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.

HOLA!!!

HOLA!!!

Wow, what a week. Where do I even begin?? The first few days of this week were kinda rough.  Two of them we didn´t really have many lessons and we had to trudge through the freezing cold rain just to find out people weren´t home.  We found out that the Baptism date that had been set for like two months wasn´t going to be able to happen.  The 17 year old boy we had been working with was going to have his father baptize him but it got postponed due to work circumstances.  Well, we knew we could accomplish our goal for the month of March. So we decided to fast from Wednesday to Thursday for some kind of Miracle.  Friday during Medio Dia, we got a text from the boy that his father would be in town the next day and would be able to baptize him!!  We were so excited and knew that our fasting prayer was answered!!!  So I got to attend my first baptism on Friday and it was awesome!!

How special is it that we get to be washed of our sins and receive the gift of the Holy ghost to help and guide us a daily basis!!

Another miracle I saw was the gift of tongues.  Mind you I still don´t know what´s going on most of the time and I want to hit my head on the wall sometimes because of so much grammar.  But I am starting to witness what  the gift of tongues means. In church I really tried to listen to the words of all of the talks, lessons, etc, and I wrote down every word that I caught that I could understand.  I was astonished to see like 5 pages filled with Spanish!!! What? How is that possible?? So It still is hard for sure, but I´m starting to see my progress every day!!

Exciting things are happening for us these next few weeks.  This Wednesday as a zone we get to go to The Temple!!! I am so excited to go back by the MTC and attend the Temple again for like the 4th or 5th time!! Wow, I am truly blessed I have missed it a lot.  We are also extremely excited to listed to Conference as missionaries.  Especially on Easter Sunday.  Wow, what a special way to spend that weekend.  I found out that... dun da da dun!!! Brad Wilcox will be speaking to us in like a couple of weeks!!! YAY!! I AM PUMPED.

There´s not much to say but.. that missionary work is hard, but it gets easier and more fun everyday.  I have learned so much about numerous different things.  I can definitely see how it will be able to help me in with the rest of my life.  I already have better study skills than I did before and I crave knowledge about anything!!  Bah! It´s so great!! Thank you all for all of your messages and support.  It means so much to me to that people are praying for my success.  So thank you for everyone´s friendship!!!

I love my Savior so much, and I know that this gospel is the true restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know that God loves us beyond belief.  There are things that I have learned in the last few weeks that I had no idea about!!!  It is so great to learn things.  I know that God answers our prayers.  I know that missionaries are the perfect tools to spread this wonderful gospel that blesses so many lives.  Merely because that what life is all about.  This gospel explains what life is all about and I know that this is the truth.  I am beyond grateful for it.  Something neat that me and my comps were discussing yesterday was how all 3 of us have a grandmother that passed away.  So we were saying how we always have 3 guardian angels by our sides at all times!! What a cool thought!!!!  

This week´s spiritual thought: read JACOB 5 and tie it in to missionary work!!! Its great.  Everyone work on your Spanish so I can talk to you in Spanish when i get back!! This church is true.. and GET PUMPED FOR CONFERENCE BECAUSE IT IS LA MEJOR!!!!!!!!!

LOVE YOU ALL,

HERMANA SYDNEY CHANEL FRESA BERRY.

Week 8

Hola Familia y Amigos!!!

First off, I feel that I might have sugar coated my last email.  This past week I realized that I do not like to admit when I am struggling.  Therefore I always am looking for ways to stay positive.  That is good, but perhaps I should tell you how I really felt.. So my companions told me that the first 2 weeks are the hardest, and boy were they right!!! Okay so in all honesty, when I first got to my area, I wanted to cry because I was so scared.  And yes I did cry, not as much as I should've though.  I did not feel like I belonged here and it was super hard.  I sugar coated everything because I take the saying ¨fake it till you make it¨ very seriously. Eventually it worked, but not with out a lot of praying of course.  I noticed that it got a lot easier as I put a face to the investigator names and applied myself more in the work.  Being a missionary is so hard. It really is.  Learning a new language is excruciating!!!  But as I have continued to be obedient and faithful, I have witnessed numerous blessings throughout my days.  I never though I would like this area I am, but I have slowly learned to focus on good things rather that negative.  Missionary work can be fun, and IS FUN.  When you apply yourself.  I realized that I was stuck progressing because I didn´t believe in myself as much as I could.  But the spirit is so real.. And it cannot reach out those in need if we are not willing to do our part.  I love my companions so mucha and they help cheer me up the days that I am down.. It´s fun here even when it´s not, and I really do believe that all of these hard experiences are going to be for my own benefit for the rest of my life!!

