Baptism

Hi family! Here are some pictures of my adventures these past few weeks. I can't remember all the pictures that I'm sending you, but I will try to explain some of them. So me and  Sister Bowden went to the baptism of one of our investigators!!! It was soooo cool! Her name is Felicia and she lives in Salt Lake so we were able to go! Let me tell you her story. She was a member referral, and her friend Brittany came on the Square and she immediately thought of Felicia when we asked her if there was anybody who we could call. So we taught Felicia over the phone right up until her baptism and she asked Sister Bowden to give the talk on baptism and I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. It was such an amazing experience!! The next picture is me and some of the sisters down in the bowels of the organ in the Conference Center.  So on Christmas Eve, Santa came to Temple Square!!! He gave all the sisters stockings full of the essentials, like a mirror, some Q-tips, hand sanitizer and CANDY!!!!  

So, there ya go! Hope you liked all the pictures! Sorry it took a while for them, but I will try to keep up on my picture taking! 

Love you all!!

          Love,

              Sister Stolp

Oh, What a Week!

It was so cool, but our mission president let the sister missionaries on Temple Square have a special treat! We got to go to....wait for iiiiiiiiiiiit..... member's houses for Christmas dinner!!!!!!! It was fun! Me and my district went to this nice family who had a big house and we ate ham and turkey and a proper Christmas dinner! We had great fun and took pictures which I will have to send to you soon. Also, for today my district had a nice turkey dinner! I'm not really sure why but my district leader, Sister Felsted wanted to have like a mini party before we had to go back to the Square. She loves to cook birds so we had turkey! I'm not sure if it was a good idea because now I'm sleepy and we have to be on the Square 'til 10! Ugh, but now I have a story to tell to you that was told to me by my zone leader.
Once upon a time, Temple Square was very different to what it is now. Back in the old days the sisters were assigned to just specific spots on the Square and they weren't allowed to get in contact with the people that referred. They would just send them off to the local missionaries and that was it. There used to be massage chairs and beds for the sisters to rest on. BUT all that changed about two years ago when president Holmes became mission president. He took all the chairs and beds OUT and he set up the teaching center where the sisters were allowed to teach the people who referred up until baptism! My zone leader, Sister Kealamakia said that she came on Temple Square when some of these changes were happening! Our mission is still evolving and it's not done yet! The sisters here now can teach the investigators up until baptism and beyond! I am staying in contact with the two people that I was able to help with their conversion and baptism and I will see both of them to to the Temple! I'm so looking forward to that! The Temple Square mission is truly a baptizing mission and I do love it here! This mission is hard just like all the other missions out there. The sisters here don't get pampered anymore. We are a Preach My Gospel mission and we follow the white handbook (except when we have to leave the Square at 10!) Tell this story to every member you know and help them to know that this is a real mission and that we're not just tour guides with pretty faces! That is my story and I'm stickin' to it!
I love you all!! Thanks for all your love and support!!

Love,
Sister Stolp

December on the Square

Dear family,
It's getting pretty crazy here on Temple Square! There are so many people here at night, it's getting hard to move! It's also really warm outside and there has been only one snowfall. That's ok though, 'm fine with that! Our apartment is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! We have a couple a couple trees and some lights so it's really cool.
Well, it's getting easier for me to contact people on the Square~! What's hard, though is when they don't want to talk with you and they just keep walking. I did talk to this one couple yesterday from California and they were so prepared! They have already had contact with elders, but they never got a Book of Mormon!! So we asked if they wanted one and they did! We're going to call them in a week and teach them over the phone! (The man looked like Jaleel White!)
For me, the hardest thing is still talking with people over the phone! I've always hated calling people, especially when they might not be friendly. Some sisters have also gotten some creepy men on the phone. I haven't yet! I will still continue to call people, though, no matter what! Love you all!
Love,
Sister Stolp

Thanksgiving

So I promised you that I would tell you what we did for Thanksgiving. So we actually went to a party place called Noah's! We watched a movie and we ate a wonderful turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and beans and apple pie and pumpkin pie and corn bread! I've never had corn bread for Thanksgiving before! It was cool because I was able to tell the first Thanksgiving story to the sisters at my table (I was the only American at my table). Everybody loved the food and when we were all so full we did something great to give us all belly aches. We did some Line Dancing!! It was super fun and we did all the American classics like Cotton Eyed Joe and the Electric Slide, but all the sisters had a good time learning the steps. We also had a craft room where we made some Christmas decorations. It was a super fun day!
So my Christmas schedule is super busy! The Square is packed at night and there's so much to do! I have a couple of Christmas assignments, but my favorite one is the Christus. So basically we're just "herding" the people along to make sure that we have one flow of traffic, but there's one job that I did the other day and that was bearing my testimony in front of the Chrustus and then playing the narration and closing with my testimony. I really liked doing that! It really helps to bring the spirit when you testify of Jesus Christ and how He is the center of everything.
Love you all!
Love,
Sister Stolp

