January 26, 2013

Family!!!:

Can you all believe it's almost February once again? I really can't believe, and I really can't believe it even more because cold weather legitimately does not exist in Tampico. We are talking about the nicest weather I have ever experienced in the month of January down here. I think the coldest that it's been since I got here last April is like 55 degrees and that's happened like twice. It has been really nice and I can't imagine how cold it must be back in Provo or Fallon, haha. Wow, Travis and Alonzo are gonna be entering the MTC this next week! That is huge, I'm sooo excited for both of them. They are about to start the greatest, hardest, fastest, and funnest two years that they have ever imagined, I'm really excited for them. Momma, I loved your story about trying to get to the temple, great job for not throwing in the towel when things looked tough. That is a great mentality for all of us to develop and keep in mind: Almost every time, things that bring us blessings and are worthwhile will require a good amount of problem solving and effort on our part. Alyssa, Lauren and Ryan sound like all is well.  I think that I have received a total of like 5 letters since the Midway house was finished that hasn't mentioned some member of my family up there kickin' it hard core. Needless to say I will be very excited to finally see that crib, considering that the last time I saw it, it was pure wood and cement.

This week has been a really good, really busy week. It is week 6 of the transfer, which is the last week, which means that we have had a lot of time spent in the offices. It's been good, transfers many times become like a huge, 170 piece, missionary puzzle, haha. Many times, just when you think you have it almost all figured out, the last piece or pieces of the puzzle don't fit quite right and you have to go back to the drawing board and start moving other pieces around until finally everything fits just right (My mission has taught me to teach things by using examples, haha). The good thing about this missionary puzzle is that the mission is in a really great place as far as the missionaries. The Tampico Mission is really really young right now, 50 new missionaries arrived within the last 4.5 months. These young missionaries have all impressed me sooooooo much by just how hard working, obedient and prepared they are. When this outgoing generation leaves on Monday, there will only be 15 missionaries that go home between February and October. How crazy is that? Like I said, the mission is crazy young right now. But yeah we finished up the transfers last night and today once again we don't really have much of a P Day, just a little time to write you lovely people. Also to make this week busier, we gave a training, planned two more, and we had the Zone Leaders counsel yesterday as well. There is never a lack of work in the offices that is for sure! I really like that, I have come to find out that I really enjoy working, the worst is when there really isn't much work in an area. That's when Elders have to get creative haha, they have to make their own work if they wanna have success. But yeah my point is that Elder Salazar and I don't have that problem here in the offices haha.

Even with all of the other stuff that we have to get done, the Lord has really blessed us in our area as well. Chris and Ber are like 100% ready to get baptized, but Zion prospers with la Familia Cruz de Santiago still. Besides that we had an awesome day this last Sunday. We brought, 3 investigators, 2 recent converts, and 15 LESS ACTIVES to church!!!! Our ward, which usually has about 70 people in attendance, had 101 PEOPLE!!!! It was sooooo great! As a mission, we had 536 less active members in church! That is a HUGE number and the Obra de Salvacion is really working wonders down here in Mexico, now we just gotta make sure that all these less actives and new members, get callings and get visits. That is the key. But yeah, this last week was the first time in my entire mission that I attended a ward, or branch that had more than 100 people in attendance. It was sick not gonna lie. But yeah, we have been finding lots of new menos activos and some new good investigators and it was a really awesome miracle to see the chapel much fuller this past week. I would be curious, about how many people attend Fallon 4th ward? I wanna say it's probably between 150 and 200 but I would actually have no idea.

I'm doing pretty well with my goals. I'm going to finish the Book of Mormon this next Saturday and then Monday, February 4th we start reading it as a mission. I've also set the goal and have been faithfully doing what Elder Ballard spoke on in the October Conference with praying for, and then doing one simple act of service for someone else every single day. I love this goal as well and it's been really working.

I'm really hoping that when I leave the offices that I have the chance to just be a trainer and a district leader again for the rest of my mission. That was just such a fun time doing that up in Victoria. I have some great memories from those days haha. There are some Elders I would still love the chance to serve with. 

