This Week Hit Me Like A Truck

Well Ryan's email this week contained the words every mom dreads to hear "I got hit by a truck".  What???  How??  What????  Yes,  that was my reaction when I first heard the news.  But, when you hear about the incident after it already happened, you can't do much but sigh in relief.  And know that God answered our prayers since we pray for Ryan and his safety every day.  A mission is crazy and you never know what experiences will come.  I am thankful for what Ryan is learning and his positive attitude when it doesn't go as planned.

Here are a few things he shared with me this week:  He went to the temple as a district and enjoyed it very  much.  He is also handling his District Leader responsibilities well and is learning from that.  Riding a bike is getting to be a little old, especially in the cold.  People are no more cranky in the winter, and respectively he still gets rejected quite often.  He is quite "tight" with his Mission President since their shared ordeal of Salmonella.  Quite a few missionaries are coming in the next transfer and there is a slight possibility he may be training a new missionary.  And finally, he reemphasized that a mission is way hard, but not impossible, you just got to buckle down and do it.

And he is doing it and doing it well!

Group Email:

Well here is another email from me from a relatively short week since my last p-day was thanksgiving.  Even though it was shorter though, it was a pretty crazy week here in Minne.  

To start off the week we had a day of pure rain, which is never the most fun, especially when it is really cold on top of that.  And normally we could be in and out of it and not get too soaked, but we had a lesson that was farther away, so we took all this time biking over there, and when we got there, the member we were having the lesson with didn't answer their door or phone, so we had to have another long cold bike ride back, and we were very wet and cold by the end.  

This week we were also able to go on exchanges with the Zone leaders, and its pretty easy since we live with them.  But we both split up with a different person and went to work.  And we found a ton of people for them to teach, and a ton for us to teach as well.  It was really cool to see the amount of success we had, and it was a lot of fun to see how someone else works and be in a zebra companionship for a day.  

And to finish this week off, like the title of the email says, I literally got hit by a truck. I was riding down a road and a truck started pulling out from a side road and literally didn't even look to see if anyone was coming, and so they hit into the side of me.  Luckily I was able to let the driver know pretty quickly they needed to stop (Hearing a bang on your car does that quick) and I am all okay here, but it sure was a scary experience to have, but blessings that no harm came from it.

Well this next week as December rolls in, I want everyone to look into the Light my world for 2018, and find a way to participate in it.  They are starting it off with a day of service as well, so December 1st get out there and go help someone in need!  There is lots of blessings in sharing the light of the gospel and helping people out, so I would like every single person to try and follow light the world this year as well as do all they can to participate in it, and I know blessings will follow.  

Well I love you all and will talk to you all again in another short week!

Elder Pickering

Back at You Again

The many missionaries the Vega Family hosted on Thanksgiving

Ryan's P-day wasn't until Thanksgiving Day this week.  And even though that was a long time to wait to hear from him, it was fun to be able to communicate with him on the Holiday.  He had a wonderful day thanks to the generosity of kind members, fun with the ward, visits with his investigators and yummy food.

I am so grateful to the wonderful people of Minnesota and all that they are doing to help my son grow and become the missionary and person he is meant to become.

Group Email:

Hey everyone. So its been a little while longer since you have all heard from me, but don't worry, I'm still alive here in Minnesota. And my next p-day will be weird too, it'll be on the 28th (To celebrate Alyssa's birthday) and to be able to go to the temple. So just a heads up for everyone. 

So since its been a longer week I'm not going to try and sum it up for all you, just give you like a story or so. So I have become my own practicing dog groomer here while on the mission. A lot of times the members have dogs, but don't have the time to clean them or whatnot, so for the second time on my mission I got to give a dog a haircut and a bath here. And something I have learned is giving baths to little dogs is a lot easier to maintain then big dogs, I know that's hard to believe. But that was something fun this week. And that family I cleaned the dog for, they got a bunny too, and they named it after me! But it is a girl, so its name is "Pickerina" which pretty much made my entire week. So I've left some sort of a mark here in Minneapolis. 

Later on in the week we had like a ward Thanksgiving party, and it went better than I could've expected. So a little after it had started, we got a text from one of the people we have a date for, saying her, and the other person we have a date for are on their way. They are both from El Salvador and when they got here, the table we had them sit at just so happened to have 2 more people from El Salvador as well, and they immediately just hit it off. Their kids were playing, they shared stories, were laughing and all happy together, and it was about as good as you can hope for as a missionary. Everyone welcomed and fellow-shipped them right in, and it was perfect. At the end of the night they had multiple Thanksgiving dinner invites, lots of new friends, and they thanked us for inviting them because they enjoyed it. So that was pretty much perfect for them at this time, and it was such a blessing to see, so hopefully following that, we will see continued growth in them now. 

