more ... January in Jardines

January 15, 2013

Ahh... hello!

I´m in Ramos Mejía (the offices) for P-day today - the last day (hopefully) of waiting in lines and going back and forth to get my visa stuff renewed. I am now legal to stay here for another year! Hurrah! Kind of makes P-day less restful, but, what can you do? Fun to spend some time with other missionaries, though!

Well, we have had an incredible week here in Jardines, with some really cool experiences.

God used us as instruments to help His children, in answer to their prayers, and we didn´t even know it. It is clear to me that God directs us. This is really His work!

[Consequently, one of our investigators had a change of heart.] Whereas beforehand he listened, but not showing an incredible amount of interest, he has now become involved and has turned into a great investigator. He came to church on Sunday and wants to set his life in order so he can be right with God. Ha ha! Awesome!

We had other good experiences this week, but I´ll just give these ones a couple sentences each:

-The wife in an investigator couple prayed about the Book of Mormon, and although she didn´t want to accept that it was true at first, she told God she would follow what He told her. Then she felt the Spirit powerfully testify to her, and her attitude towards the Church totally changed.
-One investigator, previously a drug addict, is undergoing an incredible change as he completes OLA. He finds it easier to pray when beforehand when it was hard for him, he´s gaining a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon, and he wants to leave behind the last of his vices and be the person God wants him to be. He has a light in his eyes that was not there when we met him. I LOVE that change!!

And, yep! We´re plugging along here. Things are going well. Some really great missionaries went home recently, including Elder Foster, who took me tracting in the rain in Catán on my first day in Argentina. He´s a missionary legend. On the last Saturday of his mission, he baptized 12 people - and that just reflects his whole mission. He´s that kind of guy! He also loves and is the friend of all the other missionaries. I´d like to be a little more like him. :-)

I´ve got to get going now and do some shopping for this week, but thanks for your letters! I love you all so much! And good luck in the cold, heh heh. If I could open up a portal and send you some warm Argentine air, I would do it!

Much love!
Elder Stockton

January 15, 2013

How are you doing!? I enjoyed the pictures Dad sent me - those looked like some pretty monstrous avocados! Let´s hope they do well in our fertile AZ soil! I also particularly enjoyed thinking about those homemade fajitas... mmmm. Sets the mouth a-waterin´.

We have also had a good week here in Jardines. One of our investigators is really progressing. His testimony is very firm that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. He came to church this week and told us that he´s liking it more every time. The members are also starting to fellowship him, and I´m sure that´s making a big difference. He is trying to quit smoking, which I´m sure is very difficult. But he´s progressing just fine.

On Saturday we went to the baptism of one of Elder Sampson and Elder Decker´s investigators. When we informed [our investigator] about the baptism a few days earlier, his eyes lit up and he asked, ´Can I go?´ So we all went together to the baptism, and he loved it. He said that as he watched [the baptism], he imagined himself in her place and it filled him up with a good feeling. He also said that (I´m not really sure how to translate this well) her smile when she came up out of the water stayed engraved upon his mind. We all felt a good spirit as we left, and the next day we saw her confirmed. So, that was a nice experience for all of us. I love to see baptisms. It does me good to see someone who has made the commitment to change their life and to live in the Lord´s way. I want to help other people to that point.

I had 2nd Christmas last week after receiving Krista´s Christmas package! That was fun. And, since then, my companion and I have been singing Lower Lights music to each other as we go about the day. (Go down, Moses!)

The night before I left for the MTC, Mom hid a bunch of little notes in my suitcase - inspirational quotes, notes of support, etc. One of these, which I have reviewed quite a few times since then, says Service Softens Hearts, and tells about how Ammon was able to gain access to King Lamoni´s heart because of how he served him - not just because he was a powerful teacher. It then highlights the importance of serving others so that they can feel our love (and God´s love) for them. Well, this week we had an experience that relates to that, and involves one of our old investigators, José. 

For various reasons, we hadn´t been able to teach a real, spiritual lesson to José for about two weeks, and as a result of this, when we were finally able to teach him again he had become a little less open to our teaching. In that time he had talked to other churches and become aware of the many different doctrines and churches that there are, and didn´t accept what we taught as readily as before. It was like he had lost his belief that anyone knows which church is really the true church. So, that was disappointing - he had stopped progressing. 

