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.(:

I know the church is true as much as I know I have hair on my head

So this was a good week. Hot. But good. I love it here.

Yesterday we went to a baptism for the YSA ward! We wanted to take out investigators who are getting baptized this Saturday, because they are scared.  It was suchhh a spiritual baptism.  Seriously, I was sitting there while it was happening and I was thinking really though.. how could this church not be true?

The family we brought are Samuel, Margarita, Jocelyn, and Bianca.  Margarita is the only member, and she's a returning less active. She is so awesome I love her.  And then This Saturday, Jocelyn and Bianca are getting baptized!!! We are sooo excited.  Samuel will hopefully be soon.  He's stronger than a lot of members.. ha he reads D&C all the time. He's awesome and wants to be baptized so badly.  The only problem is they are not married, and she has to wait to get identification before they can be married.  We are hoping it will come soon though. (:

This past week we had two separate member present lessons that were AWESOME.  They were with two different girls from the YSA ward.  They were so awesome and changed my life.  Members are just soo awesome here in this stake.  I mean they are everywhere but I think this is definitely my favorite stake.  Today a member from one of the other wards saw us going to buy lunch and she came up and paid for us. Ah sooo nice.  I love all these people here. (:

We had two exchanges this week!  first sister Hasek then Sister Thao.  I went to sister Thao's area.  Ah I love her so much. It was so fun to be with her again.

We gave another training at zone training this week. We also had a special training by president frandsen a couple days later.  It was really awesome.  We are really focusing right now and helping people make commitments.  Because without commitments, no one can progress.  

Oh! And yesterday I spoke in church! About missionary work.  haha of course.  It went well though. It was really weird speaking in english. But I made it.  (:

I love this gospel so much.  This week I have been thinking so much about how grateful I am to know the truth. It makes me so sad when I think of how many people don't actually understand yet the happiness that comes from the gospel.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true folks.  You might as well try praying about it.  I promise you, if you read the Book of Mormon and pray with the true desire to know, you will never regret that choice.  

Love you all! have a great week!

Hermana Stokes

pictures: 1: this is Kim from YSA. she is amazing. 

2: Sister Thao!!

Meetings

Dear everyone.

So this email is probably going to be short. Mostly because nothing super interesting happened this week! We just had a lot of meetings. Ha we had MLC.. That was really good! President Frandsen is awesome.  He's been making some changes to the mission and I think they are really good changes. (:  Also, we gave a training at concords zone training this past week.  I thought it went well. (: I am actually finally starting to like trainings.. ha i mean I never hated them.. but they are just more fun now. (:

I went on one exchange with Sister Nazer from AF. ha we found out we live like 5 minutes from each other. funny. (: It was fun!

We had a ton of lessons this week, especially with members.  I love this ward so much.  The members are always sharing the gospel and it is so fun.  There is this family, the Smiths.  They actually both grew up in American Fork! Random. ha they recently moved here. I love them so much.  I don't think they realize how much me and hna Hilton look up to them.  They are a young family, going on 3 kids.  Anyway, we have eaten at their house twice now and I just love them. I want to be like them when I grow up. (:  Ha random, but yeah I wish you guys could meet all our members they are the best.

This past Sunday was once again amazing.  I just love the Sabbath day.  In ward council we watched a thing about keeping the sabbath day holy, and then I was thinking about it all day.  I think its just so amazing that we have a whole day set aside to give to our Heavenly Father.  I want to be better at keeping it holy when I go home.  I mean we have a whole day set aside to study our scriptures and the gospel and to serve those around us! isn't that so awesome?! I just think we too often over look Sundays.  We take them for granted.  I am so grateful for them though because they keep us on track. 

That was really all.  We didn't see the Montiels this week, because they had a lot going on. But the good news is that they missed us! We will be seeing them this week. (:

Also, have I told you about Teresa? She is our investigator.. and she is awesome. I love her. But she didn't come to church yesterday because she had to rush to the hospital for her dad. Please pray for her, she is going through a lot.

