The Last Day....

February 18, 2013

I, (Tiffany's mom), thought I had better update her blog since she is coming home tomorrow.  She has had the opportunity to use her musical talents and play for many in Pennsylvania.  Her mission president asked her to take her violin with her everywhere and get into the hearts, minds, and souls of the people.  This last transfer she has had the opportunity to train a new missionary.  She has enjoyed working with a brand new missionary. 

They enjoyed eating chocolate covered strawberries.

 

Two beautiful Sister Missionaries...

 

 

This a poem that Sister Stamm posted on her Facebook page on Friday:

 

SisterTiffany Stamm February 15, 2013

THE MISSION

I stared out the window,

The tears still in my eyes,

I saw the friends and those I loved,

...As we said our last goodbyes.

The ride was long and trying;

Two questions plagued my mind.

Do I want the life that's up ahead

Or the one I left behind?

A year and a half is such a long, long time,

For going door to door.

In my reflecting, I thought to myself--

There really must be more.

I dragged myself down off the plane

and stood smiling waiting to meet

The man who turned to me,

Saying, "Sister, go find and teach."

 

I sit reflecting once again

As this day is my last.

Please, Lord, this isn't fair,

The time goes way too fast!

I stare out the window,

The tears still in my eyes.

I see the elders and sisters and those I love,

As we say our last goodbyes.

The ride is long and trying;

Two questions plague my mind.

Do I want the life that's up ahead

Or the one I left behind?

--Author Unknown

 

Thank you Wilmington, Nazareth, Doylestown and all those I have met over the past 18 months for letting me be a part of your lives. My mission is something I will never forget. I have changed for the better and I have loved and felt loved so much. It was beyond worth it and I know what I have taught it true because I have felt it in my heart and seen it in your lives.

With all my love- Sister Stamm

Sister Stamm served well and we'll be glad to have her home.

 

 



January 4, 2013

Jan. 4, 2013
Email the day after Christmas: Hi--I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  I was going to send pictures for this week since our time is short with being able to call yesterday but I forgot to bring my cord. :(

Yesterday we went to see a reinactment of Washington crossing the Delaware River. Oh man it was cheesy and they did not even go all the way across because of current was so strong. It was more like a little loop and then back to Pennsylvania. But it was quite the adventure.

We had a great Christmas and a lot of fun opening all our presents and such. Thank you everyone for making me feel loved from a far. Have great day. :) Love-Sister Stamm

December 17, 2012  (part of email):
          We met some of the cutest little old ladies this week while trying to find a member in this retirement place.center. It was so very stressful. At rehearsal on Saturday I was the only 1st violin and I had only played through most of the stuff once. Thent a the performance there was only one more who came and she had not practiced at all  Paulie and Elisabeth.  Elisabeth grew up in Germany during the time of Hitler so she has a lot of stories and sure loves to talk.  She calls me Sister Schtamm.  They just thought it was the greatest thing that we would give them a Book of Mormon. It was so fun to talk with them.  Hopefully they will listen to what we are saying and actually read it.  They just love us because we just seem to glow, especailly our eyes and they just dont know why.  :)  People really do notice a difference about us.  We stand our from the world.
            We got to wrap a ton of Christmas presents on Saturday because a member was using her brand new knives and sliced her hand open and then decided to finish the thing before she got help and cut herself again.  LOL Poor sister.  So she needed some extra hands.  One of things that I wrapped that was for her from santa was a knife sharpener and I asked her "Do you really need your knives to be any sharper?"  She just tried to whack me. Oh so fun. We are going to their house for breakfast on Christmas and then they are taking us to a reinactment of General Washington crossing the Delaware river becasue that is in our area and when will be here on Christmas again to see that kind of history,  It should be interesting.  

