Busy Busy Busy

Sorry to all of Ryan's friends and family. Below is some of the conversation we had with RyRy yesterday, but because he was short on time this is all we get till next week. Just know that he is doing great and he sends his love to ALL!

We would like to thank you all, for your support to Ryan while on his mission, thru your letters, packages and prayers. We know that you, his friends and family have been a great strength to him and to us. We know as does Ryan, that the Gospel is true and that God lives and Jesus Christ lives and loves each and everyone of us. We also know that thru our trails we are made strong and if we humble ourselves and put Christ first in our lives we too can know true happiness. Just as we told Ryan in his email on Monday that "miracles happen on the other side of obedience and hard work."

We are a little over a month away from celebrating Ryan's half way mark!!!!!!!!! (but, who's counting, haha)

May God bless you always and as RyRy would say, "Keep on, Keeping on and have an awesome week!"

All our LOVE!

Phil and Cyndi

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I'm doin pretty good here...finally got a little bit of time to get to the library how's it going baack home?

....Yeah it's been a pretty good week...had a real busy day on monday....then yesterday we went to Balboa Park and played Frisbee Golf

I've been trying to talk President letting a couple of us go to an afternoon padres game on P-day but he keeps rejecting me like the ugly girl at the school dance but he said keep trying and one day he might say yes so my nerdy prince charming who doesn't have a date either is out there...there's hope

No but I got bit yesterday by a rabid chuwawa.... it was a good one... I hate all little dogs and pitbulls now since being down here so do not ask me to get one of those because I will punt that thing every chance I get. they are just mother natures fart...I have a strong.... well not hate because that's a strong word but a huge dislike on those creatures...

hey I won't have time to put in a regular email... I don't have a whole lot of time left so I guess all the others are gonna have ta hold out for another week.sorry!

no I really don't have time... I've been looking up a few things on lds.org and jesuschrist.lds.org to print off and share with some of my investigators so I really don't have time. sorry.

I've actually gotta go right now... we've got an appointment right now but have a good week and love you all! Talk to ya next week.

Happy Happy Happy

Aloha!

Pickin up a little Hawaiian with my companion here!

So what’s kickin back at home? How has everybody been doing as of late?.... Things have all been great here…work…work….and more work…what more could I ask for. But really things have been going really good this past week with Elder Thomas and everything….been a little stressed out….just a little though never a lot snot how I roll…well then again I wouldn’t say stressed out but just under a little bit of pressure. Member work has been a real stress in the San Diego area and especially down here in the branch where we so desperately need the strength of the members and as well I think that they need the help of the missionaries keeping this branch all in order….it ain’t easy bein cheesy….the branch down here is strong but very fragile (mmmm must be Italian) at the same time and I think that’s where the pressure comes into play from the Branch Presidency, President Donaldson, and the Stake President… So since member work has been our biggest focus (as well it should be) I got dealt the task to split up every member and less-active member in our boundaries between each of the 4 companionships in the branch or in my district… So over this past week I was at the desk looking at the maps, the ward directory, calling people, calling missionaries to see who they were working with, praying about it all… I guess I got a sneak peek into what President Donaldson and every mission president goes through every 6 weeks…but it’s all done and good now….we presented it to each leader and it was all good stuff so now that’s behind us we’ve seen miracles happening as we’ve been focusing our time and efforts on the members. It has seemed like a missionary rush has went through the branch as we’ve been working closely with our members and I can’t say that it’s any credit to us…it’s all our members that our doing it…we’ve just been the supporting cast….just today we had an awesome lesson with a lady that a member found on her own efforts just riding the bus…it’s been amazing!!! But I’ll have to talk more about it next week cuz I’ve gotta run!

Love you all and have a great week! Tark to you nerxt weerk!!!

One love,

Elder Ryan Lawter

More pics with Elder Law

It took me a long time to figure out what they're holding....but it's just ice cream.

