Dec 2nd

Hello my people! 

This week has been pretty crazy so bear with me. Might not be super long but we'll see. Knowing me that wont be the case. ;) 

Monday was a pretty good p day. Got some of the Welch's sparkling juice which is so good. Got a delicious breakfast burrito. Got to talk to family and just love being able to talk to them every week. 

Tuesday sister galvez was down for the count. She got sick and was asleep for a while. What does one do while their companion is out? Well I cant be on my phone so I have to be creative. Finished reading Joseph Smith history, read trust in his plan from conference, and wrote in my journal. Got up and made sister galvez and I smoothies. Took a nap then made lunch. Sister galvez finally woke up and we talked while I collaged my new notebook. Pictures 1 and 2 are of the finished work. Love it! It was a good day even though we didnt go out. 

Wednesday was kind of back to a normal day. Bundled up and went to try a person we had found. He was leaving when we walked up. Walked the marina picture 3 is of some rocks we threw on the ice, had lunch and then we were off to the north area. Sadly all our lessons canceled. Ended up visiting glenda. Picture 4 is of silly batboy getting close to the heater. Visited with Jenny and painted her nails. Visited sister Robinson and then went to dinner at the chantrill family house. They have the cutest kids. Picked up programs for baptism and it snowed pretty good. Crazy. 

Thanksgiving! We had a slow start to the day because sister galvez was still fighting her cold. No fun. Read watchful unto prayer continually by elder bednar. Love it so much. I love how it talks about how relentless satan's attacks are and how we have to always be on guard. Our first dinner time changes so we didnt go go that one. Was able to call my family and talk with some extended family that were at my house. It was so nice. Got a little homesick though. Holidays are a bit hard on the mission. Went to kalen's for Thanksgiving. It was so good. Went to Jenny's for some more food. Might have overstuffed myself. Got some leftovers though so that was great! Came home and read the war goes on by elder Larry r Lawrence from April 2017. Seriously one of my favorites now. One of my favorite topics to study is the war in heaven and pre mortal life. This talk was so great in opening my eyes to different parts of those moments. I highly recommend reading it. 

Friday to be honest was a hard day. As I was doing my morning exercising I did some push ups and hurt my shoulder. It hurt so much and I ended up breaking down. All I wanted to do was call my mom and get advice. It was so hard and I dont think I missed home so much. We called our mission medical lady and she told me to do the rice method the best I could. I ended up crashing for a bit. We did weekly planning while I rested. Watched a Hope works video on life's question. Will it matter in 1000 years? I loved this and put it on my wall. Picture 5 is of my wall. I love it. Went to the Morrill's for dinner and brother morrill was able to check my shoulder and luckily nothing too serious. 

Saturday I hit a point of whoa. November is already over but wait so is the year?! When did that happen?! Crazy how fast time goes. We got ready for the day and were out the door to get things ready for shelby's baptism. Picture 6 is of sister galvez and I with shelby. There were so many people at the baptism and it was amazing to see the support she had. Love it. Our plans for the night fell through so we ended up knocking doors down a street. No luck and got a taste of tracting in the cold. Went to church's to have some pie and ended up having some Turkey enchiladas too. So good. Came home and took it easy. 

So Sunday was another down day. Sister galvez ear started to hurt really bad so she slept for most the day. Picture 7 is of the sunrise. Well I ended up cleaning our apartment, doing some laundry, studying, and then I got an idea. I had creativity flowing but didnt feel like writing. I ended up drawing out a sword. Picture 8 is of my creation. I love it so much. Took me 3 hours to do and I listened to piano hymns which was super relaxing. Oh while studying I got a bit emotional. Picture 9 is of a pocket slip tag for my scriptures and for some reason when I saw it I teared up. I never thought I'd be here. It makes me so happy to be here and doing this work. Sister galvez worked up and we talked and watched some more hope works videos. They are so good! Pretty chill day though. 

Well that was my week. A lot of up and downs but man do I love this work. Oh! Some new changes are in place. Starting this week we can read emails during the week. I can't reply till mondays but I can read updates from everyone so feel free to email me more! I'm so excited. 

My companion sister galvez and I are doing Christmas cards. Please send me your address if you wish to get a card. 

I love you all! Have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Sydney Hanks 💙

November 11

Hello wonderfulls!

Not going to lie this week was crazy. I blinked and were at a Monday. AH!

Last p day flew by. Got to talk with family, go shopping and had a zone activity. It was seriously a great p day. I have made the decision to let my parents sell my car. It is bitter sweet but after being on the mission and driving some cars out here I know I'll want something different when I go home. Probably a Nissian rogue. 😁 picture 1 is of an awesome bag sister martindale made for sister bell. Loved it so much. It glows in the dark! 

Tuesday was a good day. I take time every now and then to relisten to my blessing from January. I cant believe itll almost be a year since I recieved it and my life changed. It gave me such a clean slate that I'm forever grateful for. Tuesday kind of started the week for growth and realizing some things I could really work on. During district council I thought I was good with my patience but I realized that I could be better. So I've started working on that. We had service at the assisted living center and had fun playing bingo. We came back and went to dinner at the hammers. They're awesome. Delivered some invites for our harvest dinner the ward was doing and then had companion study. Sister galvez gave me a riddle that I'd like to share. Now missionaries dont have access to look up answers so try and be fair. This took me forever to figure out. There's a naked dead man in the middle of no where with a stick next to him. How did he die? Feel free to send back yes or no questions and I'll reply. 😁 

Wednesday was a really productive growth day. We did exchanges so sister Christensen was with me in our area. She made breakfast of eggs and hash browns which was do nice of her. We then went out tracting for a bit then came back for lunch. We then went out to the north area and did a ton of walking. Picture 2 is of a stress sign I love and finally got a picture with. Empress drive. We walked around 6 miles that day. Picture 3 is of sister Christensen and I.  We had dinner at sister Robinson's and she turned a leftover stew into a kind of pie with a pastry topping over the stew. Super good. Visited a few people after and then came back to the apartment. Sister Christensen gave me some really great feedback on my missionary work and how I can improve in different areas. It was really good. Ended exchanges and both areas had a great day. Picture 4 is of our sisterhood. I love these sisters so much! 

