June 3 - July 1, 2013

June 3, 2013

Hello, beloved fam´ly! Sounds like it´s been a great week there as well as here! I loved seeing all the pictures. Seeing Jacob´s juggling is making me wonder if I want to pick that up when I get home! (Although if I start learning to juggle I´m sure I´ll be doing quite a bit of ´picking up´, at least at first.) Looks like a great time. I hope you said hello to Grandma for me, and gave her my love.

I´m afraid I only have 20 minutes to write, so today´s letter will be a combination of journal entries that I can type of fast, and an extract from my letter to President this week.

I feel a great sense of accomplishment for this week. This was the first week that I really did everything I could, every day, to meet our goals. Like you told me to in our interview, I put pressure on myself, and that pressure motivated me to plan better and be more diligent during the day. This week I did not slack off once, and that´s why I take pride in it. I feel satisfied for having pushed myself beyond my previous level of diligence and effectiveness. It was a sacred week.

Elder Steffen (a zone leader, previously the secretary to President Carter) and I went on divisions this week, and that was awesome. He taught that I should pray every day for the opportunity to challenge someone to be baptized. I´ve been putting it into practice, with good results.

I am studying about ´the enabling power of the Atonement´, the help that Christ affords us to change our natures and BECOME better people. I saw that in action many times this past week - I prayed for desire to get up and talk to people instead of just sitting on the bus, and that desire and strength was given to me! And that is changing me. This week I experienced the grace of Christ, which came after all I could do - because despite our best efforts, on Sunday evening we were looking at barely missing our goals by a new investigator and a lesson with member. But I prayed for help, and because we had worked hard all week, the help came and we completed our goals, and had very good lessons.

June 1, 2013
I´m so tired!
...
Particularly rewarding today was a visit to M & K. (The last visit - M is already down in Bragado, and K heads down with [their daughter] on Wednesday.) We shared Alma 32 again, like at the beginning of our visits, but from a different perspective now. They told us how they have grown because of the Gospel. And the most gratifying was M´s testimony: he said that the biggest change that has happened in him is that now he has a purpose. A goal, a direction. HE knows what he´s working for. And, as he also said, he is becoming more capable at leading his family in the right way. So, that was awesome! (K said that the biggest change for her is the unity and the dialog they now enjoy, that beforehand they didn´t have.)

We passed by JH again today, first time in many weeks. He´s really good. We had an excellent lesson about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. He´s a great man, very dedicated... he´s looking for the truth, but he just hasn´t given our church a good enough try yet! I love him.

June 2, 2013
Today we had an excellent lesson with A´s father. He wants to be a better father. He wants to change his personality and replace hate and impatience with positive attributes, love and long-suffering. We shared a message about how Jesus Christ can change us as we have faith in Him an repent. We spoke of baptism, how it is a new beginning given to us by God. We invited him to prepare to be baptized on the 29 of June and he accepted. It was a very good lesson.

He also told me something that I had said last week, about fathers needing to work to provide for their children, had stayed with him and motivated him all week to get up and go to work even when he didn´t feel like it.

Today in church I was down because our investigators hadn´t come - I decided to change my attitude and asked for God´s help, and I felt better - I felt happy again and saw things in the larger perspective. I love my mission.

May 28, 2013
On the bus ride home, I did a contact; then I was our of contact cards so I sat down. Then I thought, ´instead of just sitting here I´ll do one contact more´, and I did. After that, feeling good for putting forth a little extra effort, I looked at our goals and realized we lacked one return appointment to meet our goal. We were almost home, and I knew everyone would be getting off the bus soon, but I thought, ´Just do it´, and I contact the last guy on the bus. He was really good and invited us to come back. So we made a return appointment and met our goal.

Oh, yeah! Elder Cook came and spoke to us, and shook each of our hands individually. It was a really good experience.

Well, that was this week. Lots of other good things happened, but no time to write them all.
I love you all so much and I hope you have a fantastic week! Enjoy the spring!

love,
Elder Stockton

June 10, 2013

Hello, family! You have my mouth watering with the descriptions of those peaches... and peach salsa. Mmmm! So many good things to be looked forward to. How are the many figs doing? Will they be producing when I get home? How many figs will we be getting?

This is the last full week of the transfer... probably my last one in Jardines. I´ll start writing thank-you notes for people just in case, to be delivered if I leave.

We had a good week. It went really super fast, and it feels like I don´t have as many experiences to tell about this one. But at least the ones I do have to tell are good ones!

Well, the M & K chapter of my mission has officially ended. We woke up early on Tuesday to help K and her dad move all of their possessions into an old moving van, and the next day K [her daughter] followed their stuff ´home´ to Bragado. (And, finally, M came back in the early hours of Saturday to pick up Martin, their dog, thus completing the family. We´ll miss them, but they´re in good hands. We talked to Elder Blackburn, who is serving in Bragado, and he has everything taken care of. Seems like a pretty solid missionary. And Bragado had a baptism yesterday! So, good stuff! We´ll hope that before too long, we´ll be able to add an epilogue to their story - in which they get married, then baptized, sealed, and live happily ever after.

This week we taught M and J the word of wisdom; they accepted it and began making plans to leave behind some unhealthy habits. Their 3-year-old, is cute. He began our lesson by demanding that he get to say the opening prayer, and to our amazement, proceeded to do so in a very complete form. I think his parents liked it too. J is really seeing the difference happening in their family since they started living parts of the Gospel. M receives everything a little more hesitantly, but he´s still good. Yesterday we taught them about the law of chastity and invited them to be married. We had taught them about it before, but nothing came of it. We´ll see if this time they decide to go through with it! I sure hope so.

On the way back from a district meeting on Tuesday morning, I was sitting on the bus and really did not feel like doing anything. I was tired. But I decided to just do a few contacts... and the first lady I talked to on the bus happily informed us that her husband used to go to the Mormon church in Paraguay and he would love to talk to us! So, we went by, and they seem like a really good family! The dad went to church all the time in Paraguay when he was younger, and loved it, but he was never baptized. The mom is religious but doesn´t go to any church because she doesn´t know which one is correct. The daughter is young but has some very deep and hard questions of the soul that she wants answered. The son plays professional soccer. But they are very receptive, and look like they could progress.

We hadn´t been able to sit down and teach Y for about 2 weeks. She wasn´t answering her phone, she wouldn´t be there for appointments, and we were worried about her. Then this week we finally were able to find her and teach her again. She´s experiencing opposition from her husband and family for going to church. But she´s been reading the Book of Mormon every day with her son L and they´ve been praying together, and she told us she´s seen many blessings. She loves everything about the church and wants for her children to go there... but she also wants them to make their own decision. She also wants the support of her family, especially her husband. But they woke up Sunday morning and came to church in the rain, which is something that discourages many people from coming.

After church, we showed Y and L the baptismal font, and Y explained to her son what baptism means. We asked L, who is 11, whether he would like to be baptized (Y pointedly looked the other way so as not to influence his decision), and he said yes, he would. Mom gave her consent. We have to ask the dad. We had invited Y to prepare for baptism as well and she said she would love to. But, she has to get married first.

So, that´s the news this week! I hope you all have a really good week, with good weather, good food, peace and tranquility. And fun!

I love you all so much! Take care.
Elder Stockton

June 17, 2013

T-minus 2 days ´til transfers

Sounds like a pretty fun week at the Stockton house. I´d love to see Dad´s new website [kenstockton.com], but it´ll have to wait until I get home. I would, however, love to continue seeing pictures of the new paintings as they are finished!

