Hermana Stoor,

Thank you for sharing your experience reading Helaman. It caused me pause and reflect also. I have to keep reminding myself to stop trying to do everything myself and depend on the enabling power of the atonement. Thanks for the reminder. And thanks for the good work with the Sisters. And the good relationship you have with your companion. You are a great example.

President Spjut


Wooooo! It always makes my day when I can start my letter with a letter from President Spjut. I feel like I have seen him alot over the last few weeks and it has been so so nice to be a little closer to the city and all that goes on in the mission. This week was CRAZY. i have never felt so calm and stressed and happy all at the same time. Hermana Spjut has been setting up appointments with me to go and visit with the sisters in different parts of the mission this week sooooo...this week Hermana Spjut was my companion for 2 days! It was so much fun! Hermana Spjut, one sister and I went to visit their investigators for an hour and my companion went out with the other sister and then we flip flopped and went with the companion of the sister who went first....if that makes any sense. Anyways....it was really fun to be with her and feel her spirit as she taught. It was also really fun to get a few tips from her to become a better teacher! I am super excited to head out with her again this week. I will be outside  my own area almost every day this week. Tomorrow I will be in Aldea, Wednesday in Sucre, Thursday in TURIN!!!!!!! and Tazumal and Friday in El Refugio with Hermana Spjut. Then Saturday...we are hoping for a baptism!!!!! Rodrigo Paz has been preparing himself for the 18th for a few weeks now. The sisters have been working with him for a long time...but he has never progressed until now. These last few weeks, we have been reading in the Book of Mormon with him and have seen a big change in him! The only thing that he is missing is enthusiasm. He understands the need to be baptized. He wants to be baptized...but he said he wants to feel something more. I feel that maybe what he has been missing is the support from his family...so we are going to do all that we can to help him feel this enthusiasm a little more throughout this week. BUT WE NEED LOTS OF PRAYERS FOR HIM. I have faith that he will fulfill this goal. I just hope that he doesn't let anything else get him down.
Our next investigator to be baptized will be Veronica Tejada (38) on the 25th and we put another baptismal date this week for the 8th of April with Fernando Polanco(16). We have been so so so blessed in this area. Everyone told us it was a crap area when we got here, but we have seen so many miracles in such a small time! We are also planning for a baptism on the 6th of May!!!!!! That has been my goal since I got here...have a baptism ready for the Saturday that Mom and Dad are here. So if all goes well....Camila Polanco (12) will be baptized on the 6th :) and hopefully her mom too!!!
Anyway, sorry that we got on so late today.....but i will send you some cool pics next week from our Pday today! We went to a place called Cerro Verde if you want to look it up on the internet. I felt like I was in a movie....tropical rainforests are super cool. But that's pretty much a wrap up of my week here. Lots more that I could tell you....but little time to write. Just know that I love you all.....and hey. I'M STILL NOT TRUNKY. haha everyone seems so worried about it. But I'm good...just happy to be here still and to be able to work in the missionary field.  There's nothing better!
Love you all and hope that you have a great week. and hey...send me pictures :)
Hermana Stoor

This week was full of so many learning experiences for me. I want to share with you a spiritual experience that I had this week. Sunday morning before church, I sat down to do my personal study and began to read in Helaman 5. As I tried to explain to you in my interview, I have come to realize that maybe I am overly self critical and sometimes I get really down on myself for small mistakes that I make. I have come to learn over the last few weeks that we should not expect perfection from ourselves in our pursuit to become perfect. Doing so, we deny the power of the Atonement in our lives and the purpose that we have to progress in this mortal life. Sometimes I have felt that maybe God wont forgive me for my mistakes because every time that I repent, I do SOMETHING wrong again. I have always had faith in the Atonement, and have experienced many times its power in my life, especially as I prepared myself to come to the mission. But maybe in my moments of distress, I forget the true power that Christ can have in our lives if we are willing to repent. In Helaman 5 Nefi and Lehi were preaching to the Lamanites, the majority of which were what we could call "inactive members of the church". My heart was touched by the mercy that our Heavenly Father showed to them, after all that they had done. These dissidents were trapped in a cloud of darkness, looking for a way out, desiring to understand what Nefi and Lehi in this moment were experiencing as they talked with angels. One Lamanite asked... What do we do to escape out of the darkness? And Aminadab answered that they should repent and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They started to pray, asking forgiveness from God and it says that they were surrounded by fire and filled with a unquenchable joy. The Spirit descended from heaven and filled their hearts. And they heard a voice from the heavens saying in verse 47, " Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved, who was from the foundation of the world." And angels descended from heaven and ministered unto them. As I read this chapter, I felt an overwhelming spirit in my heart and as I reflected on what I had read, I came to truly understand the unconditional love that our Father in Heaven has for us. We make mistakes, but through His son Jesus Christ we can receive his mercy. He is full of grave today. He was full of grace before and is full of grace for forever for each of us who is willing to repent and come unto Him. No matter how many times we fall, His grace is sufficient for us.

This week, we saw so many times the hand of God in our area. Sandra's baptism was perfect and she truly showed her own conversion throughout this week as she prepared for Saturday. Rodrigo Paz came to church on Sunday and I have faith that he will be prepared for his baptism on the 18th. Another investigator, Veronica Tejada also came to church this week and we were able to put a baptismal date with her for the 25th of March. I have been doing all that I can in this area to glorify Him and to fulfill His work and I feel that it has made all the difference. I love this work and I know that as we keep working hard, that he will have so many more miracles prepared for us.