Howdy-Ho

Hey everyone,

So how’s everyone doing? I hope that everyone is doin hot and dandy! Today we had transfers again! It’s hard to believe that I’m almost half way through with all of my transfers! But we went to transfers today and how transfers work is our zone leaders get a letter from President Donaldson telling them what missionaries are leaving, what missionaries are picking up a new companion, and what missionaries are training and then they send out a voice message to all the missionaries phones in the zone the night before transfers telling people if they need to pack or if they’re going to get a new companion tomorrow or what not. So we got the message yesterday and the message didn’t have anything about me leaving or Elder Hernandez leaving so we were pretty stoked to hear that we were stayin, no sweat huh? Yeahhhhh…….. mmmmm……. So Elder Hernandez and I decided to go to transfers anyways just to see who was getting transferred and all and plus I was going to find out who all was going to be in my district and talk to president a little bit about the areas and such so anyways we were sitting in transfers and all of a sudden President calls my name and it kind of caught me off guard but I stood up cuz I thought that he was gonna tell me stuff about the areas and my district and stuff but that wasn’t the case…. I was actually standing up to get a new companion…..darn that revelation…ha So yea to my surprise and Elder Hernandez’ and everyone else pretty much I got a new companion, his name is Elder Thomas and he hails for Honolulu, Hawaii…Aloha braaaa…. He’s a pretty chill guy, this is only his 2^nd transfer so I’m follow-up training again which is gonna be fun….He doesn’t know a whole lot of Spanish either so it’s really gonna stretch us but I’ve got a really good feeling about this transfer and I know that it’s definitely gonna real and it’s gonna be good…you could even say, it’s gonna be real good. I’m stoked actually…. I’m gonna miss Elder Hernandez a lot, I love that kid but he’s not going too far….just to the other room ha… it’s weird because Elder Morales’ companion, Elder Williamson got transferred so Elder Hernandez took his place and Elder Thomas took Elder Hernandez’ place… Does that make any sense? So yea it was kind of a weird flip-flop but it’s all good I’m happy and excited for this transfer ahead of me mi espanol is gonna get lots better…it’s gotta get lots better and that’s what excites me, it’s gonna push me to the limits but it will be for the better, nothin’s as bad as it seems and if you truly have faith then you won’t fear a thing. I love this. I love what I’m doing, I love this gospel, and I especially love the Lord. Nothing is impossible…. I hope you all have a fantastic week and know that I love you all! Take care and be safe!

Love you lots all and much love!

-Elder Ryan Lawter

Out to Lunch

Ryan's first companion (his trainer) came back to visit the mission after going home and took Ryan and some buddies out to lunch. The former Elder Law is on the right side of the table with his dad and RyRy is the blackie at the end of the table.

To my fam!
How’s it goin everyone!?
So to fill you in on everything that happened last weekend....it....was...amazing! Particularly the Gladys Knight concert... I actually went to 3 out of the 4 concerts and each time I went it just gave me goosebumps up and down my bod... It was a really neat experience, it kind of reminded me of the Fighting Temptations movie, it was pretty much just gospel soul and a little bit of rhythm in the hymns. It was funny because I think for some of the "old generation," I don't think that some of them enjoyed it as much as the "newer generation" but it was a really good spiritual experience. The thing that got me the most through it all was listening to Gladys' "journey," or so she called it, and listening to her testimony and love for the gospel. It was really powerful to listen to all of the trials and obstacles in her life that she's gone through and her rising above them. There were a lot of people who went to each of the concerts; there were four concerts and probably around 1,000 at each concert.... so that's like.....4,000 people! Yay! I gOts mY EdUmiKasHun at Da KErNey SkOoL. So it was a really good turn out, I think through it all, we got around 600-650 referrals around the San Diego area so from what President Donaldson was saying was that the concert was really successful. I think that people were able to see the church in a different light, a way that they've never seen it before and I think the concert and testimonies, especially by Gladys Knight opened up a lot of people's eyes, so the plan worked! So after the first concert on Saturday, we were helping set-up for the next concert right afterwards and we actually got to go back stage; meet the whole choir and eat some of their buffet when they weren't looking, so we were like in heaven and then here comes Gladys Knight herself walking around the corner and we talked with her for a good 5 minutes or so.... It was incredible! Probably one of the nicest ladies that I've ever met! She was so humble and down-to-earth and you could just feel the spirit radiate from her and her love for the gospel and especially the missionaries. It was cool because during her concert and her testimony she mentioned how much she loves the missionaries and how awesome we are...lady doesn't lie... and then she had all the missionaries at the concert stand-up and everyone gave us some claps and knuckles... Instead of putting the spotlight on her she put the spotlight on what matters most to her and that's what the concert was about the whole night; a concert and testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Man I wish I could've taken a video of the concert and send it to you all and show you how awesome it was, but just know that it was awesome and if she ever comes near to where you live and does something like this make sure that you go!

So that was half of my weekend, the other half was the Mormon Helping Hands project in Santee. All we did was help restore a trail that had been torn up and eroded by the rain that we got down here earlier in the year...they said that it was some of the heaviest and most rain that they've received down here in a long time.... If that's what they call heavy, they ain't seen nothin...bunch of tanned whimps. But the project was a good time, kind of frustrating at the same time because we had a lot of old old people there, and nothing against old people, I love em haha but we would do something and then they would either mess it up or just do something totally different haha it was all good though, it was cool to see everyone come together and help out the community, we got a lot of compliments along the way, so it was really good! So all-in-all it was a champ weekend but other than that, not a whole lot more news out here in San Diego, it's been a constant 70 and sunny these past couple of weeks but I think it's about to warm up here pretty soon so we'll see.
But I've gotta run! You all have a good week, take care, and be safe! And for all the moms reading this Happy Mother's Day!
Love you all and pray for the best for you!
It's been real but it's time to work so peace!
Much love,
Elder Ryan Lawter
GO SPURS GO!