Then, this last week, we happened to run into him in the street and he told us he was moving - just a few blocks down from where he was before - and that he was about to go start taking his things over to the new house. Because we didn´t have a fixed appointment at that time, we offered to go help him, and we helped him move to his new house. (Not as easy as in the US, since instead of a U-Haul we had only a small handcart to get all of his possessions from one place to the other. Fortunately, he didn´t have all that much stuff and it was only large items that we were moving.) He thanked us, and we carried on. We went to his house a few days later and found that he was working to attach some furniture to the wall, so we pitched in and helped him get it done a lot faster than he could have done it by himself. 

Because of those two acts of service, he opened up to us once again and we were able to apply the Gospel to help him know how to resolve his problems. He listened to us, and he trusted our counsel once again. When we left, we told him we´re always available if he needs help, and he said, ´Yes... I know.´ Like mom said - service does soften hearts. And it was great that God put us in just the place we needed to be both times so that we were there when he needed help.

Alright, that´s all I´ve got today! We´re going to go shopping now and then do some fun P.day apartment cleaning! Yee-ha. 

Take care! I love you all so much! Have a great week.

Hugs, and a kiss on the cheek for Mom and sisters,
Elder Andrew Stockton

Photos:

  Second Christmas!

Service in Jardines:

Jardines in January

Hello, family!
It was great to read your letters, as it always is. I guess the holiday time is all wrapped up (heh heh) and the regular routine´s starting. Sounds like it was a good one! And I´m looking forward to the next one. :-)

Things have been going really well here in Jardines.

Andrew told us about some of the goals he and his companion have been working on ... and it does sound like WORK! 

This week, for the first time, we had our weekly goals basically met on Sunday and didn´t have to stress about how we were going to finish. But man, were we tired at the end of the week. 

Heh heh. Now I know better what Elder Holland was talking about when he said, ´You Elders should fall into bed exhausted at the end of each day because of how hard you worked.´ It´s good to work hard. 

I´ve just got to keep this behavior up now - make it a habit.

[One investigator] is progressing nicely. He´s reading, and praying to know if the things that we´re teaching him are true. He thinks they are. And, he came to church yesterday and really liked it. He wants to bring his daughter.

This week the ward is going to be doing a Family Home Evening/Talent Show, which should be an excellent opportunity to have investigators see the church and get to know some of the ward members so that they´ll be more likely to come on Sunday. I´m not sure why it´s so hard for people to come to church! But it´s much more likely that they´ll come to an activity!

Piano class went really well last week - lots more members showed up to learn. I´ve separated the teaching into 4 distinct lessons. It´s pretty simple - they´re picking it up really fast. If they practice, I think they can be playing some simplified hymns in church in just a couple months! I was also able to help [a man in the ward] know how he can apply his guitar knowledge to the hymns in the simplified hymnbook, and play hymns to sing in his family. I like this! At the beginning, I thought we were just going to be teaching them a few fun things that they can do on the piano, but I really think they have the potential to continue on with what they´re learning. How great would it be if the ward was self-supporting in piano players? Heh heh. Kind of fun. And one of our investigators has been coming to the music classes and really enjoying them. So it´s good for him, too.

Let´s see, what other fun things happened this week?

[One of our Peruvian investigators] is fantastic! She loves everything she´s heard from us so far. She was really interested in the Book of Mormon, and said, ´Why have I never heard of this before?´

And, that´s most of what´s going on here. The work is progressing, slowly but surely. We´ve experienced some incredible storms (lightning storms! Wow!) and some incredible heat. And I learned that you can buy little ice cream bars for 1 peso at pretty much any kiosko. So. Life´s good.

Much love! Thanks for your emails, your support... keep living & loving life! You´re the best!
Love,
Elder Stockton

Out with the old ... in with the new!

December 24, 2012

Buenos Aires Argentina Temple

All the missionaries from the Buenos Aires West Mission
attended a special session at the Temple on Christmas Eve day.

Elders Wing and Stockton

Reconnecting with old friends and companions!

December 25, 2012

A Christmas meal and celebration with Church members

Mmmmm! Treats from cousin Becca!

REAL PEANUT BUTTER!  HEAVEN ON EARTH!

Seize the day!

Happy New Year!

December 31, 2012

Hello!

It was quite a treat to get to talk to you all the other day! Nice to hear your voices... and just have that back-and-forth interaction that email doesn´t provide. I love you! And I was very impressed with Jacob´s harmonica playing.

We passed a very nice Christmas here... we woke up, opened presents and letters, ate lunch with a member family, played a few games of ´eat flour´ with them, went to the church and called our families, and visited a few people before retiring to bed. It was great!

