Happy October!!

Hello friends and family!!!

Thank you for all over your love, messages, and support!!

Well First off I want to start off by talking about church on Sunday!! On Thursday we visited one of our investigators named Deicy.  She has been investigating for a while and she is on the brink of being baptized. But she is just waiting to officially be married to be able to be baptized.  Anyway, she was telling us about her neighbor (a lady and a young boy) who is going through a really hard time right now because the dad recently passed away.  Fast forward to Sunday... Deicy brought her neighbor to church without us even asking her too!! Well that was the first miracle.  All during Sacrament meeting I was trying to think when we could possibly meet with his lady to share the plan of Salvation with her.  I had this strong feeling that she needed to know that everything would be okay even though her husband had died.  Well guess what the gospel principles class was on!!! Lo and behold the teacher taught the Plan of Salvation.  We were sitting behind them and I probably just looked like a kid with a lollipop because I knew that God has answered my prayer to help this lady and her son be comforted. 

This week's studies have been focused on this subject..  "Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days." (D&C 24:8).   We know that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  I love reading God's pattern throughout all of the scriptures.  Because we teach the restoration lesson so much, I'm constantly thinking about the patterns thought the gospel.  Something this week that was brought to my attention was a pattern..with Amulek and Alma in the Book of Mormon; The Savior and his ministry, and when Joseph Smith when he was prison.  Obviously talking about the Savior first, all of these people had many many hard afflictions while they were trying to do God's work.  After Christ was crucified, many people rejected the apostles as well.  We can see this pattern of wickedness to righteous people with the story of Alma and Amulek when they preached the word to the Lamanites and also the mobs when Jospeh Smith restored the gospel as well.  There has always been opposition when there is good.  I love this verse that I put in the beginning of the paragraph because you can see that in every situation that the Lord's servants were going through a hard time, he was there to comfort and help them.  I know that we can be comforted in no matter what situation, no matter how small or big our problems are.

Today for Pday we went to IKEA!! Now I can say that I have been to a European furniture store actually in EUROPE!!! Haha but it's all the same!! It's a little dangerous for missionaries to go in there..trunky for my future kitchen perhaps? This week had its ups and downs but we are still continuing to see a lot of great things here in Vallecas!!! I love the people and members here, they are so incredible.  The women in relief society are always trying strengthen the sisters, I love it.  I'm continuing to learn things everyday!! I can't believe this week is already the 5th week of the transfer!! There is a lot of work to do and people to see here.  

Have a wonderful week and HAPPY HALOWEEN!!!!

Con AMOR

Herman Berry 🇪🇸

Half way done, Half way to go

Hola queridos! 😊

It's starting to cool down a lot here and we are starting to experience coats, rain, and umbrellas all over again.  I really hate the weather in Spain, it's always extremes.  But I'd so rather have cold than the Spanish heat!  The nights are so pretty with the rain and the leaves everywhere.
This week I have seen that my Spanish is really improving.  The reason I say this is because in this exact moment that I am writing an email, I have to translate out of Spanish into English in my head, haha.  Who would have thought that would ever happen?? It's nice to see that hard moments with the language I had in my first transfer are starting to pay off!  It's so weird to be able to understand so much.

What's even weirder is that TOMORROW I HIT MY 9 MONTH MARK!!! 9 months ago today I went on airplane, leaving my family, friends, and my normal life at home.  The last nine months here in Spain, I've never had to do so many hard, scary things in my life.  But wow, oh the incredible love I have seen from the people here.  But most importantly I have seen and felt the love my Heavenly Father has for his children.  I have learned of the reality of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I have seen what blessings of peace comes from living the commandments of God.  I am so grateful for my time here I have had so far and I look forward for the next 9 months. Just like Pres. Uchtdorf says.. I want to end the race with my torch still lit!

This week we have definitely seen many miracles.  This one day we met with an old investigator and she accepted the invitation to be baptized.  She seemed so sweet and was so willing to listen to our message.  She is a very young mother of 2 precious boys.  And actually her boyfriend is a less active member! She is great and I can't wait to meet with her again.  Later that day we met with another less
active man and taught his wife.  He actually stopped us one day in the street and told us he wanted to us to help bring him back to church and teach his wife.  This day was so incredible to see that we were able to help teach less actives things they already knew by teaching the women things that were new to them. On Sunday we saw another miracle.  Every time I've fasted on my mission, I've received a miracle.  So I wasn't too surprised when we received a miracle on Sunday!  Right after church, when we were fasting, a member introduced us to someone that wants to be baptized.
Well we were really confused because we thought this boy was already a member because he always comes to church.  But he isn't, and wants us to teach him! I have so much faith that there is power in fasting.

The other day in my studies, I was reading about Joseph Smith, Nephi, and Moroni.  Something very similar I noticed in all three of them was that they were all very honorable men, but only wanted the glory from God. All three of these men had so much faith and humility that Lord was so easily able to use them as his servants.  This is something I want for myself.  Am I trying to win the approval of others in the world, or from my Heavenly Father?  I want to become the person who only wants to serve God.  I'm so grateful for my experiences here and to have had my eyes opened of this  importance.  God is so simple.  He loves us so much.  And when we obey his commandments, he can bless us with the blessings that are in store for us.  I love this gospel so much and I know that is real.

D&C 82:10

I love you all! Thanks for you love and examples for me.

Hermana Sydney Berry🇪🇸🍓

First picture: MTC. Second: nine months later. 😱

"Don't worry, be happy now."

