Wed, David Sosa called and said he was having a hard time so we went over and gave him a life lesson haha. People just don't get it out here how to live. They depend on the government and don't want to go to work so they can still get the government benefits it is kinda stupid. But he was in a stage of mind to listen and i prolly was a little hard on him but he needs to figure this all out. He has missed the last three weeks of church and it is starting to take a toll on him. Hopefully he gets his priority's figured out. Really good guy but just 22 and still living with his dad. lost his mom so that is hard for him still but i just can't imagine still living at home at 22!
Thurs, Mary Green our new found member, took us to lunch and it was really good! She talked alot about how everything is going in her life and how Satan is getting her. WoW problems and she just needs to figure it out but i think she will cause she has the right attitude about it! Read the Book of Mormon and watch the Spirit come into her life! She has already realized she can't be drinking anymore and so hopefully she starts to live it soon! Busy lady who runs her own business. We also met with Mary and Betty again and had a really good lesson on Church and just why it is true. Betty told us she doesn't think her church is really true anymore, before she was set on it, and she said because they are now allowing gay marriage in the church haha...if that is what it takes then perfect. I hope she will take time now to really listen to us! And Merri did end up coming to church! not Betty but that is progress! She has told everyone she was going to church for the last 2 or 3 years and never did it. The Ward Council didn't believe me when i told them she was coming and showed them haha! I was super happy to see her there!  We had dinner with the Rodriguez's too and it was on the First Vision and how we first came to know that this was true! I think i have a pretty sweet experience and it was cool to hear it translated into spanish! It was when i was 17 or 18 and had an experience with the Book of Mormon! I read until i was going to know it was true and i found 2Nephi 20:10, go look it up!
Fri, It snowed! and it has been super cold for a while! it is only 25 or 30 which wouldn't be that cold at home but ooooooo it is out here! We seen Scott and Gale today and just had a really good talk with them and a couple of games of darts! Twas good!!! Dougalls fed us! I love them and it will be hard to see them go home! They leave next month! They are a pretty sweet example to me! We then had a fun night at basketball! It is no fun when you have no appointments but luckily today was a day to get appointments so hopefully we can just keep having appointments! Super cold and no one was out so we called people on the phone..practically everyone we know haha.
Sat, Gordy's had us for lunch...he is pretty funny guy who talks a ton and laughs at his own jokes haha. He is a fun guy to be around and has a strong testimony! We got the door slammed in our face a couple of times so that was really really fun!!! Whatever it is i ain't interested....slam haha. We then called Scott and had bro night with him haha. Had a really good lesson on baptism and how it is the remission of sins and that is why we are here! It is to help people to be cleansed of their sins! I thought the spirit was strong and we ended up teaching a full 3rd lesson and had some pizza with him talked for a while! He and his wife will be one's we come to see out here! They are the coolest ever and i have a really good friendship with them even tho they are older than you mom and dad haha! He jokes about that alot! I should be hanging out with your dad not you lol!
