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
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