Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! So we did go to a member's house for a Christmas dinner and it was awesome! The members that we went to were super nice and so amazing! So one of the grandpas that was there had an 1830s edition of the Book of Mormon and he let us touch it and flip through the pages!!!!!! It was sooo cooool!!!!! He had a cool story about how his great-great grandpa took this Book of Mormon with him to his mission in India in 1856ish. It was a way neat story and it's amazing to see how the church has kept going after this long while and there are still stalwart members. I know that God is watching out for His church and I know that nothing can stop this work from progressing! In January's Ensign a question was posed. It asked, "What can I do to help prepare my family for life's challenges?" A quote from President Packer answered that question, "The scriptures hold the keys to spiritual protection. They contain the doctrine and laws and ordinances that will bring each child of God to a testimony of Jesus Christ as the Savior and Redeemer...Make scripture reading a part of your regular routine, and the blessings will follow. There is in the scriptures a voice of warning, but there is also great nourishment...Children taught an understanding of the scriptures early in life will come to know the path they should walk and will be more inclined to remain on that path...peace can be settled in the heart of each who turns to the scriptures and unlocks the promises of protection and redemption that are taught therein." I know that as we read the scripture and follow the Savior's teachings that we will be protected no matter how bad this world gets! I want to share two of my favorite Christmas mormon messages! http://www.mormonchannel.org/christmas-videos?v=2919740155001&cid=HPFR122013274&im=true http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2874125972001&cide=HPFR122013285 I hope you all remember the spirit of Christmas this week and don't forget why we celebrate! You all are great and Merry Christmas!!! Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noel! Maligayang pasco (hopefully I spelled that right)!! Shun Dan Qui Luh!!!!! Sister Stolp

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

Dear everyone, I will tell you a responsibility that we have as a zone leader on Temple Square. So in order to take a tour you'd need to "pass off". The way we do that is we take our zone leaders on a tour. So...we had three first transfer sisters and their companions take us on a tour. It was fun being the guest for once instead of the missionary. I got to see some different ways of introducing principles, but I also saw what not to do and some things that may be awkward for the guest. The first transfers in my zone are super amazing and the key to giving a good tour or discussion is to show love. "They don't care how much we know unless they know how much we care." I learned that as each one of them was taking us on a tour of Temple Square. We were nice zone leaders and passed them all off! The most awesome thing that happened this week was Elder Clark of the 70 came and did a mission tour! He gave us some awesome instruction and guess what?! I was going to tell you some of them, but I forgot my notes! I will try to remember my favorite things. He gave us some really good insights on how to be more effective and how we can help our investigators. He said so many things that applies to after mission as well. He told us that we should never give up because this is the Lord's work and He would never forsake us as long as we were doing His will. I will tell you more next week and hopefully I won't forget my notes! I want to share a little mormon message with all of you! http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages#the-reason-behind-christmas The theme for my zone this transfer is gifts to the Savior. I would invite all of you to think about what gifts you can give to the Savior this Christmas season. So I don't know if you remember last year, but each sister on Temple Square got to have a Christmas dinner at a member's house. Well, we get to do that this year too!!! I am so excited! It'll be just like outbound again! Next week is Christmas!!!!! So exciting!!!! Love you all!! Sister Stolp

Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow!

It snowed and it's cold and it's AWESOME!!!!!!!! I love the Christmas time on Temple Square! I prayed to be here for Christmas and I'm here! I love the nights when the lights are on and there are crowds of people!!! So one night, there was an Indian man who came up to us and told us that there was an investigator that we needed to talk to. So we followed him and saw two couples and one was a Filipino couple. So we got to talking and the Indian man and the other couple were all members and they were telling us to get their number and talk with them. So the Filipino couple is Catholic and they didn't seem too interested, but we got their number. It was too crowded and too noisy to go into the restoration and they needed to leave. But the next day some sisters came up to us and told us that they met this couple. These sisters taught them the restoration and they seemed a lot more interested this time. It's going to be great when we call them and teach them more! So there are going to be a few changes in the mission and one of them is exchanges. As Zone Leaders we need to go on exchanges with the District Leaders, but the Assistants want us to try to go with each sister in our zone. I think that's an awesome idea because then we can help more sisters. The Assistants are focusing a lot on unity this transfer and want the whole mission to be more unified. So one way that we are doing that is to go on exchanges and help build up the sisters. While I was outbound I had a companion that has depression and I was able to help her out a lot. I also roomed with another companionship and when they had problems I was able to help them and build them up. I think that it prepared me for my assignment now and I feel that I am better prepared. Because Christmas time is so difficult and we have late night Square and 30 min dinners, a lot of the sisters are becoming discouraged and tired. But I love it so much and I love this work and I know that I can help them gain back that love for this work. This life can make us discouraged and tired, but if we're able to help each other out and rely on our Savior, then we won't become discouraged too much. I want to re-invite what Elder Ballard invited all members to do before Christmas. He said, "We are not asking everyone to do everything. We are simply asking all members to pray, knowing that if every member, young and old, will reach out to just "one" between now and Christmas, millions will feel the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a wonderful gift to the Savior." That is such a beautiful gift and I hope that you take this to heart this Christmas season. Pray and ask God what you can do to help someone out and to reach out to the one. I know that if you do this that you will bring someone to Christ and that is the greatest work you could ever do! Love you all! Sister Stolp

Temple Square

Hello everyone, I'm back on Temple Square!!! Super awesome! It's been great to be here for the lights!!! It truly is amazing here on Temple Square and I'm so grateful for my experience outbound and that I had the opportunity to grow so much. Seeing the members in my outbound mission I can truly help the members that come here do their missionary work. I have felt a difference as I came back like I'm a new missionary and to have both these experiences that definitely helped me. As I was outbound even though I wasn't training, I felt like I was because my companion hadn't really gotten to teach that much. Being on Temple Square we teach every day so it wasn't hard for me, but I had to help her grow and in turn that helped me to grow so much. I learned a lot about patience and love. We had some other sisters as our roommates and I was the oldest both in age and being on the mission so I felt like I was their mom. It was great to help them out with some of their problems and I feel that helped me with coming back here to Temple Square because there are a lot of new sisters that I don't even know and my new assignment is zone leader. I felt so overwhelmed in the airport when I found out I was going to be a zone leader because I remembered all my other zone leaders and how amazing they were or not so amazing so I was worried and scared. I had to pray a lot these past couple of days to help with my anxiety, but it's better now and I feel that I can do it with the Lord's help of course. I have been saying "I love you" a lot more and for those of you who know me I don't really say those words so I have grown up. The mission and especially being a zone leader has helped me to look outward and not so much inward. I have been thinking about my investigators and my zone for a while and I have no time to think about me! I want to share a scripture that I just found. It's in D&C 101:36 and it says, "Wherefore, fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full." I am the happiest when I am helping someone come closer to Christ. Whether that's a guest on the Square or one of the missionaries here. This is the Lord's work and we should do it joyfully. I love the work and I love the Lord! Thanks for all you do to help the work move forward!!! Sister Stolp

Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! It is such a wonderful time to be a missionary right now! It's my last week here in Post Falls and I leave for Temple Square on Wednesday morning. I am so grateful that I was sent here for my outbound because of the many people that I have met! This time here has really taught me the importance of members in missionary work. The Lord has told us in many conferences and in the Hastening the work of Salvation that it's not just the missionary's work, but it's our work. It's the Lord's work and this is how He wants us to do it. Both missionary and member, together. This time here has taught me the kind of member I need to be when I get home. In the last General Conference there was something said that really struck me. It was by Elder Nielsen of the 70. He said, "We need to be engaged as never before to match the excitement of our leaders and the commitment of our full-time missionaries. This work is not going to move forward in the Lord's intended way without us! As President Henry B. Eyring has said, 'Whatever our age, capacity, Church calling, or location, we are as one called to the work to help Him in His harvest of souls.'" It really is His work and we must be fully committed to Him and do all we can to bring His children to Him. This is a great time to be on earth when the Gospel is in it's fullness here and we have the knowledge to live with our Father in Heaven. Now it's our duty to help others come to that knowledge so that we can see our brothers and sisters with God someday. We can do it if we ask for the Lord's help. "And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!" D&C 18:16. Nothing too amazing happened this week, just bringing souls unto Christ! ;) I just hope that I did what the Lord wanted me to do while I've been here in Post Falls, Idaho. Oh, a less active lady that we've been working with came to church yesterday! We actually haven't seen her for a week and she just came out of the blue!! It was truly amazing and I feel that she was one of the people that I needed to see while I was here! I love this work and I love this Gospel. I am thankful for Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice that He went through while on earth. I am so grateful for the scriptures. I am grateful for the Holy Ghost and the guidance that it provides. I am so grateful for cars because it's cold! I am also very grateful for prayer and that we have a way to communicate with our Father in Heaven!! I am also grateful for my family and the support that you all give me! Love you all!!!
 Sister Stolp

The Book is Blue

So I'm looking at my planner to see what has happened this week. One thing that happened was I went on exchanges and went to the Coeur d'Alene area. It is so pretty there and it's a fun little town. There is a beautiful lake with a resort that's in the middle and many rich people go there to have fun. I'm going to do that when I get rich! It was fun there and we saw many miracles. Oh my goodness and something most excellent happened on Saturday!!! Molly was baptized and all her sins were washed away! It was truly beautiful to see a daughter of God enter into the waters of baptism and make promises with her Heavenly Father! She was so nervous, but she said that it was a very special experience. Then on Sunday she was confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. She told us later that this was even better than the baptism which is great because she felt the Holy Ghost and she is doing awesome! I loved being there witness this great event and I will still keep in contact with her when I go back to Temple Square. I am so grateful that we have this wonderful way that we can return to our Father in Heaven and that way is through baptism. I love being a missionary so I can be the Lord's instrument in bringing souls unto Christ. There is a scripture that expresses how I feel. Alma 26:16 "Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." I do know for a fact that this church is true and that this is the greatest work that we are doing! For the past couple transfers we have been reading Atonement articles as a mission and reading those has helped me understand the Atonement even more! There is a quote by James E. Faust that says, "Our salvation depends on believing in and accepting the Atonement. Such acceptance requires a continual effort to understand it more fully." I know that to be true and we can understand the Atonement more by reading about our Savior and by using the Atonement and repenting each day. I know that if we do this we will be blessed and we will see our Savior's Atonement change you if you let it. The Church is true; the Book is blue; and Moroni is still on the ball!
 Sister Stolp

The Most Epic Letter Ever!

Hey everyone!
This week has been good! It's been great weather because there's no snow yet!! I'm happy about that, but we do have the car for most of the week. We just ride our bikes on Sundays. So It's been fun and stressful getting Molly's baptism put together. We just had a training from our zone leaders about having a Christ centered baptism. So we have been trying to do just that We have picked very Christ centered hymns and the talk is about Jesus Christ and the musical number is about being like Jesus Christ and so it'll be good! The reason for this is so that the person being baptized will have a spiritual experience, but also any other investigator there or even less active there will have a spiritual experience as well. We want to have everyone there feel the spirit and you can't go wrong when you talk about Christ! We have had two people already ask us to come over for Thanksgiving. I'm almost sad that I won't be here for Thanksgiving! I will be flying to Temple Square the day before Thanksgiving! That's ok because Thanksgiving at T2 is fun! I hope that all of you are helping to feed the missionaries near you! So we still have been trying to meet all the less actives in our ward and there is this one lady who has children who are above 8 who have not been baptized yet. So we went there the other day and met her non member husband. He told us that she moved out because she wanted to live with all her other boyfriends. So he sounded pretty torn up about that and I said that we're missionaries and that we want to share a message about Jesus Christ because He can fix anything or something along those lines. But he said that he did want to learn more and so we're go back and teach him more! It's amazing what Christ can do when we let Him into our lives. I had a hard time letting Him into my life, but now I know that I need Him there always!! There's a scripture in Revelation 3:20 and it says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." When I read that I think of the picture where it shows Christ outside the door with no door handles. We need to open the door to let Him in! He can't come in if we don't let Him. I invite all of you to let Him into your lives and to keep Him there! I have invited Him in and it is the best feeling in the world to have Christ be the center of my life! I love my Savior and Friend, Jesus Christ and I love being on my mission!!
Love you all!

 Sister Stolp

Hi!

(So I just deleted what I wrote so I'll try to remember everything that was written.)
So a sad thing happened to one of our investigators, Bob, he got arrested for drunk driving and won't be out till January. I think he needs to learn a lesson. Also our other investigator Molly lives in Coeur d'Alene so we have to give her over to the missionaries who serve there. We were teaching her in her future mother in-law's house so we didn't know where she lived. Super sad, but it's for the best. I'm beginning to think that I won't see a baptism while I'm outbound. I'll be able to see Molly and Molly2 get baptized while I'm in Temple Square, though! So let me tell you about one of our investigators named Bob2. He is so awesome and I love him!!!! He is on felony probation or something like that and he can't be baptized till he's off of that and he can't even go to church so that's lame too! But we invited him to a baptism on Saturday and he said that he hadn't felt the Spirit that strong in a long time! I know that this work is the Lord's work! I have to just trust in Him that everything will work out especially with Molly! I'm just one of His servants and I help the work move forward. This is a great time for all of us to be alive, where we can have the fullness of the gospel at our fingertips with all these different ways to share the gospel! Our mission president has asked us to study the Atonement and he has given us some talks on the Atonement. I have gained a greater appreciation for my Savior and He is my best friend! I don't think I can put into words what I have come to feel for Jesus Christ. He is Everything and "we are to abide in Him permanently, unyieldingly, and steadfastly." I only hope that I can remain true to Him and always follow Him. "And this is the testimony last of all that I give, that He lives". I know that to be true. Love you all!! Sister Stolp

