New Years, and Wedding Preps 1-5-15

lrighty so i cnat believe that it is already 2015... i was talking to Elder Gauchay this week, and we realized that we are doing everything for the last time on the mission, like holidays and months and stuff like that.. so weird to think that im already in the year that i will be coming home.. it just doesnt feel real! feels like i just barely Got here! 

But this week was really good and stressfull! we have had a lot on our hands lately! so Islei and Mécia are getting married this week, and we are basically the wedding planners! haha wishing i had Cathryn´s event planning abilities right now, but i guess i will have to settle for the president of the relief soceity! ;) but its been a lot of work arranging how the cerminony with work, the food, the cake and clothing and such! but looks like everything should go alright! 

also this week we have been acompanying some really good investigators. we are teaching Jessica, she is a freind of a recent convert here in the ward, she is preparing for the 17th, we have been teaching her for like a month already, but she never had gone to church.. and finally.. Miracles!! she went to church this week! We are also teaching Carol, another referal from a recent convert, and she is markder for the 9th, things are looking really promising for her to! jsut need to teach her the last little things and should be a baptism this week! 

Also we are teaching Suzana. we found her this week looking in the area book for old investigators, her sister was taught like 1 year ago, so we decided to go there, and we found her. we started teaching her, and everytime we teach her, her eyes light up. she has been passing through lots of problems of depression and feels like every place that she has looked for the comfort, she hasnt found it... she is super ready to accept the gospel. so im pretty psyched for this month! we have lots of really good  people progressing in our area to be baptized this month! 

New years was good, we spent drinking Guaraná and playing chess and Uno.... legit! haha but it was a really good year. So Glad that i decided to come on the mission, the experiences that i had over the last year i kow that i couldnt have replicated in any other place. this last year has chaged me a lot, i have grown so much.. a bit sad to think that its coming to an end! just going to try and live up these last 9 months and "Leave it out all on the Court" as Kenward would say!

Hope that everyone is doing well! love you all and miss you all! Feliz Ano novo! espero que essa ano é o ano aonde todos de seus sonhos são realizadas!! 

Amo Todos Vocês!!! 

Elder Ryan

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