Ryan's Entire Mission

Ryan's Entire Mission
ryan is in the far right corner

Ryan at a Zone Conference...

Ryan at a Zone Conference...

Ryan and President Brubaker

Ryan and President Brubaker

eating raw fish -- eeewww

eating raw fish -- eeewww

Ryan at temple - day before MTC drop off

Ryan at temple - day before MTC drop off
handsome guy!

Ryan and President Smith

Ryan and President Smith
getting set apart as a missionary

Welkom all friends and family of Elder Ryan Leash

We welcome you to the first edition of Elder Ryan Leashs' missionary blog. We hope that you will find the information included fun, informative and memorable. Please make comments and show Ryan your support by writing him often!







Monday, September 26, 2011

Ryan and Elder Brown for four months!!

September 19, 2011

Hello family,

It sounds like all is well at home :). I’m sorry to hear about your hip mom is it giving you a lot of trouble still? Ill keep you in my prayers! Please ask Danielle if she remembers that she has a brother for me!
Things here are going pretty well! This last week had been interesting; you meet all sorts of ppl on your mish. I have some funny stories ready to tell yall ;). The highlight of this week is definitely Lillian! Elder Mohrmon and I found her back in April on a Saturday at 2:45 on a very hot day (so tells Lillian I didn’t remember all the facts but she does). We went very quickly with her at first and taught her everything and then she got cold feet and didn’t get baptized and yet she still came to church and would meet up with us now and then. 3 or so months go by and she starts to show strong interest in things again and for the last two weeks we have been talking at least every day and meeting on average every other day at the church for lessons etc. We coincidently ran into her just before we came to the library and walked to the church together and I read her the baptismal questions and she answered them all appropriately; we then told her how ready she is and how much it will bless her. Lillian then shared some concerns about how her family is making fun of her for going to church etc and started crying. We talked to her about how Christ has suffered all pain and embarrassment etc. for us and he can take that pain away from us if we come unto him and that the biggest way we can come unto Christ is through baptism. We told her about how the Zone Leaders will coincidently be here on exchange this Thursday and we can re- evaluate how she feels at that point and if she feels ready then she can have the baptismal interview with her there and she can be baptized Saturday. Not exactly the typical process or the ideal situation but she is ready and Elder Brown and I both feel that the time is come and that if not this week that certainly within the next 2 or 3 she should be baptized. We will keep you posted! She has gone through a lot in the last year or so and I know and she knows that this will help her!
In other news our ward mission leader was finally called! Eric Vanderpluim. It will be great working with him. I think three quarters of my mission has been without a ward mission leader loll, it will be interesting getting used to the help and support again ha-ha. Hopefully he will be able to help us work through our only growing investigator pool. I have just found with my experience that ive only been able to get 3 maybe 4 investigators to progress on any given week and with all the investigators we have we are just going to have to pick the most prepared and the most positive and work with them first. In any case we are doing are best and are running our tails off everywhere trying to keep up with things lol.
Vie been companions now with Elder Brown now 4 months or so and surprisingly im not sick of him :), I don’t know if he can say the same but it has been good serving with him :). Heerlen is also good. All things told, life is good and I can’t complain :), I love yalll much and will talk to yall soon
Elder Leash

No More Lillian, but now Evaline!

September 26, 2011

Mom, family and friends,

Well, mom your letter was very informative and I liked hearing about all that Danielle has been up to and also hearing that she hasn’t forgotten poor ol Elder Leash ;). So she is on the road with driver’s training, I’ll keep her and her teacher in my prayers lol, jk boo boo I know you will do great :). Now please remind me who Harold and Darlene are? I have gained quit a reputation lately for my forgetfulness not only with names, but with just about anything; this can be quit frustrating especially when trying to think of scriptures in lessons, ha-ha luckily we work in pairs. I guess I am just following in mom’s footsteps with the early onset of Alzheimer’s lol.
It was so great to hear about your missionary efforts, you mom with Jocelyn and Danielle with her school secretary, way to go boo, preach it like its hot!!!! So do you think that Danielle is serious about a mission? I hope so :), but I am sure she will do great things no matter where she is!
Food is going ok, we seem to find ourselves eating out 3-4 times a week lately :/, part of it is cuz we are so busy, but another part is probably because we don’t have so much to eat at the house; we eat LOTS of pband j, lots of pancakes, some pasta, and ....yea that’s about it, we get creative.
Work is going well. I mentioned last week that we got a ward mission leader; we are going to have our first correlation tonight! I think that I have had a total of maybe 4 or 5 correlations since I’ve been out lol, im excited. Even though I haven’t had too many correlations I have had some great support from the members in areas I’ve been in. Other exciting events include a young adult meeting that we attended yesterday after church; the youth here are going to start to get more active with activities etc, I’m stoked, I think it will be great for mish work down here, especially because one of the sisters from Zoetemeer comes down here to comes to church with her boyfriend that is a non-member lately!
One of many great opportunities that these activities will help take advantage of! This week has been good, lots of traveling. Monday we ended up taking one for the team and fitting some appointments in then because the next few days we would be on the road. Tuesday we had district meeting, and then got back from Eindhoven and had to get back on another train headed to Antwerp, Belgium to spend the night before heading out to District leader council up in Leiden. The next day; by the time we got back to Heerlen, Wednesday was gone. In spite of the fact that two full days we gone we still ended up being able to salvage our week and see some great things happen, among them was finding a solid investigator in Heerlen Centrum, who at one point during our conversation, said “can I come to church?”.
I know I’m not a member yet, but would that be ok?" It gets better, this lady speaks English and Dutch and seems as though she would fit right in with the ward, in fact she already knows one of the solid members in the ward already, and to put the cherry on top this women seems to be completely sane! What a blessing! Her name is Evaline; please keep her in your prayers! We found some other positive ppl as well and planted many seeds as well. Something that has been frustrating to me lately is my scripture knowledge as well as how ppl so often get caught up with the Bible etc that they are not open for more scripture. Mostly all we can do is bear sincere testimony and try to invite the spirit to soften their heart.
I do have some bad news; we met with an investigator on Monday, Joyce. She herself had a baptismal date but we had to drop her first of all because it was difficult fellowshipping her because she can be very shy, and because she speaks absolutely NO English, and because there isn’t really anyone her age at church and we could get joint teaches out to her and because we were only able to get her to church once. The second reason we had to drop her for was because she would just turn off if we would read scriptures or try to teach something; Elder Brown and I tried acting scriptures out and spice things up a bit, it helped some but not enough. The third reason we had to drop her was because she, like so many, was looking for a church that fit her wants and comfort zone etc and she had been going to Victory Outreach where she had long standing ties etc. A real bummer, we did our best.
This brings me to my next peace of bad news. During the last appointment we had with Joyce, she mentioned she saw Lillian earlier that week in the city. We were surprised that she knew Lillian, we asked her how she did and she said that she knew we knew her because she saw her at our church during the one time she came but that she knows her originally from the Victory Outreach church where she informed us she has seen and known Lillian for the last year and a half more or less.....when Joyce said that I felt like I got punched in the bread basket! I felt cheated on ha-ha but really just really hurt! Lillian had shared some concerns; her family teasing her for coming to church, being already baptized etc but the real and deepest concern finally came out. She had ties to us but obviously similar ties with this other church and the ppl there. It is clear now that she was letting social relationships affect her testimony and not focusing only on her relationship with God.
After hearing that from Joyce we called Lillian up and I told her how we felt; frankly a little hurt and disappointed that she had failed to be completely open with us etc. and that she is still welcome in church of course, but that we can’t really meet with her for appointments and lessons unless she is progressing toward baptism and full activity in our church; it was a tough lesson to learn, but I know now that often if someone takes longer than two months to fully commit to baptism then there are concerns that you have not yet fully addressed.
If your feeling a little bummed with me please read the first half of my letter again; I am bummed, but also glad that we are not wasting the Lord's time anymore with ppl who are not ready to come unto Christ by receiving the restored gospel and partaking of baptism. We have already made big strides in finding more who are prepared to take those steps! A good week and I think this next will be just as good if for no other reason than the fact that we have General Conference woo woo! I’m trying to read the entire last conference edition before Saturday, wish me luck! Well I really need to go, I’ve been on too long lol, love yawl lots and have a great week and talk to you soon!

