January 30, 2017

Monday, January 30, 2017

Hola Familia!

So I can tell my spanish is improving bit by bit, I am using and not just studying more grammer techniques in my day to day language, which is exciting. We speak only Spanish when we leave the house(or try to)--Mission President's advice/rule in last 6 weeks of training. It is helping! My everyday vocabulary is small, but getting better! I REALLY want to be fluent, so I can communicate clealrly my testimony and teach with confidence and power. The Spirit is the true teacher in Missionary Work, and I know that as we testify of truth, our words are spoken TO the investigators, but the Spirit brings it UNTO to hearts of the Investigators (a little Elder David A. Bednar in there, ha) 

So this week was fun! We went to OYM a park one day, but practically no one ws there, so we parked and were planing on where to go next. A runner was coming down the street towards us, and I said "Let's OYM him!" (B/c I felt bad about not being able to OYM the park) So I was a little overenthusiastic(Greenie Fire! Haha) and I rolled down the window and stuck my whole arm out to him with a card of Jesus Christ in my hand as he passed. All I could say was "Podemos compartir" and he immediately said "No Thank You" and just kept on running! (I think he might have sped up... :'} )AH! I was SO embarrased! I only realized after the fact how creepy that was! It's like I was the scary stranger luring kids to my car by offering them candy or money or something! Sister Rosario immediately started cracking up, and I mean REALLY laughing, and that got me laughing, so we just sat in the car DYING(her from how funny she thought it was, me from total embarrassment even though it was SO funny) for like 5 full minutes. It was great. I love her so much!

Also, a few nights ago we were walking back to the car in the dark, and we walked right into a huge spiderweb. When we realized what it was, we both took off like no tomorrow! (Kind of like mine and Megan's reactions to Bee's growing up) but I dropped my BOM right where the spiderweb was, and I was FREAKING OUT, and Hna Rosario though I was still with her, and I am not kidding you, she SPRINTED away across the street to the car, and I'm over here screaming "Wait! I dropped my book of Mormon but its still in the Spiderweb, HELP!" But she's screaming, too, so she just kept going! Yeah, It was hilarious. Crop Spiders are everywhere, ha. 

But onto more serious matters (I love funny stories, they're the best) We dropped Isnelda and Samuel, but visited them last night and shared Moroni 10 with them with tow members who are leaving on missions soon! MPLs are so hard, and I am so grateful the KIs changed to no longer inclued so many elements. The World Wide Conference was so Great! I love listening to and learning from our leaders! They are so inspired! 

We found Pedro the other day on the sidewalk, he was biking to work and we stopped him to OYM him. He's 22, but speaks Spanish, so we think we can teach him and not YSA. He is so awesome! Hopefully he accepts baptism! We couldn't get ahold of him yesterday for the appointment, which happens a lot with potentials and investigators, and less actives and members too! Ha, its whatever. We do our best, and that's all the Lord expects. 

But yeah! So excited for you Dad with your new calling! And happy birthday everyone! Love you all!

Hermana Stokes

Breadman's Bakery is LIFE

January 23, 2017

Hola Familia!

This week has been great, as always while in the mission! There is nothing more rewarding than missionary work! We had transfers last week on Wednesday, and of course I am staying! Our district leader stayed as well as one of our zone leaders. There were a lot of changes, and only one other sister stayed, Sister Kyle, She is English YSA. The transfer call monday night was cool, we turned out all the lights and used a flashlight and little light up tree decoration. Is that something you do in every mission for transfer calls?

We have been working with our investigators Isnelda(mom) and Samuel(12 yrs old) for several weeks. They have only come to church once(two weeks ago) and are no longer progressing. Samuel has a date for the 18th of Feb. and Isnelda has been praying, but doesn't have an answer yet. We keep trying to get members to be able to come out with us, but it is tough as everyone who is in the area works so much and doesn't have time. We are still doing everything we can, though! We do not have any other progressing investigators, we have been cleaning our teaching pool. We found 3 more NI's last night, though, which is exciting!

