The Final Epistle

HELLO.

Sooo this week was great!!! I mean.. I went to the temple twice. of course it was great. and we had zone training and gave a training there! 

remind me when im home to tell you about the Espinoza's sealing.. I'm pretty sure it was the most special amazing experience I've ever had.  Families are eternal.  I know that for sure. Also, seeing all of concord for the first time in a year in the temple... im pretty sure thats exactly how the celestial kingdom will be. it was amazing!

Then yesterday... concord all came to brentwood to visit me and say goodbye. hahaha. the branch president's mom lives in our ward here in brentwood. so thats how that happened. it was amazing! I love them all so much.

So I guess I just wanted to end all these fun weekly emails with my testimony... GUYS. I know this church is true.  Seriously..... It is. And we have The Book of Mormon to testify of it!  I have grown to love this book so much on my mission.  It really can answer any question we have.  It can resolve any doubt we have as well. Go forward with faith, and read the Book of Mormon.(:

I am so grateful for my mission. BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE. seriously though, if i could, i would go back and do it all over again.  But I do know that that is not the Lord's plan for me.  I do know that he needs me home.  He has another purpose for me! But man, It's hard to leave.  I have learned so much here. I have learned that God has a plan for us.  I have learned that as we listen to the spirit, we can follow the plan! Isn't God's love for us amazing?  Seriously, I am so grateful to be  a part of this work.  Sharing the truthfulness of the restored gospel has been amazing. And it really is great to know that.. I can continue to share it! My mission doesn't have to stop here. I have realized that. 

All the people I've met have taught me that life is hard.  But that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, we can be happy!! We can have a happiness that is impossible to find elsewhere.  It's cool to meet someone who really is satisfied with life.. they feel like they have all they need. Then they find the restored gospel.. and realize how much they were missing out on.

It has been the hardest thing ever to watch people reject this gospel.  Non members who reject Him, or less active members who do... it's frustrating! I just want to grab them and tell them what they are missing out on! But I know that Agency is necessary, and I hope and pray that they find their way back to Heavenly Father soon.  Because really.. They are missing out.  But I know that we all have these times.. where we are missing out on the blessings God has prepared for us to receive. And I know that as we come closer to Him and pray for strength.. we can come back.

I love this gospel so much.  It really is my greatest passion.  I am so grateful that I was born into it, so that I could be ready to go out and serve 18 months of my time to find Heavenly Father's lost sheep.  I love my Heavenly Father so much and I know that He loves me. 

I am excited to see you all, I will miss my mission like crazy, but I know that I am needed back in Utah. (:  Thank you for all the support you have given me while I've been out.  It would've been a lot harder without you guys.(: LOVE YOU ALL SEE YOU SOON.

Love, Hermana Stokes.(: 

trabajemos hoy en la obra del senor! (We will work today in the labor of the Lord!)

So life is great.  THERESA GOT BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!!!!!! and confirmed. It was such a beautiful experience.  It was definitely the craziest baptism I've had.. which involved us pulling it together ALL ALONE... and the person baptizing her ariving an hour late... and the font not being high enough so her having to be baptized twice.. the second time we had to fill up the font more and wait for that.... but it was amazing! Seriously even with all the craziness I am just SO grateful for our members. They helped so much! I was stressing out and overwhelmed because you know I get like that sometimes.. and Sister Roberts came over and hugged me and talked to me.  I am so grateful for members who can act like our moms when we don't have them. (: It was so amazing though.  The spirit was so strong.  After she got baptized she just knelt and prayed to her heavenly Father.  It was the most tender beautiful experience ever.  I love her so much.  It was a great week. (:

ALSO... I believe Jose got baptized this past weekend!!!!! We had MLC and I saw sister Vargas who is serving in el camino right now and she told me! He called them and just said he was ready and asked to be baptized as soon as possible!!!!! Wow I am so happy.  I am so blessed to have been a part of seeing his conversion.  Theresa's too. 