Preparation-Days are Stressfull

I always thought that preparation-days were supposed to be the nice part of your week to relax, but they're actually stressful to make sure that everything is done! Argh!! Oh well! So yesterday we got transfer calls and I'm staying in the Post Falls 1st ward and I'm staying with the same companion, Sister McDonald!!! It's super exciting! I'm trying to remember everything that has happened since I last wrote to you, but I'm having a hard time! We've just had some really cool experiences and I've really seen the members step it up with their missionary work. It's been really great to see them invite people to things. Our bishop gave the whole ward a challenge to each come up with family mission plans. It's been really successful and we've been asking the members that we visit what their plans are. These plans can take a week or they can take a year. They can either focus on a family, or an individual, but they need to invite. These past couple of weeks we have had investigators cancel on us, but we've been able to go inside homes that missionaries haven't been able to get into for a long time! It's so sad to see people so bitter to the members of the church and to not want anything to do with the church. The other day we were able to see a baptism and we invited our investigators and two showed up. It was so special to see this lady be baptized and our investigators Ally and Kathy were there. Ally said that she was 99% sure she wants this and that she wanted to see the baptism to be 100% sure. She is and she will be baptized in November!!!!! Kathy said that she felt this warm, giddy feeling inside of her and we were able to explain that it was the Spirit she was feeling. She said that she will be baptized, but she works on Sundays so we invited her to pray to find a job that she doesn't have to work on Sundays. I am so glad I'm staying to see these two women be baptized!! It truly is an amazing thing to watch a person progress and find the truth for themselves! Kathy already knows the Book of Mormon is true and she's only had it for two weeks! It's truly amazing what the Spirit can do!!! I love you all and I'm so grateful to be here on a mission and to see God's hand in my life and also in the lives of others!
 Sister Stolp

Time Flies When You're Teaching the Gospel

Dear friends and family,
 I hope that you all got my last email about the conference talks because it was pretty epic. At least, I think so! The work here in Post Falls is moving forward! Ever since Conference we've been talking to members about inviting and how that is the success to missionary work. If we don't invite, then we don't give those people a chance to accept or reject the gospel. It is hard to invite, but we have the greatest message to share. More important than a football game, more important than a movie, and even more important than what you're going to eat tonight. The message that we share is of Jesus Christ, who is the center of everything! I am so glad for what I've learned on my mission and that I have a hand in sharing this Gospel and helping this work move forward!
 Alright, story time! There are lots of people that I have come to love as I have been out! I have seen what it's like to work with members and I have some favorite member families in the ward. We went over for dinner to this one family and they are breeding Yaks.....I have never heard of such a thing. But they already have two and after they breed some more they're going to eat the Yaks. They said it's healthier than cows, so it's logical. It would be cool if they drank the Yak's milk. Once you pick the hairs out it's very nutritious. I have decided that I'm having Yaks when I grow up and have my own farm. That would be cool!
Since we're working a lot with less actives we have several families and individuals that we are working with. Most of the people that want us to come over and teach them are the people who have had an accident or they depressed. It's interesting how most people will find the Lord when something bad happens to them. Most of the less actives that shut their doors to us are happy with what they're doing at the moment and don't want to change. We must not get too hard hearted that we forget the Lord and wait for something bad to happen to us! I have found that we need to acknowledge the Lord in all seasons of life! Whether we are happy or sad, the Lord has His hand in everything. In D&C 59:21 it says, "And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments". So it is so important to always have Him first in our lives. God is good and the Atonement is real!
Love you all!!
 Sister Stolp

Conference and Other Amazing Stuff

Hey friends and family,
 This week has been great and full of visiting less actives and members alike and it's been great! So, conference was great and I'm so glad that I've been on my mission for three different conference experiences. For my first General Conference on my mission I was in the MTC, then for my second General Conference I was at Temple Square where it all happens, and for my third and last General Conference on my mission I was outbound. For the last session we watched it at a recent convert's house. It was super epic!! I had several questions in mind and they were answered! I hope that all of you were able to ask questions and through the Spirit I know that they were or will be answered. I want to tell you my favorite talks which will be difficult because they all were my favorite, but I will choose the ones that the Spirit directs me to tell you.
-Edward Dube: I loved his talk because of his story at the beginning about how we should "never look back. Look at what we still have to do." I loved that because sometimes as humans we look back and see all our mistakes and don't look ahead to the future. It reminds me about what President Monson (I think) said how "the future is only as bright as your faith". We need to look ahead and believe. We must "put our hands to the plow and never look back". He also said, "It doesn't matter where we have been, to the Lord, but where we will go."
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf: His was amazing because he talked about the less actives. My whole mission I have been working with less actives and I've always had a special place in my heart for them. I know that they are children of God and that He loves them! I loved what he said how "The church is designed to nurture the imperfect". None of us are perfect and we're not meant to be, because this life is the time to prepare to meet God. (He said many more great things, but for the sake of time I'll shorten it)
-D. Todd Christofferson: I'm sure every woman loved his talk!! I liked how he said that woman bring with them certain virtues when they come down from heaven. It made me realize how much I really do have to give to this world. Sometimes we feel so small and insignificant, but we are children of the Most High and we don't need to feel small. -Jeffrey R. Holland: His talk reminded me of Allen and how we will see him in his perfect body after the resurrection!! It made me so appreciative of Jesus Christ suffering. I don't have time to tell you all of them, but I LOVED all the talks about missionary work and there were like 10 different people who talked about missionary work!! It was super awesome! Oh yeah, and another cool thing that happened, actually yesterday, is me and my companion taught an early morning seminary class. It went better than I thought and I would look into the youth's eyes and all of them at one point would look at me. They were al listening and I hope they felt the Spirit. The underlying theme was that Christ's Atonement is for everyone! We taught 1 Nephi 19-20. The Spirit is amazing!! I just want to testify that we have that Spirit and it's not just the missionaries who can open their mouths, but it's everyone of you as well!! This Conference we were told to work with the missionaries and I would invite you to heed the voice of the Prophet and his Apostles. Work with the missionaries and work with the Spirit to help you open your mouths and proclaim his word! It doesn't have to be a 30 minute discussion. It can just be a 30 second invite. "Hey, do you want to come to a ward activity?" Would you like to come to a scouting event?" or "Would you like to come to a Family Home Evening?" It's ok if they say no because you will have tried! I forget who said this, but one of the General Authorities said that the key to "success in missionary work is the invitation". We need to invite!! I promise you that if you open your mouths and invite and share the word of God that He will help you know what to say and you will be a powerful instrument in bringing souls unto Christ! Just remember this scripture in D&C 18:15, "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!" I would invite all of you to pray for those missionary opportunities, but then don't be afraid to open your mouths when that missionary opportunity comes. I love the Lord and I know that this is His work and I'm so glad that I chose to be on a mission to proclaim His gospel!
Thank you all for being such a big support!
I love you all!!!
 Sister Stolp

Greetings from Northern Idaho

Hey everyone,
it's getting cold here in Idaho and I'm not liking it! Especially having to ride a bike! But oh well, it's all for the glory of God! This week has been pretty awesome! I don't know if I told you about our new investigator and the less active who are friends, but we met them last week and the new investigator, Kathy is so prepared! She had a choice to either go to the Baptist church or the LDS church and she just had a feeling to come to the LDS church. So on Sunday, she was there! She felt the Spirit and she has been reading the Book of Mormon. Her less active friend, Brother Batt also came to church and he felt uncomfortable there, but he loves church. He knows it's true and he wants to come back. We are so excited to be teaching them and helping them come unto Christ! Another thing that we've been doing in this area is teaching active members the lessons. It's kind of this new program that they want so to bring the Spirit into member's homes and to help them to trust us as missionaries. That has been really fun! We're teaching this one member family who has 8 kids so it's like coming home and they're such a great family! Their testimonies are so strong and it's been really cool to come and teach them the lessons. Our next lesson with them are the Commandments. The work is slowly progressing, but it's progressing! I just want to share with you a quote given by Joseph Smith. It's the Standard of Truth, which I love! "The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecution may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done." I know that is true and God is preparing His people to receive this gospel. Some people might not be prepared in this life, but they're being prepared for the next life. I know that this work is the greatest work that we can do! I love when Jesus tells His Apostles to "Feed His Sheep". That's what He's telling all of us to do. He wants us to do missionary work. I would invite you all to pray for a missionary experience and maybe you can invite one of your friends to watch General Conference with you! That would be awesome! Thank you all for your support!
 Keep me posted on what's happenin'!
Love ya!!
 Sister Stolp

The Atonement is Real!

