drinking mold spore/juice concoction

5-19-10

Dear everybody,

Things are very good. Yesterday was our district meeting, after which we went on exchanges – I stayed in Eindhoven with a new comp. and it went really well; I felt like I was about to get a confidence boost out of it because I was the one calling the shots and taking charge. It was really fun!

We went and did some service for an older lady in the ward. This went great right up until I saw the expiration date on some juice that Elder Brockbank had just drank. He felt kind of sick for a while as we finished up the project she had us on but soon felt fine. As we had finished we were about to leave and she stopped us and insisted that we come in and have some “tootjes” – sweets l.o.l. We went back in and Elder B., Henry, myself and the elderly lady all pilled into her tiny kitchen, at which point she pulled out ‘you know what’. I figured “no problem”, I’d just have to shake some down, but then she served us our three big glasses of juice and I noticed bits and chunks of mold floating in mine…eeewww I couldn’t fo it, so I motioned for Elder B to dump ‘em while I distracted her, so I told Zuster Lusdt that I needed to use the bathroom but that I thought she was out of toilet paper. Upon arriving in the bathroom we saw a whole role – at which point, for some reason, she got really upset.

It all worked out though when we got back into the kitchen our glasses were empty and I suddenly remembered an appointment we were almost late for before she could refill our glasses or pull something else out of her ancient food storage. Luckily none of us had to get our stomache pumped and we made it in one place.

Later that day we had an amazing day on the doors of the college campus. We knocked at maybe 15 doors or so and we had some great talks and then some numbers and follow ups. I felt so blessed. The work is good; I LOVE my mission!


5-22-10
The day before yesterday I gave my first blessing. An investigator of ours from Kenya named Caroline told us during an appointment that she needs surgery – though we did not get details about that, but she was very emotional about that. In any case, we sang some African hymns to try to confort her and shared some scriptures and then gave her a blessing. It was a last minute and I didn’t expect it at all so I know that the words I spoke come from Heavenly Father; I certainly didn’t have any time to think of words before hand, which was good. It was a warm experience for both of us, Caroline and I, because obviously she was receiving a blessing and I was exercising my priesthood. I felt the Spirit strongly and I know she did too because she was crying when we had finished. I just thought I would share that with you. I’m still good, fat and happy preaching the good word.

5-24-10
This morning was transfers. It was a big surprise and neither my companion or I expected; Elder Stringham is going to Amertart and I have a really young elder that noone knows about. I hear he has red hair and is very skinny – this is the big news. I received a wonderful letter from Grandma Thack yesterday. It was great to hear from her.
Here are some random factoids about life in Holland/Belgium:
-butter is spread on everything!
-lots of fatty foods.
-drink juice with everything and get offended if you don’t drink it.
-insane drivers
-hair styles are crazy.
-if your house stands alone without being attached to another, you are well off.
-everybody talks and thinks in a literal way.
-nobody is afraid to hurt somebody’s feelings.
-racial diversity
-small cars
-love their sweets
-beautiful architecture
-million ways to say goodbye and go through them each time you say goodbye
-lots of tulips
-rabbits in place of squirrels

5-27-10
Great news!!!! Yesterday was the first day with my new companion. We went to say hi to Caroline the investigator – our lady from Kenya. We shared the story of Paul and receiving those baptisms and then we felt the Spirit and asked Caroline to get baptized. She agreed! Words cannot describe how estatic we were. We actually got the first baptism date of the mission for this transfer. This was a real gift!
We are going to get a lot done here, and I will have more good news for you really soon.

To all, I love you very much! Same address, don’t be afraid to write!
Or email:

Love,
Elder Ryan Leash
Kluizenstraat 13
5641 HE Eindhoven
Netherlands

May 17, 2010

May 17, 2010

Dear Everyone,

How is everyone? Life here was crazy earlier on this week, my companion enjoyed it, but things are still pretty new so it was not my favorite week, but with zone conference and zone p-day back to back…I did get to know a lot of the people in my district! Zone conference was very cool because we had the departing missionaries bare their testimonies and it was moving to see how much their mission meant to them and how much it has helped them grow and mature and how they have been able to help other; a real testimony booster for me and the work I’m doing to be sure! Well, after our craziness earlier in the week, we came back Thursday and we did our weekly planning that we didn’t have time for earlier in the week and while we were planning my companion and I baked some chocolate chunk banana bread for some of the ward members who help us a lot. We made three loafs, but somehow only two made it out to the ward....lol. We had ward conference yesterday and the stake pres came, of course. It was very nice because while I was on splits in Brada, I actually had dinner with our stake pres. and after dinner we went to a memorial service for those who died in WWII - he insisted we go to, so in any case, I got to know him and his family pretty well!

