February 25, 2013
I also enjoyed the pictures of the next day... which you would never suspect was the next day based on the difference in weather conditions!
Well, we had kind of a hard week. Sad to say, [one of our investigators], who was progressing so well, seems to have given up hope that he can change and has stopped seeing us. We only made contact with him once last week, when we found him by chance in the street. Here´s hoping that sometime in the future the Elders will pass by again, and he´ll be ready... It´s sad when people choose not to continue when we can see a vision of what they can become.
And similarly, almost all of our other investigators fell through - one returned to her previous church, one is going to be out of town for a month for her daughter´s medical treatment... and other simply disappeared and won´t answer us. So, we´re back to square 1: finding investigators to teach.
However, miracles are still happening. This Sunday, a family arrived in the middle of Gospel Principles class and sat down. We thought they were Elder Sampson´s and Elder Decker´s investigators, and Elder Sampson and Elder Decker thought they were ours. We talked to them, and learned that they are a family that has been inactive for several years. They moved here to Jardines a few years ago and just decided one day they needed to come back to church. Ha! How great! Interesting how that happens sometimes - you try and try and try to help some people come back to church, to no avail... but then others arrive on their own. Now we´ll help this family return to full activity, and at the same help the 10-year-old son prepare for baptism.
Things are going well with Hermano Medina [Andrew's Mini-Missionary companion -- just a temporary assignment]. He´s a fun guy. This week he started overcoming his fear to contact people, and you´ll never guess how he did it. We were doing contacts in the plaza on Saturday evening - both of us separately talking to people. I finished the contact I was doing, and walked up to where he was talking to a couple. As I joined the conversation, I realized that Hermano Medina was speaking with a heavy North-American accent. The people were fascinated and asked us where we were from - I told them I was from Arizona, and my comp told them he was from Louisiana. After we finished talking, he explained to me that he felt more comfortable contacting people when he pretended to be a foreigner. Ha ha! The only problem with that is, if the couple would have told us to come back for a return appointment, he would have had to ´fess up and we might have lost some credibility. Anyway, that was kind of funny. It´s also interesting to hear an Argentine´s impression of our Yankee accent. Maybe that can help me know how to speak less like a North-American. :-)
God has been answering my prayers and my questions recently through the scriptures. I love my Book of Mormon study in the morning!
Anyway, I´m about out of time. This week is looking like a lot of clapping doors and looking for addresses. Fun stuff! Even in the hard times, it´s worth it to be here. I know that God is refining me and helping me to become a more capable servant. I love you all so much, and I hope you have a good, warm week! (No snow.)
Love,
Elder Stockton
March 4, 2013
We had quite a week this week and came back to the pench yesterday exhausted. Thank goodness for P-day! It comes around just when it´s most needed.
If you remember, last week I wrote to you and told you that we had dropped almost all of our investigators and would be looking for new ones this week. Well, that´s what we did, and we were blessed to find 18 new investigators this week. 18!! That´s almost unheard of! The normal standard is 8 new investigators, but I suppose when you spend all your time looking for new people, that´s what happens. And almost all of them have very good potential to progress and be baptized! It really lifted our spirits some and gives us good hope for the rest of the transfer.
When you get to the MTC, you learn basically the first 3 lessons - The Restoration, The Plan of Salvation, and The Gospel of Jesus Christ. But when you get into the field, you find that often investigators have needs that are not covered perfectly by giving them a memorized recitation of the lesson. Fortunately, if you´re prepared, God puts it into your mind what you should teach.
Dylan and his family are doing well! They came to church again, and Dylan´s mom asked some very thoughtful questions during Gospel Principles. We can already see a huge change for the better in them. It´s interesting to see the change that happens in people when they start living the Gospel. They seem brighter, happier, and healthier.
We taught Dylan (and his family) about the Restoration and invited him to read the Book of Mormon. He´s already started reading and he´s progressing quite well. He´s got a lot of desire to be baptized.
Well, that´s all I´ve got for today. I hope you all have a great week! Seriously! Have a great week.
All my love,
Elder Stockton
March 11, 2013
Looks like whoever is in charge of the ciber that I`m using has decided that today`s music choice is The Police! So here I am, humming along.
It was nice to see pictures of some of my friends! I`m so happy that Nick and Kelsey are getting sealed! I wish I could be there. Please give my best to them, and also to Anna and her future husband! We`ll be having a baptism here in Jardines on the 16th, when Anna and her fiancee are getting married, and then one on the 24th, just after Nick and Kelsey are sealed. Happy events all over the place!
We had a good week here. We sure are teaching some good people! Dylan and his family are doing fantastic! Such a change has come into their lives recently. They´re changing the way they live and becoming happier and happier. We`ve taught Dylan just about everything he needs to know before his baptism this Saturday. He`s excited for it.
Lots of youth have been coming to church for the last few weeks, friends of other youth in the ward. One of them told us that he wants to get baptized, but we`re not sure exactly why yet. We have an appointment to talk to him more on Thursday. Alright, member missionary work! And youth activities!
The weather is cooling down... and sweaters are coming out of hibernation. It`s nice weather!
