Bonus - with Pix

Hey here are the pictures! tell me if i got ya the good nametag one! and can you get me one more address/email mom? I would like to talk to Nathan Bollar if i could see if i can't get me an NBA updater haha and to see how he is doin, thanks for the others 

Hope all is well talk to ya next week and send me pictures of the rooms sheesh haha

Hello

Hello
That is crazy Brandon goes into the MTC today. Wierd that i have been out that long. i can't believe how fast time goes by. Before i know it i will be home haha. It is weird to say that i come home next year haha. It is Death Temple next P-day so i get to go to the temple again it is fun. Then Death Ball where we go to a huge stake center gym and play ball. The whole mission does so it is fun.
Crazy things this week. First i crashed on my bike and destroyed my pants i got at a thrift store so i can't where my Brooks Brothers suit i found there haha. It wasn't a bad crash just got things twisted up when my back fender was dragging and i tried to fix it while riding and the front wheel didn't stay straight haha. Then i twisted my ankle pretty bad playing basketball monday morning so i have been hobbling around the past couple days. It hurt pretty bad. I will live tho. My body took a toll this week  tho haha.
Julius Crutchfield is his name he is like 60 years old, wife has been a member since 09 and just decided it was his time to be baptized so i can't really take credit that i converted him but i taught him all the lessons thru so that was fun.
Corliss is not gonna be baptized. She is going to be an enternigator which is an investigator for eternity haha. I know she will come around whether in this life or the next and it just depends. I have tried to be as bold as i could and tryed to make her see her salvation is what is at stake here but she still won't haha. Sometimes i feel like it is my fault. Maybe i just need to do one more thing better, be more obidient, do something more. Idk but it is stressful. I have also fully decided that there is not a perfect obidient missionary. You just can't do it but you try to do your best. That is the way i see it so i am just trying to do my best.
Today was awesome! Me and Elder Watts my roommate went and took sunrise pictures today then we got rained on haha it was a downpour today but the pictures were great this morning. Beautiful sunrise pics, then we went to the old post office and went up in the top of that. I want to go on a clear day and see it cause it is cool. seen the white house for the first time haha, then to the national archives, then to the air and space museum. It was the best! felt like no one was in the museums so that was a perfect day.
Dad of course i am going to Paul Cardall! i would not miss that for anything haha. It is going to be the best. Not this saturday but next then he is speaking on sunday! going to be legit!
Tell Colton congrats he is going to love it.
hopefully i can send pictures later i got to leave cause the Family history center is closing
Love Elder Stoor!

Hello hello, First Baptism!!

Hello hello, First Baptism!! It was sweet! I just hope he will stay active. His wife was a less-active but is now re-activated as of now. It would be nice to see in 20 years all of my baptisms are still active. I think it could be easy to get a baptism in a transfer every one because it is proven you can do it. We call it  a DK baptism because he had 20 baptisms on his mission and i think 2 are active right now and he went home not too long ago and the people he baptized are not there. When i say accoutable it means capable of doing sin. and there are lots of people here who are unaccoutable and do not need it. Moroni 8:10 is the scripture that i meant to send and it talks on baptizing the accoutable. when you do not commit sin you don't need baptism if you know what i mean. I would be the happiest missionary if i can come back in 5, 10, 20 years and still have them active. If i only get one baptism and he stays active i would be happy. Otherwise i don't want them if you know what i mean. I don't want missionaries in the future talk about a Stoor baptism like they do DK baptisms. It is really sad.
Glad that they were district champs again that is pretty cool. I miss just playing and watching basketball. Funny story in my planner i have some NBA teams written down when me and Elder Wong were talking and during my Presidents Interview he told me about the Ling guy in New York who is going crazy on people. Then after that everyday we have heard his name on the streets cause people think i am asian and elder wong is asian haha. It is pretty cool but i miss being able to watch basketball. One of the only thinks i am missing.
If you give me Katie's address i might get Elder Wong to send a letter in Chinese to her from me haha. He is from the big huge city that starts with a S that is says is not far from where katie lives
Congrats to Colton! He is going to love it. Just tell him it will be a year that first week in the MTC then it will start to speed up and it won't stop. I cannot believe it is almost time for Transfers again.
i love hearing from home at least the good news. Sad to hear about Joe. Crazy how life is.
Hang in there Dad. I don't know how you do it but maybe you could buy me something with all the money your makin haha.
I like it hear President hinted that i would prolly be leaving which i think i would handle cause i am starting to go crazy in the city. I don't know if i can ever live in a city. But then i look at it and there is so much to do, so i can't complain. I hope to write to everyone and get Mara's present sent today. If you get it late forgive me haha you're gonna love the card. Happy Birthday regardless ya old woman.
Love Elder Stoor
Pictures coming next week.....maybe :]

