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December 2013 - 3rd Area
Chino - East Zone
December 23, 2013
Hey there fam!
This week has been pretty good! We've been working extremely hard no matter what conditions we've been in.
We rode our bikes in the pouring rain and I didn't have a rain coat. So I had to implement a little and I cut a trash bag and put that over my jacket. That helped a little. Also this week, we locked our bikes up and when we returned, somebody had messed with our tires. They jabbed holes. It was extremely weird though because the tires didn't go flat until we had reached our next destination.
I'm also grateful that as a missionary it's a promise that we can't be poisoned. I ate a four month old hot dog without realizing it. And nothing has happened to me so far yet!
We are using a new teaching style now. I don't think I've explained that yet. So we only use the pamphlets now, and teach by using the pictures. We are only in a house for 20 minutes and we teach very simply. We are able to teach more to the needs of the people that way.
For instance, the very front picture on the restoration pamphlet is the picture of Jesus holding a lamb. We ask them what they see. And based on their response, we know how to teach them. So if they say they see some dude holding an animal, we know that they have a very little knowledge of Jesus Christ. If they say it's Diosito (little God) and the lamb, we know that they think God and Jesus are the same person. I like to hear all the different responses. The spirit is super powerful, so that's really what we aim for. Then at the end of the lesson, we ask them, "So if you could ask God any question about what you have learned, what would it be?" We had one person say they would ask if the priesthood has been restored or not. So we had them say the prayer. And after, we sat in silence. The spirit was present. Let's just say, we leave them wanting more. Because we don't always have time to teach the whole restoration. And they always ask when we're coming back. And since we're only there 20 minutes, they invite us over more often. We teach a lot more lessons now.
This week I learned how to make tamales. I now know why they take forever to make! Each time after I spread the masa on the corn husk, the hermana would take it from me, examine it, and tell me, "uhhh mas o menos!" Then redo it for me. Then assure me that one day I'll be good at it.
That's about all the highlights we had for this week. Trying really hard to find more families to teach.
Our plan for Christmas is to make cookies and deliver them around, because there won't be to much to do. And of course call home!
I love you all! The church is true. What a wonderful excuse to celebrate Christmas and think of Him even more. I'm filled with so much joy that thanks to Him, I can repent and be happy!
Con Amor,
Hermana Taryn Stohlton
December 23, 2013
Subject: Notice
So this coming week we will be using facebook. Parents you are NOT to contact me. It's to increase our purpose as being a missionary. NOT a time for chat and laughter cause I still need to remain focused. This includes other family and friends as well I believe. We are having training this thursday how to use facebook. Please be considerate and not try to distract or take away from my great work as a missionary. Gracias.
January 6, 2014
Hola Familia!
Wow quite the week we've had! We have been on the go, and hardly get to sit down and eat it seems!
We have been extremely blessed day after day. Finding new people and families.
We didn't end up doing much on New Year's Eve. We were at Pizza Parlor, owned by an English member. He was showing us how to debunk anti Mormonism stuff. It was really quite interesting
This week we got on Facebook. It was the WEIRDEST thing ever. Right now I'm just cleaning mine out. And I can't believe how many of my friends are married or have babies. My mind was blown away! Woah.
Of course I have been sick AGAIN! I can't seem to catch a break. We have been booked all day, everyday, for about three days straight. I lost my voice and could barely speak. We are teaching someone by the name of Juan. He is a huge drunkard. His grandma started giving him beer since he was six. So it's a pretty sad story. But he wants to change so badly! He lives in a small-knit community and everyone knows us as the two señoritas helping Juan become sober. It's been way fun. He hasn't ever made it to churc, though, because he's too drunk every time the hermano picks him up. We may have to drop him soon.
Then on Saturday, as we arrived at the bus stop, a man started talking to us and asking why we hadn't come back to his house. He had spoken with other missionaries as well. His name is Manny. (Manuel) We invited him for a tour of the church that night. He gladly accepted. So the obispo picked him up. It went really great, and he likes to talk a lot. We invited him to be baptized at the end of it, and he looked really surprised. He said he figured he would get baptized by the end of all the lessons. Then he started cracking jokes because he weighs about 400 pounds, saying he would need either two men to baptize him, or the church would need a crane to get him out of the water. We were laughing so hard! Then he gave a ten minute long prayer and almost fainted because he felt the spirit so strongly. We strongly feel he's going to get baptized this month. He's our miracle! He came to church the next day as well. Love you all! CHurch is true!
love hna. stohlton
January 14, 2014
Hola Familia!
I'm impressed that I'm still alive, to be quite honest. I can't ever catch a break from being sick! Yesterday I had the stomach flu. Not fun at all. So that's why we never made it to email. I was throwing up every 20-30 minutes for an 8 hour period. Today my body aches and I'm extremely tired. But life does go on! I'm hoping and praying that I'm done being sick for a while.
Oh, and just so everyone isn't alarmed, I had to delete all the family as friends on facebook. But after the mission I would love to add all of you again. Our i-pads come on Feb. 11th, and that is one of our requirements to get them. Deleting the fam.
We had a super awesome week! We finally have a couple of baptismal dates. One is with Angel. He is a street contact. Our first lesson with him he said he wanted to be Mormon and had already told that to his family. I would guess he's about 55. He's really funny.
Then the other one is Aurora. She works at a pizza place and she realized she needs a huge change in her life. We teach her very simply. And even though she struggles with reading, she does her assignments anyway!
And we have started teaching a Peruvian family who lives in our same complex/plaza. It was pretty funny because after the lesson we hugged the mom and grandma, and when it was time to say goodbye to the grandpa, he gave us a kiss too!
Well, I don't have more to report from last week. Other than that our area is really picking up. Teaching more families. Obedience is key in life. If you want blessing or miracles, it comes with the conditions of obedience! Love you all!
Hna. Stohlton
January 27, 2014
Hola Familia!
Well this week has been super exhausting, but great. It was pretty much a major headache, but all is good now!
I got to try Persian food this week. It was quite good! It was chicken with this pomegranate and walnut sauce. How we were able to get it, was we contacted a man walking his dog. And we found out he was from Iran. Hna. Bardsley loves Persian food, and before I knew it, a dinner appointment was set up. Then we called the English Elders to pass him off to them.
We gave a church tour to Aurora this week. And she also came to church! That was great fun. She is very solid. She feels it's right and knows it's what she needs. But there are a lot of the logical things that she doesn't understand. For example, she doesn't know that God and Jesus Christ are different people. So we remind her of that every time, just about. Then one time she asked us, "Are the Mormons good people?" And so we had her think about how she felt when we're there, and then she was able to conclude that we are good people. She has been chowing down the Book of Mormon even though she reads with great difficulty, and doesn't understand much of it. But she feels the spirit and wanted a copy for her boyfriend as well. We love her so much!
