We are reaching the "last" of things

Hope every one has been well, this has been a full week full of great things! We were able to meet with a member referral we have been long waiting for to meet with named Julia! She was the sweetest women and so normal! It was such a blessing. We met at the church and had great fellowship there and had a church tour and talked about The Book of Mormon! She was very excited to start reading it, she hasn't had much of a religious background so she said she's a "clean slate!" haha. She drove up in a Tesla and we were like holy moly, but then she told us it was her dad's and he was out of town and he told her to drive it haha, she's got some good parents let me just say hahah. Julia does Real Estate so she is super friendly and open and loves to talk. But just yesterday she told us that she is going to need to put everything on pause and told us the guy who referred her who is from Utah is more than just a friend and she thinks starting this process of learning has made things a little too real than she is ready for and said she will reach out again down the road when their ready. We are so sad! But when the time is right and hopefully it will be soon, she will learn once again. 

We also were able to pick up our new friends Bob and Shirley who are the sweetest old couple. They were a referral from our Stake President the McCall's. They are seriously so sweet and we are hoping they will be able to progress even though sometimes it doesn't seem like some things we teach fully register in their minds. They are in their 80's though so it makes it harder, but you are never too old to accept the gospel! 

LAST ZONE CONFERENCE!!!

I cannot believe I had my last zone conference as a missionary. This makes me so sad! It was super great though, like they always are! It was so weird baring my dying testimony, there were 3 other sisters and one elder in the zone conference who also are dying this transfer so they did as well. Time just doesn't slow down for nothing. 

New Missionary Training!

We finally had the new missionary training that has been a long time coming haha, when we were supposed to have it was when it snowed so they held off until the next transfer of new missionaries came in and so there was a total of 60 missionaries at this training! It was huge! The mission is so young with how many missionaries are going home and how many are training or in training. The work keeps moving forward!

On Saturday there was a Stake Relief Society activity we went to and it was all about mental health and physical health and how we can improve ourselves. I have considered that need to drink more water in a day haha. 

We are now going to go to the Sky Nursery (Which is just where they sell flowers and things) with our friends Maureen and Bob so wish me luck! They are plant geeks and I know nothing..

3rd picture is Julia! She is the sweetest 

Sister Stokes

The days are getting warmer! March 18, 2019

I am excited for the things that are happening this transfer! Sunday to wednesday we were with Sister Sturgell because her companion Sister Savoy finished her mission! But it was fun! We all drove up to Anacortes for a doctors appointment and it made me miss serving up North! It is so beautiful.

We tried to visit a Refferall we had recieved named Joseph. He requested a Bible so we were there to deliver! We knocked on his door and no one looked home, but right when we were about to leave, a car pulls up! Guess who?? It was the one and only Joe! This guy was so awesome, I mean super normal and could already see him being a member of the church haha. We asked him about his backround and he told us he had a lack of religion growing up, but has had a desire to look into it more and build a relationship with God. We invited him to church as well and after we left, he texted us later that day and said, "thank you for stopping by, I look forward to making a personal connection with the congregation." He is so sweet! 

Barbara was also able to come to church for the 1st time in months!! She is doing so much better and everyone was so happy to see her :)

We were able to have dinner with a sorta active family on Sunday and they have a daughter who is almost 10 and not baptized and we have been trying to start teaching her. The mom after we shared our message with them asked about us teaching their daughter so she can prepare for baptism so we are super excited about that! 

The Lord is working miracles as we keep working and looking for people to teach, I love the gospel and am so excited to keep on spreading the good news!

Love,

Sister Stokes

Shorline, Last Transfer

6 weeks???

We are coming into the final transfer of the WEM everyone! I still can't comprehend it, but time will tell I suppose. There is going to be a lot of change this upcoming transfer, many white washes, and in our zone all the elders will be on bikes except the Assistants and the ASL Elders. 

We have had a good week here in Shorline! We picked up such an awesome guy on Tuesday named Solo! His wife and her family are all members in our ward and they are all from Samoa. We have been trying to meet with him for a while now, and finally were able too! We invited him to be baptized our first lesson with him and he said he will pray about it. He already knows the gospel is true and has a testimony of Joseph Smith which it is so great! This family is so cute, The mom lives here and served a mission in Samoa and their dad served in California, but still lives in Samoa because they have a lot of land there he takes care of. He came a visited for a couple weeks because one of his daughter had twins and he came and blessed them both in church. He is a very faithful man. Some of the kids are not the most active and their youngest son Otto is 20 and wants to serve a mission, but has to work on a few things first. They are such an amazing family and so loving as all Samoans are haha, I pray that we can help them and help Solo understand the gospel and how it can bring his little family closer than ever!

We also were able to have a lesson with a referral we received named Ben! He is looking for truth and has heard a lot about the Church. He is very genuine and we are excited to teach him from here out!

We were able to pick up a former friend named Rabi, She is from Africa and is super sweet. She had the cutest kids! She is Muslim so we have to get permission to start teaching her, but we are super excited and hopeful it will work out.

Refresher on our recent convert Barbra!! As you may all know, Barbra's donated kidney was failing and it ended up having cancer as well. She was given 2-3 days to live while in the hospital. She was going through chemo treatments and they were not working at all. They decided to stop treatment after a week or so. Miraculously, Barbra's Kidney decided to start working again and the cancer was starting to shrink! It was the closest thing to a Resurrection, You wouldn't even believe how good she looks right now! She is back where she was living before, it's somewhere in between an assisted living and a hospital. But I've never seen her look so good, they removed more than 50 pounds of fluid that built up inside her body. She is a living miracle of what God can do as you submit your will to His and follow Him and His son. She wasn't expecting this outcome at all, and honestly she was wanting to pass on because of how much pain she has been in the past year, but the Lord has other plans in store for her.  I love her so much and am so grateful for her example to me.

Sister Walker and I gave talks in one of the wards on Sunday, probably the last talk i'll give on the mission (5 talks later) haha, it is always a good experience being able to talk to your ward. I feel like it helps the members know who we are more and that we are normal people which is good!

I love you all and hope you have a blessed week!

love,

Sister Stokes

Pictures!

probably last MLC for me! 

Last district council this transfer and sister Savoy dies!