the weeks news! 9-15-14

alrighty so let the excitement be read! i know that all of you have been desperately waiting for my email, so here it is! ;)

so we had another really good week this week! me and Elder Lima are really running on all cylinders here! we had this briliant idea this week that we started putting into action and it has been a huge success! but more details on that in a bit! 

so we started out the week by doing a trainning with all of our district leaders in our zone on tuesday morning, and it went really well, we talked about how to have a district meeting more efficiant and effective! we talked about teaching techniques and how to help the districts baptize! it was fun! one thing that i have like about being Zone Leader is preparing the trainnings, its a lot of work and tiring, but it is worth it when it all goes smoothly! 

so back to our brilliant idea that we had! so in this area we are having a really hard time getting the people to go to church so we created the "Church Today" theory. (that is trademarked!) many of the investigators that we teach say that they will go to church on sunday, when sunday roles around, they dont want to go, or they create lame excuses as to why they cant go... so to help us decided who really will progress and not we started challenging people to go and visit the chapel with us that day! if they couldnt, we would try and mark for another.. until they would go with us, or they told us how they really felt and told us that they didnt want to go to church! it worked extremely well! we were able to take 3 people to church this week before sunday, which helped that 2 of them went to sacrement meeting on sunday! it was awesome! 

had my first zone meeting as zone leader, that was intense, sometimes it is hard to pass the vision of what you know they other missionaries can accomplish! but it went well! this week ourzone doupled the baptisms! so looks like it had some effect! 

There is this neighborhood that is really far away from the church building, like 30minutes by car, so we are going to try adn open a group there, seeing as there is already an active family living there! hoping that we can get it approved by the mission and stake pres for us to start working there next week! 

well i think that is about it for things here! i hope that everyone is doing well and that you are all missing me soo much ;) haha but love you all! Boa semana para todos! 

Elder Ryan

here is what we got for this week 9-8-14

so this week was all things that are good! to start things out we had a visit from one of the seventies, Marcos Adiukaitus.. (I think that is how you spell his name) he is like a legit general athourity, like from the first quorum and everything! ;) but it was good. he came on wednesday, started out with a leadership meeting, with all the zone leaders here in sergipe, so 6 of us, and he just opened up the time for questions.... it was just a, "get burned fest" because the other missionaries were asking some reall dumb questions.. needless to say i was way to afraid to ask him anything! hahha but after the leader ship meeting there was a meeting with all the missionaries and that was awesome! he talked about we can plan things better and set more challenging goals to push our selves and acheive a full potencial and working to reach the goals that we established! it was a really awesome meeting, helped out a ton, we starting applying the things that he taught us and it went really well! we had one of the most sucessful weeks of my whole mission! 

we were able to find lots of new people to start teaching which was good because our group of investigators was pretty full of people who werent making any progress! but things were looking really good during the week, we found 3 families to teach, which was awesome, and worked lots with referals of the members, teaching their friends and family members! by saturday things were looking real good for having people visit church and make progress for baptism... but the Big Sunday came around... and no one went to church... went to pick them up, get there and they just wouldnt go, even if they had nothing else to do!! haha it makes me laugh a bit becuase it is some thing that so many people have a hard time doing, and that is one of the big reasons why we stop teaching some people, is going to church... its funny because they can only gain from going to church, its not that long and its a really positive place focused on teaching is how to be better in our roles of the family (Dad, Mom, brother sister..) and how we can serve other people... but for some reason it is like the hardest thing fro people here! 

but its ok, we´ll figure out something we can do to get these people to church! 

Really liking working with Elder Lima, isa cool guy, we have really hit our stride working wise, teaching well together and really getting a lot accomplished every day! its been a lot of fun working with him! 

well i dont really know what else to write about this week, it was just a week of lots of work, nothing to crazy happened.. this transfer is passing by way to fast, its already been a month since i got here... time is just flyin by! 

Well that is it for this week! i hope that everyone is doing well! love and miss all of you! 

Até Mais!! 

Elder Ryan

the weeks news! 9-1-14

so this week was a tough one! 

So the week started off by doing a division with one of the district leaders of our zone! his companion has been having a hard time with stress lately, so weve been trying to help out there! but it was good! his name is elder Roper, he is from phoenix and he has like just 3 more months to go on his mish. he was fun to work with, their area was also huge and we had to do some serious walking which was just bundles of fun! ;) the only problem was that when i got there it was like walking into the dump... needless to say it was necessary to do a manditory pick of things. interesting how it is that it is impossible to think straight or have the spirit with you when things are really dirty! 

this week we had a problem with teaching people who didnt really want to do anything. they would listen to us because we were teaching the "word of God" and then when would get in there and throw down the baptismal challange, they all were like..  " oh i have another church" or some other excuse like that! so that was kind of rough for this week, really has been a struggle in this area to find people who are ready to act! pray, read, try living the commandments, going to church. its hard because i know that if the people just do these things, these little things like read the scriptures and pray, they can know its true.. funny how its so simple but the people have such a hard time with it! but its fine, Elder Lima is really good about this, he just keeps working no matter what the result! so we have been working lots trying to do our best! i know that we will find the right people soon, just got to keep on looking! 