Well that's about all worth mentioning from this week. Take care of your agency!!!!!!!!! Because your actions not only affect yourself, but other people and loved ones. Ay ay ay is all that I have to say!
Love you all and the church is true!
Love Hermana Stohlton
February 3, 2014
Hola Familia!
This was a pretty good week. Nothing too out of the ordinary happened. We had a lot of lessons.
So Angel was supposed to come to church last week. He was actually on his way to church! But the señora who was driving him got in a car wreck! So that was too bad. Aurora made it though! She is so solid.
An area of the 70 asked us to do a special fast for rain since I guess we're in a horrible drought. It was amazing because a couple hours after we got done with the fast, within 15 minutes these huge dark clouds blew in over us. That was a miracle!
It seems like more than ever people have been commenting on mine and Hna. Bardsley's personalities. She's the one who is strong and I'm the one who is sweet. It's pretty funny! Random people on the street comment about it and members of our ward tell us that. That's the reason why we are so powerful as a companionship, I think.
Probably the funniest thing that happened this week was as I was driving, I was going the speed limit of 40 mph. Apparently that was too slow for the car behind me. So the driver zoomed past me illegally, but little did he know there was a dip coming up. He was probably going at least 65 mph when he hit it, caught some air, and all this dust kicked up. It was really funny! I then observed that he began to drive a bit more cautiously after that.
We almost got chinches (bed bugs) this week. I was never attacked, but Hna. Bardsley was. But we did an emergency washing of all our stuff, and she at least hasn't been bothered since.
That's about it though. Pretty much we are just as obedient as possible, and everything seems to work out for us. Because it's the Lord's promise to take care of us when we obey His commandments. Now the trick is to getting other people to act on that faith. The church is true!
Love you!
Hna. Stohlton
February 10, 2014
FAMILIA!!!!
This was a great week!
First of all, we got to go dumpster diving! We are teaching one of our neighbors, and the son just got out of the hospital and is still extremely sick and trying to recover. They don't have much money at all, so the mom goes out collecting plastic water-bottles and beer cans to recycle and turn in for money. She's this short little lady, probably about a good 5-6 inches shorter than me. And the dumpster is pretty tall for her. We had a little extra time on our hands, so thought we would do some service. It was pretty fun, but there were so many flies and it smelled awful. At least I can cross dumpster diving off my bucket list now. She was also able to find a belt and other cool things to keep. We can say, that in the future, the dumpster won't be my number one shopping place.
Juan, the neighborhood borracho, came to church. He was about 30% sober I would say. He's making great progress though! And it all started out by coloring in his Book of Mormon. He saw how mine was highlighted in different colors and thought it was cool, so he wanted to do that as well. So after he started coloring it, we got him to start reading about one verse a day. And then a wonderful member who has helped him out a lot brought him to church. It was awesome!
Aurora has excelled very nicely. She is past page 100 now in the Book of Mormon. She is cruising through it! And she can read much better now. She told us she wanted to read the Book of Mormon all the way through before she gets baptized. So we told her she had less than a month then! She has a few smoking problems, but the night before we even taught her about the Word of Wisdom, she chose to read in her Book of Mormon instead of smoke. I think she's our investigator with the most potential.
Manny dropped us pretty much because he's too lazy to act. That's too bad. But he knows it's true. Just has to do his part.
Angel didn't make it to church again......grrrrr. We have a lesson with him today.
Yesterday we had a lesson set up with someone close to our house, but it fell through. We were on bike and I was carrying a couple extra copies of the Book of Mormon. Since we had to bike a long distance I decided that we should just stop at the our apartment real quick so that I could get rid of them. On our way, we met a lady from Cuba who is one of our neighbors. And she was actually baptized 14 years ago. We found out she lives with her daughter, who isn't a member, so we asked if we could teach them. Then the father of the daughter was there as well. It was really fun teaching them! The daughter doesn't have too much knowledge about the church, but is really interested. And the ex-husband has a Book of Mormon at home that he is actually reading right now. And he's pleased that it doesn't talk about harming children. Through the whole lesson he didn't know that we were "Mormons". So when he found out, he was telling us that it was impossible for us to be Mormons because we were too good of people. He's a fun one. He told us he wants us to serve a mission in Cuba. jaja
Tomorrow we get i-pads! I'm pretty excited. We are having a meeting about it. Some general authorities are going to be there, so we are supposed to be on our best behavior and looking our best.
Well that's about all I can remember for this week. All I know is that the atonement of Jesus Christ is real. Through it, we can find true joy and have all our burdens be light. Love you all!
Hna. Taryn Stohlton
February 17, 2014
Hola familia!
Wow let's just say things have really changed! I am sending this email via iPad while Siri is typing everything out what I want to say. Seriously all I have to do is talk into the iPad and it will catch everything that I want to say. Although it's kind of annoying because sometimes it doesn't understand my accent and I have to edit everything as well. It's crazy how much the church is changing into using technology for everything! I guess it makes things a little easier, but I'm right up there with all of the grandpas not knowing how to use technology very well. But I guess this will force me to learn!
Anyway, it's been a pretty good week. I have no idea how, but we've been able to find 10 new investigators without even trying to. The Lord just sent so many people, but almost too many people for us to handle. Either that or we can be picky about who we want to teach now.
It was pretty sad because Angel didn't show up to church yesterday. So now we have to drop him. Last week we went to teach him but we were pretty late and he had cried because he didn't think we were going to come over. He doesn't know we won't be showing up today, which means there might be more tears on his pillow. But at least it will be a great incentive for him to make it to church.
We had an amazing lesson with Aurora last week. First of all she still continues to zoom through the Book of Mormon. She's on page 180. And we decided to teacher about tithing, to get some of those scary lessons out-of-the-way, in case it happens to be a problem for her. But she had no problem accepting the concept of tithing, because she was already taking money out of her paycheck to send to her dad before she would use it for anything else. So now she just has to implement
that for her Father in Heaven. Then we had some extra time at the end of the lesson, so using our nifty iPads, we decided to show her a Bible video. We showed her the baptism of Jesus Christ. It was really amazing because during that she got the chills really intensely. She recognized that it was God showing her that this is true. And in her prayer she said "thanks God, I really know that you're here for me." And then she ended her prayer. And she is still progressing quite nicely to be baptized on March 2. It will be very exciting because it's also the last Sunday of the transfer.
Other than that it's been a pretty normal week. I mean I guess it's pretty outrageous that we have iPads now. We are still trying to figure out how to use them, because it holds our area book in the iPad planner. And it's been awful having to enter every little detail into the iPad, but it's all part of the "hastening of the work". And sorry if my sentences are run-on sentences, because I forget to add punctuation while I talk. Have a great week everyone and this is the true Gospel here on earth.