We have had so much service this week, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we had service for 2-3 hours! We helped a lady named Betsy paint her office, which took tow days, and a small family we met knocking move out of their house and clean. It was crazy how much service kept coming our way! It makes up for not being able to do it last week, ha.

I am out of time, but I love you all so much, and I hope you all have an amazing week! Bye!

Hermana Stokes

January 23, 2017

I go to the local library to email. I email on an IPad we check out for up to 2 hours, It has a detachable keyboard. Its just a one room little library, nothing special. It was been a bit more stormy the last little bit, it was thundering and pouring around 4 this morning, ha. It woke me up. The thunder is so loud! It is awesome. There are so many birthdays at the end of this month, I didn't even realize! I should be able to write birthday cards, we will see. I have valentine's day cards, ha. Will you be able to send the lyrics this next week?

Are you feeling all better now then? Do you think dad got what you had or something different? It is never fun when your sick. A really bad flu is going around here, too. Two elders (our zone leaders last transfer, 1 still is, the other got transferred) have something really bad, and our less active Marcial has missed work the past 3 days and couldn't come to church either because he is so sick. It really is such a blessing to have full health!  I hope everyone gets feeling better soon. 

But yeah! I love you mom, have a great week as well!

 

 Our new district! After Transfers!

Zone Training!

 When in Walmart

 We had 8 hours of service last week! We helped a woman named Betsy paint her office white and move her stuff to her car to take to her new office closer to home. The sisters in that area helped her paint her new office a beige color. We also helped a woman and her daughter we met while knocking clean their bathroom and fridge(which was gross but I felt so good afterwards! Cleaning checks helped prepare me for that!) because they were moving and really stressing out.

 Also we took pictures in front of our car! Her name is Natalia (We think the elders named her, it comes up when the phone connects to the car through the Bluetooth, haha.

January 17, 2017

Hey Everyone!

How is everyone doing? What crazy awesome things have happened? As for me, this week was pretty great! But that is how it goes out in the field! Haha. So, shoutout to my Siter Steffani King (!) because she is feeling 22 today!!! Happy birthday Steff!!! I love you so much, and I hope you have a fantastic birthday! (aka write me about it!) I also love hand written letters! (hint hint haha) so I will include my address at the end of the email. Hopefully. If I remember, ha. But yeah! Back  to this week. Time flies by so fast here. I feel like all I do is wake up and then go back to sleep. So my sense of time is a little off, ha.

A miracle we saw this week was being led to the door of a Less Active who isn't on our records! This happened once before in the transfer before I came, and we are currently teaching that LA and he will be a rescue once the Bishop meets with him, but a few days ago we found Nancy as well! We simply went to the wrong door for an appointment! It was so cool, and she wants to come back to church, she is from the Dominican Republic but she didn't know where any church buildings were, or even that they had one here! She didn't make it to church this Sunday, but we are meeting her this week to begin teaching her and I am so exited. She has a 12 year old son too, so we are hoping to bring him into the church as well!

We got a lot of referrals from other missionaries this week, and one had a really cool story. His name is Aquino Cabrera and Sister Rosario and I OYM'd him (open your mouth--we handed him a pass along card and invited him to go to the web page on the back to learn about Jesus Christ. We do that to practically everyone we see while walking) and later that day he accepted a prayer from one of our zone leaders and the elder he was on exchanges with. Aquino is super catholic and closed off to any other religion, but the night before he had a dream where he saw the picture of Christ on the pass along card we gave him and received a prayer by two missionaries. And so he accepted it the next day! Way cool, right? Sadly, we called him and he doesn't want to take the lessons or be baptized.. What do you do? We are planting seeds, though!

