Sunday, December 5, 2010
...
Thanksgiving was GREAT! We froze playing turkey bowl at 9am. We then had lunch at the mission home with the office staff and other missionaries. President and Sister Merkley actually were in Branson. (Yes, mom that's in the mission. Maybe I'll hit it before I'm done!) After that we went with some other elders to a home of a less-active man for a while where we ate again. He had the Saints and Cowboys game on. Needless to say, we had to look through Black Friday Ads for a while to not watch the game! That was an interesting household to say the least! We then had an activity at the church with the branch. It was a "Thanksgiving Dinner." But, there was no turkey in sight. I took a picture of the plate of food that they gave us. I'll have to print it off and send it to you. There was a good turn out. Thanksgiving day just felt like a regular preparation day. But it was good.
I have to tell you a story. We had an appointment set up with Laticia and Angie on Friday night. But----- we couln't find an exchange for the life of us! We called seriously EVERYONE on the ward roster and no one could help us. It was about an hour before we were supposed to be there and I jokingly said, "Too bad President is in Branson!" Well, my companion took that and decided we were going to call President Merkley to see if he could help us. Elder Holmes called him and President said, "Ya I'm back in Tulsa. I'm ready. Do you want me to pick you up?" So we went on exchanges with President Merkley on Friday night!!!! He doesn't speak a lick of spanish, but he still sat there. He had us tell Laticia that she has a beautiful daughter and that she's lucky that she'll be bi-lingual when she grows up! She told him- in broken english- how it was a priveledge to have him in their home. It was a good experience. President told us afterwards to keep him informed on how they are doing and to get him their address. He wants to send them something for Chirstmas. He said, "It's always fun to get something in mail!" He thanked us afterwards for calling him and that he enjoyed going with us. I love President Merkley! But Laticia and her daughter Angie are both on track to be baptized on December 11th- the same day Salvador and Roxanna go thru the temple! That will be a good day!
Yes.... We heard about the Holy War. Elder Holmes doesn't let me forget about the outcome! It was a lot closer than I thought it would be. It sounds like Kyle Whittingham hired those refs! The funny thing is that hispanics don't care too much about football- it's only soccer with them. But we heard from some members in another ward about it. Needless to say Tulsa was pretty dead Saturday night. That was the night that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State played. Out here everyone is either an OU fan or an OSU fan. There's no in the middle. You love the one and hate the other. I never realized how big of a deal football is out here. It's HUGE!
Yesterday at church we had 4 investigators that showed up. So it was another good week. Each week we teach the most lessons in our district- we taught 14 this past week. Yesterday I played a musical number in Sacarement meeting and also played the piano in primary. I was assured by one of the primary kids that I did a good job. So it was a confidence boost! It's funny though--- they do everything in primary in ENGLISH! But, it made for a good day at church. Elder Holmes and I were both dragging after a LONG ER night, but all was well.
Well- I had better run. My time here is about to run out. Have a good week!
Love- Elder Stoddard
Life is Good...
Life here is a whole lot better here. Let's just say Elder Holmes and I get along SO well. Elder Holmes is from Layton Utah and is a GREAT missionary. He only has 6 weeks left before he goes home. He goes home about 5 days after Christmas. The great thing about it is that he and I are having to learn the area together! We would NOT be able to live without the GPS. But, I couldn't ask for a better companion to go through this process with. Life here is GREAT!
I totally had a paper with some things that I was going to tell you about, but I left it at the apartment. So this email may be a bit scattered.
Yesterday was a great day for us at church. We had 6 investigators show up. Laticia and Angie, Manuel, Jorge, and a couple others we found this week. This "couple" we found this past week is....... INTERESTIING..... to say the least. To back track for a second. Elder Roberts and I were trying to see a family that is Less Active but they weren't home. So as we were leaving their apartment there were about 7 Honduranian men drinking away at the bottom of the stairs. We started talking to them and it was probably the funniest conversation I've ever had in Spanish in my whole life! They all said they love Jesus and yadda yadda. So we gave them a pass along card for a Finding Faith in Christ DVD. Well a couple days went by and we recieved this referral from BYU saying someone wanted the DVD. So we went over and guess who it was? One of the Honduranians! His name is Antonio and he has been kicked out of his last apartment. So he is now living with a PURE white American lady who doesn't speak a lick of Spanish and he doesn't speak a lick of English. Any who we've been teaching them for a week and they also came to church. Quick story though- On Thursday (transfer day) I was without a companion and was in a 3 some with the other English elders that we live with. Well at noon we had an appointment with Antonio. So therefore, I was the only one in the home that spoke spanish and I had to teach him by myself. That was an experience and a half. But I KNOW that the gift of tongues is real and is possible to obtain. I know that I said some things in that home that I couldn't say now. I know that the scripture in D&C is sooooooo true. About not worrying before hand what to say but that the Lord will tell you in the very moment that you need it what to say.