So as my little invitation to you all this week, just be that welcoming person for someone else. If you see someone new or that may feel out of place, introduce yourself, get to know them, let them know this church is a place of family, because that is the kind of love you should feel here, and that's the kind of love that A and J felt when they came to the ward activity, and there is no better feeling then that. So keep up the good work and talk to everyone on the 28th!

-Elder Pickering

"Pickerina" the Bunny

Ryan wearing his Ohio State tie in honor of the Ohio State-Michigan Rivalry

It's Winter Time In The City

This week's email made my Mommy heart happy.  I just love reading about the growth Ryan is experiencing right now.  From being the resident chef, to really connecting in the Spanish Language to ENJOYING talking to all kinds of people in all kinds of circumstances is amazing.  Who is this boy??  I always knew he had it in him, it is just cool to see it coming out.  So I will post some random excerpts from various letters as well as his group email.


Yeah it really is pretty much exactly million degrees below zero here, in fact thats the exact wording that the weather uses!  (He may have been using his mom's hyperbole here).  I have not had too much of a problem staying warm thus far.  I mean we still have lots of temp to drop, but I am surviving, so that is good.  And yes we have had a quite bit more snow here, it is staying on the ground, and keeps falling often, so that is a party.

So our investigators or going well, we got another date set, and it is going well. We got a lot of new people to teach and we are trying new things daily to see what works.  And we have already split the ward into 3 groups, that's why we say that we are like Minneapolis central, we cover the area in the middle and all the members that are there as well.  

I have found a lot of joy in cooking and teaching myself new things with that.  Also I have really increased the amount of meals we get as I work on building relationships with the missionaries and members here, so the missionaries that come here in the future hopefully should have some good meals unless they ruin it, I have been working hard.  

But I have found more joy in just talking to people than I thought I ever would, so that is one blessing of the spirit, I have really enjoyed that.  

I love you, and we do have a meal on thanksgiving with a family here that has become practically my family while I am in this area, so don't stress that, thank you guys so much, keep being awemazing, Love you!

I have been able to grow closer to the members and gotten a lot of compliments on my Spanish and it has been good overall.  Like this one member who is less active, I started just talking to him at church, and then he took us to Tepanyaki and just is way cool.  He has been at church ever since and we also have been able to get his son to start coming as well who owns a restaurant here in Minne.  

So the work goes on. Its a good time, days are so long and way hard, but I am making it through.  I am working hard and doing all I can do so I wont regret the time spent here, 

Group Email:

Hello everyone once again from Minneapolis.  

I have to say that as a missionary starting off your group email is like a challenge, there are only so many creative ways to do it.  

So this week has been very good!  Very busy but a lot of work and  miracles have come from it!  There has basically been snow on the ground this whole week too, so now the biking is becoming a little more sketchy and requires a bit more skill.  But every time we have a lot of biking or have been out in the cold, there are always blessings that have come.  We have found a bunch of new people this week to teach as we have worked on talking with everyone. Its hard because not many people want to be out in the freezing, and I can't blame them, but none the less, when they are out, it usually leads to a good conversation and a return appointment and lots of blessings.  

So this week we decided to make breakfast for some of our members that are always feeding us and just so kind, so we ventured out and tried to make some good authentic Hispanic meal.  And I would say I did a pretty good job at that.  Some of the kids who don't eat breakfast at their houses ate my food and they said, so I am just that much closer to being a real Hispanic now.  It was a lot of fun to give back though and try something new for the people that you really grow to love.  We made some Chilaquiles, arroz con leche, huevos con chorizo, and then got some conchas and lechera and it made just about the classic all out Hispanic breakfast, it was a blast.  And they were very impressed that I could cook, and said that since I can cook, now I am good to get married because I passed that test, so phew isn't that a relief.

