultural celebration? Will it be done in time for us to get sealed there? (Heh, heh.) Cool stuff.

So, yep! Conference was fantastic. A few of the talks spoke directly to me, like the one about exercising faith, and Elder Holland´s. (Man, talk about someone who can be ´distinguished for his zeal towards God, and also towards men´!) The only thing I want now is... to listen to them again, in English - especially Elder Holland´s talk. I got a lot out of the Conference in Spanish, but it´s still better in the native language. Some of the speakers dubbed their own talks in Spanish! (Such as Elder Scott.) That was cool!

Transfers are this Wednesday. I´m hoping to stay in Bragado to start seeing the fruits of my labors. I feel like Bragado is at the point of bearing fruit! It´s almost there! I wouldn´t want to leave now. But we´ll see what the Lord has in store for me. I should find our later tonight. (Spoiler alert ... it appears from the mission blog that Andrew got a new companion, but gets to remain in Bragado. We'll know for sure next week.)

I thought about buying cow brains in the store today. (Okay, not for very long, but the thought did cross my mind.)

I sent off two big envelopes of letters that I´ve been saving for the last 3 transfers. If you could redistribute it, I´d be grateful!

Hey, I forgot to comment last week! I´m super excited that Julia got her mission call! Heh heh - actually, I read first on my email that she had been called to serve in San Diego, California. Then I went back to the pench and read a letter that I recently got from her, which informed me that she recently turned in her mission papers. The internet wins in the contest of speed. 

But hey! So cool! She had talked to me in the past about the prospect of maybe serving a mission, but now it´s for real! I think she´ll be a great missionary. And, know what else is cool about that? Well, recently the church made some special training videos for missionaries. They go hand-in-hand with Preach My Gospel, demonstrating principles of teaching in action. They focus on the missionaries in a district and their investigators. Every missionary currently serving in the field knows who Sister Voyles, Sister Zaldivar, Jynx, Elder Christensen, Elder Murray, Amor, and Germán are. (Those are some of the missionaries and investigators featured in the training videos.) But, where did the experiences in the videos all take place? In the California, San Diego mission! So who knows? Maybe Julia will get a chance to teach some of the same people featured in the videos.

So, let´s see. What else has happened recently? 

Well, it rained SUPER HARD, the hardest I´ve ever seen it rain here. And I was caught without an umbrella! Miraculously, my scriptures remained dry (those protective cases really work), but everything else on or about my person was thoroughly drenched. Anyway! That was kind of fun.

I have felt my testimony strengthened as I´ve remembered the importance of having faith.

We ate an asado (barbecue) with another family in the ward, which was fun.

That´s all I´ve got time to write today!

I love you all, and I think you´re fantastic. Best of luck to each of you, in all that you´re doing. Mom, please say hello to Grandma for me and tell her that I love her.

Have a great week, I´ll look forward to hearing from you again next Monday!

Love,
Elder Andrew Stockton

September News

September 17 -- This Fantastic Week!

Well, hello! It's wonderful to hear from you, as always. We had a great week here. A very long week with no P-day last Monday, but a great week even so.

So, where shall I start? The temple celebration? It was fun! It was very well done - I can't even imagine how much work it must have taken to put it together. I bet the leaders of the project are relieved that it's over. There was lots of singing and lots of dancing. We even had a part, marching onto the field singing the 4 verses of Llamados a Servir (Called to Serve). 

The celebration took place in a futbol stadium (er, soccer stadium), so they made good use of the giant screens and camera resources that they had.The whole thing looked pretty professional! (Except for maybe the small children, who would smile and wave every time they saw the camera point at them.)  But I think the best part was just being there for such an event. It was good to be with a group of saints gathered together to celebrate the dedication of a temple.

We spent almost all that night traveling, and arrived in Chivilcoy in time to get a couple hours' sleep before heading to the temple dedication. I was actually kind of sleepy and had a hard time focusing for the first couple talks, but when President Eyring got up to speak and then offer the dedicatory prayer, I was wide awake and able to appreciate it. I felt the Spirit there very strongly. I felt that God was watching us, and I felt close to Him.

