Transfer 2 Week 3

Hey Hey!

This week was crazy but at the same time I don't have a million things to write about like normal but some pretty awesome stuff happened!

Surprise Visitor: This is a bit of a confusing story, so bare with me... We we're on exchanges, so I was with my District Leader Sister Perez, but we had a lesson with our new investigator Richard planned, and so we swapped back to our normal companions until we would all be at the Beehive House later on. We just came out of the South Visitor Center and Sister Magidson and I are walking along and we hear "Sister Magidson?" and we turn around (me thinking it's some weirdo filming us) and it was Sister Magidson's sister Jackie! It was crazy and completely unexpected, Sister Magidson didn't even know her sister was going to be in Salt Lake City, yet alone Temple Square! And so we talked and took photos and all that jazz and then we we're like "Hey, do you want to be our member present for our lesson?" and she was so excited! (she served her mission in the Ukraine) and so we went to the lesson and it was so incredible! It was my first member present lesson and I loved it! It was so crazy great! We invited him to be baptized and he said yes! and we set him on date for the 21st June and he is so excited about it! After the lesson we went to a pizza place at the City Creek food court for dinner and then we took her on a tour around the Beehive House, it was so crazy awesome! It made our day and gosh you can tell they are sisters, seriously! It was a great surprise.

Exchanges:  We went on exchanges this past week, first off (Thursday) I was with Sister Baba! who is from Sapporo, Japan and we even got to take a Japanese tour, which was the best part of the whole day! We had a great day testifying and teaching on the Square, we encouraged a lot of members to do missionary work and it was an all round great day! On Saturday I was on exhanges with Sister Perez from Argentina, she's great! She is our District Leader and we all love her so much! It was awesome because she has been in the Beehive house for about half of her mission and so she knows her stuff, so it was a great learning tool for me, being my first transfer in the Beehive House. I learned a lot of ways to bridge history to doctrine and bare testimony and still keep the tour for 20 minutes the way it's supposed to be, especially with Summer coming up! Exchanges are so fun and so weird here on Temple Square, every where else you go on exchanges and you don't see your companion, with us, I saw Sister Magidson all the time! especially when we were all in Beehive together and it's natural instinct to be with her but I wasn't I was with someone else, so weird... Will take some getting used to..

Faith in Finding and Using Time Wisely: I have really gained a testimony of how faith really matters when it comes to finding new investigators and how important it is to use time wisely. This week we had an awesome experience, we were in the Beehive House and when you don't have a tour you can go online and chat with people that come on mormon.org (we call it TC, teaching center) and so we were online in the Beehive House and we have a pretty small teaching pool at the moment so we have been putting all our faith into finding. This guy, Jeremy, comes online and says "I'm thinking about becoming Mormon" and we just about fell out of our seats and we talked some more with him and then we make an appointment to call him, we called him the next day. We taught him the Restoration and got to know him a little more and then we said "Jeremy, when you come to know for yourself that these things are true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the power and authority of God?" and he says "Yes, absolutely!" Sister Magidson and I are just about freaking out and then we invite him to church and he said he was excited to go and is reading the Book of Mormon and it was just wow! Miracles happen when we have faith. And if we hadn't been using our time wisely, we might not have ever met him.

Faith is so important, nothing happens until we have faith, faith to receive an answer to a prayer, faith to find those who Heavenly Father has prepared to hear the gospel, faith to know what to say on the Square, faith to know where to go as we plan for the next days activities, faith to know our families are okay, faith to promise someone blessings, everything comes down to faith. When we have faith that's when miracles happen. Miracles don't increase faith, they are the result of our faith. I love knowing as we have faith in Jesus Christ all is possible. 
"And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me" - Moroni 7:33
And I truly believe that, because I have seen it in the missionary work I do, we must not fear, because fear closes the door to our faith. Fear stops faith and we must never let that happen, be strong and courageous! Have faith that no matter what happens, everything will be alright, and we will see miracles! Because there is a plan for everything and the Lord knows what He is doing, we must not doubt or be afraid, but rely on our savior Jesus Christ and all will work out, even if at times it doesn't seem that way.

I know that the gospel is true, I know Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father live, I know that Heavenly Father hears our prayers and is so aware of us, even if it times it seems silly or irrelevant to Him. Miracles can happen as long as you have enough faith to let them happen and take a step back to see the beautiful tender mercies in our lives, because there are so many. There is so much to be grateful for, we have been given all that we have from a loving Heavenly Father. The Book of Mormon truly is the word of God, I feel the spirit deep in my heart as I read it each day. I know that Joseph Smith truly did see God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. Being in the Beehive House I have learned so much history, but as amazing as all that is, I think the greatest thing that I've realized is that if it weren't for Joseph Smith's faith and humility to seek guidance from a loving Heavenly Father, if it weren't for the pioneers faith in the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ and so much more... Salt Lake City would not be what it is today. It might still be a bunch of desert surrounded my mountains, or it could have been built up in a completely different way. The world has been changed because of a young mans desire to know the truth about God and Jesus Christ. It's a very humbling thought.

