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!







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