October 19, 2015 - Week 17

Dear Family,

Here we are again, another week has come and gone. I always love so much sitting down at the internet cafe, at the computer that´s loaded with viruses because I get to hear all about how great you guys are doing back home! I got some pics of Tommy´s birthday party and it looks like it was poppin, haha. Still weird to think that he is 23 years old, haha. I also got a a pic from Tyler of him and Lauren in Kansas City and it sounds like they´re doing great. Although that really sucks that they have to spend time in North Dakota right now lol. You will have to send me pictures of the upstairs apartment and keep me updated on how it goes. That room will forever be hallowed ground with all the nights that we spent going hard on the PS3, haha.

This week I was able to see a lot of support from the Lord in His work. I want to tell you guys a few little things that happened that might not seem super significant, but that I was really grateful for as a missionary this week. The first one was on Friday. I was working in my area with Elder Salazar. He´s an elder in my district who has the same amount of time as I do. It was like 5:00 PM and we had only found one person that day, and it was super hot all day. We decided to head over to this guy Jorge´s house and as we were turning onto his street, he called us and asked if we could come over and teach him something and that since our first visit he´s felt super peaceful and good. We told him we would be there in like 30 seconds haha. Yesterday we also visited an investigator who told us that she had been hoping we would go by her house the last couple days, and she was receptive to the message. Later that night, we were teaching an inactive recent convert, and her daughter wandered in and joined us in the lesson. Afterwards, the daughter asked us why we always seem to teach exactly what she needs to hear. Her mom, then explained that it was because of the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Like I said, I know those sound just like your typical mission stories, but it was all very powerful to actually be sitting there and seeing it with my own eyes. We are moving along nicely in the work of the Lord and I know without a doubt that he helps us in the work. 

This week our whole zone had to go to Obregon to have our periodical interviews with President Munive. It was nice to talk with him and get advice from him. He really is a super big stud and I'm really glad that we have such a good President at the helm of this mission. Afterwards, we got to have Domino's pizza which was a nice taste of America. I have actually been surprised with how I've seen a lot of random things of American culture here that they´ve kinda adopted. I can´t think of a specific example right now, but I think it´s because we are so close to the border. In one of the more random exchanges of my life, I met this guy who was wearing a Lowry Buckaroos shirt, and it turns out he lived in Winnemucca for like 5 years haha. Suuuuuperrrr random.

This is the last week of the transfer and our whole district is speculating about what´s going to happen because we´ve all been together for 3 months now, which is usually the max amount of time. I will be sad to leave my companion, Elder Ruiz cause he has been such a big help to me. I can honestly say that I can understand everything that´s being said in Spanish now and I can speak my mind, which he has helped me with a tonnnnnn. At the same time, I know that I´ll be able to meet new people and learn new things from them. 

To answer your questions... Yes there is Boy Scouts in Mexico, there isn´t much changing of the seasons here and so there isn't much color in the trees. It is just a tad bit cooler though. Like 87 degrees, haha. And Sonora doesn't do daylight savings, but the other states in Mexico do. So right now we are on the same time as Nevada, but when the rest of the world changes their clocks, we will be one hour ahead of you guys. 

Thanks for sharing that scripture, I have really liked that and it is definitely true. We dont have to understand everything, but we can always know that God loves us and helps us make correct decisions. Every Monday, without fail, is always a great reminder of how much I love you all and how blessed I am to have you guys as family. Thank you for everything and I love you all.

With Love,

Ryan

October 12, 2015 - Week 16

Dear Family,

What up, what up?? It sounds like you guys all had a great week too!! It sounds like you´re super busy with all the stuff in the morning, and I'm sure that you´re dead exhausted at the end of the day with exercise, teaching, studying, and making sure our house continues to function. But It´s a great feeling going to bed dead exhausted after a very productive day. It´s good that you´re setting goals. As missionaries we always work in goals. With ourselves, our companions, our zones and districts and our investigators as well. It´s something that the church has always emphazied I feel like. And for good reason, with goals we always have something to work towards and it really does help with productivity. 