Transfers happen this Wednesday... and we´re all pretty confident that I´m heading out. It will be nice to have a new start - a new area, ward and companion to help facilitate change and cement good habits into my character.

As you saw, we had a ´Mission Tour´ with Elder Viñas, who is a counselor in the Area Presidency. It was a really good experience. He talked about working hard to help overcome discouragement, and about helping our investigators to repent and apply the Atonement to their lives. It was a nice meeting. And, of course, fun to be in Luján again. That seems to be the standard meeting place for our zone of Moreno when we´re getting together with other zones.

And, yep! That was our choir singing at the Mission Tour. I was asked a few weeks back if I could play an accompaniment for a choir number: ´O Mi Padre´ (Oh, My Father). So during one P-day. and when we had an extra moment at the church, I got to create and practice a simple arrangement to accompany the song. The problem was that the choir was going to be created from the 3 different zones. We were able to practice with our the zone, but never got a chance to practice with everyone. So when we performed the number at the meeting, 2/3 of the zone had still never heard the arrangement of the song! But, thanks to our good director and some help from above, everything went really well and the Spirit was felt. It is nice to be able to help out in that way. Those piano lessons were worth it!

The stitching in my shoes finally gave way completely, and I had a pair re-stitched. Now they´re practically new again, and since the shoe was stitched from the start, they don´t even look ´repaired´. But when I see how other missionaries´ shoes have worn out after 10 months, I´m more and more convinced that we made a good buy!

My companion and I each gave a talk in church on Sunday (again...). I was wondering what to speak about and several ideas came to mind - service, charity, fulfilling duty, becoming converted. I wondered, Which of these topics am I supposed to talk about!? Then I found a General Conference talk that combined all of those themes, and knew it was the right message for my talk. The talk was Elder Ballard´s ´Becoming Anxiously Engaged´, from the October 2012 Conference, and I absolutely love it! I had never heard or read the talk in English before, but it´s quite a good one. Each of us individually has potential to change lives... and collectively, as a church body, we can bless and lift the world. I loved his challenge at the end. And I loved the part about letting our testimony go past our mind and sink deep into our hearts.

I read another really good Conference talk about fulfilling duty: President Eyring´s talk Act in All Diligence from the May 2010 General Conference. I´ve been thinking lately about what advice I would give to young men preparing to go on a mission. My counsel to any young man preparing to serve the Lord as a missionary would be to learn now how to serve the Lord as a Deacon, Teacher, or Priest. Learn the duties of your calling and learn to magnify it. If you learn to really magnify your Priesthood responsibilities now, you will magnify your mission and it will be a success.

I´m still struggling to master that principle. It´s no easy task and this week I´ve been very aware of my weakness and shortcomings. But that is why I´m so grateful for the experience of serving a mission, is because it shows you where you´re weak so that you can learn to rely on the Lord and become stronger. And I believe that the grace of Christ is sufficient to help us change when we humble ourselves and have faith in Him. I´ll look for that power this week.

I love you all so much and I´m happy to hear your news! May you have a fantastic week this week. Watch the mission blog to see the changes! Love you all.

Elder Stockton

June 24, 2013

Meeting Ituzaingo 2

Hello, dear fam!

Yep! As you`ve seen already, I have been transferred. We were surprised when we got the phone call and found out that both Elder Lee and I would be leaving - in mission language, that`s called a whitewash: when they put in two new missionaries who don`t know the area. But then we found out at transfer meeting that they weren`t putting new missionaries in - Jardines A was merged with Jardines B! So we`re leaving the area (Jardines A and B) in the capable hands of Elder De Leon and his new trainee. Jardines was a long and a good chapter, my favorite area and time so far, but now it`s time to move on and look at what`s to come.

I`m in a fairly large city called Ituzaingo. It is different in a lot of ways from Jardines. Ituzaingo is very rich - the people here are quite well off. The ward is small and seems to be closely knit, with good leadership and some really good families. We will never be lunchless here.

My companion is Elder Leatham, from Ridgecrest, CA. He`s cool! We get along well. He`s been in the mission for 16 months.

We don`t have very many investigators... in fact, we just have one. His name is S, and he`s a super stud! He`s a 45-ish-year-old taxi driver who was recently separated from his wife and is looking for meaning in his life. One day the missionaries had stayed late to eat dinner at a members` house, and the members called for a taxi so that the missionaries would get home on time. S was the driver who came to pick them up, and on the way home he told them his story and they made an appointment to go teach him. This was about a month ago - now, he`s been to church a few times and loves it, he`s reading in the Book of Mormon and he`s praying, and he`s trying to break his smoking addiction.

The other day we had a lesson at his house, and he told us he really wants to stop smoking. He made the goal to only smoke 3 more cigarettes, and not buy any more. As the lesson went on, he decided he didn`t even need three and crushed two of them and gave them to us to take away. A minute later, there was a knock on the door - his neighbor had come over to ask for a cigarette. So S surrendered his last cigarette and said it must be a sign. Funny guy.

It looks as if the big challenge here in Ituzaingo is going to be finding investigators to teach - in Jardines is isn`t that difficult, but we`ve spent 3 whole days doing almost nothing but knocking doors so far and haven`t come up with anything. (We found a lot of atheists in our door contacting, which I never found in Barrio Jardines.) So, it`s time to change our methods!

On Thursday we went to a ward baptism of a boy named K. It was a good baptism, and afterward we went to a party at the family`s house. They made a pretty elaborate `Angry Birds` cake, which I`ll send a picture of when I can.

So, that`s the new area! Thanks for your letters, it´s great to think of what`s going on at home. Hope you all have a quite fantastic week!

Love,
Elder Stockton

July 1, 2013

Week 2 in Ituzaingo 2

Hello, family! Still here in the Ituzaingo 2nd ward. I enjoyed reading your emails. Helped by your descriptions, I remember pretty well how the summer monsoon season is. Sounds nice! And sounds like you`re having some fun - fun games, fun projects!

Well, we had a really good week here. By working hard and with help from above, we broke the lack-of-new-investigators streak the area had been experiencing and found several new families/individuals to teach.

On Monday we found a man named D, who invited us in and asked what it was that we shared with people - we shared the Restoration and invited him to investigate and be baptized, and he accepted. After the lesson he knelt and said the closing prayer. I think it must have been the first time he prayed out loud. He prayed very sincerely and there were tears in his eyes as he finished.

We passed by a woman named R who investigated the church about a year ago, and was on the point of being baptized when she relapsed and was overcome by her smoking addiction. After her next few attempts to give up smoking failed, she became discouraged and stopped working towards baptism. When we arrived, she said it was funny that we should arrive just at that moment because just a week ago she had decided to give up smoking for good, and that she was trying to do that now. In fact, that very morning she had found her Gospel Principles book and read the chapter about the Word of Wisdom. We told her we will help her stop smoking and invited her to be baptized, and she accepted.

And we met and started teaching the C family, a family that has recently passed through some very hard times with an abusive husband. The family has been living in spiritual darkness, and we told them how Jesus Christ can bring light to their lives again. They were going to come to church on Sunday, but unfortunately the littlest child got sick Saturday night and they couldn`t make it.