We had interchanges this week with the sisters from Turin and from Paraiso, interviews on Friday and a leadership training meeting on Thursday....so we have been super overloaded! I have learned so much this week how I can become a better example and disciple of Christ. I am working every day to be the most obedient that I can be, to show my gratefulness to the Lord for the success that we are having after only 1 month here in our new area. It is truly amazing what the Lord can do when we let him work through us. I LOVE THIS WORK. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. And am beyond grateful for my calling as a missionary and as a sister leader. God has prepared so many ways for me to grow this last week and am so excited to see what he has ready for me this next week.

Love you all so much! And pray that the Lord is blessing you daily! I will talk to you more next week!

Hermana Stoor

Here's some pics from the baptism:

 ​Cleaning the font :)

 ​Sister and Elder Jensen also came to her baptism...as well as President and Hermana Spjut....just that they werent there yet for the pictures :)

 ​A cool selfie with the elders from our area :)

 ​She was so sooooo happy!!!!!!

 ​My investigators have a 200 pound Boxer...and I have become its favorite play toy. Its a little scary...but hes soooo cute!!

Splits (i think thats how they say it in English) with Sister Barrus from Wyoming! The Jorgensons from Grace are her cousins....what a small world!!

​Splits with Sister Munoz from Honduras....we forgot to take a picture until the next morning....so i was still in my pjs. But its cool. :) 

​Splits with Sister Socha from Utah and Sister Calero from Nicaragua...they are the sisters that are serving in Turin (my first area) 

​Flash photos never work with someone really white in front....but thats what makes them fun. Splits with Sister De Leon and Sister Bello!

​WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!

​McDonalds 

 ​Drinking what they call "chuko" here in El Salvador. Its gross. really really gross. But we are grateful for the love of the members!

​Just a random selfie with my companion :)

Sorry that this is all you get for this week, but they didnt give me even 20 minutes today to write. But just know that I am doing good! I love the mission more and more every day and I am still not baggy. hahaha i think it would be better with a car for some reasons and worse for other....they drive like nuts here....so it would be scary...but at the same time better than being in a bus so we have more time. I will think about it this week and let you know the next! haha love you all so so so so much! Talk to you next week!
Hermana Stoor

That was "all she wrote"  this week - we asked her about transportation in El Salvador if that helps make sense of her short letter.  I am going to post a couple of pictures that Sister Spjut shared on the last transfer day - since she can't send photos from this area:

LOVE THIS GIRL!!!

Recieved this letter from President this week:

Hermana Stoor,
You had a wonderful spiritual experience with Sandra. Thanks for sharing. And it is pleasing to hear how you and Hermana Solis are getting along and bringing a much needed spirit to Independencia. You will make a difference.
President Spjut

Everything is super super super good here. My companion and I are getting along most of the time...and the rest of the time I am just thankful for all the patience I have learned here. haha Sometimes when we wake up in the morning, she wakes up angry with me and I dont even know why....sometimes hits me in the head to wake me up..so thats cool. haha I just dont say anything and we leave to run and get back and everything is a little more normal. And other times we are best friends all day and then randomly starts ignoring me. haha The people from Peru are weird like that. But I am super happy. And I am super super happy to be here in Independencia. The area is so cool and the members are super nice and we are having lots of success!!

This week was full of many more successes. Sandra is already ready for her baptism. She was able to attend a baptism this week and when we asked her after how she felt, she said that she could already see herself in the baptismal font. We had originally invited her for the 11th of March, but this week we invited her to choose if she would like to be baptized on the 4th or on the 11th and she accepted for the 4th of March. Every lesson that we have with her, she shares her feelings from the spirit with us. She is truly a chosen investigator and is passing through her own conversion process. She asked the stake president this week if he would baptize her :) Rodrigo is also getting ready for his baptism on the 18th of March...hes just a little slower than Sandi :)

We were also able to find many good investigators this weekend that we will be going back to visit with the sisters in interchanges this week. We are in charge of 7 companionships..one of which are the sisters from my first area...so i might get to go back!!!! But we will see what happens this week! I was particularly excited about a family that we found yesterday. We knocked the door and a little girl popped her head out the window so we told her we wanted to present ourselves with her parents if she could send them to the door. After a few minutes talking at the door, we asked to enter and as we got to know them, I felt something so sure that maybe we were an answer to their prayers. The way that they looked at us was as if we were angels. I am really excited to go back to their home and get to know them a little more and share with them the restoration of the gospel.

This week President Spjut invited us to study in Moroni 7, I liked verse 46 and the theme of the relief society "La caridad nunca deja de ser". I have considered maybe my whole mission that charity was one of my best attributes but i realized that maybe it is exactly the attribute of Christ that I would like to develop more before I go home. If true charity and true love for God never ends, maybe it is what I lack most. I have learned that if we truly love God, we will do all that he asks and be completely obedient to him. I try to be obedient, but I am not even close to perfect. And I learned this week, that if I can come to love God even more than i do now, a love that never ends, maybe I can become a person more ready to defend myself against Satan and become pure like him as it teaches us in verse 48. That is what I love about this gospel, that we can always improve and we have the Book of Mormon to teach us how.

Anyways, I better go, but I send my love to each and every one of you!! Have a great week!
Hermana Stoor

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