Love,

Elder Leash

Monday, September 5, 2011

Wallenberg Caves

August 15, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad,

Mom your letter was really great! Thanks for that. Well, I just want to start out by saying that time is limited; the district wants to go to Wallenberg caves (and I do too) so we are doing that today. It seems like things are going pretty well there, I’m sorry to hear about Danielle’s piano teacher....that is a very strange accident... she will be in my prayers. Dad I feel with you on your back, mine for some reason lately has also been REALLY acting up, if it keeps up this way much longer im guna have to notify someone but ill give it some time.

So the work! This was an awesome week; I don’t know how I forgot to mention that we were going to have a baptism but we did this Saturday and it went perfectly; the best service I’ve had yet for sure :). Guido was so prepared and the Spirit was really present and strong! Guido asked that I baptize him and I was a little nervous because he has got a good 3 inches on me, but it went well and he was just like puddy he was really easy and it was just a great service. We had two investigators there and it was great. One of them really hit it off with Guido and it was awesome! I think he will be baptized also at some point! We have just been busy busy busy! It’s great :)! Well things are going really well and thanks so much for yalls support and love, it means a lot! You’re in my prayers!

Much love
Elder Leash

Birthday Boy!!!!

August 29, 2011

Dear family and friends,
Sounds life is just ripping by and its going good; seminary has started again, school, you got a new calling :), life is good! I did get the b-day package and really enjoyed it - I especially enjoyed the EFY music, good stuff! There was somebody who made me a b- day cake! It was actually more like a birthday mountain! Delicious!
Things are going pretty well here with the work; we had a very interesting Sunday! It was pretty crazy btwn our investigator Joyce and her 2 year old son Chandler who was running around the church like a wild child. To add to our interesting Sunday experience, our other investigator Lucas, who looks like a modern-day Moses, complete with long hair and a thick shaggy beard made it to church, as well as Lillian who was at church as usual - like she has been for the last 4 or so months (still not baptized darn it! :). Somehow we made it through all three hours without too much crying (from the 2 year old) or too many totally off the wall comments (from our modern day Moses) not too much wandering around and socializing (courtesy of Lillian) and best yet not too many comments about how weird the gospel can seem (thanks to mother of the 2 year old who we btw will be bringing things very much back to the basics with tonight lol).
Yes, truth be told we had a great Sunday right up until priesthood lol. Our inactive friend brother, Alexander, decided that he was going to share his opinion about Americans which normally wouldn’t be an issue here in the Netherlands if we weren’t in the Heerlen military ward aka "mini America". Brother Alexander doesn’t seem to be too fond of us Americans, there were things said such as "If you cross an American they are very likely to pull a gun out and shoot you." After Brother Alexander shared his opinion we then had the chance too hear it reciprocated and added upon by a Belgian member in the ward, who as it was related to us, was treated "as a slave" by his American companions on his mission. Luckily, our lesson was on kindness which I think helped our American members keep their mouths shut and their clenched fists tucked in their pockets and our inactive friend along with Belgian RM managed to keep all their teeth :). I’ve obviously dramatized things slightly....and truth be told we had a great Sunday!
Sunday evening we got the magic call and we were informed that Elder Brown and I will both be here in Heerlen another 6 weeks, I’m very happy about it and it will be a new experience as I have never served with a companion longer than 3 months, Elder Brown and I will be together for four and a half before its over! I’m looking forward to it!
Well, last little bit of news etc. my back has been REALLY acting up, I’m not sure what aggravated it but I cannot bend over now without some sort of support to help me straighten myself back out... I called the mission nurse and she has prescribed ibuprofen for now; I’ve take some 2 hours or so ago now, but I’m still really feeling it. Please send me all and any advice as well as any home remedies medications whatever may help and please keep me in your prayers!
I love yall and will talk to you soon
Elder Leash