Remember how I told you a while back that, due to 6 months of bad hand-washing, all of my socks had turned purple? Well, about a week ago I learned that I can buy black dye and re-dye my socks! And, that`s what I did. Now my socks are happily black again, and I don`t have to buy all new socks like I was planning.
My shoes are starting to give way, after more than a year, in the same spot that all my shoes do - the frontward part on the inward side. I think it must just be the shape of my feet. I`ll have to see if I can take them somewhere to get them stitched back up.
My companion tells me every time I talk in my sleep, which is, apparently, almost every night. He says I mostly speak in English, and occasionally in Spanish. But what surprises me most is that (according to my companion) a few nights back I sung an entire verse of Called to Serve in my sleep. That`s a new one! I guess that means I`m a real missionary?
We`re moving along in our Book of Mormon reading. This morning I finished reading the book of Helaman and started on the downhill slope of 3rd Nephi, where things get worse and worse until the Savior comes. Something I noticed during my reading is that there are a very few that remain constantly faithful, while the rest bounce back and forth between belief and disbelief. I wonder what the difference was between them - why some were converted to the Gospel and some were not. I imagine it has to do with putting oil in their lamps.
Our next-door neighbors have a black cat who my companion has named ´Mala Suerte´ (Bad Luck) and my companion has ´adopted´. I opened the door this morning to find Mala Suerte outside, demanding breakfast. I hope he doesn´t expect me to keep buying him food after my companion goes home!
Last week I had an interview with President Carter in which we discussed my progress as a missionary, and what I need to do to reach the next level. He left me with the assignment to think about it and ask God to help me know what I need to keep working on. After some prayer and thinking, this is what I´ve come up with: I should be constantly studying the attributes of the Savior and trying to implement them in my life. If I am constantly trying to become more like the perfect Example, then I will never be stagnant in my progress - I will always be progressing.
So, that`s it for this week. I hope you all have a fantastic week! I´ll look forward to talking to you again next week!
Love you! Thanks for your prayers and support.
Elder Stockton
March 18, 2013
I´m here in Jardines still, but... with some changes - Hermano Medina finished his mini-mission early (surprise changes from the mission!) and so they pulled a missionary out of another area to be my companion. That missionary was Elder Joshua Lee, who is from... Tucson, Arizona! Rancho Vistoso Stake. Wow! How likely is that? This morning found him, Elder Bower and I (the three Tucsonan musketeers) all in the same spot and we took a picture. Kind of fun! I enjoyed this week with him, too - we´re very similar in many respects, and I love the drive he has to work hard and to do things right.
But for how long we´ll be together, I´m not sure. Transfers are in one week. It could be that I receive a new missionary and train, and in that case I´ll probably stay in Jardines 2 more transfers. Or, I might be leaving. Who knows?
So, let´s see... we had a good week this week, with lots of great events happening.
First of all... the baptism! Our boy Dylan got baptized - he was ready and so was his family. There´s a huge change happening in them as they keep reactivating themselves. We´ve got to try again to get the ward more involved in helping them in the reactivation process.
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| And, er... excuse the face on the baptism photo. Better photos are coming as soon as I can get them from my companion. |
I told you several weeks back that [one of our investigators] had stopped progressing, no? Well really, more than stopped progressing, he had disappeared - he didn´t answer our phone calls and would´t answer the door when we visited his house. Anyway, [after several weeks] we didn´t find him. But [this week], the thought came to me that we should go visit him. We did, and after clapping twice in front of his house, he came out and invited us in. He was the worst I had ever seen him - his spiritual level was way down. He had let his hair grow too long, and the light was gone from eyes. He had lost or given away the books from the church that he loved to read before. He thought he was fine, but obviously... he wasn´t. We talked with him about a change of heart and about baptism - two of his deepest desires when he was investigating a month back - and he hardly reacted. It seemed like he had lost all his desire to change. Or, faith in himself - that he could change. He wouldn´t give us a definite yes or no answer on whether he would start trying to change his life again and prepare for baptism. But in the end, he committed to read the pamphlet we left him and pray to God to know whether he should be baptized.
When we came back 2 days later, he was changed - he was cleaned up, his hair was away out of his face, he was smiling and the light was back in his eyes. As he read the pamphlet we left him, the Spirit touched him. He marked the parts he liked, which had to do with man´s potential to change and follow Jesus Christ. One part says something like this: ´As you repent and follow Jesus Christ, you will discover that you do not have to keep committing the same mistakes over and over.´ I think he realized that there is hope for him still. Then he prayed, and asked God whether he should be baptized, and received an overwhelming assurance that he should.
After sharing this with us, he asked me to give him a Priesthood blessing to help him have strength to be firm in his decision and to continue onward to reach his goal. I would appreciate your continued prayers for him!
This experience reminds me of a conference talk - we should view men not as they are, but as they can become. Leopards don´t change their spots, but men can and do change every day. Sometimes they just need someone else to help them see the vision God has for them. I want to be able to help others see the potential they have.
God directs this work. I see His hand over and over again. I´m grateful to be a part of it.
And, well. That´s all for today. It´s been a very good week, and there are other experiences that I don´t have time to tell you about.
But I love you very much. Thanks for your letters and your love! Have an excellent week.
Elder Stockton
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