Answers to Questions

We asked Kathleen a few questions in our last email.  Here are her answers and lots more news.

We don´t have bikes in this mission. We walk or take public transportation. Sometimes when we´re lucky, we can convince someone to give us a ride somewhere. The metro here is really nice. It´s super clean and efficient. It´s maybe not as good as Paris, a little better than London, and obviously better than New York. I´m really happy with it.
Questions:
1. Our president doesn't like to put more than 3 people in an apartment. As far as I´m aware there are no apartments that have more than one companionship. This one looks like an Ikea catalog which is awesome considering my last piso had mold and scary looking porcelain dolls. There are about three floors. We have a washing machine, smoke, detector, CO detector and all the comforts of home. We hang our clothes wherever there is space in our apartment. Most other people hang their clothes outside to dry. All the other missionaries are spread out in the city, and we don´t contact in our own building. It opens us up to some danger.

2. Barrio 3 is in Carabanchel (super south in Madrid) and the mission home is in Alcobendas. I don't know where that is so you´ll have to plug it into Google Maps.

3. Today we met up with Hermana Sánchez to eat kebab! (Remind me to tell you a funny story about this sometime). We mostly write emails and eat out.

4. We offer service to people, but they usually don´t want it. We cleaned out the church library once. In Segovia we did free English classes. For the most part that was it. :(

5. We went to Puerta del Sol today, and it was SUPER pretty. Forgive me because I haven´t taken a lot of pictures. My area isn't picturesque. No comments from this time forth.

This week was not way out of the ordinary. A lot of members fed us this week. For the first time in my life, I ate organ meat. One of my favorite members told me that she wanted to try her favorite soup from Ecuador. It had heart, intestines and something else that looked like macaroni at first glance... But it wasn't...

She said something to the effect of: "I know you´re American and probably won´t like this, so you don´t have to eat it," as she served me a huge bowl of it. It actually wasn´t terrible. My companion, who has spent most of her life in Spain, looked like she wanted to die. We both survived.

We went to Stake conference yesterday and I saw almost the entire branch from Segovia. I just about burst into tears. I was thrilled to see that the branch, and especially my convert were still going strong! One of the recent converts I taught received a Stake calling and received the Melchizedek  priesthood! I was so happy to see them and they were super happy to see me! I got to see R, the woman who joined the church when I was there, and she seemed very happy. And just like her old self... Telling it how it is. When I went up to her to ask her how she was, the first thing to come out of her mouth was: "Well you've gotten fatter."  She was quite pleased with this because I think she was worried that I was too thin in Segovia. Her sister and brother-in-law joined added their congratulations for this a few minutes later.  When I asked her how her grandchildren were: "Getting fatter as usual." She is seriously one of my favorite people in the world.

Later we gave a tour of the outside of the temple to one of our investigators who attended the stake conference. She told us she came because she just happened "to be in the area," but we know she actually came because she wanted to... Although, she did try to slip away unnoticed.

During this tour, a few people asked to take a photo with her. Which, to be honest, is strange. She is a nondescript woman who lives a very normal life. My companion then revealed to me that she was on a very famous Spanish television show for a while: "La Casa Vecina." I´m teaching an actress!

This week, I got the chance to speak a little French. Two people asked if I was French, including a native French-speaker. Apparently my accent in both French and Spanish sounds very French. We had a really good lesson with an old investigator this week. Oliver is from Congo (and speaks French!), and is wonderful. He has a strong belief that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that the Church of Jesus Christ was restored. He feels a little nervous about getting baptized, but he really wants to continue with the missionary discussions! We´re both really excited for him. :)

It´s always great to hear from you! I love you guys!
Con cariño, 

Updates & the Third Sally - Back to Madrid

It has been a long time since we have posted any of Kathleen's emails due to the fact that we (her parents) have been out of town, so this post is going to try to update everyone on what she has been doing for the last month!

