March 21, 2016 - Week 39

Family,

     So another week down huh? How`ve you all been. Well, it sounds like you're moving along well and that things are going really well for you all. Mom, I'm glad to hear that you continue to see progress and that you're going to go see the Birdshot disease specialist in SLC. I'm confident that that will help you a lot with your eyes. It sounds like it will be a party in the fall of 2017 in Utah, let´s see if you and dad will be able to resist moving to BYU, haha. That's super exciting news that everything is taking form with Lauren and Tyler and that they´re gonna be going to Utah. Are you guys going to be in Utah for Easter and try to hit up GC live? I think it´s so cool that conference falls on Easter and I'm superrrr excited to watch it once again in a couple weeks!

     So this week was really good but ended with a super big surprise that was completely unexpected. President Munive called us last night really late and told us that there needed to be emergency transfer with some other missionaries and that my companion was going to have to leave so today I got a change in companions. My new companion is Elder Vaca. He arrived in the mission with me and I'm excited to spend this time with him, he`s a really good missionary. I was a little sad to leave Elder Ruiz but the Lord always has a better plan than us. So today we went to drop him off and I picked up Elder Vaca. We´re excited to work together and want to make the most of it. 

   On Saturday we had Raul´s baptism in Los Mochis and it was cool because he was super excited the whole day. The baptismal service went really well and I got to confirm him on Sunday as a member. It´s always good to see another baptism because it´s such a big step. Now we´re working with some of the recent converts that we have here to be able to go to the temple soon. We started teaching Roman this week, and we scheduled his baptism for next month and he´s also really excited. It should go good I think, he´s super cool and his mom is a member too. He´s 12 years old and really excited to learn. I also went to Los Mochis during the week to work with Elder Miller again. We had some super cool experiences and talked about how cool it will be to have memories like teaching families in Mexico together when we´re both back at BYU in a few years. 

   That´s cool that you guys could go to Schurz and speak there. I realize now how necessary it is to support the other branches and people who need that sort of support in the church. I'm glad to see that You guys are using your strengths and abilities to strengthen and serve others. I have a new appreciation for members who support where it´s needed haha. You guys are awesome examples and I'm glad that I can look back and have fond memories of having the missionaries over to teach others in our house. Ya´ll are seriously the best haha. I'm glad everything is going well with you back at the crib, and that I can tell you that I'm honestly loving the mission and see many blessings from having a faithful, loving family back at home. Love you all and we´ll talk more in a week!

Elder Stockard

March 14, 2016 - Week 38

Dear Family,


What's going on homies?? How are things back at the ranch? It sounds like you guys have quite the busy schedule going with report cards, and concession stands, and planning summer trips and things of every sort. I also heard that there's a potential trip to Tampico, MX this summer for you mom? Gosh, you would love to see how Mexico is, and I would love for you to be able to go to Mexico so you have an idea of how things are. After all, you will have spent 4 of the last 5 years of your life with your sons living there. But anyways, that's cool that you´re all good and that your eyes are steadily improving.


This week had it´s ups and its downs, but the ups were super sick. We should be baptizing Raul this Saturday and he´s been learning really well. Yesterday at church he came up to us and asked us if he could pay tithing if he wasn't a member. It was really humbling for him to make a true sacrifice and have such faith with so little time in the church. We helped him fill out the tithing slip, and then promised him that he was going to be blessed for his sacrifice. We had 6 investigators in church with us yesterday, including Raul. Two others are named Oscar and Maria, and we started teaching them on Saturday, and invited them to church and they showed up. Oscar is 26 years old and was actually going to get baptized like 7 years ago, but had to go into the Marines so decided not to. He has been seriously looking for a change recently and had a great time at church. We were super excited to start teaching them.


We had another missionary activity this week, and we organized like 5 or 6 games Minute to Win it style, and invited all the members of the branch to come. A lot of them did come, and it was really fun. My companion is really good with cards, and he knows how to do some magic tricks too so we did some of those. We also played a variation of cup stacking, 6 saltines in less than a minute, card towers, and throwing ping pong balls into cups. The kids and members had fun and we did too. The branch is really looking up, and we had 7 less active members come to church yesterday. Lots of times they just need to know that they're missed, and have someone pull their ears a little bit to be able to go back to church.