Proselyting

Dear Family,

How are you? Life has been good here. Not too crazy yet. The Square is still pretty quiet except for Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays. my companion is really dreading the Christmas rush! There will be so many people coming on the Square every day! Lately we've been getting the worst people on chat! Most of them are trolls, so they ask us questions like "how do magnets work?" or random stuff like that. We have had a couple of sincere people, but they end up not referring, so it's really sad.

Well, my first transfer is almost over! I won't be the baby anymore! I heard that there are only 7 sisters coming in next transfer. (My class had 24 sisters) I think the reason that there aren't that many sisters coming in is because there are a lot of sisters coming back from outbound.

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Stolp

Greetings

So, this week has had it's ups and downs; here are some of the ups! So earlier this week we met two Italian boys and I started the contact!! I was so proud of myself and even sister Bowden said that I did a good job! So we met them on the side of the Tabernacle and we started telling them about the Restoration right there. They were both practicing Catholics and it was pretty cool and at first they didn't want anything to do with the Book of Mormon, but we explained about it some more and one of them referred and asked for two Books of Mormon for both of them. It was really neat and after they referred we showed them the highlights of Temple Square. One of them was really open and told us about what he did in the Catholic church and they kept saying how similar our church is with their church. So after the tour we found out that they just gave us their address to send the missionaries and not their phone number, so we can't call them. I'm really sad about that!
I also have another cool experience that I want to share with you. We were in the TC and we finished talking to one of our investigators and we had an awkward amount of time 'til our next appointment, so my companion decided to take a turn around the Square. So we walked into the North Visitor's Center and we were walking next to the New Testament paintings. There was a guy who was walking there also, and we started talking to him. He just opened up to us and told us how he and his wife want to adopt this little boy, but it would cost them $50,000. They already adopted another boy 4 years previously and that costed only $10,000. So he told his wife that if they adopted this boy that they would have to sell their house and go live in an apartment and that they would have to buy second hand cars from now on. So he came to Temple Square to get some insight on what to do. So that's where we come in! Sister Bowden was able to ask him some questions and one of the questions was, "What would you be able to give this boy?" The man almost started crying, he said that he would be able to give him love, an eternal family, and an older brother. My companion then shared 1 Ne 4:6-7 and he said that he needed to be like Nephi and "go and get the plates". So he left knowing that he needed to adopt that boy. The next day...a sister gave us a note and it was from that same guy!!! In the note he said that he had never felt that much peace as he did after he made that decision to adopt the boy!! It was such a special experience and I'm so glad that I was a part of that!!
Love you lots!!
Love,
Sister Stolp

Halloween

My Halloween was great! The Square closed at 5 and we ate dinner and had a Halloween party. This was some sisters first experience with Halloween. That was pretty funny. They're starting to put up Christmas lights, which makes me and my companion super excited for Christmas!
So every single day we have what's called TC, and that's where we call our referrals and teach them over the phone. So I was in there today and I was sitting in my chair about to call someone when I stopped to listen. Behind me there was a sister speaking Spanish on the phone, in front of me there was a sister speaking Hindi(India) and a sister speaking Italian. I also heard a sister speaking Japanese on one of the phones. At that moment I realized that the scripture Mosiah 15:28 has already come true! This is the time where the salvation of the Lord is being declared to all nations! It's truly amazing! There are only two places in the world (I think) where missionaries can't set foot in and that's mainland China and Israel. Yet, we have a sister who is from mainland China and there was a family from Israel who came to Temple Square! This is such amazing work, I'm so glad I'm a part of it!
Love,
Sister Stolp

