Week #7. I GOT TRANSFERRED!

I GOT TRANSFERRED!! 

So I am now in the Boise East Stake and I cover two wards, Liberty and Park Center. They are both super cool.  My new companion is Elder Lawrence and we whitewashed the area.

I was super bummed to be leaving the Colehaven Ward because I was just getting to know the area. I am still on bikes and now that I cover two wards, so it's quite a trip to go from one end to the other. Elder Lawrence is new and he is doing super well! He loves to work hard and is teaching me so much. 

We didn't have any info when we first got here and the area book was a mess, so we have no idea who we are teaching and where people live or what they've been taught.. It's been an adventure for sure!!! 

I'm going to keep this pretty short because Elder Lawrence and I have to share this computer, but I love you all so much.  I am so grateful for the chance I have to finish my mission and it amazes me everyday to think of the Love that God has for me!  I have been learning a lot about how to succor people.  It's hard.

I don't have much of a spiritual thought this week because like I said I am short on time, but go listen to "Like a Broken Vessel" by Elder Holland.  He is much better at talking than I am, haha.  I love you all so much and hope to continue hearing about the things going on in your lives. You have my prayers.

Elder Noah Stolper

Week 6 in Boise ID

Hey y'all,

 So this was the week of finding new people to teach! Preach My Gospel says "As you plan a path, the Lord will put people in you way." Guys, they're not kidding! Almost everyday we have gotten a new investigator, its been super great. It amazes me to see how the Lord prepares people. When we find them they are ready and at a point where they need more! One example is a dude we found last week and set up a return appointment for this last Saturday.

So we get there and he is super standoffish, but me being the annoyance I am, convinced him that he had made the appointment for a reason and something in him wanted to hear what we had to say. So he agrees and we sit down in his home and he goes off on this crazy story about growing up in a pagan home with all sorts of awful stuff going on. It was quite the story, but for some reason I believed him. I then felt impressed to ask him what he believes now, and he said that there is a "Great Spirit" and that he can talk to it...  I asked how and he said "I just get an overwhelming feeling and I know it's him."  I thought to myself "self, you've heard this before," and I have! This is exactly what King Lamoni said to Ammon.  He thought Ammon was the Great Spirit and Ammon testified of the Father and of the Son, so I did the same.  I told him that the Great Spirit is a living God, who is his Heavenly Father and that he has a son, Jesus Christ, who is the Savior and Redeemer of the world.  He kinda gave me a weird look and said "eeh, I think it's a great spirit..." So I told him to ask the Great Spirit and see if he can testify of what we have said.  He agreed and our meeting was over.

How grateful I am that I have read the Book of Mormon and was spiritually prepared to let the spirit answer his questions and to bear testimony of the doctrine the spirit teaches.  I know that reading the Book of Mormon will prepare us for the trials of life. Life is a marathon, and do you know when the first water station is when you run a marathon?  It is at mile 3.  Now the ambitious runner who thinks he can do it all on his own will skip this because it is only mile 3 and he has so many more to go, but he will soon come to realize its importance as he approaches mile 6 and 7.  Brothers and Sisters, it is vital that we take the time to prepare for the journey ahead. Trials and tests and hard times WILL COME, so please, I beg you to prepare for them now.  The race of life has many hills and many valleys, but the Book of Mormon will so nourish us that we will pass them with a preparedness and a determination that we cannot have on our own. So please, read the Book of Mormon everyday.  I can testify to you that it is the word of God.

I am here in Idaho telling all who will listen that I give my name, to be recorded in the Heavens and the Earth and that I, Noah Nathaniel Stolper, know that God lives, that His son Jesus is our Christ and Redeemer, and that God still speaks to man today. The Book of Mormon testifies of all of this and I testify of it as well. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Week #5!!!

Brothers and Sisters, what a week!

So this was a crazy week!   I almost moved, and then I didn't, and then I went on two exchanges to try to help out with a crazy situation that some Elders are having.  Everything I own is packed up because I thought I was moving to go switch with one of them, but good news, I'm not!  So now I get to re organize all that I own, haha.  But for real, what an amazing week this was. 