We taught a lesson in English to a 21-year-old named E. He`s learning English so that he can come work in the US. (His friend lives in San Bernardino!) It was really hard for my companion to teach in English, which was funny. Spanish words and sentence patterns kept sneaking in. I`m sure I`m just as bad. It doesn`t seem like he`s that interested in our message itself, which is too bad, but maybe we`ll be able to find someone who is interested through him.

We met an elderly lady named M in a member`s house, and taught her about the Restoration. She is Catholic, but says she always has arguments with the Priests about certain doctrines that she doesn`t think make sense. She seems very promising. She wanted to come to church on Sunday, but unfortunately she had a fall on Friday when the bus she was boarding accelerated too early, and she was too sore to be able to come.

So, we have some new, promising people! We`ll hope that many of these people are prepared for their baptism dates at the end of July.

This week I was forced to learn how to navigate the area quickly because (surprise) we went on 2-day divisions with the Zone Leaders, and I had to guide the area. With my map, we made our way around. Reminds me of years ago when Dad taught me how to use a map, as we were doing our home teaching visits. So many things that I didn`t think were useful then that turned out to be! ;-)

While we were on divisions, we tracted a house and the bishop`s wife came out. And thus we found the bishop`s house. How`s that for a successful contact? She even came to church on Sunday!

Last week began a new rule in our mission - from Tuesday to Sunday we can only listen to Mormon Tabernacle Choir music. I actually kind of like it... fortunately I have a pretty good selection of music, or we`d be listening to my companion`s 2 songs over and over again!

For a P-day activity today, and in preparation for Thursday, Elder Leatham and I bought a big piece of poster board and painted into a giant American flag. And Elder Leatham made real American apple pie. Mmm mmmm! Fun being with a North American for the 4th of July. How I love the USA.

Elder Leatham and I both gave talks this week - I reused my `Anxiously Engaged` talk from Jardines, but modified to this ward. I wanted each of the members to really feel that they can make a difference in someone`s life. I shared as an example Brother Schoenheim, who had a big effect on me - not for any great thing he did, but because he always made me feel like I was important and valued. I wanted the members to realize that the little things we do to help lift others can make a big difference.

Elder Leatham and I discovered the other day that the supermarket close to our house sells chicken wings cheap - 2 lbs for a little bit less than $0.50 USD. So, we bought 4 lbs of chicken wings and made spicy oven-cooked chicken wings! Mmmm!

And, wow. A lot happened this week! It was a good week... and a very long week! Let`s hope this one is just as good.

I love you all very much. Thank you for your prayers for me and for being mindful of me here. I have the best family ever!
Elder Stockton

Learning and sharing talents!

 

Elder Quentin L.Cook, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and his wife, visited The Buenos Aires West mission in May.

From the Mission blog:

Elder Cook shook the hand of each and every missionary…even the late arrivals were asked to go to the back when he finished speaking. Both Sister Cook and Elder Cook shared their love and messages with us. It was an extraordinary opportunity for us as a mission and we basked in the joy of what we experienced afterwards in an impromptu meeting for just our mission.

Elder Francisco J. Viñas, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been visiting each zone in the Buenos Aires West Mission and giving instruction.

From Hermana Carter, the Mission President's wife, on the Mission blog:

Every day of the mission tour, we have had the Most Amazing musical numbers by a missionary choir from one of the zones attending the meeting. Today was no exception. I have no idea how the elder got that piano to sound like it did, because I have heard this piano on numerous occasions and it has issues, but today it sounded concert worthy and the choir was fabulous!

Pretty sure that the "elder" making that old piano sing is none other than Elder Stockton!
Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for all those years of piano lessons!

May 12 - 27, 2013

May 12, 2013

Ah, Happy Day! We all enjoyed our Mother's Day phone call from Andrew! It was so great to hear his voice, and feel his enthusiasm for the work he is doing. He loves the Savior, and loves sharing the gospel with those who are seeking a spiritual change. 

May 13, 2013

Dear Family,

Nice to hear your voices yesterday! Can you believe that was my last phone call home? Time´s going quicker and quicker... I´ve got to take advantage of these last few months!

Well, most of what´s been happening lately, I told you yesterday. We had a really good church meeting yesterday. The bus ride there was fun, too - we were seated with Y and her 3 kids. Then some members got on the bus as well. A few stops later, K and her daughter got on the bus, and we all rode together to church. That was nice! 

We first took the kids to Primary, where they walked right in with no fear and sat down with the other kids. Then we took Y to Relief Society and left her in the care of the sisters. They had a lesson about the family, which apparently was just what Y and K needed. 

And I already told you about Gospel Principles - how it evolved into a testimony meeting by recent converts and investigators, and they just shared and strengthened each other. 

After the meeting, when we asked Y how she liked church, she told us, ´To tell the truth I loved it.´ She also commented that she would be coming next week, and she wanted to bring her husband, and also she would like for her children to come to Piano/English class. So, all around, a good day of church! It´s great to see that the ward is getting better, too - they´re reaching out more to the investigators and recent converts, and everyone feels more comfortable. 

It was fun to hear that K, although tempted, has had nothing of coffee since they committed to live the Word of Wisdom. Hurrah!

There´s another investigator that we found a while ago by offering to help him move a ton of bricks into his yard, who we finally got to teach again this week. His name is O, and he also wants to be a good father for his kids and to raise them in a good environment. He accepted the message of the Restoration of the Gospel as something that makes sense, and committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We asked him whether he would be willing to continue in the Church if he felt like this was God´s path for him, and he said, ´Of course! If I feel like that´s what God wants for me and my family, of course I´ll do it.´ Preach My Gospel says that people with that desire won´t take long before they feel the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the Gospel. I love working with families! It´s too bad that so often the desire only comes from one of the parents.

We had a Family Home Evening with A´s parents and their whole family last night, previous to my phone call. It went well - the dad is a musician, so we played around a bit on their various musical instruments first. Then we had the lesson and invited them to start praying as a family. It will be really great if we can have the whole family in the Church.

That´s all I´ve got for today! I love you a lot and I´m glad to read your letters. Send photos when you can! Have a great week.

Love,
Elder Stockton

May 20, 2013

Dear Family,

Well, I think this must have been the quickest week ever. It seems like just a couple days ago that I was talking to you over the phone!

It´s been a good week.

Recently President Carter has implemented a change what activities are measured and reported, encouraging us to work more with the members in order to have more and better investigators. So these last few weeks, we missionaries have been struggling to adapt to this new style of work. This last week, Elder Lee and I put forth extra effort to plan and carry out our plans, and saw a lot of good results. Unfortunately, we didn´t achieve the results we hoped for, but I won´t get down about that. Results will come with time if we keep working diligently, putting forth all of our effort.

We found a great new family this week - a mom with two kids, one who moved here recently from Paraguay and is having a hard time making friends, and a 6-year-old who is in a wheelchair and also needs friends. She is looking for spiritual peace and also a place where her children can make good friends. She likes what we've shared of the Gospel so far.

We had a follow-up visit with Y this week to see how she liked church, and she commented, ´Everything I want for myself, my marriage, and my kids is all there: a good environment for my kids to grow, family unity...´ She´s a really excellent mother, and she´ll make a great addition to the ward. She sent her 11-year-old son L (who is a stud) to the church to learn piano on Friday. He learns quick! She´ll have a piano player in her family if he can find a way to practice.