Love hermana Stohlton
Sent from my iPad
February 24, 2014
Hola familia!
This has been a pretty crazy week. First of all, every spare minute we have been updating the iPad with area books stuff. It takes a long time! At first I thought updating the area book was stressful, but then we had a near catastrophe with Aurora, our investigator who is going to be baptized this coming Sunday! ¡Gracias a Dios!
It all began last Friday. During our personal studies that morning, Hna. Bardsley and I, at the same time, felt the Spirit
really strongly saying that the devil was attacking Aurora really hard. And I suddenly realized the game was on! And of course that's normal, because a week before someone is about to be baptized, is when all of these things happen, when all of these doubts arise, and the devil is just doing everything in his power to make that person not be baptized.
So last Friday we had a lesson planned with her, but she wasn't home. Which is strange, because she never ever misses our appointments. So we decided to hunt her down, and found her at work. And when we saw her, we instantly knew that she hadn't been reading the Book of Mormon and had fallen with Word of Wisdom problems. We agreed to come teach her
the next day. So we arrive all happy and ready to teach her, and poor Aurora is just sick with the flu. And the first thing she starts telling us is that she doesn't think she wants to be baptized anymore. So we started out with a prayer, and just listened to her talk. She pulled out all of these excuses, saying her dad isn't going to accept her if she's baptized and yada yada yada. But we knew that wasn't what the real problem was. We told her we knew that she didn't feel worthy and was
afraid of not keeping the Word of Wisdom after baptism. And that was when the water works began!
Thankfully, the night before, we received the inspiration that the Bishop should come and give her a blessing for strength to overcome addictions. The Bishop showed up and gave her a lecture. And then we finally made it to the blessing. ( I never thought we would make it to that point due to the tone of his lecture. I had to hold my breath a few times.) It was a miracle because after the blessing, she had this new hope and believes in herself now. She said "¡si, se puede!"
By the end of the lesson she was asking what time her baptism was going to be at. It was a relief! Then our president had to interview her for certain reasons. But all I have to say is, the white baptismal slip is signed by him!!!!!!
So family, if you can keep Aurora Magana in your prayers, that would be splendid! She still needs the strength to completely overcome addiction. I know there is power in prayer. I love you all!
Hermana Stohlton
March 3, 2014
Hola familia,
First things first. Aurora did make it into the waters of baptism! However it was quite the crazy ride trying to get her there. So to begin,last week it rained all week. So every day we were riding our bikes in the rain. We waited for her at the Starbucks every day to ensure that she did not buy any coffee. Then we would walk over to her work to read with her before she started work. Of course last week she was sick, fighting withdrawals, and barely got any sleep because work was super busy. She told us that we were killing her! Some of the withdrawals were so bad, that all she could smell and taste in her mouth for a couple of days straight was the flavor of cigarette smoke.
Then the devil wasn't only working on her, but every other possible source that could help her make it to her baptism. First of all, Hermana Bardsley fell off her bike and badly twisted her ankle. But if she were to be in a gymnastics meet, she said she would have still competed on it. She did not appreciate my wise medical counsel I was giving her. Then later that day we were driving, and a car decided it wasn't going to stop after pulling out of the driveway, and almost plowed us. But thanks to my agile driving skills and reaction time, I was able to dodge it. Surprisingly, the driver was not Asian.
Then on Saturday night we tried to make the programs for her baptism, but of course the printer was out of ink. And at the last-second she decided she wanted to invite the whole entire ward to her baptism and not have it be a private one anymore. So it was kind of important that we had programs. But thankfully she made it to church for sacrament meeting ,but had to go home after because she was coughing really badly. And we had arranged a ride for her, but of course a couple of hours later the person called back saying they had the stomach flu and so wasn't able to take her anymore. But thankfully we found someone else.
So for the baptism, for some reason Hna Bardsley and I decided it would be a great idea for us to sing a musical number. Aurora also really wanted us to sing for the ward. So we had picked the hymn "How Great Thou Art" to sing to her. But
Sunday morning, as we were practicing it, we decided it would be better just to change the hymn to "Abide With Me Tis Eventide", since it was easier and we had practiced that hymn many times before and even performed it for a few of our investigators. And we felt much more confident about that hymn.
So, fast forward a few hours. Right before we go to the church to fill up the baptismal font, we were able to make programs at a member's house. They turned out really nice. And then we made it to the church in one piece. We put the Elders in charge of filling up the font, while we went and looked for a tv, and made copies of the program for everyone. We originally had planned to hook our iPads up to the TV and show a few videos, but of course there had to be technical problems. So
we went with our backup plan by showing "Finding Faith in Christ."
Then Aurora finally arrived, so we showed her to the bathroom and she was able to get changed and be ready. She was so nervous, though, that she was sweating. She said she felt her heart was about to jump out. Then we took pictures and waited a few more minutes for the baptismal service to begin. It finally started, and as Vanessa Morrison was giving her talk, Aurora started crying. The spirit was very strong. It was a very precious sight to see. Then I dreaded the moment that the talk finished, because that meant it was time for us to sing. And we had planned to sing it a capella, so that way we could have different parts. I sang soprano and Hna. Bardsley sang alto. Hna. Bardsley picked out the starting notes on the piano and we started to sing. But for some reason it sounded like we were really off from each other, although I don't think we really were, we were just nervous to sing. So we stopped after the first line and decided to start over because it sounded wrong. Hermana Bardsley picked out the notes again. And we tried to sing it again, but my voice kept cutting out, then at that
point I had lost it completely and went into my nervous laughter. And I was just laughing hysterically, and trying to whisper to Hermana Bardsley that I couldn't do this anymore. She gave me a confused look and asked what I wanted to do then. And meanwhile this is happening with the ward watching us. I knew Eric could play the piano, so I was trying to suggest that he play it for us. And we asked him to play for us. But for of course we forgot to bring hymn books, and so we were stuck using our iPads for the music. And it just so happened that my iPad was having technical difficulties, and half the screen went blank and I couldn't see the words. So we had to share Hermana Bardsley's iPad, which had logged out at that point. So we had to pause the song again and log back on. To my relief we barely managed to make it through the song finally.
After our musical number, it was time for Aurora to be baptized. She made it into the water just fine. Apparently the water was cold because it took her forever to get in. And she kept making noises as if the water was cold. Her boss, Eric, was the one who baptized her. Thankfully it only took one try! Then to everyone's shock, she must have been so happy, that she turned and faced everyone and gave an impulse testimony that lasted about 20 seconds long. Then the rest from there is history.
All I can say is Hna. Bardsley and I no longer have thedesire to show off our musical talents anymore. And thanks to everyone, and the spirit, that Aurora was baptized! The other good news of the week is that Juan Gonzalez made it to church! And he loved it! I know that this is the true church and I love you all!
