August -- Part 3

This week has had its ups and downs. Perhaps I was just too confident after our success last week, but this week we had a harder time finding people to teach. We spent three whole days trying to make second contact with the previous contacts we had made, to no avail. Everyone was either busy or didn´t answer their doors. We would spend 5 - 10 minutes biking to our next potential appointment, park our bikes, knock the door, wait, knock again, wait, knock a third time, and finally give up and start heading to the next name. It was pretty discouraging. After a day and a half, we started wondering, ´what are we doing wrong?´ No immediate answers were available - we should have been having success. But I decided to press on and try to keep a positive attitude, because if you let your spirits fall, you can´t accomplish anything. I figured that maybe this was part of my test, a test to see if I would continue with a happy attitude when times were tough, or be a grumbler. I don´t want to be a grumbler! So I trusted that if I kept my efforts up, things would get better. The lack of success lasted for another day and a half. Then, after the tribulation came the blessings, and things got a bit better!


We are teaching an investigator. And, as sometimes happens, she was listening to our lessons but not keeping commitments. She wasn´t reading, she wasn´t praying, and she wasn´t coming to church. When an investigator doesn´t keep commitments, you eventually have to leave them, because they won´t get a testimony unless they put forth their bit of effort. We had a lesson with her about a week ago in which we explained that if she wanted to really know whether the church is true, she would have to start really investigating. When we came back for our return appointment later, she wasn´t home, and we figured, ´Well, I guess that´s it. We´ll come by next Sunday to see if she´s started reading the Book of Mormon. If not, we´ll have to leave her.´ We had even practiced what we were going to say.


Well, we passed by on Sunday. We talked for a little bit, and then she surprised us by volunteering to say the opening prayer. Afterward, we asked her if she had read the chapter we left her in the Book of Mormon. She had read, and she remembered about what she had read and told us about it. (It was 3 Nephi 11, a particularly powerful part of the Book of Mormon.) I asked if she prayed after reading to know if the book is true. She told us that she had prayed, and then proceeded to describe how she felt. She said, ´I had this feeling. It was strong, and it´s hard to describe... but it wasn´t fear.´ When I asked her to try and describe the feeling, she told me it was like ´peace´ and ´calmness´. I offered her a description of how I feel when I feel the Spirit testifies to me, and she said that yes, that was how she felt. Then I asked her whether she believed that the things we had been teaching her were true. She told us that, yes, she did. And she went on to say that we were the first other church she had ever listened to, and that she thought that God must have sent us to her.


It was very good for me to see an investigator get past the beginning stages of investigating and start to gain a testimony. Very refreshing. It reminded my why I am here, what I am working for. So, that was good!


Other (quick) news:


I ate kumquats, I think. They were sweet on the outside, sour on the inside, and very tasty.


I taught Gospel Doctrines class yesterday, and that went pretty well. We had 48 people in church after the temple open house - more than have been in attendance in years! ( Buenos Aires Argentina temple )


We´re seeing ´popcorn popping´ on some of the trees here! Seems like we´re just about out of winter.


I saw a stuffed (real, stuffed) dog on a stand in a lady´s house. That was kinda gross.


That´s all for today! I love you all, it´s great to hear from you. Take care! Have a great week!
Love, Elder Stockton

August --- Part 2

A delicious (and nutritious, I´m sure) chocolate milk

Bragado from the 10th floor of ´The Tower´

Mighty Missionary!

More rain in Bragado

Another mighty missionary?

Oreo night!

My companion´s morning ´exercises´ 

(not really... they´re usually a little more effective) 

The ´time to clean the pench´ shirt

Dear Family,

Hi! It´s been a quite a week here! Last week, Elder Correa and I were
walking around in campo when we got a call on our phone. It was Elder
Douglass, one of the assistants. Huh? Why would Elder Douglass be
calling? He asked me to pass the phone over to Elder Correa. Elder
Correa listened for a few seconds, then said, ´Yes. Sure. All right.
9:00. Okay, thanks. Bye.´ He then turned to me and said ´Well, I guess
I´ve got to go start packing my things.´ At the time, we had no idea
why Elder Correa was being transferred, nor why it was happening two
weeks before the end of the transfer. But as it turned out, he was
needed in one of the other areas in campo, to fill a gap made my a
change of organization. (Our zone leaders have now become ´traveling´
zone leaders - they will be spending weeks at a time in each of our
other areas in order to train us and help us in our work.) He was sad
to be leaving Bragado, but relieved not to be leaving campo.

