Final CCM Email

First Mission Accomplished  . . . catch a parrot

Ryan's last email from the CCM was a little brief.  I know that he is ready to go on and begin the next phase of his mission.  He has not shared a lot of the hardship he has dealt with in the MTC to avoid the negative.  But I can attest that he has had to learn patience, love, compassion and trust in God to stick with some of the things he was handed.  But I admire him and how well he has handled himself and the situation.  His testimony has grown and his conviction for going as well.  Great things are yet to come.

Here is also a small snippet of an email he sent his Grandfather:

"Something that our gospel that really puts it out, is that personal revelation!  So many people are out there right now living thinking that they don't have a way to hear God or see him in their lives, and that is so sad!  We are lucky to know that God is watching out for us everyday and has given us the means of talking to him whenever we may need, as well as seeing an answer to our prayers and concerns!  I am so excited to bring that enlightening news to people in my rough Spanish, it is coming along, but I still have much more work to do.  With the language and the gospel.  I am so excited to get out there and share this gospel of pure joy and happiness!"

Group Email:

Well its official, the time has come to move on from the ccm and that is crazy! The days here can be some of the longest, but the time comes and the weeks just melt by, and in just 6 weeks you can accomplish so much! So here is some stats you can all enjoy of the 6 weeks here.

*Toaster has been on fire 4 times
*1 bird caught, and 0 loros :(
*30+ lessons taught
*Hundreds of prayers
*2 songs sung in English
*3 prayers offered in English
*Murdoch companions =6
*Volleyball win rate 100%
*Ping Pong win rate 100%
*Pushup increase amount 300%
*District hospital visits =2
*Number of missionaries that believe we are going to Japan = 10
*Earthquake drills =3 Real alarms =1
*Times water got cut off =2

Yeah so basically you can live out a life in 6 weeks and it will fly by like its nothing. It is crazy, but I am ready to get out and further the work. The next email you will receive will have been after some time in the field so hopefully I will actually have new pictures and real stories that don't just repeat weekly. So moral of this email, is don't waste your time, it will never stop moving by, so you can either savor every second, or let it get passed you. And if you are serving God, or others, you are not wasting that time one bit. Two years can seem like a long time, but if put to the best use, you can live that time out like it was much longer. And the amount of blessings and happiness you can bring to people in 2 years is infinite, so don't waste a second of your time with something that you will come back and regret later. When in doubt, do something to make someone smile, you will never regret it.

Well until the next exciting email
-Elder Pickering