Laticia and Angie are progressin along very well. They both have a date for the 11 of December. But, they're definently ready. Manuel is "progressing" he still has not yet recieved that answer about the Book of Mormon. He believes that the Bible and BOM both teach the same things of God. So why does he need another book. We are still working with him. He came to church yesterday.
On Thursday (Thanksgiving) we are going to play Turkey Bowl with one of the Wards here. (Football). Later that day we get to go to the mission home to eat Thanksgiving dinner with President and Sister Merkley. They invited all the missionaries in the area to come over. So that will be a neat experience. We also have someone from the ward signed up to feed us that day and a Branch party at the church at 7. So it will be a good day. It's definently going to be different not being at home for it this year. But, all will be well.
Elder Holmes and I had quite the experience tracting the other day. We were knocking doors and all we were finding were white people. So we decided, that if the next door wasn't "hispanic" then we were going home. We knocked on the door and a kid answered and said that, "Now's not a good time. We just had a tragedy in the family." So we asked what had happened and he said that his uncle was walking down the street in Mexico along the border and was shot and killed. So we talked with him about the Plan of Salvation on the door step. We asked if we could go in and share more about it with him. He said another day because his parents only speak Spanish. We told him how he was in luck that we speak spanish. He said, "A little or a lot?" So we went in and everyone is just bawling. It's a family of 5 or 6 and the man that was there is the brother to the guy who was killed. We shared the scripture in Alma about the spirit world. We had him read it, but he started to cry and had to have his wife finish reading it. After we shared it they thanked us and said how we had come just at the right time and that was just what they needed. We have an appointment to go back and teach them this week. It's one of the most spiritual experiences I've had while I've been here. It just reminds me that things may be tough for me to be away for so long, to not know anyone, to struggle with the language, but experiences like that add fuel to the fire of missionary desire. It's what keeps me going.
Overall, things here are going well. I LOVE serving with Elder Holmes.
But, all here is Well. Week after week we teach half of the lessons in our district. The past week our district taught 40 lessons.... we taught 18 of them. The next closest was 8 for our district. Elder Holmes and I should also be having a couple of batisms here soon. So life is definentley better. The only thing that I have to complain about is Elder Holmes is a Ute fan. And you know what this weekend is... The Holy War. Be sure to let me know who wins. Hopefully he and I will still be talking Sunday.
Well, I don't have too much time left so I had better run. Thanks again for the emails. They make my day/week.Take Care- Feliz Dia de Accione de Gracias!
Love----- Elder Stoddard
I totally had a paper with some things that I was going to tell you about, but I left it at the apartment. So this email may be a bit scattered.
Yesterday was a great day for us at church. We had 6 investigators show up. Laticia and Angie, Manuel, Jorge, and a couple others we found this week. This "couple" we found this past week is....... INTERESTIING..... to say the least. To back track for a second. Elder Roberts and I were trying to see a family that is Less Active but they weren't home. So as we were leaving their apartment there were about 7 Honduranian men drinking away at the bottom of the stairs. We started talking to them and it was probably the funniest conversation I've ever had in Spanish in my whole life! They all said they love Jesus and yadda yadda. So we gave them a pass along card for a Finding Faith in Christ DVD. Well a couple days went by and we recieved this referral from BYU saying someone wanted the DVD. So we went over and guess who it was? One of the Honduranians! His name is Antonio and he has been kicked out of his last apartment. So he is now living with a PURE white American lady who doesn't speak a lick of Spanish and he doesn't speak a lick of English. Any who we've been teaching them for a week and they also came to church. Quick story though- On Thursday (transfer day) I was without a companion and was in a 3 some with the other English elders that we live with. Well at noon we had an appointment with Antonio. So therefore, I was the only one in the home that spoke spanish and I had to teach him by myself. That was an experience and a half. But I KNOW that the gift of tongues is real and is possible to obtain. I know that I said some things in that home that I couldn't say now. I know that the scripture in D&C is sooooooo true. About not worrying before hand what to say but that the Lord will tell you in the very moment that you need it what to say.
