Abuelitas me dan miedo

 Hola a todos [Hello to everyone],

This week una abuelita [a little grandma] yelled at me to grab her arm and it was really strange. Then another Latina [hispanic woman] yelled at the abuelita to stop bothering me. 

Esta semana [This week]:

● E.DLC [Elder De La Cruz, Caden's companion] ate very very grey ground beef. 

● Exchanges [temporary companion for a day] w/E.Anderson who will be finished his missionary service this next week.  

● Me di cuenta que [I realized that] rooster fights are real.  

● Interviews w/Pres.Risenmay were super fun. I love the Risenmays so much.  

● MLC was a hoot and a half and we had a working lunch.  

● We went to the temple on Saturday, we were very late. I was able to say hi to a couple members from Lynn. Not all of them tho  

● We had 4 friends stay for a baptism and a linger longer after church!  

This week was humbling. 9/21 people found. But we pushing through. I'm trying to understand the doctrine of Christ better so if you got study materials for that Envíamelo por favs [send them to me, please].

Love y'all

Elder Stockett

"Let us not just endure this current season. Let us embrace the future with faith! Turbulent times are opportunities for us to thrive spiritually." [Russell Nelson]

It's the Balloon Man!

 Que lo que? [What's up?]

This week while finding in public there was a kid who ran out of the garage and pointed at me and said, "It's the balloon man!" That made me so happy, jaja [haha]. Balloon man at your service. 

Esta semana [This week]:

○ Exchanges w/E.Mulberry. I learned about how to better use all our lines  

○ E.DLC [De La Cruz, his companion] had a frosty w/fries for the first time  

○ We had another wonderful interaction with a Black Israelite that had it our for me, but was nice to my Mexican compa  

○ Gave two more DC [District Council, weekly missionary meetings] trainings on the power of the BofM [Book of Mormon] 

○ We got subways foot long cookie  

○ We had 30+ people in EQ [Elder's Quorum]  

○ @ service we were sweating so much, unloading 11 pallets of food, ya tu sabes que nos gusta trabajar [You already know that we like to work!] 

○ Top Golf again; I'm slightly better 

We had 5 friends at church on Sunday including Rodolfo, our friend on baptismal date. We found 23/29 people this week! Not gonna lie - I can't really remember last week but I had a lot of good personal studies. Granted they should all be that way... 

Love y'all

Elder Stockett

Galatians 2:20 => My faith in Christ means everything to me

Faith motivates obedience to the principles of Christ's gospel.

"The stronger our hope, the purer our charity. The things we hope for lead us to faith, while the things we hope in lead us to charity." [Dieter F Uchtdorf]

"The first step to walking in righteousness is simply to try." [Dieter F Uchtdorf]

Our sacrifices will likely will cause discomfort, be challenging, or even bring pain (Would it be true sacrifice without it?), but the eventual reward will be greater than that which is released.

z"It will be required of each of us to kneel when we may not want to kneel, to bow when we may not want to bow, to confess when we may not want to confess..." [Jeffrey R Holland]

"Obedience paves the way for a joyful life for you today and a grand, eternal reward tomorrow." [Russell M Nelson]

In His Love

 Buenasss!  [Whaaaaaat's uuuuup!]

As a missionary, I live in God's love but I can not always recognize it. Pray to recognize God's love, you will be amazed. 

• We reorganized the walkin freezer at service.  

• We got offered shots.  #wwjd

• Exchanges in the old stomping grounds @ New London  

• We gave 2x DC trainings on the power of the book of Mormon and pmg.  

• There is a senior couple, the Hopkins, that were friends of my [dad and my] grandparents in my zone, that was really cool. #lovejerry&judy  

• I am working on my volleyball skills so I can teach others.   thx @momydad

• My dad took it upon himself to write that I may not have won pickleball last week. I did win. Watch out.  

• Bowled today con el distrito [with the district]. [Again, no reference to the winner.  You know how this ended. ]   

We found 19/25 people this week. We tried morning and evening finding and it went pretty well! I got to bear my testimony of the book of Mormon to a man in the parking lot. He told me the book of Mormon was not the word of God, I was able to look at him in the eyes and say with absolute certainty that it is the word of God and that I knew it. I could not have said that before the mission. That is just one gift that I have received on the mission. Gloria a Dios. [Glory to God.]  We have one friend on date, Rodolfo, for the first week in August! We are going to be bolder with baptismal dates this week so pray for us. :))

As I am asking you to pray for us, I ask that you send me a message with something for which i can pray! I really want to pray for everyone that I can.

Love y'all 

Elder Stockett

Just a quick thought, so many things change in this life. Missionary work has helped me recognize what I want in this life. My desires have changed. My goals have changed. My actions have changed. My nature has changed. I have changed. I have repented. And despite all this change for the better. I am still a very very imperfect person but I am so grateful for the power of change that Christ grants me. The infinite second chances that I so desperately need. Do not be afraid to change. It is never too late.

Deep sacrifice requires deep commitment

"Study enables us to know God's will, and faith enables us to understand God's will." 

Guilt is not erased without pain. There are laws to obey and ordinances to receive, and there are penalties to pay...recovery brings renewed life and peace of mind." [Boyd K Packer]

"We cannot become something without commitment." [Marvin J Ashton]

"Each day we must be committed to lofty Christian performance because commitment to the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ is essential to our eternal joy and happiness. The time to commit and recommit is now." [Marvin J Ashton]