Monday, June 29, 2015
Hola!!
Hola!!!!
Besides the deathly Spanish heat outside, We are doing awesome here in Alcorcón! Yesterday during Church, one our favorite old Spanish ladies looks at us and says, "Ah!! Qué Guapisimas qué sois!!!" Haha she is adorable! Luckily we have our cheap Spanish fans to save us from the hotness though!! It's the easiest way to feel Spanish, by using your pretty abanico (fan) outside.
So this week was great!! It started out awesome by going to the Temple and the later having our weekly district meeting with President and Sister Jackson. It was actually their last district meeting ever because this week they are going home!! We will be welcoming in President and sister Pack this week so that will be fun!! I enjoyed going to the temple like always and I am so grateful for the
opportunity to go so often in my mission.
Although some of our investigators we haven't been able to get in contact for awhile. We actually found some new people this week!! We have worked a lot out of the area book, because we have faith that there is an old investigator out there who is ready!!
I am so grateful for this gospel and the chances on my mission to develop a better relationship with God, and grow so much!! This work can be hard but it is so worth it!!!
Today I had fun celebrating my birthday which is this week!! So thank you for all of the birthday wishes!! I am so excited to turn 20!!! Well kind of.. We will see haha!! Well anyway I love all of you! This weeks challenge is to study 3 Nephi!
Love,
Hermana Berry
Besides the deathly Spanish heat outside, We are doing awesome here in Alcorcón! Yesterday during Church, one our favorite old Spanish ladies looks at us and says, "Ah!! Qué Guapisimas qué sois!!!" Haha she is adorable! Luckily we have our cheap Spanish fans to save us from the hotness though!! It's the easiest way to feel Spanish, by using your pretty abanico (fan) outside.
So this week was great!! It started out awesome by going to the Temple and the later having our weekly district meeting with President and Sister Jackson. It was actually their last district meeting ever because this week they are going home!! We will be welcoming in President and sister Pack this week so that will be fun!! I enjoyed going to the temple like always and I am so grateful for the
opportunity to go so often in my mission.
Although some of our investigators we haven't been able to get in contact for awhile. We actually found some new people this week!! We have worked a lot out of the area book, because we have faith that there is an old investigator out there who is ready!!
I am so grateful for this gospel and the chances on my mission to develop a better relationship with God, and grow so much!! This work can be hard but it is so worth it!!!
Today I had fun celebrating my birthday which is this week!! So thank you for all of the birthday wishes!! I am so excited to turn 20!!! Well kind of.. We will see haha!! Well anyway I love all of you! This weeks challenge is to study 3 Nephi!
Love,
Hermana Berry
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Hay Calor!!!! 😎☀️
Hola everyone!!
There are plenty of times as a missionary Heavenly Father will test our Faith. Although our week was full of failed anticipated lessons, I still was able to feel his love for me and the rest of his children. Patience is an interesting thing. Sometimes we may think we have patience until the test really comes. There were a few days this week that were kinda hard. We have some great investigators with a lot of potential yet we find it difficult to meet with them the more golden they are!! One of our investigators that has a baptism date hasn't met with us for a while, so that's been kind of strange. But..... It's okay!! We just keep working and believe that God is preparing his children to receive the restored gospel just as he is preparing his missionaries to teach it.
On Thursday we had an intercambio (some English missionaries would probably call it a missionary exchange haha) and so for 1 day I was with Hermana West, the sister training leader. Before she left she told me something that I really needed to hear. I've been thinking about this for a while so I want to share it with you guys! She talked about the talk called "His grace is sufficient" by Brad Wilcox.. And said that sometimes we think we have to reach a certain point before we can pray and ask for help. But in reality, Christ has already made up the difference.. In fact he IS all the difference!!! I mean this was obviously something I already knew, but apparently I needed to hear it again.
