Service with a smile :)

Old news . . . 
A couple weeks ago, I told you that two little girls from a very nice family came with us to church. Their names are Karen and Abigail - they´re 9 years old, and twins. Abigail especially is fantastic. Her mom told us that she loved going to Primary, and that since that first time going to church she has been excited to go again. She told her mom all about it and told them she wanted them to come too. She even wrote a little reminder note about church and put it on the fridge so that they would remember.

Yesterday, Karen and Abigail came to church again - but this time with their mom, older sister, and their cousin Ariana, who Abigail had invited to come to Primary. How fantastic! They all loved it. We were so happy, all walking to church. When Ariana saw the church for the first time, she cried, ´Que linda!´ (How cute!) The 3 little girls had a great time in Primary, and Nora and Noelia (the mom and sister) enjoyed the meetings as well. It sounds like they were welcomed into Relief Society and befriended, which is awesome. And, one more miracle - Nora and Karen recognized Karen´s schoolteacher among the ward members, who came and sat by them during Sacrament meeting. Ha! It was a good Easter Sunday.

More recent news . . .
We had a great week this week. Remember the family that I was telling you about last week? Abigail and Karen (the twins) have a baptismal date set for this Saturday. So we´re excited for that! I got them a copy of the ´Book of Mormon Stories´ book (the Book of Mormon, but in captioned pictures), and Abigail at least is reading it. They are fantastic.

Nora, the mom, told us recently about how she was reading one of the Restoration pamphlets before she went to bed, and that she felt something good in her heart. That night, she slept peacefully for the first time in a long time. 

Earlier in the week, Elder Carazas and I quit our studies early and went to do service for a family in the ward. I thought we were going to mow the lawn. When we arrived, I realized that, more accurately, we were going to cut down the small forest in front of their house. The grass was knee-high and very thick. After trying for a while to cut the grass with shovels, we went back home to grab our trusty machete. After a neighbor showed me how to actually use the machete, we made great progress. As a result of our service activity,

1) the Vera family now has a lawn instead of a forest
2) the Vera family knows we´re really willing to serve and work
3) my whole body ached for two days afterward, and
4) I incurred two giant blisters on my right hand.

It was great! It felt good to really do some service.

 A little bit of pixie dust, and...

I ate cat food yesterday. Well, no... not cat food, exactly. It was mashed liver, and it´s called paté like the food Margaret eats, and it smelled and tasted just like cat food. (Or, uh... like I would imagine cat food tastes. Definitely can´t speak from experience here.) And, it came in the same can. They eat it on bread. Mmmm!


These days I have to do my laundry by hand, which is a pain! It takes a long time, and then it has to dry. But, I suppose the experience is good for me. It builds character.

My shoes, clean, polished and spiffy. Even ´Brownie´ looks black again.

The other day I went to a feria - a place where everyone goes to sell whatever it is they have to sell. There are shoes, clothes, food, books, figurines, electronic equipment, toys, cutlery... a little bit of everything. It reminds me a lot of the Artisan´s Market at Harelson, except that it´s outside and most people didn´t make the things they´re selling. And the whole thing is like a huge maze! I bought a (new) frying pan because our old one was warped.


My companion and I have been singing a lot of hymns lately. It´s fun. :-) He likes to sing Christmas carols, which apparently they don´t sing very much here. So there are often Christmas carols playing in our apartment. Fun!

My companion made spaghetti last week, and it was delicious. I´m going to learn to make Argentine bread. 

Submitting my name for the Tri-Missionary Tournament

A visit to a very cool park . . .

Good stuff from the journal:

´We stopped to ask a lady mowing her lawn today if she needed help. When she realized we were in earnest and were actually willing to help, she was very warm and friendly to us. We wrote down her address and plan to go visit her.´

Service softens hearts, just like a little notecard on my desk says.




Thanks for all your prayers, and your emails, and letters, and love, and everything. I love you all so much, and you´re always in my prayers.

With all the love I can send via email,

Elder Andrew Stockton

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER STOCKTON!

Since we can't all be together to celebrate this momentous occasion, we decided to take a stroll down memory lane, and revisit April 17th (or thereabouts) of years past . . .

Our beautiful boy --- not yet a "MANDREW"  :)

Krista & Andrew

New brother ... why won't he do anything?
(Except maybe eat, cry, and make a mess in his diaper?)

First birthday

Age 2

Second birthday

3rd birthday - preschool party

Happy Birthday to me ..........

Age 4

Age 5

Age 7

Newly baptized and confirmed!

Age 9

Age 10

 And a few years later ...