The Elders in our district our fantastic!  At first it was hard because everyone here has been out for a long time, so I had to keep reminding myself to stop comparing my Spanish with everyone else's.  It's a easy concept to believe in but honestly, very hard sometimes to apply.  Not only do I learn more Spanish everyday, but I learn something about this magnificent gospel literally every day.  Sometimes I wonder if I even had a testimony before coming.! ha.  Because honestly,  the apostasy and restoration are the keys to understanding why this church is true.  I know with all my heart that this is the true and only church on this whole earth with the same priesthood keys that Jesus Christ had on this earth.  That truth was gone with all of the apostles died.  And although there were still very good christian people on the earth, not all of the priesthood keys were on the earth. That is why Joseph Smith was such a critical player in this religion.  I know that God and Jesus truly appeared to him so he could restore this gospel. I know that that it was the perfect time for the earth to have the truth once again.  I am beyond grateful for the knowledge I have for eternal families and that a prophet leads and guide us today.  

Prayers work!

The other day we could not find our key to the chapel because it fell off our key set.  We looked at each other and Hermana Finch said HELLO WE ARE MISSIONARIES WITH THE SPIRIT WE NEED TO PRAY!!  So we laughed and dropped on our knees and asked the Lord to help us find the key... 2 minutes later is shows up in her bag!! OH SNAP.  So then we busted out laughing and said BACK ON OUR KNEES.  And then we thanked him.. Haha, it was great!!! 

Spanish can sometimes be hard but I am starting to hear words that I can understand!! I know that it will come, and I can't WAIT until I can express myself with the language of these people.  Most of our investigadores are South American.  Most Spaniards are kind of stubborn.. uhh... so in other words, we are very lucky if one will listen to us. haha.  Alcorcón is full of lots of different kinds of people it´s great!!! I am safe and loving my experiences here!!!!  I hope you guys are all doing well!!

Love Hermana Berry!!!

In life, we are all going to make a lot of fish

Hola mi familia y amigos!!!!

WOW WHAT A WEEK.  Okay first off: MTC (CCM) wrap up-

Alrighty, the first day in my new area, Alcorcon, was pretty tough.  It´s because I missed being so much in the MTC.  I have heard numerous people say that they didn´t really like the MTC.  Well that is probably because they did not have their experience at the Madrid MTC.  Wow, what an experience, those 6 weeks.  It was INCREDIBLE.  I can´t even explain how much I loved it.  Like who else wakes up everyday and looks out the window and see the beautiful Madrid temple?? wow, so blessed.  Of course it was absolutely hard, but man, it was amazing.  My companion, Hermana Hansen, I love her so much!!!  And I miss her already A TON.  She is serving in Malaga.  I got so close with all of the Hermanas there.  And the Elders are so awesome!!  We learned things every day and bonded so much.  Everyone´s testimony about this wonderful gospel is absolutely incredible. I knew going in to the field would be hard, but I had no IDEA how much I would miss these people that I had only known for only 6 weeks.  President and Hermana Lovell are awesome. Like seriously incredible.  President Lovell is so great, and he really knew how to handle a bunch of 18 and 19 year olds.  I could go on and on.  The teachers helped me so much with learning the language and learning about the gospel. I really hope that one of my areas in the future will be in their area so I can see them again!!!  Contacting people on the metro and the park used to me something I dreaded, but now I am so grateful that I got those little experiences of pushing myself out of my comfort zone.  Daily I think about my experiences in the MTC.  But when I left, I knew it was time, and I knew I would have to let things go and get ready for the next chapter of the mission!!!

 Well, Alcorcon is my first area!!! Before we found out where we were going, we heard that one of the Hermanas was going to go to The Canaries!!! I totally thought it might be me, but I was pretty nervous.  Hermana Rossberg, whom I love dearly, ended up being sent there!! I am so excited for her.  So anyway,  when I got here, it was kinda interesting I guess. Of course I believed that where ever I go, I´m supposed to, but it was definitely hard to feel like I was at home.  The first day was so hard.  I was pretending to be happy as I was smiling, but seriously, I was so freaked out.  All I could see was the graffiti and cigarette butts on the street.  But as the week went on,  I started looking and the buildings and the people that live here.  The days got a lot better this week as I became closer with my AWESOME companions and met our investigators.  The people I have met are super amazing and so welcoming!!!  My companions are Hermana Finch and Marsh.  They are so darling, and I am so so happy that I get to have them as my trainers.  We have a lot of fun together but, they really do know how to be hard working missionaries.  I hope that I will be as awesome as they are real soon!  Being a trio can be hard sometimes.  At first I was really worried that I would not be able to develop a one on one relationship with them, but seriously though, its great!!! 3´s a crowd, but a great crowd!!!!

