My dearest family,
This week was incredible. I cannot tell you about all of the miracles and blessings we have received since we got here to our new area. I am so happy to be here in Independencia and be with Hermana Solis. It took us a few days to get used to each other and for me to adapt again to the Peruvian culture, but I think we are going to be the best of friends. Our area is super big and there are lots and lots of people. I miss Metapan and Hermana Martinez but I am so content here in my new area! To answer some quick questions you asked:
Hermana Martinez did stay in Metapan, but I will still see her when she comes here to Santa Ana. She is super shy still, but I know that she can handle the area and she is a super good missionary so i don't even worry.
My responsibility as a sister leader is to support the other sisters in their areas that they can have success. Its basically like being a zone leader...we call the sisters at night to ask them about their investigators and see how we can help them and give them tips and see if they are healthy and happy. haha We also do interchanges every week with the sisters, so i will have many many companions over the next two changes.
I would love to send pics....but i cant! They told me that the computers here have a bunch of viruses so i cant plug my camera in...so you will just have to wait to see me until may. sorry. hahaha but i will take all the pictures i can!
My area isn't all to dangerous. Its just like every other area...you have to be super careful where you go and to stay out of dark places....but i think i should be good. There are a whole bunch of places where there is drug trafficking  here, but we stay out of those areas and our ward mission leader already told us where we need to avoid. The city is a little more dangerous, but nothing like my first area ;)
The weather here is a little cooler than Metapan...but we are just starting into the hottest months of the year here, so we will see how that goes. March and April are pretty brutal. I will send you some heat if yall can send me some snow.
My companion has 13 months in the mission so not many less than I. She will go home in July. She is showing me the ropes as a sister leader as she had been a leader one change before I came, just that she was in another area and they closed her area. So, we are both lost here in our area...but she knows our responsibilities as STL. She is super super cool. I feel like i gained her confidence last night as she started to share some secrets with me. haha So I think from here on out, we are going to be super good together :)
 We have been blessed with a good ward mission leader who wants to help us and has shown us around the area. We also received a good welcome from most of the members in the ward. I feel like this ward has had many problems in the past with the missionaries and don't have alot of confidence in us, but we are going to work and serve all that we can to help change their feelings about working with the missionaries. There is so much potential here in this area.
 I feel so happy and grateful this week for the way that the Lord has answered my prayers. I know We were able to meet a new investigator named Sandra Alvarado on Thursday. She was a reference from the sisters in Palmar and her boyfriend is a return missionary in our ward. We had a super good first lesson with her teaching the restoration and then on Sunday, we had a lesson in the chapel with her. We explained the vision of Joseph Smith and explained to her the fruits of the Spirit. It was key having her boyfriend Angel there with us as well. We invited her to kneel down and pray with us to know if the church was true and if she should be baptized. As she knelt, Angel reminded her that she could receive a answer in the  same moment as she prayed. After the prayer, we sat down in silence and she started to cry. After much silence, we asked her how she was feeling and she told us that it was something she couldn't explain but that she felt her heartbeat. We had her write down in the same moment the feelings that she had so that she could always remember them and she asked us if she could feel something like that again. We assured her that she could and that she would as she kept reading, praying and attending church. She accepted a baptismal date for March 11th.
There were many many many more miracles that we received this week. We only have 5 days here but we now have 2 baptismal dates! Every thing I have done this week, I have tried to do with my mind set in the glory of God and I feel so happy for the work that HE is doing here with us. We are only instruments is his hands and I have learned that when we truly look at it this way, HE works miracles through us.  And I know that through our obedience and prayers we will see many more miracles over these next few months. This promise in doctine and covenants has really come true in my life this week: D&C 103:36 All victory and glory is brought to pass unto you through your diligence, faithfulness, and prayers of faith. I have never prayed more in my whole mission than i have been praying this week and I have seen a big difference. I just hope that the Lord can keep preparing me for the good harvest and that I can help the other sisters here in the mission have the same excitement that I have to work right now. The Lords hand is in every place that we look, if we are diligent and if we are obedient to his commands. I LOVE THIS WORK WITH ALL MY HEART. I know that this is HIS true and only church here on the earth and this is the work of salvation that so many prophets talked about in the olden days. AND I AM BEYOND GRATEFUL to be a part of it.
Love you all and I hope that you have a SUPER week!
Hermana Stoor

Heres just one picture that Hermana Martinez sent this week:

​The biggest hill in all of my mission...you cant really tell...but its a killer. 

