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
Ryan's Entire Mission
ryan is in the far right corner
Ryan at a Zone Conference...
Ryan and President Brubaker
eating raw fish -- eeewww
Ryan at temple - day before MTC drop off
handsome guy!
Ryan and President Smith
getting set apart as a missionary
Monday, January 17, 2011
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
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
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
October and November Letters
10-20-10
Dear family,
I liked your reference to Psalms 82:6. I can definitely see how it gives you comfort; if you look at the subtext for this reference it puts it even more simply, ‘a spirit child of Heavenly Father’. What a comfort having a Heavenly Father is. A Father who wants the best for us, who has an eternal plan for us!~ The next part of that sub-text, ‘potential to become like Heavenly Father; that certainly is a standard for us!
I think that second part is not only a standard but I also find comfort and relief through that 1st word, ‘potential’, yes, we have Godly Heritage and as a result we have seeds of that Godliness within each and every one of us, but at this point we are just seeds, a ‘potential’. Luckily we aren’t held to that standard just yet l.o.l. and we have plenty of time to reach that potential! Fortunately!
Thanks for sharing that one with me – awesome little ‘treasures’ from the scriptures! I think something True to the Faith says really ‘walks hand in hand with this scripture and the thoughts it provokes. It reads, “You are a literal child of God, spiritually begotten in the pre mortal life. As his child, you can be assured that you have divine, eternal potential and that He will help you in your sincere efforts to reach that potential. I think this statement adds another facet to your scripture, ‘sincere efforts’ – this adds a little more to that standard found from that particular scripture.
Danielle, keep bring friends to church. This brings another scripture to mind – D&C 18:15! Check it out~!
For Ian, I have some advice on relationships. Elder Ballard gives us some simple council on that matter “we have young people say that they will postpone marriage of having children until they can afford them. Let me tell you as a father of seven children, you will never be able to afford them. Just trust in the Lord as Sister Ballard and I have. Somehow it works, with His help. Elder Hales says about “some debt incurred for a modest home, an education, a basic car may be necessary to provide for a family.
The work here is pretty touch n go, I love Elder Johnson, he is a very funny guy, a great friend, and the best companion – sadly he will be transferred in three weeks. But we do have a baptism this week, an 11 year old girl, that daughter of a woman who wrote herself out of the church. We do have some other possible baptisms, including a former Muslim that will be postponed for awhile. We will see what happens with the others.
10-17-10
O.k. I did not have a very diligent companion, but you were right, this next one is a real go-getter!
Things here in Belgium are good; we just had a baptism last Sunday and should have another pretty quick.
We had a little bit of a miracle and I will tell you about it while the memory is still fresh. We had an appointment in Ieper yesterday with an inactive member from the Congo. He wants to be active now and will be at church this coming Sunday. He name is Henry. Well, after the appointment with him we had another appointment with another member immediately following and seeing a great opportunity for Henry to meet some members we invited him along. We had a GREAT appointment, the Spirit was present, and we all had a good time!
Time comes for us to leave and Henry decides to walk to the bus station, upon arriving Henry ends up seeing an acquaintance of his and introduces us. After a short chit-chat we find that she needs the same bus we do and that she is taking it all the way back to Kortrijk as well. During our hour long trip with her we learn a few things; normally she always takes the train home, it’s less crowded and stinky and she gets home in less than half the time. Coincidence? I don’t think so, she just said for some reason she ended up on the bus this evening. For some reason, she just ended up on the bus. We learned about her religious background and history, she is Christian but hasn’t been to church in several years, but she recently got a new job and has a close co-worker there that is very strong in her faith and has been encouraging our friend to get involved and find a church again. In any case, we got her contact info of course. The Lord is guiding us as missionaries, but also those around us. And He pumps them up for us to share our unique and urgent message.
Mom, I love the fact that you are studying the life of the Savior in the scriptures right now! I’m doing much of the same, mostly because of something Pres. Uchdorf said in conference, “Balance and stability come through developing and cultivation a relationship with your Heavenly Father”, it’s a pretty general statement or promise but I think accurately so; balance and stability in all avenues of life come from developing a strong relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Bill Crans sent me a letter about his wife passing on; I sure do feel for him. How is Grandma Thackeray doing? Please keep me posted.
