Week #25- Teaching By the Spirit

Monday, February 11, 2013

Hey!

It's been a good week, and I am still learning a lot. We gained some more investigators this week! We think they will be good! They already go to church, and he says he likes the Mormon church. They are hard to teach though because they are very educated and use a lot of big words. Hopefully, I will be able to understand everything. This week is also transfer calls. I think I'm leaving Pomona. I've been here for 3 transfers and I think it is my time to go. We will see. We finished the ward list this week, and we got a completed copy to all of the leader ship in the ward. All of the missionaries had a part of the list they had to go through. It was good because it shows the leadership who has moved, who is a part member family, and who is less active. The ward was very thankful, and I feel like doing this has helped the ward gain more trust with the missionaries. Hopefully, with this list they can get some good home teaching done. It's almost non-existent. This will help and the ward leaders are excited to get started with it. Teaching has been increasing, and we have a lot of people we can stop by. We have some investigators that really want to change and know if this is true. It kind of puts some pressure on us even though it shouldn't because we don't do the teaching, the Spirit does. We are just the person inviting them to do things that can change their life. This is something I still need to learn and get better at. It was a good week, and I learned a lot just like every week. I'm excited for this next week and what it has in store. Well, I got to go. I Hope you all have a great week. 

Love Elder Ryan Smith.

PS I hope Derek and Blake start feeling better. 

Week #24- Moving on in the Work

Monday, February 4, 2013

That's good that you are doing all those things to help the missionary work, and that's cool that you are finishing your mormon.org page because it is a good tool that we have been given to use and to help us. It's true that when the members are involved in the work it is a lot better. That's why as missionaries we always need to be an example and always strive to be better and do our best, because if the members don't trust you the work won't be as good. I know that I wouldn't want to give my friends' names over to someone that isn't keeping the rules and isn't being a good example. Trust is a big key in missionary work with the ward members and with those people you teach.

 

This has been a good week. We have found a lot of people to teach this week, and our planners are already full of appointments. Hopefully, they all work out. It's nice when your whole week is planned for you. We have found most of these people we are teaching now through the ward list. We have been stopping by a lot of the part member families and less active families, and it really has made us busy. Spanish is coming. Every day I get better! I just need to keep working hard on it. It's been a good week. The only downfall to the week was that I wrecked on my bike. Not bad. I just kind of ran into a wall and a little bit of a fence. It didn't hurt. My perfect record of not wrecking is broken. Well, I got to go. I hope you all have a good week.

 

Love Elder Ryan Smith

Week #23- Member Work

Monday, January 28, 2013

Hey!

It's been a good week here in Pomona. We are staying really busy, and we are finding a lot of people to teach. We have been going through the ward list stopping by every house and person on the ward list. It's keeping us really busy. You wouldn't believe how many of the people on the ward list are less active, a part member family, or both. It's really deepened our teaching pool. Another thing I've learned is that people are always moving. Half the names on the ward list are of people that moved, and we don't know where they went. Everyone is always moving. It truly was a blessing just to have lived In Salmon my entire life and not have had to move. We are almost done going through it, and that will be nice to have done. My new companion is really good at working with the members, and I have been learning a lot from him. Member work truly is the most productive if you know how to do it. So I am really grateful that I am learning how to do member work early in my mission. Oh, and the Guerras I think are really going to come that Christmas I come home. They're already planning the trip to Idaho. Every time I see them they bring it up. I hope they can come, that would be awesome! It's been a good week and I am excited for the new adventure this week has in store. I can't believe how fast it's going.

Blake ended up having to have surgury? That's not good. Is it the same thing he had the last time he had surgury? Derek's team won without Jedd? That's really good. Definitely, because he is a good player and a big key in them winning! I bet the team was really excited! Is Jedd wrestling and playing basketball? I wonder how that works with all the practices and everything, that would be hard. It sounds like everything is going good at your house and that your family is doing well. That's nice to hear. Well, I got to go. Hope you all have a great week.

Love, Elder Ryan Smith

Week #22- The Area Book

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Hey!

