Minnesota Nice . . . Fact or Myth??

ONE YEAR!!!!  That is correct, Ryan has officially been Elder Pickering for one year.  And what a year it has been.  So many highs and lows, so many trials and blessings, so much growth and tender mercies.  In some ways I have felt every minute that he has been gone.  And yet, in others it has flown by as I have watched my son become a man and better person than he was before.  I wouldn't trade it for anything.

He recently shared this letter with his Grandfather to read at our family reunion.  It is beautiful and sums up his feelings so well.  So I will share it here as well:

Hey Everyone from up North in Minnesota.  It is a little sad that I won't be down there at Bear Lake for the reunion this year.  That has always been something of good memories while growing up, something that I always look forward to attending.  So I hope you all have a great time there, with minimal brownies stolen this year, haha.  (A long time inside family joke).

So the work here in Minnesota is going super good.  I am enjoying the work and am happy to be here.  It wasn't always like that though.  As I am sure many can attest to, the mission is one of the hardest things to do.  You have to leave all you have and go to a new place with new people.  You live with someone random 24/7 and you are kind of just thrown in to it all.  And as much as you wish, missionaries are not just these perfect beings.  We struggle, have hard times, and have times of less work.  But something that I have learned here is that the amount of success, the amount of happiness, and the peace and joy you find, is all up to you.  I have really been able to lose myself here in Minnesota, and as I do my best to just forget my selfish desires and work on why I am here, those are the best days.

We get the opportunity as missionaries to go out and spread the blessings of the Gospel that we partake of every day, and that is something special.  When we really take note of what we have and the infinite amount of love that the Lord has for each one of His children, it gives us more desire as missionaries, but also as members, to share what we have.  We are part of a very special day and age with the restored gospel on the earth again, and I feel very blessed to take part first hand in the gathering of scattered Israel, and help everyone get the chance to hear this gospel.

Love you all,

Elder Pickering

Group Email for the week:

Hey everyone! 

Back from another full week here in Minnesota, the work here right now is really just going well and we are loving it down here in Lakeville!

So I got to go on another exchange this week, pretty much my life now here is just exchanges and going to new areas and with new companions one day at a time haha, but it was good. This was the first exchange this transfer where I actually got to stay in my own area and have Elder Hulse go experience English work.  Needless to say when he came back after that, he was just that much more grateful to be in our area and be working with our Hispanics, they are just a people that we love!

We also had zone conference this last week, and man those meetings can go so long sometimes, we had to be there at 9 in the morning, and we didn't get out until 4:30, so lots of training and learning there. We had someone come to give us kind of a reminder on our driving because our mission just has some learning to be had in driving.  So he came here and just called people out and just really helped and reminded everyone about their driving, and don't you worry, I got out of there unscathed.

We also helped this family move this week. It is a family that we found from our weekly service and they just expressed worry for their moving, so we offered to help, and Elder Hulse and I pretty much killed it! So the amount of furniture and dressers they had was just incredible, and they only had 1 U-haul truck, but we put together any tetris skills that was there between us two, and we got everything that they had in the truck.   From multiple tries, to stacking to squeezing, we made it work, and when they came out because they were going to go get another truck, we pretty much blew them away. But man the humidity has started here, so we killed it, but we felt it heat wise as well. But yeah if anyone is ever looking for two strapping young men that can tetris a U-haul truck like no other, I know some guys.  

So the pictures you are going to see attached are from our pachanga of a dinner appointment we had here.  So we showed up to this house, and we see them around the side of the house, and so we go on out with them. They had the massive umbrellas set up with tiki torches and the grill was all fired up and so already we were just off to a good start.  Then while the food was cooking, they told us the tramp was set up now, and they had set it up for us, so they got a kick of us in our white shirts and all jumping around on a tramp. And then after dinner, he pulls out these bows and arrows that he just got and wanted to try out with us. We asked him, like where are we supposed to shoot, and he just pointed to this tree behind the house. Sadly, none of us are quite Robin Hood, but we hit the tree a couple times, and went searching through the forest way more times for the arrows, but that was such a fun dinner.

