Castro Valley 1st

Hey all,

this last week has been exhausting, I have been learning a new area and doing alot this week. Tuesday was transfers and then I was off to Castro Valley, It is a really cool place. We have a cool apartment. It is on the third floor, and it is pretty small. butt considering all the time the spend there(which isn't very much) it is definitely good enough for what we. especially since it has a really comfy couch. On the first night I had the chance to meet our Ward Mission Leader and Our Bishop. So besides a lot of tracting(which I have done.) I am going to kind of tell you about some people.

Bro. Barajas - investigator - Bro Barajas is a long time investigator(otherwise known as eternal investigator), you know, the one that come to church all the time because he is in a part member family but hasn't decided to be baptized yet. I got to meet him while on splits with the priests. on my second day in the area. I was also told this is the first time that they had had splits in this area, so that was fun. but Bro. Barajas is cool.

Barbara - investigator - Barbara is a very funny person who is ready to be baptized, but she can't because she is on parole. She does still need to stop smoking. but there is progress in that regard and I think she will be ready when her parole ends. We have been told to treat her like a less active.

Shaion - investigator - Shaion is an teenager. Who has very little knowledge about god. In fact he is atheist. but his dad is catholic so he encourages him to learn about god so he listens to our lessons and tries to follow our commitments. he is really cool.

Robert - investigator - Robert is a teenager who they apparently met tracting and he is really cool and a great guy. I haven't had much time to evaluate my thoughts on him but he says he goes to another church and seems to have only basic knowledge of Jesus Christ.

John - investigator - haven't met him yet. but he has a baptismal date!

Service - for service we have done 2 things. Help mulch trees at this big orchard( this is a lot of work but a good amount of fun. any we have also went to a senior home where we go and hang out with the members. I got to play chess with a guy for 2 hours so that was a lot of fun.

Finding is hard in this area but we are trying a lot.

District - in our district, we are the only ones in the English program, everyone else is Spanish, they are also all in the same ward San Leandro 2nd. So we are kind of the left out ones. but that is cool.

Our Zone is great. there are a lot of cool missionaries in it. And we had a great time at the temple then we got to do a zone sports afterwards which was a lot of fun.

Well that is all for now. More will be told next week.

Elder Stokes

Pics: This is me and my new companion(E. Changchum)

Also the outside of my apartment.