Sun, My comp went to baptize someone and i had to stay at church! E. Dougall was my comp and we got to go to the youth sunday school class and help teach haha. About halfway through they turned the time over to me and was like teach...well they told me they were going to have ?'s for me aaaahhhh!!! Well i had to make up some lesson on the spirt! haha Lot of awkward moments but i am super excited the way the youth teaching thing it cause it is the way the missionary's teach now! We are here to teach people not lessons and it is hard! But it is the best learning environment you can get! During the 3rd hour the alarms went off and the pipes had burst above the stake office so there was a flood coming from the ceiling!!! haha it was a fun expierence getting wet and getting all the stake stuff out and then got the shovels and started pushing the water out the door! Twas neat to see most all the men jump in and help out! True testimony to the church for sure! kinda weird seeing water falling from the ceiling tho haha. We then had a good dinner with the Simmons..new fam in the ward who is used to the D.C. South missionary's...they are freaking chucks cause this is the second one from Virginia and they expect when we come over we are gonna stay for like 2 or 3 hours!!! It was hard cause we had stuff to do but it was good cause we gave her a blessing and it was the husbands first one...got the mel priesthood week before!! Spirit was super strong and it was prolly the best blessing i have ever been apart of!
Mon, We went to the V.C. with Tony Alverez! he is a guy who says he wants to be on a mission before May this year and he hasn't been to church since i have been here, go figure! We had a good V.C. tour on missionary work then got to watch the Testaments in the big theater  Twas amazing! Spirit was super duper strong and then on the way home i asked and told him how to prepare for mission and how he needed to be coming to church! Hope to see him there next week! We then got dropped by cool voice Kenny...dang it! It was a good night of checking on people and having no success  haha People haven't been out cause it has been cold..we may have to start to tract!!! Not my fav thing to do but might be the only thing to do!
Tues, Had a good lesson with David Sosa again! He had a old David spell which isn't good and i think the spirit re-buked him and i just hope he gets this figured out soon! Committed to be at church for all three hours so i hope he sticks too it! We then picked up a new guy! Named Eric! He is Asian guy who referred himself and wants to get a foundation! I think he looked stuff up on Mormon.org cause he knew some things that i don't know how else he would know them! It was a good lesson and we are going to the V.C. too put him on Date on Saturday!!!! We then had an awesome lesson with the kids!!! On the Plan of Salvation and it went really good! I don't know if we are going to be able to baptize them at all because their parents are wish washy and i don't think we will be doing them justice if we did. But we will see how it all works out and maybe end up getting one of the parents to get baptized with them is the hope! Faith and DaJohn are really good kids who does have a little desire to be baptized so i am excited! We then had a good dinner with the Stewarts! They are odd people but really cool in their own way. hopefully be getting them to work closer with us cause they are ward missionary's! Shaffer's again tonight! Man it was a really really powerful lesson on the Atonement! I loved it soo much! We read 3 Nephi 18 and then had them ask ?'s and then Scott asked ?'s from what he read on chapter 11! I really think they are inching inching their way closer and i just hope that they will get it figured out too because i think it will be a complete life changer for them! I know it will be the biggest blessing in their lives if they let it!
Today, we went to the mall and to the wax museum and modern art! Modern art was really dumb...but the wax museum was pretty cool. Had like life size wax people of the presidents and famous people...my camera was dead and so i didn't get to take very many pics but i will try to get them from my best friend Elder Morris!
I will go buy another s-d card and get it sent home next week hopefully with some other things too!
Love you!!!