Hey Guy's

Hey Guy's
This week was pretty slow. We are trying to focus on the people we have on a baptismal date and we have 7 right now which in this area everyone says is unreal haha. They are all pretty accountable too. We try to go around and just visit less-actives all the time and try to see what we can do there. Most say they don't want to meet us or they joined another church just to get away from us. I am so tired of unaccoutable people tho. They are all over the place, when i say un-accoutable it means pretty much crazy. There was a couple of missionaries who are famous in the mission who baptized for numbers and in turn baptized a ton of unaccoutable's that are just a burden to the ward and most really just do not need it. I think it is Moroni 8:10 or somewhere around there that is like a goal for what i want to do here. Baptize the accountable. We have a baptism on Sunday maybe depending on if he passes his interview. I am worried about this one but he knows what he is getting into so hopefully this will bring his wife back to church and they will be good. Julius Crutchfield. His wife seems a little bit on the pushy/crazy side and he is prolly the most patient person i have ever met. They fight alot but we did leave the other day on a good note in the house. Kinda wierd story but the Bushman's were with us and we wanted to be able to somehow teach Julius alone because most of the time he will just let his wife talk for him. Sis Bushman is amazing and she took Audrey back to the bedroom and had a good talk with her while we taught Julius about baptism and Holy Ghost and what he was getting himself into pretty much and he wanted to do it so that is a good sign but anyways afterwards i said the closing prayer and just said a prayer over the house and just kinda the usuals haha but anyway Julius ended up kissing his wife which surprised me cause sometimes I question whether or not they like each other then the Bushman's said we can do that too. Then E. Wong well anyways i kinda ran out the the house haha. Super good and prolly the only time we left that house on a good note. Usually there is a fight over something the other one did just stupid little things but it was good to leave on a good note.
The other family we have mom and daughters have there grandma in the hospital and she is dieing and they are heading the opposite way than what we would like so hopefully we can meet with them and get them to come to church and hopefully the grandma thing gets worked out so we can actually meet with them. They are pretty cool. Super fun to teach a family together but challenging sometimes. They should be good.
Corliss is just being blind to her answer as far as i can tell and won't let go of her old faith but we will have to see. She introduced us to her Catholic friend and we meet with both of them tomorow i think. So hopefully if we get her friend Silvia then she will follow. I think we have tried almost everything there is out there with Corliss so maybe this one will work haha
This last week was pretty tough tho. Seemed like there were sometimes with nothing to do so we just go try to find people home which never seems to work out and g-q cheesy people and then nothing works out. This is alot of mental work that just seems to wear you down. I questioned alot about myself this week and i have learned that i don't like city life one bit in the process. It is crazy how much goes on around you and it gives me a headache. I really don't ever want to be in leadership cause that just means you add other missionaries to your headache and mine is bad enough haha. This is super hard work and i learned it this last week and the days just keep going by faster and faster. P-day Sunday p-day sunday seems to be the process you go through
Last night was really cool. We went up to the V.C. with a less-active to a night of music and inspiration. It was a really awesome program put on by missionaries and just a good thing. Good talks and good music can always make you feel better.
Elder Wong says hi to you all!
This pictures that you see me in. The one in Dad's email i am a ways away that was a new missionary/trainer meeting where we got rebuked for not following our study guides like we should be. Aparently the others are not studying like they should be. I was fine but there is always room for improvement. One thing i have learned is that i will never be perfect here so i might as well stop trying to be perfect. Just do the best that i can. I have heard the Andy Griffith story alot here on my mission where when the kid Opie i think runs away and the dad finds him and says just do your best and i will always love you and that is the way that the Savior is like. He tells us to do our best and he will pick up the rest. John Bytheway and Pres. Matusumori explain it way better so yeah haha
We metro to the meetings or catch a ride with the Zone Leaders. We ride in the man van alot with them but have to metro if we go to meeting where the ZL's don't go.
I did get a letter from Uncle Phil but i have not had the time to write him back. I recieved a few from other people but not recently. Mostly it is just your guy's email that i get which i am fine with but i don't print them cause it costs money where i e-mail at. I try to write everyone that writes me but i have an idea so get me Phil Young's and Sis. Mazza's addresses and i am gonna send them something. Thanks for telling me everything you do. gotta run as usual i seem to be the last one to e-mail and i take the longest haha
Love Elder Stoor
P.S. Mara if you get something from me don't open till your birthday...don't know how long it is going to take to get it there but i am going to try and send it this week