Laticia and Angie are progressin along very well. They both have a date for the 11 of December. But, they're definently ready. Manuel is "progressing" he still has not yet recieved that answer about the Book of Mormon. He believes that the Bible and BOM both teach the same things of God. So why does he need another book. We are still working with him. He came to church yesterday.
On Thursday (Thanksgiving) we are going to play Turkey Bowl with one of the Wards here. (Football). Later that day we get to go to the mission home to eat Thanksgiving dinner with President and Sister Merkley. They invited all the missionaries in the area to come over. So that will be a neat experience. We also have someone from the ward signed up to feed us that day and a Branch party at the church at 7. So it will be a good day. It's definently going to be different not being at home for it this year. But, all will be well.
Elder Holmes and I had quite the experience tracting the other day. We were knocking doors and all we were finding were white people. So we decided, that if the next door wasn't "hispanic" then we were going home. We knocked on the door and a kid answered and said that, "Now's not a good time. We just had a tragedy in the family." So we asked what had happened and he said that his uncle was walking down the street in Mexico along the border and was shot and killed. So we talked with him about the Plan of Salvation on the door step. We asked if we could go in and share more about it with him. He said another day because his parents only speak Spanish. We told him how he was in luck that we speak spanish. He said, "A little or a lot?" So we went in and everyone is just bawling. It's a family of 5 or 6 and the man that was there is the brother to the guy who was killed. We shared the scripture in Alma about the spirit world. We had him read it, but he started to cry and had to have his wife finish reading it. After we shared it they thanked us and said how we had come just at the right time and that was just what they needed. We have an appointment to go back and teach them this week. It's one of the most spiritual experiences I've had while I've been here. It just reminds me that things may be tough for me to be away for so long, to not know anyone, to struggle with the language, but experiences like that add fuel to the fire of missionary desire. It's what keeps me going.
Overall, things here are going well. I LOVE serving with Elder Holmes.
But, all here is Well. Week after week we teach half of the lessons in our district. The past week our district taught 40 lessons.... we taught 18 of them. The next closest was 8 for our district. Elder Holmes and I should also be having a couple of batisms here soon. So life is definentley better. The only thing that I have to complain about is Elder Holmes is a Ute fan. And you know what this weekend is... The Holy War. Be sure to let me know who wins. Hopefully he and I will still be talking Sunday.
Well, I don't have too much time left so I had better run. Thanks again for the emails. They make my day/week.Take Care- Feliz Dia de Accione de Gracias!
Love----- Elder Stoddard
Staying Put...
Well.... I'm staying put in Tulsa for a while.... Probably until February. We recieved a call from the Assistants on Saturday night saying my companion is being transferred to Springdale Arkansas and I will be staying here with Elder Holmes. (Also from Layton, Ut). He has been the trainer of my MTC compainon up in Rogers Arkansas. Elder Holmes will also be the District Leader down here. The thing that scares me the most is that I will now basically have to run the area for a bit. I'm still trying to find my way around! Thank goodness that you sent out the GPS! It's a lifesaver! This next transfer will go until December 30th, but I'll most likely be here until February. Elder Holmes only has 6 weeks of his mission left and then he's done so I'll be his last companion. Since he'll only be here for 1 transfer President Merkley probably won't shotgun the area out. So that means I would stay here for a while to keep at least one familliar face with the area. (If this all makes sense!)
We had Stake Conference here this past weekend. We were able to attend the Saturday night session and the Sunday afternoon session as well. They have so many members of the stake that they have to have 2 general sessions on Sunday to accomidate everyone. One at 10 am and one at 1am. The stake president is pretty young. He has a cattle ranch and is probably in his early 40's. MAYBE if that. It was all about Putting our Faith in the Lord and coming unto Him. It was a bit not hearing from my stake president!