So, that was the 2nd part of our special weekend! After the dedication, we returned back to Bragado, finished up our week, and then went straight into the next one! And, we had quite a bit of success this week. We found a total of 15 new investigators, which is more than I've ever found in a week with just me and my companion working. And even better, we were able to go back and visit quite a few of them during the week. (Sometimes you have a first lesson, but they disappear and you never get to have a second lesson.) We were very blessed.

[We have had a lot of contact with a very nice family.] They're some of my favorite ward members here - they occasionally feed us lunch, and they are always eager to help out and to share the Gospel. They bought a new pair of nice shoes as a gift for my companion because he was needing some new ones. And the other day, I asked them if they knew a good place to get a haircut. They directed us to a barber, and after I got my haircut I found out that it had already been paid for. They're a cool family. 

Anyway, my companion wanted to do something nice for them, and so with some of his birthday money he bought them an asado, which is a huge, delicious Argentine barbecue. They cooked it, and we all went yesterday after church to eat it. But! They also arranged for us to teach a lesson to [a relative] and her boyfriend. So after the asado, we got to teach what turned out to be the best lesson of my mission so far. 

We taught about the Plan of Salvation - Where we came from, why we are here on this earth, why badness exists in the world, and what happens afterward. They were very interested, very attent (is that a word? My English is suffering) to what we were teaching. They asked good questions and really understood the message. Afterward, we transitioned the lesson into our purpose as missionaries and invited them to investigate the church to the end of being baptized. We then talked about the Book of Mormon and its role in helping us know whether the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of Jesus Christ. We explained what it was and gave them a copy. Then we asked them to read and pray about it. Then Jonathan surprised us by saying, 'But I don't need to pray. I already know this book is true.' He and his girlfriend then expounded on what he had said. How? They said, 'Because we can see it in you. You two are illuminated! There is something different about you. And it's not like it's you, but it's like God is with you.' Wow! How great to have someone recognize that, and trust in that. It gives me confidence that the Spirit is with us. It was a good lesson.

And I'm out of time already, but other experiences, in brief, were:

Following a prompting of the Spirit to go contact a certain family on the street, we found a fantastic family of 6 to teach, who have baptismal goals set and are progressing nicely.

Rain was predicted for Sunday, but we prayed hoping that it would be sunny so our investigators would come. And, it was!

I love you all! Stay strong, enjoy life!
Love, Elder Stockton

September 24

Hello, family! I´m having a good day today - hope you are, too. It was nice to read your letters.

Well, this week we had the traveling zone leaders with us again, but for the whole week this time. Elder Wells and I were on splits with Elder Griggs and Elder George this time. Elder George is fun. He was in the marines, but converted to the church and a year later came on a mission. He´s in his last few weeks already and will soon be heading home to Mesa, AZ.

This week was good, in different ways than last week. I learned a lot of things while on splits with the zone leaders. One thing I learned while I was on divisions with Elder George. He would often stop at a house (seemingly randomly), knock it, and we would find a receptive person there. The first time this happened, we were walking down a street when suddenly Elder George said, ´Wait!´ We turned around and went back two houses, where Elder George knocked. A man named Sebastian opened the door and let us in after hearing our invitation, and we taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel. Afterward, we talked about how he had looked for the Spirit to know which houses to knock. He told me, ´My goal during me whole mission was to get to the point where I could feel which house before reaching it. But I always seem to get the prompting right after I pass it.´ Then he told me that every single baptism he has had on his mission came from going back to knock a door that he felt prompted to knock. Wow! I wonder how he got so in-tune with the Spirit so as to be able to feel when there was a door he should knock. I sometimes do, but not with the frequency that he seems to. I guess that comes with practice, looking for and knowing how to recognize the promptings of the Spirit, and following the promptings you receive.

At the end of the week, Elder Wells and I each had a private interview with the zone leaders to discuss what we had learned during the week, and where to go from here. They told me that the next hurdle for me to pass on my way to becoming a better missionary is planning. It´s true - I struggle with planning. There´s a lot of information to keep straight. I guess the more organized I can be, the easier planning will be, and the more effective. So, that´s what I´ll be working on in the future!

Well, hmm. It seems that today is an Argentine holiday, which means that we´re being cut short. (Really, I think that Argentina might have the most holidays of any country.)

But I hope that each of you has a fantastic week! Love you much! Thanks for your prayers and your support. Say Hi to my friends for me! And the kitty.

Love you!
Elder Stockton