Hey everyone!

This week has been great! We went out contacting and met this one guy in front of his house. We taught him the restoration. He said that he wasn't really the religious kind of person, but we taught him anyway(: So before I shared the first vision with him I told him that the spirit would be here and that he would be able to feel it. So I shared it and asked him if he had felt those peaceful feelings the spirit brings, and he said, "Strangely enough, yes!" I was so excited, I felt like shouting Hallelujah! Haha. I just love teaching the restoration! Well the only thing about Dillon is that we tried to stop by to see him again, but the first time we tried back he drove out of his driveway right in front of us.. literally i could touch his car without moving, so that was a little awko. Then we try by a second time and he is just walking out of his house with his little girl to go pick up someone at a bus stop, so he says try back later. We go back for then 3rd try, and he is out front just chillin on the front steps of his house. So sis Holm and I were super excited! He sees us and quickly goes inside.. So we knock on the door, his sister answers and says that he isn't home.. then we go back to the car all confused. we get in car, he comes back outside in his front yard, looks at us, sees sis Holm reaching for the door handle to go back out to talk to him, and he quickly runs inside again.. Man! I just don't understand some people. I know that he had felt the spirit in that lesson we first had with him. It was a super spiritual lesson! However he is purposely trying to avoid us. And what stinks even more is that I found such a love in this guy, brother love, and he seemed so promising. Missionary work can be ruff sometimes, but it really is the best thing in the world! I just hope someday, when he is ready, other missionaries will teach him and give him the best thing that is in all of our lives: The gospel.

Guess what?!?

I am going to a Reds baseball game in Cinci with my whole mission!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I am so pumped! President Porter just announced this at the beginning of this past week! We get to invite gators, less-actives, and one member. We already claimed our bishop! We love him(: He called us his daughters on Sunday(: Lol. So we call him Papa Park! Haha. The game is going to be on September 8th at 7pm. I am seriously so Stoked! Ha! Get it? I am a Stokes and I am Stoked! Man, every time I get into a new ward everyone sees my name and goes, "Well Sister Stokes, we are so Stoked to have you in our ward!" The funny thing is that they all think that they are being original with the joke, so I laugh and pretend I have never heard that one in my life.. Lol. Oh but something cool I came up with last night..

I am so STOKED to go see some HOLM-runs at the Reds game! Hahaha.

Something else I was thinking about recently.. I have been in 3 different areas with 4 different companions in just 4 months! Isn't that insane? I really like this area in Kentucky though, so I hope I stay here awhile. 

Well I hope everyone has a great week! I love all of you!

-Sister Steffani Stokes<3

Hey Everyone!

This week has truly been great! We started off the week doing service for this Lady that had broken her back. She couldn't weed her backyard and it got really bad! Her pool was mostly dried up, and there was muddy water at the bottom. Somehow plants had started to grow in there and there we tons of frogs just chillen in there! Haha. It was great! Well as we are weeding her backyard we look at the plants and realize that it was mostly Poison Ivy!!! Ahhh! Luckily we had gloves on, but one of the plants did touch my arms.. Luckily again I had only gotten a few bumps from it that looked like hives. So that was cool(:

Also this week Sister Holm and I were trying to fill up our teaching pool again, so we went out personal contacting through a neighborhood we havent really been in before. We talked to sooo many people! We ran into this garage sale of antique things, and I tried out this scale that you would put in a penny to try it out with. It told me that I only weight 56 lbs!!! So that basically made my day! On a different scale Sister Holm weight -4lbs.. Haha. Well we left there and ran into this lady named Sandy. She was up on her porch but she ended up coming down to talk with us, it was awesome! So we talked a little bit about the church and she started to get watery eyes. Then I said that it wasn't a coincidence that we ran into her today, she said I know. So we have plans to meet with her again next week! She also gave us some waters before we left. I just love her(:

Then another day me and Sister Hol went PC(Personal Contacting) through another neighborhood and had no luck. So we just keep "Enduring" and trying. Then we get to a dead end, but decide to keep going. At the end of the road there was a little road that turned off of it. We followed it for a quarter mile and it ended up leading us to a girl scout cookie place!!! WOOOO! We were super excited! So of course I had to get the Thanks-a-lot cookies(: Well from that I learned there is always something good for us waiting at the end, if we will just keep enduring long enough to find it!(: Lol. It was great! Sadly though the humidity kinda killed the short bread part of the cookie though, they turned soft. Well have a great week! Love you all!

-Sister Steffani Stokes(:

 Sister Chapa and Sister Unklesbay at Transfers

 New Companion Sister Holms

 Sister Chapa

Me and Sister Lee with members kids

Hey Errrbody!

