Primary Letters

Our primary children had written Sean letters, along with drawing pictures, which were mailed to him. I was able to have a peak at them before they were mailed and they were absolutely precious.

Sean mailed the following letters to Jamie Bayles, our good friend and the Primary President. She was kind enough to share them with me. Thank you Jamie...any info I can get, helps keep me sane. (Many others have shared too. Thank you, also). The 1st letter is written to the whole primary and the 2nd one was written specifically to his class of 11 and 12 year old boys that he taught in primary.

April 21, 2010
Dear Primary,
Thank you so much for the letters that you sent me. That was very thoughtful of you and I really appreciated it. Some of your pictures made me laugh, so thank you for that. Alright...so the question that most of you asked was “is it cold?” I will tell you that it is a little chilly, but I am on the coast so it’s not as cold as some of the other areas in Alaska. However, it has been raining or snowing every single day, except 2, since I have been here. So you guys better enjoy the sunshine.

I have seen and eaten almost every type of wildlife you can think of that lives in Alaska. The moose meat is definitely the best. I am in a very small town and there aren't too many places that we could live, so we are living at the church. It looks just like the church back home, but just a miniature version. It has been a pretty cool experience so far.

My companion and I are the first missionaries that have been in this town for 3 or 4 years, so it has been a little harder to meet people, but we are doing a ton better now. We currently are teaching two people and just today, received commitment from one of them to be baptized on May 15th. His name is Harrison and he decided he wants to be baptized in the ocean. So we are going to do it in a place called Hartney Bay.

Being a missionary has really opened my eyes to see how blessed we are to know about the gospel. There are kids here that are living with no supervision really and they grow up not having the same privileges that you all have.

Well thanks again for the letters. I hope you all are having a great time in primary. I miss you all and look forward to keeping in touch. Take care and I hope to hear from you soon.

Love, Elder Sean Stoker

April 21, 2010

Hello everyone,
Thank you so much for the letters that you guys wrote. That was nice of you. I hope everything is going good in that class of yours. Last Sunday, I was actually teaching a primary class here and the entire time I kept thinking about you guys. But one thing for sure, I realized how much I enjoyed teaching you guys. They never would talk and you guys never stopped talking. So thank you for always talking and at least participating in the boring lessons I taught.

I was glad to hear that Tanner is teaching you guys now. You will learn a lot from him and Brother Holm. You guys are a lucky bunch.

Since I have been in Alaska, I have been in a blizzard, a huge rainstorm, earthquake, and the other day, there was an avalanche not to far from the church. So basically I have seen it all in the 2 weeks that I have been in Alaska. I have also eaten tons of moose, bear, and fish. This one lady fed us some weird type of food that I have no idea what it was, but it was not good at all.

Being a missionary has been hard at times, but good. I know my life will be blessed because of me serving. I hope that you all prepare yourselves to be able to serve a mission. It is a great opportunity and I know you will be blessed.

If you have any questions for me let me know and feel free to write too. I would love to hear from you guys. Well thanks again. I love you guys and I hope you enjoy class. Talk to you soon.

Love, Elder Sean Stoker