4/17/2010

Atop Picacho Peak

Many hands to light those multitudinous candles :)
19, to be exact!  2011

Wish?
To be an amazing missionary by this time next year?
GRANTED!

It's been a wonderful ride ...
... filled with love, and smiles, and joy unmeasured!
Here's to many more happy years to come!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Big Storm in Buenos Aires

NEWS HEADLINES - APRIL 5, 2012

Buenos Aires hit by deadly storm
At least 14 people have been killed in severe storms in Argentina. Most of the victims died in the province of Buenos Aires, where winds reached speeds of more than 100km (60 miles) an hour, toppling trees and causing roofs to cave in.

APRIL 8, 2012

Thousands without power in Buenos Aires after storm

Municipal workers take part in an operation to clean fallen trees on April 8, 2012 in Moron municipality, Buenos Aires, after a storm. AFP PHOTO / NA

BUENOS AIRES—Thousands of people were still in the dark Sunday days after a major storm killed 17 people and knocked out electric service in many areas of Buenos Aires, authorities said.

The storm hit late Wednesday and flooded many neighborhoods in outlying areas of the capital city, toppling power lines and trees and damaging buildings.

“In many cases, the power distribution network has to be rebuilt from scratch,” said Eduardo Mirabelli, spokesman for the private power company Edenor which supplies 2.3 million clients.

In one hard hit town alone, Ituzaingo, just west of the capital, at least 4,000 power lines were blasted off their footings and power lines were downed mostly under trees, Mirabelli said.

“The damage really has outstripped our response capacity,” he said, adding that the company had 45 trucks out repairing the network.

More than 50,000 people in Merlo had no power or drinking water on Sunday due to the storm, local official Lucas Ghi said.

MESSAGES FROM SISTER CARTER, THE MISSION MOM

Saturday, April 7
We have been in contact with all of our missionaries. There are some without power as of this moment. We are delivering water and talking with them regularly to monitor the situation. There was a violent storm Wednesday night that caused significant power outages throughout the city. However, please be comforted and know that we are working our plan to best address the needs of each area and ensure the safety of each missionary.

Later in the day ...
The missionaries without power and water have now all been moved to fully functioning apartments.

Sunday, April 8
I want share a little more information about our storm. We are dealing with the effects of the “wind bursts” that came Wednesday evening after a day of unseasonably warm weather that gave way to dramatically cooler temperatures. The rain, hail and wind that followed caused severe damage including crumbled walls, collapsed ceilings, wind-thrown debris including masonry, crushed cars and fallen trees and power poles. (Some of the poles fell of their own accord and others were collapsed as the nearby trees toppled them.)

As we were driving to the airport last night, I was amazed at the devastation that we witnessed. I grabbed my camera and was able to get a couple of pictures. It reminded me very much of what we see in Florida after a hurricane. The difference being that Florida is much more prepared for this kind of disaster and the aftereffects. "The level of virulence of this storm is not normal," said Diego Santilli, the city's environment minister, "The winds were similar to those of a tornado."

We saw downed power lines. Huge trees were uprooted as if they were nothing more than a pesky garden weed, and we saw other trees whose giant limbs were snapped as if they were nothing more than matchsticks. Besides the power restorations necessary, the cleanup effort is going to have to be massive.

The missionaries are very focused on their work and they are used to losing power from time to time. For them, this storm seemed like a minor inconvenience. When we began pulling them out of their areas yesterday, it seemed to be the first time that they realized that this storm was much more than they imagined.

We had been delivering water to some areas and the missionaries with the help of the members and their investigators had been creative in obtaining their necessities, nevertheless, their resources were quickly becoming depleted.

After many prayers and consulting with the area presidency here and the missionary department in Salt Lake, we decided to move 54 of our missionaries. There were a few companionships that actually had their power back already, but the majority of the areas where they lived were without power causing some serious knock-on effects.

You can imagine that it took us most of Saturday to coordinate this scale of a move. Between the missionaries being moved and the missionaries receiving additional occupants in their pensions, it was quite a day.

We moved the entire zone of Gonzalez Catan and almost the entire zone of Merlo. Lujan, Marcos Paz, Moreno and Ramos Mejia were able to house their missionaries in other parts of their zones.

The missionaries were extremely sad to have to leave their areas and more importantly, their investigators. It is a beautiful thing to witness the love that they have for this work. We have no idea how long it could be until power is restored having heard estimates from hours to weeks.

Of course, the prayers of our fast today included not only the petition that the visas for our waiting missionaries will come soon, but also, that all of our missionaries will be able to safely return to their areas very soon.