This week was awesome and this next week is going to be even better!!!!!! wanna know why!?!?!??! WE GO TO THE TEMPLE TOMORROW AND SATURDAY!!!!! tomorrow is our temple day.. so if i don't email you today no se preocupen. and saturday..... WE GET TO GO TO THE ESPINOZA'S SEALING!!!!! Since I was there for Diana's baptism, we got permission to go!!! HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE. I am so excited. (: so yeah....I am spoiled. (: I am so grateful for all the blessings I have received. 

We had two exchanges this week. I went to richmond with Sister Stapley.. then I went to marsh creek with sister hasek. (: fun fun.!

I am so happy. I love life. 

Have a good one! oh and my ponderize this week is 3 Nephi 5:13---"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."  

I love doing this work.  And I know this work is eternal.  This is always my calling. (:

Hermana Stokes

We had district meeting in this weird secret room in the attic of the church... haha kind of weird but fun!

here is theresas baptism! and i just got this picture of Jose's baptism!!!!! ah best weekend.

HAPPY ARE WE

We are all enlisted till the conflict is o'er;

Fighting for a kingdom, and the world is our foe;

Happy are we! Happy are we!

Glad to join the army, we will sing as we go;

We shall win and wear it by and by

So this hymn explains my feelings today exactly. I just put some of the lyrics that stand out. but HAPPY ARE WE to be doing the Lord's work.  Seriously, I just am overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude lately.  I LOVE THE MISSION. I LOVE THE GOSPEL.

This week was awesome!!! THERESA PASSED HER BAPTISM DATE!!!! SHE WILL BE GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY.  I am so proud of her!!!! I have seen such a change in her. It is amazing!

We had two exchanges this week. I stayed in the area for both.  One I was with Sister Thao!! I love her. And the other I was with Hermana Heyn. (:  It was great! 

We had our haunted house cleaning for halloween again.  It was great.  Gotta love deep cleaning. (: Halloween was fun. (:  We had stake conference this past weekend as well. Both sessions were amazing!  I love the word of God so much.  

So this week my scripture is DyC 84:85 Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man.

This scripture helps me remember that I don't need to worry about all my weaknesses.  The Lord will help me, and I will be able to remember anything I need to remember to share to the people. (:

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/wilcox-brad_his-grace-is-sufficient/

^^^^^^^^^ you all need to go read this talk. I read it this week and... wow it's amazing.  So that is what I have been thinking about a lot this week. Grace.  He uses an analogy that I LOVE.  Really though, it is amazing. It is amazing to know that we have already been saved by grace.  But... we could have so much more!  We have the Atonement here to use.  Why not use it?  Christ paid for our sins because he knows our potential.  He knows what we can become.  Well, we should accept his gift.  Let grace change you.  I love the gospel so much, and I am so grateful for the atonement.  The church is true!!!!!

Have a great week. (: 

Hermana Stokes

😊😊 here are some pictures of our zone after carving pumpkins.. and the missionaries in the area on halloween after sports in the morning!

PYC

Wow what a good week. Seriously, life is good. we had two exchanges this week! they were awesome .(: one with sister Wu from China.. and one with sister tanner from washington! good days. (: i love exchanges! i stayed in the area for both.

We had interviews with President on Tuesday. That was really good. (:

Hermano Montiel came to church AGAIN! He is doing AWESOME. We are so happy. Also, they came to Porque Yo Creo!!!! woo. (: they are the best.

Pray for Theresa, she hasn't been coming to church. :/ we are going to have a talk with her this week. (:

My ponderize scripture: DyC 63:9 "But behold, faith cometh not by signs, but signs follow those that believe."  I love this scripture so much.  I have realized on my mission that it is okay not to know everything.  We are not going to know everything. And like it says here... faith does not come by "signs" or "evidence".  Faith comes through prayer and with God's help.  Then you will get that evidence for yourself that these things are true.  The gospel is true.  I know it.  And I know it because I know the Book of Mormon is true.  

We had PYC this week and it was amazing. enjoy all the pictures! I saw carlos, the espinozas, carlos pena, olga.... and from san mateo i saw Angel, Sergio, Jose, Juan Carlos, Mary Ann, Doris y Gilberto.... it was AWESOME. (: I love pyc. it was really good. realllly good. Also.. the departing missionaries sang. there are 6 of us. me, and 5 elders. haha. it was good, and I also gave my testimony. it was good. (:

also, tender mercy of the week.... WE SAW SISTER MERRILL!!!! I don't know if you remmeber them, but they were my family in concord. they are so amazing. and we saw her randomly at one of the chapels we start exchanges at. (: it seriously was the best thing ever. I was so happy. picture attached. (:

Hermana Stokes

Charity never faileth

Dear people.

Okay so sorry I didn't tell you guys my scripture for last week.. it was Words of Mormon 1:7.

But this week my scripture is 1 corinthians 13:2-3.

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity,it profiteth me nothing.

 I love these scriptures.  I love that Charity never faileth.  It really is the most amazing concept.  And these scriptures make me think a lot.. even if we are good at a lot of other things.. if we have not charity.. we are nothing! It's crazy. But it is so powerful.  

Things are going well here in Brentwood.  (:  I love the work.  We are teaching a lot of people who like to bible bash us right now.. haha one of them is Brother Ferrier.  His wife is a less active member.  He has a lot of religious background and does not believe in the church at all but is open to learning.  Last night we had this awesome lesson with him.. It is good because Hermana Hilton knows the bible really well.  So she was able to show him a lot in the bible. But also, it was really cool because as we were teaching this quote from PMG came to me by Brigham Young:“If all the talent, tact, wisdom, and refinement of the world had been sent to me with the Book of Mormon, and had declared, in the most exalted of earthly eloquence, the truth of it, undertaking to prove it by learning and worldly wisdom, they would have been to me like smoke which arises only to vanish away. But when I saw a man without eloquence or talents for public speaking, who could only say, ‘I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of the Lord,’ the Holy Ghost proceeding from that individual illuminated my understanding, and a light, glory, and immortality were before me. I was encircled by them,filled with them, and I knew for myself that the testimony of the man was true”  Then it was so cool, we were able to testify so powerfully.  And I don't know if he felt the spirit because you have to be willing to be able to feel it.. but I felt it so strong.  It's just so cool that the promise is real that the spirit will testify of what we say. (:

Theresa is doing great, the Montiels as well! We didn't see Isaac this week.

I also went on exchanges with Sister Tata! It was a wonderful day. (:

We also gave two trainings this week!  one at antioch zone and one at concord. it was fun. (:

Here is an awesome video link.. you should all watch it. (:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2015-10-01-apostle-testimony-montage?category=prophets-and-apostles/prophets-and-apostles-sub-category&lang=eng

Also, here is a picture of us and our roommates! I realized you guys have never seen them.. they aren't even in our zone and we aren't in our apartment much so we don't see them all that often. But they are the tongan sister in the area and are awesome. (: sister Mataele and sister Jones or Sonasi(her tongan name.)

and also here is a picture of the concord zone.. and us! it's the other zone we cover. did I tell you? we got two more sister companionships this transfer.. so that means two more exchanges(: 

Love you all! 

Hermana Stokes

life is good

Hello!!!

This week was good. We went to the visitors center with Theresa!! That was so good. We were able to attend the Why I believe fireside as well. for english. It was really good! She is doing really well and is progressing.  We just are trying to figure out how to strengthen her even more by November 7th.

The Montiels are doing well as well... he came to church!!!! and is going to be coming every sunday!!!! we are so excited about that. Ah they are awesome, and we feel so close.. we just need to figure out how else to help them.

Isaac is awesome!! So we had a lesson this week and we watched the conference talk by elder Martino.  It was awesome. Isaac at the end was like, "I actually felt impressed to fast and pray about the church this past week. I am going to soon... I feel like I was the same way.. before I was just praying out of curiosity. Now I really want to know what God wants me to do."  Ah it was so awesome!!! We are hoping he can overcome the temptations of Satan though. Because he is really close with his pastor at his church and we are worried that when the pastor finds out he will try to stray him.  But, that's when Isaac just needs to learn to listen to God rather than man.

Everyone is doing well!! Sorry this email is short.. not much else to tell. but the church is true!!! I love you all so much, have a great week!!!

