August 19th letter

what's up fam and friends!!!?

this week has been gnarly! so much has happened i don't even know where to start! some super crappy news and some pretty sweet news. anyways! feeling great today. :) let's get to the q's!

HOW IS THE NEW BIKE?

oh goodness, it's a dream! so i inherited a bike from a lady in another ward.. a schwinn ditch or something.. it was like riding a childs bike. it wouldn't shift, it had rear suspension so i was bouncing all over the road.. no bueno! but the new bike you guys got me is so smooth and i can actually ride it... haha. i love it! 

WERE YOU POPPING WHEELIES ON IT?

haha yeah, in my suit! that's how we do it!! :) 

WHAT SCRIPTURE JUMPED OUT AT YOU?

hmm. there were a couple that i came across this week that i really appreciated. how bout.. proverbs 29:25.. the fear of man bringeth a snare! i don't know what that means but it sounds like trusting in God is the way to go! that is much easier said than done.. and understanding that concept fully i feel is a lifelong pursuit. but he loves us so much! we ought to try harder to trust him everyday. 

HOW DID YOU FIND/GET THE PERSON(S) YOU TAUGHT LAST?

well.. we tracted into this lady named Christy like 3 months ago. E. Osborn and I. we had a cool visit with her.. she acted like she wasn't interested in any organized religion because it's all between her and God. which was cool! i liked that perspective. she just didn't realize we were going to keep bugging her until she was down to listen to what we have to say! :) so anyway we tried to set up an appointment after that first visit but she would always blow us off.. then about a month ago she and her husband separated.. he was unfaithful (super lame) and she filed for divorce. unfortunately it was that life change that opened the door for us to help her again. so we caught wind of it through Sherri Gardner (who lives across the street from Christy) she told us that they were getting divorced and it would be a good time to try. so blah blah blah, we went over there a bunch and tried to talk to her but she always said she was busy. BUT, last week she mentioned maybe needing our help with moving some of her husbands stuff out into a shed for him to come pick up.. so we left her with our phone number and needless to say she NEVER called. so on saturday we were doing a ton of service.. we shoveled a bunch of rocks for one lady, stacked wood for a member family, helped briefly with Sister Gardner building a hoop house, then we figured we would pedal over to Christy's house and offer to help her. welp, mission accomplished! we got there and she was sleeping.. but she was happy to have us show up. i asked her when we could come back and teach her about how to bring her life in closer harmony with the teachings of the Savior.. haha she smiled and looked at me for a second.. she's like "you just won't take no for an answer will you?" hahah my response was "why would you want to say no before you even see how much this can help you!? " so she laughed and said we can come back on Wednesday to teach her about the restoration. so that's that! whew, that was long. :)  

HOWS YOUR COMP?

hahah. he's good. so awkward.. but he's good. i'm finally figuring out how to keep the peace between us. listen to what he has to say about science and all this stuff then just don't bring up much of anything else around him. luckily we spend a lot of time with all the other missionaries and there are some kids that i really get along with well out here.. so i get by. fun fact about my companion though.. when he wakes up and eats breakfast i seriously feel like i'm watching animal planet. he never closes his mouth when he chews and he eats the most random stuff.. and he will yawn with food in his mouth. haha i'm laughing right now picturing it. but for instance.. today he ate some philipino noodle left overs from a dinner we had a week ago (this is for breakfast) and he has two pieces of toast with peanut butter on them.. and he was dipping the toast in his glass of milk. haha just random stuff like that but when he chews his food i think of Nan because i'm pretty sure if she heard him she would lose it. anyway! next

WHEN IS YOUR NEXT ZONE CONFERENCE?

it will be next transfer! which the transfer date is september 4th i believe.. hm.. why is that day familiar? 

HAVE YOU COME OFF YOUR SUGAR HIGH?

haha no! i forgot how much i love pixy sticks.. i got a bag in one of the packages for my birthday and i've been working on those for a while.. sugar rush for dayz! when i was looking at all that candy i was sure i was going to make it last the rest of my mission. 

HAVE THE LEAVES STARTED TO CHANGE COLOR WHERE YOU LIVE? 

noooope. it was 97 yesterday. maybe sorta soon though. doesn't help that all the trees around here are either cottonwoods or russion olives. its a desert! 

HAVE YOU FOUND BEING OBEDIENT A CHORE OR A BLESSING?

okay so most times obedience is a blessing! sometimes i feel like it is a chore but the truth of the matter is that's an error in my perspective and if i come across a rule that i feel that way about i try to figure out why it is a rule and do my best to obey it anyway. 

YOU SENT A PIC OF YOU IN A CAR WITH 3 OTHERS- WHERE WERE YOU GOING?

haha so goofy huh! those are the elders i really get along with in my zone. two of which are our zone leaders.. the driver and the kid with the glasses. anyway we were on splits.. i was with the other missionary and we were all headed back from a dinner and there was that sweet sunset in the background! we were jamming to kLove on the radio (the christian station) just enjoying nature. haha! 