Anyways, this week was pretty solid. We had an investigator that came to church with us, and a few less actives came that hadn´t been in quite awhile. It was definitely a highlight of the week. We also had ward council for the first time since I have been here, and gosh, it was a lot different from meetings I had attended before my mission. The main concerns were what verses of the songs the primary are going to sing in their primary program, and what time they would go to Obregon to set apart a sister missionary in the ward. It has been tough to get help from the ward with the investigators, but we´re gonna keep on trying and it´ll all work out. I really like teaching some teenagers that we have cause they´re all very attentive, and ask really good questions. It´s sweet to see their sincerity and to be able to talk about some things we have in common. The hard thing is that they´re all pretty busy with school and other things, so it makes it more difficult to find time to teach them, but Im really excited with moving forward with them! We have plans tonight to teach the plan of salvation with an investigator that just had her dad die like 5 days ago, and we´re really hoping it goes well. 

Today we deep cleaned the bathroom of our apartment. We had to rig a few common house hold supplies into cleaning supplies (For example, we found an old TShirt and taped it to the bottom of a broom to use as a mop) but in the end we got it done, and it looks a lot better now. All of Mexico uses only tile floors, so it makes it a lot easier to clean the floors, because all we have to do is sweep. We also went into Obregon to buy food for the week, it is always very exciting when we have a kitchen stocked full of food at the beginning of every week haha. I actually really have enjoyed being able to cook my own food, and I think it will help me out a ton in the years to come knowing that I actually am capable of preparing food haha. The weather here this week has been super super nice. It has finally cooled off a little bit, and it makes for very nice days walking in the streets. It was kinda funny, we were talking about how nice it´s been with the cooler weather and someone noted that it is only like 85 degrees. I thought it was funny because I used to think 85 degrees was miserably hot, but it feels like perfect temperature after a couple months of 105-110 haha. And the rain has turned into just a light drizzle every few afternoons, which I actually really like. Things are good here and it´s so hard to believe that we are almost through with my first two transfers here in the mission field. I will miss Elder Ruiz a lot. He´s honestly been a huge help to me with lots of things out here in the mish. But we still have 2 weeks together, so we´ll make the most of it!!!

Did you celebrate Tommy´s Bday with some sort of cake even though he wasn´t there to enjoy it with you guys haha?? It sounds like he´s gonna be having a pretty dope party to celebrate this weekend haha. Let the good times roll at the Midway house!!  So crazy to think that he´s already 23 years old, it doesn´t sound right saying it out loud. You are definitely right, that with all the wonderful things you´ve done in your life, being a mom to us has been the most important job and Im sooooo grateful for the job you´ve done and example you and Dad always set for us. I realize it more and more every day that I spend away from you guys too!! I  love you all and I'm always keeping you in my prayers. 

Love Always,

Elder Stockard

October 5, 2015 - Week 15

Family,

Ayyy, what up, what a quick week yet again right?? It was quite a busy one on this side of the border and from the emails and pictures, it sounds like it was busy for all of you guys as well. How crazy that Alyssa is 17 years old now and that this week Tommy will have his 23rd birthday, I feel like my siblings shouldn´t be that old, haha. I was saddened by the fact that I wasn´t there to enjoy the birthday cake, so to cope with my emotions, I started using the cake batter flavored chapstick, haha. No but really if you could wrap up everything good and sweet in this world, it would be my little sister Alyssa. And Tommy has always been and will always be my best friend in the world and I wish them both the best birthdays. 

So this week was pretty routine during the week, but with conference during the weekend it was pretty different. I'll give ya´ll an update on the work... So on Wednesday I went on divisions with our new zone leader, Elder Adams. It was cool because we were in my area and it was the first time I was responsible with getting us from place to place, planning our whole day, and making all the phone calls and talking with all the people and things like that. It was a big change but I was able to handle it well and we actually had a really effective day, one which included introducing the Book of Mormon to the teenager we´re teaching and setting a baptismal date with him. We have other ones set right now, and we´re working hard to do everything we can to get the people ready to enter into the covenant of baptism. The dates are constantly changing (based on church attendance and other things) but the important thing is that they really understand the importance of baptism and that it really is a necessary step for us. We also found this other teenager who has taken the lessons about a year ago and wants us to teach her again. We have an appointment with her and her mom tonight which I'm excited about. 

Conference this weekend really was super great. It brings a totally new prospective as a missionary, and I think the biggest difference was watching every minute of it without the usual distractions. We got to watch it in English with all the American missionaries in the zone and that was super nice, because we can hear their real voices and the messages are easier to understand in my native tongue. I also really enjoyed Elder Durrant´s talk about ponderizing the scriptures and it´s something we do in the mission. Right now we´re working on Jacob 1:19. During Elder Holland´s talk I thought about how blessed I was to have you as my perfect mother throughout my life and also how big a role you, and my grandmothers played in helping me become the person I am today, and who I will strive to be in the future. Another one that I enjoyed was President Monson´s, I could really feel the power in his testimony even though he was noticeably exhausted at the end. Unfortunately none of our investigators were able to go to General Conf, and during each talk I just kept thinking, "Man, how nice would it be to have them hearing a lesson taught from the 15 biggest spiritual monsters on earth??" I´ve been reading the Bible lately because I love to read about the plain and simple doctrine that existed in the primitive church of Christ, and how big of a role the apostles played in that church then, and in this church now. It really is a huge blessing to us to receive their guidance. 

So do you guys have any other plans going on for the week, or any trips to Utah planned?? Pretty crazy that it´s already October right? I heard it rained a few times there this week, here as well. The good news is that it really is cooling off now to a comfortable temperature. Today we enjoyed our Pday by having a zone activity in the morning, then going to Obregon to buy food at walmart for the first time in a couple weeks. For breakfast I usually eat oatmeal, yogurt and fruit, and water. Then for dinner I always do peanut butter sandwiches, in case you were wondering about my meals, haha. Oh and I ate stringray this week too! Actually pretty good. There´s a dish called cauamanta here which is basically stingray soup. But that´s about all from my end. Thanks for all the emails and loving support I receive from the best family in the world. I love you all so much and pray for you all often. Until next week!!

All Love,

Elder Stockard

September 28, 2015 - Week 14

Dear Family, 

Ayyyy what´s poppin'?? Another week in the books, pretty crazy, right?? It´s so good to hear from all of ya´ll about all the good that you´re doing back in the homeland!! Everyone sounds so good and that things continue to go really smoothly for people (Well, except BYU football I guess.) I loved receiving all your guys emails. Some of the best parts were the Angels are on a tear, the Mom and Alyssa Seinfeld Marathons, and the Lauren-Tyler road trip for med school and law school tours/interviews. Super busy, but busy is good!!

So as for my week... It included multiple sessions of pulling weeds, believe it or not. Mom, you´ll be pleased to hear that for the first times in my life I did it without one ill word haha. Here they use like plastic bags instead of gloves when pulling weeds and it actually works surprisingly well haha. As for the actual missionary work, it continues to go well. We taught a good amount of lessons this week, and have some investigators that really have some potential. We continue to teach the one sister  and she is progressing well. She got some sort of ear infection this weekend so we couldn´t bring her to church, but I have a really cool story about that. We were cleaning the apartment today and found an old teaching record from a couple years back and it was for this same lady. It turns out that she has taken the discussions once before and already has attended church a few times. It was cool that we found that by chance, and it gives us a lot of information on her. We also have been teaching the daughter of an inactive convert and they are both asking a lot of good questions and read the book of Mormon, which is a step in the right direction!! 

The ward is good, and I'm always grateful for the humility of the members and their willingness to help us. Today a member gave us a ride into Obregón to pick up somethings from other missionaries that we needed for our apartment. Also, the members feed us meals every day and that is a sacrifice that I can appreciate much more now that I have to prepare some of my meals by myself. President Munive came down to Esperanza the other day and gave a training to some of the ward leaders and it was really great. The dude uses How to Win Friends and Influence People flawlessly. I think it will really help the ward out in moving forward. We also had another ward mission activity on Friday, and this one had a better turnout than the last. We divided into teams and had to construct temple using newspapers then after we discussed the blessing of temples. It was a good way to widen my Spanish vocabulary with construction terms lol.  

