We had the coolest experience this week! It all started when we fasted on Sunday...naturally. We wanted to find a family. In fact Sister Fields and I decided that independent of each other and shared our experience after we had ended. So we found tons of potentials all week and potential families but no fruits or lessons with an actually family...UNTIL Sunday night! Of course. This is how it always happens. But we knocked on the door of a man we met last week and his family was there...as well as a good friend of theirs from Utah who is an RM and they had JUST been talking about missionaries when we walked in. We offered to say a prayer with their family and the moms face was streaming with tears afterwards. It was such a sacred experience.
Oh last Monday was cool too. We were playing basketball at the stake center after we went grocery shopping and we stepped into the hallway real quick and saw a lady sitting on the couch. She was 9 months pregnant, had a two year old, and looked exhausted. Turns out her car had just broke down on the way to her doctors appointment and the church was the nearest building. What a blessing!! We sat and talked with her a while as we coordinated a ride and she kept saying how grateful she was. We asked if she would be willing to hear a brief message by the missionaries in her area about how the Savior can lift those burdens from her. She looked so hopeful and said "when can they come?" I love the gospel!!!!!!!
Ed and Janine got back from their trip to Cali where they listened to 5 CDs of the Book of Mormon!! That was cool. We only talked to them briefly but Ed seemed to really like it. We also had another lesson with Susanna whom i have learned so much from. We shared the Mormon message "flecks of gold" and she related it to her relationship with God. It was such a great lesson. You should look it up! There are all kinds of analogies.
Well I love ya with my whole heart!!
Sister Stoker
June 16th, 2014
Hello!
Sorry- no voice recording this week. You just have to read a long boring letter.
First of all, I'm obsessed with this ward. The people here bend over BACKWARDS for us. There is a dentist in the ward who offered to whiten our teeth for free, so that was cool. Then Sister Lee who I just adore has gotten us on this health kick and stocked up our fridge with fruits and veggies and greek yogurt. Haha. This ward really takes care of us. Oh and another family bought us books from Seagull Book because we mentioned there was one we wanted to read. They are so involved in the missionary work as well. They often call our investigators to invite them to activities and are the friendliest at church when there are new faces. I am going to be just like them when I grow up. Mom I love that you have neem reading the Power of Everyday Missionaries- I read quite a bit of it and it has changed the way I'm going to do missionary work when I get back home. Let's get the Sisters in the ward a river of people to teach!
We had a great first lesson with a new family we found this week. The dad is one of the producers of Pawn Stars, American Restoration and some other show we didn't recognize. So that's cool. We set up an appointment the day before (so Monday) and when we went by on Monday they were anticipating our lesson! Sadly that hardly ever happens. She had made german pancakes and had the table set adn everything when we came in. It was so cool. Oh and this is cool- ED AND JANINE SHOWED UP AT CHURCH! We weren't expecting it at all- in fact we hadn't really been able to get ahold of them all week and they had told us different excuses for the past few weeks of why they couldn't. But they came. They wanted to surprise us...which they did. We didn't realize they were there (and sitting in one of the first rows!) until Janine got up during the last song to use the restroom. We just stared at her and both Sister Fields and I had a really confused look on our face like "how do we know her...?) and then we looked at each other and kind of freaked out in the chapel. Haha. And it turns out one of their really good friends of like 15 years is in our ward!
I'm headed back to Lake Mead this weekend for a baptism- someone I found and taught is ready to get wet! So that will be a fun trip. It will be good to see my ward again.
Hopefully you got my picture of the zone. LOVE YA!
Sister Stoker :)
June 23rd, 2014
HELLOOOOOOO
Transfer news came this week! They are splitting up the dynamic duo- we are so sad to leave each other but, let's be real, we had way too much fun in those 2 transfers. it was about time.
I am going to the WHITNEY RANCH WARD!! crazy. It is in the Green Valley stake, which is like 5 minutes away. Wooo. Pretty sure it is right on the border of Henderson and Vegas. I am actually going to be double transferred…AGAIN. Not sure if you have noticed, but i have done this my whole mission. Some people call it "white washed" but basically 2 missionaries are leaving and 2 brand new ones are coming in. I will be with a mini-missionary and i'm still not quite sure what that means. In fact it sounds like President still doesn't know who my new companion will be- i'm thinking it is a youth from the area that is in a mission immersion program? Hopefully i will know by next week! haha. Not gonna lie, i'm pretty nervous. It sounds like i pretty much have to run an area by myself, and meet the whole ward and the investigators. i am so excited to draw closer to my Savior though as I rely heavily on the spirit on what to teach, where to be, and who is a priority in the area. Sister Fields is staying here and will be training!
