¡¡¡HORACIOOO!!!

​I have never in my whole life seen anything as wonderful as I did this weekend. I have never felt so happy than to watch this little 75 year old man walk down into the font! I love him sooo much. We didn't find out until Friday night for sure whether or not we would be baptizing him, but Friday night we had a noche de hogar with him in the home of the familia Molina. We watched a video of the restoration and after had a good night of sharing testimonies and reflecting on the experience that had Joseph Smith, we asked him if he wanted to be baptized the next morning or if he had a doctors appointment and he said, sure. He would get baptized. haha  Saturday morning we got to his house a half hour before his baptism after we got every thing in order at the church and got him some clothes, and he was already dressed completely in white sitting in his maka. He had the largest smile on his face when we walked in and had it there the rest of the day (except for in the pictures.. haha) After he got in the font, he turned around and looked directly and me with the biggest, toothless smile I have ever seen. These past few days he has had such a light in him. And he is so so so so happy. TAUGHT REPENTANCE. BAPTIZED A CONVERT. 

This week we also got to go to the temple. BEST WEEK EVER. It was so needed. It was nice to sit in the temple, receive some much needed revelation for me and for my investigators and be reminded of the reality of the Savior, our Father and the plan that they have for us. I left with a full heart and with a new determination to work harder. And we have really seen the fruits of our labors this week. We only really are close to one more baptism which we wont be having until the 17th of March (hoping I am still in Turìn) but we have so so so much potential for some progressing investigators this week...even with three families! (Which we haven't ever had here.) The work is moving alot here in Turìn and I am so excited for the opportunity I have to be a part of it. 

Unfortunately, I think we have lost Mynor. He just some things that he is going to have to overcome before we are going to be able to work with him more. It absolutely breaks my heart to let him go, especially because he was so close to being baptized,  but I don't think we have any other choice. I have no doubt in my mind that he will get there someday, but I just don't think its going to be with us. We are going to continue to pray for him, call him every day and encourage him, but unfortunately I don't think we are going to be able to continue visiting him. Nestor has agreed for a baptismal date for the 17th of March. We are just working with him to make sure he has a true repentance and conversion before he is baptized. He is such a sweet sweet kid and we are hoping through his example we can get his sister there too. 

Life is good here in Turìn, my spanish is improving alot and I feel alot more comfortable teaching full lessons and answering questions. My testimony is being strengthened every day. And I have already seen a million ways that this mission is going to bless my life. Yo se que nuestro Padre Celestial nos ama, que Jesucristo vive y esta dirijiendo La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultìmos Dìas. Yo sè que mor medio los meritos de Èl y por medio nuestra obediencia en viviendo los principios y ordenanzas de este iglesia, podemos regressar and vivir el la presencia de nuestra Padre Celestial con nuestras familias. Sè que El Libro de Mormòn es la palabra de Dios. Sè que Josè Smith fue un profeta escojido por Dios. Y Sè con todo mi corazon que este es la unica iglesia verdadera sobre la faz de la tierra. Les amo mucho y estoy orando por cada uno de ustedes. Sigan orando. Sigan en la fe. Y acuerdense siempre que Dios le ama. 

Hermana Stoor

​Las hermanas de Zona Atiquizaya menos 2! Hermana Crowley, Sosa, and Evans

​On the way to San Salvador for the temple with half of our zone...Hermana DeLeon, Rodriquez, Evans, Sosa , Crowley, me and two elders....dont know their names. haha

​My first temple trip...wouldn't have wanted it to be with anyone else than Hermana Crowley! 

​We had a noche de hogar monday night with the familia Castillo. We have worked so much with this family and I have come to love them so so much. Hermana Grace and Hermano Albano have been members for a couple of years. They have been having alot of marriage problems lately but with several visits and with helping them say their prayers together and as a family, things in their home have changed so much. They are a wonderful little family with alot of trials, but are the most giving, humble people I know. We are hoping to help him get the priesthood soon so we can get Yenifer (the daughter in the back with me) baptised. She said she wont get baptized until her dad can do it. So we have some work to do :)

​This is Kenneth. My little esposo. He loves me. And agreed to marry me so I can stay in Turìn forever. 

​I love these crazy people. 

​I'm going to miss the nights of standing outside the door of this house singing to Horacio. He loves it when we sing and sometimes when we pass by in the night, we just sing four or fives hymns before we head back home. 

Failure and triumph.