 ​Goodbye breakfast with Omar and Jorge. Omar went to church with us a few times and is going to be baptized for sure!!!

​We also went to dinner to meet his mom on Monday...so here's another picture with Omar. 

​and a random mirror pic that he took of me while i was talking on the phone in his moms house.....its kinda cool :)

I was a little surprised this morning to receive a call from President Spjut, and this change was something I was not expecting. I have loved being in the area of Metapan. I have loved training Hermana Martinez and am going to be sad to leave her. I am nervous, but I am also excited to see the spiritual growth that the Lord has prepared for me in my new area, with my new companion and with my new calling. I have been called to serve as a Sister Training Leader opening a new area with Hermana Solis. My new companion is also from PERU! I love las peruanas! I am really excited to get to know her and nervous that we will be opening a new area (meaning that we will get there and not know where the house is, or the bishops house, or the chapel, or the investigators, nothing!!....but kinda cool because we start fresh.) We will be in charge of like 7 companionships in the area and I imagine will be helping President Spjut in training sessions over these next few months. It makes me REALLY REALLY REALLY nervous. I will make my best effort every day to be an example of obedience, love and diligence and just hope that I don't let anyone down....especially the Lord. I don't feel prepared to be a sister leader or to open a new area....but I know that the Lord will be at our side. I dont think I told you the name of my new area.....its called Independencia in Santa Ana. So I'm going to the city!!! It will also be my first time in Santa Ana.....so we will see how that goes. haha

This week I learned a very valuable lesson. I felt the REAL importance of the sacrament in our lives. I tried to think every night this week how I could repent and I felt a great renewal of the spirit as I partook of the sacrament. As I read this week in the Book of Mormon, I was especially touched by chapter 30 of Alma. Korihor, after having denied Christ and after being afflicted for this sin, explained that Satan had tricked him into his sin. The words and temptations of Satan fulfilled his carnal needs and he fell into sin. I feel that many times, we confuse the feelings of the spirit with the enticings of Satan. When we feel that something is right because it fulfills our carnal needs, we ward off the spirit by following these enticings. But, with the Spirit that we receive when we are baptized and partake of the sacrament each week and as we gain knowledge by reading the scriptures, we can discern if a decision will fulfill our carnal or spiritual needs. It becomes less easy that Satan can trick us into sin. I know that if we live worthy of the spirit, we will be guided through this life in the path that leads to eternal life. I am so grateful for the spirit, for the comfort that He gives me, for the guidance and protection from Satan. I pray that this spirit can guide me to help spread the gospel in my new area and to know how to help the sisters that I will be helping. I need lots and lots and lots of prayers. haha

Anyways, I have to cut my time a little short because I want to get back to my area to say my goodbyes...but here are a few pics from the week:::

 ​We spent lots of time by the lake in our area this week. It is beautiful! And the people that live there close are even more beautiful! And my companion is beautiful :)

 ​We also slept a few hours in P day while the rest went swimming. :)

​Hermana Jacqueline

​Pascuas grow wild here in El Salvador...Its pretty cool :)

 ​The beginning of the goodbyes....with Hermana Margarita (all the missionaries sign here guitar when we leave)

​Hermano Alex (the less active that we found in the bus) We bought him and his son white shirts to go to church this week :)

​Hermano Fernando (investigador) and Rebecca  (recien conversa) 

​And a picture of our daily breakfast...papaya and atol 

LOVE YOU ALL!

TALK TO YOU NEXT WEEK!

