June 27, 2012

Mi Familia,

What's up everybody?  Yes, yes I'm still alive even though this email is coming in very late in the week, my apologies, it's been a crazy week for la mision Mexico Tampico and for Elder Stockard. This week was transfer week which is a very fun process I must say. It's like Christmas once every six Sundays haha. This transfer was one week short becuase President Call leaves tomorrow and President Jordan gets here tomorrow, so Pres Call wanted to finish everything with transfers this week so that things wouldn't be so crazy for President Jordan. For the last few weeks, I had been pretty confident that I would stay with Elder Castro in Francia one more transfer, but as the day came closer this past week, I started to feel more and more confident that I would probably get switched. The anxiety only built when they switched P day and Transfer day to Tuesday instead of the normal Monday. President Call likes to keep everyone on their toes with transfers I think, so nobody ever finds out who is going where until very late the night before transfers.  That normally is Sunday night, but in this case it was Monday night.

I really had high hopes of staying in Francia for one reason only: La familia Preza. Their progress has been seriously incredible to watch. All four of them were at Church last Sunday and had an incredible experience. Their 14 year old son Jose was really funny last week. Elder Castro and I told them that there was a good chance that I would be leaving after this week, and they were all kinda bummed since we were the two missionaries that found them. At church on Sunday, Jose told me that in all his prayers last week he was praying that both Elder Castro and I would get to stay. They are all reading the Book Of Mormon every single day as a family and praying and everytime we taught them the spirit has been super strong. They are incredible people and will have no problem for their baptismal date in 2 weeks, but the Lord had other plans for me, I guess, than to see their baptism.

Late Monday night, our zone leaders told us that both Elder Castro and I would be training and that I was going to Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas that is the farthest zone from Tampico in the mission. Elder Castro is staying in Francia and I am taking over the training of an Elder that arrived the last transfer. He is a super awesome Elder named Elder Castillo from Baja California. But yeah yesterday was nuts, we had trainings in Madero with President Call until 5 and then my bus left for Victoria at 5:30. I rode with my boy Elder Rodriguez, from Uruguay Dad and we had a really good time. We got to Victoria at like 9:15, so I don't know like anything of the area so far, haha. We cover two wards here in Victoria,  Barrio Mainero y Barrio Victoria. The Church here in Victoria is very strong and is growing very rapidly. I'm really excited to be here, to be training and to be a missionary. It's been a really fun crazy last few days on this side of the Border! I'm really sad that I won't see the Baptism of la familia Preza, but I feel very good leaving them with Elder Castro and his new son and also seeing how strong they are.

 

So that's been my week so far! Saturday, President and Sister Jordan and the assistants are coming up to meet with zona Victoria so it will be super fun to meet them. I don't know anything else about my area or about Victoria except here flour tortillas are much more common than in Madero, in Madero its all corn.

It sounds like this week the fam is finally gonna have some time to enjoy summer vacation. I'm so glad that everything is going so well and that you and Lauren had such a great time in Hawaii. That's awesome that you were called as sunday school teacher, Mom! Im very convinced that that is the greatest calling in the Church and it is of vital importance. Do you best to make your lessons interactive, open to questions, and fun. Brody always did that and I learned a lot. Remember that even when the kids look disinterested or lost, they are learning and the Holy Ghost is going to teach anyone who allows him to.

 

I love you all.  Mom, have a great time at the Temple with Hadley and make sure you go!!! Go twice if you can there is nothing more important than the temple so make sure that you go and that Hadley goes. Love you all so much thanks for all the letters, love, prayers, and support.

Hashtag143,

Elder Stockard

Elder Eskelson and Elder Stockard

Elder Stockard, la familia Preza and Elder Castro

Elder Stockard and Elder Castro

Elder Stockard and Elder Rodriguez from Uruguay



Elder Castillo and Elder Stockard in Victoria

June 18, 2012

Familllllly:

Well, from the pics you sent me, the Hawaii trip looks pretty sick wit it, not gonna lie! Lauren and Mom, I'm very sure that you guys have having an incredible time, enjoy your last day there today! The temple looks really really pretty, I'm really glad that you got to go up to it this time! That's awesome.

 

Wow, summer comes and times stay busy busy for the Stockard Fam it sounds like. Mom when you say your going to Napa with the Charter School does that mean with all the teachers, or the whole staff or students too?

 

As far as things down here in Madero, the work moves forward. It's a lot of fun, not gonna lie haha. One of the coolest parts of being here in Mexico is that its is soooo different than life in the US. One time this last week I was walking down a dirt road, Looked to my left and saw a little house that's also a store, to my right is an avocado and mango tree, in front of me are three stray dogs, and houses all made of cement and every street corner sells tacos. I looked at all this, thought to myself, How sick is this? Haha, it's so different, but it's so much fun to experience a different way of life.

As for investigators, this week was really successful. Fransisco and Jose's family is named the Familia Preza Rojas. There are four in total, Fransisco, Jose, Gloria (The Mom), and Elena (daughter, 25 or something). We taught the whole family twice this past week and also they attended an activity we did this last week at the Church where we watched The Testament. In both lessons with them, the spirit has been super super strong and they have just talked about what a great experience they had at Church and how much peace has been in their family because of what their learning. We committed them to baptism in the lesson we had with them last Saturday. We set a date with them for the 14th of July and we're confident that they will be baptized on that day. That was really exciting.