Okay, now for the reason you all read, the cool experiences that happened.  So last week, I don't even remember if I wrote about it, but we moved this china cabinet for this member. We were picking it up from just a random person in our area, and we talked and they were just nice people and invited us to dinner before they move, so this week we had that dinner.  It was us and our Zls in this area, and we went and had a barbecue outside.  It was them and a couple of their neighbors, they were just having a fiesta and we all talked and they were awesome people. They are all just good friends in this little part of the street and its awesome.  We ended up sharing a quick like 5 minute Restoration lesson with them and bore testimony afterwards, and at the end, multiple of them agreed to have missionaries come and meet with them in the future or arrange times to meet. Although it wont affect us because they aren't Hispanic, I was able to meet my first just genuinely Minnesota nice people.

This week we were also to have a few super solid lessons! There was this one lady, Sandra that we were planning on dropping, because during the last lesson we had she was like napping and not engaged or really careing.  But we went in and had just a do or die lesson and the spirit was strong, and she ended up sharing a lot about whats going on in her life and it was super solid.  She didn't want to set up another return appointment just yet, but you could tell that she had felt something different.  And right after that we thought we should stop by this lady we had lost contact for a while because her work schedule had just changed and made it hard.  But she was home! She expressed having baptism as a goal and wanting to work towards that in time and then she ended up feeding us after and then setting up 3 return appointments just then. That was a super blessing of the right time and just stopping by that day, and then watching as the spirit worked in her throughout the lesson.  And finally we had a lesson with this lady and her son, the son was 14 years old and so we related him to Joseph Smith, he only spoke English and his mom only spoke Spanish, so it was like a super fun Spanglish lesson and the kid seemed super interested.  He was engaged and answering and super excited to get his own Book of Mormon, so we saw some super miracles as we worked and then the Lord and the Spirit worked through us. 

Well hey love you all, hope you enjoy that record length email, talk later!

Elder Pickering 

We'll Have to Pass on the Beer During our Lesson

Elder Pickering has been serving as a missionary for nearly a year now, which is so hard to believe.  He really seems to have hit is stride recently and is loving the whole experience.  I have enjoyed his emails so much the last few weeks as I can see the change and growth and love.  This next year is going to be a great one!

Group Email:

Hey Everyone! 

This was quite the week here in Minnesota. We had lots of fun little opportunities to get out and do service and just experience some of the fun things that you only really get to do as a missionary.  

So we started off the last week with a bang to say the least.  Last p-day we decided to go to this amusement park that is in our area. It is like in the middle of kinda nowhere, so we weren't expecting a whole ton, but it actually ended up being a ton of fun! I even got in a video chat with my family during one of the rides, so we made the most of it! 

And then later that day we went out to work, so for those of you that don't know, p-day is just until the evening when you get back out and work. We had a lesson with this guy named Alberto.  He welcomes us in to his garage and pulls up some chairs and offered us some cervezas, which in Spanish means beer.  So we had to kindly deny the beers and then got to explain a little bit about the word of wisdom and how we don't drink.  And he was just beyond shocked when we told him we weren't married or didn't have girlfriends or didn't do any of that kind of stuff while we were on the mission.  He saw the ring I was wearing on my right hand, and I guess in Mexico where he is from, it means you had a past spouse or deceased spouse and he was just shocked that I didnt.  I sure love the Hispanic people that I work with, they never cease to entertain us here. He also was telling us how he just wishes there was an app that he could get, so instead of reading the Book of Mormon, he could listen to it... Well this lesson was just full of surprises for him haha.

Another fun adventure is while we were biking home, trying to save some miles and just get out and enjoy the weather, Elder Hulse ended up hitting a curb weird on his bike, and it just destroyed his back tire.  We were about 2 miles from the house, so we took turns hoisting the bike up on our shoulders and made the walk of shame to the house, but we got it all fixed up now and are back on the grind. 

