The Exchange Grind

We had a wonderful conversation with Ryan this week.  You can tell that he felt genuine joy about the work he did this last week.  He has had some challenges with individuals that have kept him from doing missionary work in the most obedient and productive way.  He loved serving with Elder Moyle this week and they saw so many blessings and miracles because of their dedication and desire to do what God has asked of them.  

Together they found 8 new investigators during the week and 4 more on p-day.  Many of which are very interested and has had some contact with the church previously.  He has some amazing miracles occur with seeds he planted long ago and finally are starting to grow.  He received word that a couple he found and worked with in Morris are getting married and baptized in February.  He is loving the people he is teaching now and actually may be enjoying the "English" area a little bit.

I was so happy to see Ryan once again positive, and light and excited to do the work.

Group Email:

Well we are back after the most productive week since I have been in this area so far! Me and Elder Moyle have loved being on exchanges and it has lead to a lot of hard work! And we were actually able to extend our exchange until Thursday as well! So blessings.

This week were really able to watch as God blessed us as we worked hard, all the people that we found or were able to teach this week kind of just fell into our hands as we did our part. 

Also we had the chance to visit with our man Aaron this week and it went so well! We met up with him and the YSA elders here and taught the plan of salvation. He really grasped it all and was impressed with it as well. He said that it all just made sense to him way more than anything else that other religions or other people have taught him in the past. So he is going to keep working with the YSA elders and he should progress pretty quickly! 

Also cool little miracle, about someone that I reached out to on Facebook forever ago. We used to talk and have great conversations about God and how she could improve her relationship, and I was able to tell her about the Book of Mormon and give her passages to read and all that, but we never got any sort of meet up. So fast forward to this week and she reaches out to me and it turns out she lives down in Ecuador and because of what she had learned from me she reached out and found missionaries down there and has been meeting with them.  Now she is pondering baptism and reached out to me with some questions and concerns she has, so that has been a super cool little part of the story that I have been able to witness when I never knew if anything came of it.

Also we visited this less active member and she introduced us to her non member son in law who is from Puerto Rico and so I got to return and start talking with him and helping him learn and grow. He is an awesome super down to earth guy that sounds like he may have even read the Book of Mormon before! 

And we also ended up meeting this super sweet lady from Nigeria this week that gave us food and let us right in. Turns out her husband has been a member for about 17 years or so, and her and at least one of her sons wants to get baptized. They just moved in to this area not too long ago and didn't know where the church was initially. So we will be helping them to make those steps and get to church! And she sent us home with a nice big Tupperware of African food, yummm.

So those are just some of the highlights of the week, hopefully we can keep up the hype and have another great week here! love you all!

Elder Pickering

Father and Son Back at it Again

Hey everyone!

So another week down here in Minnesota, man was it a week.

So we had interviews with our mission president this week and that was much needed. Its so awesome that being over almost 200 missionaries our president still takes time to know us and love us all very individually. I know that I have been super blessed with President Barney and for all that he has done for me.

So another pretty big thing that happened this week.. So my companion tried to pull a u turn into oncoming traffic during the worst snow storm of the year so far, so I will let you know how that one went. Our brand new car got totaled.. So that can just give you a little bit of how the week went here. And it is such a blessing that the next 2 days without a car that it was not -20 real feel or anything, that would be awful.. oh wait..

So the next day I got to go on exchanges with Elder Pugh, now that he is serving in the Spanish area here I get to see him everyday and it has been a blast serving around him again. We were out biking around and on that grind all day long. Eyelashes were frozen, toes were without feeling, and it was just all around a very cold day, but we survived.

We got a spare car yesterday so that is a blessing, and I will be driving now, so no shenanigans.

Also we will be on a week long exchange this week, I will be with this Elder who is pretty new named Elder Moyles.  I am super excited, should make for a blessed week.

Love yall!

Elder Pickering

Thankfully we get to face time our missionaries and we were able to get a few more details about the events of this past week. The accident was scary and preventable.  Ryan was shook up and frustrated at the same time.  As a mother, I sincerely felt gratitude to Heavenly Father for protecting my son.  He easily could have been on the wrong end of a t-bone.  Thankfully, they made enough of the turn to only get rear-ended.  As a family, we pray every day for Ryan's protection and success as a missionary.  It is sometimes hard to measure the success. But as for the safety, I do not doubt that he has been blessed many times over.

It has been a rough few weeks for Ryan.  But I admire his attitude and willingness to work in-spite of the challenges.  I know he is growing leaps and bounds in ways I can't even see.  I know there are trials, even near the end of your mission, and Ryan has had his fair share.  But someday he may be grateful for those very same trials.

In the meantime, we will continue to pray and support him, knowing that God has the rest . . .