Well, that's about it from this part of the continent. I really love you all so so much. I feel your love and support for me and I am so grateful for it. I hope I can make you all proud every single day down here. #143, #GMC$ #JakeHeaps.

Love,

Elder Stockard

January 19, 2013

Hey family,

Wow Momma, until you included that lil note saying that it was Martin Luther King day, I totally forgot that that day existed, but total respect for the 3 day weekend haha, those don't exist in the mish, the weekends are actually the busiest days, haha. Today we actually don't have a P Day, just a little time to write the fam. We had to give a training to new missionaries and their trainers today and then it's back to work in an hour.  I really really like that aspect of the offices actually, the amount of work. It is a little stressful at time to have an area and the offices, but it's been really fun and I honestly feel like it's exactly what I need at this point in the mission. We are getting ready to start week 6, which is the week before transfers.  It is a really busy week with making the changes and everything, but it's a lot of fun.

So it sounds like Zion prospers in Fallon and that you are all having a great time! That makes me really happy. Momma, thanks for sending me the updates from all of Ry's games, it sounds like for the most part he's doing really well, good for him. Its always good to hear from Lauren each week as well, sounds like she is doing really well up at the Y.

So as for us, it was a good week. Last change, Elder Mesa and I went and gave trainings out of town two full weeks, and this change we haven't had to give any due to the trainings running on a monthly schedule. What this means is that we have had way more time to work in our area this last change, which has been really nice. We have been able to find more investigators and menos activos and also really work on retaining all of the recent converts that we have in our ward. We have been running a lot of numbers on the recent converts in the mission and really putting a ton of emphasis on retention with them Elders because without a solid retention percentage and plan, its like trying to stop the bleeding without putting a bandage on the wound... Its an uphill battle. This week the mission brought a total of 468 less active members to church and 57% of all recent converts baptized in the last 6 months came as well. This isn't that great, but compared to the 12% that we were retaining, it's a start.  

Chris and Ber won't be able to get married this week, so we've set their new baptism date for the 1st of February. They are still progressing way good, just have to get married still. Besides that we are finding some new investigators with the help of the members and really getting some good work done down in the promised land.

I am really loving the mission, not gonna lie. My overarching goal of this next year is to fully consecrate myself, I want to come home from my mission totally converted and being that dude that is truly and permanently changed by his mission. This is the mission, you only do it one time, you can't afford to have it be like EFY where a few good things stick, but for the most part a month later you are your same old self once again, no, no way. Brandon wrote me one time talking about how if a guy stays close to a fire it will keep him warm. If he stays in a fire he will have scars so permanent that the fire has changed him. Kind of a sick example but I like it, and it's really true. I wanna 100% be that guy that is changed for his whole life by his mission. So every little bad habit I have, I'm gonna do my very best to recognize it, repent of it, and quit doing it cuz I know that I'll never have a better opportunity in my whole life to change myself for the better.

Well, I love y'all so much. I'm doing really well. I love knowing that all of you are doing so well also. #143 #GMC$ #SpecialK #JakeHeaps

Love,

Elder Stockard

January 12, 2013

Mis queridos cuates haha:
¿Que onda? Whats crackin' back down in the motherland? I say this pretty often but it honestly feels like every time I blink it's P Day once again. This week was a really good week, pretty normal all around. Sounds like y'all had a really good week as well. I got a really nice email from Lauren as well who sounds really happy! She sounds like she be straight killin' it at the Y. She made some good points in her email about how truly blessed she is to go to BYU and have the fam that we have. She knows what's up, our fam is truly the greatest blessing in my life. And the coolest part is that nothing in this life can change that.

This week was good, it was probably the least busy week office wise that I've had since I got here, but that was sick cuz we finally had some time to really kill it in our area. It was cool and we got a lot of good work done with less actives and we've got a pretty big pool of menos activos and investigators that we added in this last week. We will see how they start progressing in these next few weeks, the real telling stat is to see who goes to church tomorrow, but I'm confident that we will have good results. So this last week I was really reflecting on the fact that I'm right at the halfway point of my mission. I was thinking a lot on how much progress I've seen in this last year of my life. Like I am legitimately 157 times better of a person than I was a year ago. That progress is something that has come from diligence, and a LOT of hard work. I want, more than anything, for that progress to continue at the same rate, or an even faster rate in this next year. There is a reason that a mission is two years and not one, it's pretty easy to be a good missionary for a year, but two years takes real effort and disipline. This week I set goals for this new year, seeing as my mission year mark coincides almost perfectly with the start of the new year, I found that it was a really good time to sit down and set some good goals so that I see the same sort of progress in this next year. I want to share them with all you people so that you can help keep me accountable on these things. My personal goals are as follows:

