Happy New Year Fam and Friends!!
it was awesome to see the family on Christmas and i thank you all for your thoughtful gifts and letters! i'm so grateful for the people in my life that continue to support me. I know the Lord was mindful of me when he surrounded me with such amazing family and friends! i hope you all enjoyed Christmas and stay safe and enjoy the new year as well! :) this was an awesome week, celebrating the birth of our Savior. Some great missionary work took place! you all inspire me! Let's get to the q's!!!
WHERE DID YOU OPEN PRESENTS?
Our apartment. first of all, it's huge. it's too big for just the two of us but it's not quite big enough for 4 of us.. only two rooms but also two bathrooms and two stories. it was the place elected to open gifts! so us 2 and 4 other elders came over and we all opened our gifts one after another. it was awesome!
DID YOU HAVE ANY INVESTIGATORS ATTEND CHURCH OVER THE HOLIDAYS?
Yes!! the sunday before christmas we had a tremendous turnout, surprisingly. Yesterday we had 3 investigators attend which was great too considering how many people are out of town.
WHAT SCRIPTURES JUMPED OUT AT YOU?
Well, we taught a young girl the first lesson this week and comitted her to read the BOM, and she requested we read with her. we read in first nephi chapter 1.. and it amazes me how you can read something in the scriptures 100 times and on number 101 you can find something new. this is probably a thought a lot of people have had but it amazed me how quickly the Jews turned and scoffed at Lehi when he preached to them about the destruction of jeruselam. I tried to put myself in Lehi's shoes.. seeing the destruction of the city then trying to stand on a soap box and warn these people that I love and care about.. that would be so difficult! especially considering nobody would listen to him. We see it every now and then as missionaries.. people reject us and dont give us the time of day. they are lucky the Lord loves them so much.. It is a little frightening to compare people now to then.. what's stopping the Lord from wiping Vegas off the map!? sin city! really?
HAVE YOU LEARNED ANYTHING DIFFERENT ABOUT THE CHRISTMAS STORY?
well i think i've expressed this before leading up to christmas.. but during the birth of our Savior (or at least the time we celebrate it) most people express gratitude for the Atonement and think about Jesus Christ growing up from a baby and realizing his divine calling to earth.. there are so many things to be grateful for in regards to Him, but the thing that stuck out most to me was the example he set for us. Not just being perfect as we are to become.. but under the most trying of circumstances he was willing to drink the bitter cup! "not my will, but thine be done" " now as i will, but as thou wilt..." trying to understand the level of suffering that occured is impossible for our finite minds.. but what isn't impossible is thinking about how often we are presented with opportunities to give of ourself that we may pass up. thinking about times when we know we have difficult task at hand that might not be convenient for us.. but that will be of help or service to others. In the hardest things we face in life we can ask ourselves and our Father in Heaven what we should do.. and when we receive his will , follow the example of the Savior and drink it up. I have a strong testimony that these opportunities are not only for the people we help, but for our learning and growth as well. that has been on my mind a lot this season!
SO YOUR SIS IS CALLED TO RAPID CITY, SD- DO YOU KNOW ANYONE THERE?
i Can't say that i do! not anyone right off the bat at least. i'm so excited for her! she is going to absolutely kill it out there. make sure she has a jacket though.. :)
WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT YOUR NEW COMP
Other than he's from Utah!? hah i love that once i teach a point in the lesson i can pass the next point on to him and i know that he will pick up where i left off instead of remain quiet. that is new to me you guys! i think they call it being equally yoked..
WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOUR MISSION PRES SAID TO YOU?
I received an email from him today in response to my email last week. i told him about the experience with Ada being baptized.. how spiritual it was and how uplifting it was for the family. His response today was that he was glad i had a good experience being involved and he's grateful for my engagement in the work. so that's that!
WHEN ARE TRANSFERS?
A week from tomorrow! january 6th or 7th.. whichever day is the tuesday.
WHO DID YOU SERVE THIS WEEK?
we didn't really do any service work that i could think of.. other than of course teaching lessons and being a missionary. we worked with a surprising amount of people this week though.. getting out and just doing everything that we can.. we came across a lot of people that would receive us!
WHAT WAS THE CRAZIEST THING THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK?
haha i'm glad you asked this one this week.. the craziest thing ever happened!!! but!! nobody fret. So on friday morning about 11am we hear some people talking loud/cussing in our front yard. we look out there to see 5 sherrif/swat guys standing in our front yard.. two of them holding AR 15s! we looked out back to see two of them, sites up, in the field behind our house! after a moment or two of aiming down their sites they hopped over the fence back into our backyard and joined the others out front. at this point we have no clue what's going on.. so i go out there and ask them.. they tell me that they are looking for a real bad guy and he's not around here anymore... hah okay? they kinda blew me off like they weren't going to say anything/didn't want to scare us. as i walked away i was like.. "alright fellas, just let us know if we need to take care of this "bad guy" haha. we call the zone leaders and tell them about it and we all just laugh about it. well they call us back about 30 minutes later and tell us what really happened. there was a guy in carson city (about 15-20 miles north of us) that shot two people in the head and fled the scene, and was last seen by the catholic church just around the corner from our house. the guys with the rifles were in our back yard looking for this guy! we realized how crazy the situation was at that point and since we don't have technology or anything like that we don't really know what the latest is with the guy. as of yesterday he was still on the run and nobody knew where he was (we had to ask people at church). so who knows, this dude might have come through our field! someone let me know if he gets caught k? haha. crazy!!!