I love you all so much,
Elder Leash
p.s. We are doing a lot of member work; over half the branch is inactive. The weather is very cold here! It is not supposed to be above 5 degrees this coming week. Chance of snow
Dear family,
I liked your reference to Psalms 82:6. I can definitely see how it gives you comfort; if you look at the subtext for this reference it puts it even more simply, ‘a spirit child of Heavenly Father’. What a comfort having a Heavenly Father is. A Father who wants the best for us, who has an eternal plan for us!~ The next part of that sub-text, ‘potential to become like Heavenly Father; that certainly is a standard for us!
I think that second part is not only a standard but I also find comfort and relief through that 1st word, ‘potential’, yes, we have Godly Heritage and as a result we have seeds of that Godliness within each and every one of us, but at this point we are just seeds, a ‘potential’. Luckily we aren’t held to that standard just yet l.o.l. and we have plenty of time to reach that potential! Fortunately!
Thanks for sharing that one with me – awesome little ‘treasures’ from the scriptures! I think something True to the Faith says really ‘walks hand in hand with this scripture and the thoughts it provokes. It reads, “You are a literal child of God, spiritually begotten in the pre mortal life. As his child, you can be assured that you have divine, eternal potential and that He will help you in your sincere efforts to reach that potential. I think this statement adds another facet to your scripture, ‘sincere efforts’ – this adds a little more to that standard found from that particular scripture.
Danielle, keep bring friends to church. This brings another scripture to mind – D&C 18:15! Check it out~!
For Ian, I have some advice on relationships. Elder Ballard gives us some simple council on that matter “we have young people say that they will postpone marriage of having children until they can afford them. Let me tell you as a father of seven children, you will never be able to afford them. Just trust in the Lord as Sister Ballard and I have. Somehow it works, with His help. Elder Hales says about “some debt incurred for a modest home, an education, a basic car may be necessary to provide for a family.
The work here is pretty touch n go, I love Elder Johnson, he is a very funny guy, a great friend, and the best companion – sadly he will be transferred in three weeks. But we do have a baptism this week, an 11 year old girl, that daughter of a woman who wrote herself out of the church. We do have some other possible baptisms, including a former Muslim that will be postponed for awhile. We will see what happens with the others.
10-17-10
O.k. I did not have a very diligent companion, but you were right, this next one is a real go-getter!
Things here in Belgium are good; we just had a baptism last Sunday and should have another pretty quick.
We had a little bit of a miracle and I will tell you about it while the memory is still fresh. We had an appointment in Ieper yesterday with an inactive member from the Congo. He wants to be active now and will be at church this coming Sunday. He name is Henry. Well, after the appointment with him we had another appointment with another member immediately following and seeing a great opportunity for Henry to meet some members we invited him along. We had a GREAT appointment, the Spirit was present, and we all had a good time!
Time comes for us to leave and Henry decides to walk to the bus station, upon arriving Henry ends up seeing an acquaintance of his and introduces us. After a short chit-chat we find that she needs the same bus we do and that she is taking it all the way back to Kortrijk as well. During our hour long trip with her we learn a few things; normally she always takes the train home, it’s less crowded and stinky and she gets home in less than half the time. Coincidence? I don’t think so, she just said for some reason she ended up on the bus this evening. For some reason, she just ended up on the bus. We learned about her religious background and history, she is Christian but hasn’t been to church in several years, but she recently got a new job and has a close co-worker there that is very strong in her faith and has been encouraging our friend to get involved and find a church again. In any case, we got her contact info of course. The Lord is guiding us as missionaries, but also those around us. And He pumps them up for us to share our unique and urgent message.
Mom, I love the fact that you are studying the life of the Savior in the scriptures right now! I’m doing much of the same, mostly because of something Pres. Uchdorf said in conference, “Balance and stability come through developing and cultivation a relationship with your Heavenly Father”, it’s a pretty general statement or promise but I think accurately so; balance and stability in all avenues of life come from developing a strong relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Bill Crans sent me a letter about his wife passing on; I sure do feel for him. How is Grandma Thackeray doing? Please keep me posted.
I love you all so much,
Elder Leash
p.s. We are doing a lot of member work; over half the branch is inactive. The weather is very cold here! It is not supposed to be above 5 degrees this coming week. Chance of snow
Friday, November 12, 2010
Belgium or bust
November 6, 2010
Dear Family!,
It was, as always, WONDERFUL to hear from you :)! It sounds like things are both good and bad, good because it sounds like all there in Sac is well and that you and Danielle are being able to have some quality time together but tough with grandma - please send some love to dad and also to grandma!
