Somos Rebels

Well as many of you are aware there have been some recent changes in the manner of communication between missionaries and families.

https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/missionaries-family-communication

This comes as a huge changes to the way things have been done for many many years.  It is exciting news both for the families and missionaries.  The hope is to help everyone get involved in missionary work and support those missionaries in the best way possible.  Of course, with the changes, there are definite adjustments that need to be made.  Like so many families, we are prayerfully considering the best way to proceed in the future.

That being said, we were able to have a conference call with Ryan on his p-day.  It was amazing, especially since we didn't think we would be able to physically talk to him again until Mother's Day.  He looked happy and it was wonderful to be able to laugh together and more importantly get answers in "real" time.   I am not sure what will happen on future p-days and what this will mean for written communication.  I will miss his personal letters and insights.  I encouraged him to be a good journal writer since that will be the main documentation of his mission.

So I will share a few of the things discussed during our conversation.

He is currently serving in Lakeville and is over a Spanish branch.  There are about 20 people that come regularly.  They have their own Sacrament meeting and then combine with an English ward for the other meeting.  As missionaries, they have the opportunity to serve in all kinds of ways in the Branch.  Next week, Ryan will be giving a talk.

It is difficult in Lakeville to find Hispanic people to teach.  Unlike Minneapolis, there are not concentrated areas where the Latins live or work or shop.  This makes is difficult to fine prospective investigators.  The missionaries do a lot of tracting and if they come across an interested individual that speaks English, they have to turn them over to the English speaking missionaries.  This can be somewhat discouraging and makes the days feel very long.  Especially in this bitter cold weather and lots of snow.

Elder Pickering and his companion are working with an individual right now named M.  He is of Mexican decent but was born in Minnesota.  His primary language is English.  Ryan found him originally by going through an old area book and seeing his name but no further contact.  They reached out to him and he was very open to the missionaries and learning with them.  Since he is a young adult male, the Elders did not have to turn him entirely over to the English missionaries since they are Sisters.  So they are able to work together with him.  He seems like a very nice individual and he has really hit it off with Ryan.  They have a lot of similar interests and Ryan can interact with him on many levels.  He has come to church a couple of times and has enjoyed it.  Later, they came to find out that his Dad was baptized when he was younger in Mexico.  So there may be potential to work with him also.

M likes to post pictures on Facebook and I have enjoyed seeing my son.  Ryan's dad has communicated with him back and forth quite a bit.  They talk of many things and Roger has been able to share his testimony as well.  Isn't technology amazing?  M talks a lot about how much he likes our son and how Ryan is a great teacher and friend.  So it will be interesting to follow his journey.

So that about sums up our conversation with Ryan.  Of course there were a few other random discussions about the cold, biking, food, and we got a visual apartment tour.  When it was time to say goodbye it wasn't hard to do knowing that there will be future conversations.  Overall it was a good
day.

We shall continue to pray for Ryan.  We are so proud of him and his willingness to get up each day and be obedient in spite of all the difficulties.  We hope that he can endure the trials of his area and have faith that miracles and blessings can come.

Until next week . . .

Group Email:

Hey everyone! 

Hope you're all doing well, we are all well over here.  The mission field sure is excited with the new change of being able to talk to your families now, its so exciting.  All these changes we are getting are truly inspired of God, and I am excited to see how this one plays a part in the mission and how things change or come from it. So crazy! 

Well its no surprise I am sure, but we are still dealing with lots of snow and cold weather here.  We are about at 22.5 inches in total for February, which is almost a record for this month, and we are supposed to be getting more this week. So the snow is still coming on here strong in February. There isn't anything super crazy to say this week.  Valentines day has come and gone, and I'm sure this will just be a shocker to you all, but it was just a normal day as a missionary, nothing too exciting.  We had dinner with a member and they made a heart shaped flan, but that is about it ha ha. 

And as some of you might have seen on Facebook and just thought that I have become a rebel out here on my mission, I had the chance to go to a movie this last week.  Someone we are teaching invited us and we talked to the president about the circumstances and the movie and he said that we could go.  So we were all cleared and got to take part in the movie experience and popcorn and a lesson during the previews, so a fun time here. 

Otherwise, that is about all that happened here.  I hope you all enjoy the change if you get to see the outcome of that, and just have a good week! Talk to you all later!

Lots of snow . . .

Conference call with his crazy family.