Trunk or Treat Country Walk Miami

Miami Zoo P-day October 2017

Where has the Time Gone???

Hola Familia!

Como esta? This week has been amazing! Last P-Day we went to the Miami Zoo, which was super fun! We took lots of pictures :) We also had Zone Conference on Wednesday, which was great, as always. President and Sister Garns also came and spoke in our Sacrament meeting yesterday, and taught the 3rd hour for the 5th Sunday. He shared the new 2 minute video produced by the Church about all these different people around the world and how the missionaries found them, it is amazing!!! Especially to see as a missionary, seeing that there are so many people and families that have been found through full-time missionary and member missionary efforts, even through knocking, it made me cry!!! You ALL need to go watch it, there is such a special Spirit when you do.

We had the Ward Trunk-or-Treat this past Saturday night, and though we had investigators commit to come, they weren't able to :( We taught a young family on Monday, the moms name is Sonia and her 10 year old daughter Malayzia, 4 year old Jasmine, and 2 year old Mason, and they all came to church yesterday, including the Dad who we hadn't even met yet!  They've been looking for a church to attend, and we showed up on their door! The two girls have parts in the Primary Program now on the 19th :) Malayzia loves church, she is so cute!

Emily overslept and couldn't make it to church, but is still super solid for her baptism on the 11th! We taught her at a members on Thursday and at the chapel on Friday :)Love her!

Sister Garns wants to put together a book with a bunch of missionary stories from working in the Keys, so I'll include whatever I end up writing in my email home for you all to enjoy, haha.

This is a [art of the email from our Mission President this week, I love it:

Here is an interesting true story about Elder Jeffrey R. Holland told by his wife Patricia T. Holland.

While working on his Ph.D. at Yale University, my husband got to know well one of the senior reference librarians who had given him valuable help researching for his dissertation.
On a whim one day, he said, “Ilene, I need to know how many books we have in either the Sterling Memorial or Beinike Rare Book Libraries that claim to have been delivered by an angel.”The librarian gave him a peculiar look (but my husband has always received peculiar looks) and said, “I don’t know of any books that have been delivered by angels. Swords maybe. Or chariots. But I don’t know of any books.”
“Well, just run a check for me would you? It may take a little doing, but I really would like to know. It would help me with some religious writing I am doing.” (Now, please understand that Yale has the fourth-largest library in the nation, with nearly 9,000,000 volumes in its collection.)
Ilene dutifully did some checking. For several days she had nothing to report, but then one day she was all smiles as my husband strolled by to his carrel.
“Mr. Holland, yoo hoo,” she said, very unlibrarianlike. “I have a book for you. I found one book which, it is claimed, was delivered by an angel. But it’s one from your people,” she said. (She always spoke of Latter-day Saints as my husband’s people, which probably meant she had him confused with Wilford Woodruff.)
“But it’s one from your people,” she said, and she held up a paperback copy of the Book of Mormon. “I’m told you can get them for a dollar.”
“My word,” she continued. “An angel’s book for a dollar. You would think angels would charge more, but then again, where would they spend it?”
Have we really considered the majesty of our message? The Book of Mormon is a miracle, and combined with the spirit is our most powerful resource in conversion. I continue to hear more and more accounts of our missionaries successfully using the Book of Mormon in their finding and teaching efforts. Read it, study it, love it, apply it in your life, and you, as well as all with whom you share it, will be blessed.

Love,

Hermana Stokes

Pictures:

Some of the Games from the Trick-or-Trunk 

My Story of Key West Helping Hands after Hurricane

Key West Helping Hands 

So my first day in the Keys was the Sunday they opened it up all the was down to Key West. We first went to Key Largo and helped clean out a foot of seaweed from an older women's home, as well as remove some damaged furniture. It was incredible to see how fast we were able to remove the seaweed all over her property as we all worked together as a team. When we all came together at the end to close in a prayer, she told us how her husband had recently been diagnosed with Cancer and he just doesn't have the strength to clean it up on his own. She was so grateful for our help, she was brought to tears. It was an amazing experience, and a 12 year old member from our ward said the prayer and asked that angels would be with them to protect them, it was the sweetest thing!

