Hello Errbody!
i've gotten a little bit of mail so thanks to all of you that have written! ( Dad, Nan, Fox, Momma Warburton) i'll include my address at the bottom of this so y'all can dear elder me if you want too. as for me...
the MTC has been very up and down ish for me. my companion is rad. his name is Elder Lewis and he's an 18 yr old son of a banker from a small town in Idaho. we get along seamlessly and our teaching style is the same so it has been awesome so far. the district is pretty cool as well. we have 5 elders going to Reno, 3 Sisters going to Jacksonville Florida, then 1 Elder and 3 Sisters going to MORRISTOWN NEW JERSEY. that's right Don. I've had to tell them all about how much you loved your mission. if you have anything you'd like them to know, let me know and i'll get at them. also, anybody that is considered family can email me. this will be the only email i send while in the mtc because tuesdays are my pdays and i fly to reno a week from today. haha i feel like i just got here but i already have my travel plans. i've been told i will be able to call home when i'm at the airport so around 9 am or so on tuesday the 19th make sure ya'll have your phones by you. also, i may have time to check my email during the week so feel free to email me if we're family with your phone numbers so i can give you a quick shout before i go. one thing that is way cool about being in the MTC at this time is that there are SO many sisters. it's a little bit different when you have to think about your interactions rather than just being natural and kinda flirty. but that's not why i brought that up. i brought it up because they bring such a great spirit with them! it's amazing how much i've learned from the sisters in our district. I'm new at this email thing and i don't have my study journal.. i don't really know what else to tell ya'll. i'm really loving the work. the only reason i said it's been an up and down experience is because as everybody knows, i'm a little bit older than most missionaries here, and i have had a little bit of a hard time dealing with the younger guys. if you take your focus off of the savior and off of the work just for a fraction of the second, the spirit weakens. we need the spirit in everything we do here and it's so important to be obedient and take the steps (diligent prayer, studying during study time, good conversations, etc. ) to keep the spirit with you. when you experience it at such a heightened level it makes it much easier to realize when it's not there. I'm so grateful for the opportunity i have to serve a mission. this has already been one of the hardest things i've done in my life and i'm not even a full week into it. if anybody wants to know anything specific just ask me. also, my zone leader is the biggest dewey on the entire planet. one of them at least. so since the english speaking missionaries are only here for 12-14 days the branch/zone changes so much. for instance, the old zone leaders got called to be zone leaders the day before my district came into the MTC (which district 65, my district is the newest district here... our branch presidency got called on the sunday before the wednesday that we came in) and they are leaving tomorrow, so they had to call two zone leaders from our district. anyway, one of the two in the companionship drives everybody in the district up the flippin wall. sorry this is very uncensored guys. he was like " oh, you haven't gotten much mail? that sucks so bad. i am writing 3 girls and possibly a 4th one." he's one of those kids that seems like he was homeschooled throughout high school or something. dewey, but i think he means well. he just rubs everyone the wrong way. anyway, the reason i brought that up is because i'd love to hear from everyone! dear elder is super easy and all you need is my name, Elder Joseph Sykes, mailbox 141, NV-RNO departure date is 03/19. you can write me and my companion because we are the only two that are slim on mail. Dad, Fox, Nan, and Momma Warburton.. i wrote you all hand written letters today during laundry so you can expect those shortly. :) I don't know what else to tell ya'll. i do know that my time here has strengthened my testimony so much. this isn't supposed to be for me.. i decided i wanted to serve a mission to bring others closer to Christ. i didn't realize that i have a lot of work to do on myself and that it is completely acceptable. I'm working on being "continuously converted." like i said before.. it's hard. but i have to keep focusing my thoughts on helping other people and doing everything i can to keep the spirit with me. i have a package to go pick up, not sure who it's from but i hope it's good! and i'm out of time. there is a devotional tonight.. usually tuesday night devotionals are general authorities.. there's a good chance it will be an apostle. so cool! we are headed there now. holler at me if you want to know anything specific, otherwise i'll be shooting hopefully a better email out to you when i get to reno next week. thanks for all the love and prayers! I love you all so much and i want you to know i'm praying for literally all of you. love love love! God is good. :)
-Elder Stoooz
p.s., if anybody wants to write elder lewis anonymously you can use the same address that i put for me just with Elder Jacob lewis instead of my name. he was in a graduating class of 52 and has gotten less mail than i have. write him!
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