Conference

Hey all! I hope I have your current emails, I'm pretty sure Helen's changed, could someone send me her's? Had an awesome week! I went on trade-offs to Oscoda, did a lot of door-knocking, and met with some potential investigators in that area. I also saw Lake Huron!! The 2nd of the Great Lakes I've seen On Friday, we had quite the hassle trying to get together showing General Conference from the church building, but to no avail. So we spread out to different members, and even watched a session with an investigator. Which was way cool, because we also brought Molly! She's the member that hasn't come in a while, but wants to change her life around, so she heard some very inspiring things. I wrote a few notes from Conference, I really liked Elder Holland's talk of staying true and not reviling again. Thanks for all your prayers, and have a good week. Elder B. Stolp

Eggs

Hey everyone! This past week was good, met with a lot of members, some that haven't met with missionaries in a few months. One couple gave us a lot of food, I like when that happens :) It's cool meeting these families and learning what they're like and what they like. This couple told us a bit about a Chinese couple that run a Chinese buffet. They told us a bit about how they came to know them, and that the Chinese couple now always asks them to come to places with them, like L.A., or on cruises. Speaking of cruises, a family from the branch is on one, and have asked us to take care of their chickens. Free eggs! While door-knocking, we met this really cool guy, Bob. He told us a little bit about his life, and we asked him if he feels that the things he's doing is what God would have him doing, he said no. We went on to explain that the things we share will help him change and direct him to a life God would have him living, that he'd be happy. When we went back to talk with him more, he wasn't there, so hopefully we meet with him soon again. Love you! Elder B. Stolp

Primary Answers

Hey all!
This was a great week, I had fun, and learned much. And it looks like we'll survive with food this last week of the month :) So life's good for me! We met with Molly (after a month of not meeting with her), the young lady that hasn't come to church in years, I think I wrote about her before. She was much more distraught now than before. She's like at her wits ends. A lot of things has happened in this short space of time (the adversary has a tendency of opposing us when we want to do right) since last we've met with her. And she hasn't read from the scriptures, or come to church, or prayed. And she kept telling us that she doesn't know how she's going to make things better even after we asked if she was doing those three things and after we told her to do them. Of course with the things she's done, she'd have to talk with the Branch President to have the repentance process follow the correct authoritative keys, but we'll have to meet with her again to re-commit her to met with the President, she skipped meeting with him yesterday. And yesterday we had such great insight on getting strong in the basics. One of the speakers focused on what will help us get through our lives, through troubling times: the primary answers! Reading scriptures, taking the Sacrament (attending church), and praying. That is what blesses us with spiritual strength. The speaker summarized it as this; get on your mark, get set, go!

 Love, Elder B. Stolp picture of my goofy district, my comp and I are wearing companionship ties (St. Patty's ties)

Finding, Teaching, Changing

Hey everyone!
 This past week was legit, we had Half-mission training, I had trade-offs early in the week, and Elder Bob and I met and taught some people that are interested in learning more (and were also told by some guy we'd get the cops called on us if we knocked on his door). While trying to find a particular guy we met a week before, we met Bob2. He's apparently staying there because he doesn't have a place of his own, yet he's still pretty young, and isn't sure of his religious beliefs. So we told him about the Book of Mormon, why we have it, and how he can come to know of it's truth. I don't know if we'll meet him again, he seems to go to different friends' houses often, but there's always a chance. During Half-Mission training, President talked of some things of his life on a more personal level, and the more I think of his life and the lives of successful, happy people, the more I remember that it's through the everyday activities that we remain strong in the gospel, to let the Atonement change us in our lives. That topic was also talked about yesterday, that we should seek spiritual refinement daily.
 Love you all,
 Elder Stolp

Revelation

Good morning good morning good morning! This week's District Meeting was amazing, it was on revelation through prayer, and we discussed quite a bit about strengthening our own relationship with God, more specifically that as we change to what God would have us to be, He can communicate with/through us even more. That was quite the experience. The work here is still moving forward, we met a lady named Molly this week, and she is very prepared. We were talking a little bit, she mentioned something about prayer, and I asked how prayer has helped her in her life, and she bore her testimony, so of course the spirit was there. She continued to talk about how every person you meet in your life is sent by God, so Elder Bob asked if she felt that we were sent by God, and she felt like we were. She invited us in and we talked more about the importance of the Book of Mormon, that it answers questions like, "How can God really know everything, when we have freewill?" I know this message we share can help her in her life! Till next time, Love, Elder Stolp

