July 16, 2018 1st week in Russian

Wow, so much has happened this week I don't know where to start! I guess I will start from the beginning ha! We had Zone Conference on Tuesday and it was good, we had 3 zones together for it. I love how we have been focusing on being creative in missionary work. It has been so cool! so we separated into zones at zone conference and President and Sister Wilding came with us, we headed outside to the grass and one of our Zone Leaders was in soccer attire with huge rain boots on. They did a visual representation comparing soccer to setting Goals, using the Book Of Mormon, Family History, and Preach My Gospel. so setting goals was obviously the goal in a soccer game, if you make it too small, you will never reach your goal, if you make it to big, you will never improve, but if you make it just big enough it is going to challenge you and make you stretch, and that is when you will see miracles happen. the Soccer ball was the Book Of Mormon, there is no game without it. the soccer cleats represented Preach My gospel, it is what gives you traction and helps you spread the gospel around without slipping or falling. and the last thing we needed was a team, and that is what family history represents! It was fun, During this whole thing, 2 elders from another zone come outside and run to their car, they pull out two goats and run back to the church with them. They tie them to a light pull and go back inside. These goats were just screaming the whole time, we were all dying! haha. I'm not sure what creative thing they used the goats for for their message.

As I was saying, our mission is really into coming up with creative Ideas for sharing the Gospel lately, so Elder Stephens, who is in my district, tells President this idea he has had about #One WordtheWord and president was so excited to get it started right away. I invited many of you to join in on it on Facebook, but all it is is you take a picture of yourself with the Book of Mormon and say one word that describes what the Book of Mormon is to you and post it on Facebook on August 4th and 5th. It is way exciting!

But Zone conference was really good, we learned a lot. Sadly, the way Russian work is, it is hard to do some of the things normal English missionary work can do, like working with members. We have elders in our ward as well and they work with the ward, we work with the single women of the ward, which there isn't many of them. So Sister P was feeling pretty down about Russian work, because we didn't know what to do to make it more affective. We went to the mission office afterwards to get some things and President and Sister Wilding walk in, they ask us how were doing and Sister P tells them what she is feeling. Sister Wilding has us come and talk with her. We were brainstorming ideas of what we could do to make it better for the both of us and Sister Wilding brought up having an area of English work and still covering Russian work, but just so we can both experience English work as well. We also had the idea of going up to Bellingham for a couple days and staying with some sisters to scope out the area and see if it would be beneficial to move up there because there are a lot of Russians up there. So That's what we did.

Our District meeting was so good, it was all about goals and I have a huge testimony of setting goals by the spirit, the Lord will provide as you work hard and have faith. It reminded me of many amazing miracles I have had by setting goals on my mission and made me want to work so hard.

So we drove up to Bellingham on Thursday, but made a stop in Marysville to have a lesson with a referral! She is Russian and she wanted to help with family history and then we shared with her the Book of Mormon. We were able to make her a new investigator! It was awesome. 

We got up to Bellingham and stayed with the YSA sisters for two nights. We spent the day visited potentials we had and also tracting a lot in complexes with lots of Russians. It was so hot oh my goodness! I don't even know how many hours we tracted for, but we found 2 Investigators out of it so worth it! We are going to have to do Skype calls with them because they are so far away.

So If you remember Ivan, He was an investigator we were teaching in YSA, He got baptized Friday and it was perfect that we were already up in Bellingham! love when things work out, But it was such an amazing baptism, Sister Durrant and I did the Restoration and we played a game of telephone first to show how things get misinterpreted. He has changed so much, everything he had overcome is amazing. He has really seen the gospel bless his life and bring him closer to his family as well.

Also, Coree, who was baptized in June is going to the temple on Friday! I am so excited for him😊

After the Baptism we all went to Bishops for a BBQ, It was awesome, Sister Nordstrom (Paige) got to come to Ivans baptism as well! He flew her in! He is amazing. Bishops house is on 5 acres and they have the biggest garden!, we picked cherries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, it was so fun and so good! 

On Saturday, we drove back down to Bothell and we had another Baptism to go to for the elders in our ward, they asked me to do the Restoration for them. Super cool though, Our investigators Victoria and Sergey who have never come to any church activity ever and it's been like a year, came to the baptism! we were so surprised! Sister P had to translate for them. We met with her this week and Sister P said that that was the first time she has really opened up to us. So it was so awesome! 

