Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, and rejoice ye inhabitants thereof, for the Lord is God, and beside him there is no Savior. Great is his wisdom, marvelous are his ways, and the extent of his doings none can find out. His purposes fail not, neither are there any who can stay his hand. From eternity to eternity he is the same, and his years neverfail. For thus saith the Lord—I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end. Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.

Doctrine & Covenants 76:1-6

Monday 23 April 2012

Lots of Miracles

Ali didn't have time to email today but she answered a few of my questions...


I'm doing GREAT!!!! I just have to say that Sister Freeman and I are EXACTLY alike. We are pretty much the same person, but with different experiences. We both have the same kind of 'problems' and we are really learning so much from being with each other. I love her with all of my heart. :)  I hope we get to spend at least one more transfer together.


I asked her about the missionaries in her area and how she liked it there...


We have 7 missionaries in our ward. Us, the actual Sheffield 1 elders, and the zone leaders (who are in a threesome). Us and the ZL's share the Slovakian area. The goal is to have a ward by the end of the year, pretty much. We are baptizing most weekends.  


I am having SO MUCH FUN here though. I absolutely LOVE this area.  Oh my goodness, yes. This place is glorious. I love it with all of my heart!!! I hope I never leave!


Asked her how the teaching was going...


Yeah, we have a pretty decent teaching pool. There is a lady who looks really good to get baptized in two weeks! :)



I mentioned to her something about the baptisms they just had and this was her reply...

Yep and the dad is getting baptized this saturday!! We are just SO excited!!  AND another thing about the baptism on Friday. . . normally you can't take pictures of people while they are in the water, but the First Presidency wanted pictures . . . so yeah. They are going to see each of our family in the water and of us as a group!! :D  





Monday 16 April 2012

I'm in Missionary Heaven

I absolutely LOVE this area!!!! This place is missionary HEAVEN!!! We see so many miracles all of the time. We have this absolutely AMAZING family that are getting baptized on Saturday! Kvete, Daca, Martina, Nikolas, and Andrea!!! They are so excited to get baptized, and we are as well!! The AP's came down this past week and one of them interviewed some of them for baptism and he especially LOVEEEEESSS our family!!!
Some of the missionaries in our area got interviewed by the church this past week, as well. For history purposes. And maybe for an Ensign or Liahona article or something, I'm not sure. Anyway, I wasn't one of them, but Sister Freeman did. Along with Elder McKay (who has been in this area for a year) and Elder Juran (who is from the Czech Republic). So that was pretty fun. The lady who was doing to interviews was saying how nothing like this has happened ANYWHERE before. Where people from a different country have a massive conversion and when they are in their own country they don't really listen. . . I'm serious when I say that SO many miricles are happening here!
I love this gospel with all of my heart! I love how abundently the Spirit is with me and how I have this opportunity now to be an instument in the Lord's hands! To do and say the things that He would do and say if He were here!
I LOVE YOU ALL AS, WELL!!! With ALLLLLL of my heart!
<3,
Sestra Ali Stoutova 

Sister Freeman and I!! She is so amazing!! I love her SO MUCH!!
Opening presents :D
MORE PRESENTS!!!
Me on my birthday! :D 

This is Sister Freeman and I with our family and the AP's (or two of them anyway . . . )! :)

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Happy Birthday to Me :)

HI!!!
 
It's my birthday!!! (which is really weird. . . but good at the same time!)
 
I got my box with the cake and the presents and I'm wearing one of the shirts with a cardigan right now! Thank you so much! And the journal was gorgeous!!
 
Yesterday was P-day, and it was a Bank Holiday because of Easter, so that is why I am emailing today. :) Anyway, it was zone P-Day and we all were at the chapel playing chair football, which I am not very good at, and then we watched Puss in Boots and ate pizza. After that we just sat around and talked. But the other sisters in our zone got me and an elder that had his birday a couple of days ago some lemon and chocolate bread. It was very nice! It's also nice to actually live in the CITY so I can have a FULL P-Day without having to travel. It is INCREDIBLE!! I love this area so much!!!
 
This past week was pretty good. Sister Freeman was sick for a couple of days and then I was sick for one day, so we had flat time. Which is pretty much torture for a missionary. But we endured and we are both doing much better now!!
 
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. We didn't do much, except, you know, WORK. Haha, which is what we do all the time, so I never really know what to say anymore about it. :/ But work is so amazing, obviously! The people in this area are so wonderful! We are working with this family of six who are scheduled to be baptized on the 21st! And they are looking fantastic! You can just see the spirit working on them! I love being a missionary with all of my heart!
 
I love you alllllllll!!!
 
<3,
Sestra Ali Stoutova

Monday 2 April 2012

I LOVE Families

Hellllooooooo! England is doing very well, this last week was BEAUTIFUL!!!! Very warm and sunny and APPEARENTLY there wasn't a SINGLE cloud over ALLLLL of England? Craziness, right? Not a single solitary cloud. Anyway, my skin was very thankful, because I got a slight tan. The lack of sun here makes my skin very hard to look at, because it's pretty much TOTALLY fluorescent. But now the clouds are back again in full force. :) Not a ray of sunshine ANYWHERE. I love this place so much!
 
I seriously am having a ton of fun here. It's crazy hard, but . . . man, I can't even describe the amazing feeling that there is here. The people are so nice and they ALWAYS give us soooo much food. At every appointment that we go to, they give us food and drinks and you HAVE to eat or drink whatever they give you, or else they are not pleased. But they are really kind, obviously there are the crazies, but there are crazies EVERYWHERE you go.
 
Anyway, nothing too fun has happened yet. We were able to get 20 investogators to church, which was epic. And we found some really great families that we are now teaching. Which is always amazing. I LOVE families. I love getting to share with them that they can be together for time and all eternity. :) All of this is such an amazing experience. I have never been so happy in my whole life. Don't get me wrong, it is seriously SO hard. But I am learning that the hardest things in life are the most fun. :) And the most fulfilling. And generally just the best in all ways.
 
My love for you all is just sooooooo abundant!!!
 
<3,
Sestra Stoutova