1.) Finish the Book of Mormon from where I'm at right now (Alma 60) before we start reading it as a mission February 4. To do this I have to read 8 pages everyday and so far so good. In addition to finish it this time, I want to read the Book of Mormon 4 other times complete in this year. How I'm Going to accomplish it: The first will be from February until May, The second from May to August, The third from August to October and the fourth from October to the end of the year. Everytime that I read the Book of Mormon I read a give away, copy and highlight some topic that I want to know more about and it has really worked well for me. In addition to these 4 times that I want to read it, I want to read it for a second time in voz alta in Spanish. I did it one time as part of my language study and it was awesome. At the end of this year I should have read the Book of Mormon a total of 12 times in two different languages!
2.) I want to read, highlight, take notes on, and apply every General Conference talk from the October 2012, April 2013, and October 2013 General Conferences. I do this also as part of my personal study. I like to take notes on what they say and compare them with my notes from when I first heard them and then write down a way that I can apply each principle. I like reading one talk per day for the three months before each conference session. That's about a perfect amount of time to read them all and then see the next conference.
3.) I want to start every personal study at 8:00 sharp. That was never a battle before I got to the offices, but in the offices its a lot harder because we have the phone calls at night, which means that we don't usually get to sleep till a lot later. This actually doesn't make me more tired or harder to get up at 6:30 suprisingly, but what it does is makes it so that I have to excersise (part of my next goal), iron my shirt, shower, write in my journal, and eat breakfast before 8 am. It's just a lot to do. To accomplish this, I've set the goal to write in my journal and iron my shirt every night before no matter how late it is. I've also started getting up at 6:15 so that I can pray and get all ready so I can excersise right at 6:30.
4.) I want to run 3 times a week this whole year as part of my exercise. Its a pretty simple goal... I still gotta get hitched when I get home... don't wanna get fat just yet, hahha.
5.) I want to be an example to every single missionary this year. I want every single missionary and person I talk to in this year to feel like they're my friend. I want them to feel like they are important to me. I will show them this my smiling and really listening and talking to them about what's important to them.

Well, there you have it. Let me know what you all think. That's where I'm at for this week. I love you all so much. I learn from all of your examples every day. I pray for you often and hope to make you all proud. #143 #GMC$ #SpeacialK #JakeHeaps

Love,
Elder Stockard

January 5, 2013

What's crackin' fam?

So is it possible that it's already Saturday once again? It seems like every time I turn around, it's Saturday, but I guess I could say that about almost everyday of the week cuz the time is straight flying more and more. I love hearing how well everyone is doing. That has been one of the greatest blessings of my mission to this point, hearing every week just how well everyone back home is doing. There are so many missionaries who don't ever hear good things from home or very rarely do and it's just such a blessing to hear in each email that all is well both temporally and more importantly spiritually.

This week got chilly, well relatively chilly, here in Tampico. I think it actually got as low as like 45 or 50 degrees and it's been raining like nonstop. It's been a nice lil' change and just enough of a reminder to me that I should count my blessings for serving in a warm weather mission because being my boy Elder Adams in France would be sooooooooooooooo hard for me with the cold. Best of luck Miles, haha. It's really interesting because here in Mexico, rich, poor, or middle class, all live in houses made of cement. It's funny, I've realized that house building here is legitimately like playing a game of real life Legos haha its all pure cinder block stacked one on top of the other. I think playing with Legos is a dual program of entertainment and training for later in life, haha. But back to the point of where I'm going with this is that these cement houses are NOT built to hold in heat, obviously considering that like 95% of the year is crazy hot here but what that also means is that these two weeks of the year that it's cold makes for some REALLY COLD nights, haha. But it's been a fun little change, I've also learned how quiet our house is at night without like 15 fans blowing haha.

