Hey Everyone!
This past week has been amazing!
We saw miracles in Pines and were able to find not only new investigators, but a family! We found the Brookes family this past week, who we knocked into Tuesday night. They invited us in for a prayer and we testified of God's love and how we can turn to Jesus Christ to overcome our weaknesses and become better. They loved it and invited us back on Thursday. They are from the island of St. Kitts (One of the islands in the island chain off of Puerto Rico)! So we went with our Relief Society President to the lesson on Thursday, and her comments and testimony really deepened the lesson on the Plan of Salvation, it was great! It just feels so good to be teaching!
We hit our finding goal this past week, which was 45 new investigators, and we found 49 as a zone!!! To celebrate, we are having a zone wide Pizza Party on the Zone Leaders, haha. Each Zone needs to find 45 new investigators weekly to hit our mission goal of 400 New Investigators weekly, and it is really cool to feel the momentum and urgency building throughout the mission!
We were privileged to hear from Elder Thompson (area seventy I think for our region), Elder Lynn G. Robbins (Presidency of the Seventy, also the author of 100% Responsibility, which is big in our Mission with President Garns) and Elder Uchtdorf!!!!!! It was so funny, because we had to be there by 3:00pm (most missionaries showed up between 2:30-2:45pm) reading our scriptures reverently, and about #pm President Garns gives us the low down of what is going to take place. It was really sweet, because he started telling us how much he loves us, and he got all choked up and told us that if he ever started telling us how much he loves us again, to give him the sign of crossing our fingers as in an X to say no, and not go there because he got so emotional. Haha, it was funny. We love him!!!
We all went and organized ourselves by height for the picture before Elder Uchtdorf and security got there, and it was so cool when he walked in the room all smiley and friendly. Two elders on the front row had to move to let him and the others in to sit on the chairs behind them, and he went to pat one one the shoulder and the elders gave him a big hug!!! It was hilarious, haha. After the picture we all got to shake his had as he thanked us for our service. It went by so fast!!!
The meeting was by far the best part, President Garns again got emotional when he said Elder Uchtdorf, an Apostle of the Lord, would be presiding at out meeting. That doesn't happen too often! First President and Sister Garns spoke to us (love them SOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!) then Elder Thompson. He talked about how the members are our comrades on either side of us to help us in the work (military metaphors, love them!), Elder Robbins opened the meeting up more for discussion and so we as missionaries answered questions and made comments, which was super cool but also a little scary, haha. I accidentally left my notes back home, but his message was powerful! Then, we hear from President Uchtdorf,(Sister Garns accidentally called him that when she spoke, and he got a big grin on his face!!! He is adorable!) and it was so good! It felt surreal, because at first I felt like I was just watching a conference talk from him over the podium, but he was 6 feet in front of us! He talks with his hands a lot, haha, it was great!
I remember how he talked about how it doesn't matter is you are at the beginning of your mission, at the end, or anywhere in between, but that you are always in the middle of your mission! That helped me a lot because I am at the end and you start to wonder if you did all you were meant to, but the mission doesn't have to end once you are released. I can be a Forever Missionary, and plan to be! There was a common theme throughout about Repentance, and our purpose is the prophetic priority to Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts! Elder Uchtdorf talked about how when we repent, we feel that feeling of forgiveness and peace, but we don't forget what we did wrong. We might think that because we remember our sins, we did not fully repent, but that is a ploy of the devil to make us feel unworthy! He admonished us to CLAIM that feeling of forgiveness! Claim the Spirit to be with you as a promised blessing you are worthy of receiving in your life! There was a lot more that really stood out to me during his talk, particularly the promised blessings at the end that also included our families back home (the Powers of Heaven are coming down to bless EACH ON OF YOU!!!) and when I bring my notes next week Ill highlight a few more thoughts I had.
I am out of time, but I love you all so much!!! Have an amazing week, and turn outward and serve someone this week!!!
Love,
Hermana Stokes
Pictures
A Florida Sunset
Relief Society Activity, I iced the cookies😂
My Last Transfer! (I celebrated with a Face Mask, you are all welcome for the terrifying Picture, haha)
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