WHAT CAN WE SEND YOU THIS WEEK?
Letters! i'm set on everything else. thank you all so much for all the love and support! i'd love some photos too of course. :)
WHO SENT YOU MAILBOX LOVE?
This last week i got packages from my dad and grandparents sykes, mom, nan, The stahuras, the christensens, the warburtons, then mail from the stake presidency's both in AZ and in UT (awesome) The first counselor in the 8th ward at home sent me a letter, Grandpa Stan and grandma Millie, grandma sue and grandpa monte.. and maybe more! so spoiled! i love you all and i'm so grateful for all you've done for me! the boys package had to be forwarded from the mission office and the forwarding place or whatever is in Denver.. so i talked to the people at the post office and they said anytime between today and thursday i should receive it.
ARE YOU DRIVING OR BIKING IN THIS COLD WEATHER?
driving! :) we've been doing some walking but only our appointments that have been close and to street contact!
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE GENERAL AUTHORITY? WHY? that is so hard to choose.. for missionary motivation i'd have to say either Holland or Bednar because they are both so stern and so raw. it's always inspiring to listen to them and to adhere to their teachings. The prophet might have an unfair advantage.. but everything he teaches us is for our time.. and for applying to the hardships we are facing now. I know he is called of God! his talk "see others as they may become" is one of the most inspiring talks i've studied. It helps us to see every person as the best they can be.. so important when it comes to helping people whether on a mission or any other time.
dang, this was a lot of questions! I love you all, i hope you have a great and safe new year. Set those resolutions high! :) until next week!
Elder Sykes
I received an email from him today in response to my email last week. i told him about the experience with Ada being baptized.. how spiritual it was and how uplifting it was for the family. His response today was that he was glad i had a good experience being involved and he's grateful for my engagement in the work. so that's that!
WHEN ARE TRANSFERS?
A week from tomorrow! january 6th or 7th.. whichever day is the tuesday.
WHO DID YOU SERVE THIS WEEK?
we didn't really do any service work that i could think of.. other than of course teaching lessons and being a missionary. we worked with a surprising amount of people this week though.. getting out and just doing everything that we can.. we came across a lot of people that would receive us!
WHAT WAS THE CRAZIEST THING THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK?
haha i'm glad you asked this one this week.. the craziest thing ever happened!!! but!! nobody fret. So on friday morning about 11am we hear some people talking loud/cussing in our front yard. we look out there to see 5 sherrif/swat guys standing in our front yard.. two of them holding AR 15s! we looked out back to see two of them, sites up, in the field behind our house! after a moment or two of aiming down their sites they hopped over the fence back into our backyard and joined the others out front. at this point we have no clue what's going on.. so i go out there and ask them.. they tell me that they are looking for a real bad guy and he's not around here anymore... hah okay? they kinda blew me off like they weren't going to say anything/didn't want to scare us. as i walked away i was like.. "alright fellas, just let us know if we need to take care of this "bad guy" haha. we call the zone leaders and tell them about it and we all just laugh about it. well they call us back about 30 minutes later and tell us what really happened. there was a guy in carson city (about 15-20 miles north of us) that shot two people in the head and fled the scene, and was last seen by the catholic church just around the corner from our house. the guys with the rifles were in our back yard looking for this guy! we realized how crazy the situation was at that point and since we don't have technology or anything like that we don't really know what the latest is with the guy. as of yesterday he was still on the run and nobody knew where he was (we had to ask people at church). so who knows, this dude might have come through our field! someone let me know if he gets caught k? haha. crazy!!!
WHAT CAN WE SEND YOU THIS WEEK?
Letters! i'm set on everything else. thank you all so much for all the love and support! i'd love some photos too of course. :)
WHO SENT YOU MAILBOX LOVE?
This last week i got packages from my dad and grandparents sykes, mom, nan, The stahuras, the christensens, the warburtons, then mail from the stake presidency's both in AZ and in UT (awesome) The first counselor in the 8th ward at home sent me a letter, Grandpa Stan and grandma Millie, grandma sue and grandpa monte.. and maybe more! so spoiled! i love you all and i'm so grateful for all you've done for me! the boys package had to be forwarded from the mission office and the forwarding place or whatever is in Denver.. so i talked to the people at the post office and they said anytime between today and thursday i should receive it.
ARE YOU DRIVING OR BIKING IN THIS COLD WEATHER?
driving! :) we've been doing some walking but only our appointments that have been close and to street contact!
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE GENERAL AUTHORITY? WHY? that is so hard to choose.. for missionary motivation i'd have to say either Holland or Bednar because they are both so stern and so raw. it's always inspiring to listen to them and to adhere to their teachings. The prophet might have an unfair advantage.. but everything he teaches us is for our time.. and for applying to the hardships we are facing now. I know he is called of God! his talk "see others as they may become" is one of the most inspiring talks i've studied. It helps us to see every person as the best they can be.. so important when it comes to helping people whether on a mission or any other time.
dang, this was a lot of questions! I love you all, i hope you have a great and safe new year. Set those resolutions high! :) until next week!
Elder Sykes