Later that same day, our car and one other in our group was ahead of everyone else and arrived at the next work order, but the work had been done the day before. As we drove down the street, we saw an older man out front of his home, which you couldn't really see because of all the down trees and debris. He was alone with a chainsaw, slowly working his way through he first palm tree that had fallen on his gate surrounding his property. We kept going to the house that had asked for help, and we all felt like we should go and help that man. We talked to the other car who was with us, and they wanted to help him to, though he hadn't put in a work order. So we go and meet him, and get right to work! He told us his wife had told him to take it slow, and that that was what we were all going to do, and then one car after another showed up with all the tools as they caught up to us, and he was amazed to see how big our group was. He told us his primary goal was to clear the driveway so he could get his generator hooked up to the house so they would have power. We got several chain saws started up, and within an hour and a half we had cleared his driveway completely, and he just couldn't believe it. He kept telling us that we wre going to make a grown man cry, and that he was supposed to be strong. When we finished the work, you could see the emotion on his face. He was so grateful, he said he had just seen a miracle. Later, I found out from the Stake President, that once everyone had left, the Stake President talked to him alone, and this man, Ed was his name, had prayed just a little earlier that somehow God would send him some help. and then 50+ Mormon Helping Hands showed up to deliver that help!!! It was A Miracle Indeed!!!

Country Walk

MILAGROS EN COUNTRY WALK!!!!!!!! Oct 23, 2017

Hola Familia!!!

If you couldn't tell by the headline, this week has been FULL of miracles!!!!! I almost feel like I don't deserve them,, that I need to work way harder. Haha, but we are working hard and being exactly obedient, and I know that brings miracles!!!! It is so crazy to actually be seeing them, now though, in such an obvious way, and I want all the missionaries everywhere to feel as happy as I do right now!!!!

Holy Cow you guys, I don't even know where to begin. Maybe with the Best :) So, Emily Clarke. We met with Emily Clarke, a walk in from last month in the Coral Reef Ward, on Friday, and she is so ready for the Gospel! She has already read almost all of the Book of Mormon, she is in Ether, and she knows its true!!! She met a member online about 10 months ago in a facebook political chat room and he said she sounded like a Mormon, and they started talking, and 6 months ago he sent her a Book of Mormon, and she has been reading and loving it ever since! She knows this is right where she belongs, and is so excited for her baptism on November 11th!!!! Everything we were teaching her she loved and basically already knew, it is going to be so cool to continue helping her progress towards her baptism. She is 43, divorced, and has a 22 year old special needs daughter (I don't remember what it is called, but she died in the womb and the doctors revived her) and super cool side story, the doctors told Emily that her daughter wouldn't be much more than a vegetable, but because Emily loved her so much, was so patient and took amazing care of her, she can eat and walk around and other things on her own! Isn't that amazing??!! Ah, she is basically already Mormon, it's awesome!!!

Then we went and were able to meet with Betsie, a former we accidentally (so inspired!)knocked into the week before, and she really wants to do what God wants her to do. She is so humble and we love her!!! She remembers the elders who taught her last December/January (we found her teaching record in the Area Book, ha) and they just lost contact with her because she was super busy. But she is awesome!!! So excited to continue teaching her, I felt the Spirit so strongly and felt so much love while sharing the Restoration with her, and what makes it even better, is I am so happy to be experiencing these miracles with Sister Chugg, because I really want her to have an amazing experience serving here in Florida as a sister missionary. She struggles with speaking the language, but she gets so excited when we see success, I know she will be an amazing missionary :)

We also had a sisterhood blitz (where all of the sisters in Miami South-me- and Miami Beach come together and we switched companions for an hour to go knocking) this last week, which was super fun. We all went to our house afterwards (we knocked in Coral Reef's area and we share the house with them) and ate dinner, it was so good! I have some pictures, the STL's decorated it really cute. It's just been an amazing week! Ah, the mission is the best!!! It's for moments like this that make every sacrifice, every effort, worth it!!!!!