We also had Zone Conference on Friday. It's probably been my favorite part of the mission thus far. (Apart from singing at conference). The piano solo went well. I made it through! President Merkley gave me a hug afterwards and told me to keep it up because he'll probably use me in the future for mission tours, etc. So Erica, any music that you like or wouldn't be too dificult to learn would you mind sticking in the mail sometime? I'm sorry to bug you. I tried out the Come Thou Fount that you sent out with me, but it was a bit out of my league! We had to run to the Mission Home yesterday and President again told me how he can't get over how good the musical number was! So it seems that he liked it! But, that man is a GENIUS! I don't know if you remember but he was a pilot for Fed-Ex. (Yes I did get the Fed-Ex and garments! Thanks! All is well!) But, in one of his couple of talks that he gave he related being obedient to flying. It's too long of a story to type, but he's brilliant at how he can compare the two. He also told us how each time we enter an investigator's home we are taking the runway. By the way, guess who was at Zone Conference? Bro and Sis Clough. He's the one that used to be in our ward. I took a picture with them and am hopefully going to send some home today. Hopefully.
Well.... Miracles happen. We borrowed a DVD from President Merkley yesterday called "Journey of Faith" it is basically hard, physical evidence of the Book of Mormon. It's a documentary made by BYU basically proving that the story of Nephi and his family is true. You should try and find a copy of it and watch it sometime! We took it over to Manuel's house (along with a paper with some scriptures that President gave us to prove it's correct) as a last ditch effort with Manuel. If he didn't accept this we were going to dump him. First, when we got there Manuel was all dressed up. So we asked him, "What did you do today?" Because it's the clothes he usually wears to church. He said, "Nothing much. Just went to church." WE thought, "Crap. he's going back to his original church." So we asked him where he went and he said he went to ours! On his own! When before he told us that he wouldn't come to church unless he knew the Book of Mormon was true. We felt like jerks because we didn't invite him last time because he told us in the past that he wouldn't come to church any more. And 2 because we didn't tell him it was at 1pm so he walked in to church and saw it was English, didn't see anyone he knew, and went home! We could have died when he told us all this! But, the good thing is that something has happened to change his heart a bit. He was a totally different person yesterday. WE watched the Journey of Faith DVD with him and he said that he knows that it couldn't have been made up. That it's got to be a good book. So now we just have to help him realize what a spiritual answer to his questions about it are. But this was all a miracle. The Lord answers prayers!
WE also set a baptismal date with Laticia this past week for December 11th. She's doing GREAT! Her and her daughter came to Stake Conference yesterday and she's making a TON of friends in the Branch. We hope to set a baptismal date for her daughter to be baptized on the same day when we visit them tonight. But all with her is going well.
I CAN NOT believe that GHS is in the state championship football game. I couldn't be happier for Millward. It's about time something went his way! I believe I have his address. But if not, I may write him a quick note and mail it home. So maybe Arda can run it up to him at the school. but tell him congrats for me and keep me posted!
The weather out here is crazy. You'd think it's September or October because the leaves are just beginning to change. One day it's in the 70's and pretty warm, but the next day it's cold! I haven't been able to quite figure out the weather pattern here! But one thing is for sure. When it rains here... It rains! It was SO Loud the other night that it woke us all up in our apartment. The storms are pretty crazy. You'll be driving along and lightnig will strike th rode a few feet in front of you. But, it's not too cold here yet.
Well, my time here is about up. We have to go and return the DVD to President Merkley and my companion wants to go and see some members to say goodbye before he leaves. So it will probably be a wasted preparation day by the time it's all over with, but i'm just going along with it. Thursday couldn't get here fast enough! (That's when my new companion comes in.) But all here is well.
Take care until next Monday!
Love- Elder Stoddard
We had Stake Conference here this past weekend. We were able to attend the Saturday night session and the Sunday afternoon session as well. They have so many members of the stake that they have to have 2 general sessions on Sunday to accomidate everyone. One at 10 am and one at 1am. The stake president is pretty young. He has a cattle ranch and is probably in his early 40's. MAYBE if that. It was all about Putting our Faith in the Lord and coming unto Him. It was a bit not hearing from my stake president!