I was a little more anxious, as one seems to always be before big
changes happen. In the past, Elder Correa has always been there to
´save´ me if I was having trouble communicating with someone, and it
was usually him who was the bolder one in lessons, directing the
lesson and answering the hard questions and that kind of thing. He
just did it naturally, because of his facility with the language and
because that´s how he is. I suppose I´d been guilty of leaning on him
a little too much to guide the area.

But suddenly, leaning on him is no longer an option - I am suddenly
the one who must lead and direct the area - the lessons, the plans. I
am the one who needs to be bold and challenge people to baptism. It´s
like I´ve been pushed into the deep end of the swimming pool, for the
first time without a flotation device, and now I have to sink or swim.
And, know what? It turns out I swim! As I´ve been taking charge of
situations and really leading the area for the first time, I´ve been
blessed to experience much success, and to find out that I can do it!
I´ve found out I can talk to people more than what I thought I could.
I can take control of lessons, I can answer hard questions, and I can
issue baptismal challenges. I´ve found abilities, and confidence, that
I didn´t know I had. I think that this was what I needed to start
realizing more my potential. More evidence that God knows what each of
us need to realize and reach our potential. (And I know that it´s not
just me - I´ve really felt His Spirit in me, directing me, helping me
know what to say, and to helping me to say it boldly and with
confidence.)

My new companion is Elder Wells, from California. We entered the MTC
on the same day. And, know what´s cool? Before getting his visa to be
able to come to Argentina, he served a temporary assignment in, guess
where? The Arizona Tucson mission! Wow! Surprise! So I got to see the
mission notebook that President Killpack gives to the missionaries
there, and photos of some familiar-looking areas. Did you know that
that little office they built on the side of the chapel is the office
for the whole Arizona Tucson mission? I had no idea, but that´s the
case. Kind of cool.

All my love! Have a great week.
Elder Andrew Stockton

August in Bragado

Lots of rain . . .

Things are good here. We´ve had a series of rainy days, with a few surprise days of warm weather in-between. And when it rains here, it really rains! Everything lower than my knees got soaked, but we went around to our various appointments anyway. At one point on Saturday, big chunks of hail started falling. Luckily we were just leaving an apartment building when it started, and could quickly hop back inside. And my industrial-strength umbrella seems to be no match for the Argentine winds, which blew it inside-out on two occasions. It´s fun! Argentine storms are very cool. In terms of strength, they´re like our monsoons, but they last longer and there´s very little lightning.

They´re not too good for the work, though. There´s not a whole lot you can do in the rain, missionary-work-wise, unless you have fixed appointments. 

Last Tuesday we went to pick up my bike from the repair shop, after a week and a half of walking around Bragado. And we probably got to ride around for a full 15 minutes before I looked around and realized that my back tire was going flat. Rats! Rather than take the bike back to the repair shop (which is doing quite a good business with our old bikes), we bought a bike patch kit and did the job ourselves. And, since then, we haven´t had any trouble! Even better, we finally raised the seat on my bike so that I can ride a little more comfortably.


I gave a talk yesterday in Sacrament Meeting - my first talk in the ward. The theme I chose to speak about was: The righteous influence parents can have on their children, and righteous traditions that strengthen families. With the Book of Mormon and my own personal experiences, I had a lot of sources to draw from. My goal was to help the parents in the ward realize just how important their example is in helping their children develop spiritually, and to inspire them to implement these Gospel traditions in their own homes. The talk went well, and I believe the Spirit touched the hearts of many hearers. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for giving me the ´source material´ to draw from. 

It´s been a good week. A fairly hard week, but a good week. I´ve learned a lot, about daily self-discipline, and obedience, and faith and perseverance, and that kind of thing. Every week we get a little better. Thanks for your letters, and for your love and support. Have a fantastic week! Say hi to my friends if you see them!