I AM IN KENTUCKY!!!!!!!!!!! I had no idea that I was going to be transferred it was crazy! I was in transfer meeting when they told me that Milford 2 was being doubled in! That means 2 new sisters would be entering the area. I had to go and pack right after. Luckily it only took me about an hour.  Well I love it down here in the "Promised Land!" It has been great! My Companions name is Sister Holms. She is from Firth Idaho. Love her to death. My new address is 915 Trellises Dr. apt # 315 Florence, Kentucky 41042. So you guys can send me lots of letters and care packages! ;D Haha. Well don't have much time to write, but love you all!

Love always,

Sister Steffani Stokes<3

Hey Errrbody,

Sister Lee is leaving tomorrow! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! :,',( (a crying face). She is headed back to the real world. Me and her are seriously so alike, I can't even stress it enough! I seriously love her so much. Does that mean I seriously love myself? Haha. Well anyways, I think the short amount of time we have had together has really taught me a lot. I now know that missionary work can be fun! Its the best thing EVER! Everyone should do it! All you people back at home better be doin' some mish work, because you even get the blessing of choosing who you do it with! Haha. Wouldn't of understood that blessing if I didn't serve a mission. Well I feel like this has been really good for her too, because since we are so alike she is going to have the same kind of problems that I faced when I was home. Well minus the whole surgery part of it. haha. So I have been telling her what sort of things satan will try to throw at her right when she gets home, because he definitely does. Also I was giving her tips on things to do when she gets home to keep up on all the mish stuff, because you literally can loose it in a heartbeat! So I am glad that my knowledge of stuff I learned from being home is able to help someone(: 

Funny thing, so the other night we went to a members home for dinner(The Farnsworths). And she made us this delicious french toast casserole thing!(: Well my companion, Sister Lee, gets up halfway through the meal and heads to the bathroom. Well me and the Farnsworths went through quite a few different long conversations while she was still in there. So eventually one of their little girls, Hallie who is 7, she goes and knocks on the door and says... "You've been in there for quite some time!" HAHAHAHAHA. Right before she said that I took a big bite of this french toast stuff, but I nearly spit it out trying to hold back my laughing! Both of the parents just started cracking up laughing, it was hilarious! Worst timing to take a big bite of food! Well when the laughing died down we could hear Sister Lee in the bathroom dying with laughter! Haha. So we all start laughing again! It was the best! Then later we moved to the living room to teach them a lesson. But before we were talking about favorite movies. One of their other little girls goes,"My favorite is George of the Jungle!" Then I go,"Oh! Thats a funny monkey!" Haha. Then Sister Lee just looks at me funny, then I realized where I went wrong.. I was thinking Curious George for some strange reason.. Haha. The whole point of the movie she said was that he wasn't a monkey! Too funny.. Then finally we were able to start the lesson. We decided to play a game because they had a few little girls. So we play the Choose The Right game! Basically its where you read a slip of paper with either a right or wrong choice we can make in life. They then would put it in either the right pile of the wrong pile according to what they think. Little kids LOVE this game, seriously. Well one of their little girls, who is 3, grabs a paper. She couldn't read so she was bringing it to her dad. He asked her,"What does it say?" However he knew he was going to have to read it because she can't read. But she decided to try anyways. She looks at the paper and goes,"Having Babies!" Hahahahaha! It was the cutest/funniest thing! And the one she had was actually 2 lines long, so she wasn't even close.. but man! Best dinner appointment ever! There were so many funny things that happened! 

Well keep pressing on guys! I seriously cannot tell you how much you are blessed by God for just being a part of His restored church! I have seen so many different families, and all of the members are in better situations of life. Maybe not financially, but always better stability in their relationships. Also they are always way happier! Like a lot of the people we teach have lots of problems, but overtime those problems disappear or just seem less stressed over. Then their kids end up having even better lives than the original converts could have even imagined for their kids! I have seen the timeline of this with tons of different people we teach. Eventually things will get better if you keep turning to God. The gospel blesses families! It does. No one could convince me otherwise. God helps us so much when we make right choices and come into a pattern/habit of turning to Him! If you don't believe me, test it out! What is there to lose? I promise He will be there for you, and you will be even happier than you ever thought possible! 

Oh and something that literally just happened.. this worker guy just walked in and asked if we knew anything about the stake presidents office. So we go basically our knowledge of that extends to where it is located in the building. lol. Then he goes, "Oh well I just wanted to relay the message to someone that everything in there is now working in there." Then I go,"Well we know the missionaries that work in this building, so we will tell them." Then Sister Lee goes,"We are the missionaries that work in this building!" Then I was like,"Ohhhhhh..." Then we both just started cracking up! It was super embarrassing! Why do I embarrass myself? I ask this same question almost everyday.. Hahaha. Well have a grreat day!

Love Always,

Sister Steffani Stokes<3