I know this Gospel is true, and that it WILL change your life for the better, when truly lived! God loves us so much, He is waiting to bless us, just allow Him the chance and accept the Savior and His Atonement in your life!!! He has given us all we need to return back to Him, Our Savior paved the way, we just need to Follow Him!!! I love you all so much, have an amazing week!!!

Love,

Hermana Stokes

This is the table the STL's set up, we each brought something but they cooked the food :)

We did service this week and painted a members nursery, they are moving soon

 Gator Grill

October 16, 2017

Hola Familia!

Hey everyone! How are you all doing? Florida is great! Sister Chugg and I are working so hard, we have been able to talk to so many people and are seeing those Miracles that we have been waiting for!!!

So, the Sunday after the Hurricane, a woman attended church at the Coral Reef ward. She talked with a member (yes!) and got her phone number. So she lives in our area (yay!) and we called her and texted her and nothing. But on Friday, she got back to us! Her mother is sick and in the hospital, and she got sick from the hospital (a bit of bad luck!) and that's why she hadn't answered us yet, but loved church and wants to be Mormon! I have never had anyone contact me and want to be baptized! It was amazing! It was so funny, too, because this past Sunday she came to the right building, just the wrong time, haha, she went to the ward at 9:00am and we meet at 11:00am, but she was confused because she said she had stayed for 4 hours (!) and had to leave, but she wanted to stay! Not quite sure what happened, haha, but we are going to start teaching her this week! Her name is Emily Clark! She is our little miracle :)

So all last transfer and continuing on into this transfer, we have been trying so hard to meet with a part-member/less-active family, but the appointments always fall through. We went to just stop by Saturday night, and the Dad and his 11 year old unbaptized daughter were home, and the dad said he would come to church. We weren't sure if he really would, though, because his daughter said she had a soccer game, but it turns out, he really did come! The Bishop was able to talk with him after Sacrament and he later told us that we have a plan on bringing them all back to the church!!! We are super excited!!!
Something that really stood out to me in my personal study was that when Alma goes to war with the Nephites against the Amicites, and he faces Amlici on his own, he prays for renewed strength to be able to defeat him, and that his life is spared so that he can bee a tool in the Lord's hands to serve his people. That has never stood out to me so much, because though at this point in Alma's life he has done so much good, he couldn't yet see all of the lives he would one day be able to change because of his desire and willingness to go out and do Missionary Work! The same goes for all of us, we all chose to come and serve a mission, desiring to be a tool in the Lord's hands, and who knows just how many miracles the Lord has planned for us in His work!!!

A quote that Our Mission President has said a few times now that is so amazing:

“Do not worry about getting tired for weariness does not come from over work but from a lack of interest in what you are doing.”

I just love it! Though the work is hard, it is ALWAYS worth it!

I love you all so much, have an amazing week!!!

Love,

Hermana Stokes

We wanted to go to this Gator Grill as a district last P-Day and get some "Gator Nug-Nugs" -Elder Thomas, but it was closed, so we took some pictures instead :)

October 9, 2017

Hola Familia! 

Hey everyone! Love you all so much! This week has been so much fun!!! I don't have much time, but we had so many miracles this week! When we went to visit our people to get back into contact with them, they answered and let us in! It was amazing! We found 3 new investigators too! I love being a missionary and helping these people feel of God's love and come to know Him personally for themselves. 

I love you all so  much, write me and tell me all about your crazy adventures, too! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Stokes

Sorry no Pictures this week

October 2, 2017 Florida Keys Helping Hands