I'm Going To The Temple!

Sorry yall, my Pday got changed because I'm going to the temple! So this is from a week ago!

    I'm so excited I can go to the temple! I'm so excited to do that, I haven't gone since I received my endowment. Anyway into this week...

   This last week I went on exchanges with the trio in the district. It went great! We found a kid named Bryson haha. He was like dude we're like the same and then went on to explain that he's been expelled for death threats and the cops showed up to his house the other day to question him hahaha. And he's a completely different race so hey kinda close I guess. 

   We had a lesson with Edith and Sandra, talked about obedience, praying often and baptism. They're at an interesting point. We've taught them almost everything a few times, and they understand it very well. They told us they just need to read and pray and they'll decide in time. They said it's difficult because everyone in their family is Catholic. We'll see it'll be interesting.

   One of our inactive members, Ismael, finally reached out to us and said he wants to start coming back. He's going through a divorce, and struggling with depression. He turned to cigarettes for a few days to deal with it. We had a powerful conversation about the power of the Book of mormon in overcoming temptation, trials and depression. It was also great, because I had rough patch on my mission and I was able to relate with help and talk to him about that. After we took his cigarettes haha and then he came to church on Sunday! It was great.

   We had a great lesson with our friend Tyler about the Gospel and one of our members was there. It went so well. She was able to explain her process as a convert, and it was perfect it was exactly what Tyler needed to hear!

   Easter Sunday was so dang good. Ismael came to church and was in tears. We sang the best Easter Hymns haha. As I was studying and preparing for Easter this week, I read through the accounts of the final week of the Saviors life in each of the gospels. I was asking in my prayers to get a deeper understanding of His Resurrection. As I read through, the main thing that stuck out to me was The Apostles reactions and emotions. They were waiting for Christ their whole life to deliver them from their misery. They walked with Him and were so excited, but then he dies. And not only that, they all left him in his final and hardest moments. I'm sure they felt confused, hurt, sad, guilty and a whole string of emotions. Then, when Mary Magdalene told them that He Lives, imagine the joy they were filled with. Because He lives, they didn't need to feel guilty anymore, or sad or confused. It's the same with us! Because He lives, we can he free of confusion, guilt, sadness and any pains. I know that He lives and loves us all!

   On Sunday, we also had a fun miracle. Elder Jensen and I were out street contacting and these 4 kids had water guns and water balloons. They asked if they could throw one, and I said "sure if you give me one first!" So that turned into a full blown 20 minute water balloon fight, with me and Elder Jensen vs 4 10 year olds. It was an intense battle but I believe that Elder Jensen and I definitely won. Only got nailed a few times in the leg and chest haha. But, during the fight we saw their mom watching and laughing and I had the thought "after go talk to her". So we did and it was great! She immediately let us in, and we shared some verses from the book of mormon and taught her about what it is. She loved it! And she told that she has many problems in her life, and will definitely read it if this will help her. She then proceeded to give us her number, and told us when to come back. It was great! The lord blesses us everyday!

   I love yall! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Ryan

La Semana Santa (Easter)

 So this week I went to Amarillo on exchanges with the Zone leaders. We taught a few member lessons but most of their friends canceled on us. I got to help their member who is starting to build a huge shed, and we started doing the walls. I can confidently frame a house now so that's a plus.

    We had a lesson with our friend Marcelo, who wants to be baptized! He's so cool, but he's being difficult. He has read and prayed about the Book of mormon, he told us he knows with his whole heart that The Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that our church is the only true church. SO AWESOME BUT he wants to wait till August to be baptized, because he wants to know every little thing and know the ins and outs of the church. A little frustrating, because I don't even know everything, but hey it's all good we're working with him.

    We found a new person named Nancy. She's way cool! She's a strong believer in christ, and has no church to belong to. We knocked her door, and she was actually just talking about us with her sons last night! She told them they need to meet with us. So when we met her, she only had 20 minutes before her work shift. It was WILD. She asked what makes our church different, so we quickly explained The Restoration, Book of Mormon, and living Prophets. She asked about the Godhead and our beliefs, she asked how we do our "communion" or the sacrament, she asked how we invite the spirit, so we explained prayer, baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Had a question about the Priesthood so we explained that, had some questions about Joseph Smith so we quickly answered before she had to leave. All while the gift of tongues was working because we were speaking the fastest Spanish I've ever spoken haha. She's way cool I'm excited to see her progress!

    We taught our friend Tyler the plan of Salvation. He's a Baptist, but he was very very interested in our beliefs. He was mainly interested on what our beliefs about family and children are, so we sent him the Family Proclamation. He was also very interested in the kingdoms of glory. We have another lesson this week with him.

    We had another little miracle happen! We were gonna end the night by going home and making some phone calls and messaging people on Facebook, but I got the prompting to stay out and do some street contacting and knocking. So we followed it, and went around for about an hour and nothing. We were about to head home when we ran into our friend Yoli! We met her once and haven't gotten back in contact with her! We gave her the Book of mormon, had an amazing talk and bore testimony of it, and she loved it! We're meeting her again this week!

    We had a sweet lesson with our 5 girls, they're the best. They've been taught everything, so we retaught the Restoration. They loved it, again haha. Edith watched conference and she had tons of questions and shared tons of the messages with the girls. Got really deeper into modern day prophets and Apostles and helped them see the importance. Edith told the rest of the girls that the Catholic church (they're old home church) is still in Apostasy because they have no priesthood, prophets or apostles. So that's a plus.

    Had a lesson with our friend named Lonnie, he wants to be baptized but I'm 70 percent sure he was on some type of LSD trip so we'll get back to him haha.  

    I love yall! Hope everyone has a great week! I'm so excited for this Easter week! I challenge you all to take time to focus on the Savior everyday this week, and focus on what we can learn from what he did during this last week in his mortal ministry. I love you all!

Love, Elder Ryan

Miracle Filled Week

 Sorry I don't have tons of time! This was a great great week!! Had an awesome lesson with our friend Bo who wants to be baptized but doesn't believe God wants him to. Super powerful lesson about prayer and trying to get him to trust in God.

    We had a sweet lesson with our friend named Tyler at a coffee shop. (I got Hot Chocolate don't worry) we taught him the Restoration and he didn't seem to into it. But then we started reading him scriptures and he loved it! His mom is a member in a different part of Texas.

    We had a lesson with our friend Jose, whose wife Liliana is a member. We're teaching them and the mom also needs have her testimony strengthened because she wouldn't talk about the Book of mormon, but she's very interested in her husband getting the gospel. He wants to learn more about Joseph Smith specifically!

    We had a lesson with our friend Demis, who weirdly wants to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover before praying about it. As long as he reads itz all good I guess haha

    We had a lesson with Edith, Sandra and Mercedes and it was so good. We were teaching the Plan of Salvation, and I had the prompting to talk about Baptisms for the dead. I did and it was so great. Edith got SO EXCITED, and she started asking questions about being able to baptized for her dad if she is baptized in the church. Now she is insanely interested, and watched all 3 sessions of conference on Saturday!

    Another miracle, our friend called us out of the blue and said he's been reading the book of mormon, and wants to be baptized so we're meeting with him next Wednesday. So awesome!

    After a conference session we felt prompted to visit a girl named Frances who needed it. She was crying, talking about how she feels she has no purpose or direction in her life. After talking a bit, we had her watched the women's sessions of conference and she loved it!

    Anyway, sorry it was a very quick email but it was FULL OF MIRACLES. conference was incredible! I'll talk more about it and give some spiritual thoughts next week! Love yall!

Love, Elder Ryan

Very windy haha