Wednesday, We had a lesson with a man named Kenny. We had a priest from the ward out with us, Ben Blanco and it was going to be good from the start! We started the lesson and Ben wasn't saying much and we taught savior's earthly ministry to bom without him really saying anything he was just soaking it up. We turned to him finally and just asked him to bear his testimony on the bom and he did. As soon as he started to talk, the spirit entered the room so strong and you can tell that Kenny was feeling it. It was super cool! His testimony wasn't much more that i know the book of mormon is true and it has helped me stay out of trouble. That was pretty much it but it worked! Really good lesson. Thanks Ben!
Thurs, We weekly planned in the morning and went to go see one of our kinda crazy investigators. And he was really crazy. We tried to start a lesson and starting talking about we are going to tell you there is one true church in Christ's time and there is one true today. We will also explain how the Book of Mormon is your way of knowing that is true. Then he jumped in and started to tell us we were doing it all wrong. We are going way too fast and it is about saving souls out here and the way we are doing it we were losing them. as you can imagine it made me a little mad but i held my peace. my comp started to come in then and i was kinda thinking about telling him all about the plan of salvation and gospel of jesus christ in about 5 min....but he ended up trying to correct my comp on how to teach and we pretty much just said good-bye after he ended his rant haha. Really frustrating but can't do much. He prolly should have been dropped a long time ago. I don't seem to like thursdays tho nothing works out haha. We then had a refferal to go to. Name Mary Green, had an apt at 4:30, we get there and she was like Sanchez told me 7:30. Sanchez is the AP and we are like you know Sanchez??? Apparently our AP's G-Q'ed her and set up a time to meet later through the phone and she thought it was the same people haha. And to cap it off, she is a less-active member haha. But we came back at 7:30 and kicked the AP's out of the picture and had a really good talk with her. We are not going to push her too much but she commited to read the book of mormon and i know that that alone can and will bring her back if she reads it!
Fri, We had District Meeting in the morning. Couldn't do it yesturday cause everyone had meetings...We then had a really good day of checking on people and getting dogged! Then went to dinner and had a really good spiritual thought! Just on the Atonement and missionary work using my Christ puzzle. We then went and played soccer with the ward! had only 4 more people and so a little 3 on 3 soccer! It was really fun and prolly my first time playing soccer!
Sat, Had a Bishop Breakfast and those are always good! We then went to Heather Rose's for the last time cause she is moving. She just wanted us to come over and play cards once a week so we would in the slower time's, never really a set appt. We helped her move stuff down tho and did service! I guess we played cards right before church for the last time! We then had an apt with Wolfgang and Mark again and went really well. Funny sometimes when Mark explains the apostacy to us but tells us God would never abandon his church! I don't think he will ever come around and it is sad. Been meeting with missionary's for 7 years on and off. Wolfgang has good ideas to try and i think we might and see what happens. tell you later......We then had a little apt. with Shannon who is speaking on Sunday at Why I Believe and we just helped her with her talk and i was bummed cause we were going to be with her non-member boyfriend but he ended up not coming up this weekend. We then had that dinner you got the text from, she is super funny and we had a good time forgot about the third male rule until later haha oops. We then went to the Shaffer's and had a good lesson and then i kicked their butts in a game of darts haha! YES!!
Sun, Played cards and said goodbye to Rose, Church lately has been super super super good lately! I have gotten alot out of it! Maybe it is because i am trying to pay attention more cause we haven't had adult investigator's there lately. We then taught the Lawrence kids! It is fun to teach kids. We watched a movie with them and taught them about faith! It was really good! We then had a member Rob Carey who just returned take us to Why I Believe to go and see Shannon speak and she did great! This one was the best one i have been too yet! Rob brought us back and he loves to play Yahtzee and so i promptly lost in that game. It is all about luck! He is great tho and is excited to help us out in any way so we will get him started!
Mon, had the best Zone Conferance i have had on my mission, AP's gave the best workshop i have heard and Pres. gave his best too. AP's gave one on becoming a PMG missionary and how to do it. Had the funniest District 3 video ever and they got there point accross, hope to get my hands on a copy of that one! Pres, gave his on helping investigators truly repent! After Zone Conferance i gave Gale Shaffer a blessing! It was a good one i think! I haven't done it in a while but maybe that was good cause i relied more on the spirit! It was a good expierence for all i think! We then had a really good dinner with the Farnes! He is the best and they do alot of missionary work! Really good examples on how to share the gospel and just had a good conversation with them all kinda focused on the work and that is always nice! We then had a lesson with a new person, who is a former who is gay and we didn't know till we taught him. haha Had a pic of him and his partner we saw when we left. He isn't a femi gay tho so that is good! Cool guy, and we committed him to read the book of mormon and said he is coming back in a couple of weeks from a trip so we will see if he wants to meet again!
Tues, met with Tony Alvarez, took another kid trying to go on a mission and had a good conversation with him. He committed to church...said he wants to go on a mission but hasn't come to church since i have been here haha, he needs to come. They both say they want to go but aren't really doing anything to prepare as far as i see but i guess they are doing as much as i did haha. not much. It was a good lesson tho and had a good time. Hopefully he will be at church. We then met with the kids again and it was really hard. they just didn't want to listen! It was a hard lesson and made me not want to have kids ever haha. Shaffer's are awesome! HAd a fantastic lesson with them tonight too.
Wed, Marshmallow war for zone activity it was really fun!
Love ya BYE BYE

