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