So a couple of days ago I decided to have an extra sincere prayer and really tried to connect with my Heavenly Father. And I know that he is there. There are days that I feel like a terrible missionary, or like I can't do anything right... But then I realize why I'm here and really how sacred and powerful this message is that I am sharing. That alone helps me feel happy. I testify that this is the restored gospel. It brings me a kind of peace everyday that I can't put into words. But what I can say is that the Book of Mormon is literal evidence that is here for us to know for ourselves if this is really truly is Christ's restored church. If the Book of Mormon is true, then so was Joseph Smith a prophet of God. I am so grateful for this knowledge. My favorite thing about missionaries is we tell people not to take our word for it. We tell them to go to the greatest source truth to find out. There are some days that I don't want to go out and face the crazy country of Spain... But I know that Christ really does strengthen me. I couldn't do any of this without him. It truly is his work.
One of the cool things we get to do with our iPads is show the new bible videos that were made by the church. If you haven't seen them all, go download them from the gospel library app!! I feel like I
have already felt closer to my savior by watching these videos. They are awesome!
Okay one more thing. This may seem silly, but it's not silly. ☺️ I think that on missions God blesses us to overcome little tiny things. Por ejemplo, on Sunday we ate baked lemon chicken that was wrapped in Bacon. YUM most of you would say. But for me eating meat has always been really hard. Well here I am sitting on my bed, writing an email AND CRAVING BACON WRAPPED CHICKEN. Oh my goodness, I think I'm turning into a new woman!! Ha
1 Nefi 22:25-31 READ IT!! It is a great scripture about peace. 😀
Love you all. Thank you for all your prayers, thoughts and emails! I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world to spend my last 2 weeks being a teenager than serving the Lord. How lucky am I? 😋
Hermana Sydney Berry
There are plenty of times as a missionary Heavenly Father will test our Faith. Although our week was full of failed anticipated lessons, I still was able to feel his love for me and the rest of his children. Patience is an interesting thing. Sometimes we may think we have patience until the test really comes. There were a few days this week that were kinda hard. We have some great investigators with a lot of potential yet we find it difficult to meet with them the more golden they are!! One of our investigators that has a baptism date hasn't met with us for a while, so that's been kind of strange. But..... It's okay!! We just keep working and believe that God is preparing his children to receive the restored gospel just as he is preparing his missionaries to teach it.
On Thursday we had an intercambio (some English missionaries would probably call it a missionary exchange haha) and so for 1 day I was with Hermana West, the sister training leader. Before she left she told me something that I really needed to hear. I've been thinking about this for a while so I want to share it with you guys! She talked about the talk called "His grace is sufficient" by Brad Wilcox.. And said that sometimes we think we have to reach a certain point before we can pray and ask for help. But in reality, Christ has already made up the difference.. In fact he IS all the difference!!! I mean this was obviously something I already knew, but apparently I needed to hear it again.
So a couple of days ago I decided to have an extra sincere prayer and really tried to connect with my Heavenly Father. And I know that he is there. There are days that I feel like a terrible missionary, or like I can't do anything right... But then I realize why I'm here and really how sacred and powerful this message is that I am sharing. That alone helps me feel happy. I testify that this is the restored gospel. It brings me a kind of peace everyday that I can't put into words. But what I can say is that the Book of Mormon is literal evidence that is here for us to know for ourselves if this is really truly is Christ's restored church. If the Book of Mormon is true, then so was Joseph Smith a prophet of God. I am so grateful for this knowledge. My favorite thing about missionaries is we tell people not to take our word for it. We tell them to go to the greatest source truth to find out. There are some days that I don't want to go out and face the crazy country of Spain... But I know that Christ really does strengthen me. I couldn't do any of this without him. It truly is his work.
One of the cool things we get to do with our iPads is show the new bible videos that were made by the church. If you haven't seen them all, go download them from the gospel library app!! I feel like I
have already felt closer to my savior by watching these videos. They are awesome!