Hello people of the world,
It has been really great here in Post Falls, Idaho! I have my first preparation day with elders last Monday and it was really weird. We went to a stake center to play sports and I just wrote letters, but it's just different. I'll get used to it, though. We have been teaching some really strong members in the ward the lessons just so they can get excited about missionary work. It has been really good to go in their homes and I love to see how much members really do love missionaries! I have seen many members just not want to talk to us and maybe it's because they've had bad experiences with missionaries, but this ward is really nice and they love us! We haven't had many appointments this week. We are just trying to visit with more less active members and we're also trying to meet members in the ward. Something really cool happened, though! We were going to visit a potential investigator and we got up to her door, but there was a lady and this man who was sitting on the grass a ways off and the lady said "Hey you! Where are ya from?" and I said "We're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" and she wanted us to come over and she told us that she has been wanting to come to the LDS church for a while, but she works on Sundays. We found out that the man with her was a less active that wasn't on the ward list. He got really excited for the lady when she said that she wanted to come to church. He wants to go as well! This just goes to show that we need to be in the right place at the right time, but sometimes we don't know what the right place or right time is. That's why we need to be doing the work of the Lord at ALL times! We were doing something good and we planned for it, but we found something better on the way! That will happen in life as well. We can be doing something good, but then God will put in our path something better and we need to always follow what God wants us to do. I have learned that it can be hard, because you don't know what to do all the time even on a mission. But if you continue to have Faith in Christ, repent, listen to the Spirit, take the sacrament, then you can endure to the end! It's the only way we can get back to the Father. In 2 Nephi 31:20 it says, "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."
 I know that this is true!
Love you all!

Sorry it's been so long ~ Editor

Wow, it's crazy to be here out in the real world! Temple Square was such a bubble and even though I got to see a lot of people from different walks of life, it's different when you can see them in their own homes. My area is Plummer, Idaho and that covers five neighboring towns, but transfer calls were last night so I'll be in the Postfalls, Idaho 1st ward area. It should be great, but Plummer and the surrounding areas are very small towns and there is one branch and now I'll be going to a bigger town. It should be fun! I go back to Temple Square the day before Thanksgiving so I'm only here for two transfers. Some things that I was really excited for to come outbound was that I could actually see my investigators change and that I could see my investigators at church. I've got to experience both of that while in the first 4 days I've been here. I saw two of our investigators at church tomorrow and it was such a great miracle!! I also was able to find a guy while being here. Our area is a reservation so there is this senior center for just Native Americans and we went to visit this lady and this guy was out watering his lawn. His name is Ken and we got a conversation started with him. He grew up catholic, but he's interested in other religions and we gave him a Book of Mormon. We've been over a couple of times to read the Book of Mormon with him and he has been loving it and we helped him to understand Alma 32 and how faith is like a seed. I will be moving to a new area tomorrow and I'm so sad to be leaving Ken and the other people that I've seen these past days!! This is worse then when you get transferred on Temple Square because you keep your investigators throughout you whole mission because you have an online area book. I will just need to trust in the Lord and pray for these people here! We have been doing a lot of service with some less actives and members and I have seen the blessings that come from service. It reminds me of the scripture in Mosiah 2:17 "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." I believe that to be so true and I can see the hand of the Lord in my own life and in the life of the people in my area! The address that you'll all use until the day before Thanksgiving is 820 South Pines road Suite 101 Spokane Valley, Washington 99206. Don't forget the Suite 101 and write a return address so that it doesn't get lost! Thanks so much for all your support!
 Love you all!!
 Sister Stolp

One Year

It's going well up here in northern Idaho! Post Falls is turning out to be full of less actives and in-actives so we've been trying to contact all of them and to re-activate them. It's been hard because there aren't that many investigators here and most of the people don't want to listen. But that's what missionary life is all about! I have really been reading the 5 lessons more than I ever had! At Temple Square I could look at my Preach my Gospel while I was on the phone, but here it's all from memory so I've been trying to memorize scriptures. I do have some under my belt, but I need a lot more! I love this work and it's so amazing to be a part of the Lord's army right now! I passed my year mark on September 12. That is when I entered the MTC a year ago and I just can't believe that it's already been a year since I first came out. Sometimes it feels like yesterday and sometimes it feels like 5 years! The Lord has His hand in everything and I am so appreciative of Him and what He's done. It's been sad to come over my year mark, but I must remember to use every moment we have to share the Gospel. You're only a missionary once and you have all of eternity to think about it. That goes for everything we do. We have eternity to think about what we've done and what we can do in this life. We need to make every second count to do the things of the Lord. Remember 2 Nephi 25:26 "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." We can try doing this every day to think about Christ. Thanks for all your support! I love you all!!
 Sister Stolp

Outbound

Hello everyone, I'm here to tell you all that I'm.........GOING OUTBOUND!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know where yet, but I will find out on Sunday and I will leave that Wednesday! I'm very excited and I know that it will be a great experience! I'm just really sad to leave all my investigators here on Temple Square! We called Bob yesterday and he's made the decision to stop drinking tea so his baptism will be close! I called a guy who was very interested in the Book of Mormon and wants to learn more! We're also teaching this girl who has no idea who Jesus Christ is and we're teaching her how to pray! I feel that it's the worst time to go out, but it's the best time. Even though I am teaching a lot of people and I think I finally got the hang of calling people, I know that it's my time to go outbound. So if you want you can all guess where you think I'll be going. It could be anywhere in the United States except Hawaii and Alaska. I think I'm most excited about getting to see my investigators face to face and going to a family ward. It will be very different, but I know it's what the Lord wants me to do right now. This will help me grow so much! I love you all and keep the faith and don't let satan drag you down to the gulf of misery!
 Sister Stolp
(names have been changed)

Elder Holland

So I'm sure you read that Elder Holland came to speak to us a couple weeks ago, but something that he said stuck out to me and I wanted to share it with you. He said that each one of us in the whole wide world are God's investigators. We are here on earth to learn from Him and He wants us all to progress. Are you progressing investigators of our Father in Heaven? I hope you are because we, as missionaries want our investigators to progress and want the people we come in contact with to partake of the blessings that we do, but God wants the same for the missionaries! He wants us to keep our commitments to Him and to help others around us as well. I think that has helped me the most on the mission because if I'm not obeying God, then how can I expect my investigators to obey God. I have another insight for you all. So we went to the Bountiful Temple this morning and the Temple president talked with us. He said that there's a difference between Temple attendance and Temple worship. I thought that was very profound! You can attend the Temple and you're heart and your mind won't be in it, but if you actually go to the Temple to worship, then your heart and your mind will be in it and you'll get more out of it. It was a really neat experience and I think I got out more this time than any other time I've gone. Mostly because I was trying to worship in the Temple more than just attend it! I know that you're all doing great in your prospective missions and I pray that the Lord will bless you!!!
Love ya!
 Sister Stolp

New Address

Helen's gone outbound! She moved to Spokane WA. Here's her new address:

820 South Pines Rd
Spokane Valley, WA 99206

Write to her quick since she'll only be there for three months:)

Full Day P-Days!