We also had Zone Conference on Friday. It's probably been my favorite part of the mission thus far. (Apart from singing at conference). The piano solo went well. I made it through! President Merkley gave me a hug afterwards and told me to keep it up because he'll probably use me in the future for mission tours, etc. So Erica, any music that you like or wouldn't be too dificult to learn would you mind sticking in the mail sometime? I'm sorry to bug you. I tried out the Come Thou Fount that you sent out with me, but it was a bit out of my league! We had to run to the Mission Home yesterday and President again told me how he can't get over how good the musical number was! So it seems that he liked it! But, that man is a GENIUS! I don't know if you remember but he was a pilot for Fed-Ex. (Yes I did get the Fed-Ex and garments! Thanks! All is well!) But, in one of his couple of talks that he gave he related being obedient to flying. It's too long of a story to type, but he's brilliant at how he can compare the two. He also told us how each time we enter an investigator's home we are taking the runway. By the way, guess who was at Zone Conference? Bro and Sis Clough. He's the one that used to be in our ward. I took a picture with them and am hopefully going to send some home today. Hopefully.
Well.... Miracles happen. We borrowed a DVD from President Merkley yesterday called "Journey of Faith" it is basically hard, physical evidence of the Book of Mormon. It's a documentary made by BYU basically proving that the story of Nephi and his family is true. You should try and find a copy of it and watch it sometime! We took it over to Manuel's house (along with a paper with some scriptures that President gave us to prove it's correct) as a last ditch effort with Manuel. If he didn't accept this we were going to dump him. First, when we got there Manuel was all dressed up. So we asked him, "What did you do today?" Because it's the clothes he usually wears to church. He said, "Nothing much. Just went to church." WE thought, "Crap. he's going back to his original church." So we asked him where he went and he said he went to ours! On his own! When before he told us that he wouldn't come to church unless he knew the Book of Mormon was true. We felt like jerks because we didn't invite him last time because he told us in the past that he wouldn't come to church any more. And 2 because we didn't tell him it was at 1pm so he walked in to church and saw it was English, didn't see anyone he knew, and went home! We could have died when he told us all this! But, the good thing is that something has happened to change his heart a bit. He was a totally different person yesterday. WE watched the Journey of Faith DVD with him and he said that he knows that it couldn't have been made up. That it's got to be a good book. So now we just have to help him realize what a spiritual answer to his questions about it are. But this was all a miracle. The Lord answers prayers!
WE also set a baptismal date with Laticia this past week for December 11th. She's doing GREAT! Her and her daughter came to Stake Conference yesterday and she's making a TON of friends in the Branch. We hope to set a baptismal date for her daughter to be baptized on the same day when we visit them tonight. But all with her is going well.
I CAN NOT believe that GHS is in the state championship football game. I couldn't be happier for Millward. It's about time something went his way! I believe I have his address. But if not, I may write him a quick note and mail it home. So maybe Arda can run it up to him at the school. but tell him congrats for me and keep me posted!
The weather out here is crazy. You'd think it's September or October because the leaves are just beginning to change. One day it's in the 70's and pretty warm, but the next day it's cold! I haven't been able to quite figure out the weather pattern here! But one thing is for sure. When it rains here... It rains! It was SO Loud the other night that it woke us all up in our apartment. The storms are pretty crazy. You'll be driving along and lightnig will strike th rode a few feet in front of you. But, it's not too cold here yet.
Well, my time here is about up. We have to go and return the DVD to President Merkley and my companion wants to go and see some members to say goodbye before he leaves. So it will probably be a wasted preparation day by the time it's all over with, but i'm just going along with it. Thursday couldn't get here fast enough! (That's when my new companion comes in.) But all here is well.
Take care until next Monday!
Love- Elder Stoddard
Another week...
THEY'RE HERE! Wow I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened the FED-EX from mom and saw pictures of the boys. Tankers! I just hope Boston doesn't get beat up for his initials (BS) and Tate doesn't get beat up for being Tate Frank! Just kidding! I'm glad all is well and that they're doing good. Hopefully they get to come home soon! How's Heidi? Where was the one picture of Jer, Heidi, the boys, Shelby and Gage at? It looked like a house? Just curious. Is Heidi still in the hospital as well? I will admit that I shed a couple of tears when I saw their pictures through FED-EX. You have no idea how much I want to just hold them! In 20 plus months! Maybe they'll be out of the hosptial by then. But don't worry about sending pictures! I love them.