The B family (A´s family) gave us a scare this week. Hna B (the grandma) and her husband and daughter were taking their son J to the hospital - he has asthma and had stopped breathing - and their taxi crashed. It sounds like Hermana B fractured her shoulder and S (her daughter) banged up her knees, but that everyone else was okay. We´re grateful it wasn´t worse than it was. Accidents are scary. Your prayers for the family would be appreciated!

Before that, A´s parents  had started praying every day as a family, as we had invited them to in the FHE. That´s great! But since the accident we haven´t been able to get in contact with them.

One night this week I woke up at 2:00AM coughing and spitting up phlegm, not feeling very good. I prayed and asked God to make me better so that I could be ready to work in the morning. After a while, I feel asleep again, and when I woke up the next morning I felt fine. I think missionaries get extra help sometimes, because we´re in such an important work. I´m grateful for it!

Oh, another success this week was that H came to church! H and his partner N have been passing through some rough times in their relationship, and H realized that he by himself can´t solve the problem. He made the decision to come to church to show God he wanted help, and followed through - he beat us to church! We were happy about that, because we needed to see some more action on his part for us to continue visiting him. We´re praying that he and N can resolve their problems, because they have a lot of potential as a family.

Well, I think that´s it for today. Thanks for your letters; it´s great to hear from you! Enjoy the warm weather! I love you all so much.

Elder Stockton

May 27, 2013

Dear Family,
Well, hello! Reading your letters, I felt a little like I was with you and the Harrises, visiting, eating, taking a walk and chatting together. Fun times! I´m sure we´ll do it again in some future. Maybe when Jacob is on his mission! Man. Time flies! Say hello to the Harrises for me.

This week has been a long one, with some definite high points.

We had interviews with President Carter on Thursday. Interviews are always good. I love them because President Carter is just inspired. He guides me and helps me to know how to improve, lets me know what is expected of me and tells me I can do it. This interview, the main theme was that the Lord wants me to become more of a leader and really guide the work in the way it should go. He gave me some really good tips to know how to have success, not just in missionary work but with everything in life. He told me that these last 6 months of my mission are my time to cement for my future life a better me. I remember that Dad, and Nathan, mentioned the same thing to me - the last 6 months can be the best time of the mission. I want to leave it all on ´the field.´

President also hinted to me that I most likely wouldn´t be in Jardines for much longer.

I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting, again. This time the theme was Missionary Work! Woohoo! What an awesome topic! The goal of my talk was that the members realize that their efforts to share the Gospel will really change the lives of their friends and family. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE in the life of someone who really needs help. I also tried to help them realize that their efforts in sharing the Gospel don´t have to be forced or unnatural - they can find many ways to naturally share the Gospel while simply being a friend. As a part of the talk, I read the story you emailed to me about the conversion of  [the new members in your ward]. (In Spanish, of course... Elder de Leon helped me be looking over my rough translation and correcting a few errors.) I think the talk went well. It´s a great story, though! Thanks for sharing it. How are they doing?

Elder Lee bought a pull up bar for the apartment! Say hello to an improved exercise routine!

We saw the B family last night. Hermana B is healing, but they´re all still a little shaken up and sad. We were able to help raise their spirits a little bit, and share a message about how the Lord ´visits (His) people in their afflictions.´

VH is now our Ward Mission Leader! We´re training him and teaching him how to do it. It will be a good calling for him to have while he´s waiting to turn in his mission papers. I told President about it, and this is what he told me: ´If you can train V to be a good ward mission leader, you will bless the lives of countless people in Jardines. ... Will you do that?´ What else can you say, but, ´Yes, President, I will´? We´re looking forward to working closely with V in the work.

While we were visiting with a family last week, they asked us to deliver a Book of Mormon they had promised to one of the mom´s former students, named L. We found the house later and delivered the book, and asked if they would let us come in to explain more what it is. They did, we passed inside and taught the boy and his parents about the Book of Mormon, and about how the Gospel blesses families. They seem promising! Those are some fruits of member-missionary work!

That´s all I´ve got for today. Have a fantastic week! Enjoy your summer vacation, Jacob! Learn a new skill! :-)
Take care! All my love is with you!

Elder Stockton

April 15 - May 6

April 15, 2013

Hello, family! It`s been a great week here.

This week I experienced some of the great joy of missionary service - one of those really good lessons which will help shape the future of a family. The week before last, we found and started teaching a young couple who are looking for a way to ensure their family`s future stability. (I told you about them, no? M___ and K___.) They started acting on our message immediately, by reading and praying, and by coming to General Conference.

This week, Elder Lee and I were thinking about what the next step would be for them to continue progressing in the Gospel. We decided that we would share a message about how marriage strengthens the family, and invite them to be legally married.

We started the lesson by talking together about how important families are, and what their experience has been like becoming a family and raising their daughter together. We also talked about how God wants us to have happy, strong families. They wanted to know how they could secure their relationship and their family against future problems, which took us to our point.

It was funny to see their reaction as soon as we mentioned marriage - K looked at M as if to say ´See!? Look! What have I always said?` And M started laughing, which he always does when he`s not sure how to answer, and covered his face. It was obvious they had talked about marriage before. Anyway, as we continued talking about how forming a family in God`s way would be the surest way to make their family secure, there was a good spirit with us. We all felt it, we felt the importance of the family and the truth of what was being taught. In the end we left them the assignment of talking about it and praying about it together, but M said, `I guess we`ll see what date we choose´, implying that he was already decided. K was so happy! M then looked down at their daughter, who was playing on the floor near their feet, ruffled her hair, and said, `It`s your fault we`re getting married!` It was a good lesson.

And the next lesson was even better! When we arrived we made normal small talk, and then we asked them what was new. They looked at us and announced that they were starting the process of getting married! Hurrah! Then we finished the lesson we had started a few days before about the Plan of Salvation and God´s plan for families, and, although we hadn`t planned on it, that lesson morphed into a lesson about the temple, and how little by little we receive the ordinances necessary to lead us to our goal: Eternal life as families. They were touched; we felt the Spirit very strongly. They really want to go to the temple.

It`s amazing to see their progress. M is developing spiritually and leading the family more. He gave a beautiful prayer from the heart the other day. And they`re praying together every night as a family, rotating turns. I love them.

It`s funny: at first they weren`t sure there was anything we could teach them about how to have a happy family - in fact, K asked us how we could teach about that if we don`t even have our own families yet. But that shows you the power of our message - we`re not just sharing ´what worked for us`, we`re sharing God`s true plan and guide for families.

And I`m afraid that M and K are going to form the main body of my letter home today - the other news will have to be short. But here it is, anyway:

I opened my birthday package today (as it`s P-day) and celebrated a little with Elder Lee. Thanks for your thoughtfulness and love. We enjoyed opening, eating, and reading. (Although I`m still unwrapping and reading the little quotes! There are quite a few!)

It`s been a good birthday, and it hasn`t even arrived yet.

To answer your question, Dad, J is still progressing. He is also undergoing a miraculous change. He came to church again this week for the first time since we originally started teaching him, and that`s an excellent step. But... he`s having a hard time dropping that last cigarette! We would appreciate your prayers for him, that he can drop his addiction and we well prepared to be baptized on his goal of May 11 - his birthday.

I love you all so much! May you have a good week, and know that I love you and am grateful for you. Stay strong!
Elder Stockton

The latest proselyting garb?

A haircut (note the resemblance it bears
to the picture on the wall) 

The Tucson crew at transfers
(Elder Bower from Tucson North Stake, and Elder Lee from
Tucson East? Stake --- currently Andrew's companion)

Our zone at transfers

Elder Wing and I reunite at transfers

Happy Birthday!

