"Good Luck!!!!! The Whole Building is Hispanics!!"

It was another fantastic week for Ryan.  We were a little unsure how a holiday Monday p-day would work and since we didn't hear from him earlier in the day we assumed it was changed.  But thanks to a kind member, we received a photo of him at the Minnesota State Fair and realized his emails would come later in the day.  We are glad that he had the opportunity to experience some Minnesota culture and have some fun with other missionaries.  We were also glad to hear that he worked hard this week and had some faith promoting experiences.  It is cool to see his growth as a missionary so early on.

I will include some bits and pieces of various emails and of course his group one as well.

 So last week my companion asked me to look at our people with interest, in our area book, and there are a lot, because old missionaries here didn't follow up ever it seems.  But the person I felt we should reach out to we went and saw this week.  His name is Jose Manuel Torres, but he goes by Manuel.  He is a really nice guy and showed a genuine interest!  He accepted the Book of Mormon really well too.  He said he couldn't see why God wouldn't of had prophets in the Americas too, it all made sense.  So that was way cool to be able to find that person, and so far see something come from it!  We are going to try and meet with him twice a week, so hopefully it continues to go well!  Other than that, just a lot of closed doors, which is hard, but when they do open the door, usually we are able to have a really good interaction and at least bring a little bit of light to their lives.  And I am so glad to be working with Hispanics! 

 We went to the state fair pretty early this morning after our studies, and then spent most of our pday there and driving to and from.  There was so much food and fun stuff, and we would occasionally run into a member and they were so nice!  This one member was running the slingshot ride and gave us a free ride and the video of it!! Ill get that to you later when I can, but it was so much fun and we had  a blast and I'm sure you would've enjoyed it too.

Group Email:


So we had another full week here in Minnesota.  So for a lot of the week we did work in the farthest south part of our area.  Not many missionaries have been able to get down there since this area historically just hasn't had a car.  And we are losing our car on the 20th this month, so we thought we would go do the work we could there while we had a car and then give the area to the Hermanas who have a car.  But while we were down there was plenty of crazy things.  We saw a metal gorilla, a giant creation of the millennium falcon, and plenty of other weird things you'll all get pictures of here.  So we didn't have a whole lot of success down south in the time we were down there, but I did experience my first door slam which was an interesting experience.  So let me help you imagine this, we knock on the door, and my companion was going to let me do this door.  So I knock, and as soon as the door opens, literally in less than a blink of an eye, the door was closing and the lady was yelling at us.  She was not Hispanic.  So she said a variety of things we found funny.  She suggested we change our clothes, because "How do you expect to sneak up and trick anyone in those clothes??"  Also she claimed we were soliciting because we were selling Jesus even if we didn't charge money.  And the best part, she said good luck to us, "The whole building is Hispanic!"  And 95 percent of this happened while the door was closed.  And me and my companion just looked at each other and knew we were in the right place, we are the Spanish elders after all, and the whole building was here for us!  So that was quite the experience.

Other than that, we did have some good experiences this week.  We taught some new people that seemed to find a genuine interest in the things that we had to say, and when you find someone like that, that asks all the right questions and just understands what you are saying, it is such a blessing.  There is no way that can happen without the spirit reaching out to them and helping them understand.  The spirit is such an important part of our lives daily.  We also had the opportunity as the only Spanish Elders in our area, to give quite a few priesthood blessings, and those are always testimony builders and just help you feel God's love for His children.  And finally, we have been able to work with a lot of less active members, and even if it isn't getting them back to church right away, if you can bring the spirit into their lives in someway, they will remember those feelings and then build that desire themselves.  That is something that everyone can do, missionary or not, is to bring the spirit into someone's life and help them recognize that familiar and loving feeling that comes from the Gospel.  if you do that, you will understand a portion of the Love God has for everyone here on the earth.  

Well that's this week of crazy and spiritual in Minnesota, and I am sure I haven't even scratched the surface yet, so talk to you all next week with some more stories and good experiences.

Elder Pickering