Turkey Day

Not too much happened this week not gonna lie haha. A few cool lessons before Thanksgiving but because of the holiday weekend everyone was gone! 

 So on Tuesday we had exchanges and I went with Elder Wright. Elder Wright is the best haha I love him. But we had an awesome lesson with a guy named Abel that reads The Book of Mormon a ton! In a week he read all the testimonies of the 3 and 8 witnesses, Joseph Smiths testimony, the Intro and the first 3 chapters of 1 Nephi! He doesn't know for sure if it's true yet and the "gold plates" thing he's having trouble believing, but if he just keeps reading and praying he'll know it's true! We got to read the chapter where Nephi kills Laban haha and he was like "wait...what?? He decapitated him??" So funny haha. 

 Then also on Tuesday we had another amazing lesson with a woman named Margaret we're teaching. The lesson went insanely well, she thought the idea of Apostasy made sense, and the spirit was so strong during Joseph Smiths story. She was like of course they showed themselves to him! It just makes sense! But she also considers herself a devout catholic so we'll see how that goes haha. 

 On Wednesday we made a big whiteboard that said "what are you grateful for?" And we made hot chocolate and stood outside Albertsons with it. People were writing on the whiteboard and it went really well! We found a lot of people from it. More people would talk to the sisters than us but what else is new honestly. Then on Wednesday night we also had a super cool lesson with one of the members in our branch, but it was awesome because they're not all members! 

 On Thanksgiving we played Flag Football in the morning, that was tons of fun. Then we got fed twice on Thanksgiving. I was missing my mom's cooking, people in Roswell just don't do turkey day the same. But we also went Thanksgiving caroling which sounds weird but we found a lot of people from it, including Spanish speakers so you gotta do what you gotta do. 

 Friday was kind of difficult because no one was in town, all of our lessons fell through. So really it was just finding all day but no one was home. We also did another exchange with some of the elders in our district. 

 On Saturday we drove all the way down to Artesia just to have the person we're teaching down there tell us she's not interested so, that was awesome. 

 Then Sunday was just more of the same! Sorry kinda a boring letter this week! Not too much happened with Thanksgiving weekend and everyone was gone. 

Love you all! Talk to ya next week. 

 Love, Elder Ryan

1. Gratitude board 2. Lake in Ruidoso 3. Flag Football 4. "Stay strapped or get clapped" 5. Turkey day 6. Our Christmas tree

Good Stuff

So on Tuesday not too much happened! We did a lot of street contacting and didn't have too much success, but Joanna, one of the people we're teaching, tested positive for Covid. So that's like 3 families we're teaching that have gone down with covid so that's tough. 

 This was the first week of third transfer (I think...honestly kinda lost on what happened this week) but anyway haha so we had District council on Wednesday. Then we visited a lady we're teaching named Margaret to help her move some furniture and I love her haha. She's this cute grandma and she was like okay guys I can't promise I will or won't convert. But she reads the book of mormon and talks from President Nelson so that's a plus. Then we visited a guy named Abel who just loves football. He was like sorry yall I didn't read too much...I only read the 3 and 8 witness thing and Joseph's Smiths testimony. I was like sheesh that's more than I read in one sitting haha. 

 On Thursday we went to visit Oscar and Jasmine, a family we're teaching and we were pumped cuz their quarantine was done! But the husband ended up testing positive right at the end of their quarantine so their in for 2 more weeks. Rough! But we had an awesome lesson with Margaret. She had a rough experience this week with one of the cults here in Roswell and she felt gross and needed some help. But what was awesome is she turned to the talk we gave her and read President Nelsons talk "Faith in him will move mountains" and she loved it! She loves our prophet haha. So then we read Alma 32 with her and it was such a cool experience. She said she feels like that picture where Jesus is knocking, and she has to let him in. She feels like she's ready for something new in her life. So pray for Margaret! 

