Hello Family and friends!! hello from the prettiest place in Nevada! So to be quite honest, this week felt like a month! it feels like i've been in gardnerville forever! loving it though. i have a few photos to send home today of what this place looks like.. strait out of a movie i tell you! i'm excited to be in the library today to let you all know what's going on! i came in today and had questions from mi madre so let's get to em'!
WERE THOSE PICS YOU SENT FROM A FARM IN FALLON?
yeah how awesome!? haha that was as far out into the desert in Fallon as you could be.. we were doing service for a guy named Cliff Huntley.. i guess he raises horses for retired veterans. something about spending time around really big animals helps calm them from post-dramatic stress and stuff. anyway he had a million horses and we were shoveling manure forever! pretty sweet.
WHAT IS YOUR NEW ADDRESS?
1486 Hussman Ave. # D Gardnerville NV 89410 . send away! i'm waiting to hear from a lot of people.. c'mon! write me back.
HOW IS YOUR NEW COMP?
haha! 18 yr old kid from pocatello ideaho, Elder Pinney. He's like 6 foot, 260. big goofiest kid int he world. it's a world different than E. Shaw.. i'm still adjusting. but things are good so far!
WHAT SCRIPTURE JUMPED OUT AT YOU? well this week i was studying the tree of life more in depth. we went to a Less Actives house one of my first days and we watched the living scriptures with him.. he had them from back in the day and we watched the episode describing the Tree of life! It's incredible to me how applicable Lehi's dream is in our lives! and it's so well depicted in that movie.. but i think the thing that stuck out to me the most was that if we are not "clinging" to the iron rod, we are subject to the things that will get us off track, i.e. the mist of darkness.. great and spacious building.. etc. and the iron rod is... what? the word of God! again just highlighing the importance of using the word of God, (scriptures, conference talks, ensigns,..) in our daily lives to help guide us! it is by likening to the word to ourselves that enables us to "cling" to the Rod. I love the scriptures and i'm so grateful for them. they truly do lead us back to eternal life with our father in heaven if we take the time to apply them!
WHAT HAS BEEN THE CRAZIEST THING THATS HAPPENED THIS WEEK?
haha.. well this isn't that crazy but it kinda is.. you guys might get a kick out of it. so we went and played bball at 530 this morning.. and all the elders came back to our apartment at 7, we have a bunch of oatmeal packets so everyone just ate breakfast. well i made a paper airplane a while ago and i was tossing it around while everyone was eating still. we have a vent above our stairs that was open.. the guard thing was taken off.. anyway one of the elders told me that i had 10 tries to fly the paper airplane into the vent, and if i made it he would buy me lunch. well i gave it my best.. tossed the thing and got super close on a few tries and not so close on a few.. and ... guess what? on the 10th throw i threw the plane, made a nice bank at the last second and landed so gracefully right in the vent. lunch on Elder Prescott!!! :) i know that's not that crazy.. but we had a pretty standard week.. just meeting everybody and stuff. oh wait!!! there's another kinda crazy story i could tell. there's this lady.. her name is janice. she is in her 50's. she got into a car accident and broke her pelvis. she can hardly walk (why she hasn't received medical attention is beyond me) so the sisters in our ward (we have a set of spanish sisters that cover the whole valley, and they attend our ward. it's like.. half spanish if not more) met her and they passed her off to us because they can't teach in english (rules) so we go over there to meet her.. and she has us move a table outside for her. she's trying to sell it. well it didn't sell. so we came back that night.. i think this was friday. just as we were done for the day. and we brought the table back inside for her. as we were leaving she was like.. hey you! can i have 5 dollars for some aspirin. i was like.. no. but i can go and get you some aspirin from our apartment! i'd be happy to do that. she laughed a lot.. (while smoking a cigarette in her house) and said she would just go ask her neighbors for $5. not sure what she was tryin' to do.. but i wasn't gonna give her dollas! i need to buy deodorant and stuff lady c'mon!
WHO SENT YOU MAILBOX LOVE?
welp, nobody had my address! but my dad sent me a good bit of mailbox love. he called the mission office and got the address. that is all!
DO YOU RIDE YOUR BIKE OR DRIVE?
we have a car. i'm the D.D. because E. Pinney just got out on the mish. he has been out a shorter amount of time than E. Shaw.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR PLACE?
it's huge! it's a townhome in Gardnerville.. i swear everything is a townhome around here. but so legit! it's older.. probably built in the 70's or something. there's only overhead lighting in the kitchen.. everything else is lamp lighting which is super weird to me. it has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a nice front and back yard, and a garage! the disposal in the sink is broken so the kitchen smells super weird pretty much all the time. in our yard we have these huge trees, then behind the trees is Job's peak (like jobe, from the bible) a big nice mountain range, on the other side of the mountain is lake Tahoe! i guess the range is the sierra nevadas? or something maybe. but yeah it's gorgeous. there's big pasture just behind our yard where probably 30 cows just wonder around and eat stuff. E. Pinney thinks he can communicate with them so when we get home from basketball in the morning he goes out and moo's. hahah. too good! but the place is pretty cool. it's the first time on my mission that i've lived in my proselyting area. i could walk out my front door and tract. kinda cool! and there are a grip of investigators. i'm so excited for the work that's going to take place!
HOW IS THE WARD YOU ARE SERVING? it's solid! it's going to take some getting used too.. Fallon feels like home to me right now so i kinda feel like a visitor in this ward. they do everything just a little bit different. they are missionary minded though, which is awesome. the members all seem great and i'm looking forward to getting to know them all a little better!
WHAT TRUTH HAS STAYED WITH YOU THIS WEEK? Well, i'll tell ya! transfers just drained my brain. preparing mentally to tackle a new area, work with a new companion, teach new people, all of those things.. they can get to ya. well what i know for sure is that the Lord takes care of his missionaries! I arrived in Gardnerville and the adjustment seemed pretty seamless. i know the Lord has been with me in making the adjustments necessary to accomplish his righteous purposes in this area! it's a work in progress but i'm excited to get after it! So it is with anything or anybody else. The Lord will help prepare us for the things ahead if we seek his guidance! i know this to be true because i'm living it right now. so yeah!
well you guys! even emailing this week went by fast. now that my address is listed i hope to hear from a bunch of you. don't forget the stoooz! I love you all, thanks as always for your support. The Lord is mindful of each of his children so no matter what you're going through, seek Him. He loves you! until next week ma friends.
-Elder Sykes
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