What else....... I chopped off all of my hair yesterday (myself and pretty much butchered it lol) and I have been packing on the pounds also so know I don’t have to worry about keeping the girls away! But don’t worry mom I’m still healthy! Oh and warm too! Don’t worry :) Well, transfers are in about a week and I’m starting to get a little nervous just because I love this area! I love my comp too; - we are getting along great :) As far as work goes it was a little slow to start out with just because of the crazy schedule, but we came back and been making some amazing strides with an investigator of ours from Kenya. Her name is Caroline and we have gone through the Restoration and the BOM with no real issues which I feel is a miracle in and of itself, but she also reads the assignments we give her and she is really sweet; I always look forward to our appointments with her!

Today we are out on our bikes because Haary is taking a much needed day off (at age 80) and so we are on bike:/ lol this wouldn’t be as much of a bummer if it wasn’t hailing out lol so I got all decked out with a sweater and my rain slickers and regretted it not 5 minutes later just because of all the layers I had on I started sweating like crazy and it was a really gross feeling and anyway, in sum..........I love missionary work! I can’t believe I am already coming to the close of my first transfer! Where did that month and a half go?! aah!

We have been doing much service lately just because it is that time of year, so lots of yard work etc. We also have been getting a lot of blessing too which I feel so privileged to take part in! Its funny because I was just talking to my companion the other day; I definitely feel the spirit while we give blessings, but often after those we have given a blessing to have been crying, and just seemed overwhelmed by the spirit and my comp and I have come to the conclusion that because we are doing what we are supposed to and because of the calling we carry we almost always have the spirit with us -- what a blessing! Yes, things are good here :) I’m alive and well or rather fat and happy ha-ha (really immersing myself in the culture ;) and I can’t complain! I love you and miss you lots! Please write!

Elder Leash (Ryan)

May 24, 2010

Dear everybody,

I haven’t read your emails to me yet just because i want to make sure I have a little bit of time to fill you in on what is going this week. Well, lots to fill you in on! I’ll just touch on them briefly because I have a letter headed to you as we speak that will give more details BUT today was transfers and I am taking over Eindhoven and another elder is coming here; I can’t remember the name at the moment, but he is apparently a hard worker, but a very young elder also :/ lol we are in for a lot of learning and growth this transfer! Both of us -- he has only been in the land 4 transfers!

I always get so stressed when I have email time lol the question mark is not working for some reason. Today we had a ward picnic and we had a lot of fun! It was really good for me to develop more rapport with the ward and we also got to play a lot of games including my first go at rugby! I had a blast! Oh, another thing that happened that you will hear more about in my letter is a blessing I was able to give to an investigator of ours! That was a first for me and I felt really privileged to be able to give it, a great experience!!! I am very excited for my new companion, of course im going to miss Elder Stringhambut it will be good to be able to get more experience of my own and kind of step out of his shadow so to speak. This week is going to be very busy! My comp Stringham is still District leader and we have to go do some interviews in Heerenfein tomorrow and then we have a lot of appointments with the ward and investigators to say goodbye and what not so we will be VERY busy tomorrow and then Wednesday is transfers and Elder Kettler that is his name - he will come down here and we will get to know etc and then we have a few appointments already for the rest of the week also :)!!! Busy is good!!! Did you get my email last week or any of my emails for that matter....? How about my letters have you been getting any.......? Well in any case, all is great here and let me know if you are getting my emails etc!!! I love you very much,
Ryan



MOM DAD BOO BOO,


Mom can you try remember to put stuff up on the blog, I know it’s a lot to ask but it helps A LOT and I would appreciate it very much!!!! Did you get those pics I sent you......? Please that would be a huge help!!!! Well you have a letter coming your way also so just know that and that I love you and anything you can put up on the blog would be great! Love you three very very much and pray for you every night!

Love,
Ryan

April 22, 2010

Dear family and friends,

I’ve been in this country for ten days now. I really like the Netherlands and feel as if I have been in a daze for five of the ten days due to the jet lag. It is slowly getting much better. Upon getting to this country, we just jumped right into the work! The day of and until the next morning we were able to spend time with the mission president and his wife which was great. We did some quick paperwork, had dinner and went to a popular square out in Brussels, Belgium where we did some tracting! The architecture was just gorgeous. Most of the people I spoke with spoke in English just because it is a big tourist spot, but I caught a lot of French and that day I only spoke Dutch once. This first area is basically all Dutch though.