 On Friday we had an awesome lesson with Julian! We were planning to teach the Plan of Salvation but we both felt like we should teach a lesson on Baptism. He LOVED IT! He was so excited! He kept asking when's my baptism?? But we didn't put him on date we told him to pray about it, and get his answer. So the next day he did and told us the answer is yes! So we visited him on Sunday before church, taught him about the sacrament, and told him to come to church. We felt like we shouldn't put him on date till he was at church. We were so excited but he didn't show up. It was a total gut punch but hopefully something understandable came up. We also made cookies to take to all of our people with Covid. 

 On Saturday, Donna's quarantine ended so we finally got a lesson with her! But she read the Book of mormon everyday of quarantine! She's amazing haha. Had an awesome talk about the plan of Salvation because her grandpa and uncle just passed away. She's been taught a lot in the past and she loves our church. She says there's something special about it so hopefully its just a matter of time now. Everyone pray for Donna! 

 On Sunday my comp got called out for sleeping in Sacrament haha but that's about all that happened. I started studying the New Testament hard this week and so far I love it! Theres so many good things but my favorite so far is the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. I would highly recommend listening to Hollands talk about it. There's a lot of ways to look at it but it's an amazing parable of the Atonement and Grace. Everyone will come to labor in the vineyard at their own time. Christ just cares that we show up to labor, he's not as concerned with what hour of the day we arrive. No matter what time we come, he will accept us! And at the end of the day, we all receive the same wage no matter what time we came, and that's the Grace of the Atonement. Super awesome! 

 Well I'll talk to ya next week. Love y'all! 

 Love, Elder Ryan

1. Cute puppy 2.UFO McDonald's the pride and joy of Roswell 3. Just 3 Goats 4. Elder Bush and I pole driving or somn 5. The district 6. Elk

2 Transfers in the Field

That's 2 transfers done in the field! Three in total but about to start my third in the field! I still have a really really long time haha but it's crazy how fast time has already been flying. Anyway this week was an awesome teaching week! 

 So last Tuesday we had District council! Super good I love district council because it's a good reset and helps me get back into focus after P day. After district council we found a guy named Abel! He's super cool and he loves loves NFL so we talked to him about football for like 15 minutes but then we taught a sweet Restoration lesson and he seemed really interested! 

 Okay so Wednesday was awesome. There's a woman named Margaret that we know because we know her son. After weeks of trying we finally got in her door and it was super cool. We sat down and talked and she explained that she's a devout catholic and stuff but she loves us. She says her son is only happy around us and we have a light and that she respects us a ton. So anyway she started telling us that about fourty years ago she was taught by sister missionaries in San Diego. She said that they started teaching her about the steps of repentance from a chapter in the book of mormon. But then they had to leave and no missionaries ever came back. So she looks at us, gets a serious look, points to the book of mormon and says, "find it." So we start flinging through the book trying to find a book of mormon chapter that talks about repentance...spoiler literally every chapter talks about it. So we went to the main ones and just none of them felt right. Then we turned to Mosiah 4 and we just knew. We read the first verse and she started crying and got all excited and started shouting because she remembered King Benjamin and she just loved it. So we proceeded to read the whole chapter and the spirit was SO STRONG. She loved it it much and my testimony grew a ton. We ended up talking about modern day prophets and she's now studying different talks from Russell M. Nelson! 

 On Thursday we had a lesson with a guy named Julian and we brought a member. We literally spoke like 4 sentences the whole hour long lesson because our member just went off. Julian didn't read the Book of Mormon and our member let him hear it. He bore some super powerful testimony and the spirit was so strong. Julian was super impressed by the spirit and testimony of our member Hermano Ortiz. So that was awesome! Then, we taught a guy who's brother decapitated someone and he claims he could be Adam. Like the Archangel one. Oh well haha 

 On Friday we had our weekly volleyball and met a guy who goes to La Luz del Mundo which is kinda like Satan trying to copy our church not gonna lie. They claim authority and all these things and they have a rule where they can't read any type of book other than The Bible. 