Bad Back

September 5, 2011

Dear Mom, Dad, and Danielle,

Wow, Danielle passed up a Taylor Swift concert?! What a ding dong! Mom, did you really send a letter to the mission president about my back? You really shouldn’t have done that lol, but I appreciate the concern! Well, I obviously was really worried about it and I started doing a lot more stretching and core exercising in combination with heat pad on the back and ib profin to dull the pain and to try and loosen up things back there; none of these things did the trick, they helped a little, but I was still really feeling it! I started thinking about it and what could possibly keep causing me such trouble. It finally dawned on me the other day that I was bending really far over my bike while riding in fact because my bike is too small for me I had to raise the seat up higher that the handle bars lol so I was essentially bent over with my back horizontal with the ground! I decided id try lowering the seat and see if that would help and over the next couple days the pain left! Halleluiah! Yea I do also feel the pressure a bit to get some things done with a deadline in sight! The mission is most definitely no cake walk, and it is definitely one of the hardest things I have ever had to do! It can be very mentally and emotionally challenging. That being said, there are so many wonderful and fun things we can do on a mission as well; I suppose that whether a mission is difficult or a 'vacation' is really in the eye of the beholder!

Well work is going pretty well! We have a key appointment with our baptismal date Joyce tonight. We are really stretching ourselves and our creativity with her and our teaching to try and help apply our teaching to her life. She has opened up a bit and shared that reading from the scriptures and talking about such things is nice and important but that in the past she has had experiences where religious groups etc would talk with her about her daily problems in her life etc and then treat that and counsel her with scripture, etc. We are more than willing to do that appropriately and yet at the same time we also are very much there with her to help her come to know that the literal original Church of Christ has been restored to the earth. We will keep you posted on how things go!

Lillian is also still around and we are able to teach her now and then but its also a stretching and balancing act with her as well; she is also not so hot on 'bible study' so we are trying to find different ways to approach and teach her as well. Normally I would be inclined to drop someone like that but she still keeps on coming to church and calling us and we have a good relationship with her. Another keep you posted.

We have other investigators that we have hope for that we are meeting this week; one in particular just amazes me at how well she follows the light of Christ to discern truth from false teachings etc. She speaks great English (finally someone, most all our investigators only speak Dutch) so she will fit in well with the ward! We are just working with some amazing ppl! Our only struggle now is keeping up with all of them and helping them make and keep commitments. We are doing our very best and I know that the Lord will help us and make the difference so that we can start helping ppl keep commitments.
All things told life is good, health is good, the work is good, I can’t complain! I hope it is likewise for yall!

Love Elder Leash

Monday, August 8, 2011

Herrenburg - 6 months to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Dad,
Loved the email! It sounds like all is well back there :). How did it feel to have your back walked? Mom told me that she did some foot stomping. I love hearing about Danielle and how much she is growing and maturing, I have no doubt that she is becoming an awesome young woman! Yall’s anniversary is on the 10th yeah? Wow! 10 years already..... that has flown by; do ya’ll have anything planned for the big day? And Danielle is approaching number 17! This is a big and fun week back your way :)! I’m excited for yall.
Well a little news about things here in Limburg. This last week has been a crazy one. Enough has happened to fill two weeks lol. To start out our week we visited the zoo with lions tigers and bears only without the tigers and bears lol, we had a good time and even got back home on time to start our work week. Tuesday was my first district meeting; it really want too bad. I was nervous but I have a great district and I had a lot of participation and comments etc, and it went well.
Wednesday was very busy and we were running in circles all day lol. We saw a lot of miracles and I really felt as though we were being tools in the Lord's hands that day. We ended the day with an appointment with Tennison our future baptismal date and a joint teach who has been inactive for the last 2 months or so and we had visited him earlier that day and he really felt as though Heavenly Father was really talking to him after he was asked by someone in the ward to give him a blessing and then he had another random visit by someone in the ward and then while they were visiting Elder Brown and I stopped by and shared a spiritual thought, lol anyhow we had our Joint Teach fall through so we asked this brother to step in last minute and he did and we had a great lesson and we finished around 8 ish. We then told our investigator about how we were going to Antwerp, Belgium that evening and he told us that there was basically no way to make that. I had assumed that there would just be an inter city directly to Antwerp but I was wrong :/ so our investigator ended up giving us a ride to Maastricht where we caught what was probly the last train out to Belgium lol and we ended up getting to the Antwerp train station at 1130 lol, a little late :/.
The next morning I went on exchange with elder van doesburg to Leiden up north and we had District Leader Council and that took up all of Thursday and Friday and Saturday we also blessed days I would explain but I don’t even know where to start lol. Sunday I woke up and my body retaliated on me and decided that it was done running around, I woke up with a really bad sore throat and totally congested and with a fever. Despite the symptoms we went to church and had a great fast and testimony meeting and some great meetings. After church we went to a members home and had dinner etc and came home thereafter did weekly planning, did calls and numbers and that ended our day. I am feeling somewhat better today but would appreciate your prayers to help get better quick :). Things are going very well :).
Well I love yall lots, Mom and Dad, Happy Anniversary and boo boo Happy Birthday! I will talk to yall soon!
Love
Elder Leash

Monday, August 1, 2011

Ryan calling us to Repentance!!!

