Hey everyone! It's good to hear that Allne is doing better and that he's not going to die yet. :) Well, we got transfer news this week. They are closing down Redd Ward to sisters and leaving the elders here. There is just not enough work in this area, and it's very discouraging. Oh my goodness, you have NO idea how hard we worked to get this area going, but it just didn't pick up. I really gained a testimony of church attendance. I have been here for 4 1/2 months and we hardly saw any one of our investigators come to church I now see the importance of people coming to church. I see that the work we do throughout the week is the preparation for them to come to church on Sunday. So when no one comes to church, I feel like I have failed somewhere in that week, because no one is there. :( It's really hard. I am actually really glad sisters are gone, because it was just to much out here. It was a constant battle with the elders. It was lame. Now hopefully between the 2 areas there will be enough work to keep the elders busy. I think we were supposed to come here for Angie. She is our baby. We went to say goodbye to her last night, oh my goodness, I cried after we left. She is the first one I cried over. She is so special to me, and we are like sisters. I am going to miss her and Jasmine (her 2 yr old daughter. she's the little girl in the picture). I was imagining getting off the plane and driving home with you guys, and talking to Angie on the way home. Haha! That's how much I love her! She is amazing. :)

I am going back up to Albuquerque, and doubling (meaning, the elders got booted, and we get to take over) with Sister Nichols (she's been out for 6 months) to an area that covers 2 wards (weird. total opposite of what I'm doing now), the Volcano Cliffs and Ladera wards. The area also covers 2 branchs, the Tohajilee branch and the Laguna Acoma branch. IT'S ON THE REZ!!!!! I am soooo excited to go back to the rez! But president said to mainly stay in the city, but I am allowed to go to the rez when there is work. :) :) :) YAY!!! I was so sad for like 2 days, until president called to prep me on the new area. Then I was happy! It is in my old stake, by the Bandelier ward. So I'm kinda used to the area. We'll see how it goes. But he is keeping El Paso open for english sisters, and Sister Bode is going there with her MTC comp! So cool! She's just going around the mountain. I'm glad president left sisters down here, I was scared that all the sister areas were going to be confined to ABQ. So anyway! It's good.

So this week, has just been tying up loose ends. We actually found out that they were closing to sisters earlier this week before we were supposed to find out. So it was kind of nice to have that preparation. I think we would have felt like we failed if president closed it without hinting to us. But it is good for the area to have us close.

The pictures are of this last week. The one is of a guy riding a horse pulling another one behind him. The river bed he is in is the Rio Grande. It's always dry! So it was pretty cool to see that. And then of course our district, and Jasmine, and I can't remember the other pictures I put up. Anyway!

So a couple of weeks ago, Angie had to put her dogs down because they were getting aggresive, and she's been looking at getting another dog or 2. So we went to go see Ricardo Pacheco who is a recent conver/less active who we are trying to get him to go to the singles ward, but he's so stubborn! So we went to see him, and his pitbull just had puppies, and he was trying to get rid of them. So we took one for Angie! Haha! We stuck the puppy in the back seat and drove it to her. She was thrilled! And Jasmine loved him! It was good for Angie to have a dog. They called him Oso, which is Bear in English. :) It's so cute! Jasmine says it really cute too. Jasmine is going to miss us. :(

Anyway, I don't think there is anything else. I am sad that the letter went home! But I will just get triple the info. :) Delene wrote me a letter, it was a good letter, I really needed it. It's been kind of a downer transfer. All of our investigators dropped us...it really makes you think if you are doing something wrong. I'm not really sure if I'm confident in my work anymore. I am really tired. I didn't understand what my older companions were talking about when they said that. But now I do, you are more tired emotionally and spiritually rather than physically. My emotions run pretty high on Sunday. Sunday is just not as enjoyable anymore. It's way to stressful. I am so worried about people coming to church! Last week, we were waiting for Angie, but she couldn't come (she hasn't been to church in a month or so, but she is going to start going to the spanish branch, which is closer to her, so it will be easier for her to go), oh man, Sister Bode broke down, and I was pretty close to crying myself. But we are hoping that with her going to the spanish branch she will understand more and want to go back more. She grew up with spanish religion wise, and so the words in english are a little different, and she doesn't understand all the consepts. But with her going to the branch she will be familiar with the religion words in spanish. :) We are just glad she decided this after we left. It would have been to hard if we stayed.

Well, I hope you all had a good week, keep me updated. I love you all!

 

Love

Sister Stolp