"your laughs have molded into ONE"

December 28, 2015

Hi Familia!:) I had so much fun skyping your beautiful faces Friday! Seriously it was a blast and you all look so good. I'm glad you had a great Christmas. Sister Olsen and I definitely did!:) 

Wednesday we had our mission Christmas conference! Since it takes quite a while to get to Columbia we traveled most of the day. But we got to run through our D.C. program so I got to sing with Sister Olsen!:) New Years Eve is going to be so fun. 

Christmas Eve we spent proselyting until 6 pm and then we went to the Wrights! Then on Christmas we saw the Weavers, a less-active Sis Clark, Sue, and our investigator Joyce!:) I have never felt so much love in my whole life. I'm so grateful and blessed to be able to spend Christmas with these amazing and loving people. I hope you all had a great Christmas:) And I'm grateful for all of the Christmas cards! 

I want you all to know that I know Jesus Christ lives and reigns. I love one of the servant songs in Isaiah 53 that sums it up perfectly: 

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

Love, 

Sister Stolworthy

​PS - this bottom picture is joyce :) 

Merrry Christmuzz :)

December 21, 2015


Mary was baptized Saturday!! It was so magical and the spirit was so strong:) Her husband Matt got to baptize her. Then Sister Olsen and I got to go to the visitors center with them! Some sisters from our mission are volunteering their since the visitors center gets CRAZY busy around this time of year. The DC lights are beautiful!! 

Wednesday is our Christmas conference! :) Since Sister Olsen and I will be singing the D.C. Visitors Center for New Years Eve we get to run through the program at our mission conference wednesday:) It will be so fun. 

I forgot to mention that Elder Teh from the 70 came to our mission and did a conference:) It was so cool being able to hear from a servant of the Lord. 

Joyce came to church again!! She is on date for January 8th so everyone keep her in your prayers:) The Weavers invited her over for dinner last night and we get to see her again tonight. I just love her. 

I will be skyping at 4:15 Maryland time so I shall see you all then:) I love you guys and hope you have a very Merry Christmas:) 

All my love,

jingle smells jingle smells jingle jingle jingle jingle

December 14, 2105


Hey guys!!:) 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLY! Holy cow, can't believe you are 16. You are a beautiful young lady and I hope your day is great:) 

This week was the cooliest:) So Mary is still on date! She is getting baptized this Saturday!!!!!! We are so stinkin' excited:)) Also transfers are this Wednesday but Sister Olsen and I got the call that we are staying together! I finally have a companion more than 1 transfer, haha! We are seeing so many miracles here in Woodstock so we are excited.

Joyce finally came to church!! Oh my goodness we were so happy to see her. She came with her sister. I love Joyce so much. She got us a Christmas present this week because she thought one of us was leaving haha. She is a special lady. I love her with my whole heart. 

Another sweet miracle... this area usually doesn't get too many media referrals but we got 3 in one week! One of them was a lady who wanted a Book of Mormon. Usually people request bibles. She came to church Sunday with one of her friends! She said she was searching for the truth and we will hopefully get to start teaching her soon:) 

We also are teaching a girl named Jenna! She goes to the Massanutten Military Academy. This academy has been here since 1899. It is so big and beautiful and Sister Olsen and I were so stoked that we got to go on campus. Jenna's cousins are LDS and she had been visiting them with the missionaries in Virginia. We committed her to baptism and she is excited! Tonight President Wright got special permission to have her over to their home for Family Home Evening before she leaves home for the holidays. We are stoked!:)) 

We had the ward Christmas party Saturday which was a blast. Sister Curtis, Sister Olsen and I sang a funny trio with 3 Christmas songs going on at the same time haha:) 

Our mission as a whole does really well in the Northeastern United States. With everything we've been implementing in our mission, it's clear to see that President wants us to keep hastening the Lord's work:) So our new standard of excellence was to get 2 new investigators per week so that our mission could have 1 baptism every other month per companionship. That would increase our numbers by a whole lot. Yesterday we were setting goals in ward council and the ward set their goal for 12 baptisms by the end of the year. I know that with faith of the members and missionaries our mission can help these wards fulfill these goals:) I am so excited to see what 2016 brings and am grateful that I get to be a missionary for most of the year:) 

I am so excited to see your sweet faces on Christmas! I love you All so much, have a great week:)

PS - thank you to Taylor Coburn for the sweet Christmas gift:) 

hailey lane

December 7, 2015

Hi fam!:) This week was the bomb diggity:) First... I found a road with my name on it. But also because Mary is super officially on date! Woohoo!! She is getting baptized December 19th!! I am so stinkin' excited for her:) We watched the Restoration with her this past week and it made me so grateful for Joseph Smith and those faithful saints. I love this church so much!

I'm sorry dad to hear about the stake splitting up:( I know that you loved and served everyone in Highland Hills stake with your whole heart. I think it is cool that the membership is continuing to grow though:) 

Things are progressing with Joyce our investigator. She still continues to make me laugh like crazy. Sister Olsen and I have been seeing so many miracles out here... Just so many things to be grateful for. 

Woodstock really is known for their Christmas decorations. All of these tiny towns have main street all decorated. Plus they have Christmas parades! Sister Olsen and I were looking for a referral and we ran into a parade! Hahahah we got a picture with some soldiers. There is also a really cool Military Academy here. It's really big and kids come from all over to go there. I love getting to see them walk around in their uniforms! There's so much American pride here:) We are teaching a girl that goes to the academy!:)

Sunday was Christmas in the Shenandoah. The Winchester stake has a Christmas program where all the wards sing. Winchester is huge because it covers parts of west virginia and virginia. It was so fun getting to sing with the ward:) 

I know that when I count my blessings, the trials I go through are more bearable. I am grateful for a Savior. I love the new website: christmas.mormon.org and handing out those cards to people. What a special time to remember our Savior. I love you all.. have a great week! And send me your addresses so I can send a Christmas card:) Much love.