Okay one more thing. This may seem silly, but it's not silly. ☺️ I think that on missions God blesses us to overcome little tiny things. Por ejemplo, on Sunday we ate baked lemon chicken that was wrapped in Bacon. YUM most of you would say. But for me eating meat has always been really hard. Well here I am sitting on my bed, writing an email AND CRAVING BACON WRAPPED CHICKEN. Oh my goodness, I think I'm turning into a new woman!! Ha
1 Nefi 22:25-31 READ IT!! It is a great scripture about peace. 😀
Love you all. Thank you for all your prayers, thoughts and emails! I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world to spend my last 2 weeks being a teenager than serving the Lord. How lucky am I? 😋
Hermana Sydney Berry
Monday, June 15, 2015
It's not over until it's over
Just in case anyone is wondering Spain is so incredible. And
missions are THEE BEST. some days it seems hard, but other days I
just think how lucky I am to have this opportunity to be here, in
Spain, as a missionary, learning and growing, and seeing miracles every week. It is so amazing.
3 words that have been on my mind lately are Diligencia, Paciencia, y Fe. The subject I wrote, "It's not over until it's over.." comes from a talk given by Elder Holland, called "Cast not away therefore your confidence." (I'm pretty sure it's this one) I really really love this talk. He talks about miracles and trials of our faith by giving examples of the stories of Joseph Smith and Moses.
He explains that their test of faith didn't happen until after the vision, or after some kind of miracle. I really liked this because I've been thinking a lot this week about the recent mini miracles we've had. We've seen mini miracles with potential investigators yet later it is so hard to get ahold of them again. But something I've learned is we have to be diligent in doing the lord's work, having faith, and then being patient with his timing until the end. because just like Elder Holland says, It's not over until it's over. This is what I have to keep telling myself. Even when we experience miracles,
small tests of our faith might come. But when we continue to have faith and trust in the Lord, we can accomplish anything. Especially because he will always of course help us do what ever he needs to be done.
This week our ward mission leader decided that we should have a proselyting stand out on the street. WE WERE NOT EXCITED ABOUT THIS, because that's what the Jehovah witnesses do, and we are different. Well, Saturday rolls around and the 2 of us and the 2 Elders just tried to have a happy attitude about it. (Even though we were dreading it all week.) It turned out not too bad!! Our Branch President who is this cute old Spanish man actually found the church this way. So he was excited to be there and help out with our proselyting booth. I wasn't as intimidating to me rejected by old spaniards since we had a nice one with us. Haha. Anyway, me and Hermana Whiting ended up
contacting a Spanish guy who was an atheist. We talked for about an hour with him, and the conversation went from I do not believe in God to promising he would read a chapter in The Book of Mormon about Faith. So that day ended up being actually really cool!!!
Hermana Whiting and I have a lot of fun together! She is really great missionary and is so funny. I always need some daily humor to keep me going. I am grateful for her example. I still cannot believe how fast this transfer has gone let alone that it has almost been 5 months since I have been a missionary!! The time is so weird!!! I'm in awe of how much Spanish I can understand. It's still hard, of course, but when I think of how I was my first transfer, I feel like I have already grown a lot! I can't wait to grow more!
I know this church is true and I love this gospel to much. I know that Heavenly Father really can and will help us with anything in life. Nothing is impossible with faith.
I love all of you so much!!! Have. Fantastic week!!!
Love,
Hermana Berry!
P.s. We got iPads and it's so awesome!!! The resources are incredible for this work.
Spain, as a missionary, learning and growing, and seeing miracles every week. It is so amazing.
3 words that have been on my mind lately are Diligencia, Paciencia, y Fe. The subject I wrote, "It's not over until it's over.." comes from a talk given by Elder Holland, called "Cast not away therefore your confidence." (I'm pretty sure it's this one) I really really love this talk. He talks about miracles and trials of our faith by giving examples of the stories of Joseph Smith and Moses.