We had another great week- lots of new investigators, lots of lessons. We had the best experience with Susana last night. We brought her to a musical fireside- actually she drove us there, and it was in my old area so we had a while to talk in the car. she really opened up to us a ton about hard things going on in her life that we didn't realize. She told us that she wants so badly to believe in this gospel and as we were talking about me leaving she started crying!! It was harder to say goodbye to her than anyone else.
We brought a mini-missionary out with us this week. She is a laurel from another stake that is putting in her papers soon and we had such a good time with her! Afterwards she said she can't wait to serve a mission after going out with us. boo yah. And she bought us each a skirt afterwards! One of our investigators passed his baptismal interview- not sure if we have told you about Quinn, but he is 17 and has been taking the lessons for a while but has just recently started progressing. It will hopefully be this weekend or next.
When the transfer news came in this weekend there was a special message from Sister Neider. She told us her cancer has returned and will be starting her treatment this week. I was devastated when I heard it- she has been one of the most influential people in my life. This was supposed to be her last week anyway, President and Sister Snow should be arriving soon. It will be a hard adjustment this transfer, but i have full confidence in the new mission president. I am just so anxious!
I went on an exchange with a Sister this week that was so fun! i took her night biking and we probably talked to 7 people that said we could come back. There are tons of trails we are discovering- i'm biking everywhere after the mission by the way. It has been fun having the Book of Mormon musical playing here- people ask us about it all the time. i even had someone sing me the song on the street, putting my name in the tune ("hello! my name is Sister Stoker and i would like to share with you the most amazing book!) haha. it is pretty obnoxious having it here, but it also raises a lot of questions we can answer.
well love you all! pictures to come next week:)
Sister Stoker
June 30th, 2014
This has been hands down the CRAZIEST week of my life. And I am alive. What a blessing.
This is what happened. President and Sister Neider ended up leaving for Utah about a week early, and so he was operating as a mission president from Salt Lake. Poor guy. In that time, my "mni-missionary" ended up needing to delay for a week, so I was pretty much companion-less. I was able to spend one day with one of the Sisters that was here in the area before, so that helped me get a little more familiar with the investigators and members, but I still had that deer in the headlights look all day...and pretty sure I am still in that boat. I ended up serving this last week with Sister Veazey which was a huge blessing- she is actually going home on Wednesday and was planning on just 3-packing it in her old area, but was able to help me SO MUCH as we prioritized and organized the area so we could work hard when I got a real companion. So she's been here since Wednesday and yesterday (Sunday) Sister Rollins joined us! She is the "mini-missionary" from another Stake in the valley and is getting ready to go on a mission next February! She will be here for about a week, then it sounds like I will be companion-less for about 4 days then will have another mini-missionary for the rest of the transfer(about a month). So that makes life exciting. What a blessing it is to serve though and see the tender mercies of the Lord. I could feel His influence as I planned, knowing no idea where anything was or who these people were, and we saw tons of miracles as we went out and worked- we caught a lot of people "just in time" and the members really stepped up and relieved us. There was an RM who said she remembers that "white washing" an area was the most stressful part of her mission, so she invited us over and told us what she knew about each of the members- who we should focus on, who was active, etc. It was so nice.
We knocked on the door of a "potential investigator" who was so quick to let us in. Guys, this was a such a huge miracle. He invited us to come sit down and we were able to teach the Restoration right away, in like 20 minutes. I LOVED teaching with Sister Veazey! Anyway, he told us his son had been baptized in the church a few years ago and he has seen a complete change in his son since then and wants that in his life. He said the best way he can describe how he has felt everytime he has gone to church with his son is "comfortable." Hello! This is Christ's church! Of course you will be comfortable. We invited him to be baptized and he readily accepted. I love this gospel with my whole heart. And my new area! It is a different kind of missionary work here- I really am like 10 minutes away, and yet I could be in a whole different state. It has a good mix of ghetto apartments and homes, and TONS of people outside to talk to. My favorite. And it is right in the middle of "Whitney Ranch" which is EVERYWHERE. My name is all over the place- it's crazy.
Well, I love ya. Thanks for the letters and emails and prayers!
Sister Stoker :)
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