Hola Familia!
Hey everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas weekend! This wonderful Christmas Spirit can be felt all year round, don't let it die out! Keeping the Savior in our thoughts always brings that peace and happiness we feel so strongly during the Holiday Season!
I love Pines! The members here are so kind, I love them so much already! Sister Bohlen and I get along great, and I am excited to see the miracles that are coming our way as we work hard and find those we need to this transfer. We will be biking a lot the next few days, ha, (we are low on miles!) which I am excited for,(the weather is super nice and I LOVE being outside!) because that means that more people with see us out and about, and we may knock into some who will have seen us and then we can answer their questions as to why we do what we do!
We have seen several miracles this week! When we went caroling in the Plantation sisters' area, we knocked on one of their investigator's doors, and when we started caroling, she started to cry! She said that the whole day she was trying to feel God's love and to feel SOMETHING from Him, but couldn't. And then we showed up on her doorstep, and she knew God had answered her prayer! It was one of the sweetest, most tender moments, because it was so personal and meaningful to her. It was wonderful to be able to have been a part of that experience! Caroling is just so fun! On Christmas Eve, the Silver Lakes Sisters who live with us ( Sister Thurman and Sister Measles) went caroling with us to an elderly lady who is a neighbor to a member in our ward, and she loved it! She pulled out her high school and college year books and showed us all her boyfriends in 1942! Haha, we loved it! Everyone dressed so classy back then, haha, it was great.
We have seen several miracles this week! When we went caroling in the Plantation sisters' area, we knocked on one of their investigator's doors, and when we started caroling, she started to cry! She said that the whole day she was trying to feel God's love and to feel SOMETHING from Him, but couldn't. And then we showed up on her doorstep, and she knew God had answered her prayer! It was one of the sweetest, most tender moments, because it was so personal and meaningful to her. It was wonderful to be able to have been a part of that experience! Caroling is just so fun! On Christmas Eve, the Silver Lakes Sisters who live with us ( Sister Thurman and Sister Measles) went caroling with us to an elderly lady who is a neighbor to a member in our ward, and she loved it! She pulled out her high school and college year books and showed us all her boyfriends in 1942! Haha, we loved it! Everyone dressed so classy back then, haha, it was great.
After caroling Christmas Eve, we all went to Presidents house (just the Coral Springs, Ft. Lauderdale, and Hialeah Zones, everyone else met as a zone) and ate some food (forgot to take a picture of that!) and talked with all the missionaries for a while, then we all came back together and sang a few Christmas songs before the Mission-Wide Conference Call where President Garns spoke to us and talked about how "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" came about. The author went through so many trials, and after the tragic death of his second wife, he wrote that song. We then sang that song all together, and it was amazing! Ah, it was so cool to spend Christmas Eve all together as a mission!!! When we got back home we all changed into Christmas PJ's and watched "Nora's Christmas Gift" and "Mr. Kruger's Christmas" and then in the morning "The Fourth Wise Man." We got Christmas movied out! (All church movies, so no worries there!) We later had a district brunch and pumpkin pancakes! It was super fun :)
I loved being able to talk to everyone over FaceTime yesterday, I love you all so much!!! And Congratulations!!! (You know who you are! ;) ) We had dinner with the Stephen family, and they have three young boys, the oldest is 4 and a half, and they are the cutest thing! I love them so much!!!Also, brined turkey wrapped in bacon is amazing! It was so moist!!! And homemade cheesecake, yum! I forgot my camera, but you will see the pictures next week! We went caroling again later that night, which was super fun again :) I love singing so much, and plus its Christmas, which makes is so much better!
Also, we had our investigator Clarisa come to church! This past Sunday was a little funny, ha, because you could tell it wasn't well planned out, ha. We sang Christmas hymns the whole time and had several spur of the moment musical numbers, haha. I went up with the Spanish branch(Silver Lakes, we were joined for Christmas at 9am) and sang with them. The bishop went up to the mic during a lull and said "Brother Elis, your name is calling." Hahaha I was dying inside! Brother Elis is an amazing vocalist and sang "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" to a recording on his phone of just Christmas bells chiming, it was amazing! Luckily, Clarisa loved all the Christmas music and the members were so nice and friendly to her, we are excited to keep teaching her. I first met her transfer day, and we taught her the Plan of Salvation, and she felt so peaceful and it made sense to her. I just love the Gospel!
I am studying right now in the war chapters in Alma, and there is so much to learn from their work ethic and faith. I love thinking of how we can build up our own walls of protection from the "fiery shafts" of the adversary through living and studying the Gospel, how we put on the armor of God every day to go out and battle sin and temptation. We are truly on the Lord's errand, and we have a mighty work to accomplish! I recently read one of this past's general conference talks "I Have a Work for Thee" and it goes right along with that thought, on how we each have something meaningful to contribute to the Kingdom of God!
Also, we had our investigator Clarisa come to church! This past Sunday was a little funny, ha, because you could tell it wasn't well planned out, ha. We sang Christmas hymns the whole time and had several spur of the moment musical numbers, haha. I went up with the Spanish branch(Silver Lakes, we were joined for Christmas at 9am) and sang with them. The bishop went up to the mic during a lull and said "Brother Elis, your name is calling." Hahaha I was dying inside! Brother Elis is an amazing vocalist and sang "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" to a recording on his phone of just Christmas bells chiming, it was amazing! Luckily, Clarisa loved all the Christmas music and the members were so nice and friendly to her, we are excited to keep teaching her. I first met her transfer day, and we taught her the Plan of Salvation, and she felt so peaceful and it made sense to her. I just love the Gospel!
I am studying right now in the war chapters in Alma, and there is so much to learn from their work ethic and faith. I love thinking of how we can build up our own walls of protection from the "fiery shafts" of the adversary through living and studying the Gospel, how we put on the armor of God every day to go out and battle sin and temptation. We are truly on the Lord's errand, and we have a mighty work to accomplish! I recently read one of this past's general conference talks "I Have a Work for Thee" and it goes right along with that thought, on how we each have something meaningful to contribute to the Kingdom of God!
I love you all so much, and will talk to you again next week!!!
Love,
Hermana Stokes
Pictures:
Pictures on Christmas Eve, District Brunch, and I don't know what else, ha.
At the bottom, there are two pictures of a giant blow up Snowman and Santa Claus, the snowman is 45 ft. tall! We caroled at their house:)
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