But I think Christmas Eve was even better! We went to the temple - it´s incredibly beautiful! I didn´t get to go during the open house, so this was the first time I saw it. Interesting to do a session on Spanish, too. After the temple, we went back to the offices and had a nice lunch, then went to a Christmas devotional set up by Hermana Carter. She read us a children´s Christmas book (ha!) and we heard some really excellent music sung and played by missionaries serving here. It was HOT, though! The temperature that day + the humidity that there was made it feel like (we calculated) 124 degrees. Ack! And all 180-something of us missionaries in one room, without windows or fans? Oof. Pretty hot. But still really nice.

Well, let´s see... what´s been happening here recently?

One of our investigators has stopping having lessons ... that has been really sad.  Very suddenly, she was gone and out of our reach to help. Our spirits took a serious hit when she left, but since then God has blessed us with other great investigators. We met a man who has a strong desire to leave behind drugs and alcohol and change his life. Another woman, who was the sister of one of our other investigators, met us and the next day came to church. She loved it - she felt the peace and the Spirit that she was looking for.

And, we still have our other investigators, some of whom are progressing. José told us the other day that when he reads the Book of Mormon, it makes him want to hug someone. So, things are not so bad here.

On Friday we taught a sample Beginning English / Piano class, and it was a big hit, so we decided to continue doing it and announced it in Sacrament meeting. Lots of members told us that they´re excited to come to the class, and we invited them all to bring friends. This should be a good way to find new investigators as well as help people learn new skills! I´m no expert piano teacher, but was able to do a pretty good class on identifying the names of notes last time. The problem is, everything has a different name in Spanish! Even the notes - they´re called Do, Re, Mi, Fa, etc. instead of C, D, E, F... we´ll see how the class goes this week.

Well, today ends my ´white year´: the one year (January to December) of my life that is spent completely in the service of the Lord. It´s been a good one. I´ve progressed a lot, and I´ve been very blessed. The mission is good.

And an embarrassing thing: We taught a lesson to a nice young man last week and made an appointment to come back. After the lesson, Elder Wing told me that she was, in fact, a nice young lady. Whoops. Curse these gender-disguising shaved-head/mohawk haircuts.

That´s all I´ve got today, I think... time to read the letters from my dear family. :-)
I hope you all have a wonderful week! And, Happy New Year! May it be the best yet.

Love,
Elder Stockton

Merry Christmas!

Twas the noon-time of Christmas
And all through the room
The Stocktons were waiting
Their hopes in full bloom!

You see, they were waiting
For the house phone to ring,
A message from Andrew
They hoped it would bring!

And lo! And behold!
(With a minor delay)
A call from Argentina
Did brighten their day!

His voice, it was merry.
His attitude, catching.
His English was goofy --
(He hasn't been practicing :)  )

He heard news from home,
And expressed thanks and love
For the letters, support,
And the prayers sent above.

He told us of life,
About people he teaches,
His joy serving others
And his hope that he reaches ---

Those who search for the truth,
Who seek something more,
Who are anxious to hear
A new "clap" at their door.

His greatest delight,
His joy and his treasure,
Is sharing the gospel
And blessings unmeasured.

He works very hard,
And makes sacrifice too,
But it's worth it, he says,
And there's much work to do!

He loves all the people
He encounters each day,
And hopes he can touch them
For good on their way.

He sends love to his family,
Each one cherished and dear,
Says "hello" to his friends,
And to be of good cheer!

He reminds us of Jesus
Whose message he shares,
A message of love,
That amidst all our cares --

We too can have peace
If we'll follow His way,
If we'll come unto Him,
If we'll share love each day.

We all felt enriched
By his message and voice.
In his service and love
We can only rejoice!

As we wrapped up the call

(Which came much much too soon)

Tender feelings of love

Filled our hearts, and the room.

Our wishes to all,

 Friends and family so dear ...

"May the blessings of Christmas

Stay with you all year!"

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

With love,

The Stocktons!

December in Jardines

December 17, 2012

Dear Family,

...Oh no! I´ve been naughty and opened up my Christmas package ahead of time! A lump of coal for me! :-o I assumed it was a pre-Christmas package because I thought the Christmas lights were to decorate for December. Ah well! I was told recently that the package from Becca arrived, so... that will be my open-on-Christmas box! (Reminds me of the time Mom caught Jacob and I under the bed in the very act of opening up my Christmas present - a brown Bionicle! Remember that, Mom?)

(It's hard to send any 'surprises,' as we have to declare all the contents of the box on the customs form. Thus the confusion ...)

