July 15, 2013 Moe’s letter to home

This week has been pretty exciting…. I’m going to type as fast as I can!

Tuesday I got my brand new companion (: Her name is SISTER KAELIN! I adore her. She is so stinking cute. She’s from SLC – Holiday area. We hit it off instantly. I can tell these 3 months are going to be a bit smoother…. (: Heavenly Father answers prayers! She’s just so humble and willing to learn. She tells me all the time, “I just know heavenly father knew I needed you to be my companion! I love you sister stockinger!” awwwww! I love her too. She’s awesome… I think she struggled a little bit with her companion in the MTC so she was worried that’s how the whole mission would be. haha sooo we think a lot alike (:

The mormon.org videos for the week are www.mormon.org/tim and www.mormon.org/paora… They’re pretty inspiring for me, so hopefully you’ll like them too (:

Poor sister kaelin has been welcomed to Texas with 100+ degree weather. We were having a lesson on Thursday with a less active man, so we had to sit outside, and she was sweating SO MUCH that he turned to her, mid sentence, and asked, “are you okay?” we were laughing pretty hard cause her body just isn’t adjusting and a lot of people keep asking her that… it’s sad, and we’re praying she’ll adjust… i am actually loving the heat now. I’m used to being sopping wet all the time(: haha the sweat is something I’ve learned to get over… still not a fan of humidity though. but it was so hot that we decided to get some snocones. we had a delicious pina colada, nectar, and cream one. OH MY HECK! Texans know how to do snocones. They’re to die for. mmm….

On Friday we had a lesson with Valerie. She told us how she was just feeling SO HAPPY because she had the Lord answer her prayer directly that day. She just bore testimony left and right about how she knew this church is true, how the prophets are real, how God is aware of her, that Christ is her savior… I was blown away. She’s never been so direct! And we weren’t asking her anything! She was gushing. ALL because Heavenly Father answered her prayer. She just knew everything else had to be true! She also told us how she hadn’t smoked a real cigarette in 3 days, but was using her electric ones (which we still have to get her off of). I asked how many real ones she still had. “I’ll just show you” she said. Before I could say anything else she was ripping up her last two cigarettes! I was stunned. Never, did I EVER, think she’d ever reach that point. She sort of sat there like, “What did i just do?” but then yelled, at the top of her black lady lungs (which are powerful. holy cow), “I FEEL SO GOOD! I LOVE THAT GOD LOVES ME!”. and that was that. She is done with real cigarettes and we are working on the electric ones now! This was such a huge answer to my prayers. I was so relieved.

On Saturday we went to the Cantu’s home for their son’s, Brandon, 12th birthday party. Mexican’s know how to throw a party… Paul did all the cooking and it was GOOD! So much food. We’d just had lunch, so then we had to eat a full meal at their house, then we were force fed ice cream by Valerie later, and then had a Chinese buffet for dinner! SO much food on Saturday. i probably gained 5 lbs that day. Ugh.

After the party we got to attend a baptism for the Spanish Elders. It was the most incredible experience. We were able to bring Valerie(: We didn’t tell her it was going to be in Spanish till we got there though… hahaha we were sneaky. I told her to listen to the spirit and figure out if this is truly something she wants to be a part of. She wasn’t listening very well since it was in Spanish, but once the actual baptism was taking place her eyes were GLUED on the font. She subconsciously stood up – she was in awe – mouth wide open. Tears started streaming down her face… She looked at me and said, “Oh baby girl, I felt that! This is true!” and when we were talking about it later, she said, “I know this was her day, but I feel like it’s MY day! I WANT IT TO BE MY DAY! but I know i have things to work on…” I was so happy for her. What made this baptism so incredible (i was crying like a baby) was cause I walked in and both of the elders were dressed in white. I didn’t really make that connection, that only one of them needed to perform the baptism, until right before it happened. Elder Gamez is the elder with cerebral palsey. He and Elder Duke both got in the font with Yolanda. Elder Gamez said the ordinance prayer, and when it was time to dunk her, Elder Duke helped ease her in. It was so amazing to watch. Elder Gamez was BEAMING! This was his first baptism (he’s been out for 1 transfer). I was crying so hard. The spirit was so strong. Elder Duke is the best – he gives every opportunity to Elder Gamez. I am so impressed by them.