Another thing this week is we got the opportunity to help with a lot of different service, one of which we were able to go and put together bunk beds and build them. These will get delivered all around the area where we are serving.  And it turns out, we were talking to the guy that was in charge, and he goes and drops off beds to Hispanic homes a lot, but needs people to translate and talk to the people while he is setting up the beds. So that is a super awesome in that it came from service, and a huge blessing!  And then in another service that we were doing for a member, we were helping them pick up a china cabinet they bought, and they picked it up from this house in our area.  We ended up talking a lot to this family, and they are moving, but they invited us missionaries over to have some steaks and stuff before they move, so we just got to see tons of blessings from service.  

I also had an exchange with the zone leader this week, and that was super fun. Although I was not with my Hispanics doing Spanish work, I learned a lot.  I was talking with him at the end of the day, and he asked what has been the hardest thing lately. I just expressed that lately I haven't really had any personal hard issues, I have been happy in the work. Yes the work is hard, but that is just how it is.  Now go on over to Moroni Chapter 7 verse 4 with me.  "Wherefore, I would speak unto you that are of the church, that are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven." Notice how it says that from THIS time forth we can enter into the rest.  The scriptures are written for us, and we can take part of the promises that are in them, so we can take part in the rest of the Lord, starting today! Now as Joseph F. Smith said, it is not a physical rest, there is no such thing as physical rest for members of the Church, but we can have that mental, and spiritual break and rest from today onward as we obtain the sufficient hope and faith and love in Christ.  So take part of this promise with me everyone! 

Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Pickering

The Elders' modern art project

Sobrevivimos un tornado

Hey Everyone! 

Back after another week that just flew by here in Minnesota. I have said it time and time again, and those of you that have served missions or are serving knows how it just is crazy how weeks can feel like a day and a day or a few hours can feel like weeks. And then next thing you know, you have been out almost a year and the time is just going, its crazy. But I am happy to be out here in Minnesota.


So it was a good week here, we had some fun adventures, as you can expect from us here. So Tuesday was pretty crazy over all. In the morning we went to help a member of the English ward here move, and they had a ton of stuff. And in that stuff was 65 guitars, so that was lots of moving, and that isn't even an exaggeration, that is the exact number we moved. It was so hot and we were all sweaty and it was a crazy extreme to what happened later that day. So later we went to this taco truck that one of our members owns, and I decided to order a torta, which is basically just a big sandwich to make it simple. I got a torta tacuba, for those of you that don't know what that is, I'll include the picture. Basically its the most beefy huge sandwich that you could ever imagine, so I was real full after. So during that we got a flash flood warning on our phones, and we were kinda just like "are you serious?... Its 90s and sunny out here". Needless to say, they were right, and within an hour, the tornado sirens were going off and it was down pouring with rain and just wind really crazy, so it just came out of no where, we just so happened to be right in the center of where it was first hitting. There didn't end up actually being a tornado thankfully, so sorry, not that crazy of a story, but lots of strong swirling winds. 


Another fun encounter we had this week was we met this ambassador guy from Lao. He spoke some broken English, but he was super nice. And as soon as he let us into his home, we were in another country! He had like pots stacked to the ceiling, a bunch of stuff that I couldn't read, and it just was kind of cool to be in another country for a while. He was even cooking just a massive batch of noodles with meat and stuff up for a party he was going to, so he sat us down and we just talked (more like listened) while eating some really good Lao noodles, so blessings right there. 


So other than that, we had our interviews with our President this week, those are always a good time. I got to go on an exchange with some Elders in my district, so its always fun to go to a new area and just get down and work with them. And we found a new trailer park that has not been tracted by missionaries in ages, so we are super pumped about that! 


