Selfmade

So what I did with this group email was just kind of write the highlights at the end of each day and have it act as my journal/ weekly, so hope you all enjoy, better than nothing right?

Well it started off with a good p-day. Elder Soderberg and I were feeling crazy this morning and decided to hit up this place called CitiTrends. Basically as it sounds it is the best store in the world and we definitely "were not" the only white people in the store. We ended up both picking up a cheap kind of just crazy over the top shirt to be our p-day ball shirt. And you know, we have to have comp unity, so we just ball up together looking fly now. We also had a really awesome first lesson with this lady who has been wanting to join a church. She had some stellar questions and it all went well, we will be seeing her again later on this week. We have had a lot of success lately getting in doors and meeting new people, it's been a huge blessing.

Tuesday was a good time as well. We have a lesson weekly with this guy we are working with from Columbia. We eat lunch with him and a member family every week and he is just a good guy, he has great values and is super great. Right now we think he is just curious and figuring things out, but we will keep up the hard work and hopefully all goes well. We also do a service every once in a while called FMSC where we pack food for them hungry children, so that iss pretty chill usually. We also had a lesson with Cristian, and then his mom walked in, along with this new guy and the new man just was a downer. He went right off on how we cant repent, so after dropping the spirit pretty hard, he walked out of the house until we left haha.  So gotta love those time, you just cant "quote" scriptures and not expect us to defend out beliefs, so good times. And finally tonight we had a lesson with our man Gregory from Venezuela who we met In the laundry room, so we had another laundry room lesson with him and he said that he is down to get baptized! So we will see him later this week and follow up on that. He basically teaches us, it's awesome!

Wednesday
Today was pretty chill, literally and with the work. We had pretty much every lesson that we had fell through, but it worked out. We started service at a new food shelf here and just went and helped out there for a little while, nothing all too crazy, we've been through the loops before. We did have a lesson go through tonight with this lady named Suzie. We always have super good lessons with her, it's all about helping her realize that action is required for her to feel of the truth and to learn and grow. Also she knows a lady that I taught in Lakeville, so small world! And tonight we are starting exchanges with the Hmong elders which should be good!

Thursday
Today was the rest of Hmong exchanges and it wasn't really anything just over the top special. It was a lot of English teaching, but just to some Hmong people, so I actually got to be involved quite a bit which was good. After exchanges and I was back with Elder Soderberg we had a lesson in the evening with this family we have worked with for a little now. The mom is a member but none of the rest of the family. And so we talked a lot about spiritual experiences and got the mom involved in sharing those things, and only two of the kids were there tonight, but after the lesson we were able to set a date with them and they and the mom were way excited. So it was a cool chance to see them make that and feel the joy themselves.

Friday
Today we were out on the bike grind, and that was an adventure. We are low on miles and so we are taking care of those resources. It wasn't terrible cold, but it was all icy and slushy and we were almost hit a few times, so always fun. We had a lesson with this family, and we did a good Restoration lesson and also showed a video of Jose Smith because they had the same kinds of questions as him about why there were so many churches. It was super awesome and they seem to have a lot of potential, and their son too is super interesting in praying and finding out about God. Also we started doing some service at salvation Army here, so that's just a classic.

Saturday
So our second day of biking here, and man has it gotten to us, we are very consado as they say in Spanish. We started another new service here, called "caring for cats" so basically when we are not preaching the gospel to the world, we have some solid services set up. Today we had a few lessons that went great! One with this lady Juliana who we teach English and the gospel and she is going through a lot and is trying to get a new job so that she can have Sundays off too! So we are way excited for her. Also we had a lesson with our man Gregory and went over some of the plan of salvation and retaught some of the Restoration and he is still all in and should be coming to church tomorrow he said, so we are way excited for him.

Sunday In St Paul is always a good time. Our man Gregory came to church, but the only thing is he was about 2 and a half hours late because he couldn't get to church. When he came we went to the English part because he still wanted to go to services so we went with him and he did pretty good english wise honestly, so that was a good time. He is awesome. We then ended up finding a fair hit and had lots of good success, found 3 or 4 people today and got in a handful of doors to teach, that has been a great blessing to have success and blessings like that. We have been working hard and really seeing the blessings from it. We have a handful of people progressing, and always are finding through more!