I love how much time we have in the mornings to study the scriptures and the gospel. In our mission, we have to read the BOM for 30 minutes in Personal Study, and the last 30 minutes can be whatever you want. I usually end up reading the BOM for 45 minutes because it is just so good! I LOVE the scriptures! They are just so cool! Something I learned in personal study just this morning was is 2 Ne 3:19. This is where Lehi is talking about Joseph of Egypt and how he saw the Restoration through Joseph Smith and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. I love the last sentence in that verse, especially the last 5 words, where the Lord says, "And it shall be as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from‍ the dust; for I know their faith." Ah! It was so awesome, because that is what I have grown up learning, that through the words of the Book of Mormon the Lord speaks to us! I know that He knows my faith, and that as I continue to exercise my faith in Him and work hard to bring back His lost sheep, I will see His hand in my life more and more, and be blessed with so many miracles! We have already seen so many, and I know that with exact obedience the miracles come. Sometimes it is hard to have obedient meal appointments(we've had two that were after 6 and there was no investigator because they couldn't  come last minute...) but we are doing everything we can to be as obedient and work as hard as possible so that the Lord can see our efforts and trust us with His elect. I know that He knows exactly who and where they are, and that as we pray for those missionary opportunities and willing give our hearts and desires to Him, He will lead us to them and trust us to teach them! I love being a missionary and being set apart from the world in order to do this. It is the best think that I could be doing right now, and I encourage anyone who is thinking about serving a full time mission for the Lord, to DO IT! It is SO worth it! It is not always easy, but you receive so much help, guidance, and strength along the way.

I love you all so much, and I hope everyone has a great week! Always remember what is most important in life, and that it isn't work or money, or anything that this world could give us. It is family, friends, the love that we feel as we strive to live our lives more in harmony to God's will and do what He wants and needs us to do. That is when we will feel true and everlasting happiness, a fullness of joy. Bye everyone!

Hermana Stokes

5841 W 20th Ln

Hialeah, FL 33016

January 9, 2017

Just the littlest additional miracle, but one that really impacted me. So we were inspired to visit the Dominican Family (and have 5 NIs because of it!) but we didn't have a Spanish Resto pamphlet! So Hna Rosario looks in the glove compartment, and finds another Spanish BOM (we are low of those, too), but that's not what we need, so she tosses it in the back to keep looking for a pamphlet. All the while, I am praying in my heart that I know God is all powerful, and that he can give us a Resto pamphlet to use in this lesson we are hoping to have. He helped us make every light on the way, so I knew we needed to be there. I felt like we should check the BOM, because sometimes we put pamphlets in them. So I grabbed it off the back seat and start flipping through its pages form the back to the front. When I get to the front, BAM! There it is! Exactly what we needed! I know that God answers our prayers, even those that are silent in our hearts. It was such a testimony builder for me, and we went and had an amazing lesson where we know everyone in the room could feel the spirit. They all accepted baptism, too!

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January 9, 2017

Hola Familia!

This has been an amazing week! So many miracles have taken place across the whole mission! We have something called Mighty Prayer every Monday and Friday at 9:00am. We have a conference call with all the missionaries in our zone (Hialeah Heartbeat Zone, 3 districts) and have goals set as a whole zone and then district goals, etc. But in this call, on missionary is assigned to say the prayer, and every companionship sends them the names of the investigators/less actives etc that we want them to pray for, and it is so awesome! The whole Zone is participating in the same prayer for our investigators, and this happens all across the mission! It truly is Mighty Prayer. I invite all of you to join us and pray at 9 on Mondays and Fridays for anyone you know of who could use the Gospel in their lives, or who are just going through a rough time (yourself included!). Prayer is sooo powerful. I love being on the Mission, because we pray ALL THE TIME! Before we leave the house, before we leave the car to knock, teach, whatever, and just all the time. I know it truly makes a difference, and that God hears EVERY PRAYER! It can be a simple prayer, even a prayer in your heart. Like yesterday! Ah, yesterday. Sundays are the best, especially fast Sundays, and then even more so when TWO of your new investigators come to church with a member family!!!!

