Photos from Ryan 7-7-2014

Email from Ryan 7-7-2014

Hey guys what’s up?!?  This week has been pretty crazy, first of all President Robertson and his family got to the mission.  Then Thursday we got to have interviews with the president.  So that was awesome.  So funny times, the first thing he says to me is, “What’s new ping-pong Kelley.”  hahahaha, I will never be able to ditch that name in the mission.  He told me that when he was with President Carter they were looking at a board that has all the pictures of all the missionaries in the mission.  And he was pointing a few missionaries out and he points at mine and says, this one I call ping-pong Kelley.  Then President Carter told him the whole story and what happened.  After that, President Robertson told me that he knows more about me than any other missionary here.

After the interviews they introduced themselves and bought us McDonald’s!  It’s the first time I’ve had it since I left for the mission, maybe even longer than that, I’m not the biggest fan.  It’s actually decent here. The meat is lots better, not so crappy, haha. Then Friday was just awesome, we got to go to the temple with some of our investigators.  It’s a couple we have been teaching. The lady is a member and the guy isn’t, and we are trying to help them get married.  We went to the temple and talked a lot, took them on a tour outside the temple and everything.  He loved it.  Then we ran into some members that we knew and the member says, “When I decided to get baptized, I made the best choice of my life, I hope you will be able to make the same choice, and be as happy as I am.”  And our investigator said, “I’m looking forward to it.”  It will be awesome.  hahaha, so awesome.  Then Saturday, I helped a family installing LED light strips on a few desks they have, it was pretty fun.  I had to make a few circuits and everything, I totally forgot how much I love working with electronics.

Then Sunday the Carranza family had all their family come to see their new baby Pedro get blessed, the chapel filled up entirely!!!  It helps that the Carranza family has like 60 people. hahahahaa. And they all live in my old ward, Los Pinos.  So I got to catch up with them for a little while.  So something awesome is that we get to watch the world cup semifinals this Wednesday!!  President Robertson is Awesome!!!  Ok, I got to get going, I’m gonna send a ton of pictures now.  I love you guys!!

Hey mom!!  Hey I heard that you and dad taught Alex and his wife.  Good job!!!!  Ya’ll are missionaries.  hahaha.  Hey, so I got to have an interview with president Robertson! he and his family are awesome.  I’ll write a little bit more about that in my other letter.

I’m jealous that you got to see Phillip Phillips and the Senators.  I never heard of them but, I do like bluegrass.  haha. We get to watch the game this Wednesday!!!!  Hey you need to watch a video on youtube called Vamos Argentina.  It really shows how the people are down here.

Hey I’m gonna send you some pictures right now.  I’m going to a member’s house today to find out how to make dulce de leche.  We will make it when I get back home!!!  Hey can you send me a recipe for waffles?

Ok, I’ve got to write lots of emails so I’m gonna get going, I’m in a little bit of a hurry.  I love you mom, got to go!!

Hey root for Argentina this Wednesday!!!!!   I’ll send you the rest of the pictures next week!!!  love you!

Email from Ryan 6-30-2014

Hey guys!!!  This week has been pretty awesome and super sad at the same time.  We have been teaching some really cool people.  One who is called Marisol.  She is really funny.  We joke a ton, her daughter calls me Mickey, I have no idea why.  Her daughter was baptized last month, and she is going to get baptized in July.  She finally got separated from her terrible boyfriend, so now she can.  It was just so funny, she knows she wants to get baptized.  I think it was Wednesday, we just said, ‘hey Mari, how about you getting baptized this weekend’, and she just said, yes, what do I need to do.  We explained that she can’t be living with anyone without being married, so she just said, ‘I am going to do everything I can to get rid of him.’ hahahahahahaha.  So funny.  Also one other funny thing that has happened here is that all the members and our investigators call me Elder Killer.  It’s because I’ve got on my black trench coat, and my glasses that change to black and a bag that they say has a gun. hahahahaha. President carter and his wife left Argentina yesterday.  Now President Robertson and his wife are here in Argentina.  I got to see a picture of them, they are young.  We will see when I get to meet them, I’m super excited for them.

Ok I’ve got to get going, I’m going to look for a jersey here, I guess there is a place that sells some really good knock offs for about 12 dollars here.  Love you guys!!!!

Hey mom!!!  So yeah I’ve have a pretty crazy mission, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it.  Something I’ve learned since I got to Argentina is that this life is specifically meant for us.  Like, the things that will happen in my life will be difficult, because Heavenly Father knows my weaknesses and knows that I can overcome them, so much that they will become my strengths.  It’s something that we try and teach all of our investigators, because life here in Argentina is really bad, I’m not gonna lie.