Yes everyone...we get full day p-days now! It's because all of the sisters on Temple Square are working so hard and just recently Elder L.Tom Perry said that he wanted the Square to open at 8 and each day a zone has been coming to open the Square at 8am. So we all have had a toll on our bodies and these p-days are much needed to get everything done for the coming weeks. We get these full day p-days until the end of the transfer. It's pretty sweet! On Sunday we went to another ward to speak in their sacrament meeting. It's always nice to go to a family ward. I miss seeing the sacrament being passed by the younger generation of priesthood holders. It's so wonderful seeing them exercise their faith in their priesthood and their love for God. Maybe they don't see it that way, but I do. So we're still talking with Stanley, but he still drinks tea. He knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and he knows that he received revelation, but he doesn't think that tea should be apart of the Word of Wisdom. We're trying to explain to him and all that jazz, but we hope he'll be baptized this month. We also have a new investigator from North Carolina, I think, and he is Baptist, but he really likes this religion. He wants to learn more and he will be baptized. He went to church without our asking him. He just wants to learn! I hope he's for real because those baptists can be hard! On the Square yesterday we were talking with this man from China, but he's lived in New York for a while so he knows English pretty well. He really likes the peace that he felt here and how nice the people are. We gave him a Book of Mormon and got his number. He's our newest investigator I wish that we had more time in the TC, but since it's summer time we had to cut down a lot on TC time. I just have so many people to call and little time to call them in! I need to contact all my people before I go outbound, too! It's crazy, but good to be busy doing the Lord's work!
 Love ya all!
 Sister Stolp

Fun Things

So some pretty fun things happened this week! We saw Elder M. Russell Ballard in the basement of the north, but we didn't go up to him cuz we're not allowed. It was great to see him from afar, though! We also got asked by this family where we hid our spaceship....they were totally serious, too! They wanted to know where the mormon spaceship was! We told her that it was the Tabernacle and that we would hie to Kolob in it. Hahaha! Just kidding! We don't have a spaceship and we told them that! It was so funny, though! We also met this guy who said that his dad started THE mormon church and that he met Joseph Smith. Crazy people! So I don't know if you all have seen this mormon message, but it is pretty great. I know that this gospel is true and you probably know that too. I just wanted to invite all of you to ask again. To ask God, the Eternal Father if these things are not true. I promise you that God will let you know! The reason that I'm telling you this is because I have been meeting a lot of inactive people on the square and through chat. None of them ever thought they would ever go inactive, but it can happen to anybody especially because these are the last days. Even the very elect will be persuaded to leave. http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages I know you all are great and don't worry about me! God is taking care of me!
 Love ya!
 Sister Stolp

Cousin

Hello,
 The other day I saw Scott and Delene and Harrison right before he went into the MTC!! It was super cool and it was nice to get to see them. I feel so blessed to have so many cousins and siblings out on missions right now doing the Lord's work! So I think I might've told you this already, but our new assignment is youth conference! So we're in charge of some youth conferences that schedule to be here on Temple Square. Our first youth conference was yesterday and it was really fun! We meet with them in the morning and talk with them and do activities with them. So we played the game, "the boat is sinking" and we tied in to a mormon message. I would like to invite you all to watch it. https://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages#dare-to-stand-alone I'm sure you can guess what we told the youth after watching that, but it is such a powerful message about how we need to stand up for what is right no matter what! It can be something hard to do, but it can be done just like in this little mormon message. You see all those kids being faced with something difficult, but they're able to say no. Sometimes it's not that easy, but even though it's hard that is what the Lord expects you to do. He expects us to say no because we have help. We may think we're standing alone, but we're always standing with our Heavenly Father! He will never forsake us. I never thought I would say this, but I love talking in front of people and talking to them about the gospel! I do it everyday and I know this is preparing me for the rest of my life as I continue in this church and with my church callings. Maybe it's because I want my voice to be heard, just kidding! I always try to have the Spirit talk through me! You are all so great and I love ya!
 Sister Stolp

Prepare

Hey people,
 It was great to give a tour to some of my family and the Stevens' family! It was kind of nerve wracking just because there was so much pressure on my shoulders. It was fun to show off my knowledge , but I tried to give them a spiritual experience as well! I hope I succeeded. So today I took my trainer to the airport and it was super sad. I didn't think this day would come, but it did and it just makes me realize that I don't have much left on my mission either. I almost wish it would never end because I don't think I've learned everything that I need to! There's so much I need to learn still and I know I do have like 7 months left, but they go by so fast. Use every opportunity that you have to prepare to meet God. That is what this life is for like it says in Alma 34:32, "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." The things that I'm learning and going to learn on my mission are things that can help me to prepare to meet God. What are you doing to prepare?
Love you all!
 Sister Stolp

Faith

Sometimes there will be people that just don't want to progress. Just today we met this couple and the lady had a copy of the Book of Mormon and I asked if it would be ok for us to call her and to teach her more about it. It looked like that she wanted us to call, but her husband piped up and said that he doesn't want to learn about any religion because he is an atheist. He just likes learning about all different types of religions. It was really sad because she had that precious book in her hands and she doesn't even know what she is holding! The Book of Mormon is meant to change your life and is meant to bring you closer to God, but if you don't even want to know about God, then what good can it do? I wish that we could've gotten at least the ladies phone number so that we could invite her to pray about it, but I guess she's not prepared yet. There's not much you can do because it is their choice and sometimes they do feel the Spirit, but they don't know what it is so they don't know what to do with the feeling that they have. But this is the Lord's work and don't stress to much about it because He is watching over His church. In the July ensign there is an article entitled A time for Faith not Fear. In it it says, "Sometimes--after we have fasted, prayed, and done all we can do to dispel clouds that have not parted; after we have gone into the dark and expected further light that has not appeared; after we have lived the commandments through difficulties that remain unrelenting--we simply need to turn things over to our Heavenly Father." Later in the article it then says, "one of the Twelve Apostles said this, 'This is the Lord's work--let Him do some of it.'" Then President Uchtdorf said, "Brethren, let the Lord do some of the heavy lifting." I leave that with you and hope you can gain some insights from this email.
Love you!!!
 Sister Stolp