 On Saturday we met with Mark at the Library. Mark is awesome and loves our church and The Book of Mormon. We read 2 Nephi 31 explaining the doctrine of christ and the spirit was so strong! And then all the sudden this random guy in the middle of the Library comes up and talks us for about 30 minutes. He went off about the evilness of the Book of mormon and the Bible and just blasphemed for 30 minutes. Mark bore his testimony to him and it was so powerful and when that guy left Mark goes "wow I felt a gross feeling when he was talking. Let's start reading and feel good again." And it just made me so happy to realize that he can recognize the spirit of the Book of mormon. I think God sent that guy so Mark could recognize it. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes! So everyone pray for Mark! 

 So we were in a trio with one of the ZLs this week and so we had to go to both one of the English wards and our Spanish branch. So we were at the church all day. But our Spanish branch talked about different ways to smoke meat our entire second hour so that was a highlight. 

 Sorry again for the long email but it was a busy week! Tons of miracles! Super awesome to see God blessing us when we work hard. Truly nothing we do is because of ourselves but all from him! Love yall! 

 Love, Elder Ryan 

 Honestly I was at bad at taking pics this week....and honestly these maybe some of the same ones I sent last week I don't even know but there ya go

We helped a lady chop wood in our pros so that was sick

5K & UFO Stuff

This week was an awesome week! We found 8 new people to teach which is a ton in a week for this mission. The average is like 2 per companionship. So super awesome! We also ran a 5k and went to the UFO museum. 

 So on Tuesday we had Zone Conference! It was super awesome. I went with a bunch of questions, one of the main ones being how can we get people to feel the spirit and uniqueness and truth of our church because everyone we talk to about Jesus says "oh I know him I'm saved." So I went in with this question and President Child literally spoke about how everyone in this part of the country can talk about Jesus Christ, so talk about our restored truth. Instantly start talking about the Restoration and the truth we have from that, such as Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, and specifically the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It sounds dumb but that last one hit me because most people barely know about our restored truths of the Atonement. So we put into practice and it totally worked! We ended up finding 8 new people to teach this week! 

 So on Tuesday after conference we went to visit some people who have been taught in the past and most of them were pretty nice and said we could come back sometime. Then, our last stop of the night we pulled up to the house, and across the street at a different house this lady came out to her fence. So we went to talk to her and she was super interested! We got her number and she was all worried like "You WILL call me right?" So that was awesome! 

 On Wednesday we went by someone we're teaching named Hugo, but he opened the door and said he had to cancel because he got a DUI and was going to court. A little iffy because he doesn't have US citizenship he just came here from Guatemala. So pray that my boy Hugo doesn't get deported.

 We also did exchanges with another companionship. They went pretty well we taught a few member lessons in English so it gave my mind a break. 

 On Thursday we found a woman named Marleen! She's super cool and is always down to talk about God. She's a member of La Luz del Mundo which claims authority for their Apostle. Except he's underfire and went to prison for trafficking girls and other things but ya I'm sure he's great. Anyway they believe that there's no more prophets after John, only apostles. And that God is a spirit type thing who doesn't have a body. So a few things ti clear up but other than that she's really interested! 

 On Friday we taught this guy named Tommy in his backyard. And then we went over to our friend Donna! Donna is so sick. She took 2 full pages of notes on Mosiah 24. She loves the book of mormon. Then, we finally got her husband, Octavio, to join in. Donna speaks English and Spanish but Octavio is strictly Spanish. He had a ton of questions and we didn't have to answer any! Donna was super pumped and answered all of his questions. The spirit was so strong it was such a cool lesson! 

 On Saturday we went to help the city set up a 5k and then ended up running in it haha. That wasn't the Plan but it was fun! I ran it in like 22 minutes haha I felt so out of shape though. Then we taught this guy named Julian! He's super awesome! He told us he really really needs a church so he was more than happy to talk to us. We had an awesome Restoration lesson and I messed up my conjugations bad with Joseph Smiths story but I got the first vision right so the spirit was there haha. He loved it! 

 On Sunday morning we went and talked with a guy named Amador. He is the brother in law of one of our Branchs members. We had a really cool lesson with him that was more about Christ's Atonement because he said he wants to quit drinking. He's super super cool and said we can come back. 

