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. (: