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.
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