First Real Week of Work!!

We finally got good news!  After over a week of Ryan being down in bed, not able to eat anything, or do any kind of missionary work,  he is finally on his feet again.  He is slowly easing back into it but we are thrilled that he was finally able get out and do what he was sent to do.

His area is Minneapolis.  It is a big city and he is still unsure how much of it they actually cover.  But true to most big cities, it provides constant entertainment and crazy stories.  Normally it is a biking area but because he is still not at %100 the Mission President assigned them to use a car for awhile.  His trainer and companion is Elder Millecam from Smithfield Utah.  They are doing well together and Ryan is excited to learn from him.

They are assigned to the Twin Cities 1st ward.  He said the members of the ward are excellent and so faithful and kind.  They seem to love the missionaries and have already fed them wonderful meals.  It looks like he is going to be well taken care of there in Minnesota.

Here is his group email:

So I have had the chance this week to not be in a hospital, and let me tell you it is much easier to do missionary work outside of a hospital bed! This week started out pretty chill because we had a zone conference one of my first days out here.  So we got to all get together and learn more and overall grow as missionaries.  We had the opportunity to teach a few lessons this week as my body has recovered, and I am currently in a trio for that, and they decided to have me invite in my very first lesson the guy to be baptized.  It was a very cool experience, and even if he hasn't accepted the baptismal date just yet, it was good to learn by fire and have the chance to invite him in my very first lesson as a missionary. 

We also have this one investigator right now who has had a crazy story.  He and his family lived down in Mexico and some bad people got involved with them and ended up shooting at them while they were all in the car.  3 out of the 4 of them ended up with bullets in them and the fact that they are alive is a miracle in and of itself!  They are able to recognize that it is only because of God that they were able to receive that blessing and keep on their lives.  So now we are just trying to turn that recognition into the desire to do more and put in the effort back to God. 

So it was a good first week of work and leading up to church was great.  And then came church time where you just wait for your investigators to show up and hope they have that desire to come.  Sadly we waited and waited to no avail, this week none of our people decided to show up, and that was hard, but it just means we have some work to do this week.  As I keep feeling better and better I will have the opportunity to do more for the people and I am so excited for that.  The blessings of being a missionary are amazing, and I am grateful for the opportunity to be out here and serve!

-Elder Pickering