July 25, 2011
Greetings from Edinburg, TX - TX McAllen Mission

Hey Hey Hey everyone!

So this past week was great in some aspects, but tough in others. For our companionship we did well. Yesterday we had twelve people at church. And out of them seven got interviewed for their baptism. So that was awesome! But we should have five baptisms at the end of this week. Our investigators are doing really well. We have one lady that was interviewed and supposed to get baptized on Sunday, but she is having doubts because of her family. All she wants is for all her family to come as well. We had a powerful lesson, and in her prayer she said she knows it's true. We are taking time out of our p-day to go teach her daughter today because she is super important to us. We did see a great miracle though, it was all because of a fast and our faith.

So this family of five we are teaching, the Dad is a less active member that has been coming back to church. The mom isn't a member, but she works a ton. We've been teaching the five girls and preparing them for baptism. We needed the dad's signature on their forms before they were interviewed. And we had talked to him about two weeks ago and he and the mom kept saying they need more time and stuff, but they don't. They know all they need to know and they've been coming to church. We were worried. We decided to fast for them again. And we came up with an idea that elder Wells, a district leader who is doing the interview, could go by and talk with the family. So Saturday we did mini exchanges, and Elder Wells went with my comp, Elder Simmons. They were there for a super long time. But they came back and the mom and dad had a change of heart and they signed the papers. It was a miracle from the Lord. The story is a lot longer but that's the short version. It was great. Also one investigator got interviewed and is getting baptized on Saturday. We are super excited for him! So we are doing well and working hard with the Lord's help. We also had a bunch of less active families come to church, which is great to see.

The zone is kind of struggling. We were supposed to have six baptisms as a zone, but only two went through. It's really disappointing that those souls fell off. The missionaries need to do all they can to make sure that doesn't happen. Right now we are a little behind on our goal, but we are looking like we will make it with a miracle. We have eight people set up to be baptized this coming week and we need nine. We have people who are ready and can be baptized, and now it's time to put our faith in the Lord and understand his will and try our hardest to do it. I'm excited!

We found a couple of really cool people this week. One guy lives in these really small ghetto apartments and cuts lawns for work and does random jobs because that's all he can do. I admire it because he is down, but not out! He is not giving up trying to find work and stuff. We've sat with him outside and we sit on these rusty fold up chairs and he sits on his porch and we have great lessons. He really wants to know and has a bd for August I. I love being down here. It's very humbling. We teach a lot outside and you get used to the heat and the sun. So many times I've taught a lesson sitting on the ground, or on a mini chair or on a bucket and I love it. The people don't have much, but whatever they have they'll try and give it to you. It's a huge learning experience. So I feel sometime my emails are really short, sorry about that. I'll try and make them longer. But i love it down here in Texas. The food is too good and i need to exercise a lot.

I love you Mom and Dad and Chelsea and Matthew and Scarlett!

July 18, 2011
Hey Hey Hey everyone!

How are you all? I miss you guys. So here in Edinburg everything is going great. We played soccer today and some basketball. For the rest of the day, we are just going to relax. We have interviews tomorrow with President Trayner and we are giving a training on the power and authority of your calling as a missionary. I hope it goes well and has some effect on the zone. We are struggling with being bold. We are working hard this month, but we need to find people for August. President Trayner has invited us to invite everyone to be baptized first lesson. And as we've done this, we've seen lots of success. So that’s good. We are finding a lot of people who are ready and those who aren't, and this way we can focus on the people who are ready.

Yesterday, Elder Simmons and I had a great day at church. We had 9 investigators there, which was great. Three people that we are teaching and a family of five that we are teaching, and also this boy that got baptized yesterday. It was great to see so many people there. The Spanish ward was really full and they even had to open up the overflow, so that was pretty cool. We are working hard down here. This one family we are teaching of five, we are super excited for, I think I’ve talked about them before, but the Dad is a less active member and he has five daughters who want to get baptized. I love it when they come to church because they bring in a great spirit. He usually comes with his 8 kids and his cousin. They all live in one small trailer and they are a very humble family. They come to church in one car and all pile in and out. We have to save almost a whole middle row for them. It’s awesome. They are getting baptized the 31st, so we are super excited. We are also working with this man. He is so humble and just ready to change. I’ve talked about him before also. But almost every time he prays, he cries and he says it’s because he feels it. I gave him one of my white shirts and a couple of my ties. He was so so so happy. It was so humbling to see. As I gave it to him he walked in and stopped, and held it out just to look at it, and had a huge smile. It was great. He came to church and we were so happy. He used to be a famous luchador, which is a Mexican wrestler.