Love you all so much!
Elder Andrew Stockton

From July 30

The mission rolls on. We´ve had a week with some ups and some downs, but mostly ups. That´s how it seems to go!

I feel like I am really developing as a missionary. This week I discovered a new way of studying the first 3 lessons that we teach, which involves dissecting the lessons into principles and really studying and KNOWING what is in them. Due to this new way of studying, my own ability to teach improved a lot.

I think I mentioned last week that we were planning on having a piano lesson with the children one of our part-member families. Well, right after finishing up our email, we headed over to the chapel to meet them there. We toured the chapel first and talked about the church, then went to the piano. As we were playing, one of the kids in the branch randomly showed up with two of his friends - one of whom was an old investigator of ours, and the other of whom is a very likely potential investigator. We invited them in and introduced them. Then we formed them into a choir and taught them to Sing ´I am a Child of God´, with me playing the piano and Elder Correa directing the music! Then we finished by having a lesson about prayer, and taught them all how (and why) to pray. It was great! The kids liked it and want to come back and do it again. We did it again on Wednesday, and we have another one planned for today.

Starting tomorrow, I´ll be on splits with one of our zone leaders for 3 days. That should be a good opportunity to learn and pick up some specific tips on how to improve.

We´re still in the struggle of looking for those who will hear the voice of the Lord and harden not their hearts. It´s not easy... but they´re here somewhere. At any rate, it is very satisfying to be so involved in the work of the Lord.

I know that this Gospel is true, and that if we follow the gospel that Jesus taught, we will have everything that God has promised us.

From August 6

We had a good week here. We found some cool people who we think might really progress. Last week, President Carter wrote to us and told us that we should change the way we teach in order to put even more emphasis on our purpose for being in their home. He told us to testify of the grand blessings of the Gospel and clearly explain to them what their part is. As Elder Correa and I have been implementing this in our teaching, we´ve seen an immediate increase in the quality of our lessons. 

Currently, our big challenge is finding investigators. For a couple weeks now, we´ve been searching for investigators - for the people that really are looking for the blessings of the Gospel. We have had only limited success. It seems like all the people we were finding were content with what they have and weren´t looking for anything else. But as we started to be super bold and up-front with the people about our purpose for teaching them, and even bolder about testifying of the importance of what we share, we started to find MORE people who want to hear our message.

I am enjoying being a missionary.

Being on splits with the zone leaders went fine. The thing was, out of the 3 days we were on divisions, only 1 day was actually spent working in Bragado. Elder Castillo and I had to travel to 25 de Mayo to interview one of their baptismal candidates. (I know 25 de Mayo sounds like a date, but it´s a town.) What a beautiful area! I would like to spend some time serving there. Oh, and another fun thing: In 25 de Mayo we went on splits again (divisions within divisions - woah!) and I spent the day with my old friend Elder Boyce. His Spanish has gotten better, and he really knows the doctrines of the lessons well. It was fun to talk and reminisce a little about our time in Luján. (We wondered what Elder Berglund is up to. My first 2 companions have now finished the mission and gone home.) I can´t believe how much time has passed since Luján. It seems like just a few days ago, really. I´m afraid my mission is going to be over before I can really accomplish anything! Good thing I´ve still got a good chunk left.

The weather has been lovely these last few days. It seems that we have passed the Argentine winter. And although it was pretty cold in some parts, it was nowhere near as bad as what I thought it would be. Ah well! I´m not complaining!

That´s all for this week, I think. I love you so much! I´m looking forward to this week of mission work. I hope you´re all doing well at home and enjoying life. Remember how blessed we are to be where we are, when we are, with the people we´re with. 

Elder Andrew Stockton

Catching up

Seems like the days get away from me ... I'm a little behind on my posts :)

From July 18, 2012

I had a fantastic week this week. Nothing really out-of the ordinary happened - it was a pretty standard week of missionary week. But, I am beginning to really enjoy being a missionary. It´s a good work I´m involved in.