Thurs, we had weekly planning and then went to an appointment who pulled an anti movie out on us and kinda made me really mad and then the spirit left and it was bad. He tried to prove that the movie only was stating facts and that's when i got pissed and told him off and then he shut up and we left haha. Woops. I hate anti material and there is soo much of it out there it is ridiculous. I cooled down tho and had a good visit with Sandy Staples, put her in tears again so the spirit was there i think! Read the first chapter in the BoM, We met with Shannon and Rob Carey as well! Two pretty cool members!

Fri, we met with Merri and Betty and rebuked them for not coming to church and taught the Atonement...had a funeral on Sunday so couldn't come to church! Next Week!! We then had a meeting with our WML and went over the Mission Plan for the Ward and he is just not excited at all! Hopefully we will get a new one soon, sounded like we would from the Bishop. He is recovering from surgury so i guess i will give him a little slack! We had dinner with the sister's and the Bridge Boys and had a good lesson on missionary work and then after played basketball at the church and i am really out of shape it is ridiculous!

Sat, No apointments today but we played basketball with some Asians in the morning and went and taught them the first lesson afterwards! They asked good ?'s and speak really good English but i think we will eventually pass them to the Chinese but they are super super cool! After we just got dogged haha! Good day of just out talking to everyone! It was fun! Went to Mickey D's for some ice cream.

Sun, Church was super super good! It has helped me alot recently. Seems like all my ?'s are getting answered there! We had a meeting with Mark Getson right after, he has met with missionary's off and on since 2005 haha. loves the Catholic Church too much and says doesn't believe in apostasy but then practically tells us all about it haha Brought Wolfgang along and they went crazy talking German, he is the one that texted you haha really cool! He is coming back with us to Mark's on Sat gonna be sweet!!! Had dinner with the Borrowmans! Sisters gave a spiritual thought...kinda went south haha Sis Nakatska is learning English, from Japan, and she stuggled...felt bad but everyone understood! We then had a good night of checking on people! couple appointments from it!

Mon, met with David Sosa in the morning..had a good visit and rebuked him for not coming all three hours of church! then met with Procter and watched the J.S. 20 min movie! was very good! then met with Scarlette Michelle. She is a former and a interesting story..almost got baptized but something pushed her away and so we will try to remind her why she wanted to be baptized! We then had dinner with the Arneta's! haha They are great! Daughter is a senior and it was really fun to talk to all of them for some reason! They then gave us alot of food to take home and a Tabasco bottle!!! haha

Tues, we didn't have appointments again, met with Heather Rose and played some card games, David Sosa called and told us to come see his rc car. It is pretty sweet, can go like 35 miles an hour! remote control car! Crazy...We then met with Faith and DaJohn two grandkids of a member! It was a good lesson and put them on date for Feb 3rd! Baptize some kids!!! we then went to the Shaffer's and had a really good pulled pork dinner and really good lesson! My comp got a pic of the tree of life out and then we read 1Nephi 13 haha. I was confused and he told me after wrong chapter haha. But good apostacy lesson with the tree of life pic. The Shaffer's are cool and then we lost in a dart game! We play almost everytime after the lesson, i am getting good and like darts alot!

Wed, Went Laser tagging today!!! Super fun! I am out of shape and i suck at laser tag. Been a good week and i feel good.
I know i am a little homesick but i guess that is life. I don't think i will ever get over it. I am focused on the work and trying to give it my all! I started to get alot out of my studies again and that is helping me! I seem to go through a dry spell of not getting really anything from my studies and then i do!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Wed, was actually a good night...met with 3 people haha, Sis Gassimu, who is on the focus 15 list and we had a good visit with her, she works at costco and gets paid time and a half on sundays so that is a temptation haha, we also met with david sosa for a little bit, as well as we had a dinner, a member that signed up had a meeting with the stake pres. abrubtly so she took us to Cici's pizza and paid for us and left haha

Thurs, We went and bought a new GPS, i only did it cause it was on a good sale, my last one broke and they wouldn't fix it. It was the charger in the back that broke and it seems like it would be an easy fix but they wouldn't even look at it and said that they tell everyone to buy a new one. I am getting money for it tho from E. Watts who broke it haha. Just gonna split the cost for him so that will be good.

We had District Meeting as well and it was a super good one. Felt the Spirit strong and just learned some things to try out to find people. We then Weekly Planned, had dinner with the Rodriguez's and went to play basketball. Had a good crowd and it was just fun. I love that sport but learn that i am out of shape haha i can hardly get up and down the court. Maybe someday i will get back in shape.

