January 15, 2013
I´m in Ramos Mejía (the offices) for P-day today - the last day (hopefully) of waiting in lines and going back and forth to get my visa stuff renewed. I am now legal to stay here for another year! Hurrah! Kind of makes P-day less restful, but, what can you do? Fun to spend some time with other missionaries, though!
Well, we have had an incredible week here in Jardines, with some really cool experiences.
God used us as instruments to help His children, in answer to their prayers, and we didn´t even know it. It is clear to me that God directs us. This is really His work!
[Consequently, one of our investigators had a change of heart.] Whereas beforehand he listened, but not showing an incredible amount of interest, he has now become involved and has turned into a great investigator. He came to church on Sunday and wants to set his life in order so he can be right with God. Ha ha! Awesome!
We had other good experiences this week, but I´ll just give these ones a couple sentences each:
-The wife in an investigator couple prayed about the Book of Mormon, and although she didn´t want to accept that it was true at first, she told God she would follow what He told her. Then she felt the Spirit powerfully testify to her, and her attitude towards the Church totally changed.
-One investigator, previously a drug addict, is undergoing an incredible change as he completes OLA. He finds it easier to pray when beforehand when it was hard for him, he´s gaining a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon, and he wants to leave behind the last of his vices and be the person God wants him to be. He has a light in his eyes that was not there when we met him. I LOVE that change!!
And, yep! We´re plugging along here. Things are going well. Some really great missionaries went home recently, including Elder Foster, who took me tracting in the rain in Catán on my first day in Argentina. He´s a missionary legend. On the last Saturday of his mission, he baptized 12 people - and that just reflects his whole mission. He´s that kind of guy! He also loves and is the friend of all the other missionaries. I´d like to be a little more like him. :-)
I´ve got to get going now and do some shopping for this week, but thanks for your letters! I love you all so much! And good luck in the cold, heh heh. If I could open up a portal and send you some warm Argentine air, I would do it!
Much love!
Elder Stockton
January 15, 2013
We have also had a good week here in Jardines. One of our investigators is really progressing. His testimony is very firm that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. He came to church this week and told us that he´s liking it more every time. The members are also starting to fellowship him, and I´m sure that´s making a big difference. He is trying to quit smoking, which I´m sure is very difficult. But he´s progressing just fine.
On Saturday we went to the baptism of one of Elder Sampson and Elder Decker´s investigators. When we informed [our investigator] about the baptism a few days earlier, his eyes lit up and he asked, ´Can I go?´ So we all went together to the baptism, and he loved it. He said that as he watched [the baptism], he imagined himself in her place and it filled him up with a good feeling. He also said that (I´m not really sure how to translate this well) her smile when she came up out of the water stayed engraved upon his mind. We all felt a good spirit as we left, and the next day we saw her confirmed. So, that was a nice experience for all of us. I love to see baptisms. It does me good to see someone who has made the commitment to change their life and to live in the Lord´s way. I want to help other people to that point.
I had 2nd Christmas last week after receiving Krista´s Christmas package! That was fun. And, since then, my companion and I have been singing Lower Lights music to each other as we go about the day. (Go down, Moses!)
The night before I left for the MTC, Mom hid a bunch of little notes in my suitcase - inspirational quotes, notes of support, etc. One of these, which I have reviewed quite a few times since then, says Service Softens Hearts, and tells about how Ammon was able to gain access to King Lamoni´s heart because of how he served him - not just because he was a powerful teacher. It then highlights the importance of serving others so that they can feel our love (and God´s love) for them. Well, this week we had an experience that relates to that, and involves one of our old investigators, José.
For various reasons, we hadn´t been able to teach a real, spiritual lesson to José for about two weeks, and as a result of this, when we were finally able to teach him again he had become a little less open to our teaching. In that time he had talked to other churches and become aware of the many different doctrines and churches that there are, and didn´t accept what we taught as readily as before. It was like he had lost his belief that anyone knows which church is really the true church. So, that was disappointing - he had stopped progressing.
Then, this last week, we happened to run into him in the street and he told us he was moving - just a few blocks down from where he was before - and that he was about to go start taking his things over to the new house. Because we didn´t have a fixed appointment at that time, we offered to go help him, and we helped him move to his new house. (Not as easy as in the US, since instead of a U-Haul we had only a small handcart to get all of his possessions from one place to the other. Fortunately, he didn´t have all that much stuff and it was only large items that we were moving.) He thanked us, and we carried on. We went to his house a few days later and found that he was working to attach some furniture to the wall, so we pitched in and helped him get it done a lot faster than he could have done it by himself.
Because of those two acts of service, he opened up to us once again and we were able to apply the Gospel to help him know how to resolve his problems. He listened to us, and he trusted our counsel once again. When we left, we told him we´re always available if he needs help, and he said, ´Yes... I know.´ Like mom said - service does soften hearts. And it was great that God put us in just the place we needed to be both times so that we were there when he needed help.
Alright, that´s all I´ve got today! We´re going to go shopping now and then do some fun P.day apartment cleaning! Yee-ha.
Take care! I love you all so much! Have a great week.
Hugs, and a kiss on the cheek for Mom and sisters,
Elder Andrew Stockton
Photos:
Second Christmas!
Service in Jardines:
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