 

Yes Mom, there are many days where we contact in the heat of the day. Haha we try to avoid it and set teaching apointments at that time because its a very ineffective time to contact as well as very uncomfortable, but there are times when it's unavoidable haha. There isn't really an official ciesta here in Mexico and as missionaries we definately don't have one, haha but a lot of people get off of work at 4 and rest after work.

 

Our Zone Conference is the last one of all the Zones so we will be the last missionaries to say goodbye to the Calls. Our conference is tomorrow and then the Calls head out the 29th. President and Sister Jordan arrive the night of the 28th and take over the 29th so its a really quick change haha.

And so that you guys don't think that I forgot, Mom I hope you have a wonderful birthday tomorrow and that it is as comfortable as possible while on the overseas flight and on a school bus, haha. Dad, happy Father's Day. I love you so much and am so grateful and proud to call you my Dad.

That's about it for this week from Barrio Francia. I sent a letter to the Birds and G Ma today so hope they get it soon and also to the Bad Had. If it doesnt get to him before the MTC, Mom can you tell Loni to forward it to him?

I love you all so much. Thanks for all the love and prayers and support.

Love,

Elder Stockard

June 13, 2012

Dearest Family and Friends

Well for all of you fam all over the world this week, ¿Que Onda? This is a crazy busy and very fun week for all of you I am very sure! First off, I loved all the pics of the ballet recital and of half the fam in Midway! From what I can see the Midway house looks straight fitted. Also, Dad, Grandma and Hadley I got your letters this week and hope to be able to write some responses today.  When we have our normal Monday p-days, they are extremely busy and I legitimately have zero time to write, but today I think I should be able to. Also Dad, be sure to tell Hannah I said good luck and be sure to kill it up at BYU! Also I'm guessing Logan and Baylee are starting too, they are all gonna have a super sick time!

 

Well Mom, to answer your question, the temple was so awesome! Like seriously, it was incredible.  I'm so glad we had the chance to go today. It was all in Spanish which I wasn't sure how that would be, but it was super normal. It was actually a little weird to talk in English when I saw Elder Grill there haha. The regulations here in our mission for attending the temple are that when serving in the Tampico/Madero/Altamira area you are allowed to change your p-day to Wednesday one week of every 12 in order to go to the temple. When serving in areas outside the city I don't think you can attend. But Francia is in right downtown Madero and we live like 5 minutes from the temple and the Stake Center and the Mission Offices which are all right in Madero too. As for the changing of Mission Presidents, there's no formal meeting and anything, we have Zone Conference this next week so Pres and Sister Call will say goodbye to everyone at our Zone Conference and then they leave coming up real quick. This transfer will end after the week of July 24 so that the newest generation of missionaries and Pres and Sister Jordan can all arrive in that week and start up the next week.

 

As for EFY, here it is seriously a crazy good deal. 300 pesos for a week of EFY at a super nice hotel. That's like 23 US Dollars, for EFY. All of the teachers are Stake Presidents, Bishops, etc from the area and all the counselors are volunteers, but it still looks like its going to be super sweet. Talking to Hermano Robledo, the session director who's in our ward, they have almost 1000 kids signed up right now which is awesome for all the kids from this area to get to participate in EFY.

 

It sounds like a really awesome week for all of you guys and I'm so excited to hear that Mom and Laur are safe and sound living it up in Hawaii. My week was really good as well! I really can't believe how fast the time is going. Last Tuesday we had a meeting for all the new missionaries in the mission so I got to see Elders Parry and Grill and we were talking and we all just seriously can't believe that it has almost been six months! That is crazy because it seriously does feel like I just left.

 

Elder Castro and I had a really good week. This week it got CRAZY hot. And SOOOO humid! One day (Monday I think) it was 104 with humidity out the window. But it's been a really good week. This past week I feel like my Spanish really improved and about half way through the week I realized that I wasn't really translating when I was listening to people talk, I was more just listening. That was a pretty good feeling haha. Also, Elder Castro and I have been working really hard to find people to teach with a really desire to progress towards baptism. Many times as missionaries, it is very easy to lose time teaching people who aren't going to progress towards baptism at this time, and so we have really been trying to not waste time teaching lessons just to teach, but rather to teach to people who are wanting to learn and keep commitments such as do the assigned readings, praying, repenting, etc.

This week also we found a new family, la familia Presa (I don't remember the 2nd last name haha). They are a family of four and they are super sweet! The Dad, Fransisco, was never baptized but his grandparents were very strong members of the church in this area and when he was a young kid, he went to church with them and can remember doing so. Saturday we were talking with the bishop and mentioned his name and where he lived, so Elder Castro and I decided to stop by. We did so, talked with Fransisco and his 14 year old son Jose for a few minutes, invited them to church, set an appt. to teach the fam, and left them with a pamphlet to read. Both Fransisco and Jose came to church on Sunday and told us they had already read the folleto we left them. When we taught them last night the Spirit was super strong! Their whole family has a real desire to learn and to be apart of the Church. It was really awesome.