Love, Hermana Stohlton
March 17, 2014
Hola familia,
Hey there fam!
So this morning, to my dismay, I woke up to some shaking three minutes before the alarm clock. It turned out it was an earthquake! But don't worry! I was not injured, it was very minor. I can say I have survived my first earthquake on the mission now!
So this week has been pretty good! I would have to say one of the highlights is we started to teach Manny again. We had exchanges this week, and so I was here in Chino with the sister trainer like always. And I didn't know why, but I had the distinct feeling to go visit him, and decided to follow the prompting anyway. We reviewed the restoration with him, and it didn't really seem like he was paying attention during the lesson. He kept looking up at the stars in the sky, and wasn't really
making too many comments, but was still catching on to a few things. At the end of the lesson, he had said he had never understood the authority of the priesthood until then. He found it very fascinating that Peter, James and John gave the priesthood to Joseph Smith. Then I asked him, "If there is one question you could ask God, what would it be"? And he said, "I would really want to know why you guys came here today, on this night, out of any other times he could have come". So I told him, "Why, I can answer that for you".
I told him that he had been on my mind for the last week, and I was wondering how he was doing. I said that the night before, while we were making our plans for the next day, I felt strongly we should go visit him. So I told him I could not deny those feelings and acted on them. He then told me that he had been in the hospital, and two days earlier he literally almost died. Then he told us that he now had a big decision that he needed to make, and really thanked us for coming. He said he would give us a call on Saturday to let us know if he wanted to continue with the discussions. However, his phone call didn't come until today, and he has decided to continue the lessons. And on his own he has started reading the Book of Mormon again, and actually we have a lesson with him in 30 minutes. So it's amazing how God always knows when his children are prepared to hear the Gospel again. It's kind of funny because whenever I pray for a miracle, Manny always pops into my mind. Something tells me if we were to have known him in the Pre-earth life, I personally would have been very intimidated to be teaching him the Gospel! He has such a strong spirit. He pointed out that the same moon that we look at was the same moon that Adam and Eve, and even Jesus looked at.
Anyway, other than that I had a wonderful time on the bus trying to contact someone. It was an old grandpa and I saw he had a pink guitar with a rose on it. He told me he had just bought it from the swap meet a little earlier that day. Before I knew it, he decided to take it upon himself to start serenading me on the bus. So then I was trying to be supportive, and danced a little and made it look like I was really entertained. Well, I really was! Then before I knew it, he handed me the guitar and told me to play and sing something. And so I just made up my own tune and sang "Nearer My God to Thee" but in Spanish of course. Contacting people on the bus never ceases to be interesting!
Love you all! The church is true!
Love, Hermana Stohlton
March 25, 2014
Hola fam,
I'm pretty tired because I had to wake up at 5:00 this morning so that we could go to the temple! This time we went to the Redlands Temple because it's closer to Chino, and it would be ridiculous trying to fight LA traffic!
It was a pretty great week with 4 investigators at church. Aurora finally made it to church again and got confirmed. It was interesting-- the day before she told us there was no way she was going to pay her tithing because of hospital bills. We didn't argue with her. Just told her that it was between her and The Lord. At the end of the lesson, I prayed that she could be faithful in keeping the commandments. The next day at church, after she got the Holy Ghost, she surprised us by saying she would pay her tithing. It is amazing how perfect of a teacher the Holy Ghost is!
So a quick update on Manny. So last week we found out that the week that I felt inspired to go, he was about to join a Christian church. He had his name signed up and everything, and just needed to show up for the ceremony to become an official member. Then that was the week I was on exchanges and we taught the restoration to him again. After much praying, he did not show up to his ceremony and decided to continue studying with us! So we had great lessons all last week. Even strongly thinking about getting baptized. But then on Saturday night, he told us he was not going to be baptized and to stop the visits. But there was no way we were going to let Manny go that fast! So we told him that was fine, but we would be back to study. And of course he missed church the next day. But yesterday we showed up to his house and decided to read with him in the Book of Mormon at the spot where he was. It just so happened he was at Nephi 4. Which was perfect! It talks about Nephi going and killing Laban. And of course we related it to his life, by asking him what does Laban represent in his life and so forth.
His mind was so blown by the chapter. He said it felt as if God came down himself and was giving him these words. And he kept asking us if we had purposely planned to read this chapter with him. The Laban that he is trying to get rid of in his life right now is smoking. So we committed him to stop smoking right then and there. He kept on saying, I'll try, and stuff like that. But I asked him what he thought Jesus said when He was asked to suffer for our sins and sicknesses. Christ didn't say, "I'll try". He was either in or out! Then a couple minutes later he fully committed to stop smoking! He said one of his amazing prayers at the end, as well. I wish you could hear them. They are the most heartfelt prayers I've ever heard. He then thanked us ladies for not giving up on him, and showing up anyway.
Anyway, the church is true. I'm extremely tired. And there is nothing that beats this pure gospel of Jesus Christ! Love you all!
Love Hermana Stohlton.
March 31, 2014
Hola familia!
So I was in another earthquake this past week. With the rating at 5.3! We were planning our activities for the next day in our apartment, then we felt rumbling and I quickly crawled underneath my desk. And hna. Bardsley went under the door frame. It was exciting! A few small objects fell over his time. I had my toothbrush on the microwave, and I couldn't find it until the morning, when I spotted it in the sink. Bristles facing upward, though, which was a relief!
Then the next day, during a lesson with Aurora, there was a little aftershock/baby tremble. That was fun! She couldn't believe that we were going to go riding off on our bikes after.
So we made great progress with Manny! And right now it feels like it all went down the drain. We kept visiting him, he came to church yesterday, and during the 3rd hour, the Elders gave him a blessing to overcome smoking. He loved it so much. In it, it talked a lot about coming unto Christ. The room we were in conveniently had a picture of Jesus being baptized. He loved it so much, he took his phone out and took a picture of it, and then immediately set it as the background on his phone. Then we showed him a video of Christ being baptized. It made him cry. He said he felt that he was also a chosen son of God, and that he needed to be baptized. And he committed to be baptized this coming Sunday! Then that night, we put on a movie night for our investigators, and showed the hour-long Joseph Smith video. A good portion into the movie, he got up and walked outside for a while. Then he came back in, and we met him out in the foyer. He told us he went outside and seriously prayed. He took some advice from the movie, when Joseph was telling people to really figure it out on their own if it's true or not. He was really determined to not smoke and be baptized. Or take a dip, as he always puts it.