Shelby and Gage- thanks for the package of the BYU pens and notebook! Thanks also for the letters! Jer- I believe it was you who said that you were looking for my apartment on Google Earth and wondered what we lived by. We live right behind the Home Depot. There's also an Ultimate Electronics, Krispy Kreme, etc right around there. Hope that helps. I'm glad you've already gotten the boys decked out in BYU stuff. I also loved the picture of the sign on their door!
Well, this week has been---- different. We're probably going to have to drop Manuel Estrada. We've already dropped his baptism date. No more on the 20th of November. Everything was going great until this past 2 weeks. I don't understand. But, the past two weeks he's gone DOWNHILL. He won't read, and has a hard heart. It's almost as if he doesn't want the Book of Mormon to be true. He wants evidence of the truthfulness of it. We've shared a ton of scriptures, personal experiences, prayed with him about it, etc but nothing works. He wouldn' come to church yesterday because he said, "Why would I go to your church if I don't believe in your book?" It's almost if he won't do his part. We are going back over there one more time to watch a DVD about the Book of Mormon with him and hopefully that helps. It's just kind of discouraging. I half wonder if he's being hassled about it by some of his co-workers. Who knows!
Laticia and Angie (Laticia's daughter) are great! They came to church yesterday and loved it again. Although we had a lesson in Sunday School about Eternal Marriage. So we may have a few questions to answer tonight! We have another appointment with them tonight and are going to try and set a date with them for 11 December. But, they are getting close and are really neat. Laticia's aunt was a nun in the Catholic church for years, but ended up joining our church. So Laticia told us that if her aunt saw something in our church that was good and changed her life becuase of it we must have something good. But they are way good. All is well with them!
Well last night was quite a humbling experience. We had just gotten out of an appointment and it was around 6:30. We had dinner with a member family at 7:00 and didn't really know what to do. So we pulled over (yes Jason we have cell phones.) and made a few phone calls to set some appointments for the next few days. We couldn't get a hold of anyone. If they did answer they said they were too busy. We had planned to go and see a family that lives right by us (the Azuara family) and I mentioned something to Elder Roberts of maybe calling them to see if they would be home at 8. He said, "No they'll be home." Well, just a couple minutes after that guess who called? Sister Azuara! She called and said that she had a friend in the hospital that needed a blessing that night and wondered if we'd come and give her one. So we agreed, but told her it would have to be around 8ish because we had dinner, etc. To make a long story short, Elder Roberts wrote down the anointing prayer for me in spanish so that I could memorize it in spanish during dinner. After dinner, we went to the hospital and gave her a blessing. (luckily I had oil on me!) I have never been so scared in my life as to do that annointing in Spanish! I ended up having to read it, but I somehow pronnounced everything right and got through it! It just goes to show that the Lord blesses you AFTER the trial of your faith!
Well, this week is transfer calls. (Saturday night). We'll know Saturday night if we are being transfered or not and who our companion will be, where we're heading, etc. So I'll let you know next Monday. Transfers aren't until NEXT Thurs (the 18th) though. So you can still send mail to the address of my apartment. I'll let you know next week though where I'll be. This Friday we have Zone Conference. The Zone Leaders called me Saturday and asked me to play a musical number for it because, "I hear you play like Mozart!" So hopefully I can resurrect my Onward Christian Soldiers from memory!
I hope everything goes alright for Kallie on Thursday. I fasted for her yesterday and she's in my prayers every morning and night. But, everything will be fine. I know it!
Dad, we have Stake Conference here this week. But we only get to go to the General Session on Sunday afternoon. We can go Saturday night, but only if we have an investigator taht wants to go. But our session isn't until 1 pm on Sunday afternoon. I don't know why, but the elders that live with us and cover the same Stake have their meeting at 10 am on Sunday. I don't know if they are splitting the spanish and english members up or what.
Well, my time here is about up. I had better run. Give the twins a squeeze for me and know that I wish I could be there but I think about them all the time! I hope everything goes alright with them! Keep me updated. Good luck with Kallie this week as well. I'll keep praying for her.