God Threw Me a Little Curve Ball

Dear family,
So as the subject says, God threw me a little curve ball by asking me to train for two weeks before the transfer ends. We only have two weeks to be together, then who knows what will happen at transfers. I might stay with Sister May or I might get someone else. Only God knows! So my trainee is Sister May from Arizona and I will send pictures later. In the 12 week program it says that the trainer needs to help the trainee so that by the end of the 12 weeks they would be able to train someone else. It is a big responsibility, but I know that through God's help I can do it. I can just imagine how it must be for a new mother and thinking if she'll be able to tell the child everything that he needs to know. Nothing super amazing has happened with my investigators. I'm having a dry spell with investigators at the moment. We do have some, but they're not really progressing as fast as I would like them to. Having faith is enough even though it may not seem like it. Faith is all that the pioneers had when they were crossing the plains. There are so many stories of when the saints have been starving and they would pray and have faith that God would provide. One time a pioneer lady found two corn cake things and put them in a pot and warmed it up over the fire and her and her family prayed and they opened the pot and it was a big cake (taken from 17 Miracles, true story!) Miracles like that haven't ceased. They still happen today and one of the reasons why we don't hear about them is because there are tons of members and if it was all recorded...that would be a really big book! Well, I hope that something in this email touched your hearts and that you will always have that kind of faith to move mountains!
Love you all!
 Sister Stolp

Happy Independence Day!

Hello people of the real world! I am doing fantastic here on Temple Square! I know I will not be going outbound for at least two more transfer because I will be training in the middle of this transfer! My baby is coming from the MTC on the 10th of July! That's in the 5th week of the transfer so it's kind of weird that she's coming now. I'm excited, but scared. It will be such a growing and learning experience for me. On that same day that I found out I was training I saw the Mike Ostler family! It was super great to see them because I haven't seen their kids for like 5 years. They're all so tall!! Wow, that's like all the exciting things that happened this week. Not much is happening because since it's the summer we get more tours on the Square. I've been taking a lot more motorcoaches lately and I've been teaching a lot of people. It's amazing to see someone change because of the Atonement. I have been very grateful for the Atonement lately and it has helped me to understand how much God and Jesus Christ really must love us. We all have a purpose and sometimes people just don't know their purpose so they go astray. We taught this lady who doesn't believe in God specifically, but believes in a higher power. She believes in this higher power because her brother didn't die when he was supposed to and she believes that this higher power was watching over him. I wanted to just shake her and say that it's God who is watching after you, but she needs a bit more love and patience in order to come to understand. I think that everyone has that potential to come to know God and that He is the one who helps us. Love you all! Sister Stolp

Love

I have had two spanish speaking companions now and sometimes it is hard for them to speak english. I take my hat off to missionaries who are learning a language! So I know that you will find this funny, but we had an early morning meeting in the South Visitors' center and we met Elder Christensen from the District!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was walking out of the Square and my companion said "I know you!!" and he said, "Are you sure?" and we were like, "YEAH!!!" then he said "Enjoy the Square." It was so exciting to see him and he talked with us!!! I think he's married, though, but that's ok. So I learned something on Sunday that was pretty cool. You know in the scripture 1 John 4:19 how it says, "We love Him, because He first loved us." Well, let me explain this like it was explained on Sunday. Our parents loved us first so we know how to love them. Our Heavenly Father loved us first so we know how to love Him. But we as missionaries need to show people how to love and we need to radiate love. We are some people's first contact with the church and we need to show them how to love and help them to understand the doctrine of Christ. A couple of months ago one of the zone leaders said that she would take a tour and she would say in her mind that she would love the people first and that she was going to "beat them to the love". We need to do that with the people that we meet everyday. We need to "beat them to the love" and love them first because God loved us first. We need to do and say exactly what Jesus Christ, Himself would say. We are representatives of Christ and we can show the people around us how He would act if He were here. I hope you got something out of this email and that you can apply this to your daily lives!
Love you all!!!!
 Sister Stolp

Missionary Life

Hello everybody! This week has been fun! We had a zone conference up at This is the Place Heritage Park and it was super fun! Here are some quotes that I really loved from the conference. "Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened." Which is so true!!! Another one is, "Do it. Do it right. Do it right now!" That is talking about missionary work and the assignments that we have to just do it. So on Sunday, one of our senior couples is returning home and they talks in sacrament meeting. The elder gave a great talk and something that he said I want to share with all of you. He said, "If we have the faith to ask, we will be guided to the people who need to hear us." He said that President Lee said that to him. I think that is so true that if we pray to God and ask Him to direct us to the people who need to hear our testimonies that we will meet them and they will be blessed through our testimony! Ok, so I wanted to share another thing with you! A couple of days ago we got a text saying "30 english at the map!!" I looked at my companion and I said that they were probably anti! We got up to the Map and we took the 30 english and we took them up to the Christus and they were all anti! The first question the guy asked we could tell! So we just testified and answered the questions as best as we could following the spirit. The last place we took them was the tabernacle and the guy said that he was reading the Journal of Discourses and my companion asked him why he was reading so much about the LDS faith. He said that they all had read the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the D&C and the Pearl of Great Price and he said that they all had contradictions in them and he was concerned for all the mormons and wanted to tell us that we were wrong. I could tell that my companion was super mad so I didn't let her speak. I just bore my testimony about how their faith in Jesus Christ is awesome and they should keep it up. I also bore testimony about how I knew that the Book of Mormon was true and the only way to know was to pray about it. I also testified that we need to obey the first commandment to love God and to love they neighbor as thyself and God would help us. I just love antis and I wish I could say something that the spirit would testify to them, but they just have to pray about it themselves. One thing that the guy said was that they don't pray and ask God whether something is true, they test it out, but don't pray. I think that is one of their problems. They don't pray and ask to the source of all our knowledge, because God knows everything and He's willing to help us with the truth. Something that we all did as kids was we asked our parents if something was right and we still have to do that today with our Father in Heaven. We need to ask Him if something is right or wrong. He will tell us because He loves us. I found this wonderful scripture that I want to share with all of you. It's in 1 John 4:19 and it says, "We love Him, because He first loved us." It's such a simple verse, but it is so powerful! I hope you all have a wonderful week!! Love, Sister Stolp

A New Transfer

So the new transfer just started and I'm still at Temple Square and my new companion is from Honduras!! Just like my previous companion, so I can learn more Spanish! Her name is Sister Trochez and she just came back from outbound. A lot of sisters this transfer came back from outbound and a lot just came from the MTC. Because it's summer time we always need more sisters, especially because a big class just went home. 

So I don't know if any of you have heard of the new church movie called Ephraim's Rescue? It was made by the same guy who did 17 Miracles. So as a mission we were able to watch it and it was sooooooo amazing! It was such a great movie and it really tells the story of the pioneers very well. It tells of the hardships and the amazing miracles that happened along the trail. The movie focused a lot on the priesthood power and how we can perform miracles just like the ones Christ did when He was here. It's pretty amazing and I hope that you all get a chance to watch it when it's open for the public. 

I don't know what this transfer is going to bring, but I hope that I will learn the lesson that I need to. I don't know if I've shared this with you before, but sometimes we may get sick of hearing the same story over again. Like in church, or in class, or in General Conference. But a quote that someone said goes something like this..."You've heard the stories, but have you learned the lessons?" That is one of the reasons why we have trials is so that we can learn the lesson and try to be better people. That is why almost all of the pioneer stories are the same, but you can always learn valuable lessons from them. 

