Hey Everyone,
So we have hit the last week of the change. (They are every 6 weeks.) These last 6 weeks with Elder Harrington have flown by, I can´t believe how much time has passed. Since we haven´t had too much success we could see that one of us gets transferred this Wednesday. We´ll find out about that Tuesday. But I also wouldn´t be surprised if we had another change together. There are going to be a lot of changes in this zone. One of the zone leaders finishes his mission, and so do three district leaders, and I think there are one or two others as well. There is a huge group leaving the mission and there will be a lot of changes.
We really only have one investigator that is progressing well. His name is Carlos, he has been dating a member for 9 years, and she said if he wanted to get married he had to be baptized. So we found him, talked to him, and found out that he wants to be baptized and he is almost ready . He only needs to go to church with us a couple of times. We have a baptismal date for the 16th of June, hopefully all turns out well with that and hopefully both Elder Harrington and I will be here to see it all go through.
The members still realize that we need help so we´ve received some referrals from them. Not many of them have been very positive, but we still have some on the way. But the beauty of the referrals is that the investigator immediately has a friend in the church.
Thanks for all your love and support,
Elder Stone
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
May 21st letter
Hey Everyone,
Well I have to say that the last couple of weeks have probably been some of the hardest weeks of the mission. We are not having a ton of success, the work is moving slowly. It seems odd to me that me and Elder Harrington were paired together as a companionship, because neither of us are that great at spanish, and we both have less than a year in the mission.
We do have one piece of exciting news. We got a referral from a member and it turns out this guy wants to marry a member. The catch is the member said he needs to be baptized first. He has already received all the lessons from other missionaries and he wants to be baptized. So the only thing is we have to get him to church. Last week was Mothers Day so he went to visit his mom. Yesterday he went to Danli, I´m not sure why. So if we can just get him to church he´ll be ready for baptism.
Tuesday we had a Zone Conference with Elder Falabella of the 70. He did kind of a Q & A, and he would expound and expound and expound on his answers. But the thing I took most out of it was he talked about the success of the missionaries from the Book of Mormon. We know that some baptized thousands. Then we read some verses in Alma where it talks about how Ammon used his converts to convert others. So we just need to focus on working with members more. We have been working with them but I realized how important they are. Yesterday there were two members that walked up to us at church and told us that they have a referral for us. That was really exciting. These members really do want to help. We just need to give them the opportunity.
Yesterday I felt kind of bad, we were sitting in Preisthood meeting and our teacher never showed up. Now in the old days (if you are a teenager) your saying "Awesome no class today." and take off... or at least that is what me and a bunch of other young men would be thinking. But as a missionary I was sitting there and getting really nervous and anxious. There were about 10 grown men in the class and not one of them wanted to take charge. I thought that it was going to be thrown on to us, but the members know we have enough as is so none of them bothered asking us go up. After about 10 minutes of just talking someone finally stood up and started leading a discussion. I felt kind of bad for not stepping up, but I don´t feel like I have the ability yet to just choose a subject and give a lesson on the spot to Priesthood holders. That goes to show where I have room for improvement.
Thanks for all the support, your prayers are felt.
Elder Stone
Well I have to say that the last couple of weeks have probably been some of the hardest weeks of the mission. We are not having a ton of success, the work is moving slowly. It seems odd to me that me and Elder Harrington were paired together as a companionship, because neither of us are that great at spanish, and we both have less than a year in the mission.
We do have one piece of exciting news. We got a referral from a member and it turns out this guy wants to marry a member. The catch is the member said he needs to be baptized first. He has already received all the lessons from other missionaries and he wants to be baptized. So the only thing is we have to get him to church. Last week was Mothers Day so he went to visit his mom. Yesterday he went to Danli, I´m not sure why. So if we can just get him to church he´ll be ready for baptism.
Tuesday we had a Zone Conference with Elder Falabella of the 70. He did kind of a Q & A, and he would expound and expound and expound on his answers. But the thing I took most out of it was he talked about the success of the missionaries from the Book of Mormon. We know that some baptized thousands. Then we read some verses in Alma where it talks about how Ammon used his converts to convert others. So we just need to focus on working with members more. We have been working with them but I realized how important they are. Yesterday there were two members that walked up to us at church and told us that they have a referral for us. That was really exciting. These members really do want to help. We just need to give them the opportunity.