Elder Pickering

Working Hard

Hello Everyone,

To start out with you must know that this is Ryan's mother that is sharing this email.   We talked with Ryan this week on his P-day  And he was expressing how exhausted he is both physically and mentally. Between working hard in his area, fulfilling his leadership duties, and just getting near the twilight of his mission, he is feeling quite tired. He just wanted to use his p-day to have a break, play some basketball and not have to worry about typing an email. So I volunteered to share with you all the experiences he told us about via face time.

So Ryan is really enjoying his new area of Saint Paul. He is companions with Elder Soderberg and he is from Las Vegas. They seem to really get along well and Elder Soderberg is a super hard worker. So they hit the ground running and haven't stopped since they got put together.  Ryan is also serving as Zone Leader which adds more responsibilities and opportunities for growth.

Ryan was put back in a Spanish area and he serves over a ward of about 70 people in Saint Paul. He says they're a good ward and very involved. He really missed working with the Hispanics and so he is overjoyed to be speaking the language once again.  One of his favorite families in that Ward has a daughter that served here in the Orem Utah mission. In fact 2 Thanksgivings ago she came to our house for dinner. So that is a fun connection.  It is such a small world in the church.

This past week Ryan had Zone conference which is always a great learning experience. Unfortunately they also received another side effect from it. Food poisoning. Ryan and his companion both got quite sick throughout the night and next day. But tender mercies, that next day was the coldest winter day of the year so far, at -25 degrees, and because they were ill they were unable to go out into it. So the Lord blesses you in different ways, sometimes it may even mean even getting sick.

This area has a bit more diversity among the Latinos with them being from different countries. He enjoys getting to know their different cultures and nuances.   There are 3 big apartment complex in the area where a lot of the Hispanics live and the Elders do a lot of tracting in those buildings.

Just this past week they were tracting in an apartment building and they passed the laundry Room. There was a man hanging out there and he recognized them because he seen missionaries before. His name is Gregory and he is from Venezuela. They struck up a conversation with about the gospel. He seemed really interested and wanted to learn more.   So they visited with him for quite a while and set up a return appointment. It turns out that they met with him 2 additional times during the week and invited him to church. He came and fit right in. In fact Ryan said that in some ways Gregory did more fellowshipping and participating in the classes than some of the fellow members. He has been reading the Book of Mormon, studying about President Russell M. Nelson. Ryan feels that he is a prepared individual and that he will make a quick progression in the gospel. This is very exciting.

Speaking of progression, there is a couple that Ryan worked with while he was in Morris.  Their names are Angela and Aturo and they are getting baptized this week.   Unfortunately, Ryan won't be able to attend the baptism since it's 5 hours away but he will be there in spirit and hopefully there by Skype.  It is neat to see some of the fruits of his labors in the past coming to be.

And that brings us to Aaron. Ryan shared a little bit more about him. Ryan was doing some finding on Facebook and sent this Aaron a friend request. Well he accepted and they began discussing religion and God and so forth.  Aaron decided he wanted to learn more and met with the missionaries. He had actually been searching for  God and a religion. From there things just took off. Aaron was prepared and had been prepared for a long time to receive the gospel at this time. He's read the Book of Mormon and goes to church and has quickly assimilated himself in with the Ward. Ryan had to turn him over to the young adult elders and fortunately one of his good friends, Elder Coombs has been helping to teach him..  Aaron  Is so solid and such a special individual. When Ryan talked with him this past week Aaron told him that he was doing great and the Elder Pickering should quit worrying about him and find more people like him to teach.  His baptism is scheduled for the 29th of this month and fortunately Ryan should be able to attend. I am sure this will be one of the highlights of his mission.

Ryan is truly happy and enjoying his mission right now. He said they found so many people this last week that are interested in learning more. He really loves to teach and share his testimony with them. We asked him what advice he would give to a future missionary and after thinking about it for a moment this was his reply:  " The key is to work hard and be obedient. Then God will bless you and you will see miracles. If you don't , then you will be sad and depressed  and make everyone else around you miserable."   That was it. His advice was straightforward and succinct and that said it all. I know that he has learned that lesson over and over again throughout his mission.  Ryan does not allow complex emotions to complicate things.  It is simple in his mind.  He just goes to work, does what is asked of him and lets the Lord make up the rest.   This is who he is and his formula for success. I think we can all learn that In our lives. If we work hard and are obedient the Lord will bless us. It doesn't matter if we're a missionary or not, God cares and it does matter what we do.

