Transfer Day

It´s a very sad missionary that´s writing to you today. I´m being transferred!!

Packing up

The normal thing for a new missionary is that he stays in his first area for 4-6 months. However, there had been rumors circulating lately that the zone leaders were going to be moved to the Luján area (where I am), which is the center of the Luján zone. For the zone leaders to be put in Luján, someone has to leave. And since Elder Kent and Elder Boyce are still in the middle of their 2 transfers of training, and Elder Berglund is going home, it makes sense for me to be the one to leave. The rumors were confirmed when the zone leader called last night and told my companion that we (both) need to be in the offices tomorrow morning, with our suitcases. Rats. 

I love Luján! I love the members, and the area, and our recent converts and our investigators. I was getting to know my way around! But it looks as if the Lord has something else planned for me. It´s time to trust Him, be grateful for my time and experiences in Luján, look forward to the future, and sing hymn no. 270 (I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go) to myself over and over. (Heh heh.) Yes, I´m sad to be leaving, but excited for what´s coming. And it really has been good to work in Luján, with Elder Berglund.

Andrew's thoughts about his first companion, who headed for home this week . . .

He was a good trainer. He helped me in many ways to make the transition to mission life. And he showed me what it´s like to really love the people here. Everyone here loves Elder Berglund, because he loves them.

In need of some comfort this morning, I ate my very last chocolate hug from home. :) They lasted a long time, no? (Awwwwww)


So -- fun stories from the week!

Marcelo and Teresa were baptized on Saturday! It was a fantastic event. They are so, so ready and so prepared. They have decided to close their business on Sunday so that their family can all attend church together. It will be too bad to leave them. And, equally as good, they came to church on Sunday to get confirmed.

The baptism was especially special because 3 members of the Welsh family (who I think I mentioned before -- the family found by Elder Kent and Elder Boyce) were baptized. I´m glad I got to be there for their baptism. They also are ready and prepared to live Latter-day Saint life.

Our grand baptism! 

Marcelo y Teresa, after the baptism.
They´re so ready for life in the Gospel. 

Yamila (Shameela) y Brisa, two of my very favorite little girls.
Elder Berglund baptised them the month before I came.
They are learning the Articles of Faith

More news:

Apparently I am a missionary now.
(I don´t have to wait until I´m old.) 

Apparently I contacted Kingdom Hall (the meetinghouse of the Jehovah´s Witnesses) during a large public meeting. Elder Berglund and I, having a lot of contacts to do and not much time to do it, had split up and were clapping a street, one on each side. I clapped a house, and when a man opened the door I saw inside and realized it was actually a church, cleverly disguised as a house. As I left, I saw the sign on the wall that I had missed walking up, identifying the building as the meetinghouse for the Jehovah´s Witnesses. Heh, whoops. 

Oops!

Spanish mess-ups! I accidentally told a family that the Gospel could help them find more gas in their life -- that is, gozo (joy) mixed with paz (peace). But hey, gas prices are expensive these days, so I still don´t see why they weren´t interested!

And that reminds me of a few months ago, when I asked the members who were giving us lunch if I could please have some more shoe (zapato). They told me no, but at least they gave me some more squash (zapalla).




It´s fantastic to hear from you. I love you all. Thanks for your prayers and your letters and your love.

Until next Monday! Hugs, hugs, hugs!

Elder Stockton



Memories of Luján

One of the local youths let me try on his motorcycle helmet.
He´s a cool kid.

Just after a crazy Argentine storm.
The street was a small river! 

Sailors take warning! 

Andrew's Birthday approaches!

FYI ---

Letters may take 3-4 weeks to arrive, since they are sent first to the mission home, then hand delivered when someone ventures out into Andrew's area.

So .... if you want to send him birthday wishes by April 17th, be sure to send them soon! See the "Mail Central" tab above for mailing information.

Thanks! Your messages mean a lot to Andrew!

Sally

Zone Conference and more

The missionaries in Lujan recently had a Zone Conference, where all the missionaries in their Zone (area) meet together with the Mission President and his wife. They report on their work, they receive instruction, and they enjoy spending time together, sharing stories, experiences and testimonies.

From Andrew:


I´ve had another great week, and have recently enjoyed reading your letters. They´re the highlight of my P-day. 

I received a package from Sister Lamoreaux (our ward Primary President ) containing an original Coronado Ward Primary coloring book! It looks so good! I loved looking through it. We have a lot of artistic talent in our ward! Also, with the book were a lot of letters from the Primary kids about their feelings about Jesus and about what things they want for Christmas. (Two primary children wanted the same thing, a ´giant, giant candy cane´. I suspect a conspiracy.) It was fun to read through them and see which names I recognized. 

He also thinks about loved ones from home ...

• I hope Grandma´s doing well! 
• Hey, how is Brother Wheelwright? 
• CONGRATULATIONS DOUGLAS LEE-CHAN!!! Just got accepted into U of A College of Pharmacy!
• How are Brooklyn and Becca? Primary class members
• Dana and Nathan, congrats congrats on your 1-year anniversary! That´s exciting! Does it seem like a year has passed? (It sure doesn´t to me. Cripes. I love you both too! I hope school is going well, and cooking.) 
• Thanks for your letters. I love to read them. I hope that everyone is doing well. 