And that was the most amazing part of my week. It was honestly so spiritual I don’t think I could write about anything else…. Things have just been pretty wild being a trainer. There are things I’m still learning, but elder duke helps me out each night. He’s really patient… I’m thankful for that!  But I hope y’all have been seeking out missionary opportunities. It’s an amazing experience! Keep praying for the courage to act on the opportunity once it presents itself (:

I love you all! I miss you very much, but am LOVING Humble, TX (: It’s a fantastic place to live! I love you and miss you.

— Sister Stockinger

 

July 15, 2013 Moe’s letter to mom

Wow. I’m amazed you bought a car. NO PICTURES?! I’m glad it all fell into place though. I’ve been praying it’d all get sorted out! Whew. Heavenly Father listens. He even cares about silly cars (: How many miles did it have on it? I’m glad the reunion isn’t HOURS away; now you’ll get to save on miles there! haha since we track our miles for the mission cars, that’s all I really care about when it comes to vehicles right now… Meh. Driving distance takes a toll on cars! I’m learning that. haha.

We haven’t officially commited the Cantu’s to a date. We are extending it to them this next Sunday. So I’ll keep that a secret until we give it to them… We have a good feeling about it though! And we are going to start teaching their son Brandon as well. So we’ll have pretty much the whole family taking the discussions; they have kids who don’t live at home.

Being a trainer is pretty much like being a junior companion. Except I do more paper work… haha sooo it’s kinda cool I guess. Sister kaelin is awesome. We get along really well. We have been on the same page of communication from the beginning so it’s been smooth sailing so far! We’re open to discussion on anything; I’m thankful for that. I try to be open to her promptings of the spirit and act on them. I’m really working to not dominate, even though I know the area and our investigators best. I’m just trying to keep in mind that she’s been called to Humble for a reason and that she’s entitled to revelation for it. So we’re working pretty good together! She’s super cute. I’ll send a picture!

I’m glad y’all read that talk. It’s awesome! a little scary – but it’s not church doctrine. So keep that in mind… I feel it’s good advice to apply though. Hopefully the boys will get their act together! Being on a mission is awesome. I love it! I can’t believe I’ve already been out for as long as I have… Man oh man!

Well I need to get going! I love you so much! Talk to you soon

— Sister Stockinger

July 14, 2013 dad’s letter to Moe

Hello hello!

 

How are Sister Fielding and Sister Stockinger?  Life for Terri and I has been “active” with car hunting and researching, but as Terri will no doubt fill you in, we have a newer car! I will leave the details to her!

 

My life is the same… Working long difficult hours, interspersed with fitful sleep and a desire to be elsewhere. I did get the excitement of being in a vehicular accident with my truck, but the details are so blah blah… Basically, I was filling my fuel tank with diesel when the truck in front of me lost control of his brakes and rolled back into me. Cost me a day of work… so unhappy about that!

 

Work has been slow, and we are limited to 3 loads per day. That is okay if I get loads from QEP sites (an oil company) but not so much if from Halcon sites. Today is a Halcon day, and I am stuck at a disposal waiting for their high levels to drop so I can offload.

 

Sister Fielding – I am shocked at the story of the fire in your building! I think your companion is on her last mission….

 

So Sister Stockinger… the Trainer!  How is your greenie? Where is she from and all that…? Being a leader is a struggle and a blessing, as you are no doubt learning.

 

I hope that all is well in your missions.  I pray constantly that you will teach by the Spirit and be inspired to do what is needed. I hope that you are both well and happy, and Terri and I and the boys miss you both very much. 

 

Best wishes and love,

Stephen Stockinger/Dad

July 14, 2013 mom’s letter to Moe

Good evening Sister Stockinger,

How goes it? Another enjoyable Sunday here; the day seems to go by so fast with church being in the afternoon, fix dinner, have FHE, and write you! All good things!