And so we go, limping forward at this moment in the mission, but we go forward with full faith that patience will have her perfect work. This work is perfect. We have the perfect plan of our Father and the perfect obedience of our Savior that truly leaves us wanting nothing. How blessed we are to be able to share this Good News.

ANDREW'S EXPERIENCE ...

As you heard, we had a pretty powerful storm this week, which turned out to be a lot more widespread than I had realized. I had no idea missionaries were being moved out of their areas. You´ll be pleased to know (as we are) that Elder Carazas and I are safe. Our pension is located in one of the few small areas in the whole zone of Castelar that still has water and electricity.

But wow, what a storm! We were in a member´s house at the time, teaching a less-active brother and his nonmember son. We had just shared the story about Alma the Younger´s visit by an angel (´Can ye therefore deny the power of God?´) when the storm picked up and the lights cut. We sat in silence for a few seconds, then the father said, ´Let´s not talk about Alma anymore.´ We waited out the storm (it all happened pretty quickly - less than an hour, I think), bagged up our possessions to protect them from the rain, and departed to make the journey home. Surprisingly, the rain stopped as soon as we left the house, but it was near pitch black outside and the streets were filled with water. I made it aaaalmost all the way home without actually having to submerse my feet in the water, but then we came to a street that was filled from one side to the other with water, ankle deep. (I looked around for Moses, but in vain.) It took about 3 days for my shoes to dry, but they seem to be okay now.

Much of Villa Amelia is without water and without light. But so far, that hasn´t affected our proselyting much. We had a lesson by candlelight, and we took some water from our pension to another family. But everywhere you go, there are trees ripped up and twisted and falling over. It´s pretty tremendous. And our area isn´t the worst! Apparently there was a small tornado in Ituzaingo and the whole central plaza was destroyed. Cripes. And the missionaries were moved out of Luján. Wow. We´re blessed to be where we are.

I was very confused for the first day after the storm due to misintrepreting ´poste de luz´ (light pole) as ´postre de luz´ (cake of light). I wondered why people were complaining if cakes of light were falling out of the sky. 

Needless to say, we are very grateful Andrew is safe ... and very thankful for inspired and experienced Priesthood leaders who know how to handle these kinds of situations.

Hello from Villa Amelia!

My calendar!
Apparently I have already finished a good chunk of my mission. 

I´ve been transferred to an area called Villa Amelia, which is in the zone of Castelar. My new companion is a Latino, which brings new challenges and new advantages. (The main challenge being that I have to speak in Spanish all the time, and the main advantage being that I have to speak in Spanish all the time. ;-) ) My companion´s name is Elder Emerson Carazas. He is from Kuzko, Peru -- from Machu Picchu! He showed me a lot of cool pictures of Machu Picchu that he took with his family. He tells me that Kuzko is rich in cultural history. It would be fun to go there someday and experience some of it! He´s nice, and he´s funny, and he likes to keep the pension clean, which I think is just awesome.

There are some challenges that come with a new companion, however: Mainly, that everything about him is so different from what I am used to! His way of talking to people is different, his way of doing street contacts is different, his approach to teaching ... everything is so different from what I´m used to. I know I´m supposed to learn from every companion, and there are good things I can pick up from him. (For example, how to be bold in beginning to teach people.) I can see that he succeeds in situations in which Elder Berglund and I didn´t. 

Elder Carazas, my new companion. And me.

So, a little about the ward! It´s a unique one. The Villa Amelia ward purportedly has around 700 members, roughly 80 of which are active. It seems like there are a lot of reactivation efforts that need to be made here! We´ll do what we can.


We went to Stake Conference last week! And so you know, Dad, the boil-a-frog analogy even exists in Argentina. I think it must be Church doctrine. ;-) Are you sure it´s not in a manual somewhere?


A few days ago, we were out contacting. Up until that day, my companion had been doing all of the contacts. (Just because he was used to it, and I was feeling inferior because he speaks Spanish so much better.) I knew that I needed to help, too, though. I finally worked up my courage and contacted a family... who listened to us and said they would like to hear more of the message. :-) We´ll see what happens! Every day I´m trying to overcome my fear and become the missionary God wants me to be.


A week later ...

I´m happy to say that Elder Carazas and I have become friends. I´m not sure how it happened, but suddenly, we were friends and opening up to each other more. I´ve also come to realize that his way of doing missionary work, although very different from mine, is equally effective. Elder Carazas´ style of teaching reaches different types of people than Elder Berglund´s and mine. Where one method of teaching works with a person, the other would fail, and vice versa.