1st Week

I survived my first week here!!! So I'm sure some of you are wondering "What does a Temple Square missionary DO all day, anyway??" Well, I'm here to tell you!
I get up at 6:30 and exercise. Then at 7 I get ready for the day ie, take a shower, put on make up and eat breakfast. At 8 I have personal study and at 9 I have companionship study. Then it depends on the day. On different days at different times I have Square time where I talk to people on the square and give tours and teach about Jesus Christ. Yesterday, I also worked at the Jerusalem map desk. Or I have TC time where we have chat or where we call our referrals and see if they would like us to teach them over the phone and have local missionaries teach them as well. Some days I open and close the Joseph Smith movie where we share our testimonies on Joseph Smith or other principles and after the movie we contact the people and see if they would like to learn more or if they have any referrals. The mission is a baptizing mission. We find to teach, teach to baptize, and baptize to seal. My first Saturday we went to a baptism. My companion and her former companion taught this guy and he accepted the invitation to be baptized. It was way cool to start off my mission with a baptism! (even though it wasn't mine)
Tomorrow I hope to pass of and that is where I give a tour to our zone leaders they determine whether I am good enough to give tour to people who ask. When I pass off I will also be able to participate in an investigator lesson/tour that the local Salt Lake missionaries have requested! Pretty exciting!!
It's really neat to share with people of different faiths about our beliefs and teach them the trials that the early members of the church had to go through and help them to realize that it's only through Jesus Christ that we can return to our Heavenly Father. I do get rejection and I do get a lot of people who just come here to argue with us. But I am here to represent Christ and I am trying to see them how God would see them. I am very grateful for the chance I have to help people from all over the world and from so many different faiths see the beauties of the gospel!
Love,
Sister Stolp

Conference

So how did you like conference? So how about that age change? Boys can go at 18 and girls can go at 19!! I wish they would've changed it for me! I so would've gone at 19! It's so cool that our brothers can go out sooner! Yay! It was way cool seeing Valerie in the choir. Conference was awesome in the MTC. It was basically two days of just eating, watching conference, eating, watching conference, and eating. It was way chill.
It'll be way weird, because I will be training 19 year old sisters! There is such a great need for missionaries especially now with Mitt Romney. Everybody wants to know what his beliefs are. I'm so grateful to be out here in this time of the world! It amazes me that the Lord trusts me enough to have me here at such a time as this! Through my window I can see the Temple and I love waking up and seeing it all lit up! It helps me remember why I'm here. I've been meeting sisters from all over the world and it's so cool to see how far the church reaches!
So on my last day at the MTC, Elder David A. Bednar came to speak to us. It was awesome!
Love you all!
Love,
Sister Stolp
(note from the editor: The only other thing was asking for recipes, so if you have any quick easy super tasty meals or quick breads or snacks please send her a letter. THANKS!)

So I'm at the Square now! My trainer is Sister Bowden and she's from Oxford, England. Pretty cool! I told her that Dad served in Birmingham, England! So I get to hear the scriptures being read in British English every day! So yesterday was just a chill day. After we got to meet our trainers we went to Walmart and I bought some food. Today, life is good, I'm not homesick and my trainer is awesome. I've already heard some of the awesome pioneer stories here and a lot of the history. We took a tour of the conference center this morning and it was way cool to hear the hostess tell us the history of the place and how it was built. We went up to the 26th floor of the COB and saw teh whole Salt Lake Valley. What amazes me is that the Saints were able to come out here just with their faith and build such a beautiful Temple! Did you know that when the early saints were building the Temple, Brigham Young put some extra spaces on the floors and had no idea what they were for. Later, in the 21st century, they were able to put elevators in those extra spaces. Amazing huh!! It shows that we truly do receive revelation today! It's such an awesome thing to see every day! I hope you enjoy the pictures and you Annie can only put the good ones on the blog! I hope you all get this email! Anyway, have a good day and I love you all!
Love,
Sister Stolp

New Address

So today I went to Temple Square for some training. I got paired up with a sister already there and she showed me the ropes. It was very intimadating and I was pretty nervous! The first thing we did was the God's Plan videos. You know the videos that go around the circle in the room and it's about the Plan of Salvation. Well we did that and I got to bear my testimony at the end. It was pretty cool, but I was very nervous. Then we had lunch and oh my goodness there were so many sisters in the lunchroom and there was just so many sisters!! I hope I can handle all those girls! I think I can, they all seem nice! Then we walked around the Square and talked to people in the Tabernacle. So my new address is

SLC Temple Square Mission

50N WTemple st.

Salt Lake City, UT

                         84150

So everybody please write me there!! Anyway, I should be writing some of you today, but it's a short P-day because we're getting a new schedule and all that cool stuff!

(note from the editor: Helen called me today! And guess what?!?! My phone was in the bedroom charging! Curse you short battery life! I was devastated  I'm sure she won't be allowed to call me again. She'll have to call dad's number. Sad day. I think I figured out why she was allowed to call; she reports to Temple Square tomorrow. My little girls miss her so much! They talk about her every day. They stopped praying that she would come home safely after the first week. I am so sad that we missed the opportunity to talk! keep sending Helen letters.)

