Hendertucky

Family!! Holy cow those were quite the updates this week! Sounds like I am going to have a lot of new cousin-in-laws to meet when I get home. Henderson is great. Apparently they call it Hendertucky because it is the old Henderson, not as nice as the other part, but I love it. It has been quite an adventure training Sister Remund. I have learned so much from her though and am excited for the rest of the transfer. I forgot my pillow and towel in Paradise so that has been a fun little adventure. Last week Sister Lake and I blew up our area right before I left- it was fun to end with a bang. We set 3 people for baptism that week and and got a ton of new investigators. On Tuesday morning we had a lesson at 8:00 am right before I left. It was a good send-off.

I think the most common phrase I hear in this area is "Are you related to the Stokers in..." Apparently there are Stokers in Henderson and all over Utah and Idaho-someone told me he grew up on Stoker milk in Burley.

I wish i had tons of stories to tell from this week. The area I'm in is mostly member/ less active visits so it is pretty different. On Saturday the Stake had what they called Camp Zarahemla and so we had 2 Laurels spend the entire day with us. It was so fun and they loved spending the day as a missionary. You should think about doing that in the ward or stake. I spent my first Sunday here having Ward Council, speaking in Sacrament and teaching a lesson in Gospel Principles. Welcome to the area!

Sister Remund and I are about out of miles so we spent all of Friday on bikes- that was a fun adventure. I felt like a real life missionary.

Love you all! I promise I'll have more next week :)

Sister Stoker

Transfers!

July 22, 2013

I'M GETTING TRANSFERRED!!! I'm so sad/excited/terrified/up for the challenge. We found out on Saturday and I'll leave tomorrow morning. I'm going to serve in the Lake Mead stake in Henderson. Sister Lake and I are actually switching companions. My new companion (Sister Remund) is newer than me, which means I am going to finish her training. Which is also a little bit intimidating. It was hard to say goodbye to all the members at church yesterday and a lot of the people we have been teaching, but I know there are much better things in store for me in Lake Mead. Plus our Ward mission leader told me that my revelation for the Heritage Ward is diminishing so I guess that means it's time to head. 

So it turns out July is monsoon season in Las Vegas. We got caught in a crazy storm and were drenched within 5 seconds. It was good symbolism for the flood we are preparing to have. We have been in somewhat of a drought lately with people to teach, and this week we set 3 people for baptism and founds tons of new investigators. There is TONS of potential in this area and I'm so sad to leave- there will probably be a lot of baptisms in this next transfer. On Sunday one of the less-actives we have been working with got the Priesthood! Best day ever. And rumors have been spread from a very reliable source that all missions in the US will be getting iPhones and iPads by the end of the year. The mission will supply them, and they figure it will actually cut cost since they won't be printing out all of our manuals and planners anymore. We are a pretty big deal. 

Sorry this email is so short- I might have procrastinated packing so I have to do that. Love you all!! 

Sister Stoker

June 15, 2013

Hello Family! 

This week has been so great! ROCIO WAS BAPTIZED!! She was interviewed on Tuesday and said she wanted to be baptized right away so we made it a Friday night event. I don't know if I have talked about her before...but she is amazing. She has completely given up her lifestyle to follow Jesus Christ and has such an amazing testimony. A couple of Elders found her a couple weeks after Sister Lake and I got to the area and taught her one lesson then passed her off to us since she is YSA age. She couldn't stop talking about the way she felt when she was baptized and then confirmed- you could really see a change of countenance with her. She invited 2 nonmember friends to the baptism and another one of our investigators that came invited his nonmember friend, and they all talked about the spirit that was there. One of them also came to her confirmation and seems interested in learning more about the church. She got her temple recommend right after church (our Bishop initiated that and was so on top of everything!) so hopefully we will be able to go to the temple to do baptisms with her in the next couple weeks. 

