February 19, 2018

Last full week of the Transfer!!

This week has been super great, Sister Porter and I had a goal to knock 139 doors this week and we surpassed it! We saw so many miracles, we found 5 super solid potentials in one complex and gave out 4 copies of the Book of Mormon to 4 of them. We have been able to cross off a lot of old potentials from awhile ago so that's good! 

Gators:

Jordan is being baptized this weekend!! (Hopefully) He most likely will, he is supposed to be off cigarettes totally since yesterday, so we will follow up with that today. But we are meeting with him today to fill out his Baptismal record and we will teach him Thursday to finish his lessons. He is so amazing, I cannot believe how much he has changed from when we first met him to now, the Gospel transforms lives! He has his baptismal interview tomorrow by President Wilding's First counselor, so pray all will go well:)

Coree is doing amazing, He is seriously our best friend, after our lesson of Friday, we got Pie shakes with him for our dinner and they were so good, I got the chocolate cream pie shake! 

Ze is finally back in town this week, 

We had interviews with President and Sister Wilding this week. President asked me if I feel like I need a change and I told him no haha, He pretty much told me I will be staying, but Sister Porter is most likely leaving.. It's going to be weird having a new companion, but exciting all at the same time! I love President and Sister Wilding so much, the love that they have for us is insane, he is such an inspired man. 

I am so grateful to be in Washington, I have met the most amazing people I feel like I've known my whole life. I see the Lord's hand in this great work every single day, and I am so grateful to be a tool in the Lord's hand. I have seen this gospel change people's lives, He promises countless times in the scriptures as we follow the Savior, our lives will be filled with greater love and devotion to helping others, I know my love for others grows each day, I care about people I meet once, and sorrow when they reject this message. I love you all and hope that you can turn outward this week and be a blessing in someone else's life.

Love,

Sister Stokes

February 16, 2018

The Sun Came Out!!! :). February 16, 2018

Hi Everyone! I hope you all have had a good week. This week has been great, We went on exchanges again Tuesday and I went up to Lynden. It was super fun! We got to go to Days For Girls, and for those that don't know what that is, it is a Non profit organization that started up in Lynden and it is now around the world! But it is reusable feminine hygiene that goes to places like Africa and is super cool. But the lady that sew's all of the guards has the missionaries come over once a week and gets to sew and it is so much fun! I want to learn how to sew now haha.

We met with their investigator Shala that night. She is super religious and her husband is a less active member, but we taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was probably the most powerful lesson i've been in. The spirit filled the room right when we started. Shala had the most amazing story and was being prepared for this moment to learn the Gospel. This summer, she developed something worse than MS, I don't remember what it is called, but she suddenly lost all her eye sight one day. They luckily had a family friend they know who is one of the best eye doctors in the country treat her. They had to stick a tub by her heart and separate the plasma from her blood every other day for a long time, but it saved her eye sight. She still has fuzzy vision, but it was a miracle. She is so amazing, she had two boys ages 4 and 2, and this thing she has is something that can't be treated, and at anytime, it can do something to her spine and make her completely paralyzed, but will never know until it happens. Everything made so much sense to her. She was baptized as a baby, but only with water on the forehead. She said the one thing she was struggling with was understanding why she needed to be baptized again, but when we explained why we are baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority and when we are completely emerged in the water, we are "reborn" and it represents our old life being buried, and coming up new, taking upon ourselves Christ and following him in this life she said it hit home. She started crying and said, "Before our lesson, I felt like I wasn't ready to go to your church, but know I know that I am ready and I want to come." The spirit can do amazing things when you allow it to speak through you. 

Investigators:

Coree is doing great, he came to church and is reading a chapter a day.

Jordan agreed to stop smoking Marijuana! He has changed so much in these past couple weeks. He is going to be baptized on the 24th and we are so excited. The only thing in the way of him being baptized is making sure he is totally off smoking. He is working really hard, keep praying for him:)

Ze is doing great, his family came from china for Chinese new year and couldn't come to church this week. 

We picked up two new investigators, Katie, who was a potential and is super nice, and we tracted into Corina. Corina is super cool, she met a Mormon a while back and they talked for a good hour about things. They exchanged numbers, but they lost contact, then we showed up at her door! She has been questioning what she believes in, but knows there is a God. We are excited to see where things go!

A guy named Jacob reached out to us and wanted to interview us for his school project. He said missionaries came to his door a few months ago, and it has been in the back of his mind ever since. He said when this project came up, he was like, well this is a great opportunity to understand more about Mormons. It was super cool, we were able to explain a lot about the restoration and about missions, he said that he would love to keep learning since we couldn't share everything in one lesson haha. But it was awesome!

2 Nephi 4 has been sticking out to me lately, Nephi is pretty much depressed because of the wretched man that he is and his iniquities. But he trusts in the Lord, and looks back at his life and gives gratitude to all the Lord has blessed him with. He is the best example of not blaming God for all the hard times, but giving thanks to all he has been delivered from. He asked God that his soul will no longer droop in sin, he asks the Lord, "Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of sin?" (2 NE. 4:31)  I love this so much, Nephi knows that if he trembles when he gets close to sinning, if he will be able to catch himself before he falls, Christ won't have to feel those sins. As we plead with the Lord to help us strive to avoid sin, we will see our desire to follow Christ grow, and be more aware of the things we keep falling short of. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Love

Sister Stokes