Transfers are this week, but I am staying put here in Bragado. Same goes for my companion, Elder Correa. We´re looking forward for another opportunity to work and build up the branch here. I am also looking forward to learning more new recipes from my comp.

The work progresses; Andrew & his companion have had some wonderful opportunities, but also experience some disappointments. 

Some good days, good experiences. The other day we decided to go and work in a part of the city that we had never visited. When we arrived and started knocking doors, we found a whole lot of inactive members, with testimonies, waiting to be reactivated. We also found that the people there seem to be very willing to listen. In the whole street that we knocked (about 25 houses), only 2 people told us that they weren´t interested. We could have lots of success there in the future! Stay tuned.

From July 22, 2012

I woke up this morning and thought about each one of you and how much I love you. We are a very blessed family! I imagine Jacob will be at OYA by now (fun!) and Mom and Dad will be visiting Grandma and Krista and the other Utah folks. Have a great visit! Give hugs to everyone for me. 

We had a good week here in Bragado. No baptisms, still, and none really close, but we found some more people to teach and had some good lessons.

There´s a less-active family here. The missionaries have passed by to visit the family every so often, but have never been invited in. Until now, that is! It seems that the parents are once again ready to receive visits from members of the church! They let us in and we got to meet the family and have a lesson. They´re awesome! The kids have a very clean, healthy, wholesome look about them. The oldest son seems like he should be a missionary. We gained the confidence of the family through asking about and talking about their various talents - drawing, dancing, and playing the piano. Now we´ve set up a time every Monday for the kids to come to the chapel, to learn to play the piano (whee!) and play soccer, and afterward to have a lesson.

Last Sunday, we were expecting a family to come to church. The day before we had gone by to have a lesson and specially invite them - they were excited and ready to go! But, as so often happens, Sunday came and they didn´t show up. We tried calling them and even walked to their house to see if we could find out what happened, but no answer - they were still asleep! Well... it happens. Next week. But it seems that the mom is so ashamed that she didn´t come, that she´s been avoiding us all week! We haven´t been able to go back and teach them! Rats! I hope we don´t lose them because of something small like that!

The weather has been surprisingly warm for the past few days. I even went out with short sleeves one afternoon! Kind of weird considering that it´s the middle of winter. But supposedly, the real cold begins in August, when the wind starts. I can´t wait!

Elder Correa has recently started studying English! What fun! Did you know that there are a lot of things about the English language that don´t make any sense? It´s easy for us because it´s the first language we learn, but they tell me that it´s pretty hard to learn English as a second language. I had never thought about it before, but I realized that the way we pronounce words is drastically different from the way we spell them. 

Elder Correa & evening Bible study

We´re having to live a little frugally these last days of the month. Owing to mission-related expenses this transfer for which we haven´t yet been reimbursed, my companion and I have $40 pesos (a little less than $10 US dollars) to get us through to the end of the month, or until the reimbursement comes - whichever happens first. Looks like we´ll be eating lots of pasta! Fortunately, I´ve now learned how to make super-delicious spaghetti, which I can eat for every meal and not complain.

Slurp!

Eggs on the menu

A beautiful day in the beautiful patio

 We finally fixed Elder Correa´s bike last week, and enjoyed being on bikes again for the better part of a week before mine broke. The bikes are becoming quite expensive. Fortunately... we´re getting new ones! Hurrah! The mission has decided to invest in bikes that won´t require repairs quite so frequently. That will be nice! (Maybe I´ll even be able to adjust the seat!) I´m not sure how they´re going to get them down here, but I guess they´ll find a way.


I´ve been thinking recently about my progress as a missionary and as a person since the beginning of my mission, as well as my current challenges and what I need to do to become a better servant of the Lord. As I read this morning through some of my journal entries from earlier in the mission, I remembered how I was then. I can see that I have grown and become a better missionary and a better person.

I've learned that God works miracles, and that there are people prepared to receive the Gospel - when I go out with my best attitude to work with all my strength, the Lord blesses my efforts and I see miracles.

I've learned better how to contact people and present a message, and how to teach according to their level and understanding. I also learned how to deal with change and live and teach with a person completely different from me. My Spanish improved a lot.