Fri, We went and met the Shaffer's today! Was really good! They are awesome and Rushton fit in so that makes me happy. They are soooo close to coming it is ridiculous. When we come back out to visit we will stay with them so you will meet him. It will be good! We answered a couple of their ?'s and had a good visit!
Sat, We had a good day of proselyting! haha I forgot my other planner that has this stuff in it so i can't remember much from these days! I know it was really good tho haha.

Sun, Church was absolutely amazing! It was really good testimony meeting...prolly not as good as your's i am sure, but good cause Scott came to church! I was so happy! I bore my testimony, mainly on change idk why, but change is everything about missionary work. We are always out searching for change and we get so focused on the other people that if we ever take a look at ourselves you find that you have changed a whole lot! I like the changes in my life. I will be a different person when i come home. I especially just like that fact that we don't have all the distractions like you have...watching t.v. is the biggest waste of time ever! I know i will go back to watching some t.v. but hopefully not as much as i did before. There are way more productive things to do in life.

After Church we went to the Shaffer's and had a member come...their home
teacher...then they fed us dinner...then we lost tract of time and it was 7:30 and had nothing else to do so we taught another lesson and then went home from there. Kinda a relaxing day but i think productive too cause we had a heart to heart with the Shaffer's i feel like! I think things are going to really change in their life now...we committed them to pray together cause they were not!

Mon, we did service for Elder Dougall and moved a bunch of furniture for the mission, they are gearing up to get like 4 more apartments for the mission, which is alot haha! We will see where everyone goes, i guess we are going to be getting a lot of misisonary's here in the next couple of transfer's so that will be exciting! We were with him for a while then went and moved a piano for the Shaler's or however you spell it haha, got a dinner out of it as well hehe crab is good!

We then met with the Bottenfields! They are pretty cool. She works at Costco and has the same problem as Sis Gassimu, Also Vernon her husband who says it is a pleasure to meet you to the ladies...like MT. Vernon haha also talked about going to the islands to meet his wife who the women were all topless haha! Good ole Vernon is funny, and losing his memory. Kinda sad but this explains Vernon lol

Tues, we had Zone Training! It was really good! Had a good time there! Was a really good ZT! We then met met a guy on the street...i asked him if he liked North Face, cause he was wearing a jacket and beanie of that brand and he was like heck ya it is the best! He then looks at my nametag and bears his testimony of Christ haha! We set up a time and have a meeting with him haha. Super weird how it worked but it was a good thing! We then had dinner at a nasty Mexican place but a member fed us haha We then went and seen Heather Rose since the Shaffer's dogged us!

Today was a good P-Day! we played tennis and then just kinda relaxed until i got to come email! We have dinner tonight so that will be fun!

Thanks for all you do and i will let you guy's know if there is anything to send out! Look for the S-D card again cause i can't find it and sure i wouldn't noticed it if it came in the mail! I will look again tho!
I am going to try and get you all shirts too! Christmas you know...lol

Love you all
Elder Stoor

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Well, hi, Hard to hear about Ralph, the others didn't really hit me like his did for some reason...Tell Linda i will put her name in the temple here...

Well this week was a fun one! You know what we did on Wed. night...Dinner with the Brunner's! They are the best! he is from Austria and has the sweetest accent and his wife is cool too. reminds me of Becca! We spent longer at dinner than we should have haha lost track of time talking with them but it was about missionary work for the most part haha. 

Thurs. Last DM! It was fun, played a game like we normally do, did a maze thing blindfolded with our comp leading us! Twas fun...we then seen Merri and Betty. Had a really good lesson with them on the Church and how it is set up and how to know it is true. They committed to come to church! and didn't show up....we will go back....then had some fun with shannon and her kids. Played darts and talked. We then went to the Lawrence's and had a really good lesson with the kids! They called after church on Sunday and said that the kids wanted to get baptized! YAY! haha 9 and 11 year old haha. Hopefully we can get there mom away from the J.W's...We then went and played basketball with the ward and was really fun! Had some investigator's out and did some fellowshipping! I love playing basketball and sounds like Shelb is too...will i only get to see half the season or just miss a couple of games? don't remember when it starts...

