Woww, so y'all miss me yet??? Haha we haven't talked for almost two weeks, how crazy is that? So these last few days have been by far the craziest of my mission. So, two Thursdays ago, I got a call in the morning telling me that I needed to go to Tampico with my good friend Elder Agren for the Zone Leaders Counsel. So late Thursday night we headed down to Tampico and had a crazy good Zone Leaders Counsel here at the Mission Home. That was a lot of fun. In that meeting, President told us about a ton of changes that are going to be happening in the mission which I'll talk about a little later on.
The meeting was a lot of fun but President wouldn't tell me where I was going for this next transfer. He did tell me that I would be leaving Ciudad Victoria but I was left to guess all weekend about where that somewhere would be. I was also pretty sure that I would be called as a Zone Leader wherever I went considering they had me come to the Zone Leader Counsel. Well, Saturday night President gave me a call and told me that I would be working in the offices as one of his Assistants. I was really excited about that but also a little bit nervous, haha. So I said goodbye Sunday to all the people up in Victoria that I love so much and then headed to Tampico early Monday morning.
Let me tell you, the office is a whole other world!!! Haha, there are some way cool things that we have done that I have really liked. For example, our house is like legitimately directly directly in front of the Temple, I wake up and it's like the first thing I see every morning. It's so awesome. Welcoming all the new missionaries at the airport with President and Sister Jordan was also sooooo cool, saying goodbye to all the Elders going home was also fun. It's a really fun job, but there are a few things that I miss as well. I miss being in the field full time, being able to dedicate all of my time to finding and teaching. I miss Victoria a lot, and Elder Garry, and I also really miss sleeping haha. I think before last night I had slept a total of like 9 hours since I got here. It's a lot of responsibility but it's a lot of fun. I often think of Grandma and Grandpa Andros on their mission. We also have a senior couple who work here in the offices as secretaries. I'm really looking forward to being able to learn from President Jordan now as well. The man reminds me so much of Dad.
My new companion is a Columbian elder named Elder Mesa! He is a total boss and we are having a really fun time working together. He teaches really well and is very direct. He has this super loud booming voice and every time he laughs it cracks me up! As far as the new changes in the mission, there are a lot and I'm really excited about them. President Jordan is working to launch the Obra de Salvacion here in the mission 100% under the direction of the Area President, President Johnson. As part of this, the theme of working 100% with the members is a huge one that we are really pushing. President has talked a lot about a principle that Elder Bednar taught about the preisthood keys in missionary work. He taught him that inside missionary work there are two sets of Priesthood keys, one that lies with the Mission President in the part of the world and another that lies with each Stake President for their stake. We can only truly open the door and see the real flood of miracles when both sets of keys are working together in unison. As an effort to do that, we are now prohibited from contacting in the street and knocking doors. All of our proselyting efforts will be in unison with the members, references, less active families, part members families etc... It is a huge change for sure within missionary work, but Elder Mesa and I have already seen miracles with it. We have been really making an effort with it, and so far every lesson we have taught has been one in which a member has presented us with their friends or that we have brought a member with us to the lesson. It's really been good because the problem in missionary work lots of times is that the investigators get so attached to the missionaries that they don't have friends within the ward and when the missionaries change areas, the new members never go back to church. This is what we want to avoid.
Another really cool part about where I'm serving is that once again I'm in Ciudad and Zona Madero! I'm like 15 blocks from my first area in Barrio Francia! I haven't seen the familia Preza yet but I've seen various members of the ward and I'm sure that I'll see them soon which I'm excited about! I'll be able to keep my eye on them and make sure that they are still progressing towards the temple. Also I have the chance to talk to my friend Elder Castro every night. He is a Zone Leader and calls me every night when everyone is in house, so that's really fun to get to hear from him very regularly.
It sounds like all is well at home. I was sorry to hear that Romney lost. Sister Jordan told me that when Romney heard that he lost, he went home and drowned his sorrows in chocolate milk lolzz. Dad, very happy birthday, I love you so much! I'm so proud to have you as my father and can't thank you enough for the countless lessons that you have taught me in my life. I love you all so much. I would love it if now with Ryan's basketball season starting if you could send me updates every time he has a game and maybe even pictures sometime. I love you all tons, now my P days are Saturdays so if you wanna write me on Fridays that will be the best way to do it. #143 #GMC$ #JakeHeaps
Love,
Elder Stockard
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