I love you all so much! Have a great week!(:

Hna Stokes

PEACHES

Hi everyone! We are going to the temple tomorrow!!!!!!! So no worries when I don't email you back... I will email you tomorrow. (:  

Life is good here in the mission.  I love it so much! Peaches are in season and we have a member who lets us come and pick them from her tree.  I have eaten so many peaches and cream. I love it.

Went on 2 exchanges this week! I stayed for both.  The first was with Sister Brown from all over.. her dad is in the air force.  It was awesome!  The second was with Sister Su, a new missionary from taiwan.  It was good. (: I love exchanges.  I only have to do 6 over here. It's nice. (:

Okay so let me tell you about our investigators, the Montiels.  They are so awesome.  But do any of you remember the garcia's from concord? they remind me of them.  Ha They have been learning forever about the church.  And Hermano Montiel still doesn't believe in the book of mormon.  He straight up told us that the other day.  So we are working with that.  But they are so awesome! We had an awesome lesson where we invited them to be baptized.. and they denied.  But  I see them progressing! THEY CAME TO CHURCH!!!!! that was a huge step. We were so excited.  They are really the best. It makes me so frustrated sometimes though because I feel like they know it's true, they just won't admit it.  But we will continue working with them.

Okay the last thing I want to talk about is Church.  Oh my goodness yesterday was amazing.  we had 7 less actives, and 4 investigators at church!!!!!! It was so amazing.  I was getting all emotional during sacrament meeting.  Because I was looking around at all the less actives coming.  It was amazing.  I think that has been one of the greatest blessings on my mission, seeing less actives being reminded of the happiness this gospel brings.  One family, the Alves, came.  And she was so happy.  I can't even explain the joy she brought.  You could just tell that she felt like she had returned home, and she had never even been to this ward before.  But as we ran around grabbing her visiting teachers and stuff, they immediately came and hugged her and welcomed her.  It was so amazing to see. I love this church.  Then I was sitting during the Sacrament watching them all take the sacrament.  Just pure joy, as they had the opportunity to remember the sacred covenants they had made with their Heavenly Father. It is so amazing.  It just reminded me how pure the love of Christ is.  Some of these people have been gone for 10+ years.  Yet when they come back, the atonement is still available for them.  Christ is still there for them.  No matter what we do, no matter how lost we are.. We can ALWAYS come back.  Always.  And the cool thing, is we don't need to wait for the missionaries to help us. Or we can be like Jacquie, and call the missionaries and ask them to come over and convince her to come to church.  Ha I love Jacquie so much.  But yeah, I dont know guys. I am just loving this gospel, and I feel like I can't explain it into words for you all.  But I love this gospel so much.  I am so grateful for the Atonement.  I am so grateful for grace. I am so grateful that we have the source of true happiness! Can you believe that?!?! We have the source.  You know I think if more people realized that, they would accept the invitation to come.  Because this is the source of true happiness.  And if you want to be even happier, go share the gospel.  I promise you, as a representative of Jesus Christ, that you will be happier when you share the gospel.  Whether it is with a nonmember, or a less active.. lo que sea! Serving others is when that happiness comes. I was thinking about that yesterday during fast and testimony meeting.  Everyone was bearing testimonies about missionaries and missionary work.  I was thinking about how badly I don't want my time to end as a missionary ever.  I don't want my time to end as being someone who helps less actives come back.  But then it hit me that that never has to end! Hello people, that's why we have visiting teaching! And home teaching for men!  So I made a mental goal to always do my visiting teaching.  Because that is one of the best ways to fulfill our baptismal covenant, and mourn with those that mourn.  We can love the ones we serve and help them feel the love of God.  We can remember where they can find the source of true happiness.

Okay that is all, sorry, just a lot of emotions in me right now. (: I love you all! Have a great week. (:  Go to the temple, like I am going to!(:

Hermana Stokes

No pictures this week.. ha so we took a selfie. (:

yay for temple trip!! i looooved it.

also.... we made pie at a members house for service yesterday. mom i made pie crust! so great haha. (: 

love you all have a great week!