The people we are teaching now are very awesome, but have such tragedies in their lives and they can’t understand how that can happen and be that Heavenly Father wants that.  It’s something that we are always trying to help.

Sadly, I don’t have any photos of Elder Cox or Elder Wong.  It was a very hard time in the mission that I wasn’t feeling too happy.  I didn’t take many pictures at all, and I only had 3 weeks with them.  Elder Wong has been in Hong Kong since February.  Elder Ebmeyer has been out about 18 months now, Elder Cox has the same time in the mission that I do, Elder Burke goes home in September, Elder Gonzalez left in May, Elder Lopez is now in Merlo, Elder Florez is now in Moreno, Elder Coronado goes home in a month, and Elder Toledo goes home in 3 and a half months.  All my companions are going to die soon. hahahaha.  In the mission life span, is what I’m talking about.

We are teaching some really cool people now, which I will talk about in my letter to everyone. Oh hey, I’ll send you the Facebook of Sister Carter next week, I have her name in my last planner.  Or maybe you already friended her.  We have to visit them some time.  They live in Florida, in a huge house.  hahahaha.  Ok, I’m going to write the letter to everyone, I love you mom!!!!

Ryan:  Hey guys you online?

Grant:  Yes. I am online.

Ryan:  Are you already at work or still at home?

Grant:  I was getting ready to go into work, but will email you while online before going into work.

Ryan:  Ok, I’ve only been on like 20 minutes so I still have an hour left.  I saw the pics that Geena sent me of you and her and Boston.  Hey that is super sad that Nancy passed away.  I can’t believe that.

Hey when was the last time you rode your bike? Like the pedal one?

Grant:  before you left. I need to get it out and start riding again. I have lost some weight this past two weeks and in the next couple weeks I hope to be a little less heavy so I can ride.

​Ryan:  Did Clint take his bike back to Tennessee or is it still at the house?​

Grant:  we took his bicycle back the same time we took the nighthawk back to him. mom wants to get you bike when you get back so you can ride with me.

Ryan:  Sounds good to me.  I was thinking about that one that was in Walmart.  I don’t know if you still remember it or not, but I remember that it wasn’t too expensive. I think I’ll ride that thing every day.

Grant:  I remember that one, but I have never seen it there again. Mom has been checking out some really nice ones on craigslist, but it is best to check them out in person and see how it feels to you as far a top tube height and frame geometry.  So, is it nice and cool there now?  Do they do cool fireworks there during the world cup as your country plays?

Ryan:  Yeah they do fireworks, shoot their guns, whatever they have they just light it on fire.

Grant:  That is wild! Be safe out there!

Ryan:  Yeah, we are always in the house when they play.  It’s a rule that we can’t leave.

Grant:  that is good

World Cup Fever in Argentina!

Central Park in Junin

 

 

From the mission blog 6-18-14 “The Beautiful Goodbye” by Sister Carter

 From Sister Carter who will be returning home at the end of the month after their 3 years as mission presidents.

“When we pulled in the church parking lot this morning and I caught the first glimpse of this sign, I just burst into tears and that is how the day started.

We had a great transfer meeting, which was fairly normal, right until the moment that my husband decided to surprise me with a huge spray of flowers. It was totally unexpected, but what made it even more special were the lovely words that he said. The missionaries know that I have worked for our entire mission to learn and improve my Spanish. It is not as easy as you might imagine to learn Spanish. Much of the work that we do at the offices is done in English and there are always people around to translate. I have felt incredibly blessed for the help from the missionaries and from our Heavenly Father most of all.

We have a goal that every missionary leaves the mission with two languages. “Lucia” Carter took the Spanish test, and today the missionaries gave me a standing ovation! It was a first.

I no sooner sat down than the assistants asked us to come back and they asked Brianna to join us and they thanked our family for our service here in Argentina and gave us an engraved silver tray and another spray of flowers.

Each of the missionaries wrote us a personal message.The letters have all been combined and bound in a book. We will treasure it forever.

After that, we had a break for lunch. Oh, I forgot to mention that when the missionaries arrived this morning they each got to choose a number and I had brought all the leftover items from the pantry at our house and numbered them. It was a fun little thing and kind of amusing to see the missionaries walking around with random items like a spice jar of cinnamon or a can of green beans!

After lunch, we moved to the chapel and the pastores shared their testimonies. Three of the zones had prepared special musical numbers which were amazing! The third however, was God Be With You till We Meet Again. You can only imagine what it was like for me trying to speak after that. Presidente then spoke and then we showed our own Pastores video, which I will share on the blog another day.