On Sunday, We didn't think anyone was going to come to church, but we set up the equipment for interpretation anyway, and These Less active Russians Olga and Sergey and their son walk in and Sister P said they haven't come to church the whole time she has been here! They are really cool. Then we see our Investigators Sofia and Leonid walk in! We invited them to the Baptism but they said Leonid was not doing good so we didn't even ask them to come to church. It was a miracle, and lastly, we see Victoria and Sergey walk in! (there are many sergey's and Olgas in Washington haha). There first time at church, It was such a blessing! So we have Russian leaders in our ward and one of their names is Pavel, he is from Belarus but speaks perfect English. He translated at church for everyone. In our second hour, we go to Gospel principals for Russians and Pavel teaches it. He is good friends with Sergey, Victoria's wife and Sergey asks what do I need to do to be baptized! So he explained how he has to take all the missionary discussions and everything, but it was so exciting! 

The Lord is really blessing the Russian work right now, we feel He has told us that we need to stay where we are, but we are going to start doing English work as well in our ward boundaries and we are both excited about that. I am so grateful for this work, the Gospel is real and will change the hearts of those we share it with.

Love,

Sister Stokes 

July 9, 2018 Russian Speaking Mission Now :)

 New Companion Sister Pryschepchuck from Ukraine

I'm Going RUSSIAN!!

Well everybody, this has been the craziest week yet. I have been called to go Russian.🤤 The craziest part is that we are covering three missions! I will start from the beginning of transfer day.

The Morning of transfers, my companion and I had to pack all of our stuff because we were getting white washed and the apartment we were in wasn't going to be used anymore since they combined our areas. So we fit all our stuff in the car and drive to the O'Hara's, who were just baptized a few months ago and had breakfast with them! I love them so much. So we drive to the Mission Office and when we get there, some sisters come up to me and say, "You're going Russian?!" and I'm like, "Wait what??" I still was so confused like where they heard that from so 5 minutes later, I walk over to another group of sisters and they come up to me and say, "You're going Russian!" I freaked out. My companion Sister Pryshchepchuk was right there I felt so bad, I gave her a hug but I could not control my emotions I was in shock! It was very surreal and scary I could not believe president thought this is where I needed to be 10 months into my mission. But oh my goodness it has been so great since our first day together! I love Sister P so much, She is from Ukraine. We went over and talked with Pesident and he asked how I was doing, I told him good, just did not see this coming at all. He told me he did a lot of praying about this, and he knew this is where I needed to be. So I am excited to be here, there is a reason and I am excited to find out what that reason is!

We had our full P-day on Wednesday for the 4th of July. We hung out with our zone pretty much all day, from 12-6! We had to be in my 7. But our whole zone is elders from the Seattle mission so it has been interesting not knowing anyone and getting to know them. The culture of our missions are so different, it is so weird how each mission has different ways of doing things. We are the only sisters in the whole zone sadly! It has been such a blast getting to know everyone though.

Our 1st District Meeting together was so funny, The way we do our District meeting is different then what the Seattle missionaries are used to. We have our purpose memorized and 3 Nephi 5:13 and recite it in English and Spanish and they all failed at that 😂 

Our Russian Lessons are so crazy, I can't understand anything obviously, so Sister P translates when she can, but it's hard to pitch in because I never know what they are talking about ha. There are a lot of Russians in Washington, we get so many referrals each day! Russian work is way different than English work, and we drive so much.

Each Saturday we have English class where we teach to Russians, but everyone that normally comes was out of town, but I am excited to experience that! On Saturday, our Zone Leaders texted every one and said we are going to do a "Spiritual Attack" where we meet together to pray and go out for 2 hours and work and come back and share the miracles we saw. It was so cool. We had no idea what to do because all of our referrals are so far away it wouldn't be worth seeing them in that short time, so we picked a potential to visit. We knock the door and Delorise answers, an English woman, not what we were expecting, but we get talking with her and she invites us in. We Talked a lot about the Book Of Mormon and also the Restoration. She had a copy of the Book of Mormon and a plan of Salvation pamphlet on her table! Her son who lives with her was taking the lessons, and she did for a little bit, but stopped. we shared with her 2 Nephi 33:10 and Words of Mormon 1:7. She said, "Yeah, I have no doubt what happened in the Book of Mormon is true, I'm sure it is." so that was awesome. I told her that she should come to church tomorrow and she said she has been to our church before and really enjoyed it, so we told her to write down a question she has and if she will go to church, her question will be answered in some way! she goes, "I know why you were sent to my home today, so I could have a desire to start learning again and to go to church!" Man, this lady was so cool! We got her number to follow up. She isn't even in our mission though haha! so we will have to find the elders and refer her to them. 

