November 13, 2017

November 13, 2017

Hi Everyone! This week has been so amazing! we started out the week going to exchanges Tuesday. I got to go with Hermana Maxwell, and she is the most amazing missionary you will ever meet! Seriously right when we walked out of our apartment Tuesday morning, We stopped Merissa and started talking with her, and she was interested in our message we share and said we could come back! it was so cool, In the fist five minutes of being outside, we found an awesome potential. The whole day was amazing, I learned so much from her! She goes home this transfer and it is so sad! I love her so much. We had a dinner appointment that night with a girl in my YSA ward, but she lives with her Aunt in Sudden Valley, which is pretty far into the woods. So we are driving down this windy road and it is so dark. Our GPS is so messed up and turns off randomly every couple minutes and when we were getting close to their house, it decided to turn off! we had no idea where there house was, these houses are covered in trees and it is straight up a forest where we were. So we decided to just turn into someone's driveway to wait and turn on the GPS again, and when we turned into this driveway, our lights shined on the house and it was her house! It was such a blessing oh my gosh, we were already running late haha. We have been so busy with lessons each week. This upcoming week, we will probably have a toatal of 20 or maybe more lessons! it is crazy. But we found a new investigator on exchanges and she is so sweet. we are teaching her tomorrow for the first time.

We have the best recent converts in our ward, I couldn't believe how many converts our in our YSA ward, it's seriously seems like half of them are converts. They are all so amazing, but Tawni, who just got baptized in July, we have been doing the follow up lessons with her and she is amazing. I don't remember if I talked about her in my last email or not, but she told us a few lessons ago that she wants to go on a mission! She has gone to the temple three times since being baptized, and just got her patriarchal blessing this sunday! Her mom was able to go as well, her parents don't really understand why she wants to go on a mission, but they aren't telling her she can't. She is seriously so cute.

So our district leader Elder Peary Is super amazing, he wasn't active before his mission, and never wanted to serve. But He listened to this podcast called "Conversion of a Catholic" and because of this podcast, his heart changed, and came on a mission. The one part that hit him the most was when this lady's Patriarchal Blessing told her she would have been converted 25 years earlier if the missionary who would have met her went out on his mission. It was so powerful. I never thought about if I didn't come out on my mission, who that would affect. We are responsible to bring the Lord's children to the Gospel, our duty is to share this with others, this is how the work is spread, that is why missionary work is so important for us all to do, wherever we are. God can do anything, and if He wanted to do this work more productively, He would do it Himself. But that's not what He does, He works through us, imperfect teachers, and trusts us with his children. I recommend all of you to find this podcast and listen to it, it will change your life. This missionary is amazing, and his story is amazing.

We got to go to dinner with the Madsens who is the high councilman in our ward and they took us out to olive garden! But we had 6 lessons that day and we were still in a lesson. We also didn't drive to this lesson so we were sprinting to the apartment! We were already late and we felt so bad. We texted them and said we are so sorry we are running late! and they just said it's ok, but we have a meeting at 6:30 they had to go to, and we were supposed to meet them at 5:00, and it was already 5:15. as we were driving, the traffic was so backed up! it was terrible, we didn't get there till a little past 5:30, but it was still awesome. They are super nice.  

There was a Family Baptism this Saturday that we were able to go to because our Investigator Teresa was able to come! It was so great. The family that got baptized was the Sanchez family, and the three kids got baptized and the parents. The girls wore the white dresses, so one of the girls had to go under three times because her dress kept popping up! it was so sad. I was dying though, when she went under her second time, The elder baptizing her held her under the water for so long and tried to push the air bubble in the dress down! it was hilarious, But it was still a super awesome experience.

We met the funniest people tracking the other day. our first door we knocked on was a lady who opened the door, didn't make eye contact with us, and said, "Don't ever knock on this door again. Have a nice day" and shuts the door. lol it was so funny. Another door shortly after was a girl who opened it and goes, "Ohhh, are you the Mormons....? Sorrrryyyyyy, I'm really gay..... and closes the door ahahaha. The way she dragged out her words was so funny we were dying.

This Sunday was great, We had dinner with Ariel and Eric, two people from our ward who are engaged and will be getting married in a couple months, they are so fun. Sunday night we had the best lesson I have had yet with an investigator. Her name is Natalie, she is the one who had no knowledge of Christ and His life. She never was religious, but we had our second lesson with her. She is Seriously amazing, The first time we met her, I developed such a love for her that I have never felt with any of our other investigators. I have felt so much joy teaching her about the gospel. She has gone through so much in her life, a little more than a year an a half ago, she was hit by a car and a part of her head went under the tire of the car, she had to have her head stiched up and she wasn't able to remember the last 6 years of her life. She wasn't able to retain knowledge very well either. About a year ago, she has been doing better with retaining knowledge. if you met her, you would not of known this about her, she is the sweetest human being ever. She is so smart and is retaining everything we have been teaching her. She has been reading the Book Of Mormon and understanding it very well! That's how we found out about her accident more than a year ago, we were like, "wow, you are so amazing at understanding everything you've been reading and retaining it." Everything makes so much sense, to her, we taught her the Plan of Salvation yesterday and it was the first time she has understood the story of Adam and Eve. She really wants these things we have been sharing with her to be true, she's like if this is true, I would be so happy! She is so willing to read and pray to know for herself. It's crazy how the things in her life have prepared her for this moment. She has never prayed before, until our first lesson, we asked her if she would be willing to prayer, and she did. and our second lesson, Her prayer was so amazing and thoughtful. She has a fiancé that lives in Seattle, but she asked us a question, because we were talking about why bad things happen to good people, and she asked, Why some people just aren't able to have children? We just explained it to the best of our abilities that many people go through some really hard trials in their lives for a reason, to grow and to humble ourselves before God. And know that we don't understand everything that we go through, but we know we can find comfort that the Lord has a plan for us all. But she got really watery eyes and we knew she was talking about herself. And she didn't specifically tell us this, but in her prayer she asked that her fiancé could understand the situation better and not be upset and I just felt the strongest love for her, and know that she needed to here what we shared with her today. I love being a missionary, and being able to see the change this Gospel brings into other's lives, I love you all, have a great week.

