Skibby sent us the following email and pictures on Wednesday, September 21, 2016:

Date:  September 21, 2016 at 4:52 AM

Subject:  Hola and lo siento!!

Hi Mom and Dad!

Honestly I’m really sorry that I’ve been terrible at emailing. I’ve read all of your emails and enjoy them thoroughly. We don’t have a place to print them out, but I make sure to read all of them. Don’t worry about the length, I just need to use my time more wisely.

[A couple of weeks ago, Skibby told us in an email that she had been asked to accompany her ward choir, so we asked her about that.]  I’m not sure if we have a choir here or not. We started one 2 weeks ago, and I was the pianist, but last week we didn’t have practice and I have no idea if it will continue. I’m pushing for it though! I don’t play the piano in the ward because hermano juancito is the designated pianist. He’s partially blind, but has a ton of hymns memorized and does a wonderful job. There’s an organ in our chapel, but we don’t use it. I think it’s because the lid doesn’t open up all the way, but I’ll try to work on that.

We had a baptism last Sunday (Sept 11)!!! Her name is Gabi and she is amazing. Technically my companion and I are teaching her, but she was converted and received most of the lessons in Barcelona. But she lives in our boundaries, so we were in charge of the baptism and are in charge of all the lessons afterwards. Gabi is 28 and has a son almost 4 years old named Sebas (Sebastian). I’ll try to get a foto to send, but I don’t have one right now. She just has a glow in her eyes and is so happy. It’s what I hope everyone that I teach can have. The missionaries sang the musical number -- el bautismo. I played the piano.

The last time I wrote was 2 p-days ago. There was a fair in Mostoles. The festivities in Mostoles top anything that Riverton ever had. There were little shops up and down about 5 different streets. I’ll send pictures of the candy! So my companion and I enjoyed walking around and looking at all the stuff they were selling.

Would you tell Boo and Brian there is a brother and sister here who remind me of them? Daniel and Virginia. They rescued a little puppy off the streets and gave him surgery for his hip so he can walk. He has grown into a giant dog, and they have named him Dante. They love all animals. There are a ton of cats on the street. Every day we report to our district leader whether or not we saw any cats and how many. The people here buy food for the cats and leave it out in random places. So we see lots of cats here on the streets. But here they don’t call them cats, they call them gatos.

I’m not sure exactly what to report on lessons. We have a lot of "investigators", but none are progressing. It’s frustrating when they cancel and tell you that they don’t have time at the moment to meet with you. I feel like the only thing they do is work and sleep, and there’s just no time for anything else. I need to learn how to help them realize the importance of the things we’re teaching. So it’s hard to help them progress when lessons are really far apart.

Yesterday we had a really good lesson with Edgar. He’s from Ecuador, but has been living here for a really long time. His wife died from cancer, so the first lesson we taught was the plan of salvation. Yesterday we taught the restoration. He knows that he needs to read the BOM to learn if it’s true, but he feels guilty that he’s not reading the Bible because he’s Catholic.

I was thinking about how people say "I’m Catholic," "I’m Mormon" ,"I’m Protestant" or whatever else. It seems like it’s something that defines their character, or something that doesn’t change. But I don’t think it should be like that. The real difference between "us" and "Catholics" is that we have a little bit more information than they do. When people on the street tell me they’re Catholic I think, "hooray! they’re halfway there!! (they already believe in God and understand a little bit about the Gospel)" The problem is trying to help them realize that. Is this making sense? We’re not trying to change their faith in God, just increasing the knowledge and blessings.

I’m doing really well. It’s week five here in the mission field. My trainer has a lot of work to do, but I’m working on improving. I love and miss all of you. Sorry, for my terrible time at emailing. I’ll talk to you next Monday!

love, Skibby

Skibby & her companion

Our district.  Of all the things to do for our first p-day, we went bowling…