Well, guess dad’s left it up to me…yes, we bought a new “used” car on Thursday and I got to pick it up Friday about noontime. Dad and I have both poured over Consumer Reports online researching to death about the best choice of a car. Hands down, Hondas and Toyotas beat everyone else by leaps and bounds. And I also learned that you shouldn’t spend more than 20% of your net income on a vehicle whether you’re buying one car or six. So that bit of info gave us the guideline we needed – I realized I’d been test driving cars out of our price range. Anything we test drove in a Honda CR-V or Toyota RAV4 was so many years older with so such high miles that if wasn’t feeling right. Then I got in touch with my cousin’s husband who lives out by Simplot soccer fields, and he has been a car dealer for the past 18 years. He used to have a business in Utah, but they moved to Boise a couple of years ago. Anyways, he has an office and a shop, but not a lot; he goes to auction and bids on vehicles that people are specifically looking for. So, we had initially given him quite a few types of cars we were interested in, and Tom was with me when we test drove a bunch out in Nampa, and amazingly enough the list shrank down and everything fell into place. Dad had told me about the Scion cars being made by Toyota so I went and test drove two – an earlier model and a more recent model. The newer model definitely had a lot more pick up and go, and I was hooked the minute I drove it. Then when I spoke with Troy, he was going to auction the next morning out by the outlet mall, and he says to me, “Have you ever considered a Scion xB? There looks to be one at auction in excellent condition.” The next morning he starts texting me that it was in “diamond” condition and we needed to jump on this one. Three dealers bid on it and a couple hours later we found out he won the bid and so we now own a 2009 plum color Scion xB that we all love! It has spunk! I feel like I’m in a sports car. It certainly is way different from the van image, and it will be an adjustment to not have so much cargo hauling capacity, but we were ready to drive something smaller with better gas mileage.

The van is still in the shop. The owners have managed to get us a brand new rebuilt transmission instead of buying Honda components and keep rebuilding our original transmission. We are waiting for that to come in. We originally wanted to get the van fixed and trade it in, but everything came together quickly to get this Scion, and dad and I have decided to give the van one more chance and he is going to drive it back and forth to ND. The RAV4 needs transmission and engine repairs on it that we are going to let be a project car at Meridian High School, if they’ll take it, and then let it become a teenager car for here locally.

I have also spent a lot of time helping Uncle Keith fine tune the layout and decisions with the reunion. In a nutshell, the lower campground site we had reservations at at Three Island Crossing State Park, has had mechanical failure that won’t give us water or electricity so I spent five hours Saturday on the phone getting all new reservations switched around to the upper campground site. Once again, all that is falling back into shape. The end of this week I need to start gathering up all the camping gear and have the boys set up tents to make sure we have all the poles and stakes.

 

Thomas is getting all four wisdom teeth pulled Monday morning! I am taking him over to Nampa to the same oral surgeon that took out Richard and Megan’s wisdom teeth. They did quite well from it all so here’s hoping the same. He has the entire week of work off.

Yes, I enjoyed the birthday card you sent me. I got quite a laugh out of it! Sorry I forgot to mention it earlier.

Uncle Eric called me again today to double check your address and sure enough, it is the same as what he wrote on the envelope. The message stamped on it said, “return to sender –  insufficient address – unable to forward”. Odd. He’s sending out again.

Well, sorry to hear about Valerie and her smoking. That’s why they’re called addictions – hard to quit. Uncle Keiths email is:   That is way cool you’re teaching a family! So when is their baptism date? And how is it being a TRAINER?!?!?  Aaaahhh! Congrats sweetie! Hope you two have hit it off. Looking forward to the entire scoop….

Keirsten went to doctor this week – 18 pounds now. She got two shots – one in each leg and hated her mom for that.

For FHE tonight I found the talk by Pres. Kimball “Lock Your Heart” and read it to the boys. Hope it sunk in. They did listen. I love all the recommended learning stuff you’re sending our way to use. So much to try and implement. Boys are hardly home between work, basketball at the Y, and computer games, I can’t seem to instill in them the importance of finding a little time to improve on the spiritual side of their lives on all this stuff you’re sending. All in time I suppose.

I’d better end this – long day ahead with Tom and his teeth. Love you bunches sweetie. Got the package you sent and the money you mailed arrived just fine. Thanks. Love all the stuff in the package too.

Love,

Mom

July 8, 2013 Moe’s letter home

Well, It’s official… Thomas writes the most hilarious letters. Holy cow. Either my sense of humor has reduced since becoming a missionary, or Thomas is actually funny now! 😛 hahaha I could hear the way he’d tell his stories and I just laughed sooo hard… Holy cow.

Anyways – on with my week! It was a good one. Lots of stuff happened… but since the transfer just ended, i have a new planner and left my old one at home so I hope I don’t forget anything important.