But I did indeed feel your love as I opened it, and I send you my love and thanks in return. :-) And I love the music! All the music you sent is fantastic - and Elder Wing and I are enjoying it. I am particularly liking the Fernando Ortega CDs. There´s a great feel of honest worship to his songs - it´s not fake or over-the-top. The Hallelujah Chorus (Handel's Messiah) is a big hit here as well. Also a big hit is the fudge and the other snacks, which Elder Wing and I have been treating ourselves to the whole week long. I also finally opened up one of those peanut butter packs yesterday. Mmmmm! I was missing it.

Well, we had an awesome week this week. I´m happier than I´ve ever been on my mission! I feel more capable than ever, and like I´m doing more to help people than ever before. I love to see the change in the lives of the people that we´re teaching. They´re really beginning to get a small taste of what God has in store for them if they continue in the Gospel. And that makes me happy. I used to wish to find people who were all ready to be baptized, and just needed to be taught. But now my desire is to find people whose lives I can help change. The Gospel is a marvelous thing that really makes happy those who follow it.

One of our investigators is doing great. She is developing the habit of reading the Book of Mormon with her kids. She told us that she´s found that when the kids are sad or bored or misbehaving, that she can say ´Let´s go grab the scriptures and read together!´ and all the kids come surround her on the bed and she reads to them out of the Book of Mormon. (The real Book of Mormon, which it turns out they like better than the picture book.) Hurrah! Please, if you would remember her in your prayers, pray that she may withstand the opposition that she´s experiencing and have the courage to do the right thing.

This past week we went to do some service for some investigators -- painting the outside of the building where they work. It turned out that the paint was really thin and hard to apply. I think I ended up painting more of myself than I did the wall. We´re going back to finish painting this Wednesday.

Another investigator is really educated about the Bible! He started telling us about the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods, and about callings that should exist in the church, and other things similar to that. I think the more he finds out that the Restored Church fits with what he reads in the Bible, the more he is convinced that it really is the same true church. (Although he was a little surprised to find out that we were Anciants - or, Elders - in the church.) But we don´t think he´s praying to ask God whether these things are true yet, which is vital. He needs to have that spiritual conviction.

We found some fantastic new investigators this week -- a (married!!) couple from Paraguay. They moved here to Argentina a few months back and are building a house to live in. Their 3 kids are in Paraguay still, and it´s hard for the parents to be here without them. When they finish the house, the kids will move here with them. They grew up in another congregation, but as adults they became disillusioned with it. Now they are going around to various churches, looking for a good church to raise their children in. We told them we can give them even better - the true church of Jesus Christ. They are going to start reading in the Book of Mormon, praying, and attending church to know whether it really is. 

Another investigator is a woman from Perú. Her sister and cousin were baptized in Perú years back. She was introduced to the church, but never got very far along the conversion process because of how much she had to work. Now she is looking for some way to bring more unity and happiness to her family. We told her we can help her with that!

The Gospel is just great. It makes people happy. We are so lucky (blessed) to be members of the church.

I´m learning a few phrases in Guaraní! That´s kind of fun. ´Yah yo toe pahtah´ (say it like it reads) means ´See you later!´ If you want to gain a Paraguayan´s confidence/interest, speak Guaraní to them.

Elder Decker and Elder Sampson baptized a family of 3 on Saturday. That was nice to see!

A Family Home Evening with some investigators went great. We played the guitar and sang ´Noche de Luz´ and we felt the Spirit. And, we had panchos, which are like hot dogs but twice as long.

I will call home probably about 4:40 Argentine time, which would be 12:40 your time. Sorry, that´s right around lunchtime, I know! We´re allowed 40 minutes to talk, so we´ll have enough time for a good chat.

I love you so much! Take care, have a great week... pet the kitty for me. Merry Christmas. :-)

Love,
Elder Andrew Stockton

December 2012

 

Hard to believe, 

but one year has come and gone!

Happy hump day, Elder Stockton!

November 30, 2012

December 3, 2012

Hello, dear family!

This week saw lots of miracles here in Jardines. We´re teaching some people that are just... really cool. I´m so lucky (blessed) to be here and be able to interact with these fantastic souls. They bless my life, and I hope to be able to bless theirs. May I tell you about a few of the awesome people/experiences of Jardines?

One of the investigators we are teaching ... was a referral from the elders in Jardines B, who contacted her on the bus. She´s from Paraguay. When she was a child, her aunt and cousins converted to the Gospel. She spent lots of time with them, and so she grew up going to Primary and Family Home Evenings. She was never able to be baptized because her parents wouldn´t give her permission. When she was 12, she moved here to Argentina and lost contact with the Church. Now we´re teaching her and her 5 kids, all of whom are under the age of 6. 