Looking forward to the Nose-flute duet
by Elder Stockton and soon-to-be Elder Stockton!

April 22, 2013

Hello, family! It`s been a bittersweet week - well, really it`s been a good week with one bittersweet experience.

I wrote to you last week about M and K, no? Well, they keep on progressing - they`re great. But, here`s the sad news: They`re going to be moving. To... (wait for it) Bragado!! I was so surprised when M told us he had gotten a job offer to go and work in Bragado, since that`s the area I was in right before coming to the Barrio Jardines. And it`s not very well known, it`s just a little city way out in the depths of campo.
At the beginning of the week they still didn`t know whether they would move or not. I briefly considered telling them Bragado is a horrible place and that they won´t like it, but I couldn´t. (Because, Bragado is a beautiful, tranquilo place and I think they`ll love it there!) So then M went to Bragado for a few days last week to see what it`s like. We anxiously awaited their decision during our first appointment after M got back, half hoping he liked it and half hoping he didn`t. When we asked him how his trip was, he told us... ´buenísimo!!´ and we knew they were going to be moving.

It´s sad for us, not to be able to continue teaching them, but that´s a part of the mission. You can`t always be there for the whole conversion process... but we`re glad to have been able to have been a part of it! They`re really special. We love them.

The good thing is that, having served in Bragado, I can connect them with people from the church that will help them get situated (in the city and in church)! The other plus side is, I have the contact information of a lot of people in Bragado, which means I can more easily stay in contact with M and K after the mission. They will probably be moving in 1 to 2 weeks.

We did a ton of service on Friday! We started the day helping Hermano F unplug his blocked sewage, which was a very messy and smelly project. Afterward, we washed up (with bleach), ate lunch and headed to our second service project: helping J`s mom fix a broken electrical switch. That helped us get to know her a little more. Then, later in the day, we helped a man we had met earlier in the week wheelbarrow in the 200 bricks that had been delivered outside his house. That led to an opportunity to teach him and his wife. Another family!

There were lots of fun birthday meals. The best was going to Epifania`s house (Epifania is one of Elder Sampson`s recent converts - another `adopted grandma`.) She got a kick out of going into the next room and blasting `Happy Birthday to You` from her giant speakers for me, which was funny because they were the English words but with an Argentine Spanish accent. She`s great.

Well, that`s all I`ve got time for, I`m afraid. I spent a little bit of time today worriedly making sure that my camera card didn´t have a virus. (It didn`t... fortunately.) These cybers aren´t always electronically safe.

I love you all! I hope you have a great week, and I look forward to hearing from you next week!
And, wow... we can already start thinking about that Mothers` Day phone call! Time sure flies.
Love,
Elder Stockton

Birthday Festivities

J

Mmmmm -- Argentine beef?

M and K, after church

Service - that`s not mud on my hands.
Ewwww

April 29, 2013

Hello, family! It filled me up to read your emails. I´m glad things are going so well up there! Nice to imagine the Springtime, as well… surprisingly, things are pretty hot here! I thought we were supposed to be in deep winter by now, but not so.

First, the M & K update. I mentioned last week in my email to President that they were moving, and he responded, telling me that they´ll be in good hands – they´re going to reorganize the branch leadership this week, and there´s a former zone leader serving in Bragado. So that puts me somewhat at ease. I´m happy and excited for them!

They came to church again this week, and are really enjoying it. And yesterday, Sunday evening, we had a Family Home Evening with them in a member´s house – members who also have young kids - and it went really well! We had a Spirit-filled lesson with good input from the members, and M shared about the change that happened since they started to live the Gospel. It was really good, and the best part was that M and K stayed and kept talking with the members after we left. That´s fantastic!

The other day, they decided they wanted to do something for Elder Lee and I, so they arranged a dinner. We went over and had some delicious mashed potatoes and (something you don´t get a lot in Argentina -) gravy! It was nice of them. M also gave me a T-shirt.

We also found out something about them that surprised me and made me glad to have found them when we did – before we contacted them in the street and told them about how the Gospel blesses families, they were planning on separating. They had differences that they just didn´t seem to be able to resolve, and they thought the only solution was to separate. They told us that they were just waiting for the right day for M to move out. Fortunately, God had a better plan for their family than what they were planning, and they recognized that when it was presented to them. But Elder Lee and I had no idea! It shows, once again, that God knows what´s happening in our lives, and He wants to reach out to us and help us be happy. We´re grateful to have been the ones God used to help this family.

And, let´s see… did I tell you about another couple? J is K´s sister, and we´re also teaching her and her husband M. They have 2 cute little kids, of 3 and 2 years, and they live 2 houses down from M & K. They´ve come to church twice, and although they are very different from M and K, they are also liking it a lot. They´re more serious, and seem more mature… their spiritual needs and hungers go much deeper than M and K. But the great thing is that the same Gospel is working equally well for them! They´ve been fortifying their marriage by praying together every night and coming to church, and now they´re starting a study of the scriptures in order to really come to know Jesus Christ and the hope that He gives us. We love them a lot.

The Gospel Principles teacher didn´t come again this week, so Elder Lee and I taught a lesson about the Lord´s Covenant People. Then the assigned speaker for Sacrament Meeting didn´t come, so… I talked again! I shared a message about the family and how the prophets have showed us the way to have a successful one: faith, love, respect, wholesome recreational activities and the like. I shared about how Mom and Dad taught us the value of work by having us do yard work in the summer. I´m sure I must have bellyached and complained the whole way, but over the years I grew to really love spending time out working with my family in the yard. And I think that was one of the experiences that got me ready to work hard in the mission. I also shared about family prayer, and how it strengthened our family. And I shared about the excellent example my parents gave to us kids of mutual love and respect! Mom and Dad, thanks for building our family on the things that count.

We went to Luján the other day for a zone conference. It was a very good conference, and kind of nice to be back in Luján again. Lots of time has passed since those days! It would be fun to email Elder Berglund.

I love you lots! May you have a splendid week. Enjoy the weather!

Love, Elder Stockton

May 6, 2013

Hello, family! I also am excited about the Tucson temple. Where do you shpeck it´s going to be, exactly? I´m glad to hear about the other fun events, too. I especially enjoyed the description of Jacob´s final volleyball game. You should see some of the Paraguayans here play volleyball - it´s pretty incredible. They also have another version of the game where they play with everything but their hands - usually their chest and head, but occasionally their feet if the ball gets too far down. Pretty talented! Jacob, I bet you would like playing with them.

Ah... we had a good week this week. A really good week! Recently I´ve been struggling to lose myself in the work. I feel like I still lack something to be the missionary I want to be, and Elder Lee has been helping me to know how to achieve my full potential. This week I worked hard at that, and we had good results. Mostly, I feel good and satisfied because I feel like I gave the week my all. Now, to keep that up for the rest of the mere 7 months of mission that remain to me.

Probably my favorite part of the week was Sunday in church. Occasionally Fast Sunday can put us on edge, because you never know who´s going to get up and give their testimony or what they will say. But yesterday´s meeting was lovely. It seemed like every testimony that was given was heartfelt and uplifting. I felt the Spirit, and I felt a connection with these people. I really love them a lot, and I´ll miss a lot of them.