The miracle doesn't end there, we hear a family downstairs in this home and we ask if they speak Russian, and she goes, "Yes they do! Do you want me to introduce you to them?" we were like yes! So we go down there and start talking with them, they were on their way out to go camping, but told us to come back next week. It was a double miracle! wow, the Lord is so good.

Saturday night all the missionaries were invited to go to the "Ensign Symphony" in Seattle if you brought an investigator or a less active member with you. They are the "Motab of Seattle" I guess, but it was soooo good! We brought Svetlana, who is less active and so funny! We didn't get home till around 11:00! But it was such a great experience and President and Sister Wilding were there.😊 

Last transfer miracle:

The last week in Oak Harbor, we were trying to visit a young women in our ward, but there address was not in LDS tools, so I was trying to go off memory where she lived. We passed a house that I really thought was hers, but we kept driving to make sure. I was pretty sure, so we turned around and parked on the opposite side of the road. I was examining the house and someone looks at us though the window and i'm like, "Sister someone is staring at us." It was awkward so we got out of the car and before we get to the door, this guy opens the door to us. He says hello, and right away, I knew it was the wrong house. We asked if they were the Loomis' and he goes, "No, we are the Harris'." We get talking and he goes, "So are you guys trying to sell us something?" and were like no! and explain what we are doing. Right away he tells us that he has been waiting to be baptized, but he wants to wait until he knows he won't sin anymore. We explained to him that we can't avoid sin in this life and we shared 2 Nephi 31 with him and how we need to repent now then be baptized and repent afterwards. He goes, "Oh, that makes sense, could I have one of those book, or do you have an extra copy?" We were like yes of course! Oh my word it was so crazy how receptive he was! He told us that he actually just got back from a mistake today. So he really wants to change. Sister Pedersen asked him if he came to know this message to be true if he would be baptized on August 18th, and he said, "Yeah I think I could be ready by then? 7 weeks? Yeah we can do that!" Holy Moly let me talk about preparedness, the Lord is guiding us in every aspect of the mission, If I knew it or not, we needed to knock his door at that time and we didn't even know it. He is 20 so we did a pass off lesson with the YSA elders, But I will never forget how amazing that contact was.

I am so grateful for all of the experiences I have had on my mission this far, I know the Lord puts us where we need to be and I am excited to be serving the Russians in Washington! I love you all!

Seattle Temple June 26, 2018

June 26, 2018

This week has been great! We had interviews with our mission president and he said he still hadn't figured out what areas he is going to combine, but that it is possible our ward, Oak Harbor 2nd will combine with Oak Harbor 1st ward..So if it does, i'm probably getting booted out, but we will see. There are around 20 missionaries going home this transfer and none coming in so we have to combine about 10 areas and won't have the luxury of having missionaries in every ward. But it's exciting, we are welcoming in the Bothel, Shore Line, and North Seattle Stakes into our mission today! We are picking up a couple new languages as well! We will have Russian, ASL, some Chinese language and something else haha! There will be one lucky sister missionary who will have to switch to learning Russian... yikes! Hopefully not me:)  

We went to the temple today!! It was so amazing. We have been on a 2 day 1 night exchange since Monday Morning. I am with Sister Price from Oak Harbor 1st and we were able to work in both our areas yesterday. It was so fun, we both had the feeling to knock a specific door and we were able to meet Zach! He is 17 and just graduated, he is going into the air force, but he is way cool and wants to develop a relationship with Christ! so we were able to set up a return appointment with him, but we forgot to pray with him, so halfway down the stairs I was like, "why didn't we make him a new investigator!?" I was determined to, so we went back up and knocked again. He said, "Back so soon??" haha, so we prayed with him and it was great:)

Updates:

Our investigator John who has read the entire Book Of Mormon and up to D&C 110 is now on date for August 25th! We are way excited for him!

Sad News...5 of our investigators dropped us for some reason or another last week.. it was very heart breaking..But that just leaves room for those that are elect and ready to accept the gospel in their lives.

I am so grateful for the opportunity we had to be inside our Lord's Holy Temple today, It has been 9 months since I have done an endowment session and it was just amazing. Our wonderful member Sister Marriott drove us down and we were lucky enough to be in a live endowment session with a girl who was going through for her first time! Shout out to my family for hooking me up with a name to go to the temple with last minute, it was very special. We went to a farmers market on the way back in Mount Vernon and got the best ice cream in a waffle cone and fresh strawberries and rasberries! I also bought Tayberry Jam:) super fun.

The Gospel is real and will improve the quality of each of our lives and bring us greater purpose in this life. I know that we have a Loving Heavenly Father above who is mindful of us each day, He never goes on vacation, He is there 24/7. His whole purpose is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" Moses 1:39. I love you all, remember that you are watched over every second of everyday, it's up to us to reach out to Him.

