oh my! another p day friends. this has been a great week and i'm excited to share with y'all! hope everyone is doing super super swell.

 

WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS FINE P-DAY? well.. we had big plans to go mountain biking. i purchased a bike when we went to reno last wednesday.. i'll attach pics in a bit. it's pretty rad. our zone leaders shut us down on the mountain biking idea. it's a super tame hill and we would have been going with one of the guys in Fallon that developed the trails. they figured it is too risky so we'll probably play some more bball!

WHAT DID YOU DO AT CHURCH YESTERDAY?
Worshipped! :) it was a great sunday/fast and testimony meeting. for the first time, we had S and M attend sacrament. we introduced them to some of the ward family and the bishop, and without us even saying anything .. S organized a meeting with the bishop to get things going with his re-joining the church. two weeks ago he wouldn't have said a word to the bishop! so awesome. my comp and I were fasting for that family and this is what happened. :)

HOW IS THE WEATHER IN FALLON?
purty dandy. it's really not that hot, we just don't have AC in our house so if it gets into the 90's our bunk room has 2 sliding glass doors in it and it just cooks. the hottest it's been was like 94 and i think that was yesterday. from the sound of it, 90's is all summer, sometimes we'll get into the low 100's but it's super dry so as soon as night falls it cools off. no AC stinks though.. last night it had to be 80 degrees trying to sleep.

WHAT ONE SCRIPTURE HAD A GREAT POSITIVE AFFECT ON YOU THIS WEEK? WHY?
DC 88: 63 . also a passage from the teachings of Lorenzo Snow.. i brought it so i could share it. here it is.

"We may think that we cannot live up to the perfect law, that the work of perfecting ourselves is too difficult. This may be true in part, but the fact still remains that it is a command of the Almighty to us and we cannot ignore it. When we experience trying moments, then is the time for us to avail ourselves of that great privilege of calling upon the Lord for strength and understanding, intelligence and grace by which we can overcome the weakness of the flesh against which we have to make a continual warfare. "

WHAT IS THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK?

We had quite a few great meetings with S and M this week.. we've been working with them a lot as they are making the proper steps back and we had some very spiritual conversations! it's great to see people make progress in the gospel and to see their whole persona just lighten up! we also made some progress with Amy.. she said herself she knows that when she reads the BOM she will know it's true.. she's just hesitant because she has a bias against the church. we're continuing to work on her and we've got big plans :)

 

also, there was a father/sons campout for our ward friday to saturday and we got invited to eat dinner there as well as breakfast saturday morning. it was like 4 blocks from everybodies house on a farm next to a little pond and it was way fun to see the cameraderie (wow.. sorry.. no clue how to spell that) within the ward between families. the bishop set up a bunch of games for them and it was so fun to watch!

HOW DID YOU SEE THE HAND OF THE LORD IN LIFE THIS WEEK?
well we were fasting for S and M .. that they will progress at the same pace. when S pulled the bishop aside i coulda cried tears of joy! M is the one that has shown the most desire to bring the gospel back into her life. S has been a slower moving process but our work is paying off and i know that our Father in Heaven prepared him for us to meet with him, and gave him the strength to talk to the bishop! that wasn't an easy move and he did it without us even inviting him too. I know the Lord influenced him to do so. :) among other things! it's amazing being a missionary. it truly is the Lord's work and we just put ourselves in the right spot and the right time (by paying attention to the guidance we receive) and we are promised that if we open our mouths the words will come. I'm so grateful to be a missionary! it's scary and requires all of the faith we can muster, but like i said if we put ourselves where we need to be the Lord does all the work!

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU ARE MOST GRATEFUL FOR TODAY?

The Gospel is the easy answer! I'm SO grateful for the tangible joy the gospel brings. anchoring my life to the gospel as a missionary has made me happier than i've ever been. not only in my life, but it makes me even happier to witness other people cling to the gospel and gain that happiness. watching S and M grow and change little things here and there has been my favorite part of being a missionary hands down. they need the gospel in their lives and for me to be the conductor.. i couldn't be more grateful for that opportunity! Not only the gospel though.. I'm so grateful for the people in my life! my wonderful family, my friends, the people of Nevada i've been blessed to meet. Life is just good and I'm so blessed! i have so much to be grateful for. :)

WHAT WAS THE CRAZIEST THING THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK? haha well this is going to go with the jokes question but the elders we live with started a game this week.. bring home the craziest object you find while out proselyting for the day. they have a gnarly desert area so they have more opportunity to find crazy stuff.. but they brought home a skull and a leg from a baby calf. it still had a little fur on it but they buried it in the sand so it looked like it had a full body that was buried. that was pretty crazy! hahah

DO YOU HAVE THE SAME COMP? yeah..... yep.

DO YOU GUYS PLAY JOKES ON EACH OTHER?

nope. my sense of humor is taking a hit because he doesn't understand it! we don't prank each other at all or play jokes. we play chess.. and he beats me.

WHO DID YOU GET MAIL FROM THIS WEEK?
This was a great mail week! i got Haley's grad announcement, mail from Grandma sue and Grandpa monte, Nan, Joe Hatch, and sam Stahura. i got a bunch of pics so my wall of photos is growing and i love it so much! keep em' coming!

 

well errbody! life is so good as a missionary. I want y'all to know that i pray for you often. I hope and pray that things are so good for everybody at home! thank you for the continued support in my efforts as a servant of the Lord. I love to hear from you all so write me and send pics. The church is true! it is the only source of true and lasting happiness. Love you all! talk to you soon. :)

 

Elder Sykes