The other big part of this week that was pretty interesting was the Book of Mormon Musical.  Now we didn't actually go to watch it, get that out of the way, but we stood in front of the doors and offered a Book of Mormon to anyone that wanted one, and then talked to everyone that we could.  There were some people that were really nice and receptive, and others that didn't want any part of the real thing and were just trying to rush on in to the play, but it was a lot of fun.  By doing this every single showing of the play, our mission has run out of Book of Mormons and we had to order a whole ton more that hopefully can get here quick.  Because I still have two more nights that I get to do this.  We just talked to everyone, offered to take pictures, and even on some cases offered to let them take a picture with a real missionary haha.  A lot of people were surprised that the real missionaries are actually real people and pretty cool.  So even if the people we talked to don't have the chance or decide to change, at least we were able to help and break some stereotypes and hopefully help build peoples mindset about who we are and what we believe. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to keep on doing it this next week.

So my advice for everyone this week is just to put yourself out there.  And give everything so you're doing 100 percent.  If you are going to put time into something why would you only partially do it or make it not worth your time?  Also just put yourself out there a little more and see if you can help make someone's day.  God puts people in our path everyday, or perhaps puts you in someone else path to be an influence for them, so just reach out with kindness, and make ministering and showing kindness an everyday habit in your lives.  

So have a good week everyone, and keep up the good work where ever you are!

Elder Pickering

Getting Work Done

Random Tidbits:

The leaves here are everywhere and they even have to shut down streets at different times to try and clean them out, and they have special bags you have to use so the garbage people will come and get them, and we sure have had the opportunity to do a whole lot of leaf raking this fall.

We have a lot of plans to work harder here than ever, and I know that it is going to be a great time, everyday so far I get to the end exhausted and out of energy, but it has been great.
  
And I have had a lot of fun being in charge of the area actually, we get to just learn for ourselves the whole thing and find all over. I just am open to all the new things and so I feel like this transfer if going to be a very good one already.  It has not been too bad of an adjustment.  And my Spanish is being forced to be used and that is something that is very good.  And being district leader is just fine, its not too bad.  My district is just two sets of Hermanas, so its easy enough.  And then the Zls who we live with our technically in our area, but I don't have to worry about them with anything, just account with them, but yeah it has been good!

We were lucky to have had a broadcast yesterday with Elder Holland and it kind of just seemed like he was having everyone prepare for something or whatever.  He talked a lot about the Gathering of Israel and our role in it.  Nothing was announced,  but just in the way he talked it seemed like that, it was really cool and he talked about the importance that the north region is going to play in the future apparently, so that was cool.

Group Email

Hey everyone, 

I am back here after another short week and it has been a good one!  So I am now officially with my new comp here and still in Minneapolis area.  His name is Elder Terry and we have both been in the mission for the same amount of time, he just went to the Provo MTC rather than the Mexico City one.  It has been very good for our Spanish as now we are both forced to talk and don't have the option of leaning on a trainer to fully help us out.  And so both of our Spanish language has already improved in one week alone.  

So there isn't too much story wise to say since it really has only been a few days since our last p-day and one of those days was spent with transfers and whatnot.  But we have been working hard.  Our first day that we had fully open was Saturday, and we went to work.  We worked and biked and walked all over Minneapolis in our finding efforts and had a ton of success in one day alone!  And then after a lot of time put into that, we were going to the church to do some language study when we got a call from a member.  She said she would open up her apartment building so we could get in and teach some people there that are in our area book.  So we kept up the work even more.  She invited us into her house and we did a little service for her, met her family, and then she gave us this nice random thrown together meal, spaghetti, beans, and some shredded chicken.  And the best part, she gave us both spoons.  And I don't know if you have tried to eat spaghetti with a spoon, but that is a challenge let me tell you.  Afterwards we gave her a blessing, which was a sure test of my Spanish, but gift of tongues is real, and that just shows the importance of always being ready.  I encourage all of you to all be ready for anything that may come up that will require something of you.  Whether you meet someone in the road and have the prompting to talk to someone, or feel like you should do something.  Always be ready to act and follow the promptings of the spirit.  The spirit will always help us be instruments in helping Gods children, we just have to strive to always be worthy of that companionship, and be in a situation where we can help and do that.  So strive to always be ready to act!  

Another interesting thing here that is going to be happening is the Book of Mormon musical is coming to Minneapolis.  And the church does not let it phase them at all.  Me and my comp and other missionaries have been assigned to be there before and after different showings of the play and share what it is that we really do, and invite all those people to really learn for themselves rather than take society's side on this. So that will sure be an adventure to come here, and you'll all get to here about it.

So that is it for this freezing week in Minnesota, hope you all keep up the good work and be ready for anything that may come in your path!  Talk to you all next week!

Elder Pickering