We got the best text in the entire nation from a less-active on Tuesday. So background story. We went to his house about a month ago because he was a name on the ward directory that we didn't recognize and had never seen at church. He wasn't there but his family was and we had a nice visit with them. His mom told us what time he would be home so we could come back, but said not to call and make an appointment with him because he would tell us no. So that was reassuring. But we came back about a week later at the time he would be home, and his mom was frantic and told us they had no idea where he was- he had ran away and didn't want anything to do with the church. The next day was fast Sunday, so we offered to fast for him with the family. We didn't go back to follow up with them for another couple weeks, but when we finally got around to it (a couple weeks ago) he was home! We met with him, and he told us he would come to church on Sunday if we got him a ride. I was so amazed. At church, he didn't have a hard time making friends and seemed to really enjoy himself there. That's not even the best part though. The best part is when he texted us on Tuesday and told us he wants us to help him prepare to go on a mission!!!! AHHH!! Guys. The power of fasting and prayer is REAL. If you are willing to give up a little food and pray your heart out for someone, God really does pay special attention to it. 

I went on a couple exchanges this week and learned a ton. As always. I spent a day in the stake near the temple and there are tons of Hispanics. In fact, almost everyone we talked to on the street spoke Spanish. Somehow,  I had a 15 minute conversation with someone in Spanish and found out she is living here alone, her husband is in Mexico and she came here to make money in a tiny Mexican restaurant. Apparently the gift of tongues is a real thing. I was able to get her information and send her off to some Elders that speak real Spanish. Also, we are obsessed with riding our bikes around since we are baptizing or dropping a lot of our investigators (dropping is the worst thing in the world by the way) so we find people on the street and do service for them. We have realized that people are so much more willing to listen to what you have to say if you serve them first, so that is what we focus on. And Heavenly Father caught on to our plan so there are always tons of people around us that need help lifting or carrying something...or just anything. We even rode around this lady's neighborhood looking for her pitbull named Doody who had ran away. I can imagine that was a sight to see- two sisters yelling out "Doody! DOODY!" in that neighborhood and at the nearby park, but we were able to teach her a couple days later because of it. Hopefully though it helped us burn off a few of the calories we gained at Anna's this week. She made us fried chicken and cornbread with some homemade mac and cheese. And i ate enough to last me for the summer. Oh boy. 

I love you all!! And I don't want to think too much about the grilled sandwiches you are going to make at Great Harvest. They sound like a dream. 

Peace and Blessings

Sister Stoker

Happy 4th!

July 8, 2013

This week was incredible. When we first got to the area (beginning of May) we we averaging about 5 or 6 lessons taught to investigators with a member present a week. We are now at 18 a week. The work is crazy! That isn't including all the other lessons we teach to recent converts or less actives either. We saw tons of miracles this week. One of our investigators was hesitant to get baptized for the longest time, and she told us last week she wants to get baptized as soon as possible! So it might happen this weekend. She had the hardest time believing there could be a modern day prophet, but we watched President Monson's talk "Be of Good Cheer" and she fell in love. Of course. The spirit was incredibly strong and she said she had a good feeling as he was talking and loved his stories. I went on a couple exchanges this week- one was with a sister who speaks very little English (She is Sister Burrup's companion) and we had a blast! We just laughed the whole time and she taught me how to say some key phrases in Spanish because so often we meet Hispanics and can't say much to them. We had a fun 4th of July- the Bishop fed us kabobs and we were able to see some of the fireworks at the strip from a distant. We also had flash flood warnings for a good part of the week- I was freaking out a tiny bit. I guess they can get pretty bad here. But we never got caught in one, thank goodness. I went on an exchange with one of the sisters we live with, Sister Schenk, and it was incredible. We prayerfully set some goals for the next day, including 3 new investigators (which means we have to meet them, have a lesson, then set up a return appointment). They had only had 1 new investigator that entire week so it was a huge leap of faith. We decided to ride our bikes around so we could talk to more people and we got 3 new investigators! Each person had been prepared to hear our message and after we prayed with one of them, she commented on how she felt different- her whole body felt peace. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the spirit working its magic. We met every single one of our goals that day because we heeded every single prompting we received.