WHAT WAS THE BEST MEAL YOU HAD THIS WEEK?

tough one.. but i have an answer. we ate at our ward mission leaders house twice this week and his wife is from the philipines (she's a dang good cook) and she made loompia and those noodles elder Shaw had for breakfast.. and i love that meal so much. then last night she made chili and cornbread and.. fried chicken! who doesn't love fried chicken? 

DID YOUR COMP GET A BIKE?

yep, he's still riding the bike that he inherited from the lady that gave me the schwinn. she had two bikes she wasn't using and said we can have them! so nice of her. he definitely got the better bike of the two in that case though.. his is a trek 3 series and was hardly used at all. now that i have the bike you got me i feel like we can go the same pace. :) 

DO YOU STILL WANT PICS FROM EVERYONE?

yeah for sure!! i'll need to take a picture of my wall and show you guys.. there's lot of photos on it but i'd love more! :) 

WILL YOUR ADDRESS BE THE SAME THIS WEEK?- OR SHOULD WE SEND THINGS TO THE MISSION OFFICE IN SPARKS?

you are good to send stuff to fallon for at least this week and next. transfers will be two weeks from tomorrow so send whatever you want until then! :) 

WHAT DO YOU KNOW FOR SURE?

I know that the Lord calls us in our weakness, but he qualifies us for his work! Missionary work was never meant to be easy.. but i've learned to enjoy the little things and seek the Lord in every way. There isn't a single thing more important that i could be doing now and i know that this is where the Lord needs me. I know with everything i've got that Joseph Smith was a chosen prophet of God and that through him our loving Father in Heaven reached out to us and restored the fulness of the truth. I'm so grateful to have been brought up with parents that were willing to teach me (in many ways) the importance of following the Savior. the church is true! that's what i know. :)

gosh, so no questions brought up the devastating moment this week. I'm going to keep it brief but tell you guys strait. S and M have decided that they no longer want to pursue lives in the church. it literally broke my heart to hear them tell me this. M was making great strides to full activity and worthiness for rebaptism but S was hesitant. because of their differences in .. well readiness to come back really it was causing separation in their relationship and M felt like she had to choose church or her husband basically. there's a lot, lot more too it than that but that's the readers digest version. pray for them! anybody that can. they are valiant souls and the adversary is working hard on them. also, Claire-marie left home to go back to bible school in Oregon. so that was a bummer we didn't get to teach her everything before she left. so those are the sour things this week.. S and M was the one that really just made me sad. we had a great lesson with Claire-marie the day before she left for school and she took my email .. she said she will read the book of mormon and she will ask me any questions she comes across. so we'll see! i also got a picture with her that i'll be sending home. she wanted it for memories or something and she sent it to me. so yeah! then the good news was that Christy (that's really how it's spelled..) is willing to take the lessons. so life is good here in Fallon! i'm looking forward to hearing back from some people. Sam Stahura, i just put a letter in the mail today for you. look for it.

okay fam and friends. thanks for your love and support! i hope you all have a super good week this week. :) also, Happy birthday tomorrow to Grandma Sue! thank you so much for your example of one who loves and follows our Savior. I hope you have a wonderful day! :)

love and miss you all! until next week.

-Elder Sykes 

Photos from Fallon

Bike was stolen on Saturday July 27th...his birthday ;(

What's up y'all!? so this week was so much better than last week. it feels good to get some wind in the sails. so the laptop i'm using at the library is broken-ish and there is no backlight so i can't really see what i'm doing. hopefully it works out. let's get to the q's! 

DID THE POLICE EVER FIND YOUR BIKES?

nope. never! the officers that came to our house took all the info and stuf.. but then i called the sherrifs office again to talk to them about the serial numbers and nobody knew who the officers were.. his name was grimes or something like that and the other one i didn't get his name. well nobody knew who they were so that was weird. 

DID YOU RECEIVE THE BIKE WE BOUGHT YET?

not yet! it's supposed to come down here tomorrow. we inherited some bikes from members in another ward.. one of them is way nice and the other is kinda crappy. wel i gave shaw the nice one and i took the trash one so i'm really looking forward to getting on a bike that i can actually ride again. :) thanks a bunch! 

WHAT WAS THE BEST THING YOU ATE THIS WEEK?

We had a BBQ with soem potential investigators that re way cool. they made so much good bbq food. chicken, burgers and cheddar bacon brats! i love brats lately. 

WHAT ARE YOU GETTING GOOD AT MAKING (to eat)?

haha my latest food thing i've been making is an eggo sandwhich. i put pb and J on two eggos and put them together. so good! 

