Week 10

Hola Familia y Amigos!!!

Spain is starting to warm up finally!!  It's so weird because it was just so cold the other day, so I suppose we shouldn't complain to much then.  This week is my 5th week which means only 1 more week until transfers.  This seriously blows my mind.  Sometimes it can be hard being in a trio companionship, but they are seriously so great and I love that they are my trainers.  They are wonderful examples to me and are always full of so much positive energy.  It was great that we already had a baptism, but this next month we have a lot of work to do!!

Something that is really really really cool to me, is how much I am learning about this religion.  What an amazing opportunity for me to learn more about something that I have invested in so much of my life in.  I thought I knew a lot of stuff and had a strong testimony until I got here.  It is incredible the things I have learned.. Everything about this religion has become so much clearer to me.  A few things that I have learned throughout my experience here and my studies:

1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the only true church because we believe that we have the exact same priesthood power that Jesus Christ and his apostles had on the earth that was later lost after his death/resurrection.  I never really understood that there was a point that the priesthood was literally taken off the earth because there was nobody worthy to hold it anymore.  Although there were PLENTY of good, good Christians who truly believed what there were doing was good...  And they were doing good things, trying to follow Christ as best as possible....there were so many different churches branched off each other with so many different changes to the ORIGINAL DOCTRINE OF CHRIST.  It's truly a tricky subject, because how can we tell people who are of other faiths that what they are doing is wrong? Well we DON'T!!!  We are only here to add to their faith, because is an amazing thing!!  But without this truly restored gospel, we cannot perform the proper ordinances to live with God and our families for eternity.  There is nothing more that I want in the world.  I know that Joseph Smith was a modern day prophet!!  I know that the day he prayed and asked which church to join was the perfect day/timing for God to tell him to restore the truth. How special is it that we live in a time and place that is not in the apostasy!? I feel extremely blessed to live in the time of the restoration of the gospel.  All this church is, is A RESTORING of the ORIGINAL church of Jesus Christ.  I mean I thought I knew that, but these last few weeks, it is something that has been made more clear to me.  And I am beyond grateful for that.

2. Whoo.  Okay, second, I have learned the IMPORTANCE OF DILIGENT SCRIPTURE READING. What? We should read our scriptures? Duh. Yeah I am going to be honest.. I really didn't have a testimony of DILIGENTLY studying the scriptures.  I knew they were true, I knew they are great and bless your lives, but I now regret every moment I didn' t think they were important.  Every day when I read the Book of Mormon, I get something so powerful out of it.  I encourage you all to read it.  Read and pray to know if it's true.  That is what I do everyday, we tell people to ready and pray if it's true.. Something special happens when you pray about it.  The holy ghost can and will touch your heart about its importance.   OKAY TIME FOR A CONFESSION.  I really didn't understand the importance of the BOM before my mission.  Well of course I thought I did, but I really didn't.  The BOM is another testament of Christ.  The BOM and the Bible strengthen each other.  They are both books filled with stories of Prophets who testify of Jesus Christ.  The BOM is convincing evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet.  He was a prophet with the same power of God as Moses, Adam, Abraham, etc.  He had the same priesthood power as the prophets in the Book of Mormon.. They all preached The gospel of Jesus Christ.  Which is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the holy ghost, and enduring to the end.  Same doctrine in the bible, same doctrine in the Book of Mormon, and the same taught by Joseph Smith.  I know that this restored gospel!!!! I know that when we obey the commandments, God will bless us.  And I know that when we do these things, we will have eternal life..

WOW. I LOVE THESE THINGS.  I love it love it love it.  Guess what, life is hard.  And sometimes obeying rules/commandments suck(insert missionary appropriate word lol.) But I KNOW, that when we are obedient, we will find happiness that can never ever be found in sin.  And what an amazing gift of the atonement we have.  Our savior has already suffered for our sins.  All we have to do is humble ourselves, and we can be forgiven through repentance.  Missions are hard.  They are so hard!!!  But if it weren't for this AMAZING message I have to share,  I would be a lot harder.  I am so grateful for this wonderful opportunity.

Okay, one more thing before you get bored and exit this blog... JUST WAIT!! Alright, so yesterday, I got to go to Pavones!! Which by the way is where the templo, mtc, and stake center is.  Brad Wilcox gave us an amazing fireside!! He is so incredible!! He lives in Spain for part of the BYU study abroad, so that is why we got to hear from him.  Yesterday when we got to Pavones, MY HEART WAS FILLED WITH JOY.  I was President and Hermana Lovell, Pres and Hermana Jackson.. and I saw the Giorgino's who were some of my AMAZING teachers from the MTC.  I saw all of the missionaries from Madrid (which was A LOT) and I couldn't but being so happy to be there.  It was nice because the last few days I had been way stressed, so yesterday was much needed. 

 Brad Wilcox spoke in Spanish and since it is his second language I was able to understand A LOT of words.  My sweet comp helped translate the things that I didn't understand which was way nice.  He talked about the 12 tribes of Israel, and what the word Birth right means.  

He explained how in the Bible times, whoever was left with the Birthright got double portions of inheritance, but double the responsibility of taking care of their family.  This applies to missionaries.  Those who are born with the gospel are extremely blessed, but now have twice (more like A GAZILLION) the amount of responsibility to share the gospel.. That is why missionary work is important because we must give the knowledge that we already have.  WOW WHAT A CONCEPT!!

Okay you have heard enough from me!!!  I hope all is doing well and thank you for all of your emails, etc.  Please write me!!! An empty mailbox is no fun!!

LOVE,

HERMANA SYDNEY BERRY!!  (UN BESO GRANDE) MUAH.