New Comp

HI people!

Transfers happened and I'm getting a new companion, but I'm still in the same zone! Beehive House here I come...again! But it's good, I like that house. So I haven't seen my new companion yet because she's coming from outbound, so she's still on the plane. She is from Ukraine and I'm excited to take Russian and Ukrainian tours! It's going to be fun! Conference is coming soon and I'm super excited about that, but also nervous because I'm not really sure what to expect. I hope you're all excited about conference because it is such a special time and it's great to be able to listen to a living prophet today! I forgot if I put this story in one of my emails, but we were on chat one day and this girls asked us what made this religion different from other Christian churches and I said that we are the restored church of Jesus Christ and we have the Book of Mormon and that we have a living prophet. The next thing she said was "A Living Prophet? WHERE?!" It was so funny, but it's amazing that just that little sentence can have such a big effect on a person. That we have a living prophet today and we have modern revelation that the Lord wants us to know today! It's amazing and we can share that with people. One thing you can do is tell someone about General Conference and invite them to watch it. This is a great opportunity to share the gospel and bring someone closer to Christ, which should be all of our purpose! 

Have a great week and talk to you next time! 

                                Sister Stolp

4th Transfer

Dear Family,
So, there is something that we do on Temple Square called investigator lessons. I think I've already told you about those. Well, anyway, we took one and there were only supposed to be one investigator, but another one showed up with the member. So we had two! We took them downstairs and were talking to them about the restoration. One of the elders was talking and two more guys joined our lesson! Now we had 4 Catholics and we went upstairs and showed them the little presentation of God's Plan. They were asking so many questions it was great and then we took them to the Christus. The two men who just came in the middle had to leave so we gave them each a Book of Mormon and our phone number. It's sad to see a person feel the Spirit so strong and then leave and you never hear from them again! At least I planted a seed and whenever they think of the church they will remember their good experience on Temple Square! So on March 15th there is going to be a Temple Square sister performance thing and I'll be playing the piano for the Sound of Music.
Love you all!
Love
Sister Stolp

Wow

Oh my goodness!! This is so crazy that Nathan and Steven are in the MTC!!! This is definitely the best time to be out on a mission because God is getting ready His army! 

I've been doing good here, just cool stuff happening. The new transfer starts next week so I will be getting a new companion soon and I probably won't be the organist again. I'm going into my 5th so really anything could happen! I could train, or I could go outbound, or I could just be a regular missionary without an assignment. It's going to be good, though! The sun is shining more often these days and conference is coming and I'm so excited for that! There is such a hype about getting your picture in the ensign and to look good for conference, but I just look good everyday, so it doesn't really matter. Haha jk! 

So we're becoming more of a Preach My Gospel mission and it's great! We changed how we count numbers. We're just counting how it says to in Preach My Gospel. We used to do it where we would count how many people we taught a principle then invited. Because they wanted to count how many guests and members would come on the Square, but they don't need to do that anymore, so it's pretty cool! 

A lot of changes are happening in the world today and I feel like it's all happening on my mission. The age change, the 58 new missions and it's all just amazing! This church is growing so much and God is preparing us for a greater work! There have been a lot of antis on the Square lately and it's just sad that people actually go to trainings on how to anti us! We were walking into the South Visitors' Center and we bot just felt this sick feeling and there was this guy talking to one of the sisters on the desk and we walked through the building and the sick feeling stayed. We looked at each other and we both said at the same time that we should go back and 'rescue' the sister there. So we went back and we went on desk for a little bit so the anti would leave. The Spirit is so amazing and it's great that we all can have the same feelings of peace when something is right or sickness when something is wrong. I love this church and I love how everything we do, the Lord is aware of it. 

Thank you all for being such amazing family and friends! 

Love you!

                               Sister Stolp

Highs and Lows

Hello family,

This week has had some highs and it has some lows. Our investigator from England (the one who had those amazing dreams, remember?) Well, we haven't been getting a hold of him for a long time and finally, yesterday we got a hold of him. He is in the hospital for his clinical depression and he told us that he is an atheist now because he doesn't believe that God could be this cruel to someone. It was so devastating!! I cried right after that phone call. He was so ready to be baptized and then now he doesn't want to learn anymore. It was definitely a hard blow, but I know it was the depression talking and in time he will come around. I don't know when, but he will! I have faith in Christ and I know that He can help us especially if we put our trust in Him. I know that I can't get discouraged because discouragement will weaken my faith. Here is a quote that Richard G. Scott said, "Just when all seems to be going right challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more. He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polishes you for your everlasting benefit." I feel that this is happening to me. We have had so many miracles last transfer and we had that whole family from England be baptized and now the Lord is helping me grow. I really think this is helping me to know the urgency of our message! This is the time for men to prepare to meet God and when all is said and done, we have to look within ourselves and see if we have been true and faithful to the teachings. We do need to help people to come to know of this truth as best we can, but it does all boil down to how much you are converted! I know that God will take care of His own no matter where they are in life, even if they turn to atheism. It is a hard thing to have one of your investigators drop you, or have a loved one fall away from the church, or anything like that, but we know that God is there to help all of His children. I keep coming back to that scripture that says, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid," (John 14:27) and I think of how that is one of His commandments also. Jeffery R. Holland said that when we are worried or afraid about things that we're not trusting enough in God! I have really had to learn that these passed few days. 