 This was a hard hard hard week. But also a week that we needed so much. Saturday we made sure we went around to every single one of our investigators houses to make sure they were all ready for church the next day and planned out very carefully how we were going to get them to church. Sunday morning....went looking for two of them..not there...went back to church...not a person there. Sometimes its really hard to see everything fall through after you have worked so hard to make it happen. So...we have alot of work to do this week. And I have learned lots of new things this week that I hope I can just keep applying throughout my mission. I am really really loving the new focus that the prophet and apostles have set forth for the missionaries. We are not here anymore to just worry about baptizing and retaining. We are here to preach faith in the Lord to repentance. We are here to teach repentance and baptize converts. We had a multi zone conference this thursday and had a great training from President Spjut. And I have done my absolute best to apply it in our lessons and I can already see a difference. When I left the CCM, President Cox told me to make some goals for my mission. We talked about it for a while and I said some number goals...but I am definitely changing those now. My new goal for my mission isn't going to have to do with how many people i want to baptize and how many menos activos I hope to reactivate but I just want to make sure that every single one of those people that I help convert...that they are REAL repentant converts.That when they are baptized they have already had a true change of heart and have the real desire to stay faithful for all of their lives.

     None of my investigators are there yet...but we are hoping to get three of them there this week. We had to really good good lessons with Nestor and Mynor this week and I think they are both starting to understand what it is that they are looking for by seeking out the gospel. Nestor opened up to us a whole bunch this week. We taught him the law of chastity and we could tell he was just burdened with a ton of guilt. After a good 30 minutes with him, he told us that one day after school, him and his friends went back to one of his friends houses and invited over some girls that he didn't even really know and he did some things that he isn't proud of. He told us how he had felt so much relief when he had told his mom about it and we spent some time explaining to him the relief that come through the power of the Atonement. Then at the end of the lesson, we knelt down with him and had him say two prayers. One to start the repentance process and another to know the truthfulness of the restoration of the gospel. After he prayed, he just looked at us and told us to be quiet and then closed his eyes and kept praying. I think he felt it and as he learns more, I have faith he is going to feel the relief and peace that he needs. We are going to set a baptism date with him this week for the 27th. 

        We also had a super good lesson with Mynor. The people down here are believers in Christ, but they don't understand his suffering in the Jardín. They only understand that he suffered for us on the cross. We shared with him Alma 7:11-12 and Helaman 5: 9-12 and explained to him that Christ came to redeem his people of their sins but not in their sins. We helped to understand better the process of repentance and the power of the atonement in his life as he repents of his sins. He felt the spirit in the lesson. Now we just have to help him to not fight it anymore. He just has alot of pride and hurt feelings to get over. I think as soon as we get through those with him, he will just run into the pila. We hope. The elders in the area are also going to start working with him. We think with someone there to visit him every day he will get there soon. It just breaks my heart that he is struggling so much. We love him so so so so much. 

         Horacio is just as old as ever. The other day we were teaching him and he just stood up out of his maka and started running. for the back door (which he does so he doesn't fall in between walls.) It felt like we were in a movie. He ran out the door and it slammed behind him. We went around the house...in the pitch black looking for him. And when we found him he just turned around and started to follow us back. Said he just had to go to the bathroom. Just funny that he didn't say a word...just stood up as i was talking and started running for the back door. But anyways, he has finally agreed to give up his cafe and is so excited to get baptized. He couldn't come to church because he had a doctors appointment but we are hoping for this next week so that he can get baptized. When we told him he couldn't get baptized this week if he couldn't come to church, he was just about in tears. It was so sad. But hopefully next week we will be good to go. 

      Anyways, life is good here in Turín. The people are as wonderful as ever and we have got tons to do this week. It is amazing to see how the church has moved throughout our little area in the past years from having no members in the year 1980 to about 100 people faithfully attending now. The Lords hand is definitely in this work and we know we have got some miracles coming soon. Hurrah for Israel!  

Hermana Stoor

​Just a picture with my new friend. I love these birds...even though they like to bite me. 

​Last Lunes was Ernestos birthday...we had the Elders call and ask for him to go to Santa Ana to get pizza and while he was gone, we made him a cake. His first ever home made (box) cake..they loved it! And it was a fun 

party and a good way to thank him for all he does. He is such a wonderful person! 

​The cake we made for Ernesto...box cake box frosting and some apples...simple...but meant alot to him! 

​Hello from the deep woods of El Salvador :)

​Karen and Nestor....the best kids I have ever met! I just love them! 

​Just a little picture to show how much I love El Salvador. I'M GOING TO STAY HERE FOREVER.

WHOOOOAAAA

What a week. I have been worried sick all week that someone was super super sick at home. So I am so happy for so many reasons today! Bishop Stoor. How weird. But how exciting! Prayers your way always! I have always been grateful for the example of you, Mom and Dad, in the way you fulfill your callings. And I know with this new calling you will do just the same. Thanks for all the new fotos this week as well! I am so happy you all have such good goals and am excited to hear about the blessing you receive as you attend the temple monthly. There is no better way to receive blessings from the Lord than through service in the temple. I miss going every week like i was able to at school and in the CCM, but we received some exciting news last night...we get to go to the temple on the 18th of this month! The temple in San Salvador is soooo beautiful and I can wait to go inside and do another Spanish session! I loved that in the MTC. My last week, I got to go through a Spanish session....it was an AMAZING experience...and I am sure I should be able to understand everything now  a little better!

The work has slowed down a little bit here in Turin as they all just started school over the past two weeks and it has honestly been a suuuuper hard week this week. But we have plans this week to find as many new investigators as we possibly can. We are running a little thin in our investigator pool. But those we have right now are soooooo good! We were sad this week that Mynor didn't get baptized but we are working with him everyday to rebuild his faith and desire. We had a council with a few of the members and we were told that we cannot teach inside or around his home because three of his family members who live there are gang members and they feel that it is unsafe. So, this week we had Mynor meet us in front of our house so that we could talk with him about it. HARDEST thing I have ever had to do. He was so positive and has been improving and changing every day but this talk knocked him down pretty hard as you can imagine and we have been struggling all week with him. But I think we still have a chance...just need all the prayers that we can get! 

Horacio was also supposed to be getting baptized this coming week, but we are going to have to move his date back a little as well. He is so great though. I only am afraid that he might fall and hurt himself. He really scares me sometime. We are also going to go look today for some stronger reading glasses for him so that he can do more reading in the Book of Mormon. But he loves it! And is so excited. He comes to us with new questions and stories to tell us about is reading every time. It makes me so sad he had to wait 75 years to receive the gospel.He is wonderful! 

Well, my time is getting cut a little short again. But just know I love you all...am so proud of the good decisions you are making and pray for you each individually every day. That's one thing I have learned here....sometimes its okay to just kneel down at night and have an hour long conversion with the Lord...sometimes its very necessary! Hes always ready to listen and always ready to help...we just have to knock! God is real. Jesus Christ is His true son, with flesh and bones just like us. And this gospel is His! Stay close to the rod. 

Hermana Stoor

​Intercambios with Hermana Ramos! There's no better place than El Salvador...and there aren't a better race of people than the Latinos. I love them so much! 

​And there's also some not so good things about  El Salvador...like the sancuros. Just praying none of them that get me have any diseases.

​Recognize Alexandra's dress? I was wearing it last Sunday and she came up and gave me a big hug and asked me how much i loved her. haha She needed a red dress for the stake conference we had this week so she could be in the choir, so we had it taken in a little and she looked just beautiful! We just love this girl :)

​These are the cute kids that live across the field from us...they come over for snacks every once in a while when they see us outside washing dishes and clothes. I just love the kids here!

February 1, 2016

​This week was a very exciting week for me. Alexandra got baptized on Saturday! She is an amazing person! She was one of the first lessons I taught here in El Salvador and you could just tell from the very beginning that she was prepared to receive the gospel. It is though that first lesson with her that I gained a testimony of the work that happens from the other side of the veil. There was a certain light that came into her eyes that night and it has been there every since. She has changed so much and i cant even explain the love that I feel for her. She has had such a desire to change and shes had alot of struggles to get there, but she finally got to make the ultimate change this weekend. She came out of the water just beaming. I asked her after how she felt and she just giggled and gave me a big hug. She is amazing! It has also been amazing to see how her family has changed in just the last couple of days...they are so much more open. Last night, we went over to the house and they welcomed us right in with big smiles. Before her baptism, we were not ever allowed in the house if they were there. So it is big progress! Her mom also told one of the ward members that she wanted to come to church to see what it is all about! This girl is going to do something amazing for her family! 

Not much time to write this week. But things are good here in Turìn! The bugs are gone. Our investigators are moving along well and we are doing good! In all honesty, my comp and i do struggle...quite a bit. She's pretty baggy. But its all just something you have to push through. The good thing is...the people here can't tell and we can work well enough that we are able to get things done. We are working through our struggles and I am learning to love more easily every day. It is amazing what serving people can do. But I am happy, healthy and safe as always. Learning more about the gospel, Christlike qualities and Spanish every day! 

Love you all so so much! And pray for each of you individually every day. Thanks so much for your letters and prayers! 

Hermana Stoor