this week ive been doing lots of baptismal interviews.. its something that is kind of intense actually! some times the people have hard questions or they need help getting over a fear or something like that! it has been a cool learning experience on how to put into action the whispers of the spirit of how to help these people move forward and choose to follow christ! 

sunday i had to give a talk... i dont think that i will ever like giving talks! hah but it was good, i gave it on missionary work. as i studied, i learned just how important the members are in helping the work move forth.. i reflected and realized that all the people that i had baptized on my mission were referals of the members! really the members do more of the work than we do! 

well i think that is about it as far as the update goes! hope that everyone is well and happy! Amo todos vocês e espero que vocês tem um ótimo semana! 

Elder Ryan

Elder Lima and Elder Ryan

Still has "the force" with him!

soooo. 8-25-14

so here is the weeks update! 

so we had a good week, we worked real hard and have been trying really hard to prepare a few people for this next week to baptize to reach our monthly goal... it was a valiant effort, but it is looking rather grim for this coming week! haha but im not worried about it, we have some great investigators who are preparing for the first week in september! 

we are working with a guy named junior, he was really catholic, like trying to get into the ministry and eveything when he had a change of mind and started for looking for something else. whenwe started teaching him he talked about how reading the book of mormon and hearing our messages is helping him find something that he didnt know was missing in his life, so that was pretty cool

we also found some new people to teach this week by visiting less actives, it is interesting how many people you can find by doing that! but we are working with several people that have been found doing that! 

we did a division this week and i went to the biggest area in the mission, called aruana, it was huge!! we walked so much, at the end of the day i was dying! haha but it was good Elder De Paula, is a good missionary and i learned lots from him! good times! 

as zone leaders we are responsable for helping the missionaries about there problems and that has just been a roller coaster, especially because pres is new and every little problem he calls us and tells that we need to take care of it! it is kind of a hassel at times! 

well i think that is about all for this week! nothing too exciting is happening! just working hard and trying to do my best! i hope that everyone is doing well!

Love you all! 

Elder Ryan

the first week of the transfer 8-18-14

well well well, so here is the upadate on what happened with the transfer! so i was transfered to Sergipe the other state in our mission, im in the capitol city Aracaju, in the ward of Siquira Campos. I was called as Zone Leader, and my new companion is Elder Lima! he is awesome he is from the state Minas Gerais, he is 25, already majored in math and was a teacher, now he is on the mission, he is a super genius and a super hard worker. i really have liked working with him this last week! he is awesome! really liking it here! 

So tuesday was the transfer and when i heard i was called as Zone Leader i didnt quite believe it, feel so unready, seeing as i only have 9 months and only one as District Leader, but i think God knows the situation a little better than i do and so ill jsut do my best to fufill my calling to the best of my abilities, but then i got on a bus and had my legs crushed for 6 hours... and let me tell you, that was just great! 

rest of the week was just working hard, getting to know the new area, finding some new investigators, we have a few potencial baptisms for the 30th and 6th, so im pretty excited about that, really like working with Elder Lima because he pulls his own weight in everything and he is super motivated! but nothing super exciting happened work wise, just another week of grit spit and duct tape work! the memebers here are good and they help out lots, we have been working lots with referals which is awesome, the area here is way bigger than the last one, so that will mean lots more walking! but im liking it lots so far! just trying to adapt and try and get our teaching styles together, but it takes some time, but i feel like this area has some real potencial, so im excited to be here! 

I think the best of it all is that this house here has air conditioning!!! it is so amazing! ive neverslept so well in my whole mission! 

Elder Lima has a super focus on reaching families, which is awesome. we are working with a couple of families right now, hoping that we can make some miracles happen! 

well i think that is about it for the week! nothing too exciting happened! but thanks for all the emails and support! love you all! have a great week! 

Elder Ryan

 I'm in the capitol city Aracaju, in the ward of Siquira Campos

Work, Miracles, and Transfers 8-11-14

so to start this email outm we had transfers yesterday, and i was transfered, i have no idea where i will be going yet, i find out on tuesday, but im a little sad, i really liked working in this area, they have really great members who helped us out a lot, and i have really liked serving in this district, it was 2 transfers of non stop laughs and fun! im gonna miss it here, but im super excited for the change, to meet new people, new area, and new experiences! i will let you know next week where i am and who my companion is! 

soo this week we worked real good, it was fun! the mission presidente told us that he recieved a note from the first presidency that in our mission they want us to work harder with members and less actives! less knocking on doors and working more with reactivation and referals! so that is what we did, we visit like 20 people on the less active list this week and that was good, trying to help them reactivate and strengthen the church here! but it also helped us find new people to teach, and it was a whole lot easier than having to knock on a ton of doors! 