This last week, we found a great family who we are currently teaching. They were a reference from a member. (Of course! I´ve realized since going on a mission that that´s the most effective way to find people to teach.) The family consists of a single mom with 7 children, 4 of whom we are teaching. The mom wants to find the ´right church´, but has a lot of doubts concerning prophets and new books of scripture in these days. Elder Carazas impressed me with how he used scriptures from the Bible to ease her doubts. She is reading the Book of Mormon now. The three younger children are more receptive. (Two of them came to church yesterday and loved it.) 

It´s incredible and sad how many single moms there are here. Most of the families that we teach do not have a father in the home. (Including the 4 families we are working with now.) It really, really makes me thankful for the incredible blessing of having a whole, complete, and functional family.

A lot of investigators came to church yesterday, including one who we weren´t expecting! (We invited her and she said ´Ah, vamos a ver´, which translates to ´we´ll see´ but frequently means ´no´.) She arrived during Sunday school with her toddler child, and immediately started participating - asking and answering questions. It was great! She stayed for Sacrament Meeting, even though she didn´t want to at first. (I think she liked the Sunday School class.) Her child was very noisy and very active during Sacrament Meeting, so much that I was afraid one of the ward members was going to say something unkind to her. But thankfully, no one did. :-) And our investigator seems to have gotten something out of the meeting notwithstanding the distractions.

Fun stuff:

High Priest in Spanish translates to Sumo Sacerdote, Sumo for short. So the ward members occasionally talk about calling the sumos to help teach.

A kid told me I look like the blond kid from Meet the Robinsons. Another family told me I look like Harry Potter, but blond. 

Harry?  or Lewis?

The members still feed us too much.

I can get 30 eggs for about $2.50! Guess what I eat for breakfast? (That, plus oatmeal.) Also, cake. Because Elder Carazas makes cake every P-day. Don´t worry, Mom! I´m still brushing my teeth. 

Milk comes in a bag

His lunch vs my lunch. :-)
(Of course, I ate cake for breakfast this morning, so I can´t really say anything.) 

I fell in love with my new apartment because this cup was there. 

It makes eating oatmeal 10 times more epic.

Love,
Elder Stockton

Our rather disappointing e-mail to open on Monday ...

Sorry, I guess it will have to be a quickie today - the guy who runs the internet wants to close for the siesta.

Oh, rats. He´s closing... right now. Er, hmm. I hopefully can write later! Love you all!



But thankfully another email was waiting for us the next day!

April Fools! I was cut off yesterday before I could finish reading and writing! Fortunately, the Assistants gave me permission to write off a quick email today. As always, it´s fantastic to hear from you! Give Grandma Greenwood, also the rest of our family, my warm regards! 

At a District Meeting. Beautiful church building, isn't it?

Elder Bower -- meeting up with a friend made in the MTC

General Conference, from what I heard of it, was fantastic! We weren´t able to watch the Saturday sessions, except for Priesthood session, but I hope to read and listen to those talks soon. And, on Sunday, two of the talks were ´just for me´. I felt the Spirit during General Conference. I felt uplifted and happy . . . and that it´s all about spreading happiness. The disappointing thing was that of our 2 families, 2 single investigators, and various less-active members that were going to come to Conference, only 2 less-active members came. (And we are very happy for them. :) ) I expect that the others weren´t there in time to catch the bus to the Castelar Stake Center.

Speaking of spreading happiness, have you ever read all of the verses to Scatter Sunshine? (View and/or listen here) I´m discovering that hymns are an excellent way to feel the Spirit and to encourage myself to do better. I´ve started memorizing hymns as we walk to far-away appointments. President Monson said, ´If you love the Lord, if you love His doctrine, you´ll love the hymns. And when you love them, you sing them!´

And, last week was a good week. Here´s a journal entry from last week.
´We went to the house of Mirian to teach the Restoration retention lesson to her recently-baptized children. Upon arriving at the house, we found all 5 of the children running around outside, playing together. They were all laughing and screaming and having fun. We went inside and taught the lesson. They were excited and participated. The 4-year-old wanted to say the closing prayer, and did so with help from her mom. The thing I loved so much about the whole thing was that everyone was so HAPPY. I think it was the happiest gathering I have ever seen, and I loved to be there. I loved to be a part of it. Another great thing: The kids have been reading in the Book of Mormon! Although they are young, they are reading! And excited about it! I know that the Lord is blessing them as a result of their faithfulness. I would like to always be happy like I was with them. Afterward, we were walking down the dirt road to our next appointment. The air was cold, but my heart felt warm. I felt love. This is what the Gospel brings to families, and to individuals.´

Some ´joy in the vineyard´. :-)


All my love,
Elder Andrew Stockton

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