Yesterday I felt kind of bad, we were sitting in Preisthood meeting and our teacher never showed up. Now in the old days (if you are a teenager) your saying "Awesome no class today." and take off... or at least that is what me and a bunch of other young men would be thinking. But as a missionary I was sitting there and getting really nervous and anxious. There were about 10 grown men in the class and not one of them wanted to take charge. I thought that it was going to be thrown on to us, but the members know we have enough as is so none of them bothered asking us go up. After about 10 minutes of just talking someone finally stood up and started leading a discussion. I felt kind of bad for not stepping up, but I don´t feel like I have the ability yet to just choose a subject and give a lesson on the spot to Priesthood holders. That goes to show where I have room for improvement.
Thanks for all the support, your prayers are felt.
Elder Stone
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
May 14th letter
So just a quick note for this week, let me begin by sharing a funny story that happened to me... It was either this week or last week, we went to contact a referral from someone in the ward. The custom to greet people is a kiss on the cheek. So the member kissed the investigator and passed into the house. Then it was my turn and she went in to kiss me on the cheek. I had no idea what to do... so I took a step back and stuck out my hand. But she went in a little more. So I leaned back a little more. Turns out I just ended up giving her an awkward hand shake and as I passed I said, "we do it a little differently". Well at the end of the lesson my comp tried to apologize for me cause he felt like it was a big deal, and I don´t think that she understood, because she started talking about something completely different.
President & Sister Hernandez, Elder Lopez and me
Home Sweet Home
Mission Pictures
Onny and Dariela, two of my converts
Michelle and Christa, granddaughters of our cook
April 23rd letter
So as you may already know, I have received my first transfer. The Saturday before I left we had two baptisms. Alejandra (the daughter of Rosmary) and Armando. It was an amazing way to finish a change.
I´m in the city now opening an area. Zone Guayamuras, Area Valencia. We don't know anything about the area really. Thursday and Friday the ward mission leader took us out for a couple of hours and showed us where some of the leaders and other members live, they are going to be a huge help to us.
Thursday we were out contacting and we found a new investigator. We taught her that night and she asked us to come back the next day. We left her a pamphlet and when we showed up Friday she had read it all and answered all the questions. Elder Harrington and I were amazed because niether of us had seen that happen before. She does have a Catholic background which is going to be a stumbling block, but I honestly think that we can get past it. We are going to be dependent on the members for awhile, because we still don't know all of our area yet.
My new companion is Elder Harrington, he is from Las Vegas and has a change less than me. So it was kind of interesting that President put us in the area together, especially since we have a ton of Spanish to learn.
Saturday we had a service project set up by President Hernandez. We moved medical equipment for a charity that focuses on dental work, but also does other medical stuff, mostly for prospective missionaries. They are heading over to work in Guatemala. It was cool to be apart of the experience. We had the whole zone there for a project that only required about 6 people.
That's all for this week, thanks for the prayers and support.
Elder Stone
I´m in the city now opening an area. Zone Guayamuras, Area Valencia. We don't know anything about the area really. Thursday and Friday the ward mission leader took us out for a couple of hours and showed us where some of the leaders and other members live, they are going to be a huge help to us.
Thursday we were out contacting and we found a new investigator. We taught her that night and she asked us to come back the next day. We left her a pamphlet and when we showed up Friday she had read it all and answered all the questions. Elder Harrington and I were amazed because niether of us had seen that happen before. She does have a Catholic background which is going to be a stumbling block, but I honestly think that we can get past it. We are going to be dependent on the members for awhile, because we still don't know all of our area yet.
My new companion is Elder Harrington, he is from Las Vegas and has a change less than me. So it was kind of interesting that President put us in the area together, especially since we have a ton of Spanish to learn.
Saturday we had a service project set up by President Hernandez. We moved medical equipment for a charity that focuses on dental work, but also does other medical stuff, mostly for prospective missionaries. They are heading over to work in Guatemala. It was cool to be apart of the experience. We had the whole zone there for a project that only required about 6 people.
That's all for this week, thanks for the prayers and support.
Elder Stone
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