So yeah, this week has been a really fun, kind of different week. To start off, last Sunday our Elders Quorum President, Marco, came up to us at church and told us that he had a reference of someone that wanted to hear our message which is always like the greatest thing that a member can say to you. I mean that's 100 times better even then when someone says they want to buy you tacos al pastor. So Sunday night we taught Marco's friend, Lizeth about the Restoration... Turns out that Lizeth is totally GOLD!!! She had a ton of questions, but Elder Salazar, Marco and I were able to help her understand it all really well and she was totally ready to accept and read the Book of Mormon leaving that lesson. So we met with her and with Marco once again this Wednesday and she had read a TON in the Book of Mormon and was really receiving her answer. So we all read 3 Nephi 11 together Wednesday and we set a baptismal date with Lizeth for the first week in February, which she accepted without problems! That was a total miracle, the first one of the week. The second miracle came later on in this week with Christian, Berenice (his fiance), and la famila Cruz de Santiago. We were there teaching Ricarda and Pascual one night this week, when Cristian and Berenice walked in like right as we were getting ready to leave. Berenice told us that she had gone up to the temple and had been reading the Book of Mormon and praying and that she finally received her answer that it's true. Another one of the greatest phrases that you can ever hear!!!!!!! This was soo awesome, both her and Christian have a baptismal date for the 25 of January that they should hit without any problems, they are all ready to get married and everything is right on track.

I straight love family so so much. These two miracles really made me think this last week on the way that the Lord directs his work. Since I got to the offices, I have heard a lot of Elders complaining about how hard it is to find new investigators without being able to knock doors and wondering how we are going to focus on reactivation with the Obra De Salvacion and still baptize. As I studied on all this I started to reflect and found a scripture that I really like in Ruth 2:12. It starts out with the phrase that sums it all up: The Lord recompenses his work. Think on that for a minute. The Lord recompenses his work. What a comforting thought that is. In the world, patients recompense the work of doctors, clients recompense the work of lawyers, fans recompense the work of athletes, and Barack recompenses those that don't work (LOLZ, I know, I'm still hilarious). There is no other field of work like missionary work. The Lord recompenses it, and with that being said, there is no set number of doors that a missionary has to knock or people in the street that he has to talk to in order to baptize. The Lord recompenses his work, and he has set the requirements in order to receive that recompensation (I hope that's a word). What the Lord has required to receive his blessing in missionary work are as follows: 1. Obedience to all of the commandments and the other requirements specifically set for missionaries. Even if you work crazy crazy hard, if you don't obey, you disqualify yourself from the very beginning, He CAN'T bless you. 2. He requires diligence. I think this is where the idea that those who knock the most doors or contact the most are those who will baptize comes from, because it's true that for so long that has been the test, those who are diligent are those who contact even when they don't want to. That is very true, but here in Mexico, the Lord has said through his servants that we will now not contact, and so that's what we will do. And we must be diligent in doing it in order to receive his recompense. 3. The Lord has required that we exercise faith in missionary work. That we live the doctrine which we preach. That we have faith that we will find, baptize, reactivate or whatever it may be, even when it seems impossible. As humans, we so easily forget that God can so easily violate the laws of normality and bless us with a miracle, when we exercise the faith necessary to see that miracle. The Lord requires us to repent every day, to be examples of faith and repentance. When we do these things, the Lord will overcome the laws of normality with the higher laws of heaven by which He lives, and bless us with miracles. New investigators, a changed heart in someone who is less active, or even just personal improvement are all miracles. I have been thinking and honestly, every single baptism I've had in my mission has been an absolute miracle... No idea how it happened, but when it happened, we were doing and had been doing these things that I wrote beforehand. If we do these things: obey, be diligent, exercise faith, and repent, it really doesn't matter how, but the Lord will bless us and we will still find, teach, and baptize those that we have been sent to do so. The Lord recompenses his work. What a blessing it is to serve our King. I love you all so much. I hope to make you all proud every single day. Thank you so much for your love and support, it truly means the world to me.

#143 #GMC$ #JakeHeaps

Love,

Elder Stockard