Hermana Stokes

pictures: our last district picture before elder martin went to his mission in india! and the second one is us at the temple with Theresa(:

life would be nothing without conference

Oh my goodness I love conference so much. (: SOO MUCH. 

What talks did you all like? 

all of them I'm sure. 

Okay so this week was good! We had MLC. That was really good. 

Oh I guess I should say, I'M STAYING IN BRENTWOOD!!!!!!!! I'm going to end my mission here and Hermana Hilton is going to send me off(:  I am happy beyond belief!!!!! Oh my goodness this is a dream come true. It's so nice because Me and Hermana Hilton can just work super hard this last transfer.  I was scared to have to go through another adjustment then have it be over before I knew it.  But I am so glad that I can just stay with her. Plus, Brentwood is the BEST. We get so spoiled here. (: So I am so happy to stay.  Hermana Hilton and I will have spent 4 transfers total together! only 3 in a row. But total, that is 6 months together! So it's fun. (:

I love conference. I loved President Uchtdorf's talk.  I think it is so important that we remember what he said.. THE GOSPEL WORKS. It just does.  Do what he told us, think about your time in the gospel? what good has it done for you?  We were talking about this with the Westons a while ago.  The gospel is so awesome. And even if it weren't true, it would be okay like that. Because I mean, think of everything you have done while being part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... thing of everything you have learned... do you regret any of that? probably not. so it's so worth it. but you wanna know what makes it even better? IT'S TRUE. (: I am so grateful for that. (: We are so lucky to be a part of it.

I also loved the ponderize talk. (: I strongly encourage all of you to take Elder Durrants advice! Ponderize a scripture a week. I know you can do it, it won't be hard I promise.  I already started doing it today.  My scripture of the week is D&C 103:36 

 36 All victory and glory is brought to pass unto you through your diligence, faithfulness, and prayers of faith.

My MTC teacher gave this to me the day I left, but I have never really taken the time to learn it and remember where it is. So I figured this will be a good start.  I love it because on my mission I have learned how important diligence, faithfulness, and faithful prayers are.  The Lord really cares about us, and he is willing to help us in anything. But he does expect us to do something as well.

I LOVE THIS GOSPEL. AND I LOVE THE MISSION. (: life is good. I love you all! I invite you all to go over your conference notes and choose a goal that the spirit whispers to you to work on.  I promise it will make you happier. (:

Hermana Stokes  

Sorry, I took no pictures. So here's some cool quotes/pictures I found. (:

i am so excited for conference.

It was a good week everyone. (:

Theresa is doing AWESOME!!!!! oh my gosh we had this awesome lesson with her where she said "I know the church is true. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet. I got my answer, and I know this is the church God wants me to go to."  We were soo excited.  It's amazing! She has been through so much, and she was someone that honestly, we struggled having faith she would make it. It just testifies that the promise in Moroni 10 is open to anyone. I know more than ever that God loves her so much, just as much as he loves anyone else.  Her baptism is scheduled for November 7th, but we think we are going to move up. (:

The Montiels are also doing awesome! We had an amazing lesson at the Elizondo's with them. They had tons of questions.  Then a couple days later we went and did a church tour with them. It was awesome! The spirit was sooo strong. Soooo strong. And while we were sitting in the chapel they recognized it and said that they know this church is good. and they know they will be baptized one day. But they expressed to us that they just struggle with Faith, and they don't feel like they have enough Faith to get baptized.. since they still have some doubts. We are planning and helping them through that though. I know they will accept it soon. (:

I also went on exchanges this week with Sister Su! I went to her area. It was a good day.

Also, womens conference was amazing! AH I cannot wait for conference. It's all me and Hermana Hilton talk about. yayayayy.

Also, I have to tell you about Jason real quick. He is this worker at Winco and he is awesome! ha he talks to all the missionaries that shop there. Every Monday we go talk to him and he asks us more questions about who we are and what our religion is. He has no religious background but a bunch of his high school friends are on missions right now. (: it is so awesome! he claims he doesn't have time to be taught but some of the sisters gave him a book of mormon and he has been reading that and then today we gave him some pamphlets.  Seriously, it's amazing the different people the Lord puts in our paths. It just shows how much he is watching over his children.  We even meet people grocery shopping. Ah it's so awesome! Jason will definitely accept the gospel one day. 