Love,

Sister Stokes

June 18, 2017

Happy Father's Day June 18, 2018

We started the week off by hiking up Mount Erie with President and Sister Wilding! President was crazy and started running at the church, which is almost two miles till you get to the base of the mountain, then up the mountain is a  mile and a half straight up! He ran the whole thing! It was awesome. He wrote in his weekly email to all us missionaries about it and I want to share it with you all!

"Last Monday, Sister Wilding and I, along with members of the Oak Harbor Zone tackled an item on my bucket list. I wanted to run to the top of Mt. Erie! There is a paved road to the top which is curvy with very steep inclines. As we started it wasn't too bad. We had some flat and downhill grades, so I thought no big deal, piece of cake. Then the challenge began. We had approximately a mile and a half of steep uphill. It was not easy, in fact, it was difficult and painful. We had to keep pushing and encouraging each other and tried our best to remain steady and consistent. A couple times I ran backwards, sideways and I even tried shuffling with my eyes forward on our goal. The key for me was to keep my feet moving forward the entire time. After a difficult stretch we had a nice flat and even downhill stretch. This was a tender mercy and we were very appreciative of this section of the run. Then came another steep incline! We climbed with greater confidence knowing we had just conquered the beast of the hill minutes earlier. The road is secluded and surrounded by trees. You know you are climbing to higher ground, but you can’t always see the view beyond the trees. Sometimes the path narrowed, and we had to step around, through or over obstacles in our way. Eventually we made it to the top. First, we were happy we made it and congratulated each other. Then we took in the amazing view. It was a clear day and it was so beautiful and breathtaking on top. I am so grateful for that experience!

You may face your “Mt. Erie” at some point in your mission or post mission life. An old proverb states that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Stay true and “in single step” with your covenants. Recognize the tender mercies of the Lord along the way. They are all around us! Sometimes we must look through the trees to find them, but they are there! Celebrate the victories and appropriately reward yourself."

We are so blessed in this mission with the most amazing Mission President and wife, I look up to them so much, and have learned what it really means to be a disciple of the Lord because of their example.

We went on exchanges this week with our Sister Training Leaders (STL's) I went to Mount Vernon With Sister Schill! She is dying this transfer..but we had such a great time together! 

Crazy story!

We went to see this Less Active lady named Ashlie who our ward council told us we should go visit, and so we knock on her door and a lady answers and we ask her if she is Ashlie and she says yes. She lets us in and is very friendly! we get talking, and she asks us if we are from her mother in laws church and we told her no we're from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and she has never heard of it?? about 30 minutes go by and she is just telling us about her life and we are both so confused, so sister Pedersen asks her what her last name is and it was not the same last name as the Ashlie we were looking for! it was so crazy though, we told her everything and she was mind blown as well! She goes, "Well, that was divine intervention." It was really cool, so she told us we could come back another time, when her husband is home and so we did. We taught them part of the restoration and were able to make them new investigators! They are super cool!

We also picked up someone last night named Jean Paul, He is in the navy and is from Africa! He was super friendly and way interested, so we are going back tonight!

Half Mission Conference:

We had Elder Kopischke from the Quorum of the Seventy come speak to us on Thursday! He is from Germany and is so Funny! at the very beginning, he told us to right one question down that we have that we want answered, and at the end of this conference he promised us that it would be answered by revelation we would receive. The spirit was so strong that entire meeting and my question I wrote down was answered in many ways. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and also family history work. We were asked to fill out the family history booklet before coming to the conference and while I was able to fill it out, the spirit was so strong, testifying to me the importance of families and even though I have never met these people I was writing down, I felt so close to them and that I have so much love for them. The spirit of Elijah is real and brings us closer to our families. 

Coree's Baptism!

We had Coree's baptism on Saturday and it was so amazing! We sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" for the musical number and President and sister Wilding did the restoration, it was so powerful, the spirit that they bring is just incredible. Coree bore his testimony afterwards and it was very special. 

We met some interesting people yesterday. We met a Wicken if that is even how you spell it, but they have some interesting beliefs and apparently can cast spells and things.. then we met this lady who was super sweet and let us in, but definitely not interested. At the end, she anointed us with consecrated oil, and put water from the River Jordan on our heads haha, so that was pretty cool!

I am grateful for the experiences I have had on my mission this far, I have come closer to my Savior and can see how he has been strengthening me day by day and helping me in every aspect of this work. I know that the gospel is true, it mends broken hearts and families and brings relief to our weary souls. 

Love,

Sister Stokes