this weeks update! 2-3-14

first thing first.... had my first baptism this week!!! and it was such an awesome expeirenece!! 

second thing! im so happy that the seahawks won!! 

but this week was an up and down one for me!

it 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 literaly 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

also this week, the other elders we live with brought home this nearly dead kitten! we named him sofrido! which means sufferer in portugues! haha but we took him to a clinic to try and save his life, he was basically dead when they found him. he was there for most of the week. in total we spent 430 reais on this cat.. which is about 215 dollars... we got a phone call this morning that he died!!! all that money just for him to die.... cant lie.. i was a little pissed!! haha

but after the baptism this got hard this week between me and soares! he got really unexcited about working and we 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! 

i enjoyed hearing for all who wrote this week!... except rachel,...who didnt write me again!! haha 

love all of you so much and hope all is well! 

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

Provo MTC Temple Trip

Elder Ryan and Elder Marshal- Provo MTC

After less than a week Ryan's Visa arrived and off he went to Sao Paulo to the CTM

CTM SAO PAULO GROUP 

Photos are having a bit of difficulty loading! 

First Week in the Field 12-16-14

** Sorry, I forgot to post this letter while I was in London with Cathryn....distractions! 

Arapiraca, Alagoas, Brazil  December 16

well lets start off with the fact that i dont know portuguese! hahaha

but everything is going good! brazil is awesome! and i love the field!

the mtc ended on monday for me and got to the field on tuesday. on monday i had a 10 orientation, all in portueges.. soooo.. i only understood like 30 percent! hahah but what i did understand was good, but it was a little too long.. at times it was real dificult to stay awake! haha

my new companion is elder soares! he is way awesome! he works way hard and is way funny. he is a brazilian and doesnt speak a word of english which makes it a little difficult to talk sometimes but he is really patient and a great trainer, i have already learned a lot from him! my city im in is called arapiraca! its about 3 hours from maceio! the weather here is hot, hot and hot! my companion says that it never rains here either! so looks like im going to become as red as a lobster while im here! haha also we have running water every other week! haha and this week was the other week, so we had no water! i had to shower out of a barrel! haha it was legit! it is such a cool experience! i taught my first lesson my second day out here! and that was exciting! haha it was a struggle! but in total we taught 4 lessons this week! the final one was awesome! we taught this guy named jose! he was legit, he only had one foot and was super cool! we taught him about christ and the book of mormon and i shared with him heleman 5:12 about how we need to build on the rock of christ, and i think he really felt the spirit strongly becuase while we were reading it he started crying! it was a cool experience! the city in general is pretty poor but its crazy because even though they have almost nothing, they are the happiest and most accepting people ive ever met! its cool!

random things about the city! they have a different accent here and talk super fast so that is always fun when i am trying to understand what is going on! haha also coca-cola here is amazing! haha it taste so much better here than it does in the states! we walk probably 5 or 6 miles a day so by the end of each day im ready to sleep! its a good feeling every night, you go to bed knowing you did some good in the world and that you worked hard! another thing, horses, goats, dogs, and cats just roam around the streets here! its crazy! haha i havent quite gotten used to that yet! haha

we also eat lunch with members like every day which is nice, we dont really have to worry about meals to much here, becuase the members try to stuff us here! haha

my first sunday was stake confernece here! and it was a struggle to stay awake! i could barely understand anything and there was air conditioning! haha im pretty sure my head was bobbing for at least half the time!

another random thing. they have corn flavored ice cream here.. and suprisingly it isnt completely nasty

andria:HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! i hope it was awesome! i love and miss you!!! hope it was awesome! i sent you a letter, but i have no idea when it was get to you! haha

last thing, they already have an elder johnson in my mission, and my president doesnt like having repeats, so my new name is Elder Ryan! or to the brazilians, elder hyan! haha its an adventure! 

well that is it from me! hope you are all doing great! i love and miss you all! thanks for your letters they are great!! 

Elder Ryan