Thanks everyone for the packages you send and for the love and support you share! 

Love you all!!

              Sister Stolp

Hi

Hello everyone,

greetings from Temple Square, it is getting very hot outside and I am sad to admit that it will get even hotter!! That's not cool, but whatever! At least I don't have to ride a bike ;) 

Well, I have hit my halfway mark and that is super sad to me! I have learned a lot of things over the past 9 months or so of my mission. I have learned how to ask inspired questions, I have learned how to answer gospel questions, I have learned how to serve, I have learned how to have fun while being a missionary, I have learned to be patient, and I have learned that communication is the key to a good relationship. These things that I've learned are attributes that will help me throughout my whole life. I am so glad that I made that decision to go on a mission and I can't believe it's halfway over! I shouldn't think about it, but being so close to so many sisters we kind of talk about it a lot. 

In the last half of my mission I am going to be the best person that I can be! You can resolve to do the same with any aspect of your life. There is a quote I found from a talk given by Thomas S. Monson that we should ask ourselves every day. It says "Am I what I want to be? Am I closer to the Savior today than I was yesterday? Will I be closer yet tomorrow? Do I have the courage to change for the better?" Wow, that was deep! I would invite you all to ask yourself these questions each day and answer them truthfully, then change the things that you need to in order to be closer to Jesus Christ. I know that as you do this you will find in your life more things to be happy for and you will see the light of Christ in you more than you ever have. 

I love you all and hope you have a good week! Transfer conference is on Sunday!!!!

                              Sister Stolp

Pics

(note from the editor: So Helen got to see her cousin Jackson Ostler after he was sealed to his wife a few weeks ago. They were so excited to see each other there!)

Patience is a Virtue!

Hello friends and family,

I have learned this transfer that patience is the key to everything! Not much has happened and I don't really have any progressing investigators right now, but I think that's because the Lord is trying my patience right now. Since my companion speaks Spanish we have mostly Spanish tours so I don't really talk much. It's sad, but we helped take a hospitality bus tour and it was English. That tour is just historical facts only and we can't invite to the whole group, but if they ask us we can ask them if they want to learn more. So it was really fun and it's really cool to be able to talk with a lot of people from all over the world and we get to answer their questions about the church and our basic beliefs. I love doing that and helping the people come to understand what we do and why. 

So, transfers are coming up soon and who knows what I'll be doing! I don't think I'll go outbound or train because I have the supply assignment and that takes up a lot of Square time. There will only be 9 going outbound this transfer. 

I have learned to just come what may and love it! Because "when we are in the service of our fellow beings we are only in the service of our God." I know that to be true and I have seen it even though I don't have anyone progressing at the moment. Whenever I help someone on the Square I feel that I am doing a great service and especially when someone calls in asking a questions I'm able to answer them with the Spirit telling me what to say. 

God is great and the church is true!! Thanks ya'll for doing what you do!!

                                      Love,

                                          Sister Stolp

I Come in Peace!

Hello people of earth!
So it was pretty cool last week because I saw the whole Scott Ostler clan for Jackson's wedding! You might have seen pictures of us already and, yes, I was there! It was great to see family and see them so happy! 

I know that you all know that Sister Monson died and that was sad. All the sisters on Temple Square were able to go to the Tabernacle and watch the services. It was a beautiful funeral and very insightful! President Uchtdorf and Eyring spoke of how Sister Monson is in a happier place and I loved how they were preaching about Gospel truths. It just shows you that at any setting you can let people know what you believe in. It was really sad, though because President Monson look so pale and had to be escorted by two men on either side of him.  

Despite the sadness I've had a lot of little miracles this week. It was mostly in the teaching center where the miracles happened. I've been discouraged lately because we haven't had many people to teach and we haven't been able to take that many tours because of our assignment, but when you work hard, the Lord provides! I've been praying for a miracle to happen and every time that I've been in the TC lately I've received phone calls from people who have referred their friends! I've also got a hold of more people, but most of them drop me. It's just been good to work hard and to see the Lord's work moving forward. 

Sorry my emails aren't really that long, but I sometimes forget about all the things that have happened during the week! 

Thanks for your love and support!

                                      Love,

                                         Sister Stolp

Greetings, Programs

So I know you're all probably wanting to know about my investigator in Africa who had a baptismal date for May 11. Well, he got sick with malaria, I think, so he's been down for a while. He sounded super sad, too! Annie, please send me some details about malaria, so I know exactly what he has. Thanks. So yeah, that was really sad! 

I'll just tell you some cool things that happened since I talked with you all for Mother's day! The other day we were able to do garden service! Since we don't have the opportunity to do service for people like if we went tracting or whatever we get to do service around the gardens on Temple Square. Next time you're here, you can appreciate all the beautiful flowers because some of the sister missionaries helped plant them! It was really fun and I forgot how much I missed getting dirty!

So I have a pretty funny story to tell you all. So today me and my companion were on the Map desk just minding our own business, when this group of 10 Chinese people came! They couldn't speak any English and I couldn't speak any Chinese, so it was crazy! Then, one of them pointed to my companion's Book of Mormon and said "Chinese, Chinese!" Finally, we understood and handed a Book of Mormon in Chinese and any other Chinese materials we could find. Then they left just as fast as they came. We didn't know what hit us, but it made me thing of why they wanted that book. Maybe they just wanted it so they could pass the airplane ride reading, or maybe they really were searching for something. You never know! There are so many people out there who don't know that they are searching until they find what it is they were missing. So many people on the Square say that they felt something here that they've never felt in their life. That is the Spirit and it's our job as members of the restored church of Jesus Christ to help those people who don't know what they're searching for. It's great to be a missionary now and I'm glad that I'm giving up 18 months to serve the Lord! But I'm not going to stop after that, I'm going to continue to serve Him with all my heart, mind and strength! 

Thanks for all your support!

Love you all!!!

                              Sister Stolp

Letter to CA

It's going great here on Temple Square, although I'm kind of scared for next transfer. There are 40 sisters coming from the MTC and that means that I might train! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! I really would love to go outbound then. That would be awesome, but I will do and love whatever the Lord gives me.
It's been a little difficult this past week because it's the 2nd week of this transfer and we don't have much TC time. So I can't call all the people that I need to! But I'll be ok and I'll make it work. I always do with the Lord's help!
 Love Sister Stolp

One more thing....

I just have one more thing to share. I saw this mormon message on mormon.org and I don't know if you all have seen it yet, but I think it's super cool! Make sure to watch it before Mother's day.

http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?cid=HP000058&lang=eng

It's super cute!

Love you all!!