He explains that their test of faith didn't happen until after the vision, or after some kind of miracle. I really liked this because I've been thinking a lot this week about the recent mini miracles we've had. We've seen mini miracles with potential investigators yet later it is so hard to get ahold of them again. But something I've learned is we have to be diligent in doing the lord's work, having faith, and then being patient with his timing until the end. because just like Elder Holland says, It's not over until it's over. This is what I have to keep telling myself. Even when we experience miracles,
small tests of our faith might come. But when we continue to have faith and trust in the Lord, we can accomplish anything. Especially because he will always of course help us do what ever he needs to be done.
This week our ward mission leader decided that we should have a proselyting stand out on the street. WE WERE NOT EXCITED ABOUT THIS, because that's what the Jehovah witnesses do, and we are different. Well, Saturday rolls around and the 2 of us and the 2 Elders just tried to have a happy attitude about it. (Even though we were dreading it all week.) It turned out not too bad!! Our Branch President who is this cute old Spanish man actually found the church this way. So he was excited to be there and help out with our proselyting booth. I wasn't as intimidating to me rejected by old spaniards since we had a nice one with us. Haha. Anyway, me and Hermana Whiting ended up
contacting a Spanish guy who was an atheist. We talked for about an hour with him, and the conversation went from I do not believe in God to promising he would read a chapter in The Book of Mormon about Faith. So that day ended up being actually really cool!!!
Hermana Whiting and I have a lot of fun together! She is really great missionary and is so funny. I always need some daily humor to keep me going. I am grateful for her example. I still cannot believe how fast this transfer has gone let alone that it has almost been 5 months since I have been a missionary!! The time is so weird!!! I'm in awe of how much Spanish I can understand. It's still hard, of course, but when I think of how I was my first transfer, I feel like I have already grown a lot! I can't wait to grow more!
I know this church is true and I love this gospel to much. I know that Heavenly Father really can and will help us with anything in life. Nothing is impossible with faith.
I love all of you so much!!! Have. Fantastic week!!!
Love,
Hermana Berry!
P.s. We got iPads and it's so awesome!!! The resources are incredible for this work.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Week 2 of the 3rd transfer... CHECK.
This week's wrap up: Espiritu Santo pruebas, death by MORE carne, SELFIE
STICK and goodbye hugs from President and Hermana Jackson, mini
milagros from prayers and BIGGER milagros from fasting, awkward Spanish
moments, and abanicos gratis!!!!
On Thursday we had
our last interviews with President and Hermana Jackson!! It is already
their time to leave and for us to get a new President. They are so
incredible and we are definitely going to miss them so much! President
Jackson gave each of us a hug. It was cute because he said that it
isn't against the rules for Presidents to hug the Hermanas.. jaja. We
used Elder Lopez' selfie stick and took a cute picture with my
district. I will send the pic!
Last Monday was
a day of the holy ghost testing me. I had a lot of different kinds of
promptings throughout the day and I believe that he was testing me to
see if I would listen. Whether it was a small impression to talk to
someone or a name come to mind after praying who to visit off of the
ward list. Each time, I wasn't necessarily able to see the reason why I
had to do it. But I know that it's important to follow the holy ghost
promptings even when we don't know why.
DEATH
BY CARNE. I've been getting better at trying new foods but... the
other day I thought I was going TO DIE. We were eating a plate of
shrimp and I thought I was finished after that.. and then I had to eat a
huge plate of STEAK. I just needed to tell you guys that I am still
alive though. PHEW.
This week was filled with
few different kinds of Milagros.(Miracles) One day we felt like we
began our day with a bad start and were discouraged that we had no
planned lessons for that day. I said a prayer that we could just have 1
lesson. Just one. 2 minutes later a lady that we visit calls and says
she doesn't know why but wants us to come over. And then we ended up
have more lessons as well. AAHHH small MIRACLE.