Anyway,  That sums up Ryan's week. He appreciates all the love and support and prayers he has received from you all throughout his mission. Thanks for being such great examples and friends to him.

St.Paul

Well transfers happened this week and it was my time to move off into the world, and now I am back in a Spanish ward in St Paul with Elder Soderberg. I am super excited to be back in a Spanish area and just get to work.  We have seen a ton of miracles and blessings in the work already in just the short few days we have had here, and that has been awesome!

Starting off, the very first day we get this call from a random number saying that he wanted us to come over, so as you do, we went on over to meet this guy.  So we meet him, and he explains that his mom is sick and he would like for her to get a blessing. When we walk in to see her, Elder Soderberg recognizes her right away. It was someone that he taught in this area about a year ago when we first served here. She had a baptismal date and was super ready to go, but then due to some circumstances she kind of was lost and then moved out of state and that was the end. So this was the first time we have seen her since then, and she is going through a lot of health problems but we got her a blessing and have seen them a few times since then. And then on Saturday we are talking to her son, and we hear that his grandma/ her mom passed away. So we went over there and shared the plan of salvation and were able to comfort them. It was cool to be able to see God's hand in helping them come back to the chance of the gospel and see how he has prepared their lives since then.

So we have just been blessed so far in this area to see as the Lord is working on hastening his work. 

Also on Sunday it snowed like 6 inches just out of nowhere, and the whole neighboring stake canceled church, but our Hispanics still went through and me and Elder Soderberg got to kind of run the show at church with playing the Piano, saying the prayers, and giving talks. And the 2 sets of Hermanas in our ward, came to church an hour late.. Nice

Well that is all for this week, hope you all are doing great!

Elder Pickering

A New Son Into the World

Well this was quite the eventful week here.

So we got to extend the exchange that me and Elder Moyle were doing for another few days, and so in total we got almost 2 weeks together and it was such a good time. Honorary training him for a while was great, and he considers me his mission dad. So I was able to have a child in my tribulations so to say. 

We were able to get a lot of good work done before he left which was good. This guy that we met with for the first time last week we met with again and he has set the goal to be baptized in June. So we will keep working with him and then he also came to church this last week which was so great! Its nice to see that as we work hard and do what we can to teach and preach by the spirit, people can be moved to act and then grow their own testimonies! 

Also a couple other random facts, some people that Elder Pugh and I started teaching in Morris are getting baptized this month, as well as my man Aaron! He is the guy that I found on Facebook and we passed him off to the YSA Elders this last week with a killer lesson. Now he has a date set for the end of the month! A super cool miracle and blessing, he is a beast.

So this week we also had MLC again, with the mission leadership, it was alright, that was when we exchanged back and I lost Elder Moyle. That was a sad day, they leave you younger and younger nowadays, it seems like just yesterday he was growing up and now he is off in the world. That was a sad goodbye, although its not like forever, but to not be his companion is pretty sad. We both had a great exchange and he expressed that in our little time he learned more about missionary work then in all the rest of the time in his mission so far. He is a good guy and it was great having him as a fellow zone leader in training for a bit.

We got the chance to do some service this week called "Fire and Ice". I got to help with the pony rides, so that was quite the adventure. It is cool to be a part of so many different experiences as a missionary and help the community and just serve, its super cool. 

Also random side note, I finally got to burn my pants for 18 months this last week, although we are a little later than 18 months now...

And finally yesterday to end the week we had a Spanish mission presidents fireside. Its where you have members from all over share their stories and I was in charge of getting it all planned out and going. It was super stressful trying to plan speakers from all over Minnesota, but it turned out great, and we had a pretty good turn out! So a stress off my plate and I got to see so many familiar faces, it was a good time! 

Well that's my week, we have transfers this week and I think that I will be moving on from Lake Nokomis, but we will find out for sure tomorrow! Love you all!

Elder Pickering