Remember how I mentioned that A´s dad, previously very cold towards the missionaries, had softened up during A´s baptism? Well, yesterday we were finally able to have a lesson with him. He opened up during the lesson and told us how we so wants to be a better father and to create a good family environment in his home... Excellent! Because that´s exactly what the Gospel does for people - makes them better and helps families be happy. I foresee happier days for their family in the future. It would be fantastic for A´s parents to join the church as well - the whole family. We don´t want any empty chairs.

Another great experience was that we taught M and K about the Word of Wisdom. (M comes back on weekends - they haven´t moved yet because they´re still looking for a good house in Bragado.) It was funny because the day we came prepared to teach the Word of Wisdom, they had also invited us to breakfast. During the breakfast preparations, K casually mentioned that she was addicted to coffee and needed her daily cup to help her get started in the morning. Elder Lee and I looked at each other, wondering how they would take the Word of Wisdom - but their faith came through and they accepted it. We figured that the fact that they´re moving now will make it even easier to change. Sometimes a change in lifestyle is helped by a change in physical environment. M first committed to keep the Word of Wisdom, and K followed. They´re great!

This week I went on divisions with Elder Sampson and learned a lot. He´s a missionary I really look up to, for his diligence and his tirelessness in the work. He´s a great guy, and really funny. He´s probably headed out this transfer as well, after a whopping 9 months in Jardines.

Lots of rain this week, which means... lots of mud. The stitching in my shoes is starting to give way - I´ll have to take them to get re-stitched.

We happened to be in the street teaching (seated on a log) during a Boca/River football game. (Look them up - this game was a BIG thing in Argentina. I think EVERYONE was watching the game... except the guy we were teaching.) The first time a team scored, there was an eruption of shouting from all the houses around us - lots of people ran out of their houses, either rejoicing or shouting bad words. We watched them fight and throw rocks at each other. Pretty crazy!

I love you all so much! Have an excellent week.
Elder Stockton

And the best postscript of all ... regarding the upcoming Mother's Day phone call ...

I´ll try to call about 1:00 Argentina time... 9:00 Tucson time, I think.

Spring has Sprung ...

March 25, 2013

Hello, Framly!

It`s been fun being comps with Elder Lee! The other day we got to talking about Christmas and family traditions, and I happened to mention that Mah jongg features fairly heavily in ours. He got excited and told me how his dad (who is from China) used to play all the time with his uncles and aunts. He doesn`t anymore, because it`s a gambling game... but maybe he would make an exception to play with us. I hope so, because I´ve invited him and his family to come and play with us next Christmas. :-) Pung! We´ll see whether Nathan can keep up his mighty reign playing with someone who´s known Mah jongg from the cradle.

Well, we had a pretty good week this week. A little disappointing at the end with a lack of church attendance, but it´s okay. We´ve got some good progressing investigators, and things are looking better for church this week.

We went to a Stake Conference yesterday that was broadcasted from the US - we heard from Elder Shane Bowen (who Elder Bower tells me spoke in North Stake a while back) and Elder Whitney Clayton. Elder Clayton gave a great talk about how if we obey the basic principles of the Gospel - pay tithing and fast offerings, magnify our callings, do home and visit teaching, study the scriptures daily, have weekly family home evening and have daily family prayer, we will live firm, safe lives and be protected. We`ll be able to solve our own problems. Just what Javier needed to hear! But good for us, too.

And, after church yesterday we had the Elders from Jardines B over for lunch and we made Mexican food - tacos! We only had black beans and some kind of chewy meat, but we cooked it up, put it in homemade tortillas, and slathered it with barbecue sauce and ketchup, and it worked okay.

Elder Sampson and Elder Decker had a baptism yesterday, which we went to. It was really good! I love being at baptisms. We 4 Elders did a musical number - I played the piano and they sung How Great Thou Art. It went pretty well!

And, other good news: a family we've been working with was sealed on Saturday! Hurrah! It`s good to see a family progressing together in the Gospel.

So, that`s all I`ve got today - kind of a slow week. But we´ll see what this next transfer has in store for us. I´m thankful as always to read your letters, and I love you very much! Have an awesome week!

love,
Elder Stockton

April 1, 2013

Hello, family! Happy Easter! And... Happy April Fools! I hope you had a great week and a great Easter Weekend!

We celebrated Easter in a great way here: with the baptism of A__, who is the little sister of the young man we baptized recently! She´s a fantastic little 8-year-old girl. Although neither of her parents are members, her grandma is, and she´s been going with her to primary for several months now. She recently turned 8, and her mom said that if she wanted to she could get baptized. She´s the sweetest little girl! She loves the church, and she loves learning about God. Last week we finished teaching her everything she needed to know before being baptized, and on Easter Sunday we had the baptismal service. It was a very good baptism - one of the best I´ve been to. After A__ was baptized, she asked if she could bear her testimony, and she got up in front of everyone and told them why she had decided to be baptized. Then her grandma got up and shared her testimony, and her happiness at seeing all of her family together at church. She had her husband (who is Catholic, and was previously not very responsive to the Gospel) and her son-in-law (A__´s dad, equally unresponsive) in tears - and a few other people as well. In the words of my companion, I love uniting families! It was so great to see them all together during such a happy time. After A__´s testimony, her grandpa grabbed her and hugged her, with a huge grin on his face. There was a very sweet spirit during the baptism. I hope that this could lead to more of the family becoming interested in and joining the church.

I accidentally left my camera card at home, so I´ll have to send pictures next week.

Dad, thanks for the great Conference talk! How did you know I had just decided to focus on studying and applying the Christlike attribute of Hope? I studied the talk all week long and the Spirit taught me several things, and my personal hope for the future has increased. So, thanks very much! I can´t wait for this General Conference. Of course, the big news (the temple in Tucson) has already been announced... but I´ll still be glad to hear what our prophets & apostles have got to say. :-)

And, here´s some fun news:
President Carter announced at the transfer meeting that there has been a change in Church policy: Missionaries are now allowed to email friends in addition to family members. We were told that´s because it takes less time to write email than to write a letter, so missionaries will be able to accomplish more on Preparation Day and therefore be more ready to work during the week. Well, cool! I´m not complaining! I haven´t found a place to mail my letters home in Jardines anyway, so... now I´ll be able to resume my communication with friends.

I finished reading the Book of Mormon this past week! It was a great experience. I testify again that the Book of Mormon is a true book. I´ve come to realize on the mission how important it is to have a personal testimony. It keeps us strong in our faith even when the world tells us we´re wrong. Thank God for personal revelation and testimony.

And, well-- I think that´s about it for this week. Thanks for your letters, I´m printing them out so as to read them later and spend more time on them.

Love you so much! I hope your week is fantastic.

Love,
Elder Stockton

April 8, 2013

Hello, family! Thanks for your letters. It´s been a packed week here, filled with good things!

What a General Conference! Every session had a few really great talks. I loved Elder Holland´s talk about faith (even though I had to watch it in Spanish, which isn´t as powerful). In Priesthood session I loved Elder Callister´s talk about how ´The Priesthood in the boy is just as powerful as the Priesthood in the man.´ I loved the various talks about ministering to others. A very good talk... and, a good Conference in general! I can´t wait to get the Liahona with the talks so I can keep on reading and studying them. It was fun to watch conference upstairs with the 6 other English-speaking Elders in our stake. As the Conference went on, we made note of who had spoken already and who still needed to speak, and got really excited for the last session´s ´lineup´ - Elder Holland, Elder Oaks, and Elder Christofferson. What a combination!
Any talks that you thought were particularly powerful?