So it sounds like you guys are going to have quite the summer, haha. Hawaii, Arizona, and possibly Tampico? Sounds like it should be fun. I will have to add that to my list of vacations that you guys took while I was on my mission then afterwards, all the RMs in the family can complain about how the family only goes on vacation when we´re on the mish. Haha I remember that Dad and Tommy talked about that. In all honesty, I'm in support of it as long as you send me pictures of it all. Also, what percentage do Lauren and Tyler make from the snack bar? I remember that it was some margin. Thanks for all the updates on all that, also have they made a med school decision yet??


Well that's about all for this week. I'm glad you guys are doing good and seeing the blessing of the Lord in your lives. He gives us all we need to be happy and we just need to trust in what he tells us. The church is true! I love you all, and we´ll talk more in week 39 !!

All love,

Ryan

March 7, 2016 - Week 37

Dear Family,

Another week back writing you all, and it always brings a smile to my face to have a little piece of you guys during my week. It sounds like everyone´s good and it makes me very grateful to know that you´re seeing improvement with the eyes. It really is a huge testimony builder of the power of a faithful fast, and the promises of the lord. Pretty touching experience to see how far you´ve gotten this month, when things weren´t looking too good (pun totally intended) and now things are looking better. (Yes, that one too) Well, in short, we can all be eternally grateful for a Heavenly Father who has each of us actively on his mind, and cares for each one of us perfectly. 

This week went really well for us. Things really seem to be coming together and meshing well with our investigadores right now, and we are really excited to be teaching them and working with them. Edgar and Angel came to church and participate a ton during the classes, it´s pretty cool. We also are teaching this man named Raul who came to church as well, and if all goes well, will be baptized in a week and a half. He´s super nice and sells bread for a living. He always offers us some of his bread that he makes in his house. We´re also teaching 3 middle-aged women that are all super nice. Aurora, Guadalupe, and Alma. We find it convienent to leave her chapters of Alma to read because she has the same name of 2 great prophets. But its not as big of a coincidence as you would think, Alma in Spanish means soul. So its all a little confusing haha. But we´re moving along well in the work and excited to keep finding new people, because that's always part of the process. 

This week we´re planning on having a missionary activity in the branch here. It's kinda interesting being in a branch as a missionary because we have to literally put the branch on our backs sometime, including conducting the meetings, doing all the visiting and home teaching meetings, bless and pass the sacrament, and give talks. Although we have to work really hard in a lot of areas, it´s rewarding because we develop really great relationships with lots of the members. We´ve worked hard and reactivated 3 people here recently, including an RM named Samuel. But we have a long ways to go in the branch, but we´re seeing improvement.

I'm super glad to hear from all of you. I still haven't gotten your package but we only get mail once a month, so it could have arrived by now. I will defintely let you guys know though. Keep me posted on the presidential election and all other news, and I don't know if you snapped a pic of my missionary plaque, but when you get a chance I would love to see it. Thanks for ll the love and support, know that I reciprocate it on this side of the border for all of you. I love you all very much and we´ll talk more in a week.

Love,

Ryan 

Feb. 29, 2016 - Week 36

Family,

Heyyy whats up everyone?? How are all of you guys? I'm glad to hear that everyone´s good and hope everyone is enjoying this extra day of the year lol! Hard to believe it´s almost March! Super big congrats to Tommy on accepting the Clark Scholarship at BYU and I am confident that he´ll continue to do work in the law school there too. Sounds like there was a lot of excitement and weddings that are going down out there. So Donald Trump is looking like the front runner for president huh? Who is Dad´s vote? Pretty interesting to watch, even when its from a distance haha. Also, huge shout out to Ryan H for receiving his call to Buenos Aires Argentina!!!!! Way sick. 

So this week was the last week of the transfer, and yesterday every missionary was on his toes waiting to receive the call to what was going to happen with them. Elder Ruiz and I are staying the same and we´re going to continue working together in Topolobampo for another 6 weeks. I'm super excited and grateful because I honestly love it here, and we´re doing a lot of good work. Yesterday we had 5 investigatores come to church with us, which was about 1/5 of the attendance! It´s nice to bring people to church because the investigators and the members already know each other, cause almost everyone here knows each other haha. We´re teaching Angel, Hilario, and Edgar who are brothers. Superrrr cool and smart kids. They want to get baptized, and a super ready, we´re just waiting on the permission from their parents. Which is coming, but slowly. We read the Jeffrey R Holland talk on mothers with their mom this week to try and soften her up a bit and encourage them to treat their mother with the utmost respect. I shared with them how great of a mother you were for me, and how you always want to best for us. 