We also had an amazing experience with someone named Matt. He was visiting his friend Kenny (a recent convert of about 3 months) from Florida and decided to join in on a new member lesson we taught Kenny. So naturally we decided to teach him the Restoration. Before we began, he told us he didn't believe in God- he only believes in what he can see and feel- so we told him to pay attention to how he feels while we teach. The lesson was amazing. Kenny bore a powerful testimony of the atonement and Matt asked a lot of good questions. We invited Matt to pray at the end of the lesson, and it must have been the most powerful prayer i have ever heard. He said "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending me these girls. I now know that you are there and believe what they have told me. I am excited to strengthen my relationship with you." I just about started to cry. He went from not believing he had a Father in Heaven who cares about him to knowing that he is there and that His church is on the earth today. He is very logical and had a bad experience with religion when he was younger, so he has been studying science and started to believe the Big Bang Theory and evolution.  During the lesson though, he just kept telling us that everything we said made sense. We met with him 2 more times that week and by the end of our last lesson, we were getting his contact information so we could send it to the missionaries in Florida and let them know he wants to get baptized. Miracle. 

Also, I just realized that when i told you about the Refiner's Fire (Book of Mormon challenge) i definitely lied to you. We are just supposed to be done by the end of the summer, not the end of the transfer, which will be over in a couple weeks. But reading it every morning has been a huge strength to my testimony. 

Oh, remember that one time when Sister Lake and I made 4th of July cupcakes to bring to all the veterans in our ward then left them in the car for only like 20 minutes and they all melted into nasty looking things? Yeah. Huge fail. 

Well hope all is going well in Kennewick! Thanks for the prayers- I know I am being blessed because of them. 

Love you all!

Sister Stoker

117 degree Christmas

July 1st, 2013

Family! It was so great to hear from you! Yes, it is hotter than Hades here. 117 to be precise. Every time we open the door to go outside it feels like we just opened the rack oven in the bakery, except then you have to walk in it. We have had heat warnings on the news all week and just about every street we drive down there is an overheated car just chillin on the side of the road. It is nuts. When we play sports in the mornings it is usually 95 or hotter. Luckily one of the members in our ward made us scarves, so our necks will stay nice and toasty when we are out and about.  Our power went out for over an hour last night because of the heat, so we all gathered around my flashlight which was our only source of light. The A/C wasn't working though, so we started cookin. It was quite the adventure. The Lord has blessed us so much though- we have had appointments just about every hour so we spend most of our time in a lesson or in our car. Plus, people give us water everywhere we go so we stay hydrated and out of the heat. The other night, Sister Lake and i were feeling a little bit of the Christmas spirit, so we decorated our living with all the Asian decorations we could find and Sister Lake whipped out her Christmas tree and lights and stocking and we just left it for the sisters to find in the morning. They were so confused. But then we celebrated that morning with presents and we all told Christmas memories and marked the new holiday Asian Christmas in July. Even though it was June. We may or may not have forgotten that part. 

Well the work is still so great here. I have been in some super ghetto neighborhoods all week, so that's always fun. Got peed on and attacked by a chihuahua. Highlight of the week. We have had LOTS of people try to use us just because we are nice people. Someone told me they would come to my church if I gave her a ride. Another lady told me she believes in Jesus but would steal some food if we didn't give her any. We always try to respond to those situations in the way Christ would, but it is hard. We want to help everyone but need to realize that giving them things isn't the way the Lord would have us work. We have a more important work to be doing. Tons of people showed up for church yesterday, that was a tender mercy from the Lord. It was an even bigger miracle that most of them stayed for all three hours. 

How is the missionary work in Kennewick? I have already started a list of the things I will do when I get back home to help the Elders and Sisters out. Our ward has pretty much adopted us so I want to be that kind of member after my mission. Also, have fun at the Stoker Reunion this week! Tell them all I miss them and make sure Todd feels as uncomfortable as possible around the uncles. And let Uncle Craig know that I'm doing my best to repair the damage he caused here in the 80's, but it's rough. Give my best to Grandma too. It really is an honor to wear the name Stoker everywhere I go and to remember it is more than just my immediate family I am representing while i'm here. So thanks for all your prayers! Here are some more pictures. Enjoy!

1. Asian Christmas in July

2. Jarom and Helaman Street. 

3. My first night out!

4. Apparently this is how i pray. Sister Lake felt the need to document it. 

Love you all!

Sister Stoker