My companion and I have been really meshing well together. He is super super knowledgeable in the scriptures, which is remarkable cause he was only a member for 3 years before he left on his mission. Something that I really like about teaching with him is that he has some really awesome and moving stories about his conversion, and he will share them with investigators during lessons sometimes. He does a great job at effectively using his experiences, while still keeping the focus on the investigator. This past week for comp study he taught me a ton about the bible and shared a lot of really cool scriptures. Each night we work on his English together, and it is really fun. it gives each of us a glimpse into being a language instructor and a translator haha. I also made a milk shake for him this past week cause he wanted to see some of the desserts from america haha. I am grateful for him everyday and can honestly say without his guidance the first few weeks, I woulda been completely lost haha.

Mom, I really like what you told me about how our agency also applies to reacting to bad situations. Lots of times people have their faith wavered because of the bad things that have happened in their lives, and it is difficult to always keep a prospective on the eternal scheme. But we are always offered support and help from God and Christ and their plan for us is so much bigger than any trial that we have in this life. It is very difficult to explain and I really wish to improve upon that in my life. Im grateful for the things Im learning here on the mission, and for the principles that Im learning so that I can continue striving to grow as a child of god. Im also eternally grateful for all your guys love and support and examples to me. Keep it up (especially Dad with the weight-loss!!!) You continue to constantly be in my prayers and I learn so much from you guys. Love you all.

All Love

Elder Stockard  

September 21, 2015 - Week 13

Dear Family and Loved Ones,

Well here we are again with another weekly update!! It really never gets old hearing all the wonderful things that are going on with you all back at the crib. First off, I want to say just how GREAT dad looks!!! It´s incredible, he looks completely new, younger, and so happy!! (Not to say he didn´t have all those things before, but they´re even more amplified now haha) I´m very pleased to hear that Grandma and Grandpa made it safely to Ukraine and it seems as if they´re settling in nicely. The story about the food labels being in a different language reminds me of my first day with my companion when we were grocery shopping and I was trying to ask him where the peanut butter was, but was having a whale of a time trying to find Spanish words to describe it to him haha. Also, very cool that you got to hear from some RMs. Both of which I´m sure delivered killer talks. 

So my week.. It was pretty solid. Everything here continues to be really good with the work. I´ll start with a bit of saddening news, however. On Friday night one family we are teaching told us that they have a lot going on in their lives and that they no longer want to receive lessons from us. It was all very respectful and sincere, but nonetheless very disheartening because we know the good that the gospel can bring to their whole family. Then on Saturday, we had an appointment with Angela and her sister who had committed to being baptized and we were super stoked to teach them. But they called us during the afternoon and very bluntly told us to not teach them anymore and that they changed their minds. It was all very unexpected and once again those feelings of longing for them to know the truth revisited us from the previous night. My companion was very discouraged and explained to me that had never happened to him before, and all of a sudden it happened twice in 24 hours. 5 Investigators gone, all of whom had committed to be baptized and told us they believed it was true. Together we decided to continue to pray for them, and heed our advice that we gave those very investigators. Trust in the Lord. Come unto Him, and let Him help us in whatever difficulty or trial we face. We are going to do just that, and I know we´ll see results. In just 3 short months I´ve had experiences powerful enough to really change my perspective on so much in life. And sometimes it´s difficult experiences like these ones, but just remember to ALWAYS ALWAYS move forward!!! 

We have a 15 year old named Jesus that is really mature and smart for 15 years old, and we are also working with some other inactive families and members in an effort to strengthen the ward, which has been struggling with attendance and activity. This week we have a meeting with the Bishop, the Ward Mission Leader, and President Munive to create a ward mission plan. That should really help out the work here. 