WHAT SCRIPTURE JUMPED OUT AT YOU? WHY? (don't tell us to just read it- give us YOUR insight!)

ugh! fine i'll give you some insight on one of my favorites i gave in my talk. Ether 12:33-34. still read it! Christ gave his life for us totally out of love! in doing so he freed us from spiritual death. the single largest charitable act in the history of the world and it's a free gift to all who choose to accept it. that's what missionary work is all about! 

WHO DID YOU RECEIVE MAILBOX LOVE FROM?

this was such a good week! i got lots of bday stuff late so thank you to everyone. Grandpa Stan and Grandma Millie thank you so much for the card and $, Grandma Sue and Grandpa Monte, Lexab the homie sent me a birthday package! (i'm wearing the tie you gave me right now.. :) ) in this package Landon, Fox Shauntae, Zach, Sefa, Spencer and hatch all signed. it came at the perfect time too, so thanks to you guys! Momma W ! thank you so much for the card and $ :) can't believe jake is coming home in two days! boggles my mind. Stahuras! thank you for the card, letters, awesome tie and cake mix. i made the best cake ever and i took pics and a video so i'll send as much of that back as i can. :) t'was a great week for mailbox love. nan wrote me last week too and gave me magnets of my neice and nephew.. they are hanging on the fridge holding up our dinner calendar right now. :) thanks to all! love you guys too much. 

WHAT DO YOU NEED FROM US THIS WEEK?

nadas! can't wait to get that bike tomorrow. :) welp actually i want to hear from Don and Nick. when you get haley's college address i want that too so i can write her! 

WHEN WILL YOU BE DRIVING?

probably within 2 or 3 weeks.. i think i told the story about the jeep getting hit in the mission office parking lot right? as soon as it is fixed we inherit a little chevy cruz. way pumped for that! 

WHEN DO YOU GET A NEW COMP?

welp, there's a good chance that there will be some changes at the end of this transfer. Elder Shaw might train a new missionary in which case i'll be sent out of Fallon, or he might get transferred out to get "polished" and i could receive a missionary to pollish or train again. at the end of this transfer it will be 4 and a half months in Fallon for me so i'll either get moved, or i'll end up being here for 7 and a half months total if i train again. we'll see! you guys.. i hit 6 months as a missionary at the end of this transfer. i'm at five months now. is that so bizzarre to anyone else? that blows my mind! 

DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS?

haha.. it's against mission rules! we caught a scorpion when we went to our BBQ.. and a lizard. but they aren't in my apartment they are in the other elders apartment. dwayne the rock is the scorpion and toko is the lizard. :) 

HOW MANY DINNER APPTS DO YOU HAVE?

as many days as there are in the month! :) 4th ward takes care of us so good! 

HOW WAS THE BREAD THE SISTER MADE YOU FROM MY RECIPE?

she didn't end up making the bread.. she still has the recipe though so hopefully she makes it soon! :) 

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR MISSIONARIES TO BE PATIENT?

Because ultimately this is the Lord's work and everything goes according to his will! when we are patient we are showing our Faith that God's timing is more important than our timing/wants/desires. 

WHAT ADVISE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUR FAMILY?

Study the scriptures daily! there's a quote by.. someone that we keep coming across in gospel principles class. it talks about when we study the scriptures daily we get a new light and a new strength into our lives that lifts us up, and it allows us to resist all of the temptations or the fiery darts of the adversary. there is nothing more important that bringing the spirit into our lives on a daily basis and reading the scriptures, namely the book of mormon, is a pure conductor of the spirit! 

DO YOU GET TO ATTEND THE TEMPLE IN RENO?

hopefully at some point i'll get too! we are only an hour away from it but it's too far for us to go on temple days. if i'm ever in sparks or Reno serving in one of the quarter year trips i'll get to go. i miss it so much! 

MATT AND ROBIN TUCKER ARE FRIENDS OF OURS FROM VVL, THEY LIVE IN RENO SO IF YOU EVER COME ACROSS THEM- TELL THEM HI! OK? hahah.. okay. Reno's not exactly a small town but i'd be happy to say hello if i ever come across them. find out what ward they are in and i'll talk to their missionaries! :)


well fam and friends. this has been an awesome week. thank you all for the birthday love and goods. sefa, zach and spence are talking about golf when they signed the birthday package.. just so you all know i plan on being ready for you when i get home! :) last time i played i put up a 75 playing a scramble with my comp (who had never touched a golf club  before) and i have a wedge and putter at my apartment so i'm constantly chipping and putting. i'm looking forward to meeting you guys on the course one day soon! :)

anyways folks. i think that's all for this week. it's been great, this work is great. i'm so grateful to be a part of it! there's nothing like giving the joy and happiness of the gospel to people and families in need. i hope you all have a super good week! until next time.

-Elder Sykes