I've learned how to plan and manage information better. I've learned patience and having Christlike love for people even when it´s not easy. I've also learned to assert myself more. I've gained confidence and power as a missionary.

I'm learning how to manage time wisely, the value of doing practices, and that the members are vital in missionary work. I've also learned to study better. Recently, I have learned that I need to pay more attention to what my leaders tell me. If I really want the guidance of the Lord, I should study and implement the instructions I receive from His representatives.

I am in the process of overcoming my personal challenges. I´ve gotten a lot better at focusing on what I´m doing and give every activity the attention it needs. I am also managing my time better - using every hour as it is meant to be used. Doing these things, I have felt the Lord´s help and his satisfaction. He´s helping me become more than I am currently. What I really want is to have a vision of what I can/should become. I want to have a goal for myself that I know I can reach if I put in my best effort. That´s what I´ll try to come up with this week.


Well! That´s all for this week, I think! I love you all! I hope you are each enjoying your various stages of life. I´m enjoying mine as a missionary. Have a fantastic week!


Love,
Elder Stockton

Bragado

Two weeks ago ...

Hello hello! Hope you all had a marvelous week! I haven´t read your emails yet, because we left the pench a little late to do Internet. So I´ll print out your letters and read them tonight, and use the time right now to write and let you know what´s going in... Bragado.

Things are good, in Bragado.
Maybe I mentioned last week a family that we´re working with? The 3 kids are progressing marvelously - some of the best investigators I´ve taught so far. Joana (11) reads everything she can get from us and prays amazing prayers from the heart. Antonella (13) is earnestly seeking for good things and finding that the Gospel makes her happy. Germán (14) is changing the whole direction of his life - just at the point where he was about to drop out of school and be a punk, he´s seeing that instead he can become a man of God. His mom is so happy with the changes she´s seeing in her son. This Sunday it rained all morning - and investigators almost NEVER come in the rain. But these kids walked themselves alone through the rain and cold to come to church. How awesome.

Last week ...

I am finally writing with a decent amount of time, hurrah! I enjoyed reading all your letters. It´s great to hear about what´s going on at home. Also nice to be able to see a little bit of what the yard looks like! Summer at home is my very favorite time/place. It sounds like everyone´s enjoying their summer.



Where to start? We had a zone conference the other day. (Up at 3:00 in the morning to catch a bus to Chivilcoy, all day at the meeting. We got back just in time to do a few street contacts and plan for the next day.) It was pretty fantastic! I am here in Bragado in an important time in ´campo´ history. It is President Carter´s plan to change the way that missionaries work in campo, with a greater focus on working with the few branch members that we have. 

Something I didn´t know is that campo is supposed to be super hard to work in. There haven´t been real convert baptisms in Bragado for over 2 years! But I don´t know, it seems pretty normal to me. The only difference that really affects the work is that we have to work at different times of the day, when the people are in the streets. 

Anyway, we´re about to start with this new way of working, and in a few weeks we should be seeing results! Part of working in this new way is that we´re going to teach classes in Church on Sunday about how to do member missionary work. Should be good!

Elder Correa is teaching me to cook some things! After he made some delicious food for the first couple weeks, I decided I needed to learn and help out a bit. And, in spite of one instance of nearly killing my companion with some highly peppered rice, I have gotten pretty okay at cooking! I can make rice with tasty sauce and chinese soup. Mmmm! Even better than plain, unseasoned rice!

   

My companion and I have recently adopted a new practice called Oreo Night. Every Thursday night after weekly planning, we conference call the district and enjoy oreos (1-2 packages each) and milk (3%). It´s a very good tradition - a fun way to relax after a long day of planning. Under the last mission president, Thursday Oreo Night was actually a mission rule. Seems like a good one to me!

Because our areas are so far away, we have our district meetings via telephone. Singing the opening hymn is a trick! 


Adela (the mostly-deaf old Sister who gives us lunch) had a birthday this week, and invited us over for delicious chocolate milk and really tasty chocolates. And Dulce de Membrillo. We took one of our investigators and headed over, and had a fun time. As a present for Adela, I gave her a picture that I drew for her on P-day last week! She´s a cool lady. She knitted me a pair of blue socks to keep my feet warm at night. Then, thinking that the socks were too small, she knitted me another pair. Heh heh. And they do keep my feet warm! They´re nice to have. She´s cool. 