I love the gospel. Yesterday was sad because we missed Porque Yo Creo:((( our investigators cancelled last minute, so we couldn't go. We missed our monthly reunion:( But it's okay! next month hopefully. (:

I love you all! transfer calls are this weekend so send things to the mission home please!

Love, Hermana Stokes

pictures: oh you know.. just classic bathroom selfies. haha. i love her. 

RAIN

it rained this week. it made my entire life. i miss the rain so much.  especially utah summer thunder storms.

Okay so much to tell with so little time! Can I just tell about thursday and save the rest for another week? okay. sooooo... thursday i went on an exchange with Sister Rutia! She is from the Philippines.  She came to my area. We had a crazy day together! Probably the craziest day of my mission!

So the beginning was normal.  Then at 4 we went to teach the westons.. so long story short the phone battery ended up in the drain in the street. So we were phoneless and didn't know the address to our 5 o clock dinner appointment.  The weston's looked it up on their computer.. and we also used their phone to call the mission office to tell them what happened. they told us we could come in friday and get a new battery so we thought "okay all is well because all our appointments are already set for tonight, we can totally be fine without a phone till tomorrow." hahaha. um.. yeah. so then we went to dinner.. our GPS took us there and it was a gated community. but we didn't have a phone to call them for the code.. so we prayed. and a car came so we could follow them in! miracle! but then.. the address didn't exist. GPS took us to the wrong place. (side note, this is totally like that mormon message from Elder Holland that the Lord had to let us in so that we could know this was the wrong place.. otherwise we would've sat there waiting forever).  So now that we knew it was wrong and didn't have a phone I just thought okay even though we are far lets drive to the RS president's house and use her phone. So we did. ha she answered the door and the first thing we said was "we need help"  we used her phone to call our dinner appointment Sister Long while we explained what was going on.  I should mention, at this point it was 5:30.. we were already 30 mins late to dinner and dinner was with a less active we have never met. I was praying sooo hard that she would be understanding. We got to the house at 5:40... and had another appointment set at 6.  We ate and taught a lesson in 25 minutes, the family was suuper understanding.. and during the process we figured out only half of the family are members, and we added the non members as investigators!!!! we have been praying for english investigators, and also for a family to teach.. so this is a miracle!!! oh my gosh so exciting! Anyway we were out of the house at 6:05 but didn't get to our next appointment till 6:20... we were supposed to teach Brother Ottem but we needed a women to teach with us... she couldn't get ahold of us so she left:/ so we couldn't teach brother ottem but he was super understanding! Then we drove to the Elizondo's because we were supposed to have a lesson there with the Montiels. Right as I drove up I realized we never gave the montiels their address.. and we didn't have their number to call them.. the elizondos were really understanding and we left to drive 20 minutes to the montiels to tell them what was  going on.  We got there at 7:45.. (we were supposed to meet at the elizondos at 7).. and they were suuuuper worried about us! they had been calling us and thought something happened. So we didn't get to teach them but they were super understanding but just so grateful that we were okay.  we rescheduled and went to Theresa and made it there on time with a member. had a great lesson with her.. and went home to end our exchange. the next morning me and Hermana Hilton went to Oakland to pick up the battery.  All is well now.

It was the craziest day ever but it was amazing because the whole time everything was going wrong.. me and Sister Rutia were able to stay positive and happy. We kept saying.. "Okay this must be God's plan."  For most people.. they would say this was one of the worst and most stressful days of their mission.  But for me, yes I would say it was the most stressful, but I also would say it was the best day of my mission.  I don't know what the purpose was that out of all days, our battery would go down the drain... but I know that I did learn a lot. And that is that this is God's work. Our Heavenly Father is in control and has everything under control.  There is never any use at getting over stressed and being negative.  Because God has this under control.  We need to trust him and what he has planned for us.  I am soo grateful our battery got lost this day so that I could experience this day.  And how great is our Heavenly Father?! Even with all this craziness, he still blessed us with so many miracles.. even new investigators!! I am eternally grateful for all he has done for me.  I love this Gospel so much and am so grateful to have a knowledge of it.  I LOVE THE GOSPEL.