Per the usual, Mexico continues to throw a plethora of fun surprises at us each day. Last night, Elder Ruiz and I had to chase a HUGE lizard around our tiny little apartment. The chase eventually ended the life of the poor lizard, but at the same time brought us peace of mind knowing that we could sleep without the fear of it accompanying us during the night haha. It has been raining pretty hard for the past 36 hours or so, but before that it was pretty hot during the day week. Although, it is cooling down a tad, which is nice. Everywhere we go is absolutely teeming with little gnats, ants, and mosquitoes. It´s super annoying, and makes for a fun obstacle of trying to strategically place our food in a place where ants can´t get into it. If you drop a crumb, it will be swarmed with ants within literally 30 seconds. Haha, but each day I get more accustomed to everything here and love it more and more. 

I didn´t get the chance to try any super weird food this week, but a lot of times we eat sushi here. But it is a big step up from the raw fish and seaweed sushi that we have in the USA. It´s basically carne asada with rice, guacamole, and salsa rolled up to resemble a sushi roll. I´ll have to ask the guys at the Wok if they can whip me up one when I return, lol.

All is well here and I am glad to hear the same from you guys. Too bad that BYU lost by only one point, but it sounds like they really are looking good this year. I try to keep the Angels in my prayers, and of course the Lakers as their season is right around the corner, lol. You guys will have to keep me updated on all that. I also would love to read the emails from Gma and Gpa in Ukraine, or at least see the pictures!! 

I love you all so much and pray for ya´ll everyday!! Keep up the great work in the USA!!! 

Love,

Elder Stockard

September 14, 2015 - Week 12

Dearest Family,

What´s going on ya´ll?? How cool that you guys got to go up to Provo and spend some time with a few generations of Andros´ before Grandma and Grandpa jet out to the Eastern World this week! I have definitely had them in my prayers and thoughts but I know that they´ll really thrive in their positions. Really, I think they were built for that. That is so great to hear that everyone is doing so well (Including BYU football, who seems to make a living off of late game thrillers this year!) Make sure to always send my love to everyone! 

With regards to my week, there were some pretty cool happenings. We are teaching this lady who is going through a lot of tough times in her life, but is seeking to change. Her 15 year old daughter just left her family on a whim and moved to Hermosillo with her boyfriend and the mom has been really struggling coming to grips with that, along with other things. It is difficult to catch her at times when we´re able to teach because she and her brother are both gone a lot, but we´ve had some very spiritual lessons with her. Our other investigator was sick this week, but we are gonna pass by to see him and pray for the best this week. We continue to teach another family, but only with limited visits because they´re so busy. The good news is that we are teaching other people and fill a lot of our time teaching inactive members. 

One of the bright spots of my week came on Saturday night. At 4:00 we had a lesson with woman named Angela, we taught the BoM and a little bit of the restoration. She was very engaged and asked some great, sincere questions throughout the whole lesson. We then invited her to a Mexican cultural event  that was at 5:00. (Transmitted at the Stake Center as part of the rededication of the Mx. City temple), not having our expectations super high with such little notice. To our delight, she accepted the invitation and we brought her along with us. The event was awesome, and was all about the Book of Mormon and the things we had just taught her. There was a baptism in the church directly after the event, that she also attended. It was really quite the blessing that she could see all of that. 

We didn´t have our regular church schedule yesterday, but instead got to watch the rededication of the Mx. City temple. Really powerful spirit that was there, and it was very nice to be able to hear Henry B Eyring and Jeffrey R Holland speak in English haha. They all gave great talks, and it was a sweet experience. Yesterday also marked the end of the first transfer out in the field. There was a certain buzz in the air all weekend as all the missionaries anticipated the transfer assignments, it´s all a little bit comical, haha. As far as transfers go, my companion and I are both staying put in Esperanza for another 6 weeks. I have a lot of faith that this will be another great 6 weeks with him. 

I had the opportunity to try some unique meals these past few days. Yesterday we had cow heart tacos. Surprisingly, they were actually pretty good. It pretty much tastes like a lower grade of carne asada, which I guess it is. It also helped that I was able to drown my tacos in salsa and guacamole, but hey, all in all, I was very pleasantly suprised the meal. The other day we were in a house and given these sandwiches with tuna, lettuce, and salsa. But they were prepared the day before and so the bread was very soggy and tuna is not my first preference as is. And those tasted exactly how you would expect. Haha but it was all good. The food here has been great, and even when I have a meal that I wouldn´t choose to eat, the people prepared it with love in their hearts to help us as the Lord´s servants, which is so great in and of itself. 