Send congrats to Lauri, that is great!
As far as things here – they are good and bad, Elder Johnson is leaving Kortrijk, Belgium, :( i love him! We had a great run, but anyhow I will be staying here and I will be companions with Elder Kramer, I’ve heard a lot of good things about him so it will be great!!! The work, well, we will probably have three baptisms this transfer so that is awesome. Adrianna is coming this Sunday for sure! And then Sabrina will come very soon - she is having some stress with whether or not she will be able to stay here in Belgium with immigration and all so she should be baptized shortly, but we will see; then last, but not least Audrienna an old french lady about 70 or so, and she is very sweet, a little tough to communicate with, but she wants to be baptized so we should get her in the water this transfer as well! Great stuff! I love you very much, you too Danielle! BTW I’m waiting on a response boo boo :) i hope you have a great week and I’ll probably write some time this week! Until then,
Love Always,
Elder Leash
Dear Family!,
It was, as always, WONDERFUL to hear from you :)! It sounds like things are both good and bad, good because it sounds like all there in Sac is well and that you and Danielle are being able to have some quality time together but tough with grandma - please send some love to dad and also to grandma!
Send congrats to Lauri, that is great!
As far as things here – they are good and bad, Elder Johnson is leaving Kortrijk, Belgium, :( i love him! We had a great run, but anyhow I will be staying here and I will be companions with Elder Kramer, I’ve heard a lot of good things about him so it will be great!!! The work, well, we will probably have three baptisms this transfer so that is awesome. Adrianna is coming this Sunday for sure! And then Sabrina will come very soon - she is having some stress with whether or not she will be able to stay here in Belgium with immigration and all so she should be baptized shortly, but we will see; then last, but not least Audrienna an old french lady about 70 or so, and she is very sweet, a little tough to communicate with, but she wants to be baptized so we should get her in the water this transfer as well! Great stuff! I love you very much, you too Danielle! BTW I’m waiting on a response boo boo :) i hope you have a great week and I’ll probably write some time this week! Until then,
Love Always,
Elder Leash
Saturday, September 25, 2010
September news from Kortrijk, Belgium
September 20, 2010
Hello there family and friends,
Boo Boo, I saw your picture with John Bytheway – cool. That’s cool…did you get to talk to him at all? I heard you had a great time at EFY, but no details – how was it? How is school going? What classes are you taking? Are you feeling overwhelmed yet? Junior year can be tough but I know you’ll do great? What is new with boys? Any dates recently? How about the license? Will that happen anywhere in the next couple of years? What are you studying in the scriptures – in seminary? I would kill to be able to get back and re-do seminary! Mark up those scriptures eh! Are you, mom and dad hitting the gym? What is up with the gym? Is Ian still stopping by and eating a lot?
Well, here is what is going on here. Elder Johnson is a very funny guy! He is definitely a ‘country bumpkin’ l.o.l. he is a goofy guy in my opinion and he thinks he is a good dancer. When he thinks I am not looking he will “bust a move” it’s very entertaining. He reminds me of Mitch Thackeray – big buy. He thinks Danielle is pretty judging by the family pictures.
The city is beautiful here in Kortrijk, Belgium. It is wonderful! We see miracles every day! The branch here is tiny but lively at the same time. We probably have as many kids under 10 as we do adults over 20~ Lots of babies! It is your dream ward Danielle. They speak Flams here which is another dialect. It sounds a lot like French, just that they are using Dutch vocabulary; it is tough to follow. There is oh so much history here! The awesome cobblestone roads are everywhere. You hardly ever see a house built out of wood anymore – they are all brick. There are a lot of cars everywhere and this country was not built for cars, but somehow they manage to squeeze around all the buildings etc. It is scary though. It be honest the people are not as open here; I try to ‘speed talk’ through all of my contacts so they don’t have a chance to tell me they don’t believe in anything, or that they are Catholic; definitely two of their favorite responses “well…I’m Catholic soooo…” and then I don’t believe in God. I ask, “do you believe in your family…?” Them “no” oh “do you believe in yourself at least?” at which point the answer is pretty much 50/50 yes or no, it’s kind of sad to be honest.