That's it. I have other stuff to say too but I don't really have time today. Went on another exchange with sister Thao as well. (: and we had an amazing day yesterday at church!!! primary program!!!! me and sister hilton were already crying the second the piano started playing for the first song. ha I love the primary program so much. Cory was in it! (theresa's 6 yr old son) and bianca and jocelyn! we were so proud. we also had 4 investigators at church!!! ahh.. I love the Lord. He blesses us so much.

Hermana Stokes

This is me and Hermana Hilton at zone conference. (:

Then me and Sister Thao. 

Mini Utah

Hi, I live in mini Utah. Seriously, we see so many mormons here. It's weird! Ha our lunch got paid for again today. (:

We had zone conference this week! We gave a training on Sabbath Day observance.  It was taken from the same training that is being given in Ward Council.. so It was cool to give a training received straight from head quarters!  But I learned a lot.  Keeping the sabbath day holy is so important! I have enjoyed evaluating how I make Sunday's most sacred and making goals to improve.

I also went to the spanish branch for an exchange with Hermana Heyn! She is from Spanish Fork, Utah, but was born in Colombia.  She is super sweet. I love her. (: We had a fun day today in 108 DEGREE WEATHER. ha it was so hot and we were outside for like 2 hours. I have an awesome tan line! It was cool though because we were able to still be diligent and work hard even in the heat. (:

The rest of the week was good! Sorry, this is a shorter email.  We went to english Why I Believe yesterday! It was weird. so different than spanish Porque yo creo. but we enjoyed it a lot. We brought the Westons.  I love sister Weston, she is a recent convert in our area and is amazing.

So yeah, a good week! I love Brentwood! and I love my companion. And I love my mission. And I love the gospel.  What more could I ask?

Hermana Stokes

This is us and Cory and Monte. And then there is Leon.  Leon and Cory are Theresa's kids and Monte is their friend. We love them. They love us. It's great. (: haha

I love this church

Hello everyone. (:

This week we had MLC, that was great. I always love meetings with President.  We also were able to have some awesome lessons. Yeah... I don't really know what to talk about this week though. Our investigators are moving a little slower it seems, but still moving! This week I feel like we had some awesome lessons that the spirit completely lead.  It was amazing. I am so grateful for the spirit. I am also grateful for members and their help with lessons. They are amazing. I just love this area.  

We had an exchange this week! I was with Sister Tata.  She is amazing.  We were in my area. She is from New Zealand/Australia.  And I learned so much from her! Seriously, she is just an amazing missionary. Oh and I should point out she is only in our mission for two transfers:( im super sad about that. But it's because she is a missionary at temple square! So i got to learn how their mission works. that was cool! But yes I love her so much. We had a great day and had some amazing miracles and lessons! 

This week I have a question for you to all think about:  "WILL YOU KNOW CHRIST WHEN YOU SEE HIM? WILL YOU RECOGNIZE HIM?"  My companion was talking about that in a lesson the other day and it really hit me.  When we die and we see Christ, will we know him? or will we just know a bunch of facts about his life and teachings?  Obviously, everyone's dream is to actually know Christ when the time comes.  But how do we do that? I honestly believe it is first by reading the book of Mormon and having a testimony in it.  The Book of Mormon holds the fullness of the gospel.  That with the New Testament can help us come to know Christ more than ever.  But also, reading the scriptures is nothing without prayer.  While reading the Book of Mormon, we need to pray to know if it is true, even if we have done it before.  I promise you all that if you read the Book of Mormon fully, and pray to your Heavenly Father, you will receive an answer of it's truthfulness, and you will come to know Jesus Christ.  And then to make it all complete, it's your actions.  It's going to church, serving others, paying your tithing, keeping&fulfilling your covenants.. and doing anything that The Lord asks you to do.  I know that as we do these things, we won't have to worry for when we see Christ.  We will know him, and we will recognize him as our Brother, our Savior, and our Redeemer. 