The zone is doing good, I’m running out of time. By the end of next weekend, we should be up at 11 baptisms. And so that leaves the last weekend to reach our goal of 16. And we will. The Lord wants us to. We are super excited. A missionary that I really look up to is leaving on Saturday and I won’t see him till after. He's going to play football for BYU. I’m bummed he's leaving. It’s weird to think. But he taught me a lot. Everything is going great. I love being out here and I would trade it for anything in the world, I can honestly say that at this point. I stress so much though because we are dealing with salvation on a daily basis. But I’m out of time. We found five new people this past week and set bds with all of them so that was cool.

I love you all
-Elder Stone

 July 11, 2011
Hey Hey Hey guys!

How is everything? I hope all is well. This past week here in Edinburg has been great. We've further learned the importance of members in missionary work. We've seen success and that’s because we've worked with the members to become better and as well to give our investigators fellowship they need. The zone as well picked it up this past week and we were excited to see that. This past week we had a bunch of meetings Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The meetings were pretty much all day and just for the leaders in the mission. It made it tough to work our area, but that’s ok. We still saw some miracles and really helped some of our people to progress. Super excited! We learned a lot at the meetings. And now we need to take what we learned and apply it and help the zone apply it. Since we are zone leaders, we have to give trainings at every training we get. So this past one we gave a training on the importance of teaching people and not lessons. We focused on asking inspired questions and listening. We used the story of Aaron from Alma 22. It was good. Aaron was successful because he asked inspired questions, listened and opened up the scriptures. And so that’s what Elder Vasquez and I applied and that’s what Elder Simmons and I are applying. We've seen lots of success from it. The scriptures are powerful and it’s like having a Prophet with you to teach. A missionary here that I really look up to, who goes home next week, once said "a successful missionary knows how to ask questions and knows their scriptures." That’s very true. So that’s something I’ve worked on ever since. But we've taught a lot this past week and have tried to bring a member from the ward with us every second lesson.

We've been teaching this lady. She's older and she's studied with tons of different religions and been baptized twice. She reads from the BOM every time we leave a chapter, and she likes it. But she has lots of stories and likes to talk. We felt that she wasn't really progressing and when we went by Saturday, we tried to have a good focused lesson. She just kept saying how she didn’t want to baptize again and how she learned all this other stuff from other people. Stuff that doesn't show too much interest. So at the end of the lesson it turned into a drop lesson. We told her if she didn't come to church tomorrow that we couldn't keep coming by. She said she probably wasn't going to come. It was a big bummer. But we called her yesterday before church and she said she was coming. We called the member for her ride and the member said Aurora had already called her and everything. That was great to see and she came to church yesterday which was awesome and we are going to keep teaching her.

We ended up having 12 people at church, just me and my comp. That’s a huge week that we received a ton of help from the Lord. The coolest thing is, out of those twelve people, 11 have bds so they’re not just random people. We are teaching this big family right now. The dad is a less active member and he has like 8 kids, five of which have bds for the 31st. They've came to church twice, but they are worried. They are all girls and so we think it’s just a little shy doubt kind of thing. We are hopefully going to clear that up so we can help them come unto Christ. It was cool to have them all at church again and sitting by all them. As well we found this guy, who is super cool and progressing a ton. He was a blessing from the Lord because he is just super ready for the gospel. The second lesson we had with him we brought a member and ever since then he's been great. The member went by his house without us and got his number and picked him up for church and everything! That’s how we need every member to be! It’s awesome. Hel loves everything we teach and share and can’t wait for his baptism. He used to be a luchador (mexican wrestler) so thats cool too. We are also teaching this member’s little sisters who are 11 and 9. They have bds for the 24 of July. It’s so great to see the success and feel the Lord's trust and love. Most of the people we teach and talk to are in spanish. Out of the 12 people at church, 9 of them were in Spanish, so that’s really cool, too.

As well, we have a baptism coming up next week. Another miracle that the Lord gave us. It’s this boy. His parents were baptized about a year ago and he was eight. His mom didn't feel he was ready then. But he just turned nine on Saturday and we are going to help him get baptized next Sunday. Super excited for that!

Edinburg is great. The zone is getting better and we are super excited. But oh, we get fed a lot now. My comp is awesome. And I Miss you all and I love you all.

-Elder Stone

July 6, 2011
Hey hey hey guys!
How is everything? So the library was closed yesterday and we are emailing today. How was fourth of July? I cant believe its already July. Time is flying by. Did you all do anything special?  We had a great day. It was P-day and there was a breakfast from the ward. We served breakfast and sang at the activity. Then we went to a members for a bbq. Then we had to be in early so we had an activity with president at the chapel. We also watched Legacy the movie. It was a cool day.

Sunday was kind of tough for church. We've found lots of great people recently. And we set a few new baptismal dates. But we only had one at church, which was a bummer. But we had a zone meeting last Wednesday after transfers and had a good talk with the zone. We felt we got them pretty motivated and then they set a ton of bds. As a zone this past week, we had the most bds we've ever had. So that’s pretty awesome. We have a high goal of 16 for the month of July and 18 for the month of August. July is done and now it’s time to help these people through. We are finding people now for August. We found this really cool guy the other week. We had a lesson with him last week and the spirit was strong. We read from Moroni 6 and talked about baptism. He was super interested and we set a bd for the 31st of July. When we knelt to pray, we invited him to pray. And as he was praying, he started to cry. He said he felt the spirit and he's never felt that before. That was pretty cool. We also set two more bds with some other people we had found. It was a successful week in that sense.

We also learned the importance of being patient. We went by a former, which is someone who used to investigate the church but stopped, and as he answered and he came out battling. He was saying “I don’t believe in Joseph Smith. I don’t agree with you all on that one,” and all this stuff about him. We just sat there and smiled and said we are here to help you to follow Jesus Christ and His teachings. And the guy came out and we all sat down. We ended up having a great lesson on the doctrine of Christ. We extended a bd invitation, and he said he wants to get baptized when he learns more. We were able to be patient and not jump to conclusions and we had a great lesson.

So overall, the week was ok. We know it’s time to step it up. I love being out here in Edinburg. My comp, Elder Simmons, is a great missionary. He’s from Utah and he's a very bold missionary which is good. We had a lot of changes in the Zone here and we got lots of new missionaries. They are all super excited to get out and work so we are excited for that. Um we've had a lot of rain down here. It gets hard to see when we are driving and the roads down here suck and get super flooded. When we were ending a lesson, it started to pour, of course right when we are about to leave, and walking from his house to the car we were completely soaked. We drove around the corner and the rain stopped. Haha it’s funny how it works like that.

I feel like i just go on and on about the same things and that it might get boring to you all... Oh Well. How was Cameron's birthday yesterday? Did you guys go to the beach?

I’m out of time! I’ll try to remember more next week. I love you guys and I miss you guys!
-Elder Stone

Elder Stone June 27, 2011 - Milagros!

Hey Hey.
I can start off by testifying that God is a God of miracles who loves each and everyone of his children here on earth. He doesn't want to see any of his kids hurt or miss the opportunity to return to live with him. We’ve seen this come true in this past month with these two milagros that we saw this past week. Because of these miracles and because of the love the Lord has we reached our goal of fourteen for the month of June. In may the zone baptized seven but that wasn't our potential and we double it in the month of june.

As of wednesday one of our baptisms for the month of June said that she would have to wait till the first week in July because her Dad wasn't going to be able to come down from his work. Jackie, the daughter being baptized, and her Mom both didn't want to push the baptism back, but as well they wanted the non-member Dad to be there. We agreed that he should be there and we told her we would push the baptism back till the third, and we received this news on thursday. Friday night we received a text from Erica, the mom, saying that Albert, the Dad was going to be coming down after all and he would make it this Sunday. She then asked us if we could please still do the baptism this (past) weekend. We said of course and prepared the baptism. The baptism happened and it was great, It was a great step for Albert to see both of his daughters enter the waters of baptism. After the service, he told us why the plans had changed. The guy that Albert works with who has the car and usually drives, was laid off. So with this happening, they had to come down and pick up another car to take back up to work. Albert took this opportunity to come down. The baptism was great and we are going to really start working hard with Albert.
The other milagro que vimos was with the sisters in their area. We received a text from them Saturday saying that a girl they were teaching, Jackie, whose baptism was already pushed back a week, was not going to be able to be baptized. The sisters said that Jackie's Dad said no and as they tried to talk with him he wouldn't listen and he would argue or just get up and walk away as the sisters were speaking. They were lost on what to do and called us with this. One of the sisters broke down on the phone Saturday and was very upset, she had no idea what to do. We suggested a fast and the sisters agreed and we as well decided to go to the girl's house with them on Sunday to see if the Dad would listen to us. As we knelt to pray, we felt the Spirit tell us that this is what we should do. We started our fast and as the time came we headed to meet the sisters at Jackie's house. We went over and talked to the Dad, or we didn't but Sister Villalobos did. We just went for support. At first the Dad was being stubborn and was not going to let the daughter get baptized. We stood out there for an hour talking with him. As we were talking, we had prayers in our hearts and at the end of the conversation the Lord softened his heart and he agreed to her baptism. The father didn't come but he dropped Jackie off for the baptism and she was baptized. Two great milagros that we saw this past month. As we put our faith in the Lord, the Lord provides, after we do all we can, and we did.
As well this past week we had something called mini missionaries. It’s where youth from the stake, ages 15-19, come on a mission for a week. I had it last year and it helped me grow a ton! This year, I learned a lot again and grew a lot. The youth come out with us everyday all day. At night they sleep at a member’s house, but they leave their phones and ipods y todo. Our area is a little ghetto and one of the mini missionaries almost got bitten by a dog four times. He got a little discouraged, but we tried our best to help him along and keep him going strong. He made it to the end of the week and said he loved it.

