Day of Surgery
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
May 14, 2014
Sister Steffani Stokes returning from Cincinnati
Families waiting for their Missionaries
Right after she got here
Elder Bell Assistant to the President
Took Steffani to Chik-fil-a
Waiting at the Dr's Office
Driving to the Salt Lake Temple
After our session at the Temple
Monday, May 26, 2014
I decided I would write about Steffani's return for surgery. She arrived in Salt Lake on May 14th at 10am. She came back with the missionaries that were returning home from there missions. Elder Bell who was the Assistant to the President returned home and was at the airport with her and a couple of Sister Missionaries and other Elders. It was really strange standing waiting for her with all the family waiting for there missionaries with their welcome home signs knowing that Steffani will be going back. It was great to see her when she finally came it was like 45 minutes after their plane landed before they came. It seemed like forever. When we left the airport we went directly to Layton and took her to get lunch at Chick-fil-a before we went to the surgeons office at the Tanner Clinic. Her appointment was at noon. We were at the dr.'s office until 1:30pm. Set up the surgery for the next morning. When we left the office we went directly to the Salt Lake Temple and attended the 3pm Session. I have not been to the Salt Lake Temple for a session in years. Steffani had never been their. I was so glad that we decided to go. It was great. After our session we went out on the Temple grounds and took some photos and talked with some of the Sister Missionaries. We left around 7:30pm and met Grandma and Grandpa Fish at the Sizzler for dinner . Steffani is not supposed to eat anything after midnight so we had a good dinner. Got back to grandmas about 10pm and got ready for bed. I know Steffani was very tired since it was midnight in Cincinnati what she was used to and she had been up since 3am. We had to be at the Surgeons at 7:30am at the Davis Surgical Center in Layton so we left around 6:45am to drive up there. They took her back to surgery about 8:45. The Dr. came out about 10am and said the surgery went well and that she will be where I can go see her soon. I went back about 10:30. She was totally out of it. When she started coming around she was very nauseated. It was about 12:30pm before she felt good enough to head back to grandmas. We looked for a donut pillow that she could sit on but know one had one. Went to a couple of medical supply places. So she just sat very carefully in the car. We left the next morning at 7am to drive back to Henderson. I made a bed in the back of the Expedition for Steffani to lie down but she ended up sitting on a pillow and leaning the front seat down and rode that way all the way. We stopped about 4 times to give her a break. We did stop and see Grandma and Grandpa Stokes in Orem before heading home. We got back to Henderson about 3pm on the 16th. Steffani still did not have her medical release yet. President Jones came over that night and wanted her to decide if she wanted the release or keep missionary status. He gave her a couple of days to decide. She decided to do the medical release so on Sunday she was released. She will be able to be set apart again hopefully in about 4 weeks when she is ready to return. In the meantime she has lots of books and dvd's to keep training to be a better missionary. It will be two weeks this Thursday since her surgery. She is doing very well. I know she is really missing her mission but she knows she will be able to get back soon.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Hey everyone!
So this week I think the Lord is really trying to teach me to put all of my trust and faith in Him. I know that He has a plan for me, and I know that plan He has is better than the one I want for me. I don't know why I am coming home, and frankly I would much rather just stay out here. But I am trying to put my faith in the Lord by doing what He wants for me. And I guess He wants me to come back home for the surgery. I am just afraid that it is going to be really hard for me to come back out after seeing my family again..
Well this morning I was reading in 1 Nephi 3:2 and I came across the part that said, "The Lord hath commanded me that thou... shall return to Jerusalem." From that I felt like I do need to come back out. It wasn't easy for Nephi and his brothers to head all the way back to Jerusalem, but Nephi didn't complain and put his faith completly in the Lord. I know it is going to be really hard, and satan is going to be working really hard on me. However I know that the Lord is going to help give me the strength to at least be able to put just one foot in front of the other to get back onto the plane to head back. So yes I am planning on coming back on my mission after the surgery, unless I get some big answer that I need to stay. If it is a small hint to stay, I decided I am going to ignore it. Lol. That is probably not a good thing to say.. but I seriously love my mission so much! I wouldn't give it up for the world! Either decision God makes for me is going to be hard. But I will listen(:
Oh so on a more funny note, this morning I woke up completely exhausted! So I get up, and I am basically tripping on everything in my path. haha. But I make my way to the middle of the appt and sit down. We decided we were going to do an inside workout this morning. So I start by doing a few stretches, then I get up because I realized I didn't turn on the light yet. So I turn on the light and I go sit down again. I look next to my leg and I saw something long and weird looking.. so I look even closer, and it started moving! It was a worm! So i jumped up, and was like, "How in the world did you get in here!" Then I see another one inching along right where I was sitting! I am pretty sure I had actually sat on that one too, because it looked a little deformed.. Haha. So yup! You never know what kind of things are going to be in your apt! Stay tuned to hear upcoming adventures of creatures in our apartment, because I am sure there will be one. At this rate I am getting at least one every week, if not more than that! Well have a great week everyone!
