Deep Thoughts After Christmas

Espanol abajo

Well Christmas is officially over, the lights will start coming down, trees thrown out or packed up, decorations cleaned up, and the spirit of service and Christ that is prevalent this time of year, will diminish until we once again start to celebrate His birth in another 364 days.

Now something about that doesn't seem quite right... He came to this earth and gave His life to the service of those around Him, the fulfilling of His fathers will and then eventually gave His life as He suffered and died for us, and all we can do for Him is remember Him one season of the year?
So this year, while you are packing up and putting the decorations and gifts away, don't put the remembrance of Christ and His birth and life away as well, but rather treasure it up in your hearts and minds all the year long.

As you consider how to do this, read this scripture found in 2 Nephi 31:20
20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.

So throughout the entire year, and your entire lives, press forward, with a steadfastness that is found in Christ, and as you have that hope and love for God and your fellowman, let that work in you to the point that you have the desires to serve your neighbor which in turn is serving your God.
So Christmas may have ended, but the spirit of Christmas, or the love of God, can carry on inside of you all year around!

La navidad ya se acabo, empezaremos a sacar las luces, echar las arboles de navidad y limpiar las adornos de la navidad también, y con eso, es espíritu de servicio y Cristo va a retroceder en el mundo hasta el proximo ano.

Pero eso no me queda bien... El vino a la tierra y dio su vida en el servicio de los demás, en cumplir la voluntad de su padre, y en al fin, nos dio su vida. Y después todo que nos dio, todo que podemos hacer es recordarlo una vez por ano?

Entonces este ano, en vez de echar el espíritu de la navidad y los recordatorios de su vida en una caja con los demás adornos, sino guardarlo en su corazón y mente todo el ano.
Mientras que lo haga, lee este escritura que se encuentra en 2 Nefi 31:20
20 Por tanto, debéis seguir adelante con firmeza en Cristo, teniendo un fulgor perfecto de esperanza y amor por Dios y por todos los hombres. Por tanto, si marcháis adelante, deleitándoos en la palabra de Cristo, y perseveráis hasta el fin, he aquí, así dice el Padre: Tendréis la vida eterna.

Entonces, durante todo el ano y toda su vida, sigue adelante con firmeza que hay en Cristo, y cuando tenga esta esperanza y amor por Dios y su semejante, deja que estes sentimientos trabajan en usted hasta el punto que tengan las ganas de servir a su vecino que es igual de servir a Dios.
Entonces, se acabo la Navidad, pero el espíritu de Navidad, que es el amor De Dios puede morar dentro de usted todo el ano!

Merry Christmas

So because Ryan's p-day was on Christmas day, he didn't have much time to write an email.  That is a good sign that he was busy and spending time with good people.

We were able to talk with him and hear a little about his week.  They have been busy sharing the Christmas message with the people of Minnesota.  He was able to go to the temple with a new convert.  He had several meals throughout the week with different members so I know that he was well taken care and felt love.  Transfers were the week before and his good friend Elder Pugh joined him from Morris.  He is serving in the Spanish area and they share an apartment.

Ryan finds serving in a leadership position, tiring, a little bit stressful and yet a great opportunity for growth.

Thank you everyone that has supported him and shown him extra love at this time of year!!


Hey Everyone! So I've been busy today and so here is your wonderful email! Enjoy the pictures!! 

6 Months Left

Hey everybody! 

So this week wasn't all that exciting here, so its not going to be the most exciting email, but I do have at least one fun story and a cool experience, so that is all you need right?

So also side note, this week officially marked 6 months left in the mission, so if that is weird to anyone else, get on the bus.

So coming up this next week we will be having our Christmas zone conference, and as part of that, President Barney has us submit videos of us sharing our talents or singing or whatever it may be, to kind of have a more festive zone conference. So the idea that I came up with for our apartment was "Hot Pepper Hymns". We decided to sing joy to the world and after each verse we would take a good chomp of a hot pepper and then just see how it progressed.  Well it was quite the time, and it was quite a blast watching the other 3 just run around like they were literally dying for like 15 minutes after the video.  I have the video all put together, but its too big to try and send over email, so if you are interested in some quality content, you will have to let me know and I can get it to you.