We sang our mission hymn which is a song called “I’ll Find You My Friend.” The missionaries all stood and sung an additional verse about us and I am pretty sure that everyone was crying by then. One of the assistants left immediately after the closing prayer to get boxes of tissues.

Then the missionaries came one by one to say goodbye to us and give us a hug or shake our hand. It took about an hour and I have to say that it was one of the most spiritual experiences that I have ever had in my life. Even now, I still feel wrapped in the glow of their love which was demonstrated to us in such a beautiful way.

 

Words are truly inadequate to express our emotions and gratitude.

Below are some pictures from the morning. I hope to always have the mental images from this afternoon engraved upon my heart.”

Email from Ryan 6/16/14 One year mark this week on the 19th!!!!

Hey mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week has been pretty cool!  I went on exchanges with the zone leaders for a day, then the zone leader wanted to do exchanges with a different elder so they sent me to a different area for the other day.  So, I got to be with one of my best friends in my district!  It was pretty fun!  I bought some doughnuts from an investigator that they have, they were really good.  I saw all the pictures you sent me, I can’t believe how big Hailey is now!!  It’s crazy!!!!!!

Hey and did you buy and Argentina jersey?  I’ve been looking for some here but right now they are all like 100 bucks, like dollars!  It’s crazy expensive because of the world cup.  I actually haven’t heard anything from Renee, it’s been a long time since I’ve written her, I will do that this week if I have time, but if not, I will this upcoming week.

So, President Carter leaves June 28th, and the new president gets here, like the 27th or something like that.  I’m super sad that he and his family are leaving.  They really are awesome people.  So, yeah, a year has passed by super quick!  I don’t know how, but it has.

That quote from President Smith is awesome, I love it. (“We are ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Our commission is to represent him.  We are directed to preach his gospel, to perform the ordinances of salvation, to bless mankind, to heal the sick and perhaps perform miracles, to do what he would do if he were personally present –and all this because we hold the holy priesthood.”)  In this mission they call us agents of repentance.  We really do have to be thinking in the way he would be, doing things the way he would do it.  Not in our way, but the Lord’s way.  And, if we are doing that, everything with work itself out.  I hope I’m not getting transferred, but I honestly have no idea now, they just like to throw me around everywhere  and I know exactly why  The very first interview I had with President Carter, he asked me how well I get along with people, and I told him, it doesn’t matter who it is, I get along with everyone, and it’s true so far. hahaha.  And for that, they place me with people that did stupid things and they need to be better in the mission, or people that need help getting better, more obedient, however it is. I’m hoping to stay here, and I’m hoping that my companion stays here too.  My comp only has 4 months left and he wants to ‘die’ here.

Ok mom, I’m going to get going, I love you!!!!!  I’ll try and take lots of pictures this week to send to you!!!!

Hey dad,  happy late Father’s Day, I tried to send you a note yesterday through a member but his internet didn’t work.  How was your day yesterday? That’s fun that you are driving to go see Clint and got to go to Lambert’s, and travel through the Ozark Mountains, there are no mountains here, it’s just flat.   I’m jealous!  I got to go. I love you!!  Have a safe trip!!!!  Root for Argentina, not Brasil!!!!

Hey Kacy!!!  I’m back in my old zone, in my old area no, but pretty close.  I think I’m going to go there next pday.  World cup is super crazy here, and I’m in the ghettos more or less and the people are crazy, I haven’t been to the city in a while, I’m guessing it’s a lot crazier.  We actually have a rule here, we can’t be out on the street when Argentina plays, because there are some people that are crazy and drive around shooting their guns off in all sorts of places.  Hey, I’ll try and look for something Argentine for you and Jonathan, and maybe your doggies. hahahahah.   But I’ve got to wait a little while, everything that has the colors blue and white has quadrupled in price cause of the world cup.  But I like it here because everything is so cheap, I actually bought some beats headphones for 5 bucks.  hahahahaha.

That is awesome that you are going to have your own salon!!  I wish I could help you out, you have no idea how many houses I’ve built here now.  I’m almost sure I could build one alone now.  hahahaha. Have fun in the south when you guys go!!!  Love you Kacy!!!!!   Say hi to Jonathan for me, and tell the dogs that they need to help Juliet lose more weight, because if not, we will need to change her name to fatima. hahahaha. jk, but that’s a name that lots of people have here, weird huh.  But still I’ve never heard one as weird as L-a!!!!!!