this week we had some serious miracles happen! so we were with nothing to do, and i was like, well lets just see, just maybe, some one brought someone to seminary to visit.. so we went to church and it was like every one of the youth had brought a friend to visit! what luck!! haha but it was awesome. one of them was an investigator that we taught when i first got here, and he told us that he didnt want to go to church and such and we hadnt see him since. well he was there and came up to me and told me that he wanted to be baptized! MIRACLE! haha but that isnt the end of it.. another kid, the cousin of Anderson, one of the people we baptized here,came up and said that he wanted to be baptized too! well... MIRACLE! so that was awesome! we also have more people that we are working with who were there that night as well! 

On sunday Ana Vitoria, our forever investigator.. came up to us ofter sacrament meeting and notified us that her baptisms would be next satuday and 7, and that we needed to be there! MIRACLE! after three months of teaching her, she finally has decided that she is ready! 

now that i think about it.. all these miracles happened, and im leaving.. i think i have a problem with that! ;) but im happy that these people are choosing to follow christ, even though i wont be there to see it happen! 

well that is about all i have to say this week! it kind of passed by in a blur... time on the mission is too fast sometimes! it feels so unreal that im already at 9 months and a half... some times i dont believe it is happening! haha

well i hope that everyone is doing well and that every one is missing me beyond belief! :) love you all and hope you have an awesome week! 

MOM: Happy birthday!!! hope it was awesome! 

DAD: Happy Fathers day!! (well it was fathers day here in brazil.. i dont know about there.. i forget what day it is) but none the less!! Happy dads day! 

Até mais!! 

Elder Ryan

Rumor has it--coke is better in South America! 

Finally got a chance to play basketball!

the week update! 8-4-14

so here is what is happening in my life! 

so this week i walked in the flaming hot sun everyday! i talked to people in portuguese, i got really sunburned and realized just how white i really am, we worked real hard, with little sucess.. but nothing new there! haha 

now ill give you the details! 

so this week was a real stuggle to find new people to teach! we did everything you can imagine to try and find people! we decided to do a fast on saturday.. (well it was fast sunday and here in brazil the main meal is lunch so we start our fast saturday after lunch!) but we had a pretty good day planned, we had done contacts and had planned with a few people to pass by there houses that day! so we were going around to our planned events and we had this one around 4 in the afternoon that looked really promising, when we close to his house we saw him running away, drunk! so that was a bummer.. i was pretty down, walking away from his house when his neighbor waved us down and told us to come in and teach her! she told us how she wanted to follow christ and how she had talked to missionaries a while back and she had invited them to come and teach her, but they never showed! she was really interested and told us how our message had answered many answers that she and her husband were looking for! it was real legit! some times the lord works through the drunks to get us to the people who are ready to accept what we have for them! it was a real cool experience! 

went to a churrascaria here.. ate soo much meat that i think i might xplode! there is no way that it was good for me.. but it was really good so..... what do you do?!? 

we have been having lots of sucess with Auracele. she is married to a less active member and they have been having lots of dificulties with there marriage! we have been helping her try to realize how followin christ can help her and her family be more united and have something that they can found their family upon, the Gospel. we have been teahing her lots this week and have had lots of really awesome experiences there! hoping this week to work more with Ricardo, her husband and try and reactivate him to help save their family! makes me real greatful to know that my family has an eternal perspective of things and that this helps us work through our differneces and disagreements, and to work together towards our eternal purpose! 

this week i also passed the "keys" of senior companion to Elder Corderio, this will probably be our last week together, seeing as there is a transfre next week! but i left him to call the shots this week! it was a cool experience to watch him learn how to do what is best for the people and for the lord! he wasnt too happy with me at the beginning of the week! i think he realized that it isnt a cake walk having to make tough decisions in tough situations! but with a little (or big) push he made things happen! im a proud Dad to say the least! ;)

Did a division with elder Garcia this week! he is the newsest member of my district. he has about 1 month on his mission, and he is a fire ball. he was really fun to work with, ive never seen anyone so excited to do the work more than he is! he takes joy in every little thing that happens which i thought was super cool and something that i will try and apply more in my life! he was fun to work with and we did some damage together! he will be an awesome missionary! 

we had a fireside that we and our ward mission leader had planned! i even called Pres Gomes to be there and give a talk! but he bailed on us the last minute. but it was a really good meeting, we invited other branches and wards to watch as well which was good because about no one from our ward showed but it was a good meeting none the less! 

this week i was notified that the assistants to the pres would be watching my District meeting, good thing that im a champ under pressure! ;) but it went well and they said that i killed it.. soo looks like ill be the next president of the mission.. its no big deal! ;) 

well that seems like about it for this week! things are good! hope that all is well for you! love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Elder Ryan