Lame

So let me tell you all about my district. . .  It was Amazing! We had a trio who already left to West Virginia. Their personalities reminded me of the triplets! Then there is two companionships who are going to Michigan. The trio left this morning so yesterday night our whole district had a blessing party. We each asked an Elder to give us a blessing. It was super awesome and super spiritual. It was so cool to see 19 year old boys use the Power of God! It was eye opening. It was so cool seeing these elders grow in the gospel! I will try to send you pictures, but I'm not guaranteeing anything. So maybe you can send the box to my Temple Square address? I will be in the MTC 'till Oct. 10th. Well, I love you guys and I pray for you all every night. Sorry this was a lame letter!
Love you all!
Sister Stolp

Hello family!!! How is everybody, I will still write you letters, but this will be just so you and I can get information faster! Please make sure that everybody has gotten an email and if not please email me their correct email address!! Thank you!

So some if this informaiton will be in your letters, but that's ok  Half of my district left yesterday and the rest are leaving tomorrow and I'm soooo sad! I have had some amazing teachers! Brother Lester and Brother Scoresby and both of them want to visit Temple Square so maybe I'll get to see them! I start Visitor's center training on Wednesday! So I will be on Temple Square on Wednesday and Saturday to look around and practice the tours I think. I also have referral center trianing this week. I am getting very excited for this training!

I have loved learning all about the Preach My Gospel lessons! I think my favorite lesson was that we need to teach the people, not the lessons. Like we still need to have a plan of what we want to teach, but we need to have the investigator in mind when we plan and base it around their needs. If they have a question then answer their question and try to liken the scriptures to them.

 Anyway, please email and write me if you have time! Thank you for all your love and support!!

 

                                         Love,

                                               Sister Stolp

Teach People

So I really love my district! It's so sad because some of them are going to Michigan and some of them are going to West Virginia. I'm so sad, but we said that we would have a district reunion! Hopefully that comes true! Today we went to the Temple as a district. We got breakfast there and I got the "legendary" Temple waffles. It was super delicious. We're pretty much like a family without the hugs!
Adjusting to a companion is really hard, like sometimes I want to do something and she doesn't want to, or I want to do something all by myself, but I can't. I'm getting used to it though. Teaching is easier because then you can share the load.
I'm learning so much about how we need to teach people not lessons and I think I'm getting the hang of it. You just need to follow the spirit a lot more! One time at TRC referral me and my companion taught three Buddhists from Singapore so they prayed to their ancestors. They believed in the big bang, so we had to start at the creation. The Spirit totally guided that lesson, because we had no idea what we would be teaching or what they needed. Since they are all actors here, I have no idea if they were really investigators or not. I wish I knew.
Yesterday, my companion was sick, like throwing up, so we stayed at the residence for half the morning. She's better now so that's good. I have a pretty bad cough.
Love ya guys!
Love,
Sister Stolp

Babylon

Dear Annie, Julia and Leda,
How are things? Is everybody adjusting without me? Some of the elders in my district LOVE Dr. Who and we were freaking out about it the other day! They said that David Tennant was their favorite, but they like Matt Smith too. Other than talking about Babylon every once in a while, my district is very good about the spiritual stuff. You'll love this Leda, but I'm a stickler for the rules! Me and my companion are on the same level so that helps. We do everything at the correct time and try not to do laundry too early and don't go into buildings with our regular clothes on. Except to our residence.
I have not seen Jackson or Ben yet. Are you sure they're here? I've seen Brittany Flandero and Rebecca Platt and one of my old roommates, but that's it. Maybe I'll see them sometime.
Well, I think that's it. I just wanted to say the biggest thing that they've been saying here is that the Book of Mormon changes lives and I believe that to be true! So make sure that you are reading and studying it every day! I can't emphasize that enough!
Love you all,
Helen Stolp
(Sister Stolp)
p.s. send me Phineus and Ferb stickers and a mini picture of the Sacramento Temple. (note from the editor: if you find any of these and can send them, let me know. I'll look around too. THANK YOU!)

She's In!

My sister who is 10 years younger than me is on her mission! I am so proud of her for working so hard this past year to go. She has worked up to three jobs at a time, been here during family emergencies, and taken so many fanciful adventures while entertaining all 4 of my children. She also served in the RS presidency of her singles ward. I'll be documenting her mission on this blog by posting letters and pictures she sends me. If you have received a letter from her and would like to see it on this blog just comment to this and I'll send you my email address. From now on I'll refer to myself as the editor.

Happy reading!