 Xo Sister Stolworthy 

i like to ride my bicycle i like to ride my bike

November 30, 2015


Hey hey hey fam:) 

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving in AZ. You guys look good:) This Thanksgiving we went over to Sister Weavers! She is a return missionary who's husband isn't a member-but you'd think he was. They are so fun and made the best stuffing I have ever had haha. They were so awesome. They had 2 foreign exchange students over from the Netherlands and Italy- shout out to my homie Elder Liu! Haha. 

This week was really awesome:) Thanks to the Elders we picked up 2 new investigators! Their names are Joyce and Sally. Joyce is 74 and she is the funniest lady I have ever met in my entire life. I don't think i've ever laughed harder then when I'm around her. We brought Sue Eldridge with us to teach her. Sue is a ward missionary and a convert of 2 years. What I love most about the east coast is that so many people are converts and there are a lot of part-member families. I have had the chance to meet so many amazing people on my mission:) I would say that has been my favorite part. 

There are seriously churches on every corner here. Sometimes I forget that Virginia is a southern state haha. There is a lot of civil war history in this area which is cool:) Most people have a Christian background and so talking about the restoration and priesthood authority is really important- but it can also be hard especially when people have been going to a church for a long time. i've learned that the most important thing to do is just be bold and loving:) I am grateful for truth which has the power to bless and change lives. it really is cool getting to share it:) 

This week we have Christmas in the Shenandoah! The stake is having a musical fireside before the Christmas devotional. I love the Christmas spirit! I love handing out the Christmas pass-a-long cards as well:) Sister Olsen and I set up our Christmas tree today! Hahah there was a small one in the apartment. We are having so much fun. I can't believe this transfer is over in 2 weeks. I hope we both get to stay for Christmas. 

I love you guys so much! The work is great and it continues to move forward as we focus more on our purpose:) I love the gospel and all of you!

 Xo Sister Stolworthy 

virginia iz fer luverz

November 23, 2015

Christmuz is comin'! There are lights starting to go up and it is lovely:) 

I hope you guys have the best Thanksgiving ever! I love Thanksgiving:) We will be eating at the Weavers & the Armstrongs. I'm grateful kind ward members allow us to come over:) 

We have had a lot of changes to our mission recently with key indicators and such. Our focus is a lot more weighed on our purpose. We had the best Zone Conference on Tuesday. I am so grateful for President & Sister Christiansen! I say that every email haha but they are the kindest people and they are so inspired. The missionary department came to tour our mission & I think one of the seventy is coming to tour it in the next few weeks. 

Tomorrow we have Zone Training. The Zone Leaders are in our area so thankfully we don't have to travel too far haha. Because the Winchester Stake is so spread apart we have 2 zones and there are only 2 sets of sisters in the whole zone! Haha. 

Please pray for Sister Olsen, her muscles in her lower back have been bothering her a ton and it is so painful for her to sit:( 

Friday we went on exchanges for the day so Sister Talbert from Winchester came here. Brother J.'s funeral was that evening so we were able to attend. We also helped Sis Clark in our ward clean her porcelain dolls for service. She has been really, really sick recently. Funny story about Sis Clark. She lives alone and when the changes came that Elders couldn't come over without another guy there she was really sad. She wrote the Prophet and asked for Sister Missionaries so this area has had sister missionaries for years and has never taken them out hahaha. 

We have 1 investigator right now:) She is married to a member and their whole extended family is in the ward! Haha. She is planning on getting baptized in December! She is so sweet and she has such simple faith! She just gets everything:) I admire her will to follow the Lord. 

Saturday we helped a family move into the ward. Not a lot of people were there to help them move so it took about 6 hours. Brother Cline said that we were the hardest-working sisters he's ever met and I told him he must have never met my past Hawaiian companion Sister Waite hahaha! She is STRONG. It was also #socialmediasplit Saturday so that was fun:) 

I love you all so much. I hope you have an amazing Thanksgiving and remember how grateful I am for all of you and your testimonies. I feel your strength thousands of miles away. Xoxo Sister Stolworthy 

the other woodstock

November 16, 2015

There's a funny motto that goes around here.. "The other Woodstock." Since Woodstock, VA was the original woodstock. They have a lot of funny shirts and flags in this town:) 

This past week was really heart-wrenching. Friday we lost a really awesome guy in our ward. The high priest group leader, Brother J. passed away suddenly. I only met him 2 times but he will have a lasting impact on me. He had the biggest smile and the funniest laugh you have ever heard. He was always making everyone laugh in Ward Council.  

We ate dinner with their family Thursday night and talked about revelation. We showed them the Mormon Message "patterns of light: revelation" by Elder Bednar. We were laughing about how we both receive revelation like Elder Bednar, slowly and over time. He said, "I want you to remember that you receive revelation like Elder Brother and Brother J." I will always remember that. He worked for the church and knew a lot of people since they've been in the area a long time.

 I am so grateful for the faithful saints that I get to be with out on my mission. They exemplify the Savior and their testimonies build my faith. Sunday Sister Olsen and I sang "Nearer My God, to Thee" in church. His family was their in sacrament... the spirit was so strong. It was overwhelming to me. I am so grateful for how thin the veil is and I am so grateful families are forever. The Plan of Happiness is so, so real. I know that the Savior lives and that He knows every thing we go through. I know that this is the time we prepare to meet God. I know that we need to act on every good thought and we just need to love and serve people as much as we can. Their is purpose in His plan. Love you all. Have a great week and tell everyone you love them. xo 

Love, 

Sister Stolworthy 

ps - here is sister olsen & i at the rs activity.