Until next Monday.
Elder Stoddard
PS. I'll keep you updated with Transfers.
Shelby and Gage- thanks for the package of the BYU pens and notebook! Thanks also for the letters! Jer- I believe it was you who said that you were looking for my apartment on Google Earth and wondered what we lived by. We live right behind the Home Depot. There's also an Ultimate Electronics, Krispy Kreme, etc right around there. Hope that helps. I'm glad you've already gotten the boys decked out in BYU stuff. I also loved the picture of the sign on their door!
Well, this week has been---- different. We're probably going to have to drop Manuel Estrada. We've already dropped his baptism date. No more on the 20th of November. Everything was going great until this past 2 weeks. I don't understand. But, the past two weeks he's gone DOWNHILL. He won't read, and has a hard heart. It's almost as if he doesn't want the Book of Mormon to be true. He wants evidence of the truthfulness of it. We've shared a ton of scriptures, personal experiences, prayed with him about it, etc but nothing works. He wouldn' come to church yesterday because he said, "Why would I go to your church if I don't believe in your book?" It's almost if he won't do his part. We are going back over there one more time to watch a DVD about the Book of Mormon with him and hopefully that helps. It's just kind of discouraging. I half wonder if he's being hassled about it by some of his co-workers. Who knows!
Laticia and Angie (Laticia's daughter) are great! They came to church yesterday and loved it again. Although we had a lesson in Sunday School about Eternal Marriage. So we may have a few questions to answer tonight! We have another appointment with them tonight and are going to try and set a date with them for 11 December. But, they are getting close and are really neat. Laticia's aunt was a nun in the Catholic church for years, but ended up joining our church. So Laticia told us that if her aunt saw something in our church that was good and changed her life becuase of it we must have something good. But they are way good. All is well with them!
Well last night was quite a humbling experience. We had just gotten out of an appointment and it was around 6:30. We had dinner with a member family at 7:00 and didn't really know what to do. So we pulled over (yes Jason we have cell phones.) and made a few phone calls to set some appointments for the next few days. We couldn't get a hold of anyone. If they did answer they said they were too busy. We had planned to go and see a family that lives right by us (the Azuara family) and I mentioned something to Elder Roberts of maybe calling them to see if they would be home at 8. He said, "No they'll be home." Well, just a couple minutes after that guess who called? Sister Azuara! She called and said that she had a friend in the hospital that needed a blessing that night and wondered if we'd come and give her one. So we agreed, but told her it would have to be around 8ish because we had dinner, etc. To make a long story short, Elder Roberts wrote down the anointing prayer for me in spanish so that I could memorize it in spanish during dinner. After dinner, we went to the hospital and gave her a blessing. (luckily I had oil on me!) I have never been so scared in my life as to do that annointing in Spanish! I ended up having to read it, but I somehow pronnounced everything right and got through it! It just goes to show that the Lord blesses you AFTER the trial of your faith!
Well, this week is transfer calls. (Saturday night). We'll know Saturday night if we are being transfered or not and who our companion will be, where we're heading, etc. So I'll let you know next Monday. Transfers aren't until NEXT Thurs (the 18th) though. So you can still send mail to the address of my apartment. I'll let you know next week though where I'll be. This Friday we have Zone Conference. The Zone Leaders called me Saturday and asked me to play a musical number for it because, "I hear you play like Mozart!" So hopefully I can resurrect my Onward Christian Soldiers from memory!
I hope everything goes alright for Kallie on Thursday. I fasted for her yesterday and she's in my prayers every morning and night. But, everything will be fine. I know it!
Dad, we have Stake Conference here this week. But we only get to go to the General Session on Sunday afternoon. We can go Saturday night, but only if we have an investigator taht wants to go. But our session isn't until 1 pm on Sunday afternoon. I don't know why, but the elders that live with us and cover the same Stake have their meeting at 10 am on Sunday. I don't know if they are splitting the spanish and english members up or what.
Well, my time here is about up. I had better run. Give the twins a squeeze for me and know that I wish I could be there but I think about them all the time! I hope everything goes alright with them! Keep me updated. Good luck with Kallie this week as well. I'll keep praying for her.
Until next Monday.
Elder Stoddard
PS. I'll keep you updated with Transfers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)