We´re also working with other less active members to try and bring in some priesthood to the branch. Its going little by little, but it really is a process. Its interesting because like 70% of the men in Topo work in the ocean, in some facet. Their schedule is governed by the weather, the wind, and lots of other little factors, but it makes it really hard to find men who are willing to go to church on Sunday and work it out with their work. It's a definite challenge but it's not impossible! We have some really sweet investigators and references though so I'm seeing big things coming.

This week I had a new companion for 2 days, cause we did transfers with the zone leaders. Elder Miller, from Mapleton, Utah came here and worked with me. It was super fun because we talked a lot about things we liked to do in Utah and some of the things on the mission. We get along really well and it was fun to show him around for a bit, while I got to learn new things from him. I'm really grateful for the people we get to meet here on the mission and the friendships we´ll have for many years to come. 

Thanks so much for the support and for sending that package to me. This family will be so excited and surprised to receive it and I'm excited to give them their Kool-Aid haha. So how are the treatments going mom? Are they sure that birdshot is what you have, and when are you expected to see results from the medicine?? I keep praying for you every day and I'm comforted to know that we have a Father in Heaven who is listening, and has all our best interests in mind. I hope you know I love you all and that I'm doing great here and I'm glad to hear from everyone of you and what you're doing. The time really is limited and we gotta make the most of it!! I love you all and I'll talk to you in a week!! 

Love Always,

Ryan 

February 22, 2016 - Week 35

Family,

Wow, Mom that's great that you got some sort of diagnosis and treatment for what's been bugging you in your eyes for so long. Only 104 cases in the USA, that is honestly the definition of rare. Like I think the black plague is probably more common than birdshot disease. Well, with that in mind, I'm ever so thankful that there is a treatment for it. And that you were able to receive the help you need and I'm sure everything will be great. Other than that part, how was the rest of your guys week?? I'm sure it was nice to have a shortened school week like always. How is the weather back at home? It's starting to heat up here, but it doesn't stop us from working hard.   

This week was really good.  We had a baptism on Saturday which is always a really cool way to end the week. Those days are filled with a lot of last minute preparations and tasks, but it is always worth it. It's made a little bit harder because we are really isolated here in Topolobampo, and have to coordinate a lot of things in Los Mochis. But this investigator, Vanessa, was really well prepared and it makes it a lot easier. I was super happy to be able to see her make that big step in her life. I forgot my camera, so ill have to send you guys pics the next week. Other than that the work is good. 

We have a lot of people we´re teaching and its just a matter of helping each of them understand the feeling of the spirit and they´ll all be good. We were put on special assignment by the Stake Presidency to search for more priesthood among the less actives, in hopes to find a branch president that lives in Topo. They are all on assignment from Mochis right now. So we have this list of like 150 less active men and we have to try to visit them all little by little.

Thank you for the political updates, I hear a lot of negative comments about Donald Trump here, apparently he's not too fond of the Mexican people, according to them. I'm not sure though, I feel pretty disconnected with the American politics. Are any of the candidates coming to Fallon or Reno this week to try and sway the polls, or is Nevada insignificant enough that we don't get any attention? I am kinda weirded out by the fact that when I come back we will have a new president. But you will definitely have to keep me updated on all that, I will be curious to know.

This is the last week of the transfer here so it is possible that it´s my last week in Topolobampo. We will see, but in any case I know that the Lord has a special plan for each and every one of us. Whether I'm in Topolobampo, or some other area the gospel is the same, which is such a blessing. I love to see the positive effects that it has on those in our family in Nevada, with the powerful blessings of fast and prayer that we have seen, and I'm positive we will continue to see with your eyes, Mom. From Grandma and Gpa in Ukraine, to me in Mexico, and all the others in every part of the USA I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father who heard those pleas, and blessed you. Its a special blessing to be able to devote my life for these two years to helping people realize that those are blessings that each one of us can receive in moments of need, and it is the only way to find true and everlasting, eternal happiness, through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, I love you all and encourage you to keep looking for opportunities to serve others. Love you all.