Okay, so let me elaborate. So we met Isnelda and her two sons, Samuel (12) and Daniel (9). We were knocking and we had just started, and they had just gotten back home from somewhere bc they were outside their door. We asked if we could share a short message with them, and straightway she invited us into her home. So we talked with her, got to know her and her family a little bit (She's from Venezuela and her husband is still over there working. Venezuela is really not doing well right now, I don't know if you guys know this, but there is a lot of violence, starvation, etc, so definitely send prayers their way. We have so many Venezuelan members, and we meet tons of them who have only been here for a few months. It is really sad, especially since so many of them didn't come with all of their family.) But anyways, the lesson went good, and she accepted a baptism date for the 21st! (Kind of, she said she would pray about it.) But we had a second lesson on the 6th with a member, Sis. Fuentes. We told her about Isnelda and she though she might have met her 2 months ago because their sons go to the same school, but she wasn't sure if it was the same person. So when we knocked on her door, Isnelda and Hna Fuentes saw each other, and immediately embraced! It was so cool! That lesson was on the BOM, and the spirit was so powerful. Hna Fuentes shared a story about how her youngest son couldn't walk, and how hard that was for her. She shared the scripture her huisband showed her, and it was about faith and receiving no witness until after the trial of your faith. To make long story short, she bore her testimony very powerfully about the BOM and how she knows that God speaks to us through its words. Her son later started to use his tiny tiny deformed legs, and now he is perfectly healthy! Let me say, it was amazing. And we committed them to church, and Hna Fuentes and her family were able to pick them up, and they camed on a fast sundy so all the ward members bore their testimonies, which are so strong! Ah, it was perfect! And Samuel and Daniel both loved church, they stayed for all three hours. But we also had three of our less actives make it to church too! It was a miracle!!! I was sitting up on the stand (I have been playing the piano for the last two weeks, not sure where their pianist is, haha. We don't know her..) And so I didn't see when Marcial made it, but once Sacrament started I had time to look around, and there he was, right by Hna Rosario!!! I cannot tell you how much joy I felt at that moment, it was truly so amazing. It is so humbling being able to work with God's children. And we had a lesson with Isnelda later that night, and it was so good! I love Samuel, he is so elect! I just hope his dad lets him get baptized, because Isnelda said he is against children being baptized. We explained about the age of accountability, but we will have to see. He is so cute, though, while he was reading the pamphlet, he raised his hand like a preacher while reading silently to himself, ha.

There are other mircales from yesterday, like the Dominican family we finally had a lesson with, and now we have 5 new investigators!!!! Ah, the mission is great, and God is soo good!

I love you all so much, and I now have another Brother! Welcome to the family Brock!

Love,

Hermana Stokes

January 3, 2017

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

January 3, 2017 HAPPY NEW YEARS

Hola Familia! Feliz Ano Nuevo!

This has been a pretty fun week! It is so crazy that it is already 2017! Happy New Year everyone! New Years here was great, we had to be home by 6, so we ordered pizza, watched the Testaments, colored/drew, Hna Rosario tried false lashes for the first time(it was so fun! She looked so cute ha), among other adventures, like finally eating some of the chocolate I got for Christmas (I am trying to NOT eat it, haha). But the holidays are over, so back to work! I am so grateful I didn't get trunky!  Haha, I hope most if not all of you know what that means.

So a funny story that happeded Sunday, and then it continued over into Monday! Ill explain. So we were knocking doors Sunday night (we now have church at 1, so we do not have a whole lot of proselyting time anymore... we also can't knock past 7:00 at night, at least the sister, bc it is not safe until the days get longer) and we knocked into Louis. He accepted a prayer, and he was a pretty nice guy. However, I forgot his name in the prayer, and so I stopped talking, trying to remember. For some odd reason, I really wanted to call him Jose. I have no idea why! After a lengthy and VERY embarrassing pause, he and Hna Rosario both said his name at the same time. Still embarrassed but grateful, I continue on with the prayer, of which I thought flowed really well and I said all the things I felt he needed(in Spanish). I thought it was so weird, because afterwards, Hna Rosario called him Jose and he corrected her. He seemed so amused, and I felt that it was because I forgot his name. I didn't even realize it until after we left what had happened. I asked Hna Rosario why she called him Jose, ad if she felt like that was his name too! But that is not why at all! Turns out, after being corrected in the prayer, I plodded along rather valiantly, but called him not once, but TWICE Jose! It felt so natural to call him Jose, haha. I was super embarrassed once I realized what ACTUALLY happened, oh my.nIt's okay, though, because he called us yesterday and asked for a Book of Mormon! I am so glad, even though I am super embarrassed haha. So yeah, definitely a funny story for the books, haha.