To answer your questions, the apartment handles rain just fine. I don´t know how long the rainy season is to be honest. And my feet are doing just fine save it be for a lot of mosquito bites. Everything here continues to get better by the day. There are always going to be things that happen that aren´t perfect but we can´t grow if we never experience adversity. I continue to try and learn to embrace the difficult occurrences as learning experiences and opportunities for growth in my life, both spiritually, and physically. Things here are great and it´s important to remember that the light of Christ dwells in each one of the people we come in contact with in this life. The atonement is sufficient for everyone of us. Keep up the great work at home and know that I love you always. 

With Love and Prayers,

Elder Stockard

September 7, 2015 - Week 11

Que hay, familia??

I know I say this everytime but I´m amazed each time that I sit down to write you guys that another week has already passed by! Here in Esperanza we are just starting our 6th and final week of the transer, my first one out in the field. More than likely, my companion and I will both stay together for the following transfer, but who knows what will happen. The important thing is that there is another week here to further the work.

With regards to the work, we had a very productive week. We found 2 new families, well partial families, that we have begun teaching. 6 people in total. We also had an investigator come to church yesterday which was such a blesing! Jose, I´ve mentioned him before, but it was his 3rd time to church and we are working to set a baptism this month for him. He also has a son-in-law and a grandson that we teach who have also been to church but they´re a little bit more difficult to find with school and work. We are teaching another family that is so great and so ready to have the help of the gospel in their lives, they just need to attend church. They have a son, who studies and asks us questions. He is like 10 or 11 years old, and quite the smart kid. There are other people as well, but those are a few of the highlights.

The rainy season here continued this week, which is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it is much cooler, mild weather during that time. A curse because all of the roads that were once paved with dirt, become rivers of mud. Haha it is pretty fun, it just calls for a little bit of caution and a lot of shining shoes. One funny thing that happened this transfer.. In like the 3rd day here My comp suggested that we play the game Bocho. Which is the Spanish name for Slug Bug. Every time we see a bocho (slug bug) we hit each other in the arm. I figured it would be fine cause really how many slug bugs could there be in Esperanza? It turns out that the bocho is like the American equivalent of like a sedan. They are everywhere!!! It is kinda funny to see haha, but it is fun. 

Something that I have really enjoyed here is experiencing the culture of a new country. It is such an adjustment and it can be difficult a lot of times, to be completely honest. But there is something very fulfilling about pushing yourself. The people here and way of living are very different than anything I´ve ever experienced in my life, but there is also a lot the same. Teaching parents of children is a blessing because you see how much they love their children and how badly they want the best for them. It makes me appreciate you guys and your undying love for me and our family. Always giving me a glimpse of the infinite love our Father and our Savior have for us. 

We just got back from Obregon and it was a fun PDay thus far. We did some laundry and got some things in Walmart, and checked out the city a little bit too. It really is quite a nice city, not too big but not too small. Kinda like the size of Reno more or less. Writing to you guys is always the highlight of P-day, however. It sounds like the BYU game had quite the exciting end. I always love to hear that the Midway house is still poppin' every game day, haha. But it sounds like they almost brought it to the ground in the last few seconds. Honestly I love sooooo much to hear about dad´s weight loss that is maybe the most exciting thing of my whole mission. And Alyssa being the historian at the charter school is maybe the most perfect job for her. Couldn´t think of someone who could do better at something like that. It´s also really exciting that Grandma and Grandpa head out to Ukraine this next week!! Grandpa will really thrive in the temple presidency, and they´ll be in my prayers. Everyone sounds so good, which is so awesome!! Things here are great. I continue to love it more and more each day and it´s all possible with the love, support, and power that the Lord offers to each one of us!! Mosiah 5:2

[Mosiah 5:2:  "And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually." ]

Love Always,

Elder Stockard