Dear mom and family,

Mom, your Dutch was.....wonderful! It was fun reading it lol :). So school starts tomorrow? I can feel your enthusiasm even through your email! Danielle sounds like she is working too much, especially because she is not getting her day of peace and rest in! The Lord gives us great promises that we can cash in after we do what he tells us right momma? So do you think you’re ready to come to Europe and do the tour now mom with all that biking you and dad are doing? I am glad you managed to find that credit card btw, did you pray about it? Man I am on a roll today! I will say it anyways, tell dad that we are to eat meat sparingly and only in times of winter ha-ha just messing! I really enjoyed hearing about that movie – 17 Miracles! So that is showing now in theaters? Very cool, it sounds like it was a good one! I liked hearing about the fair too, that’s cool because my comp and I get to go to the zoo today, some members are taking us so we are hurrying to get all emailing shopping and cleaning etc done quickly :).
I’m excited for my b-day package! I thought about a couple other things on my wish list, can I get some BBq sauce maybe some A1 or bulls eye, heck you could even send me some of dad's secret marinades :). Also do you think you could send some pens (erasable if possible), and mechanical pencils? Well, I’m glad y’all had a good week!
My comp and I had a solid week as well :). We gave at least 7 books of Mormons out this week which was cool and we got 3-4 potentials out of it! Friday we went down to Antwerp for Zone Conf which was great btw, a very uplifting fun ZC. At the end we had a recent convert of a year that was baptized in our mission open his mission call, it brought back a lot of memories from my mission prep time :), he is going to the Manchester England mission English speaking! Sunday I gave a talk, Brother Woodbury introduced me and said over the pulpit how much he and his family appreciate and how they feel like im just another member of the family, and I love that family! I feel the same way :).
The talk went ok, my topic was testimony and I centered it on a quote I found from Elder Spencer W. Kimball "You may know. You need not be in doubt. Follow the prescribed procedures and you may have an absolute knowledge that these things are absolute truths. The necessary procedure is: study, think, pray, and do." I even mentioned you in there momma - about how when I was very young you would walk me to the front and whisper in my ear what I should say :). Lillian was there and she honestly feels as though she has been cursed so in the second hour the Bishop my comp and I gave her a priesthood blessing, I hope she does her part and I know the lord will comfort her. Tennyson also made it to church but had a difficult schedule so was only able to stay for sacrament meeting; Guido had night shifts Saturday night and Sunday morning and was not able to make it this week. On the whole we had a solid week, and things are going well. I love yall lots and will talk to you soon.

Love, Elder Leash
p.s yall are in my thoughts and prayers ;)

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The lengths you go to to track down a new investigator!!!

Dear family,

Mom, well it sounds like Danielle is staying busy with work and synchro etc and dad is definitely busy with his big bike trip, what are you doing to keep busy? Keep me posted on Dad's trip! I will definitely be prayerful about his trip :).

This week was a little crazy. We had fairly ''normal'' days Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday, and then Thursday we went out to Belgium to look up a referral. This was really tricky because, to begin with, the info we got for the referral was spelled wrong, but we eventually figured that out. We take a bus to the station and a train from the station to sittard station which is north east of Heerlen which brought us somewhat closer. From Sittard there is no transportation over the border into Belgium so we had to walk 30 minutes in a heavy rain lol to get over the border and then another bus towards Dilsen, where the referral lives. We ask the bus driver where to get out and he assures us the it is at a certain stop. We get out and ask directions again and find out that the street is some 3 miles from where we were.

Coincidently, the place we stopped to ask directions for was a taxi service so we asked him how much it would cost us to get there and it was some 5 Euros. We finally get there after about 3 hours of traveling etc and then have to wait till he got home cuz he was at the dentist. We have a good talk with him and walked in circles about opinions and interpretations of the bible and doctrine etc and finally tell him that that was exactly why we have so many churches today and that such confusion etc is cleared by the book of Mormon and we introduce the book to him and he is going to read and pray about it. We will see what comes of it. We make our way back to Heerlen the same way we came and get back at 7 pm after leaving at 1130 lol. We taught then Guido and had a solid lesson and that was our whole day.

The next day was much the same except we ended up doing service the whole day for our previous ward mission leader helping him and his family put in a kitchen.

Saturday was a ward picnic and we were able to bring Lillian along and I think she had a good time; we played sports and ate and ate more and played some more sports and I am simply kaput (dead!). At one point during our football playing (soccer) someone had the bright idea to play North America players vs. the Europeans. We were out numbered and playing their bread and butter sport and yet we were able to hold em off and put em away 6 to 5 us. I am SO sore! I can feel every muscle in my body...I am SO out of shape lol! Then Sunday we had good mtings and we were able to bring Guido to elder’s quorum and translate for him there and I think he really enjoyed it so that was great! After church we had a dinner appointment in Germany with the Woodburys whom I love! We came home did some planning etc and later that night we get THE CALL aka yesterday was transfer night. Elder Brown and I are both staying in Heerlen and are going to be District leader. I am nervous but I think it will work out just fine, however, I would appreciate any advice or words of wisdom and I take on the new calling :).

On the whole things are just peachy and we are continuously being blessed guided and strengthened. I hope things for yell are something similar! I love you lots and will talk to you next week!

Love Elder Leash

Many missionary opportunities

Dear family,

It sounds like yall had a good week, Ian’s home made banana ice cream and dad's rice and bbq chicken made me drool lol! Sounds like the bike trip were a success; I have no doubt that dad was leading the pack and showing those little deacons how it’s done! It sounds like petite momma vs. boo boo was a success, as well seeing as you both survived Dad's absence as well lol, I hope the conditioner was found before anyone got hurt lol! The sight seeing sounds just great, I’m down as long as I can visit a day or two with some ppl from Kortrijk and Heerlen :). As for the b-day package, I could use maybe a few garment bottoms, dry lux; do they have a brief style of garments? That would be awesome (size s). COOKIES sound good!
Well, we had a solid week. I felt really good about it. We stayed pretty balanced this week in what we did and hard work really paid off. The week started out with a bang. on Monday we had a consecrated hour of finding, during which we found a lady and had a great discussion with her about scripture and truth, about how when we read things we can follow either the light of Christ or the Holy Ghost to recognize and learn truth. She has a B.O.M and we will visit with her this coming week and see how it went with her and her experience with reading the BOM. Tuesday was also nothing short of awesome. We had another C.H wherein we accidently tracted out a member’s home and had a great talk with them. While we were talking to them I received a call from someone who 'received a card(pass-along card) from the elders and he said 'I think I want to learn more, actually I think I want to come to church, in fact, when can I meet with yall' lol. We met with him the next day and had a great and open talk about Christ’s church, certain things we do differently than others, in general just got a feel from where he was coming from. At the end of our lesson we introduced and committed him to a teaching calendar. His name is Tennison. Also, during that next day we met with Brother Barodka, whose son Denis, will now be moving to the Netherlands and who will now be taking the missionary lesson. He comes from Belarus where the church is viewed very poorly for political reasons.... he now is ready to learn more! Directly after this appointment, I got a call back from an investigator we hadn’t seen in a while and we were able to set up an appointment for Saturday! The appointment Saturday went very well! We were able to get two joint teaches about her age and they really hit it off and seem to be good friends now :), she is praying and reading – a.k.a progressing!
Game Day, we were able to see 3 investigators in church. Lillian is still hanging around. We thought we were going to have to drop her, but she is still coming to activities and to appointments and I think very slowly, but surely, the Lord is working in her and she is progressing, slowly but surely. Guido was in church as well and he made some great strides as far as fellowship goes. He really hit it off with brother Van Gemeert and bro De Vylder during ward potluck! Awesome guy, we are going to have dinner at his place tomorrow night and share a lesson on the organization of the priesthood. Last, but not least, we saw Tennyson in church and I think he had a good experience; many were on vacation in the ward and all the empty seats made me a little nervous, but I think he really liked the meetings etc. During investigator’s class nobody was around to teach the lesson (we are without ward mission leader at the moment) so we ended up having a great discussion at a very elementary level, our Heavenly Father, Our Heavenly Family. It went really well and we had great participation!
A solid week in the books :), I love yall lots and look forward to hearing how your week goes.
Love,
Elder Leash