When we had our first lesson with her, we invited her to prepare to be baptized in the church, and she accepted. Part of that preparation is going to church, which is the commitment that is hardest for investigators to keep. We knew it was going to be especially hard for her, having 5 kids to take care of. But she told us, ´Elders, I am going to do everything in my power to get to church on Sunday.´ That´s something you rarely hear as a missionary. We arranged for a sister in the ward to come and help us get her there to church, and we showed up their house at 8:40 on Sunday morning to pick them up. All of them were dressed nicely and waiting for us. I think that may be the first time that has ever happened to me on the mission! It was quite nice!

Then we hit an obstacle. Our plan was to take the kids and walk the block to the bus stop, then take the bus to church. But when we got there, we were informed that a bus driver had been killed that morning and as a result none of the buses were running! Augh! We tried to call for a remis (taxi), but none of them were running that early in the morning. We tried to call a member of the ward to come pick us up, but no one answered. We were there almost an hour before thankfully, a brother from the ward called us back and came to pick us up. In the meantime, I was able to exercise the talent I´ve developed on the mission of keeping children entertained. I pulled out a ´Friend´ magazine and some colored pencils, and with that was able to keep them from getting bored and noisy while my companion tried to find a way to get us to church.

At last we were able to get there, and we had a great meeting. During Sacrament meeting, I looked over (from where I was at the piano) at our investigator, expecting to see her distracted quieting her children. But what I saw was just her, holding her months-old baby and looking at the speaker! The members had totally taken charge of helping her with her kids, so that she was left free to concentrate and feel the Spirit. That was nice to see. I feel like we´ve got good members here in Jardines.

That´s all I´ve got time for! Love you so much! Talk to you next week.
Elder Stockton

Pictures from Andrew's last days in Bragado:

Adela! We had a great last lunch with her, with the zone leaders there. We didn´t tell Adela I was leaving, because she has this habit of getting up during the wee hours of the morning and walking down to the bus station to see Elders off - which she really shouldn´t do.

December 10, 2012

Hi! I´m writing to you from a cyber near the offices today, because today is ´Renew-your-documents´ day for my mission age-group. How are things? I can feel some of the special Christmas spirit when I think about home - the tree and the lights and the heater vent... and cookies and Christmas music. And, sitting on the couch with a blanket and a sleeping kitty on your lap, while eating peanut butter crackers and reading a book. (Don´t worry, I only think about these things on P-day! ;-) But, let´s see - it looks like we might be able to give the pench a little more of a Christmasy look with the contents of this package that I picked up from the offices...! This is to open now, right? It´s not a to-wait-for-Christmas box? (If it is, I´ll only find out next week, by which date it will be too late!) Thanks much! I´m getting spoiled with all these packages!

Well, we had a good week this week. Some of our investigators are progressing really well! In fact, the woman I told you about is progressing better and faster than I´ve ever seen! She came to church again on Sunday. It was a little harder with the kids this time, but she still enjoyed it. She seems so happy recently. The other day we asked her what kind of change she´s seen in herself since she began investigating. She she told us how the Gospel has given her a hope for her life, a reason to live and to fight every day. This week she asked us about the temple and about eternal families, without us even bringing it up. She obviously has her sights set beyond just baptism - she sees the real reason for following the Gospel! He children are happy, too. They loved Primary and were anxious to return. This week we gave her a Book of Mormon Picture Book to read with her kids, so that they (and she) can get to know the Book of Mormon stories and people.

This week we made burritos, with refried beans that my companion somehow obtained here in Argentina, and tortillas made with empanada tortillas. Not quite like what we eat at home, but... at least enough to make me say, Mmmm, good!

I got a HUGE sunburn the other day after being in the sun only an hour! The problem was, I was in a normal T-shirt (we were doing service), and the skin on my back and neck that is usually hidden under my collar was exposed to the sun. It didn´t take long for me to be burned, burned, burned... I´m a little better now, but it was making me pretty uncomfortable for a few days with my collared shirts!

It looks l like Christmas is going to be good here! On P-day the 24th, our whole mission is going to the temple (for the first time, woohoo!), then back to the offices for a mission-wide lunch and devotional. Should be good!

And the day of, a phone call home! We need to arrange the time to call next week, because we won´t be emailing home the 24th. How many hours ahead of AZ time is Argentina? I´m looking forward to it!

Well, that´s all I´ve got today! I love you all. Keep that Christmas Spirit in your hearts! Thanks for your prayers!

Love,
Elder Andrew Stockton