The experience I want to share with you this week is about the love that I feel being here.  So my bike (the one that I found and put together) was not in the best shape and it had no back brakes, the rear tire would go flat about once a week and it couldn't change gears.  To be honest, I was fine with that and it didn't affect me physically, but it made it really hard to work efficiently because we had to walk all of the time.  It takes about an hour and a half to walk the 5 miles to our area and my companion was getting a little frustrated with how much we had to walk...  We ended up having dinner with the First Counselor in the Mission Presidency because he lives in my ward, and he totally fixed my bike!  I mean new tires, tubes, brakes, everything it needed.  Not only did he buy it all, but he actually fixed it himself.  I am so grateful for a Mission Presidency who loves me and is so willing to help me so that I can work hard. 

I also got to go and teach a bunch of refugees!  There are tons and tons of them here.  Elder Field and I (the one in the picture) got to go play soccer with them and it was so much fun to see the parents come out and they all were a little worried, but then they saw that we were just dorky kids, they totally came up and we got to teach them and it was super cool! I love them all so much!

I would like to close with my testimony on Love. I cannot find the words to say that would even begin to explain the love that I have for the people of Idaho and for you.  I think I some times scare people because I just look at them like they are the only person I see and I think it makes them a little uncomfortable, but I just cant help it.  My heart is so full.  I look at people who are well off and I look at those who are sleeping in the gutter and I just see God's child.  I know that they mean so much to Him and that they mean so much to me as well.  I hope you feel it.  I hope and I pray every night that you do.

I love you all.  If I have not reached out to you specifically and told you so, I love you (and I have like nobody's email since this goes on a blog so you gotta email me first haha). 

I want you all to read in the Bible, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world" and I want you to change "the world" and put your name there and read it out-loud.  I know that He is Real.  I know that God lives and that his Son Jesus Christ lives for us.  He is our Savior.  I know that they love you and I say these things in His Holy name, even Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Stolper

Week 4 In Boise, ID

Well guys, it's been like a month and my heart is broken because that means I only have 16 left until I have to come home..., but this week was super fun!

We just kinda did our thing, but we did get to meet this really cool guy named Chris. He is homeless (but you wouldn't know it) and he called us over and talked to us for about an hour and just spilled his whole life story, and wow. It was quite the story! Then he stopped right in the middle of a sentence and looked like he wanted us to say something, so I opened my mouth to say "are ya gonna finish" or something dumb like that and then out come these words "Chris, you are a son of God and he loves you, He is aware of your struggles and has the hosts of heaven surrounding you to bear you burdens. All you have to do it ask." Guys, I didn't think to say that... I didn't even plan on saying anything spiritual, but I guess the lord had some words for me to say, and I can testify that they truly are the words of the lord.  Chris started to cry. And when he had sobbed a few times he uncovered his face from his hands and said "you are the angels sent to help me, I know it."

Wow! Here I was, just simple Noah Stolper, trying to hear the rest of his story and the lord made me and instrument in his hands. What a miraculous blessing. I am no angel and I certainly don't feel like I am really anything special, because when push comes to shove, we can all be angels to someone who needs it. I can't imagine a scenario where I could ever come up on my own with words to comfort someone, but I work hard to prepare myself and to have the spirit with me ALWAYS!, so that just maybe I can be of some good use.  I can promise you on behalf of God that he can use you if you have his spirit with you and you prepare yourself.

I would like to wrap this up with my simple testimony of Ministering Angles. I know that there really are angels sent from heaven to minister unto us, and that it is by Faith that they come.  I know that there are Earthly Angels that can answer prayers and help us, if we have faith.  As I type this I realize that this is really a testimony on faith.  It is by Faith, that we see miracles. It is by Faith, that we can see angels.  It is by faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ that we can be driven to repentance and saved in his grace.  It is by faith that we will walk in the path of righteousness and it is faith, which binds us to the Iron Rod.  It is even by faith that we are alive in this world.  If your Faith is lacking, remember where you came from. This is not the first time that God has said "trust in Me."  You, my brothers and sisters, are among the faithful children of God who kept their first estate and came to Earth, following Jesus Christ and it is that same Faith that carries us through. Day by day by day. 

I would Exhort you to read in the Book of Mormon, Ether 12:6-19 or if you only have a bible, then Hebrews 11.  These scriptures will testify that the things which I have said are true.  I know that they are true, for they are the words that the Lord has put into my heart.

I love you all and say these things In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

-Elder Noah Stolper