01/19/15 - Transfers (the Unthinkable)

I have a lot to tell you guys about this week, and I never feel like I have time! First off, I´ll need to explain the title of this email. So I was pretty sure that Hermana Sánchez was going to get transferred out of the area this transfer (five transfers in one area is strange enough let alone three with the same companion). What I wasn't expecting was me getting transferred too!  Unfortunately the president had been thinking of closing the area for one companionship of missionaries for a while, but there just wasn't sufficient work in Segovia for four missionaries. (It´s a one companionship area). I have one request though, PLEASE PRAY FOR THE AREA, BRANCH and ELDERS.

A few days before we got transferred, we committed Jennifer and Angel and their friend Blanca to baptism. I had been praying pretty hard that I would learn how to listen to the Spirit better in lessons, and this lesson was wonderful. The spirit really guided the lessons.

One thing I´m realizing in my mission is that it doesn't really matter what good qualities or skills you have, if you aren't listening to or following the Spirit, you are not going to teach much. As missionaries it´s not our job to teach doctrine and ask people to be baptized. It´s not our job to dictate which path to take. The Spirit is a much better teacher. When our investigators hear and listen to the Spirit, they progress.  It´s our job to provide earthly words to the Spirit and help people recognize the path before them, and that it´s the only path to lasting happiness. In this lesson with Jenifer, Angel and Blanca, I noticed that we were saying things so clearly and that we were asking great questions that helped them resolve their own concerns. When we asked them if they would be baptized, their answer was a resounding "Yes!"

Right now I´m in Barrio 3 (It´s in the Carabanchel area of Madrid). The awesome thing is about being in this area, is that I get to go to the temple! It´s going to be a fun few transfers here. I´m with Hermana La who is from Ecuador. She´s super nice and we have a ton of common interests like fashion. The Elders and Hermana Sánchez told me that she´s AWESOME.  She can only say a few phrases in English, so I´ll have to work super hard to make sure we can communicate. She wants to learn more English, so I´ll help her practice. Luckily, we´ve been able to talk all day without many problems.


I´m in an area with six other missionaries. I have only met a few so far. One of which is Elder Weixler. Does this name sound familiar to you, Mom? It should. He´s the cousin of Garret, someone I went to Elementary and High school with. He´s a really good missionary and he´s hilarious! It´s his last transfer, so I´m excited that I actually get to work with him!

01/26/15 - I Dreamed in Spanish and I Learned A Lot About Teaching

I had a pretty interesting first week in Barrio 3! First off my Spanish has gotten A LOT better. My Spanish was pretty good with Hermana Sánchez, but we would always hold conversations where we were both speaking in our native language, so I mostly only practiced my Spanish with other missionaries and the people we taught, so I had no idea how good my Spanish was. (Fun fact, most of the other missionaries thought I was Hna. Sánchez when I was on the phone until I asked what a word meant or something like that). I even had a dream in Spanish! A few of the members were surprised when I said I've only been out for four months. Most had guessed I´d been out for over a year.

1.  New area is great. We have lots of investigators and 8 missionaries in this area. I miss Segovia (please keep them in your prayers), but I like this area too.

2. The ward is HUGE. Something like 200 people or more. It´s a lot of fun!

3. We have an investigator-slash-less-active, N, from Buenos Aires. (His baptismal record got lost somewhere, so technically speaking, he´s not actually a member, and will probably have to get re-baptized. He didn't even really know he was a member until recently). He peppered me with questions yesterday about why I decided to go on a mission. I felt like the conversation was being led by the Spirit. I think he really has a desire to go himself.


4. I learned a lot about teaching this week. The Savior was an incredible example of a teacher. The three things that stuck out to me is that He did three basic things: He asked questions to help people understand and know for themselves (in addition to using scriptures, explaining, and testifying). The goal is to help people know for themselves, not to blindly believe us. He taught with love. Despite the number of accusers he had, he always taught them and served them. He always forgot his own ego and sought to bring others to repentance and lasting happiness. He taught with the spirit. I've learned that it doesn´t really matter how smart, talented or skillful you are as a missionary. If you can´t teach with the spirit, the message will not be received or turn into lasting conversion.