Sister Stamm was able to help with Hurricane Sandy Cleanup--just after Thanksgiving...this is part of her email.   
            We went to Jersey on Saturday to help with Mormon helping hands. It took 3 hours to get through the not even 1.5 hour drive because off all the police checkpoints. It was so cool to see though because they were not letting anyone without a pass in but all we had to say was we are with mormon helping hands and they would give you a pass. One cop under his breath after giving some of our members his pass said " You guys are such good people" and " what you are doing is really amazing." People are noticing.
            We helped this couple with their house. The man Billy had lived there his whole life and is blind now. He was so distraught and his wife had no idea where to start. This was only the second day anyone has been allowed back on to the island. They had 8-12 inches of water in their house in Ortley beach from the storm surge. The neighborhood had so much damage. They are between the ocean and the bay so they got hammered. I bet it was so cute before the storm. We got everything out that could be salvaged and the rest went to the curb. Then we tore out all the carpet and drywall and insulation 4 feet high. It was a fun job. I like hammering holes in the wall. We had to be off the island at three because the garbage trucks come up and down the streets and get everything from the curbs.
            It was so sad to see them have to lose so much and Billy not being able to see anything. He could just hear us tearing his house apart. They were so lucky though. They still have an upstairs unaffected and were not condemned like a lot of the other houses our s crews have worked on. It will be at least 10 months before any kind of electricity will start to be fixed and things like that I guess. This is going to be a long road for these people. They were so grateful for what we did. We saved them thousands of dollars and really gave them a place to start when they were to shocked to know what to do.
            The island was crazy to see. Boardwalk gone, house smashed, boats all over in houses and piles and piles of trashed things all along the roads. There was a roller coaster in the ocean a few blocks from where we were. It was really devastation like I have never seen before. They got hit hard.
 

October 28--parts of her email:

Hello, I'm alive I promise.

This is the first day that the library has had power. We were told to stay in all day Monday and got to go out Tuesday from 12-6 and Wednesday until 6. The storm did not seem like much here, but it sure did some damage and a lot of people have been out of power. We got it back Tuesday morning luckily. Most people in the town are getting it back today and the farther people in the country will probably be out for 9-11 days. Crazy. One of the members sons just moved to New York from Arizona and had to be evacuated. They dont know when they will be able to go back. Crazy.

We had so much fun with the glow sticks and balloons. They were perfect for the power outtage. We did learn not to cut open glow sticks without running water though.  We had plenty of food and water and such. We were worried about the cold with the power out but didnt have to worry to long.

On Wednesday we got to go up to the top of our area called Upper Black Eddy and do clean up. We were helping people clear trees. It was so great. THey really would have been stuck for quite a while without our help. We really enjoyed it and showed the elders that we can also lift giant logs. :)

We did not have zone conference. It was cancelled because of the storm. It was rescheduled for December. So we just had a letter writing day inside on Monday. It was a little crazy but we had a good time.

We are moving to our new apartment on Monday! Yay. We are really excited about that.

 

 

 

Aventures with the challenge to take the violin everywhere from Sister Stamm's email:

Oct. 1--We have been tracting with the violin. Only one person has let us in but President says it will work miracles so we are working towards them. It is doing amazing things with members though. WE have 15 uncontacted referrals right now. That is incredible. Our district leader did not believe us when we reported it last night. President told us that I am not to go to a single appointment or knock on a single door with out the violin and if they have a piano then have my companion play with me.

Oct. 10--I have been taking my violin all over and playing for people. Most people at the door tell us no just like they always have but we go back a second time to the nice ones and then usually get to play for them. Monday night we taught a guy for an hour after we played. He was really intrigued.

October 15-- We have been taking the violin everywhere are really working one neighborhood where we had a lot of referrals. (The Seguines) We stopped by one of those referrals on Wednesday and they just loved the music, they asked me to play again and come back again when ever we wanted. We talked a little about prophets as I played them Joseph Smiths first prayer as well. On Sunday Sister Seguine, who gave us the referral, showed us that the wife had emailed her told about how when we came over something really struck a cord with her and that she had really been feeling down the past while but that us stopping by turned that around. She was really glad that we came and looking forward to us coming again. This is a lady who has also told Sister Seguine that she was sad that she was born Catholic because she thinks that she would be really happy as a mormon from what they have talked about. So we are excited to go see them again.

Fall is in Pennsylvania

 

Which way to go...of course, the Lord's way!

 

It was a year ago, September 19, that we put my daughter on the plane to Philadelphia, being home for two month because of a broken foot, interrupting her mission. She loves it there and is having many adventures and experiences. She recently has been given an assignment by her mission president to take her violin with her on door approaches and get into the hearts and minds of the people with music. She has played on the banks of the Susquehanna River. Her current companion is a piano major. So they are making beautiful music together. They have played in Sacrament meetings and zone conferences. They are currently serving in Doylestown. She is not only blessing the lives of people there by also her family.