Love Sister Stokes

November 6, 2017

1) our Zone with our Mission President and wife

2) Sister Porter and I the morning it snowed on Friday

3) some of the sisters in our zone

4) our Sister Training Leaders Hermana Maxwell on the right and Hermana Scousen on the left

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1) Our car Friday morning

2) snowing Friday morning

3) Driving down to our missionary training

4)  other Sister Stokes!

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November 6, 2017

This week has been so amazing. I have learned so much and I've only been out two weeks! So we had zone conference on Tuesday and the theme was "Our Need For A Savior." It was such an amazing first zone conference. Our Mission President President Wilding is so amazing, I have learned so much from him. But he brought up the Story in the Book of Mormon about Abinadi and how he teaches the people that they are in need of a savior. King Noah has created a culture that causes the people to commit sin. So Abinadi is baring out his soul to the people, but they are so hard hearted, he thinks they all listened to his urgent message with deaf ears. Abinadi is killed by fire thinking that his message was unheard, and will die with him, But it is because of him we have the rest of the Book of Mormon, it is because of him, Alma was able to take his message to heart, and know that divinity of it. Because this one man had been obedient to God's command to spread the Need for a savior, the generations to follow Alma were blessed. I have come to love to Book of Mormon so much as I have been out on my mission. I know that it is through the Book of Mormon we are able to see our blessings more clearly and even miracles. It is the word of God and I wish I didn't take it for granted before my mission. It has really helped me see the beauty of this gospel, and how blessed we are to have all this knowledge in the palms of our hands. We just have to be willing to read it and be obedient to it's commands. I know it is through obedience we are able to be blessed, obedience is key! look at all the prophets in the Book of Mormon, it is through obedience they were able to develop their testimonies. Mosiah chapter 5 verse 8 is an amazing verse that goes along with that. I want to invite all you to become more familiar with the Book of Mormon, and read it everyday, I know that it will bless you in many different ways than you would think.

A lot of things happened this week! Hermana Stokes has officially been out a whole year on her mission on Nov. 1st!! I have officially been 19 for one month on nov. 3rd! and I've been out on my mission a whole month on Nov. 4th! time flies! So on Friday, We had to go down to Mill Creek, where the mission office is for a Training, but when we woke up, we woke up to 4 inches of snow! and we aren't aloud to drive if there is snow on the roads, so we thought we weren't going to be able to go! I was so sad, but we asked down the chain of people to ask, and they said that it'll be fine, so we were able to drive down! It was crazy though, because it was still snowing all the way down to Everett which is an hour and a half from where we are, and they don't get to much snow down there. But I got to see Sister Murdock! I missed her so much, she is amazing. It was a good missionary training, I love our mission president and wife, they are the best. Also, there is another Sister Stokes in the Mission!? what are the odds of that happening, she is awesome, this is her last transfer though.

This Sunday, we had a zone fast, since it was fast Sunday anyway haha. We just fasted for each other and for miracles to happen. It was great, fasting hasn't been to hard for me out here, we stay busy enough that I don't think about it to often. But our zone had so many miracles on that night, a couple of the sisters and elders found three and even four new investigators! It was awesome. We didn't find any new investigators, but I know that we have seen many miracles in different ways. Our YSA ward has been so amazing, we have a lot of recent converts that are so strong and have all been going or will soon go to the temple. We are definitely a unique ward with a lot of different personalities, but it makes it fun! After church, they do a thing called "Break the Fast" and have Lunch afterwards and it's so good! Benefits of being in a YSA ward. We had a Potato bar, with lots of other things and lots of deserts, it was great. I love the area that I am serving in, I have met such amazing people here, I love that even though it's different in different places you go in the world, the church is the same, and people are so loving to one another.

I'm so grateful for all the experiences I have had so far in my mission, I know only good things are to come and many learning and growing experiences. This church is a church of action, just like it says in the scriptures, Faith without works is dead! Their is always improvement needed somewhere, and we can never boast in our God to much!

"Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blesses is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blesses be the name of my God, who had been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land." Alma 26:36

 I love you all so much, don't forget your purpose here, and know that through The Lord, We can do all things. This life wasn't meant to be easy, but when we strive to be obedient, our trials will be made easier because of our faith and works.

Love,

Sister Stokes

Everett Washington - week 1 October 2017

MTC - Travel to Washington October 4th