Fri, We went on an exchange! I went to E. Moss in Seneca Ward! Was good to meet back up with him. He is a really good kid but it also reminded me about being with him. I love him but he is hard to be with for some reason..personality's just don't match up. We met with a couple of member's...i don't remember there names haha, had a good lesson with there investigator Ana...She is sweet! 

Sat, we had Bishop breakfast! Last one of the transfer! I really like Bishop and i think we will get a new one this transfer..couselor moving and he has been in for 6 years haha past due i believe! We did service for Sis Ezell..a older lady in the ward who just needs house work and other things done...cleaning out her house one bit at a time. We then met with the Shaffer's and had a good conversation..don't remember what about but it was good more on them later..Marcus and David! David Sosa prepared a little lesson on family and it was super spiritual..we then tied it into the plan of salvation twas really good. good to know what happens after this life. Brings alot of peace i think. Even tho it is really hard to deal with it all at the same time. We then had a good meeting with Shannon and her kids...Taught the Resto with the cups and how the church is set up and stuff..we then got Cheyann who is 19's info and sent the missionary's in Michigan to see her...think in Shawn Bank's mission...not sure tho. Then had an awesome dinner with the Fogles..really humble family cement floors and only a lamp was working. They are really cool and had a good spiritual thought on the book of mormon...can't go wrong with that topic. We then met with Rob Carey. He is a good guy, just came back to church this transfer..we will start to go and talk about the gospel over a game of Yahtzee from now on haha! 

Sun, Church was great...talked about the new youth curriculum in a combined meeting 3rd hour! Felt like i was at a Zone Conferance..that program is really missionary related. Teach the Youth exactly the way we are teaching...should be fun for ya Dad!

We then had a good meeting with Sis Shelton after...just a quick how ya doing and found out she took a family member to the v.c.! We will jump on that hehe. Then Everything else cancelled haha and mostly dogged haha. Rob Kelly met with us and it was interesting. He really wasn't too focused on what we were reading, or he is just a native Washingtonian haha. 

Mon, Went the the Dougalls for breakfast, we showed up and then 3 companionships of sister's did too haha. It was weird but fun. Sister missionary's are awkward to be around. We then seen David and had a good lesson with him. Read Scriptures and it was fun! Then went to sis Aires! She is a good ole lady. We watched "Only a Stonecutter" with her. good story...look it up. Then went to the V.C. With the Shaffer's and had the best tour ever. Sis Joost gave it and she was great! She went home today tho haha. one of the most spiritual expierences of my misson! Committed them to devote themselves to God and i know that Gale knows that this is true! I know that Scott will figure it out eventually! They are the best ever! He is super funny and they are my "parents" haha. Not trying to replace you but i guess it happens...we then came home and went back with Rob Kelly for FoL and it was super fun! I like the lights and have a pic to sent to ya. 

Tues, Found out that i was staying and E. Peterson was leaving so he packed in the morning. Did some service for a member and she took us out for a milkshake! Learned a little about her. She is super cool. not active and prolly won't come back but she is alright for us to come over and talk with her so maybe..never know. Stuck on the black and priesthood and women and priesthood haha. Little things..We then went to the Wonnacotts and talked with them..Really good talk, they know alot of people in this ward and we will hopefully be able to tell them of some progress of people they mentioned to us! Then met with Ricardo..he just doen't seem interested and prolly will have to drop him but maybe his mom from Honduras will work on him. After we spent the night with the Shaffer's..had dinner, watched videos and played darts haha! They are the best and we have had alot of good times with them! I love going over to there house.

Wed, Elder Rushton is my comp. We will see how it goes. If history with us is the same it will be very interesting. His past companions all have told me i need to fix him and i am the one to do it haha. Guess pride beats pride haha. It will be fun! It will either work really really good or not work at all! I am not worried too much about it. Don't worry i won't be too bad, but if he ain't giving neither will I! haha