Some more fun things have happened this week here in Luján.

A few days ago, Elder Berglund and I contacted a lady in the street who was hesitant about talking to us at first, but when we pursued the conversation a little more she talked to us. We found out she had lost the faith in God that she had as a child and now wasn´t sure whether God existed or not. I took this excellent opportunity to share my testimony that God really lives and that he answers the earnest prayers of his children. Afterward, I thought of my promise to bear witness of God at all times, and in all things, and in all places. It´s great to be a witness and bear testimony to those who need it. Who knows if she will go home and pray-- I hope so. I hope the Spirit touched her heart . . . By small and simple things...

I had a unique experience this week. Elder Berglund and I started talking to a lady at a bus stop, and after conversing a little bit, she started speaking English to us! ´And what are you doing?´ she asked. ´Talking about God?´ ´Indeed we are!´ we responded, in English. The rest of our conversation with her was in English. It was so weird! My testimony doesn´t sound quite the same in English as it does in Spanish. I imagine after a while I´m going to start adopting the same odd Spanish way of speaking English that the Pastores (missionaries who are approaching the end of their missions) have -- saying things like ´How many years does she have?´ instead of ´How old is she?´ Or, ´Is that the teaching record of Roberto?´ It might also take a while to remember that we were counting the people attending church, not assisting to it. (Attend is asistir in Spanish.) Anyway, I love it when people speak English to us. (And it happens surprisingly often!) The Argentines have a very peculiar accent that is fun to listen to.

People in Church are starting to be able to say my name! No more am I Elder Stoke-lok / Stoke-tuk / Stok-tok. (Heh - a couple in the church has jokingly taken to calling my companion and I ´Elder Tok-tok´ and ´Elder Blumblumblum´.) I imagine U.S. names are to the Argentines something like what Chinese names are to the North Americans.

Oh hey, guess what! We´ve found a family of 6 to teach! We contacted the mom about a month ago and tried to pass by several times. Finally, we found both the husband and wife at home at the same time. They eagerly let us in, listened to our message, and told us their experiences. They (or at least the dad) have been prepared! He was studying to be a Priest, but left the his church when they wouldn´t let him be a missionary as well as a Priest. After leaving the church, he went to various churches looking for something more, but he never went to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Upon reading Joseph Smith´s story of his encounter with the angel Moroni, he shared with us that he had had a similar experience as Joseph Smith described, only the angel didn´t speak to him. Wow! His wife told us that this is the first time he´s talked to religious missionaries and not ended butting heads and arguing. This Gospel is exactly what they need. They have 4 kids ranging in age from 3 to 15. It´s the miracle Elder Berglund and I have been working and hoping for!

This is Elder Berglund´s last week! We´ve gotta work hard! :-)

We are so thankful to Elder Berglund! From all we hear, he has been a great teacher, mentor, first missionary companion, and friend to Andrew. We wish him great success and many blessings in his future endeavors!


Love, love, hugs.
Elder Stockton

Latest News

FYI: Andrew's comments in black ... Sally's commentary in green.

Wow, another week already. Let´s see, what happened this week?

An old man thought that I was an Argentine. That made me feel pretty good about my language abilities, until the next lady who we talked to told us that she knew we were North Americans because of our accents.

Andrew & his companion have been teaching a couple who got married last week. 

Marcelo & Teresa got married! Weddings here don´t seem to have the same sentimental feelings that they have in the U.S. You just dress up (or not, depending on how important you think it is), show up at a building that looks a little like the DMV, fill out some paperwork, and then head into a side room for the ceremony. The ceremony consists of more paperwork, signing your name, and giving each other rings. Wow! They had a better ceremony at the Church later, but we couldn´t go to it because we had another appointment.

They also have been teaching a woman who accepted the challenge to read the Book of Mormon. She believed it was true scripture, but didn't think there was anything else to be done. Andrew and his companion didn't quite know how to proceed. They wanted her to realize the significance of her feelings, but didn't want to scare her away.

And that´s when the right thing to say just came into my mind - something like, ´So, you feel that the Book of Mormon is true because when you read it you feel the same as you do when you read the Bible. Will you take the next step and come to Church with us to see if you feel the same good feelings there?´ And, we talked a little more about how she will be able to recognize the true Church of God by the things she feels. She agreed to come to Church. I think her conversion will come a step at a time. But what I said to her was exactly the right way to approach the situation! It wasn´t me! I had no idea what to say. It was the Spirit giving me what to say in the moment that I needed it. And that was great. I felt so good after that. My greatest desire for my mission is for me to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord, and I feel like that happened. 

More on life as a missionary . . .

For several days I thought I was hearing gunshots outside our apartment. Then I realized that the noise I had been hearing comes from these giant, heavy pinecones falling from the high up in the tree across the street and exploding on the sidewalk. (The one pictured fell from lower down and didn´t blow up.) I would hate to be standing underneath when one of those fell. (Fortunately you can hear the sound of it breaking off the tree for a second or two beforehand -- kind of a ´fire swamp´ experience.)