Love,

Ryan 

February 15, 2016 - Week 34

Hola,

Wow, pretty cool weekend you guys all had. From what I've heard the Provo temple is really great. Pretty sweet that from any given point in Provo you're only a stone's throw away from a temple, haha. I definitely look forward to going to those temples with you guys all together one day, but we should probably plan a trip during the summer so that there's not so much snow, haha. Dad graduated from law school there many years ago, and now its a temple, kinda funny haha. But I'm really glad you guys got up to Utah to see everything and everyone there and enjoy a little cold weather.

This week was really good. We are going to start doing mutual with the kids here in the branch, but we´re doing it differently so that each week the kids can each bring a friend with them. It started off as an English class with 4 investigators that we have, and we thought of doing a small activity every week with the kids we are teaching, and inviting the members to come and bring their friends as well. All the youth were really excited about it and so we'll see how it goes. This week we planned a service activity with a part member family, and then after we´re gonna play a game. I'm thinking about instituting Chubby Bunny, but I wanna pull that one out at a prime opportunity. No but I'm really looking forward to it and I think it will be good for the branch.

This week was kinda funny casue the Pope is in Mexico and everywhere we go people invite us in to watch him on tv, and its all over the newspaper and everything. I honestly had no idea that it was that big of a deal but I guess so. But regardless of the Pope excitement, we were able to find some new people to teach this week which is always exciting. I love to see people feeling the spirit testify to them of the validity of the message, even when it's just the first visit, and even when they don't always recognize that as the spirit. Also, super sick that there was a member of the 12 presiding at your sacrament meeting, and it was as if nothing happened. Did he give any remarks or was he just chillin?? 

This Valentine's day I want to tell each of you how much I love you all. I really appreciate that you sent me those 3 things, Mom, and I wish I had time to send 100 things that I love about all of you, but I will keep it short and tell you all that I love you and appreciate each one of you. Each of us is a son or daughter of a loving Heavenly Father, who has a plan that includes us living in his presence together forever. Quite a remarkable blessing, and I want you all to know you're loved and missed. Untill next week.

Ryan

February 8, 2016 - Week 33

Family,

Heyyyy whats up yall. So the snow keeps going there in Nevada, huh? It's funny because everyone asks me where I'm from, I tell them "Nevada" (which means 'snowy' in Spanish) and then they always follow up with asking me if I've ever seen snow and I can tell them about the weather updates from over there lol. So how was the week for everyone? Seems like it was pretty low key with the highlight being the Superbowl haha. We had a good week here, just with a lot less snow!

So to answer your question, it's still a little too early to tell but we keep visiting the converts and they're both doing good. We started teaching this man named Miguel this week, as well as another family. Miguel is a reference from a member and he is super nice and really likes reading the Book of Mormon. He came all the way to Los Mochis with us for a stake conference and there we heard an Area 70 deliver a very powerful message, and I was super glad to have him there to hear it. Vanessa also came, she's a girl whose family is less active but they're reactivating, and she's gonna get baptized this weekend, if all goes well! 

This weekend and week are kinda tough to find people because there's this week-long celebration here in Topo called Carnaval. It basically includes a tonnnnn of food, people, shows, celebrations, and drinking. There are fireworks every night and it's all really cool to see, but from a missionary's perspcetive its hard because starting at like 6:00 PM it's kinda impossible to find people in their houses. But it's ending this week so it's all good. 

On Saturday at the stake conference as I was leaving, someone came up to me super super excited and asked me if I had a brother who served in Tampico, and then told me that they served together. It was really cool for a couple reasons, one of which is that it was fun to hear some short stories about Tommy's mish, and make some connections in that aspect. It was also cool to see how big of an impact that Tommy had obviously made with this RM and see his example. And also to have a little connection to those who I love most. Funny to reflect and think that 2 years ago Tommy and this guy were on the other side of Mexico together as missionaries, and now he and I are together here in Los Mochis.

Mom, I'm glad to see your humility in this whole situation with your eyes. 99% (if not more) of your life is devoted to helping others and seeing to others needs, and its a special experience for us, as your family, to be able all rally together and use the powerful tool that God gives us and fast for you. It was a really special opportunity and I was glad to be able to have you on my mind and know that many others, including our Heavenly Father had you in their thoughts this weekend. Well, thank you all for the updates. And huge shout out to Jacob for his mission call! I wish I could say I knew where Armenia was, but I do not. He'll be a great missionary and member of God's army in this special calling. I love you all, thanks for writing me! Until next Monday. All love.

Love,

Ryan