The, you get the foreigners who say ‘yes’ to almost everything! I love them!!! There are a lot of African immigrants here! They are wonderful! What we hear from them is “Yes, I love Jesus Christ!” This is a wonderful area, I love it!
Now, a little bit about me. Yesterday was church and we miraculously had 5 (wow!) investigators in church, but in spite of this there was just one thing missing…our Branch President. Turns out that he was in a bike race. The church in Europe at its best…no really the church is good here! Because the Branch President wasn’t there things were not organized at all and we had to scramble to pick up the pieces, my companion and I ended up teaching the Young Men class, teaching our investigator class and then giving literally last minute talks in Sacramento meeting, crazy to say the least. It was good though. I spoke about how the Lord blesses us so abundantly and His hands are in our lives in so many ways and yet we are often caught in our ‘worldly cycle’ and don’t notice the blessings. I also talked about how we have to do our part to be worthy of these blessings as well. I shared D&C 130:20, 21. Then I gave a very long testimony …my companion helped out as well too.
I love my mission, I love the scriptures, I love my Father in Heaven, I love you too! Can’t wait to hear from you!
Elder Ryan Leash
Hello there family and friends,
Boo Boo, I saw your picture with John Bytheway – cool. That’s cool…did you get to talk to him at all? I heard you had a great time at EFY, but no details – how was it? How is school going? What classes are you taking? Are you feeling overwhelmed yet? Junior year can be tough but I know you’ll do great? What is new with boys? Any dates recently? How about the license? Will that happen anywhere in the next couple of years? What are you studying in the scriptures – in seminary? I would kill to be able to get back and re-do seminary! Mark up those scriptures eh! Are you, mom and dad hitting the gym? What is up with the gym? Is Ian still stopping by and eating a lot?
Well, here is what is going on here. Elder Johnson is a very funny guy! He is definitely a ‘country bumpkin’ l.o.l. he is a goofy guy in my opinion and he thinks he is a good dancer. When he thinks I am not looking he will “bust a move” it’s very entertaining. He reminds me of Mitch Thackeray – big buy. He thinks Danielle is pretty judging by the family pictures.
The city is beautiful here in Kortrijk, Belgium. It is wonderful! We see miracles every day! The branch here is tiny but lively at the same time. We probably have as many kids under 10 as we do adults over 20~ Lots of babies! It is your dream ward Danielle. They speak Flams here which is another dialect. It sounds a lot like French, just that they are using Dutch vocabulary; it is tough to follow. There is oh so much history here! The awesome cobblestone roads are everywhere. You hardly ever see a house built out of wood anymore – they are all brick. There are a lot of cars everywhere and this country was not built for cars, but somehow they manage to squeeze around all the buildings etc. It is scary though. It be honest the people are not as open here; I try to ‘speed talk’ through all of my contacts so they don’t have a chance to tell me they don’t believe in anything, or that they are Catholic; definitely two of their favorite responses “well…I’m Catholic soooo…” and then I don’t believe in God. I ask, “do you believe in your family…?” Them “no” oh “do you believe in yourself at least?” at which point the answer is pretty much 50/50 yes or no, it’s kind of sad to be honest.
The, you get the foreigners who say ‘yes’ to almost everything! I love them!!! There are a lot of African immigrants here! They are wonderful! What we hear from them is “Yes, I love Jesus Christ!” This is a wonderful area, I love it!
Now, a little bit about me. Yesterday was church and we miraculously had 5 (wow!) investigators in church, but in spite of this there was just one thing missing…our Branch President. Turns out that he was in a bike race. The church in Europe at its best…no really the church is good here! Because the Branch President wasn’t there things were not organized at all and we had to scramble to pick up the pieces, my companion and I ended up teaching the Young Men class, teaching our investigator class and then giving literally last minute talks in Sacramento meeting, crazy to say the least. It was good though. I spoke about how the Lord blesses us so abundantly and His hands are in our lives in so many ways and yet we are often caught in our ‘worldly cycle’ and don’t notice the blessings. I also talked about how we have to do our part to be worthy of these blessings as well. I shared D&C 130:20, 21. Then I gave a very long testimony …my companion helped out as well too.
I love my mission, I love the scriptures, I love my Father in Heaven, I love you too! Can’t wait to hear from you!
Elder Ryan Leash
Sunday, September 12, 2010
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