This morning though, he sent a text saying, "I can't do it. Don't show up. Looks good but I can't." Let me tell you this though. He is saying that to the wrong people. We are NOT about to give up on him quite yet. He is such a strong spirit worth fighting for. He was the miracle that I prayed for way back in the beginning when I first got into Chino. So I am determined to see him take the gigantic dip! And I'm going to do everything in my power to make it happen. All he desires is to have the approval of God. And what better way is there to get that approval from God, than enter in a covenant with him? THERE IS NO OTHER STINKING WAY!!!!!
This church is true. It's NEVER too late to seek for divine help and forgiveness from God. He's our father and wants us to be happy. That's why he gave us this gospel. It changes lives
I love you all!
Love, Hermana Stohlton.
April 7, 2014
Hola familia!
I'm quite sore because we just got done hiking. It was very refreshing though! Conference was great! I don't have a favorite talk yet because 3 of the sessions I watched were in Spanish. I mean I understood it all, but it's just better to hear it in your own language. I liked the talk by the Bishop that spoke about the Olympics and to just do your ordinances now! Then I liked Pres. Uchtdorf's talk about being grateful for whatever situation you're in. It caught me off guard to hear President Becerra be called as an area 70. But I would not be surprised if one day he's prophet! He's such an amazing man. I have so much respect for him!
So we're back on board teaching Manny! He's quitting smoking and went 4 days before smoking only one cigarette. So that is great progress for him! He played chess with us so that it would distract him from smoking. It was a lot of fun! Unfortunately I lost. But in my defense, it's been years since I've played chess.
None of our investigators made it to conference. All of them had family emergencies. How annoying! But they were valid excuses. This week I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish for the first time. It was very amazing! I finished it just in time, because we have been challenged to read it before July first. So I'm really going to have to read fast now!
Other than that, nothing too outrageous has happened this week. Me and hna. Bardsley are making up a synchronized bike routine so that way we can entertain people as they drive by.
Life is great! The church is true! The Book of Mormon is another testament that Jesus really is the Christ! Love you all!
Love Hermana Stohlton.
April 14, 2014
Hola familia!
Survived the last week of the transfer with 8 investigators at church! Me and Hna. Bardsley have been separated. I received the news that I am going to be training! So I get to meet her tomorrow! I'm so excited! She's probably going to think that we baptize all the time which is so true!
I think I may have neglected to tell you about one of our investigators named Alma. She's actually getting baptized this coming Sunday. She's such a sweet lady whose had a bit of a rough life. But is very loving and all. So if you can keep her in your prayers, that will be amazing.
Manny, uggggs what to do with him! So we had an amazing lesson with him. He wants to get baptized so badly and understood that it's a stupid little cigarette holding him back. We forced him to go to church, and the patriarch taught gospel principles about the fall of Adam and Eve....let's just say he did NOT teach it to an investigators level of understanding. Manny has doubts on that I think and the lesson didn't help. We have one more lesson tomorrow with him and it is going to be the lesson if he decides to continue or if we drop him. I guess we shall see what happens and just let the Holy Spirit guide. It's all we can do at this point.
Then we are teaching the parents of some members. The couple are Francisco and Virgilia Peñate. The wife of course wants to get baptized and so we're working on the dad.
Last week, I forgot to tell you of a valuable lesson that I learned. It's to always look up! So as I was riding my bike, I was checking my skirt to make sure it was pulled down and not flashing anyone. Sounds like a valid reason to look down right? Then at the last second as I barely began to look up I saw two large dumpsters and I crashed right into them. I went flying off my bike into them and they both tipped over and caught me. Hna. B was riding ahead and heard a huge bang and when she turned back she saw me laying on them. It was quite hilarious! My right hand took the blow and my middle finger was swollen and bruised for a little but now it's better. All of my knuckles got scraped. So right now it's a little painful knocking on doors. But it was one of those hilarious moments where I was thinking to myself, "Did I seriously just run into dumpsters?" So I learned the value of always looking up!
The church is true! Love you all!
Con mucho Amor, Hermana Stohlton.
April 21, 2014
Mi familia!
Things are going great! I have my little trainee now. Her name is Hermana Leatherman and she's from Soda Springs ID. The best thing is she has red hair! So there's going to be so much power in the area of Chino! She came in from the MTC in Mexico City. We are both working very hard to help her Spanish! I feel so lucky that I knew a great chunk of Spanish before coming on my mission. She's very easy going and willing to do whatever. That's very nice quality about her.
Alma didn't end up getting baptized yesterday because she thought it was okay to drink decaf coffee. But we didn't end up finding that up until yesterday. Earlier in the week she kept telling us that she didn't feel ready to be baptized, and we had no idea why. And she conveniently ended up being busy every single day so we only got to teach her once. But it's okay because she's going to be baptized this coming Sunday!
With Manny, he is always an interesting case. But the good news is his back on board! After five days of avoiding us, he texted at two in the morning saying we could come over that day. So we went and we showed him a conference talk called let your faith show. He liked it a lot. Then the day before we had district meeting, and we were role-playing inviting people to baptism. So the elders were teaching us and we were pretending to be Manny. Elder Knapp shared the scripture of Allma 32:21. That was a revelation for us to share that scripture at Manny. When we were close to finishing up the lesson with Manny we share that scripture of him. He sat there reading it silently on his own, and then to our surprise she started shouting take the book, take the book! And so I took it, and he went inside. He came out with a water bottle and was just drinking water. Then he told us he had never felt anything like that before, while reading in the Bible. He said it felt like something was causing him to tremble. We confirmed that it was the spirit of the Lord telling him what he had read was true. The next day we had a lesson with him again, this time it was at the church. We showed him the cheesy little music video that talks about coming unto Christ. Then we show him another general conference talk, the one that was called your four minutes. He was feeling the spirit very strongly. It was great! We talked about baptism with him again, and we told him that he could pick his own date to be baptized. Then He asked us to grab him a Bible so we went and found one and when we came back he was praying. As we handed it to him, he held it on his chest for a while, and then randomly open up the Bible started reading. It was silent for about 20 minutes. But he was crying, and feeling the spirit very strongly. He asked if he could see a calendar, and said he wanted to be baptized 27 April! So that is been quite the miracle. I hope and I'm praying that he will make it!
Other than that it's been a pretty good week, that's the most exciting things that happened. The church is true, and Christ is always there to help us. Love hermana Stohlton
April 28, 2014
Hola familia!
Words can't even explain my last week. The good news is both Alma and Manny got baptized! And it's because it was miracle after miracle that led them to be baptized. Just so that you are aware, this is going to be a really long email, and even then all of the good details will have not made it in.
Yesterday was probably one of the most stressful day of my mission! First of all, knowing that my father is now half a century old. Second of all I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting. It actually went really well and lots of people loved it! Alma did not show up to church. We received a text message from her saying she had injured her waist, and went to get a massage. But she said she would be there for the baptism! So that was relieving. Then Manny almost went to the hospital because he couldn't breathe at all the night before. He said he knew that if he had gone, they would have hooked them up to machine and would have not released him for five or six days. His mom was trying to get him to cancel the baptism, but he decided he needed to be baptized.