02/02/15 - Seeing Miracles

This week was hard, but it went by really fast. Hermana L is an incredibly hard worker and has a gift for finding people to teach. This last week we had 27 lessons, which felt like a lot! We've been talking about it a bit, and we've realized that we have a lot of investigators, but not a lot of people who are excited to make changes in their lives. We really want to pray and focus on helping our investigators progress this week.

Our usual day is different than in Segovia. We usually have lessons all day, but if something falls through we generally pass by houses or try to have lessons in the street.

This week we had a lesson with a man whose faith in Jesus Christ is just developing. He has had an incredibly hard life and has many things to repent of, but he has a humble heart and wants to change and follow the Savior.

[We were told by some one] that repentance is not necessary in order to obtain eternal life. Our objective as missionaries is to preach repentance. Repentance is not a punishment and it´s not just a commandment. Rather, it´s a tool to help us heal from the stains of sin we have in our life.

There was a distinct difference in the room as we attempted to teach and as he raged on, it was clear to us that we had the power and authority to teach, as we had been commissioned to serve the Lord. Sadly, we could see that he that he did not want to listen to us, and we were unable to say much. As missionaries, but especially as followers of Jesus Christ, we can´t yell, scream or force people to have faith. We could only bear our testimonies, but we knew that was all we needed to do to be heard.

We have another investigator, who is 20 years old, and had just lost a baby. She has an unbelievable amount of faith, and although we haven´t been teaching her for a long time, she knows she can be with her baby, Dn, again. She´s very willing to keep the commandments and move forward with her life. (I should mention, she is also a heavy smoker and is trying to quit. It´s really hard for her right now and she really needs prayers and help to move through this).


We have a lot of work to do here, but we´re seeing a lot of miracles! :)

Familia, (and Amigos, which is kind of like family)

Familia, (and Amigos, which is kind of like family)

You´ll have to forgive my lack of emails. I Skyped with my family last week and I did not answer any of my emails. I´ll be getting back to you guys next week. Also, apparently tons of stuff shuts down in Spain on a regular basis, so I had a hard time emailing you guys this week. Nonetheless, rest assured that I still love you despite the length of this email.

First off, thanks for all the birthday wishes! I love that I feel so loved

The last two weeks have been a blur. We had a bunch of things happen for Christmas. One thing that I forgot to mention on Skype is that we had a Zone Devotional. David Archuleta showed up... No big deal...

Nonetheless, this devotional was on the Book of Mormon. President Jackson issued a challenge to all the missionaries to read the Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith´s birthday. I don´t have much time to truly express how I feel, but I do want to share one thing. Mom and Dad gave me a set of scriptures for Christmas when I was 8 years old; the day before I got baptized. In the front cover Dad wrote that he and Mom have a firm testimony that Jesus Christ is our savior, and that they knew that this testimony started with the Book of Mormon. They encouraged me to read and pray about it over my life, and I would know this for myself.

By the time of this devotional, I read the Book of Mormon three times this year, and I can say, without a doubt that this book is exactly what it claims to be. I know with 100% certainty if you read it, and pray with sincerity, believing you´ll receive an answer, that you will know the same.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-03-08-testimony-of-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng&category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2010

We saw a small, but monumental miracle since the last time I spoke with you guys on Skype. One of our investigators had a friend over at her lesson. We ended up changing the lesson plan in order to help her friend understand. Her friend liked the message, but wasn't so sure how she felt about it. Mya was so animated and wanted to explain the Joseph Smith story to her and testified that you could know that it was true by praying. I should mention this was an investigator we were going to drop the week before. She made a huge turn around, and I couldn't be happier for her.
Love you guys!
Hermana Sykes

Feliz Navidad!