Last week, President Carter told us in our weekly letter that we should constantly be teaching and helping progress 5 to 7 families. Definitely not what we have right now. I believe it´s possible! But to get that, I decided we needed to make that our focus. We changed our contacting style to focus on how the Gospel blesses families, and started talking to every mother-father couple that we met in the street. And I don´t know whether more families started appearing in our path, or if I just started noticing them more, but since the time we began contacting families we´ve just been finding a ton! This last week we found 6-7 (good) families and made return appointments to visit them.

One of those families we found last week consists of a young mother, her husband, and their 4-year-old daughter. They don´t have very much religious background at all, but they are willing to learn. They want to strengthen their marriage and family. They came to the last session of General Conference with us, and liked it a lot! Good stuff!

One of the other couples we contacted has an interesting story. They lived in Chaco a few months back, and before leaving for Buenos Aires they had met the missionaries. They had a lot of questions for the missionaries and liked what the missionaries were teaching. The missionaries wrote down their contact information and said that they would send it along, but, as often happens, the referral got lost somewhere between there and here. The missionaries never showed up. As we walked down the street towards where they were standing at the bus stop, the man said to his wife, ´Maybe God sent them to talk to us.´ ´I guess we´ll see,´ said the wife. And, then we talked to them, because we were talking to all of the couples we saw. They gave us their address, and we have an appointment to go back and teach them this week. Maybe we as humans sometimes fail where we should have done something (like sent a referral), but God knows what He´s doing!

I received my birthday package today, and, in accordance with Mom´s suggestion, I have not looked at the label containing the package contents. It will be a surprise!

I told you last week about A__´s baptism, right? And how it had had a good effect on her dad and grandfather. Well, this week we talked to A__´s mom and she told us that the husband had really liked the baptism, and that they wanted us to come and talk to them sometime. That´s phenomenal news, considering that the only other time we met the dad, he refused to talk to us and instead went inside. (At his son´s birthday!) After talking to the mom, we were leaving the area and ran into the dad! Rather than avoid us or simply say hello and keep going, he came to us and started conversing. He apologized for the incident at his son´s birthday and told us he had really liked the baptism. Then we just chatted a bit, and he invited us to come by the house later. How hearts change! I have hope for that family, that the parents will also start coming to church with the A and her grandma.

We had an incredible rainstorm this week! We all got drenched, but just drenched is a lot better than the flooding that happened in the more central part of Buenos Aires.

At the request of the youth in the ward, we have begun piano class again, except now it´s piano/guitar/english class. We had a pretty good attendance this last week and the class went well. Hopefully this will give us a chance to get to know Carlos, the youth who has been attending for the last several weeks, a little better. He declined to have us visit him in his home, but he seems like he wants to know more.

The other day I studied an old Conference talk by Elder Richard G. Scott, Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer. What a talk! The Spirit spoke to me in several instances, telling me how I can improve my personal prayers and receive more of the personal revelation that God wants to send me. Here are two things that I learned about prayer, from the talk and from the Spirit:
1. Answers to prayers come in packets - here a piece and there a piece. This suggests to me that prayer is not a one-time event - ask once, and receive the whole answer. Instead, we should ask, think, receive a prompting, write it down, think about it, act on it, ask again, etc., until the question is answered or the matter resolved. And that leads to the second thing:
2. Write down spiritual impressions you receive. I remember Elder Scott talking about how if you write down and organize the inspiration you receive, you will be more likely to receive more. I am definitely learning that that is true. I´ve been using the little notebook Krista gave for Christmas when I was in the MTC to record impressions that I get throughout the day. I´m amazed at the clarity and significance of the promptings and answers I have been receiving after I started writing them down. Answers to questions like, ´How can we help investigators to have a better experience in church?´ and ´How can we increase the member missionary work in the ward?´
Pretty cool! I think the answers to all of our questions of how to improve are out there, given sometime in the past by some apostle. It´s just a matter of finding it, then studying and applying it.

Well... I think that´s it for today. Actually, I´ve written quite a lot! Galations 6:11! (Or, was it 8:11?)

Anyway! I love you all very much. Thanks for your letters, your support, your prayers, your love.
See you in 8 months!

Elder Stockton

Catching up

February 25, 2013

Hey! What´s going on? Since when does it snow in Tucson? I guess the weather guys sometimes do get it right! Those are some pretty incredible photos! 

I also enjoyed the pictures of the next day... which you would never suspect was the next day based on the difference in weather conditions!

Well, we had kind of a hard week. Sad to say, [one of our investigators], who was progressing so well, seems to have given up hope that he can change and has stopped seeing us. We only made contact with him once last week, when we found him by chance in the street. Here´s hoping that sometime in the future the Elders will pass by again, and he´ll be ready... It´s sad when people choose not to continue when we can see a vision of what they can become.

And similarly, almost all of our other investigators fell through - one returned to her previous church, one is going to be out of town for a month for her daughter´s medical treatment... and other simply disappeared and won´t answer us. So, we´re back to square 1: finding investigators to teach.

However, miracles are still happening. This Sunday, a family arrived in the middle of Gospel Principles class and sat down. We thought they were Elder Sampson´s and Elder Decker´s investigators, and Elder Sampson and Elder Decker thought they were ours. We talked to them, and learned that they are a family that has been inactive for several years. They moved here to Jardines a few years ago and just decided one day they needed to come back to church. Ha! How great! Interesting how that happens sometimes - you try and try and try to help some people come back to church, to no avail... but then others arrive on their own. Now we´ll help this family return to full activity, and at the same help the 10-year-old son prepare for baptism.

Things are going well with Hermano Medina [Andrew's Mini-Missionary companion -- just a temporary assignment]. He´s a fun guy. This week he started overcoming his fear to contact people, and you´ll never guess how he did it. We were doing contacts in the plaza on Saturday evening - both of us separately talking to people. I finished the contact I was doing, and walked up to where he was talking to a couple. As I joined the conversation, I realized that Hermano Medina was speaking with a heavy North-American accent. The people were fascinated and asked us where we were from - I told them I was from Arizona, and my comp told them he was from Louisiana. After we finished talking, he explained to me that he felt more comfortable contacting people when he pretended to be a foreigner. Ha ha! The only problem with that is, if the couple would have told us to come back for a return appointment, he would have had to ´fess up and we might have lost some credibility. Anyway, that was kind of funny. It´s also interesting to hear an Argentine´s impression of our Yankee accent. Maybe that can help me know how to speak less like a North-American. :-)

God has been answering my prayers and my questions recently through the scriptures. I love my Book of Mormon study in the morning!

Anyway, I´m about out of time. This week is looking like a lot of clapping doors and looking for addresses. Fun stuff! Even in the hard times, it´s worth it to be here. I know that God is refining me and helping me to become a more capable servant. I love you all so much, and I hope you have a good, warm week! (No snow.)

Love,
Elder Stockton

March 4, 2013

Hello! I enjoyed reading your letters this week.

We had quite a week this week and came back to the pench yesterday exhausted. Thank goodness for P-day! It comes around just when it´s most needed.

If you remember, last week I wrote to you and told you that we had dropped almost all of our investigators and would be looking for new ones this week. Well, that´s what we did, and we were blessed to find 18 new investigators this week. 18!! That´s almost unheard of! The normal standard is 8 new investigators, but I suppose when you spend all your time looking for new people, that´s what happens. And almost all of them have very good potential to progress and be baptized! It really lifted our spirits some and gives us good hope for the rest of the transfer.