I know the Book of Mormon is true. And through that, I know so many other things.  I know that Christ is our Savior, I know that Heavenly Father restored the church through Joseph Smith, I know the Atonement is real, I know that families can be together forever.. I know that the church is true.  

I love you all so much, and I hope you can all ask yourselves these questions and evaluate your relationship with God. Remember: He answers prayers. He loves you. And he wants to hear from you.

Have a great week!(:

Hermana Stokes

I love snakes. Our less active Taji has one. I was a happy sister that day. (: and this is Sister Tata!  haha even though she is from Australia.. she was scared to hold it. (:

and a district picture!

Fe en Jesucristo

Hello.

So this week was awesome! Teresa is awesome. We met with her a couple of times and she is so great.  She really is starting to understand the gospel principles! This is good. She has a baptism date for September 16th. She is so excited! It's awesome, because we have seen her change sooo much.  She really loves this church now! And she recognizes that it will change her life.

Also... Los Montiel.  I love them so much. oh my gosh and guess what! HERMANA MONTIEL HAS A BAPTISMAL DATE! We brought Kim with us to their lesson and it was an amazing lesson.  We watched "come and see" by Elder Bednar.  It was awesome.  Then we talked a lot about faith and walking with faith.  Because that is the problem, she just needs to take that step of faith.  She has so much though! But she needs to act. So we told her that. And we testified to her that if she sets a baptism date and really prays about it, she will be ready by said date.  So we set a date for October 17th! so exciting. Then she asked for a chapter in the book of mormon to read so that it will help her get her answer for baptism. So awesome. She is so awesome.  Her husband doesn't want to be baptized, but he said he will 100% support her and will even come to church with her. He also said he will read the book of mormon.  They are so cute. they have been married for 25 years and are so in love. (: also, they are from mexico and said we can be mexicans with them. (: haha i love them so much.

I seriously just love the gospel.  I have been studying Faith a lot lately.  Especially Faith in Jesus Christ.  It really is the most important thing in life.  But with it.. faith without works is dead.  It's really interesting how faith works.  If I just sit here and I have faith that I will eat lunch today.. but I don't go get up and make a sandwich or something... it's not going to work.  Faith is not complete without action.  If you believe in Jesus Christ and that he can save you.. but do nothing to show your faith to him and don't do you're part of the job.. you will not receive salvation.  That is one of the biggest things I've learned on my mission.  When we want to find people to teach.. we have faith that God will provide people prepared for this gospel.  But I guarantee you, if we have that faith but sit here doing nothing, it will not happen.

I just love the principle of faith so much. Do any of you know of any good talks I can listen to on faith this week? We like listening to conference talks in the car. And I can't think of any on the top of my head. (:

I love you all so much! tengan una buena semana!

Hermana Stokes

pictures.. Teresa!!! and then a selfie with her daughter perscilla and grandson Robert!(:

Everything is Awesome. (:

Hi. so. I love the mission. I love the gospel. Yep. That's all.

Just kidding. I will tell you about my amazing week. (:

This is going to be a long one. I can feel it. 

Remember Ken ottam? I told you he had an awesome conversion story but I didn't tell you the story because I didn't want to type it. Well I just copy and pasted it from Hna Hiltons email haha. So enjoy this story. (:

He was a young man, 13ish? and he had been studying the bible a TON. He had been slowly putting together the pieces of the gospel that had been lost in a lot of churches (ex: 2 priesthoods, Aaronic and Melchizedek or that there would be an apostacy). He attended several churches and was confused which was right. at one point, he chose a chruch that looked pretty good, got baptized, and after he changed into dry clothes, he asked the pastor when he would get the gift of the holy ghost by the laying on of hands. When they told him it wasn't necessary, he walked out the door of the Church and never went back. Eventually, he made a friend. The friend was always happy and when he went to his house, Ken could feel the peace in his home and asked him what it was. Eventually, the friend invited him to a church activity and in his words, "I saw the painting of Christ appearing to the people in the america's, and it all clicked. everything i'd read and heard about the gospel made since and I knew it was the truth. I turned to my friend and said "I need to be baptized in this church""

I am sure his friend was quite shocked by his statement, but it goes to show that the Lord truly does prepare people to receive the restored gospel. :) THE CHURCH IS TRUE

Okay. Yeah. He is awesome. Also.. This week we got some awesome potentials! We had one guy randomly call us saying other missionaries gave him our number because they didn't speak spanish. and he asked to meet with us! So we get to meet him this week I am so excited. We also contacted a referral who told us "I just need to find God." And we were like well.. We know where he is! and gave him a Book of Mormon. we just need to teach all these potentials so they can be our investigators! But yeah. so exciting.

