Tucson

We started this morning outside Ron's building. When we woke up we realized that it wasn't as great as place as we thought it would be. We drove away and went one block and saw a giant RV park. Whoops! Anyway, our first stop today was the Gila Valley Temple. Stockton was able to go through the temple twice on his mission. He went through the Tucson Temple on Halloween. That was the traditional missionary activity before covid. I think that's a great idea! Stockton got to go through this temple, the Gila Valley Temple towards the end of his mission. Elder Radley needed to get his endowments and Stockton got to go with him. Stockton also got to clean this temple and they let them go up in the spire.

Gila Valley Temple

Stockton, Maysen, Jorja, Preston, Mike

The sun was very bright, if you can't tell by Preston and Mike's expressions.

Stockton, Maysen and Jorja don't seem fazed. Preston and Mike in this one... hahahaha

Stockton, Maysen, Jorja, Preston, Stephanie

Stockton will do anything for a good shot!

There was two baseball fields practically in the parking lot, how cool is that?

View from the baseball field. Stake center then temple.

We thought it would be cool to visit Stockton's mission in chronological order. I can't believe it worked out that way, but it did. It was so much fun to imagine Stockton biking these streets. I noticed he was very selective of his picture taking when he sent pictures home. Some places were not nearly as nice as I was led to believe. Anyway, Stockton's training took place in Safford, right in the Gila Valley. This was his first apartment. I think this was his least favorite apartment. There was no where to do laundry, so they would have to put their laundry on their backs and bike to the other Elder's apartment to get it done. Not very convenient and took up most of their P-Day. Stockton has already talked about this day on his blog. I like how he labeled his apartments, so I am going to steal that from him. Stockton served with Elder Heiner and Elder White here.

1st apartment ~ Gila Valley (Safford) ~ 0 months to 3 months

Stockton

Stockton's next place was in Tucson. He thinks D&C 116 is so funny. "Spring Hill is named by the Lord Adam-ondi-Ahman, because, said he, it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the prophet." That's it. That's the entire chapter. Anyway, this place in particular Stockton always sent really nice pictures home. The area is a lot more sketchier that he led me to believe. He did let it slip that there was a triple homicide there a bit before he moved in. Lovely.

Stockton

2nd apartment ~ Tucson (Lakeside) ~ 3 months to 9 months

Stockton ~ served with Elder Alia & Elder Iwaniac

Spring Hill Apartments

Stockton took us through a sketchy alley to get to the lake

Stockton ~ definitely not how I pictured this area

Fake tree

We had Stockton pick where to eat. He wanted lunch at Raising Cane's. We then drove to Sahuarita which was about 45 minutes away. South of Tucson. Stockton was here for 7 months. I think that was his longest area. He was here when Corona hit. This apartment is what he was quarantined in when the world shut down. Stockton served with Elder Kelly, Elder Hoyle, Elder Wales, Elder Jensen and Elder Nelson here.

3rd apartment ~ Sahuarita (Green Valley ~ 9 months to 16 months

Stockton in front of the Sahuarita Stake Center. The community would only let them build it if it matched their style.

It's quite beautiful.

We parked the motorhome at an elementary school and walked to the Medlock's house. Stockton had baptized their foster daughter Victoria and became really close with the family. It was cool to watch Stockton talk with them. Brother Medlock teaches at University of Arizona. I think he is in the engineering department. He was telling Stockton that he should come down there. Now that would be kinda crazy!

Stockton, Bro. Medlock, Tulani, Mal

Stockton and Bro. Medlock

I didn't know if we would get another chance to get a picture in front of a big cactus...

Mike, Jorja, Stockton, Preston, Maysen

Jorja, Stockton, Preston, Maysen

Stephanie, Jorja, Stockton, Preston, Maysen

We drove back up to Tucson for Stockton's next area. He served in a tiny area in downtown Tucson. He heard horror stories about this area, but it ended up being his favorite I think. Stockton served with Elder Crawford, Elder Hickey and Elder Moody (for like a day).

4th apartment ~ Tucson (Casas Adobes) ~ 16 months to 20 months

This area was pretty close to the mission home. Which was nice when I wanted to send him things. It was also close to the Tucson temple. We stopped by and visited both of those places.

Preston (still struggling with the sun), Maysen, Stephanie, Stockton, Jorja

Preston, Maysen, Stockton, Jorja

Mike & Stockton

Stockton ~ kids were making shadows on his belly

That's better!

The parking lot looked like a car lot with all the new mission cars.

Tucson Temple

I didn't even know purple cactuses existed!

Stockton

Stockton, Jorja, Preston

Stockton, Preston, Jorja

Mike, Maysen, Jorja, Stockton walking to the Tucson Temple

Maysen, Preston, Jorja, Stockton ~ I love them

Maysen, Jorja, Preston, Stockton....... Mike

Maysen, Jorja, Preston, Stockton ~ I love this picture

Maysen

We left the temple and went to get dinner at Filiberto's and got carne asada fries. We got two orders of them to share. They were so good. Fries with steak, sour cream, guacamole, cheese..... you ate these with forks so it was a little different but delicious. Next stop was the mission home. Stockton made friends with President Grisel's son Val and wanted to see him. Val just got his mission call to Johannesburg South Africa and was so excited to see Stockton. Val (short for Valiant) and Cannon were home when we got there. We hung out with them for awhile. It was so fun to see them interact with Stockton. Soon President Grisel was home and he talked with us for a long time. Then sister Grisel and Emma came home. We ended up being there for over two hours. It was awesome. President Grisel told us that there are missionaries that are serving now that would not be here without Stockton. Sister Grisel told a story of watching Stockton interact with some of the missionaries and how she was blown away with his kindness toward them. She had tears in her eyes as she was recounting some of the details. Anyway, this was definitely a highlight of the trip.

Maysen, Mike, Jorja, Stephanie, Preston, Stockton, Elder Grisel, Val, Sister Grisel, Emma, Cannon

Cannon, Stockton, Val, Emma

We left the mission home around 11:00. President Grisel said we could stay in the mission office parking lot and that if anyone gave us a hard time to let them know he sent us. Haha. Mike sleeps so much better when he is sleeping somewhere with permission!

Where Bear spends the night. The closet next to my dad's bedroom.