Happy October everyone! 🍁

I don't know about Utah right now, but the leaves here are gorgeous. How is it that we are already near the end of 2015?  So many things have happened to me this year.  I can't even begin to explain how I feel about hitting 9 months this month!! HOLIENE.  Any who, before I write about my week, I forgot to publicly announce my excitement for my little brother Noah!! Last week he received his mission call and is going to South Carolina.  He is leaving January 20th (just like me) and so it will be exactly THREE years until I see him.  Although I was sad not to be there, I am so excited for him to serve the Lord. Missions can be hard, but they are possibly the best, most sacred times in your life to learn things.  Love you little brother. 😘

Last week was hard.  This week was a little hard, but definitely a lot better!  Every hard moment I have, I remind myself that I just need to focus on the good and enjoy every moment before my time here is gone! My companion has been awesome with helping me with my Spanish and I've helped her a little with her English.  My companion, Hermana Brinbaumer is an awesome missionary, I learn from her every time she teaches.  She is from Bolivia, lives in Barcelona, and has a German last name. This week we did a lot of running around- from visiting pueblos then back to our usual area- back to the church.. Let's just say metros are second nature now.  Sometimes it's easy to forget how lucky I am to go to the church right by the temple.  But I really am so grateful to feel the peace just right outside of the temple several times a week.

Speaking of temples, I love them so much.  This last week we went to the temple and like always, I tried to have a question in mind that I could pray about while I was there.  I had the thought that  sometimes my answer comes later that day.  Well sure enough my lovely mother who is so close to the spirit, had the strong impression one day to email me.  This letter was so touching to me and was  exactly what I needed in that moment.  I'm so grateful for temples where I can receive answers and for a mother who is so in tuned to the spirit.  Little experiences like that remind me how much  Heavenly Father loves his children!

Throughout this week, I've had several different thoughts about the importance of enjoying every moment.  This has been a struggle for me sometimes because it's hard to always not think about the past or future during difficult times.  But something from a talk we read this week by Pres. Uchtdorf- "Forget me nots," really stood out to me.  He gives the example of Charly and the Chocolate Factory- the golden tickets in the chocolate bar.  Sometimes people are just waiting around for their "golden ticket" in life and forget to enjoy the chocolate that is inside. Sometimes I think "Oh if only I did this
better, or of this happened, or I can't be happy until this happens.." Sometimes I forget to enjoy of all of the blessings that are around me.  This is something I really am trying to apply in my mission and I
believe can be really applied in life as well.  Decisions. I love the quote by Thomas S Monson: "Decisions determine destiny."  Every decision we make, makes us who we are.  We have been given our mortal agency, a God-given gift.  It is up to us how we react to challenges in life. This week we visited a less active member who had not come to church for a long time.  We had heard that she had some strong feelings about the wars so I was a bit hesitant to visit her, but we did.  That lesson with her I realized that their are people who are depriving themselves of the blessings of the gospel
because of the fear of other people.  I've seen this problem many times on my mission, when some members gossip and make it so others do want to come, to church anymore.  These situations are so hard because all we can say is the gospel is perfect but not the people.  But wow, how important it is, that we are humble and forgiving enough to not let others people deprive ourselves from the blessings of the gospel. This week me and my companion have set good goals to really work hard at asking members if they have friends who are interested in the gospel and also in our area book.  Good news is my Spanish is improving.  Bad news is, when me and Hermana Bingham (other hermana in our piso) try to talk to each other night, we both forget words in English. Haha. I wish you all a fantastic week!!!
1 Nephi 8

CON MUCHISMO AMOR,
Hermana Sydney Berry 🍓🇪🇸

God didn't design us to be sad, he created us to have joy!

Hola mi familia y mis amigos!!

     What a wonderful conference weekend we have had! I hope all of you got the chance to listen to our Beloved Prophet, apostles, and other wonderful men speak to us.  I really enjoyed watching conference with a lot of the other missionaries and share the wonderful spirit we felt there.  What I love most about conference is that the talks are always so applicable to what's going around the world.  When I hear them speak with power and authority it always testifies to me that they are called of God.  It's funny because I remember when I was younger, I thought conference could sometimes be long and boring.  But that's the cool thing about being on a mission, it has opened my spiritual eyes so big that spiritual things are so much easier to understand.  Not only easier to understand,  but I crave listening to righteous things.  Living in the world but not of the world can be a glorious thing.  And you can learn how to feel clean and pure from listening to the talks from these apostles.

     I felt as if the over all feel to this conference was that:
A) Heavenly Father loves his children more than we can imagine.
B) The atonement of Jesus Christ is there for us to help us through trials and tribulations, and
C) Living the gospel is very simple and the peace we can feel from it is incomprehensible. 
I really enjoyed Pres. Uchtdorf's talk about the simplicity of the gospel.  I really is simple to live, and the blessings are incredible.  It was great to see the 3 new apostles.  These last almost 9 months of being here in Spain, teaching the restoration lesson over and over, has really strengthened my knowledge and testimony of Prophets.  I know that President Monson is called of God and has the authority to help Heavenly Father's children on earth learn more of this plan that God has for us.  I am so grateful to feel more of the love of my Savior. Even though it can be hard on my mission, I am so grateful for my experiences here and the things I have learned.

I love all of you guys so much!!! God and Jesus Christ live.  D&C 121

Hermana Sydney Berry