HERMANA STOOR

Dear family,
It wrenches my heart to here about Aunt Pete. I loved her very much and wish I could have said goodbye, but I know that she is at peace now. I am happy to hear that Grandma is doing better. I know that the Lord and his angels are watching out for her. Send all of my love to Grandpa this week. Tell him that I love him and I am praying for him.
This week I learned many valuable lessons. We had a worldwide training as missionaries this week. I prayed and prayed before the training that the Lord could answer my questions through his apostles. I feel that each one of those was answered and that I know now what the Lord would like me to do better. I loved a promise that we recieved from Elder Oaks that if we teach and can help our investigators to recognize their sins and feel the weight of them, our investigators will ASK to be baptised. I was reading in Alma this week and recognized that two of the greatest missionaries of the Book of Mormon did just this. In chapter 22, Aaron was teaching the king of the Lamanites and by teaching the plan of salvation and the Atonement of Christ, the king felt the weight of his sins and asked how he could be born of God and get rid of the bad spirit in his heart. Because he recognized his sins and felt the truthfulness of the Plan of Redemption, Aaron then, only had to explain the doctrine of repentance. Ammon as well taught, by example and through his words, so that Lamoni felt this weight of his sins and then asked him a very important question... if he was willing to listen. Many times, we invite the spirit and explain how they can search those feelings that he gives us, but we never ask if they are willing to search for those feelings to know if our message is true. I feel that by applying this question in my teachings and by being more direct and clear with the people about their need to repent, I can have more success in these next few months in helping my investigators to grow in  faith unto repentance, baptism and the remission of their sins through the Holy Ghost and a continual obedience. What I am changing and learning to do is to teach the doctrine as a way to put into effect the Atonement in our lives, not simply as steps that we must take to go back home to God. I learned that the doctrine of Christ are not 5 steps, each one different from the other, but one big lesson that we must understand as one path to come unto Christ. I loved this verse that I read this week in Alma 22:

 14 And since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself; but the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth; and that he breaketh the bands of death, that the grave shall have no victory, and that the sting of death should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory; and Aaron did expound all these things unto the king.

Without the sufferings of Christ, we could not recieve salvation or have hopes of a life after death, but through him, the sting of death is swallowed up in hopes of glory. Through out faith unto repentance and baptism and through recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost, we become worthy of his merits. He broke the bonds of death so that we can live again. He broke the bonds of Satan, so that we can have hope of a better world. I am so thankful for His Atonement and for the hope that I have through Him and his doctrine. I know that this doctrine is true, that this church is the only true church of God here on the earth and that if we live by its principles we can have eternal life.

I dont have much more time to write, but just know that I love each and every one of you. I am praying for each one of you. I know these last few weeks have been hard, but I know that the Lord is with you. What a blessing it is to have the knowledge that we do! What a blessing it is to struggle and be tested so that we can prepare for a better world! I send my love and my best wishes for a better week this week. Take care!!!
Hermana Stoor

I am glad to hear that everything is going a little better at home. God really does answer prayers! Send my love to Grandma and Grandpa!
I don't have much time this week, but here are a few fun, scary and wonderful experience from this week:

1. We went to the temple for the first time in almost a year. It was just what I needed this week!
 I felt something so special being in the celestial room that day. I have always loved a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 109 "And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them". I felt this power and glory round about me as I sat in the temple, and received the strength and comfort that I have needed so much over the last few weeks.
2. So, one this week, we were walking in the street and there was a little homeless lady in the street so I told my companion that I was going to buy her some chicken. We went to the fried chicken store that was there close and bought her a few piece of chicken. As we walked up to her I said "Buenas noches" and that we had brought her something to eat. She rapidly grabbed a BIG THICK stick that she had there close and went to hit me. So I repeatedly told her that we had brought her some chicken and she took her stick and with more strength than i believe i have hit the chicken right out of my hand stood up like she was going to chase me with her stick above her head.
3: This week we have been spending alot of time in a canton about 20 in bus from Metapan. We have seen so many miracles there!!! About 3 months ago, there was a man with lots of tattoos that started to talk to me in the bus stop in Santa Ana. I tried to ignore him, because I was a little scared. But then he told me that he was member and had been baptized a few years ago and that he needed help. A little uneasy, I talked to him just a little and we got on the bus. He followed us onto the bus so we quickly went to the back (still a little uneasy for his appearance). The bus was full and I was the only person standing as we left Santa Ana. A few minutes down the road, the seat next to him opened up. I tried to ignore it, but he told me to sit down, so i walked forward to sit down by him. As we talked, I felt something so special and felt so bad for having judged him. He really needed my help and I was able to help him a little i think this day. He gave us his address so we went with the bishop to find him. These last few weeks, we have been working with him and he has shown a big desire to change and repent. And this week, he gave us three reference of some very positive investigators. It has been such a miracle! and I learned my lesson to never judge someone by the way they look. He had had problems before in gangs and has had a hard time getting rid of some old habits, but is a loved son of God who is seeking repentance. And the gospel is perfect for that.