I hope you can learn something from this letter and I'm sorry it's mostly about sad things, but here's something happy! I got to see my Aunt Doreen and Uncle Steve and Jason or rather Elder Blanding in the Beehive House! It was really cool and I gave them a tour. 

Anyway, you all have a great week and Be Happy because this Gospel is all about good news!! 

Love you all!  

                    Sister Stolp

Don't Give Up!

Dear Family,
Wow February is almost over. Have any of you kept working on your New Years resolutions? Or have you all given up? I'm here to tell you NOT to give up! Goals are what help us progress in this life! Here's a tip, "a goal not written down is just a dream." So remember to write down your goals and report to someone and you're most likely going to achieve them!
Here is a little quote by Spencer W. Kimball. It says, "We sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions; we sow our actions, and we reap our habits; we sow our habits, and we reap our characters; we sow our characters, and we reap our destiny." I think that quote is super awesome, and all it starts with is a thought and that one thought becomes an action. It's pretty awesome!
So yesterday we and another companionship took around 30 people on a tour of Temple Square. It was a bus tour and it was for an hour. That was my first motor coach and in a few weeks we will be taking a lot of those, so I'm glad I first did it when it was slow.
I am so excited for General Conference, you have no idea! I will tell you all about it when it happens!
So I would invite you all to read you scriptures as a family because when you read as a family you can have the Spirit more abundantly in your home. Because you're showing that you're putting Christ as the center of your family. Will you do this?
Love you all!
Love,
Sister Stolp

Preaching the Gospel

Hey everybody, what's going on in all your lives?

My life is doing great and it's cool to be here and see all different types of people. Yesterday we got to talk with some Southern Baptists from Georgia and it was really interesting. Of course they talked to us about why we need to do works to be saved because they believe that all they need to do is accept Jesus as their Savior and they will be saved. You'll be proud of me because I didn't bash with them, I just bore my testimony. The man then asked us if we believe that Jesus and Lucifer were brothers and I said that yes, they are and he looked about like he was going to cry, he said that they can NOT be brothers and how could we believe in something like that and blah blah blah. I told him that he needed to pray about it and have a nice day. It is so interesting to talk to so many people and what they believe and hearing all their beliefs, it makes me have a stronger testimony because of what we have! I have been studying the four Gospels and it's amazing to see that if you just open your eyes and your mind to what it's really saying and of course to the Spirit, that you will learn more about the nature of God, then you originally thought you could! 

So this morning we had this appreciation breakfast where we invited some people who have put a lot of effort in keeping Temple Square going and stuff like that and it was super cool. The missionaries were the hostessss and I got to meet some cool people. I met Sister Reeves, if any of you don't know who that is she's the second counselor in the Relief Society and also Dr. Richard Elliott, and he is one of the amazing organists for the church! Oh and on the way to the Beehive House, Sheri Dew walked passed me and she said "Hi Sisters", but all I said was "Hi" and nothing else! I just didn't have time and we had to be on time to the Hive so it's all good! Just some of the cool things that happen on Temple Square! 

So I was in the Beehive today and I was on exchanges and we were having a good talk while we were on desk. We got to talking about the world of today and how everything is so fast and crazy and some people just don't take time to read their scriptures or bear their testimony to a family member or just stuff like that. Well, we found a scripture that kind of teaches us a lesson of not to be "busy" with things that really don't matter. So it's inMormon 8:39 and it says, "Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass you by, and notice them not?" We were talking about how it means like 'why are you doing things in your life that just don't matter that is causing you to not see the things around you?' So here is my challenge to you people. Find something in your life that really doesn't matter and it's stopping you from pondering the things of God and moving His work forward, and don't do it for a WEEK and see how you feel after that! I hope that makes sense. I would also like you to email me or write me what you have done and how it went. Sound good? Awesome! 

Love you all!!! 

                         Sister Stolp