Email from Ryan 6/09/14

Hey guys!  This week has been pretty awesome.  Elder Toledo and I have been working pretty hard.  We are seeing some really good progression in our investigators.  So something awesome that happened this week, I’m gonna share 2 stories.  The first is that we found a guy named Juan on Wednesday.  Then Saturday, we went to teach him again but this time we taught his girlfriend too, and she is awesome.  She told us that his problems can only be solved by God and she told us that it isn’t a coincidence that we found him.  They both are doing awesome.  She opened her heart up to us, and told us everything that was worrying her and everything that she wants to do better, like we only asked 1 question and boom, she told us everything that a missionary needs to help someone out.  They are a family of 5, and hopefully in about a month or two, 4 will be baptized, but they need to get married first so we are working on that.

Ok, now the second story.  So since I got here, Elder Toledo and I have put our heads together and decided to start working with some less active members that we both like.  So we just started to stop by their house for a few minutes every other day or so, and just kept inviting them to church and yesterday, their whole family came to church, after years of not going.  We asked them why, and they told us that they felt like they were abandoned until we decided to stop by.  I’m not gonna lie, it is one of the best feelings in the world to see people you love so much changing their lives.  Ok well, I’m gonna leave this email at that.

I love you guys!  NOS VEMOS!!!

Hey mom, so I don’t have too much time, I ran out of time switching files around and reading a billion emails.  hahah.  But 1 thing, James in Spanish is Santiago,  not ya-mes.  (So Maddie is not saying James in Spanish) hahaha.   And another thing, I promise I will email you something longer next week, I love you mom!!!!

This is my email to president this week:   “Hey President! This week has been awesome! I can’t even begin to tell you how many miracles we have seen this week, it was just like it wouldn’t stop. haha.  I think about 10 times this week, we have found ourselves in the right place at the right time to find people that were just waiting to hear the gospel!  I feel like my animo this week has just been awesome.  It all started to change after the last interview we had right when we had flashes. I just decided that every morning I’m going to get up and know what I have to do, and do it in the way I know it should be done.  Work with every bit of energy I have to do my best and use my faith to make up for the rest.  I want to thank you so much for always giving me advice in how I can get better, how I can do better.

Email from Ryan 6/02/14

Hey, hey, hey!!  haha, how are you guys?!?!  This week has been pretty crazy with lots of changes.  To start off, they took me out of my area, and put me back in Gonzalez Catan!!  So that was pretty weird.  We were doing all of our calls Friday night and then they told us that I was leaving, just like that.  So I spent all that night packing, and the weird thing is, we are in a weird transfer, like it’s only 4 weeks long, and transfers just happened last Wednesday! and they will happen again in 2 weeks!  Oh well, so I am now in Rafael Castillo Central.  It’s pretty funny, when I was in Catan before I went on exchanges in this area, so I already know some of the members before I even got here.  My new companion is Elder Toledo, he has been out for a long time, and he only has 5 months left.  The members in this ward are awesome, there is actually one guy in our ward that is into computers and games and that kind of stuff, it’s way cool!  His house is awesome, it’s full of computers and games and all that good stuff.  So other than that nothing too crazy has been happening.  How is life in the United States going?

 

Ryan:  Hi Mom!!!!  How are you?

 

Karen:  I’m good, how are you doing?

 

Ryan:  Good!  Hey some crazy stuff happened last week, and now I’m back in Catan!!  Crazy huh?  I’m actually back in my same district.  Now I’m in the area, Rafael Castillo Central.  It’s like right next to my last area. haha, I didn’t move too far.

 

Karen:  Are you happy about the move?  I was happy you were in a more safe area of the mission!  Are you still a District Leader?

 

Ryan:  I have no idea why they did the changes.  I’m bittersweet about the change, I really loved my last district and my last area and all the members.  I’m still about in as nice of an area as Los Pinos, so it’s not really part of Catan, they just call it that since it’s in the zone.  No, I’m not district leader anymore, but I’m alright with that.

 

Karen:   Where is Elder Coronado?  When did you switch?  Who is your new companion and how long has he been out?

 

Ryan:  Elder Coronado is in Los Pinos still, we switched Saturday morning.  My new comp is Elder Toledo, he has only 5 months left in the mission.

 

Karen:  That is so crazy!!  I wonder why they switched at such a weird time?  Where did Elder Toledo’s companion go?

 

Ryan:  Home I think, he had served in 4 different missions and already passed his 2 year mark and because of problems with his visa he couldn’t leave until now.  haha, crazy huh.  I guess his family was at the airport and everything and he never got there that day.

 

Karen:  That is weird!     And, go buy some food!  Haha    How did he serve in 4 different missions?  Wow?    They must pick you to move around because you just get along with everyone and are happy to do whatever they want you to do.

