the first week of the Transfer! 11-17-14

alrighty so the biggest news is who is my new companion!  Elder Gauchay, from Orem utah, he is 6 foot 4, so the first time ive been shorter than my companion, and my first american comp, he has one year and 7 months , so he is finishing up, he was teh secretary of the mission for 7 months, so i already knew him before he got here! he is way cool, he likes the Lakers... so that is a problem! ;) but other than im really liking working with him! 

I was Called as Zone Leader A this week as well, something i wasnt really expecting, but the challenges keep coming! president has already called me a couple times this week, asking me to go and solve a couple of problems here in the zone! one thing is for sure, being Zone leader is never boring!

investigator wise, things are good. president took one of the companionships from the ward here and put them in a new city where the church was opened! so now we have inherited both areas and all of there investigators! WAHOO!! we have been working with some new people there and the members there are helping a ton! things are really looking up! 

Carmelita, this little old lady that me and elder Lima had been teaching for like... forever!! finally accepted a date for baptism, should be this saturday if all goes well! so happy to finally see here make the changes necessary to follow christ, this week she threw out all of her coffee without us even asking! it was awesome!! 

Islei and Mécia, our couple that we are working with are doing awesome as well! right now we are just waiting for the papers to pass through the courts and we can do the wedding! shouldnt be more that 2 weeks now! really hoping that we can baptize them the second week of december! but they are changing so much! cool to see how reading the scriptures and praying as a family has changed their lives so much for the better! they are way happeir now than the first time that i taught them! this week they asked us when they could go to the temple!! it was so cool, glad to know that they are already looking at the big picture to have their family sealed! loving helping them and seeing the changes! 

really the mission has been great,so gald that i came, i have had so many experiences and challanges that have changed and shaped me for the better! the mission sure hasnt been easy, as a matter of fact its been pretty dang hard, but there is no where i would rather be! "spreading the good word" as my friend shaw always writes me, really is the best! the Good Word has changed my life in the last year, and i have watched change the lives of many more! 

love you all tons! thanks for your letters and your prayers! hope that everyone is doing well that you cheer for the jazz and play some super smash bros on the N64 in my honor! love you all!! 

Elder Ryan 

the transfer 11-10-14

so this week we had a transfer, i stayed here in the area! which i am pretty happy about seeing as we have been having lots of sucess here, but Elder Lima was transfered! its so crazy, time passed by so freaking fast,we passed 3 months together, but it felt more like 3 days! im gonna miss him, he really was my best companion so far! 

 well this week we got the hang of taking care of both the areas that we are working in! good thing because president called and said that only one companionship would  stay here in the ward.. soo that means all of there investigators are ours now! so that is pretty exciting! im really excited to see what this transfer has in store for me! 

 this week I had some really good studies, i made a goal with my self that i would try and study more the lessons that we teach so that i could teach better and such, it was a really good experience! really enjoyed studying about the commndments, especially Keeping the Sabbath day Holy and Keeping the Law of Chasity. really opended my eyes to a lot of things and just how important the commandments are! really grateful that i have so much time to study more about the gospel, it opens up my eyes everytime as to how important living the gospel is! really loved! 

One other thing that I forgot to mention in my last email about the things im liking about my misison that i reflected on this week was the Power of the Atonement to Heal and save people. Really grateful to have the knowledge and peace that comes from knowing about the atonement of Jesus Christ. im really glad that i have been able to overcome lots of rought experiences and my own personal weaknesses and sins through the Lord Jesus Christ. over this last year i learned a lot and now i can say: I know that He lives. 

we were able to get 7 people to church this week which was a thrill for me! carmelita is this old lady that we have been teaching for about 2 months and she never went to church, this sunday she made it! it was awesome! also something really cool that happened this week was that Islei and Mecia this couple that we are working with, went and started the marriage papers this week! in about a month the wedding will happen and we will be able to baptize them! really loving it here on the mission! having so many experiences that i never would of had if i wasnt here right now! 

things are great! hope that every one is doing well! love the letters and emails that you send! hope that you all have a great week Love you all!! 

Elder Ryan

well there goes one! 11-3-14

Well that is it for one year! seems like yesterday that i was stepping of the plane here in Maceió and understanding nothing and thinking, "Dang.. the sun is really hot here!!" 

The one year mark came and went and here are a few reflections on one year as a missionary:

the mission is easily the most confusing thing when it comes to desciribing the emotions that it gives me! haha it is easily the hardest thing that i have ever done, but at the same time... it is easily the best thing that i have ever done! at times i am stressed beyond all belief and but at the same time, there is no other place that i would rather be! 

What i do every day is invite people to know more about the ture doctrine of Chirst.. Faith, Repentence (AKA Change!!) And Baptism (the Best part). its a hard work! lots of people dont believe me, others cant seem to overcome their dificulties or pleasures to go and follow the correct path. but those that do accept and work to change and follow Christ... these people, i have had the greatest pleasure in watching, becaue they are the people who are 10 times happier than they were before! 

in the last year i wasnt brain washed or convinced that what i teach is true.. when i got here i realized just how weak my testimony was, and just how unsure i was about the truthfulness of what i was teaching! so i did what i tell people to do everyday. Read the Book of Mormon, and then prayed.... Now I can say that i Know that this is the Truth! it really is! not because a some one told me, but because God gave me an answer to my prayer! i have full confidence that any one of us, if we want an answer from God, we can receive one! but receiving an answer isnt always the hard part! it is following the answer that we have received! my hope is that during this next year of my mission, i can help many more people Follow the Gospel of Christ, Because i know, without doubts, that this is the path!

so now the update on the week! so we have been in the grind like always! me and Elder Lima hada lot of success finding new people to teach this week, which was good seeing as lots of our investigators are waiting on the marraige deal before they can be baptized! so it gave us a few people to work with to try and help them be baptized these next couple weeks! 

we are teaching Jonathan, he went to church for the last two weeks and things with him are going really well, his cousin was baptized in one of the other wards here in the city and she introduced the church to him, things are going well and hoping that all will go well for this week for him to be baptized! 

we are in a triplet here now, Elder Gross, finished his mission, and because president changed the day of the transfer, we are now with his companioin Elder Brandant, he has about 2 months in the feild! so it has made things interesting seeing as how we need to help him with the language and helping him learn how to teach! it has made things a real adventure!! 

well the one year mark was good! not really sure how to feel! didnt burn anything.. but yeah just another normal week of work! 

Hope that every one is doing well! love you all!

Elder Ryan