I´m not quite sure what happened this week, but I made a tremendous amount of progress. I have also felt suspiciously confident this week. I found that I´m not that afraid to talk to people... Including when they start yelling at me. For some reason, a lot of my fears are gone.
I´ve been teaching in lessons an equal amount as Hermana Sánchez, and I´ve been helping contact a lot. We were able to get a ton of contacts and teach a ton of lessons this week. I really feel like the Lord has blessed me tremendously. We´ve also been praying a lot to find new investigators, and we´ve found quite a few people to teach.
We have a new Elder in our area, Elder Wells. We really like him. He wants to work in a team, and he´s a hard worker and a very obedient missionary. So obedient, in fact, that we had this exchange the other day:

"Hermana Sánchez and I want to know what you want to do for Christmas. We were going to go to Villalba, and wanted to invite you to come with us. But you and Elder Roka are free to do whatever you want." 
"Wow... That´s the sweetest thing a sister has ever told me!" 
"Well... Uh... I mean... Hermana Sánchez and I want to make sure you feel included and have the invitation to go with us..." 
"Normally the sisters just command me what to do. Thanks for giving me the choice!" 

We had some surprises with our investigators this week. We had two, Mya and An, that we were going to drop because they just weren´t progressing. Nonetheless, we showed the act of faith by planning for them anyways. We planned on going to both of their houses with the intention of dropping them. But for some reason, everything changed. Both had told us that they wanted to progress.
Mya for one, told us that she was going to drop us, but she realized how good she felt everytime we came over. She said she had a sincere desire to change her life and be happier. (As a side note, her boyfriend, Luis, just lost his job, and they have two children. Please pray for them. Things are hard for them.)
Over the last month, I´ve been thinking a lot about Christmas. It´s my favorite Holiday, and this year I want to make it my best Christmas ever. I´ve been thinking about this concept of "He is the Gift." The savior has given me so much in my life. So much that there is no way I could possibly pay him back. One of the Elders was giving a spiritual thought yesterday and mentioned how missionary work matters more to the Lord than we can even imagine. I know the best way I can show my love for the Lord is by doing this work to the best of my ability. I feel lucky that I have this opportunity.
We had a few changes in our list of investigators this week. We dropped someone, but the Lord blessed us with a few new people:
Investigators: Ra, Sa, Fl, Os, El, Je and A and Da (Da is the little sister of A. They are a young couple, and are helping raise Da), An, Mya, Cn.
Recent converts and Less-Actives: Rl, Án, R, Je (Who just discovered a love for reading the Book of Mormon! He reads it late into the night and his testimony is growing so strong!), Eth.
I love you guys so much! I can´t wait until Christmas!

Baptism

Kathleen's letter was a little short this week, but it was an eventful time.  Here is her report:

Unfortunately, I didn't plan out my email to the family too well today, so I can´t write much. But I did want to tell you that R´s baptism was amazing. She was so happy (despite that we don´t have a single picture of her smiling). She was beaming when she came out of the water. During her confirmation, she received a priesthood blessing that said when her little grand children saw how happy she was, they knew this was the true church. One even asked us if he could get baptized. Her blessing also said she would be able to be sealed to her family soon. I cried a little.

Hna. Sykes

Zone Conference & Beyond

This week I had a Zone Conference, and it was amazing! We talked a lot about listening to our investigators. In reality, this is one of the hallmarks of good missionary work. We also talked a lot about being bold and identifying ourselves as representatives of Jesus Christ.

I read in John 9 this week and it talked about a blind man who was healed by the savior. He didn't see who healed him, but he knew to some extent it was the savior. The Pharisees  subjected this man to a harsh round of interrogation, but the man never denied the work that had been done. He is banned from the synagogue, but as he is leaving, he meets the savior and discovers for a certainty that He was the man who healed him. It´s much like our lives in which we must be bold and have faith before we know anything for certain.

We also did more exchanges this week. Nothing terribly eventful. Most people waved us off. One even yelled off in the distance "CULT!"   I wanted to give her a piece of my mind, but I realized that I needed to follow the example of the Savior. Specifically, my works here are good enough. I don´t need to prove anything. I´m here to teach those who will listen.

We had an amazing investigator this week. A few weeks ago, we stopped Rs because Hermana Sanchez felt a strong prompting to talk to her. When we met with her, we could tell there was some sort of light within her. When we started the lesson we asked if we could sing a hymn, and Hermana Sanchez asked me to pick. For some reason, out of the 209 songs in the Spanish Hymn Book, I could only think of Christmas songs. So we sang O Come All Ye Faithful.

My companion and I were a little worried that this was going to be weird for her. I was certain she was going to tell her friends later something to the effect of "These weird girls asked me to come learn more about their religion and they told me some stuff about golden plates and angels, and then we sang Christmas songs..." Nonetheless, as we started singing, we saw her face light up.
I could feel the spirit strongest when we read James 1: 5 to her (If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him). I know we can talk to God and he will answer our prayers.

At the end of the lesson, even before we had time to say anything, she asked "What do I need to do to be baptized in your church?" We were both speechless. We´re meeting with her sometime this week.

We´re plodding along on R´s baptism. We had to push it forward a week because there was no way we were going to teach everything to her in time for last Saturday. It´s best to go a little too slow than to go too fast. We wanted to make sure she understood everything and felt comfortable. But we do have her baptism set in stone for this Saturday. :) She´s excited.

I´m singing with the Elders in the program, so I´ll be sure to send a video (which is apparently not against my mission rules!) and some photos of R, Hna. Sanchez and me. 

This Week Was Pretty Awesome

Here is Kathleen's latest letter from the field (posted by her Mom--just so no one thinks she is sneaking out and playing with Facebook!!)

I´m so happy to hear about Whit's mission. It sounds like he was really successful. He certainly had the right attitude. If you go into a mission looking to find yourself, you´ll be sorely disappointed. A mission is about finding others. And what he said about creating yourself is true. I´m understanding the importance and developing a desire to be more like the savior. One of the characteristics of the Savior was that despite his own discomforts, fears and insecurities, he never turned inwards and focused on himself. He instead fought his afflictions by focusing on loving and comforting others.

This week was pretty awesome! We have one investigator, R, who we are preparing for baptism on the 29th. She´s from the Dominican Republic and she is full of sass and doesn´t care what anyone thinks about her. She is awesome! She gets the Telling-It-How-It-Is Award. Also, she is super prepared. She understands things so clearly and beautifully. It´s like the Spirit is whispering in her ear the whole lesson.

This week she brought her adorable grandson, P, to the lesson (he is just like his grandmother). We talked about prayer and he even answered some of the questions in the lesson. R knows how to pray like we do, but her grandson doesn´t. She asked P to pray at the end of the lesson, and he protested. She was having none of it. Her response: "You know ´Our Father´ don´t you? Good. Say that." I had to hold back my giggling.

I gave a talk in church. Apparently the congregation was a little surprised. A lot of them told me my Spanish was really clear, and that I´ve learned a lot since I´ve been here. This week I have to give the lesson in Family Home Evening for the branch. I sure hope I can speak as clearly then.

We also had a new investigator this week. We met A on the street the first week we were here, and she said she was looking for a church. She´s also from the Dominican Republic. She has three children, but unfortunately, they are in the Dominican Republic while she works here. She said she really trusted us and that´s why she invited us over.

We could tell how prepared she was to hear the Gospel. When we talked about her beliefs she expressed frustration that there are so many churches that teach different things, but to her "there is only one God." We taught her the first lesson, and she understood everything: Prophets, apostasy, the church Jesus Christ established on the earth. She accepted the message so well. She´s a really special person.

Spiritual thought for the week:

In my personal study this week I read the first chapter of John. In verses 6-9 I felt like it was speaking directly to me. I know that I was called by God to do this work. I know I´m here to bear testimony of the power of the Atonement to all who will listen. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. 

"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

In verse 12 I was reminded how powerful the Atonement is and how powerful and real the ordinances of the Gospel are. (Particularly, baptism).

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

I love you all.

Warmly (even though I´m freezing),

Kathleen