 

As for Merced and Yedid, we haven't had much contact with them, their progression has really slowed to a stop which has been really hard to watch because I see their little family and know that the Gospel could bless their life more than any other thing right now. That is one of the hardest parts of the mission is finding people who would be such awesome members, or who are super prepared, or who the gospel could truly change their life, and seeing them exercise their agency and choose not to take part of the blessings of the Gospel. That's the hardest, the second hardest is having an appointment to teach someone at 3:00 in the afternoon when its 105 degrees outside, having that appointment fall through and seeing that the backup plan is tracting hahahaha.  But the work moves forward. Our neighbor's progress has really slowed too and the baptisms for the 23rd are really up in the air. But we are having faith that everything will work out alright and we know that if we just stay obedient and stay working hard the Lord will take care of everything else. That is the awesome part about being a missionary is that the Lord truly always does order and provide when we do our part.

I love you all so so so much, have such an awesome week and know that I am praying for you and that you are all such a strength and example to me.

Love,

Elder Stockard

June 4, 2012

¡Familia!

Another week has flown by here in Madero! Lots of hard work, sweat, and Mexican food once again. Haha, but this week was really good. Time has really started to fly and I cannot believe that it is already June! It seriously seems like yesterday that I graduated, had Miles and Hadley's and my grad party, and all that good stuff! It was funny, we were walking to an appointment last week I just for a second thought about how much things can change in a year. Now I'm here in another country, speaking a different language and dedicating my time to missionary work.  Haha, a little different from grad parties and graduation.

This week Elder Castro and I have really worked hard with less actives, actives, and investigators alike to get every single kid age 14 to 18 who is willing, signed up for EFY. The session director for EFY here is in our ward, Hermano Robledo, and he's straight sick wit it. We found a new family through a reference from a member in the ward. Their name is la Familia Hernandez Boeta they have 3 kids that are EFY age but they haven't seemed super interested in the church as of yet. We went over there with both Hno y Hna Robledo one night this week and showed them a video with a bunch of EFY activities and such and then Hno Robledo straight went to work, haha. The man was like lightning in a bottle, he was sellin the program like a pro, but it was aweosme and all three of their kids really got excited about it and are signed up and ready to go.

Also, in the last few weeks we have been teaching our neighbors that live in the same block of houses as we do. In total there are 4 of the family members that are listening to us. There names are Carlos, Jessy, Teresa, and Aurelia. Carlos and Jessy are kids and Teresa is their aunt, Aurelia is the Grandma. Jessy and Teresa have been super interested and have been reading and praying which has been really good. We have committed them to be baptized the 23 of June, so that is really exciting! Merced and Yedid have hit a little bit of a wall. We have had a little trouble being in contact with them but were hoping to teach them tonight. One of the biggest challenge with investigators whether in the US or Mexico, or prob anywhere in the world is getting them to church for sure. Oh, one more note, I'm really hopíng my former comp BROTHER J Rindy is reading this because this will only be funny for you, but I finally taught Sergio that the phrase, "Nice to meet you!" is not an appropriate way to end every conversation in English, hahaha.

The pictures of Lauren's grad party and graduation were beautiful and it looks like it was a great time. The yard from what I could see looks super good! Ryan's doing me proud on that. Mom, major congrats on the Charter school job! Third grade will be very fun and you will do great, that will for sure keep you very busy this summer. Also that is so fun that G Pa flew in for graduation.

I have thought about Miles a lot this week, hoping that he's surviving, haha. Just remember everyone, the first three days in the MTC feel like an eternity, just keep pushing through and it will get better haha.

Something has pressed very heavily on my mind the last few days and I want every single member of the church who reads this to take this challenge. I had this thought one night as I was going to sleep and it really has hit me hard since then. The thought is this: Members of the church are the key to missionary work. Missionary work is SOOOOO much more effective when the members are actively involved. Also it is a lot of fun. I think back to the lessons with Travis and Stuart at our house and those were seriously so much fun. So this is the other thought I had, I don't know who, and I don't know where, but it is very clear to me that there is someone out there who is going to read my letter, that has a friend, family member or someone that is very ready to hear the messege of the gospel. Now I have no idea who this is, but there is someone and they need to be invited by a member to their home, to hear the missionaries and accept the message. So in order to make sure that we don't miss this very prepared person here is what I want, without exception, every one of you to do. Tonight, begin with a prayer to gain inspiration, then sit down with your family and make a list of the people who aren't members that come to mind. In the next week I want you to pray to know who from this list you need to invite into your home to hear the missionaries. Before next Monday, the spirit will tell you who it is that needs to hear. By next Monday I want you to have an appointment set with both the person or persons you have chosen and also with the missionaries. I promise you all that the blessings of missionary work are very real and not only reserved for full time missionaries. If you will do this, you will see blessings in all phases of you life.

I love you all so much. I want to hear the experiences that you have with this so hit my momma up and tell her what happened so she can tell me. All Is Well.

Love,

Elder Stockard