This area is called Eindehoven; a relatively big city – it is called the City of Lights. This city is built around the Phillips factory that was started here and it employs a lot of the city. Our area is quite big – it goes all the way out to Germany and all the way out to Belgium. It is fairly modern as it was burned down during WWII and they decided to rebuild it, and as a result we have seen some very interesting architecture; it’s fun though.

The flowers are in bloom; its awesome! They have tulips all over the place here! I love it and I love Brussels. Tomorrow I will be back in Belgium on an exchange with the elders near Antwerpen. I will be able to see a little more of the country, but more importantly I will be able to meet some new people and share some very good and important news!

The weather is amazing here! It is very much on and off for the first half of the day. It will be overcast and dark, but it will clear up and turn out to be beautiful the next day!

I really lucked out on my trainer. He is very nice and easy going. He is hard working and I learn a lot from him. I love out ward too! We have about 100 members or so and maybe 75 at church each Sunday – maybe a little less but they are all really sweet and welcoming people. They called me up on Sunday and I had to introduce myself and bare my testimony. It was a little stressful though because I had to do it in another language. They seemed to understand and that was success in my book.

By the time you see me I may be a fat boy – they do eat some fatty foods here …oh well that’s o.k. small price to pay.

As for the work: there is a decent sized centrum or mall basically and we do a lot of our finding there which is fun. This week we have been really blessed! We have three progressing investigators and others with a lot of potential. Of the P.I.’s we found an Asian family that has been really receptive and we are going back tomorrow when they will be cooking us some authentic Asian food! The have two children – 5 and 9 yr. old sons. Another P.I. that we found who seems to be really excited about the gospel is Woter. He is 21 and a really nice guy. I’m excited to see what happens with him! I also contacted another guy while on the bus day before yesterday. It was really a boost for me. We ended up having a great discussion and I ended up teaching him the first discussion and he was really excited about it. He understood my Dutch and things were great, and then he gets up to get off the bus and I realized I didn’t not get that contact info. I am determined to find him again…

I love getting letters and I miss and love you all!!

Elder Leash

Ryan's first letter from the mission field

April 19, 2010

Dear everybody,

I am really missing Dear Elder now, but its good to be able now to focus more!
The flight was good, but the jet lag - terrible lol. I’m still really feeling it, but I’m hoping it will pass here soon! My trainer, he is great! His name is Elder Stringham and he is from Utah . He has two transfers left so there is a good chance that I will send him home, but even though he is about to head home he is not trunkie at all! We are working hard, it is great! I think you would like him a lot! He is really nice and very laid back guy that just takes things as they come. I’m learning lots from him!

My mission president is great! He and his wife were very nice with us. When we got here they took us out to eat, went tracting with us and it was gorgeous everywhere we went! Some of the most beautiful architexture I’ve ever seen and I met a lot of great people! It was wonderful. I can’t really remember much of the first few days just because I was half asleep lol, but I’m beginning to acclimate now!

I think the Brubakers are French though I am not sure, they were serving in France when they were called to be Mission Pres so I know that they at least speak French! I love the country and people here and I KNOW that I will love it even more when I can communicate and understand things more fluidly lol, but I have to get going for now! Well I love you all and I will send a letter later today, hopefully filling you in a bit more -till then much love.

Elder Leash

My address:
Kluizenaarstraat 13
1516 HE Eindhoven, Netherlands

Leaving for Holland - April 12th, 2010

Hello Everyone!

This is where letters will find me after this coming Monday:

Elder Leash
Mission Home Address:87, boulevard Brand Whitlock1200 Brussels, Belgium Belgium General Phone: 027-369933


It is conference weekend! How great is it that I’m able to get to listen to conference here at the MTC? I’m very excited about it! I listened to the tape you had, no offense but the messages from Amy’s kids were the best! Danielle’s piano playing was also noteworthy.

I have to say that all the candy and food here in the cafeteria, combined with sitting on my bum all day is really started to get to me – I am feeling like a real blimp. I have my flight plans! I will be leaving for Belgium this Monday – my first area with probably be in the Netherlands because they speak Flemish in Belgium and they don’t want us to have a curve ball thrown at us for our first area.

