"Do you want to be like sister Wilding or do you want to be like Jabba the hut?"

Wow, what a week, The days just seem like they are getting shorter and shorter and time is just flying by. We have been having lots of lessons with our members and it has been super fun! When you have lots of lessons, time just seems to pass you by and you don't have time for everything you need to do! But that's life. 

We had Interviews with President and Sister Wilding this week. They went great, I asked President if I could read "The Infinite Atonement" by Tad R. Callister since we are aloud to when we have 6 months left and he goes, "No, Because that would mean you only have 6 months left." Haha, then that led to a conversation about time and how it just flies. 

Funny thing as my header is what sister Jones tells me when I want to eat junk food.

Laurie:

We officially started the 15 step stop smoking program with Laurie! It is going so well! She is so determined and ready it's amazing. She has all the reasons to quit and just needs to put it to action. She has bought all the things she needs and we threw away all her ash trays and lighters and everything! It was an exciting step. She is doing really good, it hasn't been easy for her, but hard things are never easy!

We had the Russian sister come over and had dinner together! Sister Jones and I made a cake and cupcakes and it was super fun! Sister Koroleva turned 20!

We had the missions very 1st Full mission Conference this Friday with Elder Whiting of the seventy and it was amazing. It was a last minute thing that he called President Wilding and told him he's coming! But I will never forget the spirit that was felt in this conference. From the beginning, Sister Wilding could not stop crying and president was super emotional as well. After we all were seated, Elder Whiting wanted to shake all of our hands, and so we went row by row and go to shake his hand, 168 missionaries later haha. He started off by saying, "this is an Apostolic meeting and we will all receive revelation."  Oh my goodness he was right. His message was so simple, yet I learned more by the spirit in this meeting for many reasons. He talked about the Holy Ghost and how we need to know how He speaks to us, because it's like salt, we can't explain to someone else how it tastes.We need to put them in a situation where you know when you're feeling the spirit, You can ask them how they feel and confirm to them it is the spirit. We have to be worthy of having the Spirit with us. As missionaries we are given the authority to preach the gospel, but it's up to us to receive the Power, and the power comes from the Holy Ghost. All the changes that have been happening in the church are preparing us for something. Elder whiting used to cover the Asian region as a 70 and he was at the devotional with Elder Christofferson and he said something that will stick with him forever, and will now stick with me forever, "I believe what the Lord is waiting for is greater righteousness, not more wickedness." How eye opening is that! I always thought to myself, how much more wicked does the world need to get for Christ to come because it is already super bad! But that's not what he's waiting for! He is waiting for us to stop waiting around for Him to come and start doing more than we have been! It all makes so much sense now of why all the changes have been happening. 2 promises God has made that have not happened yet is the gathering of scattered Israel, and the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ. "We need to have eyes to see." We need to truly see what is happening and how important it is we start doing what we've been asked to do. Words from Elder Whiting, "Take this work so seriously, see your role in this. If not you then who? It has to be here, it has to be you. We need to elevate and accelerate the gathering of scattered Israel before Christ can come." The Lord is preparing us! I really loved how he emphasized the importance of sharing this with those around us. Why would we keep this from others? It shows faith you have faith on this message when you invite and share with others. See how this gospel has changed your life, why wouldn't it do the same to someone else? "The Tool to gather scattered Israel is the Book of Mormon." You need to make this as real to them as it is to you, truly help them see how the Book of Mormon has impacted you and the reason you turn to it for comfort and guidance. it's not just stories. Why is it so important to you? "We are the Link to help them see the relevance of the Book of Mormon." Every person has something they want to change in their life if you are aware of it or not. The power of the Book of Mormon is a tool of healing that can fix broken things. We need to introduce the Book of Mormon with the right power, don't treat it lightly." 

Sorry this is so long, I just know how important this is and I have a huge testimony on the importance of missionary work.

Our mission president is making it a priority right now to go to the ward councils and to talk about missionary efforts and us getting 20 lessons each week. Yesterday, his first Councilor in the mission presidency President Profitt came to ours because President Wilding went to 3 others yesterday, but one thing they are going to change in the future in only having dinners with members if they bring a returning member or a non member to dinner with them. They just talked a lot about utilizing the missionaries more in the ward because we are being "under used." It was really good though and I think it opened the members eyes more in the ward council to how important it is to be help missionary work.

Well, I love you all and hope you have an amazing week this week! 

Love,

Sister Stokes