Sister Stolp

Apostles

Hey people,

Things are going good over here! I will just tell you some highlights that happened this week...that happened yesterday. In the morning we took a Spanish tour and we went through God's Plan. (It is so funny in Spanish!!!!) And I bore my testimony at the end...in Espanol!!!!!!! It was pretty cool and on that same day, we had some supply stuff to do and we saw 8 of the 12 Apostles!! Oh my goodness it was the most amazing experience, but of course we have to be professional if we ever see them, so we didn't shake their hands or scream or anything like that. We can only wave if they wave at us first. It was really cool, but afterwards I was thinking of that experience and just thinking of how we have living Apostles in our day and it's just as if we had Peter, James or John on the earth today. It was actually a very humbling experience to be reminded that we have the actual 12 Apostles on the earth today! It was just one of those a-ha moments! Sometimes in this crazy world and especially when you're talking with antis all day, you are drained and you feel discouraged, but it was good to see them and to remember that we don't have to be discouraged because it will be alright in the end! 

I will now bear my testimony in Spanish to all of you! Yo se que el Libro de Mormon es verdadero. Yo se que Jose Smith fue un profeta de Dios. Yo se que Jesucristo vive. Yo se que las familias pueden ser eternas. Yo se que el templo es la casa del Senor!

Love you all!!!

         Sister Stolp

May

Hello family!

So it was transfer conference this week and I got switched around a lot! My new companion is Sister Flores from Honduras and I am now out of the Beehive house! Which is sad because I loved that house, but it was getting kind of repetitive. We are now the supply coordinators of the square, which means that we stock up all the desks with copies of the Book of Mormon in different languages and we make sure that everyone has what they need. It's a lot of work, but it's serving the other missionaries, so it's good. 

I forgot to tell you all that when I was still with Sister Lupashko I took my first Russian tour and it went very well. She told me that they usually laugh or make fun of her, but this time he didn't do any of that. She said it was one of the best Russian tours she took. I probably had something to do with that!  just kidding. So it was fun and this morning I took my first Spanish tour! It was good, but kind of awkward. I hope to pick up some Spanish this transfer! 

I want to share something with you all from my personal study this morning. It's from the August 2012 ensign. I hope you all have heard this quote before, but if you haven't, here it goes. It's from President John Taylor, "If you do not magnify your callings, God will hold you responsible for those whom you have saved had you done your duty." I vaguely remember me typing that before. So this might be the second time you've read it from me, but that's ok. I just love that quote because it's so important to remember! Maybe some of you needed to read that just now. I know that it's important for us to always do our best with whatever we are given. There is another quote from the same ensign that says "Perhaps when we face our Maker, we will not be asked, 'How many positions did you hold,' but rather, 'How many people did you help?'" I know that with whatever we are given in this life we can magnify our callings and we will touch people's hearts. I didn't want to serve on Temple Square. Everybody told me that it was a cushy mission and that all I would be doing was giving out tours all day and not doing real missionary work! I thought that was true, so I didn't want to be here, but when I got here I found out all the things that missionaries on Temple Square get to do! We can call the referrals that we receive and teach them more about the restored gospel. We also take inbound calls for people who want a Finding Faith in Christ DVD, or just who have questions. We also do the chat that you see on mormon.org, the "chat with a missionary", that's me! We do give tours all day, but as we're giving tours, we're teaching the lessons from Preach My Gospel. We get tons of people who come here who have never heard about this church. I'm spreading the gospel how the Savior did. In large groups and it can be difficult because you're not sure what all them need to hear, but that's why after the tour you go up to the people and ask them individually how they felt and if they want to learn more. It truly is great work and this is how the Lord needs me to share His gospel. It took me a while to love it here, but I can say now that I do love it here and that I can really serve people here in different ways. 

I didn't intend for this email to be so long, I apologize, but I just want to finish with my testimony. I know that my Savior lives. I know that because of Him, we can all be made clean and that we can return to live with Him again. I love the words in the beautiful hymn "O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown". I won't quote them all for you, but just this one line. In the second verse it says "The very foes who slay thee have access to thy grace." I think that line speaks for itself, but I know that it's true and that we can all use the atonement. 

I hope you got through this email without falling asleep. Love you all tons!!!

                                                  Sister Stolpg

Missionary Work

Hello family,

I am very sorry that I haven't written to you in a while, but I have been pretty busy. So my weeks have been going by super fast and I'm not sure what has happened, so I will refer back to my planner.....wow, I've had a lot of Beehive house!! I really do like that house, though. I wouldn't mind serving there another transfer, but I think the Lord might change me up this next transfer. So transfer conference is on Monday and we'll all find out what our next assignments are! I'll be in my 6th! Almost halfway!! Where has the time gone? I have found out that missions really are short and therefore, so is your life. 

So we have had lots of new investigators, but only one progressing investigator. Nobody wants to pick up their phone and talk to us, so whatever. Our progressing investigator is living in Nigeria and he has a baptismal date! Yaaaaaay!!! He does have two concerns, though. One is that he doesn't know who Thomas S. Monson is and he drinks tea...so we're helping him out with these things. 

It's been really great here and very successful! So I was reading in the Book of Mormon this morning and I came across this scripture that I want to share with you. 3 Nephi 10:5   "And again, ^ahow oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, who have fallen; yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, ye that dwell at Jerusalem, as ye that have fallen; yea, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not." 

I have noticed that sometimes God helps us and we don't want that help or maybe we don't know that it's help coming from Him. So many people say to us, "why isn't God helping me and why don't I see His hand in my life?" Then we ask, what kind of answer are you expecting? They're usually looking for a big sign, but that's not really how it is. I know that we can see His hand in all of our lives because He really does love us! 

Love you lots!!

Conference

We weren't really able to hear any of the talks while we were walking on Temple Square because we were talking to people. I just went to the Saturday morning session and I really like Elder Packer's talk about how when we are prepared, we need not fear. I have heard a talk like this before, but we learn by repetition and that's why a lot of the talks have the same topic. We get to read the talks for personal or companion study. 
There was that heart wrenching story that President Uchtdorf gave about the girl who was abused. At least, I thought that was sad. I don't remember about the chalk story...
It would be good to feed Temple Square sisters more than once because we don't get to work with members on TS and that's the number one favorite thing that all the outbound sisters have said! Is that they get to work with members and are fed by them. 
We only have one progressing investigator right now and he is from Africa. We had like 7 new investigators at one time, but none of them answered our phone calls, so it was really sad for us! We do have a lot of referrals to call, though and I called this one lady this morning and her friend said she was Catholic. So I called and I didn't even introduce myself because she started yelling before I could. She told me to never call her again! It was actually kind of funny, but super sad because this might be her only chance in this life to find the gospel and she's going to be in Heaven and God is going to say "I had this girl call you and this other girl call you and you didn't even listen to them." It just makes me sad! Then I called another referral who is a less active and it was one of the best conversations that I've had with a less active. I shared with him Moroni 7:33 and I talked with him about Jesus Christ and I found out that he still prays! That is a start and I invited him to start reading the scriptures again. He said he would and I'll call him next week. Sometimes people just promise you things so you'll get off the phone, but I hope he's sincere. He seemed like it. My previous companion has the English man's contacts. She sent him an email, but no response. She'll probably call him soon, but I don't know.
Our mission goal for baptisms is for six months, between conferences and out last one was 400 and we got 418 I think. Our new mission goal is like 486, or something like that and we'll find out next conference if we achieved it. 
My companion is Sister Lupashko and she's from Ukraine. 
Love,
Helen

More Pics

Here are some pictures of me and my companion. This was all during conference time. I hope you like these! 
Love you all!

                              Sister Stolp