The News of the Mission! 2-24-14

so this week was sooo crazy!

started out normal and it seemed like we could finish this transfer (which endsnext tuesday) strong with about 3 more baptisms! so we were pretty psyched for that! 

on wednesday we were cleaning out the font for Taísa's baptism, we had to empty it with buckets because the drain was broken!  so that was exciting! so we cleaned ou all the worms and nasty things like that, then when we were filling it up, we realized that the font had a leak so we spent like the next 2 hour trying to figure out where it was and then when we found it, how to clog the hole.. we used gum! haha!

but on thursday we had to get up at 4 in the morning to go to maceio for zone conference! and that was realy good! got to see a couple of people that i gt hre with and see our progress with language! also i had to play the piano and that was nerve wracking! but over all it was good and i learned lots! we had to leave early because of taísa's baptism... and on the bus ride home we got a phone call from the secretery infrorming me that i had been emergency transferred! so we baptized taísa on my last day in the area! went out with a bang! hahaha but the next was spent packing bags and visiting a few people there in the ward, nd leaving for maceio again! i was really sad to leave! i really like arapiraca and me and soares were really starting to hit our stride together! 

Met my new companion, his name is Elder Arreas, he is a brazilian who only has 3 monts left in the mission. he is a little bit of a goof but its all good. out new area is called Viçosa. it is a tiny city in the mountains on the edge of alagoas, the closest city to Recife! but it is a cool place, has tons of hills cows and it reminds me of a brazil version of truckie in california! haha but it should be fun here, i live with all brazilians so bye bye to english! haha but the branch here is really small, like 25 people but the members here are way cool and they help out the missionaries aton! 

well tht is about it for the week! right now im sunburned like crazy! things are kind of hard, but good! hope that all is well there for you all. love and miss you all! 

elder Ryan

PS mom my shoe size is 10 and a half.. that is all i know size wise. but eccos are the best type of shoe, ill let you know about the shirts next week! thanks tons!!

The Weekly words of wisdom! haha 2-17-14

so this week was a hard but really good! 

started out will the marriage of one of our investigators!! she has been an investigator for almost for 2 months!! so we are finally gonna be able to baptize her this week! we are pretty pumped for that! that night i bought myself a good size birthday cake and through myself a party! haha 

we started teaching this family and they are really awesome! it is kind of funny how we found them! a drunk lady stopped us on the street and asked us to help her get home! so we helped her get to the house of here cousins! and the next day we came back and started teaching them! haha just gotta take every opportunity you get right?? but they are awesome! they told us that they were waiting for something like the gospel and that when we showed up with their drunk cousin that they knew that it was for a reason and that we could help them! that was a way cool experience for me! they are a great family. Adriano, Nirede, and two daughters, one who has special needs! this makes it difficult for them to get to church, but im just excited to help them in any way we can! we taught them both how to pray after the first lesson, and they both started crying! the spirit was bem forte! was a way cool experience! 

also started teaching Ze Luiz. he is an older dude with about zero direction in his life because he spends all of his money on booz and smoking... we have been trying to help him quit and i started to see how destructive these things can be! we was making some good progress but on sunday he relapsed again and when we got there to take him to church he was so drunk that he couldnt even stand. it was so sad! this guy is way cool, but because of his addiction, he doesnt have like any money and is all alone. just shows how these things can destroy your life. really hoping that we can help him quit! 

things are continuing to improve between soares and me, we really hit our groove this week, teaching well together and talking to tons of people, which lead to teaching more lessons this week! was lots of work, but lots of fun! crazy to think that my training is over in 2 weeks! passed by so fast!

saturday and sunday were hard days, all of our appointments fell through, and we lost some investigators and we kind of had to start from the drawing board to find new people to teach! it was hard but good learning experience!

well that is about it for this week! things are really good here in the crazy nation of brazil! missing out on the olympics is a bummer but other than that, things are good here! hope that everyone back home is doing great! love and miss you all there! 

GO JAZZ i am so happy they beat the lakers! one of the best parts of the day was reading that!! 

Love you all! church is all things that are good and its true! 