Wooh.  Okay.  So next, I will tell you some things about learning Spanish and Spain culture.  Spanish is hard.  Learning another language is really hard.  But it if wasn´t for such a good cause, I really wouldn´t have any desire to work so hard at it.  At first I was discouraged because both my companions are fluent, but I have to keep telling myself that they have been out here a lot longer than I have!! DUR.  Anyway, so as all of you probably know, Europeans greet each other with Besos.  it´s kinda weird, but you get used to it real fast. It definitely made me feel a lot more welcome when I first meet people, going in their house.  But sometimes it does seem strange to kiss strangers, haha.  We are only aloud to beso females, obviously, but... funny story.. So like my 2nd time in the park this guy (pretty cute Spaniard) besoed me and my companion, but it wasn´t until afterward I was like, OH SHOOT THAT WASN´T ALLOWED !!! haha.  So yeah, just the women, and very firm handshakes to the men.  Although I feel like I don´t know any Spanish, there really is a lot that I can comprehend, which is awesome!! It´s going to be so cool when I can speak fluent.  However, just like all of the teachers in the MTC told me.. 1. Don¨t worry about the language it will come... 2.The language doesn't matter because the spirit speaks all language.  I believed that but it wasn´t until I bore my testimony with investigators with my very broken Spanish that I knew that was true.  All of the people I have met are so sweet, and are so patient with my Spanish, and they tell me they can understand the things I do say.  And they do feel the spirit. YES!!!! SO AWESOME. I love it.  The church is true guys.  MISSIONS ARE FANTASTIC.

 Funny things/happy thoughts that happened this week...

 1. So like the subject heading of this letter.. Last night, instead of saying, ¨In life we will sin (pecados) a lot¨, I said ¨pescados¨, which is fish. BAHAHA I know right. But don´t worry, anyone who is preaching the gospel in Spanish, this is just inevitable.  We all had a good laugh about it though.

2. I survived my first day at church which means I survived my first week.  HOORAY. We have a small branch, not a ward and the people there are great. It was awesome, but after trying so hard to understand what people were saying, I thought my brain was going to EXPLODE.

3.I ate chicken at somebody´s house.  I know, yay go me. Just kidding, its only a big deal in my head.  I know I´m going to have to try fish soon, but I´m still so scared!!!  The food that the give is great, but sometimes, I get super sick from just eating pain rice and bread... AND I NEED SO VEGGIES IN MY LIFE.

But at our piso, (cute little apartment) we eat healthy so that makes me happy!  Also we walk a ton.. it makes me tired, but I can´t wait until I feel like I´m in shape.

Address Update

Sydney has left the MTC and is now in her first area, the Madrid suburb of Alcorcon.
Her address will remain the same for the duration of her mission.  If you send any physical mail or packages, please send to:

Hermana Sydney Berry
Calle Fuerteventura, 4
2nda Planta, Oficina 8B
San Sebastian de los Reyes, 28703
Madrid, Spain

sydney.berry@myldsmail.net

MTC training is complete

Sydney leaves the MTC (Missionary Training Center)(CCM en Espanol) tomorrow.  She will meet with her Mission President and then be assigned to her 1st area.  She sent us this quick note & some counsel from Pres Eyring:

Hey I don´t have a lot of time, but they are letting us email really quick since today is our last day at the MTC!!!  Tomorrow morning, I will be leaving with the 9 other people who are going to Madrid.  We will go to the mission home and meet our new companions there!  This last week was hard because I´ve been so so nervous for entering the field!  But I had one of the best days last Saturday!  The things I learned on Saturday really helped me to be less worried and more excited!! I will tell you more abut it the next time  I write.  Which by the way my Pdays (Preparation Day) will be now on Mondays!!! Last night President and Sister Jackson came and gave us a devotional here at the CCM and it was so awesome!  All of the people going to Madrid including me, were lucky enough to meet our President and get our interviews!  Meeting them made me even more excited! yay, I can´t wait! These last 6 weeks have been absolutley incredible. I am safe and i am loving it!! have a great week! love you all!


"There will be times when you will feel overwhelmed. One of the ways you
will be attacked is with the feeling that you are inadequate. Well, you are
inadequate to answer a call to represent God with only your own powers. But
you have access to more than your natural capacities, and you do not work
alone.

The Lord will magnify what you say and what you do in the eyes of the
people you serve. He will send the Holy Ghost to manifest to them that what
you spoke was true. What you say and do will carry hope and give direction
to people far beyond your natural abilities and your own understanding...

Your call has eternal consequences for others and for you. In the world to
come, thousands may call your name blessed, even more than the people you
serve here."

Rise to your call - Pres. Eyring