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Happy Father's Day!!!

Dear Mom and Dad,

Well, mom as far as the release date goes, that sounds pretty accurate and about y’all going to Germany first and then coming to meet up with me, that also sounds good; I don’t have too strong of an opinion whatever we do, it will just be great to see yall, and other than that, I’ll just be along for the ride more or less :).
Work goes well, Lillian is still coming and learning and growing, we haven’t committed her to a new date yet but it will come soon, she asked for time so we are really not trying to rush things. Guido was at church again and we have an appointment this week and we are thinking of giving him a baptismal calendar but we will see, if it feels right :). Anyhow on the whole things are good! On the other side of things this week my bike was stolen :/, I'm now going to be on my fifth bike lol. My first was stolen, my second one broke down, my third broke down, and my fourth was stolen. It was locked to a light post and we were only gone an hour while we were doing a consecrated hour! Bummer! Anyhow, mom and dad money is a little tight; do you think you could send me money for a new bike?


I’m glad y’all had good meetings. I had a great Sunday as well. For Sacrament meeting we got to take the Sacrament, we also were able to hear from a new family in the ward here, the Kitchens. Their topic was the priesthood; the young kids gave some funny and sweet remarks and that was fun. Papa Kitchen gave some great and very bold and inspiring comments as well. He started out his remarks by stating that Father's day was his least favorite holiday and that he hated it, lol naturally we were caught of guard lol but he explained why. Fathers day is his least favorite holiday because it reminds him of the roles and responsibilities he should be playing and magnifying and should be doing. It was funny and yet at the same time I imagine that all fathers have similar feelings etc on such a day. Anyhow he talked of prioties that need to be set and quoted someone and certain priorities that they had outlined namely 1. family 2. employer 3. church and 4. yourself.
I thought about this and remembered a talk I had read that talked also of balance and the role priorities play in finding balance in life. Brother Eugene Hansen of the 70 wrote it and in his he had almost the same priories suggested only in a different order he had them as 1 wife and personal 2 family 3 church and 4 works. I had read Brother Hansen’s talk last October and wrote and studied a little on it and found a lot of things that suggested to me that this was the "correct" order of priorities. I wrote down that it made sense that personal and wife should be first because if WE aren’t where we should be how can we help anyone else even our family, and I thought that family should of course come second because we are counseled "family first". Then in Jacob 2:17 it tells us before ye seek riches seek ye the kingdom of god.

Then, yesterday, I heard Papa Kitchen's remarks and that really struck a cord with me as well, in Luke 9:23 and 24 it tells us that as we lose ourselves we will find ourselves - that if we think first of others our Father in heaven will meet our needs, so of course that priority should fall last. Then again, we are counseled family first, so family should then come in number one spot and we have also been counseled that if it comes to it and we cant get Sundays off we should go to work even if we cant make our church meetings and fulfill our callings which would lead tne to believe that work should come before church.

When I was thinking about these differences in priorities and how important priorities are, I realized that some of these things are very conditional, do we have a steady, flexible, and reliable job where we can get Sundays off for instance? If so then that can fall further down on our list of priorities. Do we have a solid and healthy relationship with our spouse? If things are a little on the rocks with our sweetheart then that should be our first priority. Is one of your children really struggling with their testimony, school etc. then in that case Family should be first etc etc.
I finally came to the conclusion that we really just need to stay close to the Lord, evaluate our lives, and make changes where needed so long as they are in line with the will of the Lord. As I thought about these things, I then thought of the church and the priorities and teachings that we have in our church; not all that long ago we had polygamy in our church doctrine as something that was accepted and lived, this is just one example I could think of, but if we look to other faiths and to their priorities and teachings we find a very wide variety, the Seventh Day Adventists feel very strongly that the Lord had pinpointed one specific day, Saturday, to be the Sabbath day and that it was to remain so always; by the Catholics babies are baptized at birth, the Jehovah witness feel that strongly that certain things in the bible were not accurate and saw it fit to change and adjust their version of the bible etc etc.
What a blessing it is to have a living church with a prophet that counsels with the Lord as world circumstances change as same sex marriage becomes an issue, as wars come about, as natural disasters occur, as the adversary adapts and evolves and finds new ways to tempt us, so do we change adapt and evolve to defend ourselves against such things. How blessed we are!
I know that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the one true church. I know that the church of Christ of was lost from the each at one point and that it was then restored in the year 1820 to the earth through Joseph Smith. I know that the Book of Mormon is physical evidence of that event, and that it testifies of Christ our redeemer but that also the way it was brought forth testifies of the mantle the Joseph Smith was called to as prophet of the restoration. I know that the church that was restored by Christ through Joseph Smith yet lives and that we have a prophet today, and that this organization will continue to adapt, to change and to guide us safely back to our Heavenly Father. I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Love, Elder Ryan

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Transfer to Netherlands!!!