Anyways, I best be going....but I love you all! And I will continue praying for each of you throughout this week.
Just remember to stay true and I know Gods blessings will be with each and every one of you!

Hermana Stoor

Hermana Burgos made us these cute dresses. Shes the best!

​And a failed jumping pic :)

​When you know you have too much time in the mission...

 These cuties came to church with matching skirts like my new dress :)

​My companion gave me a haircut!

Hermanas Carrillo, Garcia y Martinez 

I dont have much to say so I just want you all to know that I love you and will be praying extra this week for each of you. Tell Grandma that I love her so much and am so thankful that I have a Grandma so wonderful that it hurts so much to know that she is hurting. I know that the Lord hears our prayers and that he will take care of Grandma through all this. I know that we are nothing compared to our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ. They love us so perfectly and are so patient and merciful with each and every one of us. When we dont have power to help where help is needed, they truly do watch out for us. I know that everything will be fine and that this trial is for the best, although it is not what any of us want. A sister in the ward taught me yesterday that we shouldnt cry when these trials come our way. We are not here in this world to live happily in every moment, but to progress through all of our trials in this life until we become an eternally happy family in the next life. I know that the Lord and his angels are all around Grandma and Grandpa taking care of them right now and I know that everything will be just fine as we pray and fast that they can recover well. Dont worry about me...just worry about Grandma and Grandpa. My Heavenly Father is taking good care of me and I feel that He knew I would pass through this trial this week. On Thursday we will be going to the temple and I will be sure to leave their names there and I am sure I will also recieve the comfort that I need to get through this week. I know that the Lord lives and that this is His gospel. We have all been so blessed to know this gospel and have the knowledge that we do. I was contemplating this week in the great gift that we have all been given when we were baptised. The gift of the Holy Ghost is a gift of grand love from our Heavenly Father. It is the promise that He will be with us always to comfort and guide us. We can always depend on Him as long as we are worthy. I love you all and pray that all will be well when I talk to you next week. Send my love to Grandma and Grandpa tell them that everything will be okay! 

Hermana Stoor

A few pictures from the week

My companion let me cut and color her hair. She maybe trusts me a little too much...but I feel like it turned out pretty good!

​We made Mexican tacos with the Bishop and his wife. They are the best!

​Just a selfie 

​And we just had breakfast with Hermana Romero. I love her so much! 

My dearest family,

This week was full of small miracles and big ones too. Here in Metapan we have a really good bishop who has put the goal this year to help the members be more active in the missionary work. We took him and his wife dinner on Wednesday and were able to talk with him about some of the ideas that we have to help the members. We both decided that the best way to help the members is by visiting them in their homes so this next month, we are going to leave with the bishop and his wife three times a week to visit three different families and invite them to visit our investigators with us and invite their friends to listen to our message. We are going to be with the bishop for his family home evening tonight and after, plan together which families we will visit this week. We went with him to visit a partial family we had found Thursday night and after, he gave us a reference for a young man named Daniel that has been attending church for about 3 months, but has not wanted to be baptized in the past. We went to visit him and he told us that his goal for this year is to become a member of the church. We invited him to pick a day in February and he chose the 11th. Thanks to the bishop and his willingness to work with us, we are now teaching Daniel and I feel that visiting the members with him will help us to find many more who are more willing to accept the gospel.

We are also teaching a man named Alfredo Garcia. He is an investigator that I had been teaching before with Hermana Delgado. He is 49 years old and is Uncle Johns real twin...just a shorter version. (I will send you a pic) He had attended church a few times with us before and came again this week. He really enjoyed the lessons that we had and fast and testimony meeting. After, he had a ton of questions for us about the Plan of Salvation so we sat with him and were able to answer several of his questions. He said that everything he learned just confirmed what he felt he already knew. He told us that if God answers his prayers and he comes to know for sure that the priesthood of God is in this church, he will be baptized. I have seen that he wants to  not only be baptized, but he wants to do it in a place where he can keep going. 

