Skibby sent the following email and photos on Monday, October 31, 2016.  I have done my best to translate some of the Spanish words she throws in.  My translation attempts are in italics.

Date:  October 31, 2016 at 8:27 AM

Subject:  Halloween is taking over the world

Dear fam,

Today is Halloween. I am in the house of Rocio and David. We are cooking sugar cookies. Later we will go to visit Carmen because it is her birthday and all of her kids are going to celebrate. They are going to eat fufu [?]. I am not using contractions because I cannot find the button for apostrophes on this keyboard.

This week was great. All of the kids who go to a bilingual school (Spanish and American) celebrate Halloween. But the kids who go to a bilingual school (Spanish and British) do not. So it is really sad for them. Obviously. My companion does not like Halloween. I love Halloween. Little by little it is becoming more popular. Tomorrow is the Day of the Saints, or the Day of the Dead. It is what hna Mendoza celebrates for Halloween. I think it is more of a South American tradition, and even though it is at the same time as Halloween, the... aura (?idk) is really different.  We ended up going to the Halloween party because Luz and Jose went. I dressed as Pippy Longstocking, as promised, to the joy of all the members. I got third place for the costume. I was going for first, but I guess I will have to settle for third. Anyway, there were lots of members dressed up, and we ate a lot of food and just had a good time.

Here is the story of Luz .... I will send the story of Luz when I am in the capilla [church] !! hasta pronto [I’ll get back to you soon]

Date:  October 31, 2016 at 10:32 AM

Subject:  Continuation…..

The story of Luz.

She is amazing. We have met with her a couple of times. We explained the importance of OLA. Orar [pray], leer [read], y asistir [attend] (a la capilla [attend church]). She only works on Saturdays and Sundays. All of her money goes to pay for her parents’ food in Colombia. Her husband is atheist and she has 2 kids. Anyway, we met with her on Tuesday. She wanted to make arepas [arepas are corn tortillas filled with whatever] and chocolate with us and some members. We hadn't been able to find any members to help us that morning, but we decided to try Hna Salud, who didn't pick up. Our last chance was Hna Jessica. Who didn't pick up. But she called us a little later and said she could come! We met with them at 11:15. Luz told us she quit her job to come to church. This is really a miracle because we hadn't met with her very much, and we never hinted at anything even close to that. But she really knows the importance of coming. So she quit her job. Then, we were going to make arepas, but the stove at the church only works with specific pans, which we forgot. So we ended up going to Jessica's house, making arepas and chocolate, while Jessica picked her kids up from school, and then we all ate together. 2 giant arepas with cheese and eggs and hot chocolate. Then my companion and I had to run to our lunch appointment with the bishop where we ate a ton of beans and rice, and they kept trying to give us more food, but we were sooo full. I thought I was going to die. The point is that Luz is amazing, and Hna Jessica shared a really strong testimony with her, and demonstrated that when we need help, the ward members are there.

I'm sorry that I'm terrible at emailing. I hope all of this makes sense. 

Well, I'm not sure what else I can share right now. Things in Mostoles are getting little by little colder. But it's not too cold for futbol [soccer]. Kids are playing futbol all the time. They play Saturday mornings here at the capilla [church]. Lots of people come. We have a friend named Miguel Angel who comes every Saturday to play. I told Elian he should try to be friends with Miguel Angel because he feels a little left out. Elian has hence recruited Miguel Angel to the Herbal Life life. I hope this will be an improvement.

I love all of you. Everyone have a good safe and scary week. I hope life is full of

jack-o-lanterns, heffalumps and woozles.

Love, your favorite sister missionary currently serving in the Mostoles Barrio of the Madrid Oeste [West] Stake, of the Madrid, Spain Mission.

Skibby & her companion, Hermana Mendoza

This picture and the following two are of Skibby practicing to be Pippy Longstocking
for her ward's Halloween party!  She suggested that I might not want to
put them on her blog.  I decided to do otherwise. :)