The seeds from the pinecone. Could they be edible?

(Guess Andrew's never heard of pinenuts!)

I think Andrew wanted to make sure we knew he and Elder Berglund were working hard, so he sent these pictures. 

(Do I see an attention-enhancing package of Oreos in Andrew's hand? :) )

Apparently, though, it is not all hard work . . . 

Meh-eh-eh-eh-eh

And, let´s see... we just got back from a trip to the zoo! It was pretty fun. Actually, it´s pretty much like zoos back at home, just not as well kept-up, and you can go in and touch the animals here. (All the animals! My companion kissed a bear.)

Too close for comfort?

At the zoo in Luján you get very up-close to the animals. It´s one of the big attractions of the zoo. I didn't, though --- I was thinking about the missionary who got mauled by a tiger fairly recently.

Sleepy Hobbes

The cutest baby tigers I have ever seen!

Me, holding the unhappiest baby tiger that I´ve ever held.

Separating the sheep from the goats?

A Hearty Lad

I ate cow heart!
We went to a member´s house for lunch a few days ago and they had made asado (barbequed steak - it´s pretty expensive and pretty delicious). Towards the end of the meal, we learned that we would each get to eat a piece of cow heart. (Urp!) Then we had 5 minutes to anticipate eating cow heart before we actually ate it. Elder Kent really had to steel his courage. It wasn´t bad! Actually, it tasted pretty much like the rest of the meat, just... there was a bit of extra flavor. Anyway. It was a hearty meal. (I told that to my companion, but he didn´t laugh. I think he must be heart of hearing.) (Though that´s kind of heart to believe.)

And in related news . . . 

Fun fact! McDonalds down here is a high-class restaurant. If someone´s eating at McDonalds, you know they´re pretty well off. (It´s not like McDonalds at home - the burgers are big and delicious. Or, that´s what they tell me. I´ll have to save up for a few weeks if I want to eat at McDonalds!)

Mission stories

Last week, we were at a member´s house for lunch. After the meal, I shared a recently-found scripture that I like. The mom started crying. She told us that the scripture really was good for her, and that it gave her hope after she had recently heard some really bad news. Wow! I didn´t feel particularly inspired to share that scripture, I just... shared it, and it turned out to be just the right scripture. I´ve found that God often works that way in the mission field. We don´t always feel prompted to do something, but when we prayerfully make a plan and then go to work, things just work out. 

We (very often) happen to run into people that are special -- previous investigators that are now ready for the missionaries to come back and visit again, members who give us a bit of information that leads to a new investigator, etc. I love it. 

Remember a few weeks ago, I wrote about the nurse lady who found us in the street? Well, her family and her employers are great people! We went to our appointment with them a few weeks ago. The first thing we saw when we walked into their house was a big family tree on the wall and a thousand pictures of their family.

Yesterday Elder Berglund and I clapped into a man. [Instead of knocking on doors, as we do in the United States, visitors clap outside the gate or house.] He´s very Catholic, but, as he told us, he´s ´very open to other religions...´ even to the point that he would listen to the Mormons!
Us: ´Oh, yes?´
Him: ´Yep! I´ve got a couple of friends who are Mormons. They gave me a copy of their Bible.´
Us: ´I think we might know your friends.´
We did. He´s good friends with two old members of the ward. Turns out he´s been reading the Book of Mormon for a while. Hee, hee. I love it!

 

Busy Week

Yesterday, I finally had the ´new missionary orientation´. It went well! We had a great meeting, and I got to feel pretty experienced for having been there 3 weeks already. (Heh, heh.) Later, about 100 more missionaries showed up for transfers. It was fun! We sat down, and after having an inspirational conference sort of meeting, they announced the new companionships/transfers. There was a projecter that would show the name of the area and the face of the missionary that was serving there. Then, with a commentary from one of the Assistants, the face of his new companion would fade in. Every so often, the picture that appeared would be Captain Moroni waving the Title of Liberty. That meant that the missionary would be training a ´resfuerzo´ (reinforcement). There was lots of cheering and lots of clapping. It was pretty fun!

Elder Kent - 6 month old-timer

Other news ...

We´re getting roommates! President Carter has decided to put two more missionaries in Luján. (That doesn´t happen very often at all.) This means that the Lord has plans for Luján. With twice the missionaries, and with the ward members starting to trust the missionaries and get excited about the work, the work here is going to accelerate! We´re so excited. The only thing is... I don´t want to give up any of the investigators we´re teaching now when we divide the area!! We´ll just have to divide it very... creatively. Let´s see, I learned the word for that in my Government class a few years ago. But I can´t remember it. [Gerrymandering - thanks Ken!] Ah well. Yep! Super excited. And one of them is a newbie like me.

Elder Boyce - his first day in Lujan

Their lovely pension

Muddy shoes --- Andrew's left shoe had rather extraordinary bad luck!

"An incredible rainstorm"

Milaneza, mashed potatoes, bread

Hard-working companions

Elder Berglund, planning 

Silly smile from a happy missionary!