Mom, did you like Julie Beck’s talk in the first session? I thought it was really funny how she essentially said to the women of the church to ‘buck up’ and stop being pampered! That was a real tickler. How about Brother Ballard’s talk? I know that talk didn’t just apply to the mother-daughter relationship and you were a great example to me.

It seems that all the talks were directed to family and influences in the home! There was a lot of wonderful advice (Brother Bednar’s among others) on that topic! I hope you were all able to see all the sessions!

I would have to say that my favorite talk would have to be Brother Eyring’s talk – you can feel from his words how strong and fervent his testimony is. He does really care about what he is teaching us. Brother Holland is always a great speaker, great sense of humor that doesn’t hurt.

Did you catch how President Monson said that this session was probably the best conferences to his talk he has ever attended? Wow, he isn’t a young guy either l.o.l.he has seen a few. The talk I needed the most was Brother Uchtdorf’s talk on patience. This is an attribute that I need to develop more of – I will start with his wise counsel. Anyway, I could go on and on about conference.

Thanks to everyone for letting me know you have been thinking of me! It is nice to know that I’m remembered and loved back home. I love you too!
Easter Sunday was great! Mostly because of conference, but your package was also great too. I’m jealous of Easter dinner at Grandma Rougher’s! I love her sweet potatoes. Four months to go for Megan …that’s exciting!
I’m really sad to hear about Uncle Mike’s fish Scrappy. That’s tough. Oh, I forgot I really appreciated Pres. Uchdorf’s talk and President Monson’s story about the young boy who had a brother going on a mission and how ‘they were both on their way to serve the Lord’. This made me cry!
Yes! Brother Rasband did give a very interesting talk as far as extending mission calls! Just another great affirmation to the importance and truthfulness of this work that I’m in!
It is definitely not easy, but worth it.

Here are a few items of importance:

I leave April 12.
I will call on Mother’s Day! Something to look forward to! I can’t wait!
I’m warm enough, don’t worry!
I’m healthy as a horse.
I’m getting mail.
You can keep me in your prayers – keep sending me letters and telling me you love me, you can give dad and Danielle a hug for me; dad give mom a hug for me!
I love you so much! I hope to hear from you soon! @

One week to send off!!!!

March 31, 2010

Hello everyone,

Our district is doing well; actually we are all in pretty good spirits! The new Dutch district came in day before yesterday so we are grateful for the company, but we feel good in looking at them and seeing how far we have come.

Mom, you have to tell Sister Ellis (Lyn) how sweet she is; I really appreciate her letters! So, I’m guessing Uncle Chris said is going to climb Mount Shasta??? Well, I hope he is tough enough (not everyone can be like dad and I). The climb is definitely not for the ‘faint at heart.’
As far as responsibilities in the MTC – they made me senior comp right away, but nothing since them. We do have service responsibilities every week; last night I was asked to be an usher for the devotional which actually entailed standing around for about an hour so I am getting off pretty easy. I’m grateful for it because it gives me or allows me to focus more on the language for now. We will see what happens when I get out in the field.

Thanks for the thoughts on the Lord’s tender mercies – an introspective view on how the Lord blesses your life always – this makes me feel so optimistic and happy! Thanks dad.

Danielle, you are fortunate to have mom and dad and the traditions they have in the home for us. I hope you can remember to count your blessings often!!! I like the part in your letter when you refer to “a cute new guy in the ward…BUT he hasn’t been coming to church every week so that automatically scratches him off the list.” This gave me the biggest smile! Good decision Danielle. I am glad to hear that you miss our “bonding sessions”. Love you tons.

Mom, thanks for the missionary articles that remind me to think about how I view my mission. I know it is a privilege to help the Lord and His purposes and to fulfill my own. I enjoyed the second message as well. I realize I have an amazing message to share; I’m learning how to share and serve in the MTC. I look forward to getting out in the field to share this. Thanks for including the things you learned from Lauri’s talk – I’m happy that it had such a good effect on you. Passing notes back and forth with Denise on the other hand….I don’t know mom. L.O.L.
I’m sure your perm looks good. I love the fact that you are making it a Sunday tradition to have Ian over! It sounds like things are going really well – new R.S. calling, weekly bike rides, all awesome! Good luck on your one week B.O.M. athon goes – trying to read it in one week sounds challenging, but doable. That’s awesome!!!!!!
Thanks for the Chia and chocolate chip cookies.

I love you,

Elder Leash