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