The Last Week in Siqueira. 3-9-15

So this week was the Transfer, and believe it or not, im finally leaving Siqueira Campos. kind of hard to believe, its been so long that it feels like home here! practically became a member of the ward! haha Im excited for the new area, but its hard leaving all the people here, especially Islei and his family and Aparecida. but the mission goes on! excited to hear where i´ll be going! i will know tomorrow! so i´ll give you the update next week! 

so in this last week we have been having a lot of good progress with the members. we have really been trying to work with them and find new people to teach through the members, it was really good, we managed to find a really legit family to teach! really sad that i wont be able to stay to watch their progress but i know that elder Kimball will take good care of them! 

I think i talked a bit about Everton and Micheylene last week, but if not i will explain again. they are a couple that a member invited to church and they went, they loved it, this week we were teaching them and they told us that they want to get married so that they can get baptized! so legit! really sad (again) that i wont be here to see it! but it has been really cool to see how the gospel has filled in the whole in their lives that things of the world just couldnt fill! amazing how that works! needless to say, they are awesome! 

its been a pain packing my bags... sometimes i think to my self , "why do i have so much crap!" then i remember that Jenifer Johnson is my mother and that i inherited the habit of keeping everything that i have, thinking that one day i will use it, then realizing... i never will! ;)  Love you Mom!! haha 

it was a good last week here in Siqueira! i Learned lots here. i think the happiest and saddest moments of my mission were spent here. most of all i think i learned just how real the gospel is and just how true the things we teach are! my personal conversion has grown a lot. and its more than just something that has been planted in my head, but it is now something that is concreted in my heart! 

hope that everyone is doing well! love you all and appreciate all the letters! 

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

8 months... whoa 6-23-14

well this week will mark 8 months already.. that passed by freaking fast! haha but it is the end of the transfer here, and it passed by faster than all the others! it feels like time just goes by faster and faster everyday and i dont have any time in a day anymore! haha 

this week was a good one! not a whole lot to report on, nothing super funny or cool happened, but what do you do about it?? haha but the work is actually continuing surprisingly well! we arent teaching as many people as i would like, but things havent completely stopped like i thought they would this month! (except on the days of brazil games!) 

things are great with my companion! we really get along great and we joke around and laugh tons! really have been loving the area, just about everything here in our area! its has been really great! the work is as hard as ever and there are the stressors of that, other than that.. all is well in paradise! 

bought a basketball this week! today we played lots! hahah unfortunately i couldnt manage to dunk anymore.. that is a little sad!  haha but i think we will be playing every day this week for exercises! that should be great (shaw if you are reading this you will be sad.. because im not fat yet! hahah) 

well hoping that we will have 2 baptisms for this week... they arent super commited.. but hopefully all will work out well! sorry that this email is super lame and without lots of excitment! mas fazer o que??

thanks for the emails! love you all and hope you all have a good week! 

Elder Ryan

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!!