Hello, Hello,

Hello Hello,
Tell Brandon if he is the little asian that i guarded last year haha. I think i know who he at least looks like. That is pretty sweet! He should love Australia, but it might not be as good as it is here ;], You should tell me real soon if Colton got his call this week!! i am so excited. He will love it. I really didn't know how much fun it really is till i got out here.
My Asian companion is teaching me how to cook haha kinda not really but we are rice buddies cause we can make some pretty good tasting rice haha. He loves basketball and is pretty good at it too so i think we are going to start to play in the mornings at a street court down the street haha. Maybe do some proselyting basketball with the cool black boys. We actually got free laundry this week that is pretty awesome. Saves me alot of money. Speaking of money people leave penny's all over the place so i started to pick them up last transfer and just in this past week i have made exactly 50 cents. Oh yeah
Tell Katie i am going to get my companion to send her a letter in Chinese but it will really be from me haha. I might start to try and learn Chinese from him haha. He is pretty sweet tho and i love the opportunity i have to serve with him. think i will send a picture in this letter too you guy's.
Thanks for the things you are sending me mom, i have not got them yet but they will be usuful to use on the miss. I wish i could have my ipod touch to use for lessons but the missionaries here i guess too much temptation. Two transfers ago they all had to send them home. They could be such a good tool tho.
I had to take the lead now cause Elder Wong doesn't want too and is scaring me saying i have to train but if i do i am going to write him a nasty letter about it haha jk but i really don't want to have responsibility this early in my mission. But everyone in Leadership right now is going home this year most of them going home in the summer. I really don't want to be a Dl, Zl, or AP cause it just adds to the stress you already have as a missionary. I look at one missionary who is super awesome and has not done any leadership roles and that is what i want. Not having a Dl as a comp is really better too. You can focus on the people better when you don't have your companion worrying about the other missionaries in the district too haha.
I do have to say that the mission president is the best. He is super fun. He jokes around with us when he is around haha. I love missionaries who are chill and want to work and have fun. Me and E. Wong are having soo much fun it is awesome.
This last week we have a family on date whose grandma is dying which kinda sucks cause that kept them from church...hopefully they can still make it on the 26th to be baptized. Julius Crutchfield is on the 19th so that will be good. he seems to be preparing himself but we are worried that he is just doing it to shut his wife up which in this case is surprisingly understandable but he needs to do it for the right reasons. and Corliss is being as stubborn as ever. I think we are going to just have to be VERY bold with her and then kinda stop coming to see her as much cause she can tell us just about everything. She is just super attached to her church but i think she is realizing the big picture if not that is my job to tell her the big picture i guess you could say haha. hopefully she will decide to get baptized. When i see everything i just wrote you i say Freak 6 baptisms. That is pretty sweet when you see in the past that noone has really baptized that much. You look at the ward too and less-actives are starting to come back which is super cool. The Spirit is so strong at church and i think it is because of the Bishop we have in the ward. He is super awesome and he is really helping us out by doing what he is doing with sacrament meetings manly just talking about the basics of the gospel. The people here just need that over and over and over again, because they just don't soak it all in. We are having success tho and i am loving every minute of it.
