WHAT UP FAMILY!?!
This has been the best week of my life
Sorry i didn't really write last week- we are still trying to get used to the email schedule in Anthem. Also Sister Fields and I made a voice recording…hopefully you can understand it. I forgot to record something for this week so we did it in the car and we have a bit too much fun anytime we are together
So the best thing that ever happened to me began when Sista Fields and i walked into REI. We had this great idea to buy the cheapest walkie-talkies we could find and use them when we bike around to talk to each other and keep each other entertained up the hills and during the long stretches of boring. We may or may not laugh too hard we have to pull over real quick. Haha. She is my best friend. Oh and she is from Portland (more specifically Beaverton/Hillsborough). So she is close! She came out just a transfer before me too. Sorry if she is all I talk about. I'm obsessed.
So yeah we have been biking everywhere (i converted her to the bikes…I think. I am known as the crazy sister who bikes all the time and i love it) And so naturally we have seen TONS of miracles from biking. Let me just brag for a second- except I am not boasting of myself but of my God because it is in HIS strength that i can do all things. But this side of Henderson is known to be the hardest area of the mission because people are so content in their life. The Anthem stake is the highest tithing contributors in the nation or something. If that sheds any light on the kind of people we meet everyday. But yeah Sister Fields and I are CONVINCED that there is no such thing as a "slow area" and we put some faith and obedience to the test and combined it with bikes and saw some crazy results. We reached the "standards of excellence" in the mission- basically quadrupled the numbers in the area and have had so much fun in the mean time. We had 7 new investigators, 12 lessons to investigators, a couple people at church- it has just been a great week. The Lord is so good to us.
Sorry I can't chat more. LOVE YA!!!
Sista Stoker
April 21st, 2014
Highlights from the week:
We had lunch with Sister Neider this week. I think we think we are a big deal. But it was so great! We really just called her up and decided to meet up at Zupa's. When we were there we were talking about the new article that is all about Sister Fields' training and apparently there are some negative comments so Sister Neider wanted to help us feel better about them and this was exactly how her sentence started...
"So when I was talking to Elder Bednar about it.."
WHAT UP?!
We are famous.
I have had the best birthday so far- Sister Fields is the best. Also, we are getting kicked off the computer but hopefully we can get on later to send more pictures! And thank you for the recording! Except I can't figure out how to listen to it.
LOVE YA! :)
Sister Stoker
April 28th, 2014
FAMILY!!!!
Sorry, no voice recording this week. It has been CRAZY. Hope you enjoyed them though :)
Since Sister Fields and I are STL comps, we have a lot more on our plates which is fine, it keeps mission life exciting. But we have both been a little sick this week. OK i haven't been sick but I went to the doctor to get my blood drawn. Actually I went to the comprehensive cancer center to get my blood drawn. Every worse case scenario flashed in my mind sitting in the waiting room. It's fine though. He said I don't have cancer. Probably. But yeah we have had to stay in a few hours to get better and I realized how much I love to work. But it was good for me and we both needed it. The days we weren't taking of ourselves though we were on exchanges- we went on a double exchange this weekend and are actually on one right now. We might be put into a trio for the next couple weeks until a situation is taken care of. But we are still having success in this area! We have found lots of new investigators and we both love the challenge of a slow area. I have also just grown to love the Neiders with my whole heart this past week because we have spent so much time with them trying to figure things out and they just have the best relationship. They actually remind me of you, Mom and Dad. You would love them.
This week I have grown so much from my own trials. I realized that the Lord is busy making my weaknesses into strengths and it took me long enough to allow them to become that way. But the insight I have gained from my headaches is unreal. I realized that a headache is similar to depression or anxiety or anger problems- things I have needed to help other sisters with on the mission that I go on exchanges with. Not as their therapist, but helping them know what steps to take. With my headaches, I don't know the underlying cause of them but I know there are triggers. In my case, it is cheese and chocolate and gluten and sugar. So basically the only things in life to enjoy. But whatever. With mental illnesses, there are also triggers. Sometimes it is stressful situations or a certain person or a mindset that can set off depressed feelings or anxiety. So we avoid those. But as Elder Holland said (in the Like a Broken Vessel talk) we see mental illnesses no different than a battle of high blood pressure or a broken arm. There are also outward signs- for my headaches I am not as energized and can't think as well and that is the same with depression or anxiety. Most of all though there is a long term solution that needs to be fixed- something underlying the problem. I think the migraine support formula and eating healthy will help me (yes mom, i take it morning and night. It makes my pee bright yellow in case you were wondering.) And for the sisters, it is balancing the seratonin levels in their mind or talking to a therapist that can help long term. So that was my epiphany and I know it can help with our spiritual illnesses to. If we look for things that "trigger" our low spiritual moments and then focus on how we can long term change our habits so we are continuing to progress, we will find ourselves happier and more like the Savior. So yeah. Call me Dr. Stoker
Also, there is a CD that we listen to by Mercy River and I just love it. But one of the songs ( I think it is called Blessings) has a line that has really helped me on the mission. It is talking about trials and how "the pain reminds this life that this is not our home" and I LOVE that! I think that is why we go through trials sometimes, or why they have to hurt. We need to search for that peace and realize it only comes through the atonement, and that we are here to search for what will give us lasting happiness.
I know sometimes it sounds like we get no work done, but I promise we are working hard! Still biking and talking to everyone and their dog. Mission life is the BEST!!!
Love always,
Sister Stoker
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