I'm going to start out with Almas side, because she was less dramatic and the whole process of getting her baptized. Alma is just a sincere lady who wanted more peace in her life. One of her friends introduced her to the church and she loved it ever since. We could only teach her a couple of times last week because she was incredibly busy. Her baptism interview was yesterday just hours before the actual baptism. The elder interview her came out telling us, we needed to call president because there were a few things she needed to be cleared out on. So I was thinking, great another problem before the baptism! It turned out it was just a miscommunication and there was nothing wrong! What happened was, the word miscarriage and abortion are the same word in Spanish, so that's where the miss understandment came. But she was good to go! Thankfully! Thats enough about her.
Now time for Manny! He certainly has given me a run for my money. So last Sunday, he went to church and was just fine. But that night he got all of these negative thoughts and began to avoid us, after he had received a huge witness from God that he needed to be baptized, and he picked 27 April for himself. On Monday I was writing about Manny and how awesome he was in a letter to someone, then I got a distinctive feeling I needed to call him. So I acted on that impression, and he answered and told us he had bad news. And I told them I did not want to hear it! He began saying over and over that he couldn't do it anymore but he was so confused and did not even want to see my face anymore. Out, I didn't think I was that bad looking! But I did not take any time to hesitate and I started telling him it was unexceptionable behavior of him. That he would flat out denied God after him having give him a huge witness of how baptism would bless his life. I told him he would remain in darkness for forever. I don't even remember everything that I said, but I was trying to follow the spirit as closely as possible. Hermana Leatherman and I both prayed in our head that everything will turn out while I was on the phone with him. At the end of the phone call, it was agreed that we would have a lesson over the phone because he still didn't want us to come over. Then I told him if that was the case, but he needed to speak clearly because he's always really hard to understand over the phone. So after the phone call, we felt inspired to start fasting immediately and to go to the church for this lesson over the phone. We even sang a ham before the phone call to invite the spirit. The phone call started out fairly awkward, not much talking but then it began to pick up. I don't even remember what was said on the phone and I just remember feeling that I needed to pass the phone over to hermana Leatherman. So I did and they began to chat. He explained to her how he was feeling really lonely and hermana Leatherman shared an experience of when she was feeling lonely before, and decided to read the book of Mormon, and found a scripture talking about having pacience with afflictions. That is exactly what Manny needed to hear at that time. He said it was the first time he felt peace all day and it felt amazing! He then invited us over to his house after an hour being on the phone with him. All we did was just listen to him talk. And he said that is what he needed, someone to just listen to him. We decided to sing him a hymn and leave him with that. Then that night, he called us on the phone asking if there is a jumper still big enough for him to be baptized. And we told him of course, but not really knowing if there was one! Then we were able to meet with him a couple of more times. But then we found out he had smoked, so we thought he had to change his baptismal day. At district meeting we explain the situation with the elders and they said it was okay for him to still be baptized, he would just have to understand the consequences of smoking after his baptism. So we prayed, and felt we should still push for 27 April. We thought Manny was going to be really surprised about hearing that. The next day we ended up seeing him, and he was so excited! He said the day before he went to the casinos and he smoked so much that he could barely breathe after. Then he said something that happened in the last couple of hours and realized that he did really want to be baptized. He had stopped smoking for sure, and he yelled at the top of his lungs, "i'm getting baptized baby!" I had never seen him so happy before. Then came time for last-minute preparations and finding him clothes. We went to Walmart and found him a white shirt, some white basketball shorts, some white diabetic socks, and a white sheet to wrap around him like a toga. We also gave him a four XL jumpsuit to try on, but it didn't fit him. He was telling us to invite everyone possible to his baptism and wanted us to advertise it saying, "come watch the world's largest man be baptized!" He is so funny!
I'm going to fast forward to the actual baptism now. So everybody was late, which is not surprising. I felt a little antsy knowing that 10 minutes before the back to them nobody had arrived yet, but it's very typical for Latinos to be late so I wasn't too worried. Manny arrived, and then 10 minutes after five Alma arrived. They changed and we took photos. It was a lot of fun! During the whole baptism service manny was crying. Unfortunately, the water was cold. Because the hot water doesn't work! Alma requested that she be baptized first so that there would be enough water for her instead of being baptized after Manny! It was amazing to watch a new light enter in her eyes. Then it was Mannys turn! I have never seen so many members show up to a baptism before. And I think it was to watch him be baptize. Everyone was curious to know how it was going to happen! But we were prepared and filled the baptismal font really high! It took him a long time to get into the actual font, and he was making all of these remarks to how the water was so cold. It took him so long, that Allma had changed already and was able to make it out to watch and be baptized. There were a couple of the hermanos in the font with him and they helped him kneel down. Then they said the prayer tilted him for word and brought him back up! I was quite impressed it only took one try! Then everybody had to wait a good 30 minutes for him to make it back out from changing. In the meantime we watched a movie and then a nice English sister played the piano as a prelude. He finally made it out and they both got a chance to share their testimony. I was was really sweet and you could tell she could feel so happy! She said it was what she's looking for her whole life. Then Manny was pretty much preaching some kind of a long sermon, but at the very end he started crying like a baby and you could just tell he was so happy! His testimony was so powerful! And one of the funniest parts at the baptism was hearing Manny seeing extremely loud! Loud enough that it covered my laughing! Oh and I forgot Hermana Leatherman and one of the elders did a really nice musical number. Everyone enjoyed that so much! Anyway, that is a lot less than more of what happened last week but it was amazing! Sorry to give you the watered-down version of it all. It was one of the most powerful baptisms that I have ever been to!
I really know that this is God's truth church and here is where the authority is at.
May 5, 2014
Hola familia!
It's definitely been a much calmer week. Thank goodness! But then
again I like those crazy weeks because it's amazing to see people get
baptized. Last night I had a dream that I got to hold a baby and it
fell asleep in my arms. It was probably the best dream I've had in a
long time. But I woke up craving to hold a baby. Then after doing
laundry this morning I saw my neighbors puppy and I picked it up, but
it didn't quite fulfill the craving I was looking for. But it got the
job done for now. I can't wait to hold Adancito!!!
Manny and Alma both made it to church and were confirmed. It was great! Alma cried while she was receiving her confirmation. She just seems so happy now!
Then in church, this cute little 12 year old bore his testimony because his sister is leaving on a mission next week. He was up there just crying his little eyes out I out any shame! And just saying how he wants to be just like his older sister. It was very precious! Manny also shared his testimony and it seemed as if he has been a member for years. He is so amazing!