When you get to the MTC, you learn basically the first 3 lessons - The Restoration, The Plan of Salvation, and The Gospel of Jesus Christ. But when you get into the field, you find that often investigators have needs that are not covered perfectly by giving them a memorized recitation of the lesson. Fortunately, if you´re prepared, God puts it into your mind what you should teach.

Dylan and his family are doing well! They came to church again, and Dylan´s mom asked some very thoughtful questions during Gospel Principles. We can already see a huge change for the better in them. It´s interesting to see the change that happens in people when they start living the Gospel. They seem brighter, happier, and healthier.

We taught Dylan (and his family) about the Restoration and invited him to read the Book of Mormon. He´s already started reading and he´s progressing quite well. He´s got a lot of desire to be baptized.

Well, that´s all I´ve got for today. I hope you all have a great week! Seriously! Have a great week.

All my love,
Elder Stockton

March 11, 2013

Hello, family!

Looks like whoever is in charge of the ciber that I`m using has decided that today`s music choice is The Police! So here I am, humming along.

It was nice to see pictures of some of my friends! I`m so happy that Nick and Kelsey are getting sealed! I wish I could be there. Please give my best to them, and also to Anna and her future husband! We`ll be having a baptism here in Jardines on the 16th, when Anna and her fiancee are getting married, and then one on the 24th, just after Nick and Kelsey are sealed. Happy events all over the place!

We had a good week here. We sure are teaching some good people! Dylan and his family are doing fantastic! Such a change has come into their lives recently. They´re changing the way they live and becoming happier and happier. We`ve taught Dylan just about everything he needs to know before his baptism this Saturday. He`s excited for it.

Lots of youth have been coming to church for the last few weeks, friends of other youth in the ward. One of them told us that he wants to get baptized, but we`re not sure exactly why yet. We have an appointment to talk to him more on Thursday. Alright, member missionary work! And youth activities!

The weather is cooling down... and sweaters are coming out of hibernation. It`s nice weather!

Remember how I told you a while back that, due to 6 months of bad hand-washing, all of my socks had turned purple? Well, about a week ago I learned that I can buy black dye and re-dye my socks! And, that`s what I did. Now my socks are happily black again, and I don`t have to buy all new socks like I was planning.

My shoes are starting to give way, after more than a year, in the same spot that all my shoes do - the frontward part on the inward side. I think it must just be the shape of my feet. I`ll have to see if I can take them somewhere to get them stitched back up.

My companion tells me every time I talk in my sleep, which is, apparently, almost every night. He says I mostly speak in English, and occasionally in Spanish. But what surprises me most is that (according to my companion) a few nights back I sung an entire verse of Called to Serve in my sleep. That`s a new one! I guess that means I`m a real missionary?

We`re moving along in our Book of Mormon reading. This morning I finished reading the book of Helaman and started on the downhill slope of 3rd Nephi, where things get worse and worse until the Savior comes. Something I noticed during my reading is that there are a very few that remain constantly faithful, while the rest bounce back and forth between belief and disbelief. I wonder what the difference was between them - why some were converted to the Gospel and some were not. I imagine it has to do with putting oil in their lamps.

Our next-door neighbors have a black cat who my companion has named ´Mala Suerte´ (Bad Luck) and my companion has ´adopted´. I opened the door this morning to find Mala Suerte outside, demanding breakfast. I hope he doesn´t expect me to keep buying him food after my companion goes home!

Last week I had an interview with President Carter in which we discussed my progress as a missionary, and what I need to do to reach the next level. He left me with the assignment to think about it and ask God to help me know what I need to keep working on. After some prayer and thinking, this is what I´ve come up with: I should be constantly studying the attributes of the Savior and trying to implement them in my life. If I am constantly trying to become more like the perfect Example, then I will never be stagnant in my progress - I will always be progressing.

So, that`s it for this week. I hope you all have a fantastic week! I´ll look forward to talking to you again next week!

Love you! Thanks for your prayers and support.
Elder Stockton

March 18, 2013

Hello, family! Nice to read your messages and think about home!

I´m here in Jardines still, but... with some changes - Hermano Medina finished his mini-mission early (surprise changes from the mission!) and so they pulled a missionary out of another area to be my companion. That missionary was Elder Joshua Lee, who is from... Tucson, Arizona! Rancho Vistoso Stake. Wow! How likely is that? This morning found him, Elder Bower and I (the three Tucsonan musketeers) all in the same spot and we took a picture. Kind of fun! I enjoyed this week with him, too - we´re very similar in many respects, and I love the drive he has to work hard and to do things right.

But for how long we´ll be together, I´m not sure. Transfers are in one week. It could be that I receive a new missionary and train, and in that case I´ll probably stay in Jardines 2 more transfers. Or, I might be leaving. Who knows?

So, let´s see... we had a good week this week, with lots of great events happening.

First of all... the baptism! Our boy Dylan got baptized - he was ready and so was his family. There´s a huge change happening in them as they keep reactivating themselves. We´ve got to try again to get the ward more involved in helping them in the reactivation process. 

And, er... excuse the face on the baptism photo.
Better photos are coming as soon as I can get them from my companion.

I told you several weeks back that [one of our investigators] had stopped progressing, no? Well really, more than stopped progressing, he had disappeared - he didn´t answer our phone calls and would´t answer the door when we visited his house. Anyway, [after several weeks] we didn´t find him. But [this week], the thought came to me that we should go visit him. We did, and after clapping twice in front of his house, he came out and invited us in. He was the worst I had ever seen him - his spiritual level was way down. He had let his hair grow too long, and the light was gone from eyes. He had lost or given away the books from the church that he loved to read before. He thought he was fine, but obviously... he wasn´t. We talked with him about a change of heart and about baptism - two of his deepest desires when he was investigating a month back - and he hardly reacted. It seemed like he had lost all his desire to change. Or, faith in himself - that he could change. He wouldn´t give us a definite yes or no answer on whether he would start trying to change his life again and prepare for baptism. But in the end, he committed to read the pamphlet we left him and pray to God to know whether he should be baptized.

When we came back 2 days later, he was changed - he was cleaned up, his hair was away out of his face, he was smiling and the light was back in his eyes. As he read the pamphlet we left him, the Spirit touched him. He marked the parts he liked, which had to do with man´s potential to change and follow Jesus Christ. One part says something like this: ´As you repent and follow Jesus Christ, you will discover that you do not have to keep committing the same mistakes over and over.´ I think he realized that there is hope for him still. Then he prayed, and asked God whether he should be baptized, and received an overwhelming assurance that he should.

After sharing this with us, he asked me to give him a Priesthood blessing to help him have strength to be firm in his decision and to continue onward to reach his goal. I would appreciate your continued prayers for him!

This experience reminds me of a conference talk - we should view men not as they are, but as they can become. Leopards don´t change their spots, but men can and do change every day. Sometimes they just need someone else to help them see the vision God has for them. I want to be able to help others see the potential they have.

God directs this work. I see His hand over and over again. I´m grateful to be a part of it.

And, well. That´s all for today. It´s been a very good week, and there are other experiences that I don´t have time to tell you about.

But I love you very much. Thanks for your letters and your love! Have an excellent week.
Elder Stockton