 

Ryan:  Yep, I’m always happy with everyone, I don’t know, I just don’t like to have problems so I’ll do whatever needs to be done.  Ok mom, I got to go, I love yo

Email from Ryan 5/26/14

Hey guys!  This week has been pretty awesome! We had lots of our investigators in church this week!  We worked a ton this week, I’ve barely been finding time to do anything, including today!  Ok, well this email is going to be quite a bit shorter than normal because I don’t have too much time today.

So, this week we saw some awesome things happening with some people we are teaching.  One was quite awesome.  There is a lady that we are teaching who has a son that is 16, he is a member but the she still isn’t because she is living with her boyfriend.  But, for the first time since I’ve been here, she came to church, and everyone went and said hi, and asked how she was, where she was, all that.  She ended up crying during Sacrament meeting.  She told us that she is going to push her boyfriend to get married, apparently he just doesn’t have the papers right now.  So we will see.  She is just super excited about coming to church, and she really wants to get baptized, she is basically a member, just not baptized.  Ok, well I’m going to get going, sorry about the super short letter but we have lots of work to do.  Love you all!!

Ryan:  hey are you online?

Karen:  How are you?  I’m excited to email back and forth today and next week!

Ryan:  Good because I’ve got some good time this week, we didn’t use all our emailing time last week!!  How are you mommy?

Karen:  Good, did you see all the pictures I sent?  They are fun.  How are you?

Ryan:  I’m good, just a little cold.  How was Geena’s graduation?!?!  Yes I did, they are awesome!!!

Karen:  Are you writing Pres. Carter?  There was a picture of him on the website walking around a courtyard area while reading and Sister Carter said it takes him 9 hours to read all the missionaries emails each week so sometimes he walks while he does it!  9 hours!  Just for that part of being a mission pres.

Ryan:  Yeah, I write him every week, if not, the assistants call and ask me why I didn’t write him. Haha

Karen:    Can you send me your letter to him?  I would love to see what you write to him.  Have they called you before to ask?  Did you forget before or you just know people who have so you know what happens.

Ryan:  Once I thought I sent one, but it didn’t go through because the internet was slow and they called me….but yeah I’ll send you what I write him .

Karen:  That probably does happen because of bad internet service.  I’m glad they call to check on you!  Did your district or zone change much with the last transfer?   Have you asked people about fixing your suits yet?  Maybe where you do the laundry knows someone.

Ryan:  Yeah, all the sisters in my district got taken out except one.   I’ll ask about finding someone for my suits.

Karen:  How are you doing with being a district leader now that you’ve done it for a while?

Ryan:   I’m not a big fan of it but hey, it’s fun getting to know everyone’s investigators, but the rest I don’t like too much.  But I’ve gotten used to it.

Karen:  Why don’t you like it, more paperwork?  More missionary problems?

Ryan: This is what I just wrote president. “Hey President! This week went pretty well, we were pretty happy.  This week we really saw miracles happen, we were trying so hard to get our investigators to church this week.  And to do so, we started talking with a ton of members during the whole week about people they could invite to church this week.  And it really paid off, the members brought lots of people to church.  I’m pretty excited about this transfer, we are going to work super hard.  Elder Coronado and I have been working really well together, I feel like I’m learning a ton from him, he is a very effective teacher.  I loved the message in the sol this week, it’s so true, we all need to be ready to be leaders.  I totally understand the part of, some people are called as leaders to progress.  And that really is the way all callings are in the church, to help us progress.  We are looking forward to an awesome month in June!”

Karen:  I think you should always send me your letters to him!

Ryan:  Ok, got to go, love you mom!!!!

Email from Ryan 5/19/14

Hey guys!!

This week has been pretty chill, we didn’t do too much.  The most important is that we have an investigator who is almost ready to get baptized! He has quit smoking and drinking.  And now all he needs to do is get interviewed which we tried to do yesterday but he didn’t show up!!  So we still don’t know what happened, the bad part is that he doesn’t have a phone we can call!

It’s started to get colder here.  I’m liking it more or less.  I just don’t like that my hands are always freezing.  haha, but other than that, it’s all good.

So we have got transfers again this week.  I can’t believe that time just keeps going faster and faster.   I’m really hoping nothing changes in this area, I love being here with Elder Coronado.  We get along really well, and we teach even better.  hahahaha.  I’ve really started to just love these members here, they are just so nice.

So something a little weird is going to happen this next transfer, it will only be 4 weeks instead of 6.  Then the new mission president arrives and we have a transfer of 8 weeks with the 2 presidents together! That is going to be quite awesome.

Ok, that’s about all that’s going on this week.