 Anyway sorry for the long email! I'll talk to yall next week! 

Love y'all!! Love, Elder Ryan

-5K -All The Elders with the same alien american flags shirt -Alien stuff -Cool sign -Morning sports at the church

Happy Halloween!

This week was really cool! We did a lot of fun things but I also had a really amazing experience! So if you don't read it all at least read about Mark at the end haha. 

 So on Tuesday we went and got the Flu Shot not that cool but just so ya know I'm still doing that haha. Um we got new tires on our car so thanks y'all for your tithing money haha. The sisters set up a lesson on Facebook in Spanish so we talked to him and got him set up with missionaries in New Jersey! 

 On Wednesday we went and did some service for a woman the sisters are teaching and it was disgusting. She had like nineteen cats and dogs in her house and she never cleaned up their messes and ew disgusting. Now I know why my mom hates dogs in the house. And then we drove all the way down to Artesia, New Mexico. We had a referral down there and she's cool!! We also gave a member a blessing. 

 On Thursday we built a shed for a member! We also found like three people Thursday! We decided we were being too nice and that this is the restored gospel we need to be teaching and put more of an emphasis restored truth. So we did, and it worked! We got like three people in a night to listen to the Restoration and let us come back! 

 And then Saturday was our Trunk or Treat! It was sick! We spent over 500 dollars as a district to fill the bed of our Tacoma and it worked haha. It was legendary! We found a ton of people from it and we had a lot of people we're teaching show up. We also had a bunch of people post about us on Facebook saying how cool it was and how we were the favorite car so good publicity too haha. And also a guy named Mark showed up...Mark has a 3 legged chihuahua that he carries around everywhere. 

 So the story with Mark is he showed up to church last week and was super interested so we said we'd be in contact with him. He then showed up at the Trunk or treat randomly and he goes "I wanna be converted...the world is a mess and I need a home." So that was sick!! So then Sunday was nuts. 

 So we went to the English ward on Sunday because Mark wanted to go and the sisters said he's too flirty so they gave him to us. So he showed up for church and we were pumped! He sat down with us and he tried to give his dog the sacrament but the dog refused haha. and then he had to leave early because his 3 legged dog had to go to the bathroom and he had to deliver his friends Lunch. Right as he left one of the members got up and gave an amazing talk on Baptism so that was sad. So we were sad because he missed it butttt later at our Spanish branch he showed up midway through sacrament. I was like uh okay sure come on haha and he sat down and told us he can't speak Spanish amazing but he understands it pretty well. So then after sacrament, Elder Checketts and I had to teach the Sunday School lesson about The Plan of Salvation. He said he wanted to stay even though it was in Spanish because he was adamant about talking to us after. 

 So, Elder Checketts and I are giving this plan of Salvation lesson and it was a super spiritually powerful lesson. I was able to understand everything the members were saying and talk back with them and I could communicate better than I have my whole mission so far. Then, after church and our lesson, Mark sits down with us and talks about how we must be servants of Christ and how we must have his spirit with us because of the way we were able to communicate with how little practice we've had. It was so cool! I realized the spirit was helping me the whole time because that's what would touch Mark! 

 He also talked about how we have this light about us, and how he's so drawn to our happiness. He said he wants that for himself and asked "how can I become a member?" SO COOL!!! So we'll meet with him again and extend the baptismal invitation. Sorry for the super long story but I thought it was an amazing experience. And it taught me a few things! Always stay close to the spirit and worthy of it, because you never know when it'll need to work through you. Also, to BE A LIGHT TO EVERYONE! This is two weeks in a row now that someone had told us they want to join because of our happiness and light. This is the restored church of Jesus Christ, we have the full truth! It brings true happiness and we need to show it and be an example to everyone! 

 Matthew 5:14 and 16 "Ye are the light of the world....Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." 

 Love you all! 

 Love, Elder Ryan

1. The whole district with our estupendo 2. The district + Moana 3. Elder Lerdall and I 4. Panda heads 5. The shed