Lots of Lasts

Okay this email is for 2 weeks ago! This week was super good. We didn't have as much time to work as I would have liked, but it still went great. That is because I had my final interview with President Child, I had my last zone conference, and we had MLC way up in Lubbock. 

    I got to go on exchanges with Elder Winters here in Odessa this week and he is awesome. We didn't have many scheduled lessons that day, but he was down to walk and tract all day so it was a good time. Starting to get miserable in the 100 degree heat though haha.

    We're struggling to get our friend Cornelious to come to church right now. He's doing really good, he loves the way The Book of Mormon makes him feel and how he feels during our lessons. He has a very serious need for the gospel and knows it, but we have put a member on his doorstep twice now for church and he's just blown them off and not answered haha. So pray that we can get him to sacrament meeting!

    We had a lesson with our friend Irma, and she is so awesome. She considers us her grandma and just tries to make us enchiladas all the time haha. But she opened up to us a lot about her parents, and siblings who have passed away and how much she misses them. She also talked about the fear of losing her children and grandchildren. We began teaching her The Plan of Salvation and she is so smart and loves it. We haven't covered it all the way yet, but the spirit is always so strong especially as someone starts to truly comprehend the plan. 

    We're teaching an 11 year old kid named Jaden, who's part of a part member family, The Torres'. We taught Jaden the Restorarion of Christ's church and he is such a stud. He's the most spiritually mature kid I've met, and he retaught the Restoration to us right after we taught it to him. He then said something along the lines of how he needs to be baptized in this church because it's Jesus' church. He is planning to be baptized in July! Sad day that I won't be here but I'm so stoked for him.

    Anyways, I got to have my last interview with President, last zone conference, and last MLC. My final interview was so awesome. We talked about my mission as a whole and the changes that I've seen in me and that he's seen. I felt the spirit so strong and I'm so grateful for President Child. I felt so grateful for the Atonement of Christ and the change that he has made in me. I also got to go down to Lubbock for MLC, and got to see a bunch of my old mission friends which was fun.

    I wanted to end with a spiritual thought. President Child taught us in zone conference about the parable of the slope. We talked about how God isn't as concerned with where we've been, as much as he is about where we are and where we're willing to go with his help. The gospel is a gospel of hope and progression, not one that causes us to look backwards. Hope because of Christ is always pointed to the future! Love yall!

Love, Elder Ryan