Seeing Some Miracles!

 Hey yall! Sorry I missed last week, but my Pday is early this week so it works out. This week has been transfer week so we've done a lot of planning. It's been a good time!

    I'll start with an update on our friends. Caden is doing super good. He came to our friend Olivia's baptism, and he came to another baptism here in Lubbock. We have had a couple of awesome lessons about The Plan of Salvation with him. As we taught about the Plan he told us he wants to go to the celestial kingdom, but doesn't see why baptism is necessary. We told him that his life and journey back to God and to the celestial kingdom is like a rocky and twisty path. It's easy to slip and fall. Whats so amazing about baptism and covenants in general is that Christ, in Gethsemane and on the cross, walked each of our paths. So when we are bound to him by covenant, we are now walking with him making it so we cannot slip and fall. He really loved that and it made sense to him, and he told us he sees why baptism is necessary! He is currently praying about a date to be baptized, so pray for Caden!

    Our friend Mike Jr. is on date for the first weekend of November. What's interesting is his dad hates our church and us missionaries. As we were teaching Mike this last week, his dad came in and started bashing us and told us that we're done meeting with Mike. Mike is over 18 so he can do what he wants. Mike said that he is confused because he feels like he should follow us, but his dad is pulling him the other way. We stayed very kind, but we got very bold. We were testifying that this is the true church, and this is the ONLY way for happiness, joy and exaltation. We testified that the church is true and that Mike could not find rest or his answers anywhere else. His dad obviously didnt like that but he agreed to let us keep seeing Mike! PRAY FOR HIM PLEASE!

    We had an awesome experience at Texas Tech. We were talking to two members who we saw there, when some lady walked by. I had the impression to smile at her so I did and then she walked away. About 10 seconds later, she came back and poked us and said she needed to talk to us. She told us her life story and how she felt like she needed to come speak to us. She is so prepared and it was such a miracle! 

     I went down to Midland and went on exchanges with Tanner it was so fun haha. I did the Paqui one chip challenge which is stupid hot and I lasted over an hour after without eating anything. Not anything impressive but I was proud of it haha. 

     Anyway that was a review on our people! Sorry it wasn't much but these last few weeks have been great! Love yall!

Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Love, Elder Ryan

Olivia got baptized!

 This week was so good!! We really saw so many miracles. This email is a little long, but the stories in here are so worth it!

   Olivia was baptized!! It worked out so well. She is one of the most incredible people I've ever taught on my mission. We had a few lessons this week preparing her for baptism but she is already so prepared. She has a boyfriend on a mission and she had always wanted what he and his family has. Her parents are very against it, but once she moved out to college she came and found us. 

   Her baptism day was so special. Her boyfriends family drove about 6 hours to be here for the baptism, and her boyfriend was able to give a talk and watch over zoom. The spirit was so strong and she was so happy.

   A huge miracle that happened this week was with our friend Christopher. He has an insane story. He was left homeless at 17 years old, and he was living on his own. He went looking for food and shelter, and found a group of people willing to let him in. These people ended up being part of a cult, and he was stuck there. He was stuck with them for a few years, and while he was he started to look for "the truth", and for God. He told us he knew that only Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ could help him. He had searched through SO MANY churches, and then one day, two missionaries here in Lubbock showed up to the house he was stuck in. 

     They went because one of the guys also living there had requested a missionary visit over Facebook. The guy that requested the visit wasn't interested at all, but Christopher heard everything and started talking to them. The missionaries passed him off to us, and then somehow Christopher broke out of that house and ran away! So once he got out, we had an awesome lesson about The Restoration. He was so happy and told us it makes so much sense. 

     In our second lesson about a week later, we were talking to him about how to know what is true and what's not. He cut us off and told us he's been reading The Book of Mormon every night for 20 minutes and he knows it's true! So we put him on date for October 22nd and he couldn't stop smiling he is just so happy. He prayed with us and thanked God for finding the truth, and then on Sunday he came to church and bore his testimony! He told the whole ward a little bit about his story, and then testified that he knows he found the truth in this church and in The Book of Mormon. SO COOL!!

     We were praying for miracles a lot this week, and then some sisters called us saying they have a friend they just put on baptismal date for October 29th, and they're passing him off to us! His name is Mike and he is super cool. Another huge miracle this week was that Christopher, Mike, and Caden, three of our friends who we're teaching, were able to come to Olivia's baptism! Christopher and Mike are on date, and Caden is working towards it. It's so amazing to see the Lord answer our prayers!

     We also met with our friend Omar this week. It's been awhile since we've seen him, but he told us he wants to be baptized, but he has some habits he wants to break before that. Pray for Omar!

     Sorry for the real long email, but this week was incredible! My testimony of Christ and of His church grows daily. I know He lives and I know this church is true! It has to be! I love yall!

Love, Elder Ryan

Elder MacDougall

Olivia

Olivia is getting baptized!

 Hey yall! This week was a good week! Conference was incredible and we saw some miracles this week.

    So Olivia is getting baptized this Saturday! I could not be more excited for her. We've had some cool experiences with her this past week. We've been teaching her about The Plan of Salvation and she absolutely loves it. She heard about it in an institute class and saw a diagram and she's been dying to learn more. At the end of our lesson last Monday she says "Elders, I've got to tell yall something." I got worried, but she goes "I am ready to be baptized as soon as possible. I see no point in waiting longer." Heck yeah haha. She really is so prepared.

    This weekend she watched all 5 sessions of general conference at the institute building with us and our ward. It answered so many questions for her. So her parents are very against her baptism. They text her daily literally begging her to not get baptized, telling her it's breaking their hearts and they didn't raise her like this, so on and so forth. President Nelson's talk was so perfect. He said that although making covenants makes life easier, it doesn't make life easy. And then he said "Expect opposition! The adversary doesn't want you to make covenants with the Lord." Olivia just started crying and it was a direct answer to hers and our prayers!

    We had a lesson with our friend Caden this week. It was a great lesson specifically about The Book of Mormon. He's been reading it, and he says he gets the same feeling from reading it as when he read The Bible. He can't seem to correlate that it means it's true though. We asked what he would do if he knew the book was true, and he said that would change everything because then Joseph Smith and everything else is true. We had a really powerful discussion testifying that it is true, and inviting him to pray about it. He said he would! Then something cool happened.

    So we invited him to conference, but he said he couldn't come. Then on Sunday morning during conference, Caden comes strolling into the institute building during one of the sessions! He sat by us and explained that he only has about 20 minutes, but he felt like he should come just for a bit. The talks he heard were so perfect for him and it was truly a miracle!

     Hope yall have a good week! I know Christ lives and that he calls prophets and Apostles to guide us here on the earth. Love yall!

Love, Elder Ryan

Elder Allen