1st Email Part 2 May 21, 2013

So.... I just found out that I actually get more time!!!! I didn't realize it but I am excited. I was gonna say I didn't get to finish saying everything that I wanted to say. Though I am not a big fan of their keyboards. They kind of tire my fingers to type. Haha. But thats ok. So my district is fabulous!!! I absolutely love them and I think I have the best one here at the MTC! So I know we are all being blessed in learning our different languages. Becuase I know I never would have learned AND retained nearly as much language as I have been able to since I have been here. Not even close! Cause I tried! Haha. Same with everyone else who is learning aanguage. It is amazing! It is just another thing that has really strengthened my testimony. So, we are in our classrooms for a while during the days and we have rolling chairs! Ha. We love them! Though we don't get to just roll around in them often. But when we go out in the hallway to talk with our companion for a sec for our little "interview" at least we did it once, we got to roll out in our chairs. It was super fun. I will have to take a picture of the chairs. Actually. I have a picture of Sister Dumis and Sister Hancock in their chairs in the classroom. So I think in that picture you can see the wheels. But yeah. (: Elder Zaccarias loves it the most I think. Cause he will spin in circles in his chair. Haha. That is when he can. But the food is actually really good. So I don't know why people have ever complained about the MTC food. Oh! I will attach some pictures also to send home. The Blonde one is Sister King. The light-ish brown haired one is Sister Dumis, and the other blonde haired one - with longer hair - is Sister Hancock. They are amazing people! I have come to really love each of them. Before we go to bed we have prayer all together and then after prayer, we do "I love you's" So basically the person who said the prayer that night starts and they chose someone to say why they love them. And usually it was because of something that happened or they did that way. Or it is just because of their personality or whatever. Then we move to the next person and we go in a circle so everyone gets told they are loved by one of us. I love it! I think it has also helped us to get really close. I will definitely be sad when it comes time for us to leave and get new companionships. So we got to go to the temple this morning. Super early this morning. We went to the 6:20 session. But it was really nice cause it gave us more time in the day. And we get to wear jeans today and flip flops! Haha. Though I actually really like dressing up all the time. I didn't think I would like it so much. But it is nice being able to dress down once a week. (: So... there was something I was going to ask for but now I can't remember cause I didn't write it down... Oh! one thing was Judy's email. I was going to write her and she gave me her email address but I forgot to write it down to bring with me. Another thing is Cheyann's address. I didn't write that down either.... So if you could send me those two things that would be fabulous! So it is the weirdest thing. We study a lot and so we are constantly tired. Yet at the same time we aren't. It is like we are mentally drained and exhausted but physically we are feeling great! So it is a super weird feeling. And it makes it hard to keep my eyes open sometime. But somehow we are able to do it and get through the day. Our language teacher told us someone counted up the amount of hours spent in the classroom throughout the MTC for their 9 weeks. They totalled it up to about 21 days. Crazy! But we do it! I am just so glad that we have the Lord's help. Cause honestly I definitely could not be doing this without having a testimony of Him and knowing that He is there and will help us every step of the way. I know I definitely could not have succeeded in everything I have thus far without his help. I have been blessed so much so far. It is incredible. I want you guys to know that I have a firm testimony of this gospel and it means everything to me. And that I know we can come to know the truthfulness of anything as we humble ourselves and earnestly pray to God with all our hearts. We have so much to be grateful for! We have been royally blessed! I am so grateful everyday to have the basic necessities of life. Cause there are people out there who do not. So I hope we are able to remember and not take advantage of all the blessings in our lives and to reach out and help those in need. I am so excited for the next 5 weeks here at the MTC! It has already proved to be so uplifting and amazing. I know the next upcoming weeks will be even better! Expecially as I continue to get the language down. I love you guys and you are all in my prayers!

 Love Sister Stokes