Thursday wasn't too eventful. Went over to glenda's and helped her organize her cross stitch books. She then gave us some mini cross stitched to do. Picture 5 is of mine and sister galvez work. Mine is the mouse and hers is the clean/dirty for the dishwasher. Picture 6 is of batboy I took while organizing.  Super fun. We had lunch and then did weekly planning. So so excited for all of the progress in this area. We walked the marina before dinner and then had dinner at sister baileys. She made a really good soup. We then listened to talks while cross stitching. 

Friday I hit the last page in my journal. So crazy! We did a ton of tracting that day. Knocked a lot of doors. Oo! One house has a bunch of kitties! I loved it. We had a lesson with David and we should be able to put him on date for baptism soon. Yay! We then went to the harvest dinner and it was so good! A lot of people were teaching were there and just a lot of awesome members. We ended up with a bunch of left overs! Love it. 

Saturday. Oh Saturday. This was an amazing day. Did a bit of tracting in the morning. Had leftovers for lunch. We then had a lesson with shelby at glenda's. It was really good. We then had a lesson with julie........and she asked yo be baptized! AH!! WE PUT HER ON DATE FOR NOVEMBER 23RD! WE ARE SO EXCITED! We then put gas in the car and went to dinner at kalen's. Beef stew. So good. Updated our maps and had a great day. 

Sunday wasn't much to report. It was a super chill day. Walked the marina and then went to church. I was so relaxed for church. Came home and had lunch. Sadly I got a bad headache so rested a bit. Had dinner at the church's. Super good tacos. Tried to visit a few people and then came home. Had a great study and got to tell sister galvez about my stories. My creativity has been super crazy and I love it. So grateful for my abilities. 

That's my week. So so so happy with everything going on. I love this work and this area. I hope everyone has a great week! Love you all! 

Love, 

Sister Sydney Hanks 🧡 

P.s. letters and packages are loved 😁

Sydney November

Hello my people! 

Here's another crazy week for you! 

Last Monday was super crazy. Had a ton to get done in so little time. I had to jump on Facebook and change my profile picture so that was fun. Went shopping and stocked up. Got a trim for my hair. Got a package from my dad and letter from my grandma. Made me so happy. I love mail. Had our ward correlation meeting and then visited some less active families. It was a good day. 

Tuesday was a good day. I had the scripture immersion for district council. I focused on ephesians 6:10-18 which talks about the armor of God. I love this and every morning I always imagine putting on the armor and preparing as if I'm going out to battle. Which I kind of am. Gotta save those souls! Our lesson canceled so we ended up doing a bunch of tracting down some streets I haven't been down. It was so good even if it was a bit cold. Picture 1 is of sister galvez and I bundled up. Had dinner with the rangels at their new house. They're remodeling a lot and it reminds me of when my family has remodeled. It was fun. We then went home and did some major updating on our area book after all the tracting we did. 

Wednesday was an interesting day. We went out and tried to see so many people but kept hitting dead ends. We visited sister martindale and then came home for lunch. Sister galvez and I both weren't feeling good and crashed for a bit. Had dinner with the bishop and his wife which was good. Came home and did some cleaning for what we thought would be inspections. 

Halloween! Such a crazy day. We went into town for our interviews with president. They went really well. I'm excited for the future. We then came back and helped the king's with moving. Went out to trailer and visited Jenny. Picture 2 is of mine and sister galvez's Halloween costumes kind of. I was dorothy and sister galvez was Aurther from the TV show. Had dinner at glenda's. Homemade chili. Yum. Was in early for the night to keep us safe and we did weekly planning. A lot of exciting things coming up. 

AH! It's already November! That's so crazy! Crazy day. We were up and ready and then out the door so quick. We had to be at zone conference at 7:30. Bah. Zone conference was really good though. I took a lot of notes. 6 pages. I love our mission president. I love the focuses on improving ourselves and working to fine tune different points of our work. After zone conference we came home and walked the marina because it was so nice. Picture 3 is of me. The lighting was awesome so couldnt pass the chance to snag a picture. Picture 4 is of this cute dog we saw while visiting some less actives. His name is chewy. 

Saturday the cold I've been fighting took full hold. This is the first time I've actually handled the cold okay. Rested most of the morning until our lesson with shelby. I'm extremely excited to announce that we put shelby on date for baptism! AH! November 30th! Were so excited and so is she! I love this work so much. We had dinner at kalens and then retired early so I could rest. 

Sunday was another day of recovery. We made it to church though. Sister galvez and I both bore our testimonies. During the meeting one of the returning members were teaching bore his testimony and thanked us for bringing light into his life. I cried. I felt the spirit so strongly and I love these reminders of why I do this work. I love seeing all these people were teaching progressing and seeing the happiness that comes into their lives because of the gospel. We ended up coming home after sacrament because I wasn't feeling good and sister galvez got a bad migraine. I'm grateful we were able to take it easy. Had dinner with the Gerber family and then came home and rested. 

This week was a lot of fighting a cold but even though I was physically down I felt the spirit so strongly. I love this work and all the miracles and blessings that come from it. I hope you all have the best week ever. Love you! 

Love,

Sister Sydney Hanks ❤

P.s. Here is my address again for anyone that needs it as we grow closer to the holiday season. P.O.  box #249 Elko NV 89803