We are also in loops with a family trying to fix some paperwork between Honduras and El Salvador so they can be married and baptized. We originally had in mind setting the baptism for the 28th of this month, but I think we will have to wait a little longer so I might not even be here by then :( but we will see how it all goes this week. We have ALOT to do and just not enough time to do it. :) I cant believe how fast the weeks go by. 

Everything is super good with my companion. I broke down one time this last week because I felt that maybe I wasn't teaching her anything. haha but she assured me that she is learning a ton. And this week, I really started to see that she is putting into practice alot of things that I have been teaching her. So that made me happy! haha We are the best of friends! She is still pretty shy....but she has come out of her shell with me and is starting to be a little more courageous in the lessons! I just have to always tell her to do it. She always looks at me to do everything...but i just do what my trainer did...i just look at her and smile and wait patiently until she does it. haha She is a really good missionary and always has the spirit to guide her! It makes me sad that I don't get to just stay with her her whole mission :) We wont have transfers for another month...so don't get too jumpy :)

Well, my time is up....but just know that I love you all!!!! Enjoy the cold weather and save a little snow in the freezer for when i come home ;) just kidding....but I hope this week is a little warmer! LOVE YOU.

HERMANN STOOR

ps. Its cold here too......

​TOOOOOOO MUCH wind and cold to sleep outside...but we did it anyway :)

​We rolled the mosquito nets together so we could sleep together...its like we are camping every night!!!!

​Uncle Johns real twin.....Alfredo Garcia :)

​cookies and juice with hermano manuel :) He has been really sick these last few weeks. Im pretty worried about him...but he always keeps a smile when we get to his house.

​Dont know if i ever sent this picture....but this is what it told me when i got on to talk to you for Christmas.....and then when we were looking back at my pictures we noticed this angel looking thing behind me.....my companion told me it was the holy ghost. haha 

​And the best picture of the week....look how cute my companion is  ;) 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!  I hope that you are all super well and it sounds like you have been somewhat enjoying the holiday season. I have definitely been enjoying my week. I am just so grateful to start a new year here in the mission. There is nothing better than being a missionary and NOWHERE BETTER than to be here in this beautiful country! 

I dont have much time but here is something quick from my week:

We found some really good new investigators this week so we are praying alot that they will be prepared and willing to come to church with us. I have felt so down this last change that we have been working so hard, that we have investigators reading and praying, but on Sunday when we get to their homes they are never there or dont answer the door. This week, the bishop helped us as we talked with the members about the importance of working with the missionaries. I am hoping that this week, we can fulfill all of our plans to work with the members so that maybe the investigators will feel more comfortable coming to the chapel. We have alot of investigators and alot of work that we can do. We just have to figure out how to work better with the members and I know these investigators can progress more quickly.
We met an older man this week named Adan. On Saturday, we passed by his house to teach him the restoration. He had read a little in the pamplet but we felt that he didnt show a real desire to know more. He repeatedly told us that he already goes to a church and that he doesnt want to disrespect it by changing his religion. We explained the importance of prayer and he shared an experience that he had had when God had answered his prayers. We testified that God would hear his prayers only if he had the real intention to do whatever God told him to do and then invited him to pray including the question if he should be baptised by the authority that is in this church. He came to understand why he needed to pray and before he finished his prayer he paused and with a sincere desire to know, asked God if what we had told him was true, if he needed to be baptised again. It was so beautiful to feel how the spirit helped him to understand. We then asked him if he knew someone there close that needed comfort or some service and he sent us to his friend Gracielo. We also had a wonderful lesson with Gracielo whos wife just died. He felt the spirit as well and is now reading in the first few pages of the plan of salvation. I felt something very special as we visited them and many other new investigators that we found this week. This next week, our goal is to follow up well with them and to also visit all of the part families in the ward. We have also been focusing more in the families of some of our investigators and I have hope that through our diligence and faith, we are going to see miracles in these next few weeks. I love this work and am so excited to start a new year here in the mission.

I love you all so so so much and hope that you have a wonderful week going back to work and school. I hope that Shelby gets feeling better....some pretty chubby cheeks there ;) And that you are all having a bunch of fun and staying healthy and safe! Talk to you next week!!!

Hermana Stoor

​New years dinner with Hermana Margarita 

​HAPPY NEW YEAR! Fireworks that scared us at 12:00 :)