So the other good thing this week was that I got to go on an exchange with the Spanish area that we live with in our apartment. So Elder Marchant and I went and squaded up in my old area and it is always fun to see old faces and to actually speak Spanish and feel just back at home.  One member ended up taking us to a Rodizio grill for lunch. If you don't know what that is, look it up, but pretty much I ate more meat and food than I probably ever have, to be honest, and the family just kept getting a kick when I would get more food and were hyping me up to eat more and more. So basically we went all in, like you should right.  I didn't even need to eat dinner that day, so that is just being a thrifty saver right here I'm pretty sure. 

So the coolest part of the night ended up being when we stopped by this one member and she decided to take us to her neighbors apartment to show us the nativity that she had set up. Well last year when I went caroling, we ran into this same apartment and I ended up working with the couple for the last few weeks before I left and then the missionaries after me called the husband once and he didn't answer so they dropped him.  So fast forward a year and here we are, I remind the lady of the whole story. I never got to know her as well because she would like cook during our lessons or wasn't as engaged, but I come to find out, that her husband ended up passing away just like a week or two after I had left the area. So no wonder the Elders who called him didn't get an answer... but it was super cool to be able to talk to her and kind of reassure her and build off that common ground of me knowing her husband and being able to connect in that way that she couldn't with a whole lot of people.  So the elders should be working with her from now on, so hope all goes well! A cool miracle, that is for sure though.

Well that is all I got for you today! Next pday will be Christmas and we will have transfers before that, so exciting things to come! 

Love you all

Elder Pickering

Also I got to finally meet my "personal trainer" Melvin in person, it was amazing

Melvin

A district meeting - aka gingerbread house building

Murals Round 2

Hey everyone!

So I hope you are all ready, because now that I am back in the cities with all the murals all over the place, you can expect all sorts of random pictures once again of me with some murals, so enjoy! 

So this week started off with MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) It was a good time, it is always fun to go and see people. It was super weird too because everyone there in the leadership was people that came out around the same time as me or will go home with me. So we all had a good time chatting it up since that is about the only time we get to converge from all sides of the mission.  

Otherwise the meeting was alright, its always hard to be stuck inside all day learning how to be a good missionary and whatnot, when you would rather be out and about doing it. And its also super funny to see how hard some people try and get on that AP grind, silly people.

One thing kind of fun this week was we got a random call from someone in Oklahoma that would be coming to Minneapolis and he told us to meet him up at the bus stop down town. So outside of missionary life it would be super sketch to just receive that and up and go, but that's the life here in the twin cities.  We got there and met him and found out he is a recent convert that will be living here for a little while which is cool. The crazy part is that he told us at any moment he could have a seizure right there. And we were waiting for his brother to come and meet up with us who just got out of jail for assault and it wasn't his first time haha. The mission always keeps things fun.

I got to go on exchanges with the Elders that are serving in Minnetonka here in the mission and that went well.  We ran into more Hispanics that day out in there area than I have run into since serving in this area. So that was super funny, but definitely a tender mercy for me to be able to use my Spanish.  Also its super funny to see how far out of the way some people will go to avoid confrontation or talking to us. Like if you don't want us to stop by or keep trying to talk to you, just let us know. Don't tell us through the door that you aren't home... again, silly people.

So some cool teaching moments this week.  We got to meet up with Jada, the referral we got from a couple weeks ago now, and it went super well! We brought a member as well and  it was great for fellow-shipping and then the spirit was real strong later on and I think she really has good potential to progress! We are hoping to see her at church real soon! We also visited this less active guy, we visit  him just about every week here to just see how he is doing and give him a lesson and whatnot. So his "like" girlfriend was there and sat in on the lesson and participated and expressed desires to want to be baptized! There will be some steps that for sure need to be taken first, but it should be a good time! 

Also there are a ton of Native Americans in our area we work with, and so its super fun playing the game now, Hispanic or Native American when trying to figure out how to start the conversation in Spanish or English. Thankfully when we go on the reservation, its pretty straight forward haha. 

Also I got to see my friend Victor who I worked with last year and helped him with his homework weekly! He is about to graduate and is setting up to go to college through the air force! Its so crazy to see him grow up, and we had a good heart to heart about how he needs the gospel in his life and so hopefully he can make some of those important decisions and steps before he heads out.

Well that is all I got for you today, have a great day! And make sure to go out and light the world!

Elder Pickering

Watch For Our Album

Hey everyone! Since this was such a  short time since last p-day I don't really have enough to put into an email! If you have any questions or want to hear about the week, shoot me an email!

So just enjoy this trendy album cover of me and my companion from the week. And a massive snow bear.

Elder Pickering