April 27, 2011


Dad,

It was really good to hear from you. My mission president did give me call and let me know that Grandma had passed on; I'm glad that I was expecting it at least. It sounds like she had wonderful support and little pain in her last few days. I’m sure it will be a bit of an adjustment getting back into to the swing of things after such an emotional ordeal, I love you lots dad.
I am getting transferred :), and your guess was right, I am going back to the Netherlands, barely lol. I am headed to Heerlen tomorrow morning. Heerlen is in the very bottom right corner of the Netherlands, and also lies very close to Germany and France. In fact, there is a place in Heerlen where you can stand in all 3 countries at once :) I’ll do it for sure! I will be serving with Elder Mohrmon lol, pronounced as Elder Mormon ha-ha. I have heard only good things. Heerlen has a very large American army base, and because of it, the ward there is English speaking! I’m excited to speak some English! I don’t know much else at this point, but I’ll keep you posted. Oh I lied, I do know my address:
Vesweglaan 295
6412 HK
Heerlen, Netherlands

Well, my week was not too shabby. We had more of a working P day, and then on Tuesday we went to the temple, had a picnic, and went to the famous Keukenhof Tulip Garden :). It was very beautiful! Very packed also, ppl from all over the world there!!! It was just great! Sunday, we had a pretty good service, and had two investigators in church that we hadn’t seen in a long time, however Alain and Richard were not able to be there because of conflicting schedules :/. My companion Elder Bjork is nervous about taking over the area but I have confidence in him, he will do just fine. The new Elder coming down speaks French and I know he will be a huge blessing to this area!!!! In any case, the work of the Lord continues to go forth! I know that Christ leads and guides this work and His church in this day! I love you all and am so looking forward to TALKING to you very soon!
Lots of Love
Elder Ryan Leash

Monday, April 25, 2011

Grandma Elsie and missionary work

April 18, 2011

Dear Dad,
Just thinking about your last week moved me to tears, I felt the spirit so very strongly when you talked of grandma and her experiences being so close to the veil..... I can only imagine at this point how that would be to say goodbye to your mother. My thoughts and prayers are with you dad, I love you very much, I love grandma very much and I know without a doubt that we will see her again. Please let me know how things further unfold.

Yes, your right it is getting close to transfer time, I will find out this coming Sunday or Monday if I will have to leave my home here in Kortrijk :(, I think I will probably be transferred. As to where I go I have no idea, my first choice would to stay here in Kortrijk, but if I can’t get that then I hope that I at least stay here in Belgium. I've really come to love and appreciate the Flemish ppl and culture that live here in Belgium, but I am sure that I will love wherever the Lord places me. Things continue to move forward and progress here in the Kortrijk area. Day before yesterday we had an appointment with 18 year old Richard, a friend of a member; Richard has agreed and desires to be baptized on may 28th! Upon inviting him to be baptized he requested that I baptize him and that would be such an awesome experience, I told him that if I was still here when the time came that I would absolutely do that, we will see :/. Richard has some obstacles to overcome, namely smoking, however he already has a budding and blooming testimony of the restoration and the plan that our Heavenly Father has for us; I really think that he will be able to defeat these struggles and partake in the happiness and peace that the Gospel brings! Exciting!
Alain is also growing and making great strides in the gospel, we had a good time getting to know each other a little better yesterday on the way to and from Stake Conference and he is still excited for his up coming baptismal date! Faustino and his son junior are still doing well, however, we are having issues lately with getting French joint teacher their way, but I think that we may have to move their baptismal date back a little while. When we do get some regular joint teaches established for them and things really start to sink in for them that they will really take hold and will be baptized! Elder Bjork is doing alright, we are still plugging along. I’m sure that it will be difficult learning this area for him just as it was for me, but that he will get oriented quickly and do just great.
On a personal level, I just finished 2nd Nephi this morning, and I remember thinking not long ago that I didn’t know how my testimony could grow any more, but I realized that it has, I just KNOW that these things are true, that this Book of Mormon is true and that I have a loving Heavenly Father who sent his literal son to help us learn and grow here while we are away from Him.
Well, I’d better get going, but again dad I love you dearly, and I know that things will come to pass according to the Lord's will! I will talk to you soon, and talk to you literally not long thereafter!
Much love
Elder Ryan Leash

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Baptism comping!

March 27, 2011

Wow! I received some great letters this week! Even some pics! I feel loved :)!
Thanks so much! Well mom about being transferred, anything that arrives here in Kortrijk before the 27th of April will find me. My address, I’m
Anticipating will change at that point. I’m glad that you enjoyed the pics etc; I have another set when you send that one back, oh and thanks for sending them all back out - I like to look back at the pics every now and then so I really try not to delete them. Thanks again! That’s very cool that Khris stopped by, how are things with him? Be sure to send some love his way for me! You and dad sure do look great over there at the sock hop :). Danielle is looking as pretty as ever, very exciting stuff happening with her, Getting a job, and the license, Miss Independence!

Scripture reading is going good here! I’ve put my Book of Mormon reading on hold as conference comes closer. I’m trying to get prepped for this coming conference by making sure that the messages and counsel from last conference are fresh in my mind. I’m so excited about next week!!!!!!!!

Well, in other news things the work is going pretty well :). Carmen will be baptized on the 9th of this next week! I am so excited! Then Alain had some real concerns earlier this week and he told us he did not want the lessons anymore, we had no idea what the issue was; thereafter he had received his first Liahona he found a talk directly addressing his concern which was tithing. To further clear the matter we took President Lemon on joint teach to his house and we were able to completely clear up his issues :)! What a blessing! He will be baptized on April 30th!

This week we did a look up out of the area book and found this man home, his name is Faustino and he speaks some Dutch and some English so we were able to communicate and have a great first lesson at the end of which we extended a baptismal invitation and he accepted :), we will keep you posted as Faustino progresses!

We helped the same member of the ward again with some moving etc and were again able to enjoy each others’ company and talk a bit about the gospel etc and unfortunately were not able to find time to share a formal message and yet inactive Sarah, and investigator Richard were in church again, along of course, with Alain and Carmen! It was great!
Things with Elder Byork are still interesting and yet we are making this work and that is all that matters. Those were mostly the highlights of our week :).

