Another week down and Ryan just continues to improve both in his health and his ability to serve and teach. At the same time he has been very honest about the challenges of the work and how hard it is to be a missionary at time. Also, this past week I had to teach a lesson for a Relief Society activity on missionary work. I asked Ryan what helped him prepare before he left. I found his answers enlightening and will include them as well as other random tidbits from various letters.
Hey Mom, I have had a pretty good week this week, but there wasn't really anything huge that happened. So to give you an idea on how hard the Spanish work is here, my companion who has been here a year has only had 1 person that has gone more than 3 lessons with them before saying they aren't interested anymore. And that is a person we are teaching right now. So that is hard, that we will be putting in a ton of effort and probably see next to none of the actual outcome to our efforts, but I am gonna keep working hard. Someone is out here and is waiting for me and I just need to find who they are.
So the family that we gave the blessing to, he is still continuing to improve in his health and his liver swelling went down right after we did the blessing, so they could actually perform the surgery they needed to. And the family has been pretty good at coming to church since then so far! Still not perfect, but doing more than they were doing before. They were offended in the church and at is why they have a hard time. That's something hard we see in less actives here. There are a lot of people that hold on to something from forever ago And its sad that it is still driving them.
And of the finding and area book work we have done, we have one guy, Manuel who I found! He is one of our most promising investigators as of right now. He is pretty receptive to all that we are teaching, and I hope we can keep working with him. Other than that, it is really hard following up and having them continue to want having more lessons or visits, it is very hard.
The ward here is great. I am slowly being able to communicate more and more with them and they are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. They are mostly all converts and have their own stories and tattoos and wear chains and all those good things, but they are just the best people and that has probably been one of my favorite things on my mission so far, the members. And we usually get fed about 3 times a week! The elders just aren't as popular as the sisters, who are almost double booked all the time haha.
The fires there sound so crazy, man, I leave for 2 months and Utah goes and starts the house on fire, man.
So what prepared me most on my mission, hmmm.
I think I could have done a lot better at preparing honestly, but here are the key things that I think every missionary could do to really feel prepared and feel well in their first weeks out here in the field. Get used to making your own food and find some cheap yummy foods you wouldn't mind eating a fair bit when you have that in supply. Know how to not spend all your money and budget and save through the month. Practice putting yourself out there and talking to everyone, whether it is comfortable for you or not. And really study the Book of Mormon. That is the foundation of our church, and it is the most correct book that is here on this earth today. So the more you immerse yourself, the more the Lord helps you know what you need to be doing, and kind of guides you to become the person you need to on your mission. And before you leave, just enjoy the time that you have, you'll love those memories with the people that really matter to you in life, so head to their advice and hold close to them leading up to before you leave.
Hopefully that is kind of helpful and you can pull and expound from those things! And I hope things there keep going well and you all keep going through life and loving it. I miss you guys, but like I have said, there is nothing I would rather be doing here than learning and growing here in Minnesota, but I love you all with all my heart!
Ryan
Time here really is flying by, and I can't believe it. Each week goes by week so fast and it does not feel like it should be my first transfer already. I should be staying here in central Minneapolis with my trainer, so that will be very nice. I am excited for that we will be together for at least one more transfer. We have done very very well together.
My health is 100 percent now and is not an issue anymore. I have loved the chance to be able to bike when the weather cooperates and it is a little crazy. You really have to lock everything you care about up, wheels and handlebars and all, but it is great. And we might be keeping our car, but we don't know for sure until transfers this week.
So the work here is really slow and hard, and most Spanish missionaries will go home without even seeing a baptism or anything, so I am working hard and bound to beat the statistic, and I have no doubt that if I put in the work I can. I gave a training in district meeting this week, and did it on helping people keep commitments, so I think it went well and hopefully I can also take from what I learned in doing it to help out the people that I work with.
Group Letter:
Hey Everyone!
So this week has been another great one out here in Minnesota. This week we had a bit of a little hot burst and so it has been nice and humid through all this week. And now it is going to drop about 20 degrees in this week alone, and so that will be a bit of a shock. But fall is coming, so it is going to start looking beautiful here.
So to start of this week, I had another exchange for the day, this one was with the zone leaders though, and it just so happens we live with each other too, so it made the exchange quite easy. I had a really good time on the exchange though. So I went with Elder Sherwood and worked in his English area. So the first thing we did was went and filled some water containers for this older guy in his ward, and we got attacked by bees while doing that, so we both left there with some battle scars and that was an adventure. We also got the chance to go read the Book of Mormon with someone that was just baptized a few weeks ago, and that was so cool to see. I remember even seeing him on his baptism day, and he was so much different. I got to see the light that he got to start having in his life and the change that it brought. He is doing so well and reading the Book of Mormon, and that was just great to do. We also visited another person they are teaching, that has a lot of medical issues, but he is trying so hard despite how hard his life has been, and he has the sweetest heart. The gospel brings a light into peoples lives that just sparks change and makes their lives start turning around from whatever they came from. That was a blessing to see during the exchange, and a good motivator.
So this week in the Spanish area was a bit hard though, we taught a couple lessons and other than that nothing crazy happened. While we were walking by a park though this 15 year old kid came up and started talking to us and had a ton of questions and that was really cool. We are gonna try teaching him again later, and maybe even start to teach his family, who knows, it was cool to see him make the effort, and even if it doesn't come to anything, it was a good experience. Other than that, transfers are this week and I am staying where I am at and with my companion. So I am very excited to keep up the work here in Minneapolis and see what we can do.
Now Ill explain some of the pictures. So you got 3 pictures of crazy stuff that we have found around in the city, and the dinosaurs are at someone's house, not a museum or anything. People here are just crazy. Then we have the last picture which is me and Elder Sherwood on our exchange, so enjoy the pictures!
It was a great week and i am excited to just keep it up, the Lord provides a way to do his work and all we have to do is ask and be willing to do it, so that is what I will do.
Have a good week everyone
-Elder Pickering
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