Hi family

Wow!! Time has gone by soooo fast! Yesterday I had a year left on my mission! I wish it would slow down, but I'm learning a lot anyway. I really don't want to miss a moment, because it's just so great to be helping others to come closer to Christ! I can't really write down one thing that I've learned, but I have learned how to love people no matter their appearance. It's scary to go up to a person and just start talking with them, but when you get passed that fear and see them how God would see them, it becomes a lot easier. We talked with this homeless guy who wanted to watch the Testaments and he looked kind of sketch, but we showed him into the theater and he basically told us his life story. He had just moved here and he wanted to turn his life around and to get a job! He didn't have an address or a phone number, so we can't get in contact with him, but we bore our testimonies and we left him to watch the movie. We can only hope that it made a difference and that when he gets back on his feet that he can come to Temple Square and learn more. 

I have also learned that we can't just sit idly by and let the Lord take care of everything because we need to show Him that we want it and that we're going to do everything we can first to get it and then He will provide the rest. I have learned to trust in the Lord that when I do my part He will help me! There is a story in the Book of Mormon that I absolutely love, it is in Alma 47 and it's about Amalickiah and Lehonti. If you don't remember Read it!! So Amalickiah was a wicked man and he wanted to dethrone the king, so he asked Lehonti to come down from his mountain to talk with him, but Lehonti said No. So Amalickiah went up to him and asked Lehonti to come down just a little bit. So Amalickiah became the second in command and he poisoned Lehonti with degrees until he eventually died and Amalickiah took over and it just became this horrible mess and it's because that Lehonti went down just a little bit that he died and if we don't choose today to do all we can and trust in the Lord that we will also fall. If we trust in the Lord and do our part to stay up on that mountain and not to come down even a little bit that the Lord will bless us and we will see the Lord's hand in our lives. So read this chapter because it's so cool and you can learn a lot from this! 

You are all great and remember to Choose the Right! 

Love you all!!

                                       

                                  Sister Stolp

Bytheway...

Dear CA,
Last Sunday we went to a family ward and gave the talks in their sacrament meeting. One other companionship came with us and it was really fun. I miss going to a family ward! My topic was enduring to the end and it really helped me a lot! Isn't that funny how Heavenly Father gives us the topics that we need the most?! It's pretty awesome.
So we were listening to John Bytheway and he said something very interesting. In John 14:27 it says "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." He said that even though there is no "thou shalt" in front of it, but doesn't that sound like a commandment? Elder Jefferey R. Holland said that "this is the least known commandment and when we fear, we are showing God that we don't trust in Him and we are hurting His feelings." Isn't that so interesting?! I think that John Bytheway makes a lot of good point. One thing that he said is "God is all about freedom; Satan is all about addiction." Man, I think that is so cool! I love learning these kinds of things so that I can help people who have problems. We have an investigator from England, his name is Joe. I think I told you about him, he's the one who had that dream where God gave him the BOM. Well, Joe had a smoking and drinking problem and he has stopped drinking drinking, but he still uses an electric cigarette. His brothers make fun of him because he doesn't drink anymore, but he says that he thinks it's funny. I feel sorry for him though because it might get to him. But he knows about the Atonement and we will help him all the way!
Love you all!
Sister Stolp

Evans Family

Dear family and friends,
I just want to tell you about the Evans family. They live in England and they have had a pretty horrible life. They had to run away from the husband/father and go to a refuge. They finally found a home where they would be safe and away from him. The mom and the three kids have always had a strong faith in Jesus Christ and knew that there was something missing from their lives. The mom was able to go onto mormon.org chat and she got two missionaries, me and Sister Bowden. We emailed her and answered her questions. In the meantime she was meeting with her local missionaries and the family loved the sound of their message! They went to church and were a little bit scared because it was very different from their previous church, but we helped the mom in realizing the blessings of going to church and learning more about this gospel. We were able to help her set a date to be baptized and that date was January 26th. Yes, that date has passed. They are BAPTIZED!!!!!! It was so amazing to call her a couple of days after and hear her testimony of her and her kid's baptism!! It was so cool to be apart of such a journey as hers! She has a son who has autism and he doesn't really like change, but after he received the Holy Ghost he stayed all three hours of church! He had an appointment with the bishop and he is going to get the priesthood soon which is such a blessing for their family! While we were talking with the mom over the phone, we could hear her youngest daughter playing "I am a Child of God" on the piano. This young girl has had so many rough challenges in her life and she's only 12. She almost died because of her dad, rocks are being thrown at her at school, and she got threatened by a girl at her school with a knife! She was having a hard time believing that anybody loved her, but we talked with her over the phone one day and we sang to her that song. She now sings and plays it all the time! While we were saying the prayer she began singing "How Great Thou Art". It is so amazing how this true gospel can change lives and help people become better! There is a saying that goes something like this, "This Gospel makes bad men good, and good men better." I believe that is so true and anybody can change because we have the gift of the Atonement that everyone has access to! Even the soldiers who nailed Jesus to the cross has access to the Atonement!
I know that this church is true and I love it so much because it truly does bring happiness! In a world where so many horrible things are happening, this gospel is the shining light in the darkness! These truly are the last days. There was an earthquake in Kazakhstan. There was a fire in a club in Brazil and it killed 234 young people. There is a cyclone that might hit Chritchurch in New Zealand. These natural disasters have been happening for a while, but there have been so many other things that are happening as well, like killings and abuse and things that we don't even know about. We need to find a place to stand in and I hope that you all can stand in holy places! I would invite you all to watch this little clip (wow I really sound like a missionary!)
https:www.lds.org/youth/video/he-knows-me?lang=eng it talks more about standing in holy places and even though it's talking to the youth, all you "older" people can watch it too and learn something new!
I know that you all will do great, but I also know that you all can do even greater things when we stand in holy places!
Thank you for all your support!
Love you all!
Sister Stolp