 

 

Love you so much! Thanks for your emails, and your love and support. And prayers. Have a fantastic week!


Love, Elder Andrew Stockton

El Campo

Hello, family!

I´ve been moved into deep campo! Did I already explain what ´campo´ is? There´s city and there´s campo. 80% of the mission is city, close to the center of Buenos Aires. Then we have a few little towns that are way far away from everything, and that´s campo. And that´s where I am! I´m in a beautiful, clean little town called Bragado, in the district of Chivelcoy. We live in an apartment complex on Quiroga between Gral. Paz and Escalada. (Andrew includes some identifying landmarks because Ken likes to look up his location on Google Earth ... pretty cool.)

 
After the transfer meeting on Wednesday, we ´campo´ missionaries went to the bus station and waited an hour for the bus that would take us to our areas. We waited for an hour, loaded up our gear when the bus came and hopped on, and then went to sleep for the 4-hour ride to Bragado. We arrived and got off the bus, waited in the freezing, freezing cold for a taxi to come, and finally got to our pench. A little more involved that taking a remís directly to the area like I´d done in my other areas.


The way missionaries talk about campo, I was imagining it to be a bunch of fields and dirt roads, with a house here and there, but that´s not accurate. It´s a city that´s a little bit like Luján, only cleaner and calmer. What is true about campo is that it´s super tranquilo. You can leave your bike unlocked on the street and no one will take it. (We´re not supposed to, though. I need to buy a bike lock.) And they take their siesta time seriously - in between 1:00 and 4:00, there is NO ONE in the streets.

Oh, that´s the other thing - I have a bike! Woohoo! I´m enjoying being able to bike around the city, and getting over the inevitable case of sore bum syndrome. Later today we´ll be stopping by a bike repair shop to get some necessary changes done, including raising the seat, fixing the back brakes, and adding reflectors. It seems that the previous owner of my bike was a little lax in keeping it shipshape.


Oh, right - my companion! My companion is Elder Correa. He´s from Rosario, Argentina, and is serving here in Buenos Aires West while he waits for his Visa to go to Venezuela. He has 5 months in the mission - one less than me. It is really fun to have an Argentine companion, but also really difficult, because: Argentines talk differently to fellow Argentines than they do to people from any other part of the world. I am finding a whole new world of Argentine slang and expressions, and learning that Argentines speak SUPER SUPER FAST! It´s almost intimidating, because my companion speaks so fast and so accurately without even trying. I´ll be picking some things up from him, if I can.

Elder Correa making something that tasted really good. 

And, personality-wise, he´s also really cool. He´s friendly and works hard and seems to enjoy life. Also, he's a super cook, and since we eat in the pench a lot here, that´s awesome.

There´s a fun old lady who gives us lunch 2 times a week. She is mostly deaf. (But there´s a big difference between mostly deaf and all deaf. ...Please open his mouth.) We literally have to yell at her for her to be able to hear us, which means I can talk to my companion and ask him things, like whether she´s actually serious in the ridiculous things she says. (She usually is - she´s a very funny lady.)


That´s all I´ve got time for today! I love you all very much & hope you´re enjoying your summer.
Love,
Elder Stockton

Elder Lee. He´s from Tucson! 

Elder Hutchings, the redhead. We entered the MTC on the same day. 

A delicious before-bed snack! (the sammich)

Making tortillas!

A dinky burrito that was just good enough
to remind me of the real thing 

In my new pench, and cold!

Tomatoes!

´Futbol´ with some of the young men in the new ward. These kids are great! One of them invited his friend to soccer. The friend liked it and came to church the next day. He liked that, too, and now we have an appointment to go and teach their family. Woohoo! 

From Andrew's last few days in Villa Amelia:

A cool poster someone made
for the zone of Castelar 

Waking and rousing our investigators to come to church 

Abigaíl, Karen, and their friend Juliana.