September 7, 2009

Ryan's Letter:

Subject: Better late than never! Right?



Alright, here we go. Sorry this is late, we have had so much time and so little to do. Strike that, reverse it. There we go, that's more like it.
So some highlights of the week were the four amazing new investigators that we found this week. Two of them were some Chinese girls who are attending Sierra College (where we do quite a bit of proselyting, by the way) that we met early in the week. The next day we took our ward mission leader over to teach them and although they only had fifteen minutes and didn't speak much English, we had a great experience. They had both heard of God and the Savior but really had no religious backround. So we only taught the basics and at the end I asked it one of them would like to try and offer the prayer. After a little encouragement, we finally convinced the older of the two to pray. We had to teach her everything about a simple prayer, but when she prayed, it was so sincere and the spirit was very strong.
The other two investigators we actually found almost two weeks ago. While tracting we met Kayo (from Taiwan) who tried to turn us down at first. Luckily, we wree able to at least set up a return appointment for last Sunday so we could share a quick thought. However when Sunday came around she called and asked us to postpone it. Normally, that's a sad thing but she wanted us to wait for her husband to be able to make it. So we finally met with Kayo and Zac last night. I had forgotten that Irene had her interview last night as well so I had accidentally double scheduled us for that night. But we were able to grab another companionship to help us out with exchanges.
Our meeting with them began pretty casual but gradually got better and better. I was with a really young missionary who I hadn't been able to prep but the Spirit directed us and took us place we had never thought that lesson would go. We ended up teaching parts of all four of the missionary lessons, and they are very excited to learn. Plus Irene passed her interview and wil be baptized this Saturday!
Any way we are in charge of FHE for the singles ward tonight so I have to go finish preparing. I love you all so much and hope you are enjoying life.
Love ya!
Elder Ryan Allred

September 14, 2009

Ryan's Letter:

Subject: I would give up ice-cream, but I'm no quitter!


Last Saturday was one of the most amazing days of my life. We had a really hard week because I was sick, but Irene pulled through and we had a great baptismal service. She was given the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday, and bore her testimony during sacrament meeting. We could really tell she had the spirit with her as she spoke. That's the best part of missions, because that's why we're out here anyway.
Well today is transfers, and Elder Spear and I are lucky enough to stay together. Finally, I have a companion staying with me for more than one transfer! This is going to be a great six weeks. We have found a couple great new investigators and there is a lot of good things happening.
I guess I don't have a lot to tell you guys, we didn't get to do very much this last week, but I have some good stories for you next week.. I hope. Any way thanks for everything.
Love YA!
Elder Ryan Allred