That stinks that Derek's team lost. It seems like they're pretty good this year; when they lose it's still always a really close game. There is always next time. This was a good week. Elder Austin is a really cool guy and a really good missionary. We have got really busy this week. This week we spent some time organizing the area book which has seemed to be the reason we are getting a lot more busy. Doing this has really showed me how important the area book is. We have been going through the ward list and almost half of the people on it have moved, are less active, or are part member families. Yesterday, we found a couple part member families to start teaching, and that was just from going through the ward list. We still have 40 names of members we need to stop by. I'm pretty sure that will keep us busy. I've been learning a lot about how to work with those less active members and those part member families with Elder Austin. That's what he really likes to do is work with the members. It's really good that I'm learning this. I'm excited to see what happens this week. Yesterday for our Zone activity we went on a hike. It's been a long time since I've been on a mountain and outdoors like that. It was really nice. The mountains and hiking are a great stress reliever. Can you believe that the 49ers made it to the super bowl? I knew that right when I got on my mission they would make it. I hope they win! I'll be able to watch the game in two years; that's not that long. It's been a busy week, and I'm really excited for this week. Well, got to go. I hope you guys have a great week.

 

Love Elder Ryan Smith 

Week #21- Staying in Pomona

Monday, January 14, 2013

Hey Everybody!

Transfers are over, and I'm staying in Pomona at least one more transfer, but I did get a new companion. His name is Elder Austin. I've only been around him for about an hour but he seems really cool and really focused which is really good. Even though it was sad to leave Elder Nielsen, I'm excited to see what more I can learn from Elder Austin. That's the nice thing about changing is you can learn so much from different missionaries. This transfer will only be 5 weeks instead of 6 which stinks! This was a good week. We found some new investigators and taught some really good lessons. Hopefully, we can keep getting busier! It was a good week! The weather here is freezing or at least it feels cold. I thought I was going to go 2 years without a winter but that's not true. It's still cold just no snow. I don't know why it feels so cold, but I have to wear my sweater everywhere. I'm just happy I don't have to wear a coat-that would be horrible! Hopefully, Derek's team beats Firth-that would be good for them. Who is coaching the C-team this year? How was Tayler's trip? I'm glad to here everything is going good at home, and hopefully, Blake starts feeling better. I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Ryan Smith 

Week #20- A New Year

Monday, January 7, 2013

Hey!

I'm glad to hear that everything is going good at home. Here in Pomona everything is still good. We get busier every week and everything seems to get a little easier every week which is really nice. This Saturday is transfers so I will find out if I stay in Pomona or if I leave. I really hope I stay at least one more. I really like Pomona, and this next transfer we have a few baptismal dates. I guess we will just have to wait and see. Nothing too interesting happened this week. We just taught and tried finding people to teach. Our lessons we had this week all went really well and we had good reactions by everyone we taught. They all invited us back which is a good sign. This week we knocked on a door and a born again Christian opened it, and he just started bashing our church and told us we were going to hell. It was super interesting! It's a good thing Elder Nielsen was there because I was about a minute away from punching him. He started pointing at me, trying to make me say their Christian prayer with him. I was super frustrated, and Elder Nielsen just said, "I hope you have a nice day," and walked away. I don't know how he did it. I was super mad. It took everything I had not to react or say anything. There is no point in trying to bash with him so I have learned that it's best just to get out of there before you do get upset. I feel super bad for that guy because he is so lost, and that experience also shows me how true our church really is. I am so blessed to have a testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel. I wish more people were more willing to listen to our message because it is so true. All the missionaries in our ward also sang at the Stake baptism this Sunday. It was super fun to see the excitement in all the 8 year olds' faces. Oh, we have a family in the ward that wants to come up for Christmas in 2014. Haha! I told them you would love to have them and that they were always welcome. It's the family that let me skype on their computer. They're really awesome! Haha! it was their idea. This New Years I went on exchanges with Elder Alvarenga and all we did was eat. On holidays it seems like all people want to do is feed us. It's always good food but it's horrible because it's so much food. I feel a 100 pounds heavier every holiday. It's good. The people here are really good to us. It was a good week! Tell Blake good luck, and I hope everyone has a good week.

Love, Elder Ryan Smith

Week #18 & #19-Christmas Call

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Ryan skyped with his family, so no letter this week or the next. He looked great!