We also had the miracle of running into our less active Sister Sullivan this week. It was so random, and in a time she really needed us! It was great haha she was walking for exercise, but she asked us to walk with her and teach while we walk. So we taught her a lesson while speed walking. It was pretty legit. Good workout too!  I love her so much. (:

And well... WE HAD A BAPTISM THIS WEEK!!!!! ahhh so great! It went so well! Okay so I don't think I've even really told you about this family. Ha its weird because we just are teaching so many people I can't tell you about them all. But this family is awesome.  Margarita is a reactivated Less active.  She lives with the father of her children, Samuel.  So Jocelyn and Bianca are the two kids and then Margarita is pregnant with a third girl. They are the cutest! Jocelyn and Bianca got baptized this week and it was amazing. The girls were so excited!!! Samuel is our investigator and he is AWESOME. But he can't get baptized till they are married and they can't get married until Margarita gets her identification from her mom in Mexico who is taking forever to send them. But Samuel is sooo converted. He told the bishop in his broken English.  "I hope Margarita gets her papers soon so we can be married and I can be baptized next. I have been ready for so long. " AHH HE IS THE BEST. I love this family so much. So please, pray that the papers come soon. (: 

So now I'm just going to freak out to you about how awesome our ward is.  They are so awesome at sharing the gospel! Sister Schwitters has been updating us on her neighbor.. she has been praying so hard to find a moment to invite her to church or something bigger than the usual. Well on Friday at an activity she ran up to us so excited because she invited her friend to church and she said yes!!! and she also shared the family proclamation to her!!! and she loved it!!!! ahhhh so exciting. I love these members so much they love missionary work almost as much as we do. (; I just love when people understand that it brings the greatest joy ever. 

Talking about awesome members... yesterday we had plans to go to Oakland with Isaac and Eunice and Andres and were so excited.  Andres is a recent convert and his kids investigators and they have so many questions. So we were going to watch the Joseph Smith movie. Well they cancelled but then the member who was gonna come with us went to their house and convinced them to come! Ha so awesome. So we went and it was amazing. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet and I am so grateful for what he did for us.  I am just so grateful that the Restoration happened. Otherwise I would not be here! My life would mean pretty much nothing without the restoration. I am so grateful.

And other awesome members... then we had Porque Yo Creo!!!!! and our investigator Celina was gonna come but our ride cancelled last minute.. but then Toni and Kim from the YSA ward saved our lives and took her! They are awesome. and Porque Yo Creo was amazing as usual. So many people were there! I saw a bunch from concord and a bunch from San Mateo.  I saw Jose!!! His baptismal date is moved to September 12th I think? somewhere around there. But the members told me he is doing really well. I guess he met with Bishop to move his date so Idk what it is. But it was good to see that he is doing well. Please keep praying for him! He needs this gospel. and I guess he was talking to Sergio and said it's weird because he really wants to get baptized.. but something keeps telling him not to.  Satan is definitely trying everything possible to keep him away.  I swear.. this guy is going to do amazing things in the church. That's why Satan is working so hard against him. So he could use all the prayers possible. (:

AH I JUST LOVE THE MISSION SO MUCH. I know the church is true. Church was amazing yesterday as usual. I was going to freak out about that too but this email is sooo long. haha sorry. but I promise, it's worth the read. (:

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Hermana Stokes

so many pics stay tuned. (:

1. we went to hawaii. (:

2. baptism!

1: celina and kim! sorry this picture is blurry... 

the rest... sisters zundel, myers, hilton... and KARINA.(: