Actionscript 3 :: Run A Function Aftercanvas Has Changed

I'm having some setbacks in self-learning this language and Flex Builder. Right now I'm trying to make a very simple implementation where a label effectively has its text added to multiple times over the first few seconds that the program is run. The problem I'm running into is that I can't just put all that into one function + one call on that function, as changes to the label's text are apparently not seen until that function runs its full course.So I tried using a viewstack and cloning the canvas a few times, giving each canvas's version of that label a different bit of text. Then I set the initialize function for the viewstack to change the canvases on regular intervals over the first few seconds. But that didn't work either, as the difference isn't seen until the function runs its full course.So then I tried putting function calls on the individual canvases' initialize attributes, and those functions aren't being called at all apparently.I know this probably isn't even the way that you're supposed to animate something in ActionScript or Flex, but I still would like to know how to approach the problem this way for future reference.