For the Moffitts, My STL is Sister Root! She knows you guys! You guys went to school with her!

I had my first interview with President Richardson yesterday., and it went really well! He is big on eye contact, so that was a little disconcerting! Haha, but he is great, and so inspiring!

I am out of time, but I love you all! Have fun with those New Year's resolutions, and don't get too discouraged if you do not progress as fast as you like. Something I am learning here is to just take it one day at a time, and do the best you can with the time you have to improve. Turn it all over to the Lord, and He will help you find your way. Bye!

Love,

Hermana Stokes

December 27, 2016

 These are from the Christmas Conference, we had a White Elephant game

 Our Apartment 

December 27, 2016

Hola Familia y amigos,

 

This week has been so awesome! Christmas makes everything better! Haha. We had Christmas Conference with the southern half of our mission on Thursday, and it was great! Plus they served us the kind of food that I would normally eat at Christmas, whish made me so happy! They had leftovers, so I got to take a small sour cream tub of Sweet potatoes with brown sugar home!!! Ah, it made me sooo happy, haha! Plus, CHRISTMAS PACKAGES! So much fun to open on Christmas, thanks fam! I loved the stocking, haha, but too much junk food! At least I haven't eaten any of it yet, ha.

So this area has been a little tough since before I came here, we do not have any progressing investigators. We have been trying to work more with the members and do MMGP's with them to see if they can work with their friends and invite them to church, etc, to come up with referrals for the missionaries.We have also been visiting less actives and encouraging them to work in the Lord's Vineyard and to make it back to church. I love working with the members, and I remember being so excited in the MTC at the prospect of getting members involved in the missionary work, and now I am here, doing it! I love it.

So we had an awesome miracle last night! We were planning on going to Dural for an FHE activity with the Fuentes family, we MMGP'd them last week, and their non-member friend Lilliana, but Lilliana couldn't make it so it was canceled. We had planned to proselyte in that area that night as well, but were no longer sure since the activity was canceled and we are running low on miles for the month. (We only get 900 and are over 800..) We thought about it, and still felt good about going down there, and so we did. We went to visit a potential we had set up an appointment with, but she was out of the house at the time. So we then went to visit the less active member, Hna Barillas, who lived in the same gated community.  We had tried to visit her before, but she was in the bathroom and her husband doesn't like the church anymore, so he didn't answer. Luckily, she

 answered this time! We had a really good lesson with her, encouraging her to be a member missionary and that the Lord would bless her with the strength, health, and energy to do so. It was definitely what she needed to hear, because she is only less active because of serious health problems, she has menopause, and was feeling so guilty about not even making it to church on Christmas because she has no energy, and then we showed up! She told us we were like an answer to her prayers! In all reality, she was an answer to mine, helping me to feel that what I am doing here is really important, and that even when we don't have a whole lot of success getting New Investigator's, that we are still tools in the Lord's hands to bless His people! It was humbling, and I felt so much love for her, and I could feel our Savior's love for her as well. I am so grateful for that miracle, I definitely needed it. And what made the night even better, is that she referred us to the family that lives directly across from her. The Dad is from the Dominican Republic(Yay for Dominican companions!) and has been here 12 years. He is the nicest man! We started out as a normal door approach where we offered to share a prayer, and when we found out where he was from(we knew before hand) Hna Rosario jumped right in, and it was great! He was so nice to us, I said the prayer, and then basically tried my best to understand the conversation, haha. It was challenging. But we are meeting with them on Sunday. What my comp told me afterward is that he told us if we ever need anything, or if our car breaks down or something, to call him and he would come help us! What? Who does that! She also told me he offered to get us a nicer phone to be more up to date with technology, but of course that is kind of the point of not having nice phone, haha. But overall, I think we might just have found the elect family we have been praying for this whole time! We are so excited!!

I love all of you so much, and I invite you look for the small missionary opportunities the Lord places in your path, even just strengthening and fellowshipping the members. I know this Gospel is true, and that it truly blesses Our lives. Have an amazing week!

Love,

Hermana Stokes