I love ya’ll very, very much and am looking forward to talking to you soon!
Much love,
Ryan

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Still in Kortrijk, Belgium

March 21, 2011

Hello Hello,

Who is that girl in those pictures?!!!! I know that is not my boo boo sister! Wow...anyways it looks like she was having fun :), where are your pics petite momma? It sounds like life is going well your way :) I’m glad; I’ve been thinking about you this week!

Things are good here, at the moment we are enjoying some wonderful lekker sun! If you all don’t mind I’m just going to gloat while I can about the fact that I have good weather and you don’t lol, by the time I walk out of the library here it will probably be back to rain and clouds lol. I am most definitely getting enough to eat, more than enough!!! I am very happy that I was able to stay here another transfer! The wedding was just great! There was a weird Belgian tradition that we did where we waved this napkin around for like 5 to 10 minutes while we sang some songs etc. It reminded me of My Big Fat Greek Wedding lol. A blast! We just had a great time and there were some non members there that we were able to talk to a bit as well, great stuff! The only drawback was that my stomach was not so happy I was on the we all night lol.

Carmen the principle is enduring and growing and is a continuous joy to be around and to be friends with, I love her very much! Alain on the other hand called us out of the clear blue the other day and says he doesn’t want lessons anymore; I think that he must have come across some anti material but we are not certain at this point, we will go by this week and see what happened. Please pray for us and our next appointment with him!

On a better note this week we were helping a member move and a family friend as well as an inactive member of the family were there and we built a good friendship and had a nice time working and talking with each other, both came to church yesterday! The family friend wants to start taking the lessons! At one point during the service he told me of the spirit that he felt and how wonderful it was, it was a great service! Further, another inactive member of the Lemon family came to church yesterday and would like us to come by his place this coming week! Exciting stuff! I know this is the Lord’s work and that He is busy directing us and those around us! I am so very grateful for the gospel and for the new perspective it gives us!

This week I got my new comp Elder Byork.. Elder Byork is a great guy and has some great qualities! Anyhow, I love you lots and oh, before I go - mom you asked about the Easter package; I guess I’m a really sloppy eater because I have stains all over my ties and shirts lol, do you think you could send me 2 or 3 Tide To Go pens? That would be awesome! Oh and one last thing, I have an sd card ready to send you as soon as you send the last one back!

much love,

Ryan Leash

Friday, February 25, 2011

February 2011 - still in Belgium

February 25, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad and Boo Boo,


Mom and Dad, I loved your letters today - they were very informative and it was, as always, great to hear from you!!!!! I especially appreciated the picture, you know what they say, a picture says a thousand words :), feel free to send more if you like, wink, wink lol!

It sounds as though grandma is not in too much pain, I am so grateful! It’s too bad that she gets so sleepy... It’s really difficult to hear about this as I’m away from home and really can’t fully understand and grasp what is happening. At times I’m not exactly sure how to react... she is very often in my thoughts and my prayers....please send my love!

Dad, I’m glad to hear how well your birthday was!! I was thinking about you :), yea I’ve been in Kortrijk now about 7 months lol, by March 16 I will be here 7 and a half. We will see if I will be able to stay one more! I hope so, I just love this area; it really feels so much like home to me, I think the members here feel the same lol, at least they tell me so!


Mom, about Tracy, I have had a letter for her on my desk for the last 2 months or so lol, I just don’t know what her address is; I sent a letter to her and it made its way back to me :/.Well, to start off, the principal! Carmen Ghesquire is doing fabulously! Lol she is on chapter 20 now in Gospel Principles and is still reading hard, she is of course reading the BOM as well but old language in Dutch is very difficult to grasp and understand and she is only on Chapter 20, it is also taking her a while because she just wants to really STUDY EVERYTHING, she needs to know what everything is symbolic for and the geographical areas they travel through etc etc lol, but she is just doing great. She just read the latest conference edition and ate it up lol; she has so many questions!!! She will be baptized soon!!!!!

Not long ago we found an inactive member that hasn’t been to church in 10 years or so and we were able to get him to church this last Sunday. His name is Henry and he is an educated and together man around 55 years of age or so; he has 2 daughters that will live with him soon! At church he was just great; after church he pulled President Lemon and myself aside and asked for a blessing and the spirit was so very strong! Henry gave us both big hugs and we were all crying, a beautiful experience! Henry will be working for President Lemon now and will be buying a car so he can take himself to church as well as others who are currently unable to make it due to transportation difficulties! What a blessing!

Last Sunday we also had an investigator at church; Alain is in his mid 40s and wants to be baptized :), we told him we will have to teach him a few things first but that can happen - lol. He lives in a small village and it is difficult for transportation, we will figure something out; transportation seems to be our biggest difficulty! The church is in Wallonia and not even in a Dutch speaking area and it is far from the train station and bus station, and not many members have cars either, but somehow things are working out more or less.

To top off, last Sunday I was asked to confirm Audrienna and it was a great experience; i was to be honest, I was nervous to give it in Dutch but it went just fine, the time came and words were spoken and understood lol:).


I am starting the BOM again and it feels so great to flex the old spiritual muscles!!! I know that the Book of Mormon is true, that it is the word of God, I am so very grateful for it! I hope all is well your way, I love you very very much and will talk to you next week!
Love,

Elder Leash

Monday, February 21, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day

February 14, 2011

Dear mom and family,

Hello everybody! How is dad doing? What did you do for his birthday? Happy Valentine’s Day btw!!! What are you and dad planning for today? Is Danielle doing alright? Is she still being responsible with the phone?

Well, things here are great; the highlights of my week would have to be our appointment with the principal lady Carmen Gheysquire and a baptism for that 83 year old excommunicated lady yesterday. We taught Carmen the second discussion and it went really well, I think we all were spiritually fed not just her -- it was such a wonderful evening! I felt the spirit very strongly in our appointment!! She is a very thorough and studied personality and likes to get all the details, she is only on 1 Nephi 15 or so because she keeps on studying cross references etc lol, very thorough, she is just great!!!



