Hermana Sadie Stokes California Oakland/San Francisco: Off to the mission field.

I leave at 3 am tonight to the airport!! im so excited!!!! My whole district is gone and i feel so lost. Its like.. the CCM was our home together... now that they are gone... its just not the same at all. i miss them so much its not even funny.

okay so funny random story. Hermano Cruz, one of the teachers in my zone.. we always talk. hes suuuper cool. so we were talking (this convo is all in spanish) but he told me he went to culiacan mexico for his mission! so i was like no way i have a friend serving there! and he was like oh como se llama! and i was like elder dallyn holland! and he was like no way i think ive served with him how long has he been out?? and i said a yeah and he was like yeah i totally know him!!! isnt that so weird?? man when you are mormon, it is such a small world. i love it.

Another small world moment. GUESS WHO CAME TO THE MTC ON WEDNESDAY. Elder Alex Hansen. like from Washington. I saw him and I was like Elder Hansen!! and he was like whoa hermana stokes!!! it was fun. weve got to talk a few times since he got here. its weird because we really havent talked since we were 10. but yeah its fun. he seems really happy! mom, you should tell his mom that i saw him. and that he seems to be doing well.(:

okay so friday we had in field training. it started out really good.. they are really crative with everything! then our teachers did a play in english for us... oh my gosh it was SO FUNNY. hahaha i was dying. they are the best. after the play... it was super long and boring. but overall it was helpful! and made me even more excited for this week.

Sunday was amazing as always. such an amazing last sunday. oh my gosh. devo was amazing. and my district plus 2 hermanas from 12c sang for devotional. weve been working on the song for 3 or 4 weeks now... its a beautiful arrangement of yo se que vive mi señor. or... i know that my redeemer lives. but its gorgeous, and as ive mentioned before.. my whole district are amazing singers. and elder raymond is an amazing piano player. he accompanied for us. so we sang and it was sooo spiritual. i saw jaws drop in the audience, i saw tears in eyes, and everyone was smiling so big. it was amazing. i cant even explain it. after devo... hermana jones came up to us and told us that we made her husband cry and that they wanted us to stay and record it. they said it was the best special musical number theyve ever had at the ccm. and theyve been here a year. so yeah thats a lot of devos to compare to. ahh it was amazing. so we got to come back and record it and that was amazing. i gave hermana jones your email to send you the video... did they figure it out?? it was seriously the greatest experience. i love my district so much.

Sunday was so good. but the end was so hard. those pictures i sent you? there is a video attached to..they do that every sunday for the people leaving. so we watch our pictures on the screenn then we all sing para siempre dios este con vos.... god be with you till we meet again. it was so sad. ahhh. then we had testimony meeting withnjust the ones leaving. that was amazing. everyones testimonies are amazing. and then our district had our last prayer together and we had to say goodbye to the trio.... it was seriously one of the hardest goodbyes of my life. i miss them so much. our district sang families can be together forever for our last song.. because we know that we will see each other again some day. we are a family.(:

saying goodbye yesterday to my companions was so hard too. i said that last comp prayer.. and cried the whole time. and saying goodbye to the rest of the elders was so sad too. i love them all with all my heart. i am so blessed to have had them. i know we were all put together for a reason. ahh i miss them.

but im with hna johnson y hna wortley right now! i love them too. its nice that today is just p day.

ooo also random thing that made me happy.. yesterday i was with 12c while they were doing tall. hermano cruz came up to me with another teacher and said hermana stokes can you speak to my friend here in spanish so i can prove to him how good your spanish is?? so then i did and the friend was like mm your right! ....so apparently the teachers think i have good spanish? hahaha. but i guess its true. when our teachers said goodbye to us [(hardest thing ever, i bawled) they told us that we are one of the best districts and that they are so impressed with our spanish. but yeah. ah i miss my teachers too. i love them.

but yeah that was my week!!!! pray for me as i travel to cali tomorrow! i am so nervous to go alone through customs and stuff. i think it will be okay though. i am so excited!!! love you all!!

Hermana Stokes