yesterday we were walking and was stopped by this white guy who started out the conversation and said you gonna teach me about the bleap god of yours? we said i guess if you want...Do you really think you could persuade me to believe in Jesus?...Yeah i think we just might be able to do that haha Had a good conversation. He swears alot and that got on my nerves especially when he would swear about god and jesus and he noticed the look on my face and stopped and i guess i was just a  little mad about he was cussin so much but he apologized and stopped cussin and had a good spiritual thought and he said he would read the book of mormon, so we will see where that goes. I don't know why everyone thinks we know about government stuff and everyone here hates the government and always seems to vent government stuff to us and we just sit there for about five minutes then change it to gospel stuff we meet people all the time who try and talk about the government. Had one yesterday talk about Monsanto haha kinda hit home when he said that word lol. He things they are working with the government to control all the food. Don't know what that meant but i said ok haha we get random conversations started all the time here in Anacostia sometimes it is annoying and everyone here seems to be a little bit on the un-accountable side so that is tough but if i look past it i love it. I just can't wait to serve in an accountable ward where people seem to just be there. I love it here tho and i know i am getting alot of cool experiences here.
I cannot think of anything i want from home right now i thought there was something else but maybe i could ask for it next week haha. I would like some recipes that would be easy to make and quick. Let me know it there is such a thing.
The weather here is just beautiful. I can't believe it is february cause it still feels like a perfect fall day all the time. I am going to hate summer tho i can already tell. We had one day in the 60's that was super hot and i was sweating. I can't imagine it in the 90's or higher. Going to be sweating all day everyday haha.
Here are some pictures from the past few weeks hope you like them
until next week
Love Elder Stoor
hope you enjoy the pictures...that is the biggest cochroach E.Fawcett has every seen and he got the honor's of killing it right before he left haha only bug every seen in the apartment so far. Could not find his friends...might still be some i don't know tho

Whatca got Elders?

EEWWWWW!

Elder Fawcett & Elder Stoor - Elder Fawcett's last day in the mission

must be Elder Wang

First Transfer

Hey guy's
So Monday night is call out night to see who we are getting where we are going before transfers and it was super weird to feel the anxiety haha Elder Wong is his name and he is from China...can't get a fellow citizen for a companion. haha I met him before but not really haha he seems super cool tho in the first little while we have been together. This morning was super tough to say good-bye to Elder Fawcett. That was just as hard as leaving mom and dad at the mtc. I know i will be alright tho and should be an easy adjustment but we had so much in common it was crazy. We had tons of fun and he was not trunky at all which was super nice. He gave me alot of stuff and i already miss him alot. Also E. Morris the red-head was transfered so weird not seeing him cause i was his roomate pretty much for the last 9 weeks. Prolly the toughest day of my mission so far but it is p-day haha.

Elder Wong is super sweet tho we have gotten off to a good start and he was Fawcett's comp at one point and they are super good friends so it is good. he is super good at basketball and loves the NBA so we spent an hour talking about that. I will get you a picture of us next week. I don't have my camera with me again. I can already see unity coming which is good so i am excited for this next transfer because i think we will see a few baptisms from mine and Fawcett's efforts. Alot of them should be this month i hope.

I really love this area tho so i am happy that i am not leaving but i am afraid i prolly will because the numbers have come up from last couple transfers in our area. Last transfer had a lot of success. It was funny we found a 100$ broken piece of a bill! Fawcett found it then i found another piece in a drain! we were stoked and looked around thinking we just found $100 which would be sweet haha. but we never found it and the bank would not cash the pieces dang it but it will be a good memory haha. After that tho we thought we were happy. Later that day we went to a family we found. They are super cool ask awesome ?'s names are Erica mom, then three girls Karlisha who has two little girls, ShaDonna 15, Shaquia like 12 i think but we put them on a baptismal date for Mara's birthday and it made us both super happy. Last night we were thinking about it. Fawcett looked at me and said the Lord's work brings happyness that lasts while the worldly happyness don't last it was super cool to realize it like that.

I have been finding coins on the ground and i made $2.59 this transfer haha

One nice thing about having an Asian companion is people might not think i am Asian anymore lol. Don't know why everyone thinks i am Asian but they do. It is going to be interesting cause on the way to the Library E. Wong told me that he is really scared lol so from the black people they look at us and say there are two Asian missionaries who are walking around scared which is the truth haha. I know the Lord will protect us tho.

This next transfer i hope to work more with the less-actives then we have been and re-activate the accountable one's that would not be a burden to the ward. Accountability is really a problem here. Fast and Testimony meetings are funny unless you have an investigator to say the least, then they scare you.

As i look back i know i am a completely different person than when i came out. I have grown so much it is crazy. I know this Church is true and i know it blesses lives. We take for granted how much it blesses your lives until you go live somewhere else. In Utah and Idaho it is just a way of life, out here in D.C. it is totally different. I cannot explain how much it has blessed my life not even in words let alone typing. I want everyone to just sit back and thing of where you would be without this gospel and i can't even imagine! It is crazy how much i have grown in the last 9 weeks. I can truly see how i was prepared before my mission to be able to be out here at this time. I love this work and i would not trade it for anything else.

Thanks for the addresses i might have some time to write. I do not let letters get in the way of the work here so answer to Mara don't worry how much you write me. They tell us to only write on P-day but you have an hour every night because we come in early if we don't have appointments because it is super sketchy to be out and i was told if i felt unsafe to go home so i don't like to be out at night unless i have to be, especially in some parts of the area.

Here are the answers to your ?'s mom. How is the laundry coming?  Laundry is good but expensive, E.Wong just gave me an idea to get it done for free so hopefully it will work 1.75 wash 1.50 dry super expensive Have you cleaned you toilet recently? prolly not haha need to   What are you cooking or eating? I eat some quesadia's with hot dogs and jalepeno's alot, cereal, soup, pb&j, and not much else haha if you could send me some easy meals to make with not much ingredients i would try and make something   How often do you eat with members?  i have been told that last transfer was weird but they try and at least feed us once a week but this last one i bet it was close to average 3 times Have you been back to the mall area? no i haven't but i want to go and think we will next p-day   Anything you need? Um, there is a D and C DVD case thing that would be super useful. Also a DVD of Mormon Messages would be awesome to use for spiritual thoughts if you could work on getting those that would be good but no rush haha thanks  On the mission blog - it looks like you in a pix of practicing baptizing? not me haha

Thanks Shelb for the picture. Listen to them and you will be a good basketball player.

Mara look up Popcorn Poppin, it is a c-d that Pierruci has that is super sweet. It is kids bop to hymns and such it is super good haha Also if you want to get me a birthday gift or christmas gift you could get me the blue tie that you bought me again...sorry but Fawcett liked that tie and i gave it to him as a present to remember me. Wierd but i came out with 8 ties and now i am up to 17 haha I like ties tho.

I better get going the computer says good bye. I am doing fine and very excited for this next transfer. Next week i will send you home a picture of the district from last transfer and some other good ones i got. I love you all

Love Elder Stoor