We got in touch with a family of previous investigators and are teaching them this week, I’ll let you know how it goes!!!



The baptismal service was for the lady returning to the church was just great, I was a little nervous for her at her age, but it went well - she survived and it was of course a great spiritual experience. I’m privileged to confirm her this coming Sunday :). Overall things are going well - no complaints; I love you three very much and will talk to you soon



Elder Leash

Monday, January 17, 2011

Still in Kortjik Belgium

Goede Dag petite mama :),


Well, most of the info I’ve got I put into Dads and Ian’s letter, be sure to check those out! Thanks for the missionary talk you included mom – I’ll read it
very soon, and I will really try to be better about details and meat in my letters :)
I’ll send out a nice fat steak later today, or at least try! Oh about the money order – I’m not sure... I am nervous about you sending any large amount of cash, maybe you could send it in smaller sums through a few letters. I think if you kept it to just one or two bills and
tucked it into a card that it most probably would be just fine, idk.

Anyway, things are going well here, I really was impressed earlier this week to thank you and express my gratitude for all that you have done and do for me and for all the tough times you have helped me through!
I sure do love you mom!!! I need to go now but please read on with dad and preview Ian’s!
Ik hou van U
Elder Leash

Tell boo boo girl I love e her much!!!!

Dad :),

Thanks much for the letter! Its sounds like you had a nice visit back in Etna! I’m not if I had heard about Maria having a baby I knew she was pregnant but not that it’s out and about now :) That’s great! I’m glad G ma Thack is feeling well, though concerned about the fall, I hope
that doesn’t happen often! She is continuously in my prayers; I appreciated your reminder of repentance... its something that we all should constantly remind ourselves about, I know I at times get caught up in events outside of myself, I forget about what needs to constantly
be going on within me!

The work is ok, we are still working on new investigators,
we took a couple blows this week with both a recent concert and an investigator getting kicked out of the country by the government...our investigator fled into hiding with her little 1 year old daughter in Antwerp and our new convert left in peace back to Tanzania, it was really really hard saying goodbye to them both, I won’t lie - I cried, but I know the lord will take of them. Please keep
Kulwa and Sabrienna and her daughter Lily in your prayers! Further as far as work goes I wrote a little in Ian’s letter so please check that
out!

We are managing to stay in high spirits here and things
are good :), Anyway I love you and will
talk to you soon
Elder Leash


Ian!!
Gosh it sounds like things are going really well for you; I had a lot of fun reading your letter lol. That’s way cool you went boarding the other day! I actually still haven’t been snowboarding yet, just skiing but boarding is on my list for sure! We will definitely have to make a run if it works out a year or so from
now :)!

Yea, it sounds like you found some pretty
accurate sources lol, finding is way tough here, I guess for some reason they [the people] are even more closed here in Belgium than they are in the Netherlands lol but its all good :) My comp and I are getting pretty serious about it now, president threw down about getting our consecrated hours and finding and he is having all missionaries count how many ppl we talk to a day and really cracking down which is good :) My comp and I are going to see how many we can talk to this next week and get kind of competitive about it lol, makes it more
interesting right?! Anyway....

So it’s official :). You’re a big shot real estate agent! That’s way cool, I told my comp a little about friends back home etc. and I told him a little about you and then I mentioned you being a real estate agent now and he was way
impressed lol.

So I read about your physical feats etc and at first I
was stunned and stoked and then I felt pretty fat and depressed ha-ha, I’m so out of shape lol;yçur going to laugh at me but since the New Year though I’ve decided that I’m going to make the climb again, not quit so
high but to something like 75 to 78 kilos 165 to 175 pounds; I’ve already made it back up to 70 kilos :) I was down to 64 at one point :/ lol but yeah that is crazy about you dunking!!!! You’d embarrass me right now ha-ha and a 4.8!!! Freak! You’re crazy :) that’s awesome! Well
id better go but thanks a ton for the update etc! Ill talk to you later

Much love,

Elder Leash

Saturday, January 1, 2011

A Merry Christmas

December 27, 2010

Mom and family,
first off before I forget, the Lemon’s address is: Guido Ggezellelaan 25 8880, Ledegem lucleman at hotmail.com

Hello everyone,

Well, I just feel so blessed! I had such a great Christmas :) The
Lemons really made us feel at home - they gave us a couple of cds and a tie and some candy each as well! They are amazing ppl, amazing
examples for me! Mom, I will most definitely read Alma 5 btw, thanks
for being in tune and relaying that prompting to me :)! It sounds like you had a nice Christmas! That picture of Jacob btw is very funny lol I liked that a lot! Thanks for sending off the check to help for shoes and pants, I really needed that! Are y’all back to school yet? or do you have another week?

Things here and for me are going well, we are in need of new investigators so we are always on the hunt, but we also really need to stay after or invite those inactive. We have A LOT) so we, of course, are staying busy! This past week we have had 2 or
3 appointments with inactives and had some fairly open and direct
talks with them about being active in the church and the importance of it -- its funny and a little sad, all of these ppl are not active in the church, and not renewing their covenants needed for their eternal salvation, and distancing themselves from the Savior in this manner because of taking offense, of being hurt by lack of sympathy, or thoughtlessly or carelessly phrased words etc. Sure these things can hurt but it is no reason to cut your spiritual arteries lol. We seem to see many similar instances here in this small branch and it’s really sad and tough to deal with and to see! IN any case I'm glad that your there at church every week repenting and trying to stay close to the Savior; thanks dad for teaching me the importance of church attendance!

As for my personal well being there is a phrase in Dutch that describes what I’m feeling pretty well lol: wij
zijn verzadigd en verkwikt en annmerkelik aangedikked, and translation more or less, we are satisfied and refreshed and noticeable fatter lol. All is well here, it was SO great to see your faces and talk to you, I love you very much. I know this church is true, and that God has a plan for each of us personally, and I have a testimony of everything regarding these two principles and facts! I hope y’all have a great week, and I’ll talk to you this coming Monday,
much love
Elder Ryan Leash