03/24/2010

Hey Everyone.
Things are going pretty good. I'm really disappointed because all 3 of
our on date investigators (on date to be baptized) were moved back. 2
of those 3 investigators will definitely get baptized within the next
transfer, but I may not be here then. We spend a lot of time trying to
help people overcome addictions. They have to overcome those
addictions for a period of time before they can be baptized. General
conference cuts off our last week to put people on date. At least we
still had one baptism for the transfer though. I cant really think of
too much to say. We are doing our best out here. I found my favorite
scripture. Pretty much everyone knows it already but I'll give it to
you anyway. Matthew 25: 34 - 40. Jesus Christ was teaching this
directly.

 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his aright hand, Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world:
  35 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye
gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
  36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in
prison, and ye came unto me.
  37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we
thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
  38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
  39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
  40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto
you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Anyways, I hope all of you are doing well. I'm really tired and it
makes it much harder to think of what to say. Talk to all of you
later, and thanks again for the awesome birthday. Love Sterling.

Ster's Email 3/17/2010

Hey Family/Friends, We had our first baptism! It was awesome! Could you guys please send me Janelle's + Terry's + Caralee's + Grandma Tomlinsons E-mail? I would really like to let them know whats going on. One of our baptisms was moved back. Hopefully we will be able to baptize her before the transfer is over. We also added one more person on date for baptism. So if these 2 go through, that will be 3 baptisms for this transfer. Only half the goal, but still good. Our baptism was a 10 year old girl named Stacy. The baptism moved back was Salaha, the older woman (60+) from Afghanistan. The baptism date we added was Chelsie, a 22 year old girl who is interested in being baptized and joining the church. Things are going well. My mailing address is: Elder Sterling Ron Sharp 3487 S 1300 E Salt Lake City Utah 84106 Thanks so much everyone for the birthday gifts! You guys are awesome! Please forward my message to the family e-mail addresses I don't have. I want to thank the whole family for the awesome birthday I had. Also, my companion (and trainer) is from British Columbia, Canada. Mom sent me a ton of stuff from Canada, so he was really excited to see all of this stuff from there! A Hockey puck, tie pin, different types of chocolate, a shirt, cup and all sorts of other things (especially the hockey puck, since they beat us in the Olympics. He took so much garbage because they lost the first game). It was awesome! And our dinner appointment brought us Cafe Rio! They didn't know it was my birthday either. It was an awesome day. Thanks again so much for everything you guys. I really appreciate everything you do. Even just getting an e-mail or letter really elevates my mood. Don't forget though, I only can check or write e-mails on Wednesday (preparation day) for 1 hr 15 min. Also, I only receive postal mail (or any type of mail) once a week. It is delivered to the mission office, then our zone leaders give it to us on Monday. So every Monday for mail, Wednesday for e-mail; so if I don't respond faster, I'm not mad, I just haven't received it yet. Thanks for everything. The family gift (electric toothbrush) was awesome too! I definitely needed it. I love all of you so much. Having an awesome family is a great blessing and I'm very grateful for all of you. I hope your all doing well. Love Sterling

March 10, 2010 email

Hey Family/Friends, Email time is really limited. 1 hr 15 min once a week, so I'm going to send an e-mail out to the whole family. I don't have Terry's e-mail and I don't have Janelle's e-mail so if anyone could send those addresses that would be great. If you wouldn't mind forwarding this e-mail to them that would be appreciated also. As far as whats going on here, we have 2 baptisms scheduled so far. My goal is 1 baptism a week. A transfer is 6 weeks, so I would need 6 baptisms per transfer to hit the goal. Right now, it only looks like we are going to get 3 - 4 baptisms for this transfer, so I will have to step it up to hit the goal. Pretty awesome for a first transfer though. It was definitely not us, but it was God who brought us so much success. Hopefully Heavenly Father will help me to hit our goal for this transfer; if not, to make up the difference next transfer. Its really exciting though. One of our baptisms was a 60 + year old woman from Afghanistan. She has been walking to the local LDS church for 6 months and has already been taught the gospel by her friend (a woman from Iraq who worked as a translator. She had been in the United States for 20 + years.) She knows very little English so her friend had to translate for us/her. We have people like that showing up all over the place. Definitely God, not us. My goal is pretty out there; 1 baptism per week = over 100 baptisms before I come home. I'm going to do everything I can to hit it though, and then pray to the Lord to fill in the (massive) difference. We are very busy. The only way we tract is if we schedule it, because there is never free time to do it otherwise. There are always investigators/less active members to see. We follow our schedule exactly. At most, we may start or end something 1 - 2 minutes early/late but rarely. The mission has gotten much stricter. You do not do anything that your told not to. Like chewing gum; not allowed in public (unless you are in your apartment... meaning sleeping, eating or studying, so why would you be chewing gum anyways?) And the rules are enforced here. You do what your told, and there is more than enough leadership around (its Salt Lake) to enforce all rules. We have apostles all around us and Thomas S. Monson's house is in our mission, which is part of the reason standards are so high. Could you also send me Grandma Tomlinson's e-mail? I heard that she is in the hospital and I'm worried. Not that she will get my e-mail anyways while she's there, but it would be nice to let her know whats going on once she gets out. Anyways, I hope everyone is doing good. I love all of you and pray that everything is going well. If I knew my address, I would send it right now, but I forgot to grab the paper it was on. I will send it to you later (no later than next week's e-mail.) Again, I love all of you and will pray for you. Sterling