Elder Ryan

Mom. one thing i realized that i will need is more socks, preferably nikes, another pair of shoes (eccos) and more 3-4 white shirts(short sleeve) (i would buy them here, but the quality is really horrible, all the americans told me that they wished they asked for these things before everything got destroyed and used, so if those things could be sent, thatd be great!) 

Rachel: would like to know if you are caring for my facebook! if you could get that activted and that would be great because i would like to keep conected with the brazillians through that! thanks homie!

Cathryn: When is the Wedding??? ;) haha

The Update ( Ryan's B-day) 2-10-14

Thank you all for the happy birthdays and for all the updates on what is happening in the real world! 

GO JAZZ!! so glad they beat the Heat! and how is the US doing in the olympics?? keep me updated please!!

but this week was such a good one! it was hard, but really good! i realized this week, that i feel so much better about the day when we get home for the night and i literally am so tired that i fall asleep during our planning session.. yeah that happened to me this week! haha

but this week we started working in an area in the far corner of our area! its called nova esperança! (New Hope) whenever we go there i start thinking in star wars! haha but i really like working there! the people are really receptive and it has lots of potential! the only problem is its like 45 minutes of walking to get there! haha! but this week we taught 14 lessons! which was a really good week for us! one of the best we have had together! things between me and my companion have gotten loads better and things are looking up! 

this week also had a division with the zone leader! his name is Elder Webber! he  was so fun to work will! we have really similar styles and we taught 6 lessons in one day and it was so fun to work with him! he is way funny and we had a great time talking about american stuff and working together! learned lots from him about how to be more efficiant and direct! was really good! 

 also this week, me, Elder Adams, and Elder Webber stayed up till 2 am talking about the purpose of life and how the mission has affected us! that was probably my favorite part of the week... but the rest of the week, it was pretty hard to wake up in the morning! hahha

also one of our investigators will be married tomorrow!! so that means we can finally baptize her! hahah she has been a investigator for almost 2 months now! haha but im super ewxcited for that! 

really that is about all that i have to report on! it wasnt a week of much happenings! just a week of teaching and finding new people! but things are great here! 

Love you all and loved the birthday letters!!

Elder Ryan!

Ps hannah im sorry im too lazy to capitalize!! hahah

Report to Bell Canyon Ward 2-8-14

Ryan is currently serving in Arapiraca, Alagos, Brazil in the Maceio, Brazil mission.  He is living in a house with 3 other sets of Elders and it is a common occurrence for them to have no water for weeks at a time. The computer keyboards in Brazil are a bit different from here so apparently he has given up on trying to figure out how to capitalize and spell check--eek!

this week started out really good with the baptism of max! he was really excited about it, and he asked me to baptize him! it was such a great experience! it was like baptizing my brother! it was so great! 

from this experience i learned how the gospel can change people! i literally saw a change in max from when we started teaching him to how he is now! and it is a change for the better! when i first met him he seemed really burdened and sad, but now he is super happy! it was so cool to see that change happen and see him become free of the burdens of the past and press forward to a better future! 

because our city didnt have water this week, we couldnt refill the baptismal font and had to use like 3 week old water which was super dirty! we used a strainer taped to a pole (my invention) haha to clean the font and while i was cleaning it i found a dead lizard and a huge worm! haha! cant believe i actually got in that water later that night! haha

but after the baptism things got hard this week between me and e.soares! he got really unexcited about working and he was never ready to leave the house until about 11:30 everyday this week. we never studied together, and when we would start looking for new people to teach, he refused to knock on doors! because of this we didnt find anyone! by saturday i was pretty ticked off! on saturday night.... not sure how we got into it, but we just started talking about what needed to change in out companionship and things that we can do better, we talked for about 2 hours and at the end of it, we both felt so much better. the next day was amazing! it was crazy how different out day was! we found a new family to teach and marked another man for a day for baptism and set up 2 future appointments! it was amazing how different things were! 

i learned this week that you have to unity in a companionshp. if you dont, you are both toast! haha you cant work with the spirit, it is literally impossible! you wont accomplish anything! it was a great life lesson, if you continually have contention with the people you are around, nothing will ever get done! you have to work together! recognize what you can do individually can do to help and not think that the other person is only responsible! do what you can, change what you can, and trying to better yourself before you try to change what someone else does! always try to serve the people around you... even if they are driving you up a wall! if you do this, it is amazing the difference you can make! 