Houghton Lake Life

So yesterday was busy, we went at 9am to wake up Bob to make sure he would be awake for a member family to pick him up, and we went to our meeting at the church. We get out of the meeting to the chapel (now around 9:50) and we don't see Bob. He disappeared! We looked around the building, came back in. At like 9:58 he comes in, apparently he just went over to the gas station. After church, we go take the sacrament to a lady in a care facility, she was deaf. Took us a while to have her understand what we we asking her (yelling at her?). Away from the hustle and bustle, we had a great day, in the evening we gave a blessing to an older member, he's pretty cool, reminds me a little of Grandpa Ostler. Tonight I'm going off on trade-offs! Gonna be fun. I love seeing what happens in other areas, and learning new things.
Love you all!
Elder B. Stolp

Great Place to Be

Hello everybody! Still having a great time here, met with quite a number of people this week. While door-knocking on Tuesday, we met Molly. Very caring lady. She talked a lot of her family, she has American Indian ancestors, and loves to coupon. She had a rough past, was into drugs, but is now drug-free, and helps others overcome addictions. I'm certain us teaching the restored gospel of Christ will make so much sense to her. She would be a strength to the branch, can't wait to see what changes will happen in the branch in the next few months. Seems like there's already been some excitement, Elder Bob tells me that a few less-actives are already making progress. I may have already written about this, but here goes, there's a young family, Bob and Molly with five boys, that really add to the branch and were actually answers to prayers of the members a while ago. We're going over to their house on Thursday, to help celebrate Elder Bob's 1 year mark. It's gonna be fun! I'm loving this place, and am excited to keep serving here, talk to you all later! Love, Elder Stolp

Transfer

I'm transferring to Houghton Lake!!! It's tiny over there I hear, that'll be a change. I'll be leaving tomorrow morning and gonna learn a lot of stuff :) I've heard something about a winter festival they have on the ice, called Tip-up. Well, this past week has been really good in missionary work, lots of great lessons. Bob and Bob2, a less-active couple that came to church last week, came again! On Thursday they told us that their kids really enjoyed coming to church. Oh, Bob3 and Molly (Bob2's parents) came too, it's been a while for them, but it seems that that whole family is having steady successes, especially in scripture reading and praying. With investigators, we had two church tours, one with Molly2, the other with Ms. Molly3. It ended up that both didn't show up on Sunday, but I'm glad they're familiar now with the layout of the building. Ms. Molly3 is making good progress, understands baptism by authority, and has a baptism date. This area is really taking off! Love you! Elder Stolp

Huge Blessings

Hey all,
 yesterday was mind-blowing! a less-active family we've been meeting with for about a month finally came to church! So many people were like "oh, hey!" I felt they just added greatly to the branch (not to mention their three boys must have increased the primary classes a bit (: ). In gospel principles, the mom of the three boys related that having children made her look at life differently, in regard to not thinking about herself all the time. Earlier in the week, we got a referral for a lady and her two young sons, explaining that she wanted to attend church. We got in contact with her and had a member pick her up, so there's a new family to teach!!! Speaking of which, for the past two weeks, we've made it a point to specifically pray for families to find, and since then we've found a 2 families of 5, a family of 3, Molly with her two, and one other with at least one kid. Isn't that cool!!! We've basically as yet still need to follow-up with all of them. Ooh, some highlights: Karen finally went through with a commitment! She read a chapter :) We meet Molly2 and her dad on Saturday and did the Restoration lesson; Molly3 is still reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it, still hasn't got an answer to her prayers other than keep going. Last time we committed her to specifically pray whether to be baptized or not, so that I hope I hear about before I leave TC. I have for sure seen quite a difference in the branch since I got here, I think that's what I'll miss the most. The branch mission leader is doing outstandingly, meeting with us every week, coordinating the efforts in the branch.
 Love you all!
 Elder Stolp

Faithful

Hey all! So Elder Bob got sick Wednesday (stayed in the bathroom half the day), so I did more reading, memorizing, and watched the Testaments movie! Other than that, it was an okay week, met with Molly and Molly2, taught the Plan of Salvation, but they missed church 'cuz Molly had strep. Oh well! Molly 3 was having a pretty rough week so we gave her a blessing, after explaining the Priesthood, she just soaked it up (we already talked to her about it before, but this time it was like 'I need help now so I'll listen closely.' Which just made me think of Branch Conference (yesterday), in which listening to the spirit was a part of what was taught. The bulk of it was the story of Moses resisting the temptation of the devil, and relating that to Sherrie Dew's "God wants a powerful people." We're still getting fed really well, staying safe on the roads. Get this though! A couple days ago, the street we live on was covered in a huge snowdrift! Here's some pictures. “And any man (woman) that shall go and preach this gospel of the kingdom, and fail not to continue faithful in all things, shall not be weary in mind, neither darkened, neither in body, limb nor joint; and a hair of their head will not go unnoticed.” D&C 84:80
Love,
Elder Stolp