We had an investigator Hno. Herrera show up to church. He told us he thought we were a little outdated and by having priests in the church. I told him that we don't confess our sins to them which quieted him a little bit. But in gospel principles, the lesson was on prophets. After we had a lesson with him and doesn't believe that there is a need for another prophet because all the prophecies are written down in the bible anyway....it was very exhausting. We showed him a few scriptures supporting that there is a need for prophets but he wasn't buying it. He studied with the testigos de Jehovah and was baptized with them, but he expressed to us that he he feels his heart is 90% to god and is missing 10%. Thank goodness to these iPads, we're going to show him some conference talks.
Yesterday was an awful contacting day. Pretty much everyone said no, and the majority of the people were quite sassy towards us! But we didn't give up. Around 8:30 last night we stopped by a former and she said she wanted us to start teaching her again. I don't care if she's even that interested or what, someone saying yes made my day!
Well the church is true and I love you all! And I know we have a living prophet! Come on, God would not leave his children without having some kind of a guide. Anyway, enough of that.
Love, Hermana Stohlton.
May 12, 2014
Hola familia!
I had so much fun skyping on Mother's Day! The family looks great! I am still astounded as to how muscular Parker is! He has changed so much! After, I felt like I had so many more things to say, but would then remember the skype phone call had ended.
Well, I'm sick again. I thought I was done with that, but oh well! Life goes on happily still. We've seen some amazing miracles this past week.
First off, we decided to visit a referral we hadn't seen in a while. He was so happy to see us. His name is Arnufol Rosales and he became interested in the church after visiting Temple Square. He calls us his angelitas! And used that as our contact name in his phone. So every time we call it will say "Las Angelitas". Pretty funny! He is 72 years old and gives us a big hug every time he sees us. It turned out though, that he had put his daughter's address down at Temple Square instead of his own, but we didn't find that out until later. We found him at his daughter's house 3 times. He kept saying that it was a coincidence that we kept finding him. He still doesn't realize that he put the wrong address down. We invited him to be baptized, and his response was, "when can I ?" The 31st of May was the first date that popped into my head, and he gladly accepted it. He told us he wanted to know what to avoid so that he can be a good Mormon. So we told him no coffee and yada yada yada. He came to church and just loved it! He is so sweet.
And we are also teaching Laura Cordoba now--Manny's mom! That is probably the hugest miracle I've seen of someone softening their heart towards us! I still remember the first day we tried to come by and teach Manny, she yelled at us and shook her broom at us! And then asked us if we were Mormon, and after we said yes, she told us to leave! Then over the last six months her heart changed. I think she saw the change in Manny and became curious. She asked us for a Restoration pamphlet to read. Then we were finally able to set an appointment up with her. I was extremely nervous for the lesson. We prayed and asked for guidance, and when we arrived, she was sitting outside waiting for us. We began with a prayer, and within 5 minutes, she taught us the whole Restoration and she accepted baptism. We ended up teaching her about the Book of Mormon. The next day we returned for another appointment and she had read 72 pages in the Book of Mormon!! It was phenomenal!
And she had lots of highlighting in it. She loves us so much now! I think we will invite her to be baptized the first or second week in June.
That's our week for you! Manny is losing weight too! Life is good. God is good. And may we all make wise decisions because you only live once. YOLO!
Love, Hermana Stohlton
May 19, 2014
I can not believe that I am now 21! I guess that is life though. I like that song by the Eagles that says, " time keeps on slipping slipping slipping into the future" That is definitely how I feel! (editor's note: song by Steve Miller Band)
The weird thing is, normally I would probably be just about ready to leave for a mission right now. But instead, I'm trying to live up my mission while I'm still here!
This has been an ordinary week. Nothing too crazy. Although Manny still continues to progress quite nicely. He received the priesthood yesterday, and his mom came to church. He requested that his mom watch him get it. Then she came back to Relief Society. After church she was telling us that Manny is going to baptize her! So that event was equally great for both of their eternal progression. Her baptism date is for June 8. The good news is she does want to be baptized, but she's unsure about the date. But I think she'll come around.
The 180 degree turn I've seen in Manny's mom has caught me off guard. It went from kicking us out of her house with a broom, to being very clingy. It is bizarre, but from God. Before church started we gave her a tour of the building, and as we started walking, she grabbed onto my hand. So here I was holding hands with the woman who used to despise me! God is good! Manny also taught priesthood class, so it's great how involved he is!
Then Alma came to church and paid her tithing, which was very nice to see.
Yesterday around 7 at night, everything had fallen through and we had nothing else to do. Hermana Leatherman received the inspiration to walk to the church and back home, and just see what would happen. We made it to the church and there was nobody on the street. I personally couldn't wait to see what would happen on the way home, because I knew something amazing was going to happen! We headed home, and I was just following her lead. I was surprised we still hadn't seen anyone. But what surprised me even more is that Hermana Leatherman stopped walking, and saw a street named Revere. She looked hesitant, but was trying her best to be confident in following the spirit. She asked if I had ever been on that street before, and I told her once a loooooong time ago. She wanted to investigate the neighborhood a little bit. I was delighted to hear that. We headed in and she wanted me to pick a house. However, I knew the spirit was leading her as to why we needed to be there. I picked a random house and nobody was home. Then she finally admitted she felt i mpressed to knock on the door of a certain house. I excitedly followed her lead! This time SHE knocked on the door. I almost couldn't believe how much initiative she was taking because usually she's pretty shy and laid back. We found a little Spanish speaking lady that wanted to hear our message. She said her husband is sick and in the hospital with kidney stones and possibly cancer. We did a special prayer for her. It was a marvelous experience to watch her learn and grow.
That's it for this week. The church is true no matter what age you are!
Love, Hermana Stohlton
May 26, 2014
Last week was pretty good!
Laura (Manny's mom) is getting baptized on Saturday and is very firm already!
She is in Mosiah right now in the Book of Mormon, which is awesome! The more she reads the more she wants to get baptized! I found out Manny used to be a Jehovah's Witness, and even did a bunch of missionary work as one! It's every missionary's dream to baptize a hard core JW!
Yesterday we had to teach the Gospel Principles class at church. It went quite well! It was on the Atonement.
Anyway, right now we are playing volleyball with the ward for Memorial Day, so I think I'm going to cut everyone short!
Love you all!
Love, Hermana Stohlton
June 2, 2014
Hola my precious family!
13 years ago today I was baptized. It was one of the best decisions of my life! And today I received some of the best news that I am officially an aunt now. I hear that Adam is super cute and I can't wait to meet him!
Well, last week was pretty amazing! We had the wonderful privelage to see Manny's mom, Laura Castro, get baptized. It was a fairly small baptism, yet super powerful. She got a huge smile on her face, and as she was going up the stairs out of the font, I couldn't tell if she was talking to herself or the Hermana who was helping her out, but she said, "the water wasn't as cold as I thought it would be!" We had warned her the hot water didn't work. After she changed she bore a powerful testimony. Then on Sunday she received the Holy Ghost. As part of her blessing, it talked a whole lot about how she still has a purpose to complete here on earth. I personally think it's to share the gospel with the rest of her family that lives in Panama. She already has plans to do that, which is wonderful.
This coming Sunday, Arnufol Rosales is going to be baptized, so please keep him in your prayers.
Thanks and love you all! Sorry my emails are going to be shorter these last 2-3 months. Love you all and serve your neighbor! Hermana Stohlton.
June 9, 2014
Hola familia!
This last week was another average week. Nothing outrageously crazy, but not too boring either.
We have been trying to work more with the members to get them involved, so that way, the work truly can hasten. We invited 3 members to pray to find someone specifically in our area who would be ready to accept the gospel. (P.S. I invite all of you to the same!) And out came different results with all of them.
We invited Manny to pray for someone. We have received no results yet from him. We invited hermano and Hermana Sazo. They gave us a referral and we contacted them. It ended up that the husband invited us in for one minute so that we could see all of his saints and la virgen Guadalupe, with Christmas lights around her, just to prove that he was Catholic and never going to change. Then we also invited Hermana Guadalupe Herrera to pray for someone. She gave us a lady named Maria trying to learn
English for her citizenship exam.
Maria is really nice and funny. She has a family. We met her husband and he asked us to teach his family and give him a bible study. We said we would just love to give them a really special "bible study" aka the restoration! So we set a time to come back. We returned and taught them. It was amazing! They all understood it and the kids asked amazing questions! They have three kids, Ruth 15 David 13 and Danny 11. Danny asked us, so how can someone get he authority to baptize, Ruth wanted to know where she could get a Book of Mormon. David loves to read in the bible. This is a golden! Maria asked if Joseph Smith's name was mentioned in the bible anywhere and we answered her by saying no. Then her husband Leo cut in and said, "it's because he is a modern day prophet, so of course he isn't in the bible." I was just astounded and agreed with Leo. And they all said they would be baptized! We are going to extend the date of 13 July to them next time we see them and teach them about the Book of Mormon. I am so excited to teach them! Such a cute, humble, family! I can already see them being sealed as a family together!
Miracles really do happen when the members and missionaries work together. I know this to be true. And if the person rejects, so what? You've done your part in warning the person. It falls on their head instead of your own.
Arnufol is set on being baptized this coming Sunday. He asked to move his date, or better said, his son asked him to move the date so that he can be there to watch and support him. We were perfectly fine with that! It will bring his family together! And it's on Father's Day so that is even better.
Thanks for your support and prayers. I love you all and stay strong!
Love, Hermana Stohlton
June 16, 2014
Feliz dia de los padres ayer! You go, Papi, go!
Yesterday Arnufol got baptized! Of course I had to give the talk at his baptism. All of his nonmember family came and supported him. That sure was nice. We hope they will be open to listening now. Since we've tried inviting them in the past to listen, but they didn't want to because they're Catholic.
It took him two tries to be baptized. I always love watching people's reactions as they get into to the water because the hot water doesn't really work. So he made a little comment on how cold it was. He showed up in a nice shirt and tie. It was a very short service. Then he was able to bear his testimony, which was sweet. He did a grandpa Walsh type cry during it. He is definitely my Mexican abuelito of the mission. Oh, but he said how he is very happy to keep the commandments during it, and he feels good. After, when everyone congratulated him, I had a feeling we were going to get a big hug from him. Sure enough, we did! The bishop was just laughing at us.
So something else that is kind of funny, is this whole entire time I heard his name as Arnufol. Made the programs spelled like that and everything. Then everybody was correcting me at the baptism. His name
is actually Arnulfo. Leave it to me to do something like that!
But now we are at rock bottom. We will have to focus on finding a whole lot more now. Which is why we should always be finding no matter what!
Love you all!
Love, Hermana Stohlton
June 23, 2014
NADA
June 30, 2014
Hola familia!
Sorry I slacked off last week and didn't send an email.
Anyway, it's been a fairly decent week. Arnulfo has been confirmed and has received the priesthood. He is just a jolly sweet little grandpa. He's doing quite well.
Yesterday, the missionaries were in charge of Sacrament meeting and Elder Knapp, our district leader, made all of us give a talk even though I had given one in this ward already. But I must say, everybody loved my talk! I spoke about how they need to keep the commandments. I told a story that just made them laugh.It was the time when we went to the movies as a family, and the condition to be able to watch it, was we had to clean our room and bathroom, but I never got it clean. So my Papi had me go in to the movie anyway, and keep my head down through the whole entire thing! People were just laughing! Then I related how that goes along with keeping commandments even if we don't like them. I received lots of compliments after. Then Arnulfo, with his sense of humor, kept telling me to put my head down after. Then of course we were in charge of teaching gospel principles class. It was a bit disorganized, but we made it through!
The Ramirez family never came to church, so we're going to have to change their baptism date for far in the future because they are leaving on a one month vacation. But they are great! They've read a decent amount in the Book of Mormon.
We started teaching this couple, Jose and Teresa Trevinio. He's covered in tattoos and wants a change in life. Has no religious background at all but is "Catholic" and Teresa has never been baptized before. They have a date to be baptized August 3rd so we are excited for them! They invited us over for hot dogs on the 4th of July, so I'm really excited to eat American food this year instead of Mexican food for Independence Day!
On Saturday, Manny's mom made us some Panamanian food. It was extremely delicious! And she stuffed us. Then his sister made "me" us a cake and it was so dang delicious! She's got talent when it comes to baking. I really like that family a lot!
Transfer calls are coming this Saturday and I think I'll be leaving! Only time can tell.
Well family, something that applies to all of us, is just keep plugging along! Life is tough and we can be extremely tired, but The Lord isn't through with us yet. We have a very strong family and let's strengthen ourselves even more! Love you all!
Love, Hermana Stohlton
Table of Contents:
Intro, Pre Mission for-fun voting, Mailing Address
Prophetic Call/Accept/President/Welcome
Mission Maps/Mission Office
Temple Day - January 22, 2013
Farewell Reception - January 27, 2013
Missionary Set Apart - February 19, 2013
MTC 1st Day - drop off February 20, 20131
MTC February-March 2013
Arrial in Arcadia - March 4, 2013
1st Area March 2013 - La Puente - Covina West Zone
2nd Area June 2013 - San Gabriel - North East LA Zone
3rd Area December 2013 - Chino - East Zone
4th Area July 2014 - Arroyo - East LA North Zone
Birthday greetings to the family
Other:
CA-Arcadia Mission Video (youtube posting)
Elder Braden Stohlton's website
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