Eu sei que Deus vive. que Cristo vive. Que eles sabem nossos desafios e nossas provações, e que eles podem nos ajudar quando confiamos em eles!! sei também que esta vida é não onde coisas terminam. nossas vidas vão continuar! se nós vivemos boas vidas e tentamos a servir outros pessoas, nós podemos voltar e viver com deus! 

Love all of you lots!

Elder Ryan

Ryan has expressed many times his gratitude for the gift of tongues--he loved being in the MTC in Brazil and out of the 8 missionaries in their home only one other is non-Brazilian and he refuses to speak ANY english to Ryan...He's so excited to get the language by "immersion" !

You can read Ryan's weekly letters and see pictures at elderryanjohnson.blogspot.com. Addresses for writing are on the blog also.

this weeks update! 2-3-14

first thing first.... had my first baptism this week!!! and it was such an awesome expeirenece!! 

second thing! im so happy that the seahawks won!! 

but this week was an up and down one for me!

it started out really good with the baptism of max! he was really excited about it, and he asked me to baptize him! it was such a great experience! it was like baptizing my brother! it was so great! 

from this experience i learned how the gospel can change people! i literaly saw a change in max from when we started teaching him to how he is now! and it is a change for the better! when i first met him he seemed really burdened and sad, but now he is super happy! it was so cool to see that change happen and see him become free of the burdens of the past and press forward to a better future! 

because our city didnt have water this week, we couldnt refill the baptismal font and had to use like 3 week old water which was super dirty! we used a strainer taped to a pole (my invention) haha to clean the font and while i was cleaning it i found a dead lizard and a huge worm! haha! cant believe i actually got in that water later that night! haha

also this week, the other elders we live with brought home this nearly dead kitten! we named him sofrido! which means sufferer in portugues! haha but we took him to a clinic to try and save his life, he was basically dead when they found him. he was there for most of the week. in total we spent 430 reais on this cat.. which is about 215 dollars... we got a phone call this morning that he died!!! all that money just for him to die.... cant lie.. i was a little pissed!! haha

but after the baptism this got hard this week between me and soares! he got really unexcited about working and we was never ready to leave the house until about 11:30 everyday this week. we never studied together, and when we would start looking for new people to teach, he refused to knock on doors! because of this we didnt find anyone! by saturday i was pretty ticked off! on saturday night.... not sure how we got into it, but we just started talking about what needed to change in out companionship and things that we can do better, we talked for about 2 hours and at the end of it, we both felt so much better. the next day was amazing! it was crazy how different out day was! we found a new family to teach and marked another man for a day for baptism and set up 2 future appointments! it was amazing how different things were! 

i learned this week that you have to unity in a companionshp. if you dont, you are both toast! haha you cant work with the spirit, it is literally impossible! you wont accomplish anything! it was a great life lesson, if you continually have contention with the people you are around, nothing will ever get done! you have to work together! recognize what you can do individually can do to help and not think that the other person is only responsible! do what you can, change what you can, and trying to better yourself before you try to change what someone else does! always try to serve the people around you... even if they are driving you up a wall! if you do this, it is amazing the difference you can make! 

i enjoyed hearing for all who wrote this week!... except rachel,...who didnt write me again!! haha 

love all of you so much and hope all is well! 

Eu sei que Deus vive. que Cristo vive. Que eles sabem nossos desafios e nossas provações, e que eles podem nos ajudar quando confiamos em eles!! sei também que esta vida é não onde coisas terminam. nossas vidas vão continuar! se nós vivemos boas vidas e tentamos a servir outros pessoas, nós podemos voltar e viver com deus! 

Love all of you lots!

Elder Ryan

Provo MTC Temple Trip

Elder Ryan and Elder Marshal- Provo MTC

After less than a week Ryan's Visa arrived and off he went to Sao Paulo to the CTM

CTM SAO PAULO GROUP 

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