Love always,
Sister Steffani Stokes(:
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Monday, May 5, 2014
Hey Everyone!!!
So this week we got to role play a new lesson, that our president felt inspired we teach to everyone, to the presidents assistants! Man! Gotta love being the companion to a sister training leader! Haha. So now Sister Bergeson and I are going to be the ones passing off all of the sisters in our zone on this lesson! Elder Bell, one of the assistants, told us afterwards that we had this lesson down better than most of the zone leaders! I was pretty excitied!(: We also had interviews with the President this week. One of the things I had talked about in my interview with my mission president was Katie. He told me to tell her hi, he loves her, and that he is coming to her baptism(Not on date yet, but will be!), and that him and his wife will take her to the temple! How cool! My mission President is fellowshipping my gator!!!
So I am sure my mom has told most of you already.. but instead of just a phone call for Mothers Day, I am actually going to see her in person. Well 2 days after the fact. But I just can't handle the mission anymore, I am physically, mentally, and spiritually drained. Thats the other thing I talked to my President about in interviews. So we decided it would be best for me to come home...
GOTCHA!!! Just kidding, kinda.. I am coming home, but it is actually just to have surgery in SLC. So not nearly as bad(: Well don't worry about me, I will be fine. I am determined to find my purpose as to why heavenly Father is sending me home at this time. Wether it is simply that my family needs me, or I need to talk to a neighbor, or I need to get married. Ha! Just kiddin' on the last one, but I will find my purpose!
About 2 nights ago me and Sister Bergeson are walking into the appt after a long day. We are literally exhausted! Well we start turning on the lights when all of a sudden Sister Bergeson screams! So I do what any other girl would do, and scream to! Even though I had no idea what she was screaming about.. Haha. Well it turns out that there is this huge black spider in the middle of the floor by our table (her side of the table might I add(:). Well we end up catching it and she decided she doesn't want to kill it. So imagine one of those one troll face icons saying, "Kill the spider!" Thats was me. Haha. So we come to terms and decide to take the spider far far away from our appt and we won't kill it. So we take it about 8 buildings down. And leave it there to bother the next people in that apartment complex. We are nice people, aren't we(: Well we decided to leave the friend magazine we had been carrying the spider with there so we could feel a little bit better about the situation. We were a little worried that the spider would be like a dog, and find his way back home.. but all we could do is hope!
Oh and the other day we were trying to teach katie at the park about tithing. When this lady walks up to us and starts talking. She seemed preety nice at first, then she found out that we were missionaries.. She ended up bashing us hard right in front of Katie! I was praying that the Lord would soften her heart and actually listen to us. However, everytime I tried to say something, she would cut me off. She would even give the spirit a chance to soften her heart. Oh and on the funny side to that situation, she kept on contrdicting herself. She was like I have such a stron belief in the bible, but then she would say that the bible doesn't talk about Jesus Christ and that He is a fictional Character. Well I bore my testimony to her basically for 10 seconds then she cut me off again and I left her with a card and we left. Katie told us to met her at another park. So we drive there and end up having a really good lesson! Katie told us that that lady was crazy! She asked me,"Did you hear how many times she contradicted herself?" I was so happy she realized that! Well Katie is definitely going to be baptized, its just a matter of when. She actually knows that I am leaving, so she asked me if I am in a different area when she is baptized, would I be able to come back and see her? So yup, she is definitely almost there!!! :D
Well I hope everyone is doing great back at home! I have definitely had an interesting week as you can see! I truly am grateful for this gospel though, it is everything. I feel like when I come home and go back to school I am going to have a hard time studying school stuff.. because all I want to study anymore is the scriptures! Make the most of your free time while you can! Because the older you get I feel like less and less time you have to set aside to just study the scriptures. But I am determined that I will set aside at least 30 minutes a day for that!(:
Love always,
Sister Steffani Stokes
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