I guess the most important thing to mention is: I’M PREGNANT! Which means: I’M TRAINING! I get my greenie tomorrow morning around 11… two hours before that I get to be trained on how to train… then I’m just tossed in. I heard it isn’t really a training though; just a lot of humbling words from President Crawford. AKA: let’s be chastised for two hours (: haha looking forward to it! But the way transfer calls happen is like this: Friday flush calls come (BOTH missionaries are leaving the area), Saturday regular transfer calls come (one missionary leaving) and Sunday President calls and informs the trainers that they are training. However, I knew on Friday that I’d be training cause we had to go to the mission home so Sister Haller could talk with President. Since we were there – that means I get to be interviewed for as well! He sat me down and said, “So do you know why I wanted to speak with you?” “Cause of my emails? (we’ve been having a good discussion)”, “No! I want to call you to be a trainer!” *awkward stare down*… *Sister Stockinger starts crying* “Why are you crying sister stockinger?”, “I’M NOT READY!!!!” *full sobbing” we had a good and chat and he assured me that he was fully confident in my ability to lead the area and train. We only have 6 english speaking girls coming out, so to be picked out of the WHOLE mission makes me feel a lot of pressure… But I’m becoming a little less sickly and a bit more excited! And am thankful that the Lord trusts me with the Humble, Texas portion of his vineyard. That makes me the most excited (:

I’m amazed at how quickly my 12 weeks have gone by. It seems like I just got here! Mom is allowed to say, “I told you so” since she knew by the end of this I’d find some love in my heart for my companion… and I did. I’m not heart broken that we’re separating, but certainly not throwing a party. I’m thankful that President Crawford saw the benefit of keeping us together. I will be forever grateful for the lessons I have learned; that the Lord was able to send me through his refining fire and teach me what I needed to learn. and trust me – i’ve learned quite a bit. I am so thankful for my mission! T.H.E mission is the best on earth!

So I think I told you how we found a family to teach, but we can only get in with them every other sunday since the mom has a crazy work schedule… Well yesterday was the second day we got to teach them. It was probably the most spiritual lesson we’ve had since I’ve been here. I was fighting back tears the whole way through it. This family is SO prepared. After we recited the joseph smith vision, the 15 year old daughter, Ashley, described feelings of the spirit; she wanted to cry and didn’t know why! That’s when I did start crying; I was so happy for her. We then went on to an AMAZING discussion; openly talking back and forth. Her dad, Paul, is the sweetest man i’ve met here. He loves his family SO MUCH. He is very interested in the priesthood and the ability we have to seal families for time and eternity. His wife, Mirabel, is very sweet; she is very excited to keep learning. Paul said some of the best things though; stuff missionaries always want to hear. He said, “Ya know, we always say we don’t have time for church. but apparently we have time for y’all to come over! I want to take my family to church next week” We were stunned. Then we extended the baptismal invitation, (will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?) Mirabel immediately responded with, “Well Paul has been baptized already, but I want to!” and Paul said, “WAIT A MINUTE! Let me speak for myself! I DO want to be baptized. I don’t think my baptism counts! I was just a baby!” So he too is preparing for baptism. Ashley as well… I am SO EXCITED for them! They are such a beautiful family. I feel so much love for them and hardly know them. They are so special. I’m excited to take my greenie to their house because they will be an excellent example of progressing investigators.

On Thursday we had a lesson with Lawrence. He sort of broke our hearts. He doesn’t fully comprehend the priesthood; needing to have the authority to act in the name of God. He said a lot of things that hurt our feelings, but still wants to meet with us. He comes to church every week, so as long as he keeps that up, we can keep teaching him. Otherwise we’ll probably drop him… We just keep swimming in place. From what I can see, his faith isn’t increasing. He’s doing the things we ask, but he isn’t internalizing things. So it’s a little disappointing, but it just might not be his time. As long as he’s at church and feeling the spirit there, I’m happy to keep helping him along.

I gave up sweets for a week and 2 days, trying to be like my mom… but that ended. I did that to help motivate Valerie to quit smoking, but she was smoking anyways! but i didn’t know this till a week and 2 days had passed! I’ve turned down some of the BEST desserts for her sake, and WHAM. She tells me she’s been smoking anyways! I don’t know what to with that woman… I love her to death but she will NOT quit that habit. Maybe someone can get me Uncle Keith’s email address? I’d like to pick his brain…

So I believe that was the most exciting events for the week. Testimony meeting yesterday was so great. I love this ward SO MUCH! I’m so thankful to be staying in Humble. It’s such a great place to live and serve! Even with the 107F degrees outside, 70%+ humidity… It’s a GREAT place to be. I’m glad I get to spend the first 6mo of my mission here!

I love this gospel more than anything else. I am so thankful for all of y’all supporting me out here! Thank you for making it possible. I am loving every minute of it!

Choose the right and go to the temple OFTEN!

— Sister Stockinger