Okay, and now for the big miracle!!! Yesterday was fast Sunday,
and I fasted for something AWESOME to happen. I prayed that I could
feel like I was a good missionary. Whether that meant me feeling more
confident, or brave or just simply finding someone who is prepared to be
baptized. Well... last night I we received a phone call from a young
lady who just moved here from Honduras and wanted to meet with us. She
had been meeting with missionaries in Honduras but had to move here to
start working to make money for her family back home. She really wants
to get baptized as soon as possible. She is all alone here so she was
so grateful for our willingness to love and support her. I prayed for
an opportunity to help someone who is prepared for the gospel. And after
days of being disappointed of failed lessons with other people, we were
literally just handed a golden investigator. I believe that we were
each other's answers to our prayers. I can't wait to get to know her
more and hopefully have a baptism soon!!!!
This
week I have learned the importance of having diligence mixed with
patience! Sometimes we have faith and pray a lot but still can't see
the answers to our prayers. Well I just want to tell you all that I
know that Heavenly Father really does answers our prayers. We need to
be diligent in being obedient but it is also important to have patience
with his perfect timing.
I love this gospel so
much and I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. Sometimes it can be hard of course
but it is truly AMAZING. I love Hermana Whiting!! We have been having a
lot of fun together. She likes to tell cheesy jokes so that definitely
makes me stay smiling. Thanks for all of your messages and prayers!!
Hasta luego!!
Love, Hermana Berry
Satanic nuns, bible bash, carne for days, estoy perdido, and white girl.
Funny Quote of the week:''You are so, far, from home... you, white
girl.'' -Elder Martinez; who likes to practice his English with me by
saying thise like this. Jajaja.
This week was really,
really interesting. I was scared out of my mind to start area training,
but it ended up going not too bad. We only got lost like 3 times.
Jaja. My new companion is named Hermana Whiting and she is awesome!!!
She is super super funny and is a very good missionary! I like that she
has patience for me while I am area training. PHEW. What a saint.
This
week we had a few hard days but there were some mircales in it as
well! Most days we're used to cat calls and all that stuff from guys on
the street. But this one day, we were walking home from a bible bash
lesson that turned out really bad, and then these guys yelled at us
''SATANIC NUNS!!''. We just laughed it off as we were walking fast and
not looking back. It was fine until about 5 minutes later we got called
out by more guys on the street (This is when I wish my Spanish wasn't
improving, lol). It was just one of those days that needed to be over.
But it's okay! There's opposition in all things. :)
The
Miracle! Despite the hard days of nobody wanting to listen to us, a
lot of our lessons failing, we were able to witness a small miracle. One
night my companion and I decide to pass for a young lady's piso
(apartment) because she was an old investigator that we hadn't seen for a
while. We go to the door where you have to push the button to be let
in. I realized that I didn't remember her whole address so I just
thought that was a bummer. A boy let us in so we decided to look at the
mailboxes for her name. We couldn't find it so we decided to just
leave. We both try to open the door and then we were LOCKED IN!! This
was very unusual to be locked in, so we were really confused. A thought
came to me to just walk up the very top floor because I thought I
remembered maybe which door was hers. We go up there, knock on her
door, but she's not there. Okay, let's just leave then, right? So we
start to go back down the stairs, and there she is!!!! She ends up
letting us in and we have a great lesson with her!! We invite her to be
baptized when she finds out that these things are true and she said
yes!!! When we left, we opened the door the that was locked before and
it opens up just fine. Wow, God really helps us to have a perfect
timing when he needs us to talk to someone. It was incredible to see
the Hand of God in our week even when we experienced hard times.
On
Friday we met with some menos activas that we usually teach every week
and they took us out to a restaurant called Foster´s Hollywood! yum. We
all ate A LOT of chocolate that night. haha. And talked about the
scriptures of course too. She said that she wants to take me there
again for my Birthday!! Okay now I am excited to turn 20!! Okay one last
thing about them. We were waiting for them in front of a Burger King
and there were like 40 obnoxious young teenagers around us. Later she
told us that when she walked up to meet us, she recognized us sitting
down very peacefully with the spirit despite all of the obnoxious foul
things around us. That really meant a lot to both of us!!
Sorry this was really long, hope you guys didn't get bored!! I can't wait to see what this next week has in store for me!!!
Have a great week!!
Love, Hermana Berry
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)