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First Transfers (A Ton Of Crazy Stuff)(Only 90 weeks to go)


First Off - Elder Rosas and I are both staying in Buenaventura! I am excited to be able to at least spend another six weeks with Elder Rosas. Which is great because we are finally starting to build that connection when we are teaching. We are better at bouncing off one of each other and letting each other talk when they have that spiritual prompting. With our obedience, we have been inviting the spirit into the rooms when we are in lessons. And the lessons go so much better when we have that spiritual guide with us (especially since I am still learning Spanish). And I am excited to be staying in Buenaventura. I am getting to be good friends with a lot of the members and our investigators are progressing and keeping their commitments so I am excited to be able to stay with them and keep teaching them. I also am getting a hang of the area. I said 90 weeks to go because my companion likes to remind me over and over again that he has less days than I have weeks. He has 84 days left now and I have 90 weeks. But I am excited for these 90 weeks with how much I will be able to improve and grow and these spiritual experiences I have on a daily basis. 
The Twist - My whole district has changed... Before my district was me and Elder Rosas and the Hermanas that were in Lebaron. But now.. Lebaron area has been closed for various reasons. And I trust there was a lot of prayers by President Henke about this decision he made to close the area. I have learned to trust whatever happens in the mission, trust that everything happens for a reason. But since we do not have a district here. Our district is now in Casas Grandes which is an hour and a half bus ride. But now Elder Rosas has less of a load because we are in the same district as the Zone Leaders so he is not district leader anymore. We are in a district with Elder Jensen (mi padrino) Elder Espinosa, and Herman Rotondo (she was in my last district) and Hermana Rodrigues. There will be a lot of excitement involved with all of this. Also since Lebaron is closed we get to cover that area. So now we cover the whole valley which is Buenaventura, Lagunitas, and Lebaron and some colonies. I am really excited to be able to explore some other areas and will get to teach some lessons in English as well which will be fun.
Lazos Familiares - The area of Mexico Presidency sent out a letter about how every branch and ward should do a special activity for Dias de Los Muertos focusing on family history and temple work for our ancestors that were not able to receive this Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is really important to me because I want to be able to have a party after this life with every single one of my siblings and ancestors after this life. It is going to be a blast. The party here two days ago went great. I made a bunch of hot dogs and bacon. And we had nachos with Jalapeños of course. Most people are surprised when they see me eat spicy food. Elder Rosas and I prepared a play for the youth today that represented a true story of a friend of Elder Rosas and the play went great. We did a play with shadows, so we had a narrator and a white sheet, and a bright light to make the shadows. It was so much fun, and all the kids had fun with it and the parents loved it. I think it really brought our ward together. Which is a big point of these parties that we have as branches or wards. 
Marisol - She took a big leap of faith this last week. We show up to her house Monday night and the first thing she tells us is she wants to try paying her tithing. And she explained to us how she did not go to church the day before because she was scared because of everything that happened with the LeBaron family. She thought that we were part of the same religion. So we have been teaching her this whole time and she thought we were polygamists. Hopefully us explaining to her that we were different will help clear up some of her doubts she had. But she paid her tithing, she is out of town right now so we have not met with her again. But I am so glad that she decided to take a leap of faith with this. 
Patti y Paulina - They made it to the party on Saturday which is great, but did not make it to church yesterday because their ride never showed up. But they love talking to us and learning. And every time we are there we are getting them to open up more and more with what questions they may have. Fernando. Brother of Paulina, son of Patti. He is a young adult who has a daughter and is married. He met with us on Saturday and told us he wanted to be baptized. We have not had a single lesson with him. But he has faith that he can find a remission of his sins with baptism and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Which is so cool, how someone we have never taught told us that he wants to find this peace, and how he came to us looking for it!
I want to end this email with a scripture that is the theme for the Youth in 2020. This scripture is so important and shows the Lord that we love him if we have this attitude about everything in life. It is when Nephi says in 1 Nephi 3:7 ¨I will go and do the things which the Lord Command.¨ We need to learn to have this attitude in life. Learn to have that extra step of faith like Marisol took to do what the Lord commands. And I know if every single one of you take on this challenge to take an extra step on following what the Lord wants you to do, make a goal of what you think you can improve on that has to do with being a better person. Just try to do it for one week and you will see that extra joy you can have in your life! 

Love you all, from your favorite missionary, Elder Stokes!

Pics
Chef Elder Stokes


Finished product



Me in la Obra (play)


It worked so well!


District Shirts


Buenaventura District




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