A Miracle

Hey all! Things are going well for me; getting fed, staying warm, keeping busy. Oh, so I've talked about Molly before, right? Gave a talk on the 7th. Well, her friend Molly2 came, and loved the whole experience (we found out about that half-way through the week), stayed all three hours. So we met with them on Saturday, went really well. Molly2 has barely any religious background, so we talked about the Godhead, and their relation to Molly2. I remember asking when the two of them have felt peace in their lives, and Molly2 said "right now," and Molly talked about not feeling peace before being baptized, and that she feels at peace a lot more often now. So I told them, "yeah, that's the spirit, and only the spirit and good things (never evil/bad things) give lasting peace." Molly2 also talked about feeling pressured by her family in religious matters, so near the end of the lesson, Elder Bob explained that we don't want to pressure her, and went on to invite her to baptism for the 15th of February. She accepted! She was definitely prepared by the good experience of church, and by her friend Molly. Gotta go!
Love,
 Elder B. Stolp

It's Cold!

What a week! single digits with bad wind chill again! And sun! AND rain!!! freezing rain of course, but it happened! So earlier today shuffling down the ice-filled driveway, I would stop shuffling every so often, but I'd keep slipping down! At least the car was right there, so I reached out for that. On one of the days of sunshine, with just a little less than an hour to knock, the first door opened right up, talked with Bob, a young guy with at least two other room-mates. We pretty much talked for only 15 minutes or so, left a Book of Mormon, next guy was waiting for a teleconference call, then the next house, oh man! A lady opened her door, barely talked with her, and she noticed I wasn't wearing a hat or scarf, and was like, "here, take this scarf! I was fumbling trying to put it on with gloves on my hands, "here, let me do it" so she wrapped it over my head then tied it around my neck. How embarrassed I was! A few weeks ago I looked outside and saw snowballs all over the yards! I snatched a few pictures and later learned that they're called 'snow-rollers', only happens when the snow and wind is just right. There were some really good sized ones.
 Love you all!

Elder B. Stolp

Plain Awesomeness

Hey all, so it's crazy outside, in the single digits with really bad wind chill, way below zero. A member warned us we could get frost-bite in a few minutes on exposed skin. Aside from that, we've been staying warm, met with quite a few people this past week. Bob and his mom are doing well, met with them Friday and they came to church for the 5th time this Sunday, both came to Gospel Principles. There was a really good group in the class, a less-active came, a number of the recent converts. Funny thing, the new zone leaders (and both new to the area), Elders Bob2 and Bob3, were called upon (taken out of the class) to talk to a lady that showed up out of the blue. Her name is Molly, she's couch surfing!! From what I've heard and barely talked to her, she's a nice lady, just really lost, physically and spiritually. She found the right church though! Hopefully she keeps coming. When the zone leaders and her were conversing in the hall, we had a great gospel discussion on the nature of God. Molly2, recently baptized, shared her testimony of God as a forgiving being, because as a child it never made sense to her when her parents would tell her otherwise. I was able to share that we can build our relationship with Heavenly Father through Christ by learning how he lived and treated others. The branch got a new branch mission leader, so we Elders have been able to work with him a little bit more, coordinating the work, so we're all excited!
 Love ya!
Elder B. Stolp

Baptism and Christmas

Hey-ya!
 Bob got baptized! Everything went well for the baptism. Throughout the week we made a lot of calls to make sure everything was taken care of. It was tough! But that's expected in between Christmas and New Year's. Lots of college kids came home, it was fun looking for family resemblances. There's a lady in the branch that told me I reminded her of her son Bob2, not in looks though, in the way we express ourselves. It was funny meeting him, let me tell ya. When us four Elders were over at their family's place for dinner this past week, I said, "oh, is my spot over there?" indicating the little kid's table. I wasn't able to get away with a fast one, but Bob2 did. He was having a great time with his younger siblings. Oh, Christmas dinner was great! Went to the same family that had us over for Thanksgiving, so it was again rambunctious. But we played Apples to Apples and chopsticks (the finger game of addition, getting out people one hand at a time) instead of socks, so we got in on the action. Their 7-year old got tricked earlier that day with a wrapped up empty iPod box ;) Yesterday us Elders had dinner with the family in the upstairs of the house I stay at, and it was really funny 'cuz their youngest is so close to talking, she just babbles in sentences, so Elder Bob3 was playing along with having a conversation with her. She seemed very serious with all the rest of us cracking up :)
 Love ya all!
Elder B. Stolp