So last week I talked about a little bit more and a little bit better. So we have seen lots of little tender mercies while applying that. We have had lessons that would not have otherwise gone through, gotten in doors that we usually would not, and have overall just been having joy and success and fun with the work. So I promise you all, whether you're a missionary or not, just a little more and a little better in all that you do will bless your lives! 

Love you all, have a great week!


Elder Pickering

P.S. Shout out to Brianna who's birthday is on the 15th!!!

A Little More and a Little Better

Hey everyone, so this week was super busy and great here. Looking back on the week today it seems like so much has happened, so I'll do my best to fill you all in on the highlights.

So this week we tried something out with our branch, something we call a "Harvest Night". Basically what this was, was all the missionaries split up with the members and we split up and got down to work. The idea was you could go visit the less active members and people you're teaching, and basically you just get a whole evening to go out with a member and get some work done! So I was with Hermano Contreras and he killed it! We got into this less active family and has this little lesson, and he was pulling out scriptures that went right along and bearing his testimony, and he just did an awesome job! We also passed all these casinos and he kept joking how we should plan a branch activity to help improve the branch budget and get more money for more pachangas, so funny guy.  And then we were also able to stop by a guy we are teaching, and they just talked and clicked right a way and it was perfect.

Another thing that was an adventure this week was that we went to help out this family that is brand new to this area here in our branch.  And since they are new, they haven't had a chance to get a mower yet, and so their lawn was about 3 feet high in some areas. So we borrowed a mower from our Branch President, but with only one it would have still taken forever on a big lawn. We decided "hey what is there to lose?" and went and asked the neighbor to use his lawnmower. It lead to a super good contact and a second lawnmower so win win. 

We also had stake conference this week and that went super well! We had Elder Alder here from the Seventy, and he just really brought in some cool insights and feelings into the meeting.  In the first meeting, for the adults, he ended up calling up all the missionaries, and our Mission President. And our Mission President, President Barney, told everyone to pull out their phones and take this act of faith. He had them write their names, and what ward or branch they are from, then send it to a certain number. The number he gave was that of the zone leaders, and then told them all, "who is someone you wish was sitting next to you right now, but isn't because they haven't had the chance of receiving the message of the restored gospel?" And then challenged the to put that name into the text and send it to the zone leaders. Now this was not so that the missionaries can go out and tract into these people or try and proselyte to them, but so that they can set their own goals to try and work with those people, little steps to introduce them in natural and normal ways. So that was super cool. The second round of Stake Conference we ended up translating it for our branch, and so that was a party.

And then yesterday was super cool as well.  So about a week and a half ago, we found this lady named Patti. And yesterday we were finally able to have the first sit down lesson with her and really just set the stage and start things off.  The lesson went incredibly, and she grasped and accepted all the concepts super well! Even the idea that we need to be baptized as Christ was, rather than as babies or by sprinkle or something like that. And the best part is that she does not work Sundays! That is the biggest blessing ever. So we set a baptismal date with her, and she is working towards the 7th of July, so keep her in your prayers, and we hope to see her continue to progress well on this covenant path towards God.

So this last week we also had Mission Leadership Conference, and I was just put in as District Leader again, so I had the privilege to go to that.  We had Brother Littlefield come from the Misson headquarters, and gave us a bunch of spiritual fire so to say. I wish I could share all that I gained from that, but the main idea he laid out for us was "A little bit more, and a little bit better".  He said that this is the key between a missionary who sees the success, and a missionary that gets stuck in a loop.  Every time he goes out with missionaries, they all do the same thing, the ones that are seeing all kinds of fruits of their labors, and the ones that are not.  He said the only difference is that the ones that see the success are doing the same things, just a little bit more, and a little bit better, doing everything in their power to help people come to the covenant path, and then holding their hand along the way all the way.  So I am super excited to see as I apply the many things he taught, what kinds of blessings we will see, and we have already seen the blessings that came with Patti, so I'm super excited about that.

Well love you all, hope you enjoyed the email and all have a great week. Go out and do a little bit more, and a little bit better!

Elder Pickering