Yesterday we had two baptisms, which was great, from a part member family. As well, Elder Vasquez and I gave talks in sacrament meeting in the English ward. We talked on gaining a testimony of Jesus Christ and how this testimony changes lives. Everyone said we did well, and hopefully we set the standard for the ward. As well, we had seven people come to church. A family that we've been working with finally came to church. It’s a big family. The Dad is a member but the five older daughters aren't yet. They are all preparing to be baptized in July on the 17th. We'll keep you updated.

We got called about transfers. My comp. Elder Vasquez got called to be assistant to the president. He's a great missionary, the top of the top. My companion now is Elder Simmons. Everyone says he's a great missionary and I’m super excited to start working with him in this zone. We have big vision for the zone for the month of July. And bigger for the month of August. But there is no doubt that we can accomplish this. Something President Trayner said is that we need to pray as if it all depends on the Lord and then work as if it all depends on us. Remember that!

I love you and I miss you all a lot!
-Elder Stone

TexMex with Elder Stone

June 20, 2011
Hey Hey Hey everyone! What's up?

So this past week was interesting. It was a little tough for us on finding new people, but we were able to find one legit family. We are teaching a lot of people right now, mostly families. We are also seeing many miracles in the zone. As of the end of last week we have brought ten souls unto our Heavenly Father as a zone. We have a goal of 14 for the zone and by two weeks ago it looked like we were only going to barely get twelve. BUut we saw a miracle with a couple of kids the sisters were teaching. The kids finally came to church and they are getting baptized next weekend which will bring us to our goal of 14 as a zone. Elder Vasquez and I are going to have two baptisms, but one is an eight year old girl and the other is her 11-year-old sister. The mom was baptized about a year ago and the kids and Dad were never baptized, long story, very sad. But we got her to come back to church and the girls will be getting baptized next week. We hope to have their dad baptized in July. We are super excited for them. The family is great and super strong now. We just need to help the dad stop drinking, but that's okay, with the Lord all is possible. Diana is doing really well and she is really trying to push her mom along. She is great and wants her mom to accept this so bad. We can see in her eyes how much it hurts her that her mom is not living worthy to be baptized. But the mom came to church yesterday, which was great. As well we had four others come to church. So we are super excited to start teaching more of them and getting them bds. We have a big goal of baptizing 16 in the month of July. This will be a huge step and a huge accomplishment. In May, we only baptized 7 and now in June, we should have 14. We always have to be raising the bar so that we never stop growing and getting better.

I got a letter from Colby this past week. He sounds like he's doing great. I am super excited for him. He's going to be a stud missionary! He's a big idol to me. He helped push me a lot to get me out on my mission. This past week, we had zone conference which was really fun. We met in Mc Allen and talked a lot about things we need to do to improve. The mission is tough, but so much fun and so worth it.  We are getting fed a lot now which is good but it stinks cuz I want to lose weight. The members are trusting us a lot more which is really cool. The pictures from last week were mostly from Rio Grande. It had taken me a while to send them. But I'll try to take more and send more frequently.

For some reason it's getting harder for me to write. Things don't come to mind as easily as they used to. I want to write more though. I'm just focused on what we need to do for the zone to get better. We are teaching this great family of five. All girls and they should get baptized in July, as well as a couple of other families of four. So we are super excited for them and to see the success in July. I don't have anymore time. I need more questions to answer! Sorry this is short. I hope all is well. I love you all and I miss you all.

-Your Son, Elder Stone --

Everyone please write Elder Stone:  813 N. 14th Pl. #8; Edinburg, TX 78539