So, when I was serving in Tennessee, President McKee gave a talk in a zone conference on how we as missionaries, sign up and promise to be 100% obedient to the will of the Lord, a process which encompasses a TONNN of change lots of times. Change is something that is really hard for us as humans... We don't really like change. We like finding our groove and staying with it, it's comfortable and we get good at what we are doing. Well, as missionaries, we promise that we are going to put aside the comforts and pleasures of the world in which we live for these two years in an effort to consecrate ourselves and change the course of not only our own lives, but also the lives of those that we find and teach. The only way that is possible is if we truly live by and believe in obeying the will of God. This week has been a week just FULLL of change for me, change brings new trials and new adventures, all of which I'm really excited about. Let's get started on telling you about it!
So last Saturday, the Baptism was AWESOME!!! It couldn't have been better timing either, the next Sunday was ward conference in Barrio Boulevard, so Saturday night, the baptism was a packed house for the baptism of la Familia Ruiz. It really was an awesome service and there was lots of support from the ward. All three of them, were very happy and had an incredible experience. I was really happy with how it all turned out. The baptism ended at about 7 and at 7:30 we were here in the offices again working on the transfers, which until that moment, we really hadn't done much on due to the visit of Elder De Hoyos taking up a lot of President's time and efforts of that week. Haha, so we started a process that usually takes the better part of a week to do Saturday night, knowing that Sunday morning the Zone Leaders would need the transfers so that they could inform those who were going to be leaving so they could be ready to leave Monday morning. Haha, well, yeah that was a fun night, we finished the transfers at about 2 am, and had them sent out by about 3am and we went to sleep at about 3:30 Sunday morning. That made for a REALLLLLY long Sunday, not even gonna lie hahaha. But it was a really good Sunday, all three members of the family were confirmed Sunday in Barrio Boulevard in a really nice ward conference service and everything. Monday was transfer day which is always a high stress, many phone call, really fun day! We had 13 new missionaries get here and get their trainers, so we trained the new missionaries and their trainers for the better part of Monday. Tuesday I hopped on a bus to go on a little mini tour of the northern part of the mission. It was fun, I went and worked in Victoria Tuesday, Wednesday morning I attended a district meeting up there. After that, I hopped on another bus and headed to a littler city named Ciudad Mante and did a division with a missionary there. It was really fun. I had only been to Mante 2 other times to give trainings, but it was kind of a cool little town. Haha, we had a less active there that told me he was really sad that we had once again fallen into an apostasy now that our church's leader, the Pope had stepped down. Mante reminds me a ton of Fallon, just south of the border, haha. That was Wednesday, Thursday I hopped on another bus and came back to Tampico. I got here and Elder Salazar, President and I immediately started planning for the Zone Leaders counsel for Friday. We got it pretty well planned out and President asked if I would talk to him for just a minute. He told me that for a grand variety of reasons and factors he was going to send me back out into the field full time. A few reasons being: I have been here more than 3 transfers, which is a long time in the offices, another because we have a lot of really young Elders who need help learning how to be leaders and the only way to really learn leadership is to have a chance to lead. So we haven't really told anyone here in the mission yet, but tomorrow I will be a normal missionary once again. I will be a Zone Leader in Zona Chairel, here in Tampico and I will be finishing the training of a new Elder named Elder Quiñones. My replacement is one of my best friends in the mission, Elder Agren. He's taking my place and I'm taking his. He was my zone leader off in Victoria when he was training Elder Ringer and I was training Elder Garry and so we have had a lot of contact in the mission.
But yeah President told me that Thursday, and it really took me a minute to get my head around it. The timing of it was a little weird, but I think it was probably good that we did it this weekend so that poor Elder Agren didn't have to train 13 new missionaries and their trainers and give a Zone Leaders Counsel in his first 4 days as Assistant. It comes back to the principle of accepting change and accepting God's will. This is God's work. We are his servants. We must believe that. If we believe that, we can trust that anytime he gives us a change, there is a very good reason. The Lord needed me here in the offices until tomorrow, and tomorrow he needs me in Chairel. It's as simple as that, it's not about what we want, or what we are comfortable doing, or what area we would like to serve in, no not at all. It's as simple as that, we must accept God's will and when he says change, we change. That is such a key principle that if missionaries can learn and MASTER early on, it will change the course of their missions and their lives. They will be so much more focused and happy, they will be so much less selfish and so much more Christlike. Believe me, it's so much easier said than done. We must learn, as President Eyring teaches, to say, "Lord, thy will be done and in thine own time." I feel so happy and so privileged to have had the time here in the offices, it has gone so so so fast, but it has been an absolute privilege.
Last night I said goodbye to la Familia Cruz de Santiago that we baptized and that will be baptized (Chris and Ber) as soon as they get hitched and also to la Familia Ruiz. Goodbyes are the hardest part of change. I remember when I used to say goodbye to Grandma or to Gma and Gpa Andros when we would leave from vacations that I would cry and cry and cry. I have always hated goodbyes. It was the hardest part of leaving for school, and then once again it was hard to say goodbye when I left school, and then once again when I left on the mish, when I left Tennessee, when I left Francia, when I left Mainero, and now that I'm leaving Central and Boulevard, it's hard once again. But change is good, especially when God is the one orchestrating the change.
I'm excited to go take on Chairel, its going to be really fun. I will be writing you again either Wednesday or Monday, I'm not totally sure which. If I don't write you Monday, you can write me Tuesday night and I'll write Wednesday. But yeah from here on out, my P Days will be Mondays once again except this week might be Wednesday. I love you all so so much. I love the mission and it is so crazy how fast time is really cooking. It's only gonna get faster. #143 #SpecialK #JakeHeaps #GMC$
Love,
Elder Stockard
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