I love my mission so much and I love being so close to the temple every day, I love seeing peoples lives change in a matter of minutes and there countenances shine brighter each time we meet. The gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives! It has changed mine and millions of others around the world and it can change yours only if you let it.

I love you all, thank you for all that you do. 

Love, Sister Ryan. xx

P.S

I forgot to add, it's so funny right now because everyone is complaining how hot it is and it's absolutely gorgeous weather! It's reaching the 30's but it doesn't feel like it. Feels like it's still mid 20's.

I keep telling them they don't know what hot is until they've been to Australia during our beautiful heatwaves in the summer, with the humidity and everything, haha. 

Here if you're in the shade (which is most places because there are so many trees on Temple Square) it's wonderful! In the sun its warmer, but I've only just started taking my cardigan off during the middle of the day.

Back home I just burn red and go white again, here I'm instantly tanning and I don't like it. I haven't come up read once from being in the sun, it's weird, I'm not used to it! This summer is going to be awesome, I look forward to it!

(sorry, just a random side note I forgot to add into the massive email)

Love you all!

Sister Ryan xx

First American Pizza

First tan EVER

true blue Aussie, Aussie Aussie Aussie OI OI OI

Transfer 2 Week 2‏

G'day! Well lot's happened this week, and I'll only be able to share a small snippet of it all, but let's jump into it.

My First Baptism: Jennifer got baptized!!! Yep, she entered into the waters of baptism and she knows she has made the right choice and she feels home in the gospel and it has brought her so much happiness! In her words "Baptism was wet, and the Holy Ghost was tingly" hahaha. It's truly an incredible and humbling experience to know that you are helping Heavenly Father's children return to Him and that you are someone's missionary, forever. not just the 18 months - 2 years, but eternity.

Helping Testimonies Grow: The other day we met with our less-active Jacque (who now everyone on the Square knows about because she loves telling the other Sisters that we are teaching her, she is such a sweet heart), we taught her the Restoration and she was terrified because she had problems with Joseph Smith, didn't have a testimony of him at all. We talked and bore testimony and I spoke with such force I knew it came from the Spirit, I bore testimony of Joseph Smith and all that he went through and how if he didn't see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ then there is no way he would have gone through everything that he did! It was a powerful lesson and I'll never forget the way it felt, we left and had other appointments and then we had everyone telling us that Jacque was looking for us on the Square and we were walking down and we saw her! She came to us smiling and just bursting and she said "I have good news, I know Joseph Smith was a prophet" and it was the most exciting news! In a matter of hours she went to not believing to knowing and testifying that he was called as a prophet of God. We have met multiple times since then and it gets better and better, she want to go through the temple when we finish teaching her the lessons and want's us to be there with her, she calls us her angels and is constantly grateful for the time and effort we put into her. We have become Best Friends and we have so many inside jokes like "Hot Pink Fanny Packs" and "Orange Cheese". When Jeffery R Holland talks about listening to our friends in Preach My Gospel, I didn't realize how true his statement was until I met Jacque. I love her so much and we are like spiritual twins, everything she is going through I have been through similar situations and I know that everything I went through no matter how long ago, was for a reason. Jacque is my reason. We have a connection that can't be broken and it's incredible to see how the Lord knows where and when He needs us so we can meet the people He has prepared specifically for us.

The Beehive House: What can I say? I love it! It's the best assignment and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have been blessed with to teach the gospel there. It's awesome how you can go from "This is Bringham Young's original Hat and cane" to "We know that the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families and that through Holy Temples our families can be together forever" and then "this is Bringham Young's personal office, he was not only a Governor and Super Intendent for Indian affairs but a Father and a Prophet..." and teach the Restoration. It's awesome and I love being able to teach and testify all day everyday! It's a dream come true and I truly get to do that here on Temple Square.

Relief Society: I never really liked relief society back home, but being on my mission is a whole different story, where else does Sheri Dew speak to a group of 199 sisters in Relief Society but in the Temple Square mission. She talked with us about Women and the Priesthood and it was so incredible, it really reminded me of Elder Oaks talk in the Priesthood Session of General Conference just this April, it was incredible and I learned so much! About what the Keys, Authority and Power mean and how it applies to me not only as a missionary but as a women in general. There is just too much that I learned to type in this email, but it really opened my eyes and I would invite you to read/watch Elder Oaks talk because it truly is just amazing and so eye opening.

Random Fact: We have 199 Sister Missionaries on Temple Square at this very moment in the mission and it is the most Sister's the mission has had throughout all history of the Temple Square Mission, it's so awesome to be a part of that! When I found out, I thought it was so awesome! I just love my mission so much!!!

Mission Tour: I didn't even know these existed and it was the best meeting I have had my entire mission so far! (my whole 1 and a bit transfer's in). We had Elder Don R. Clarke of the 70 come and speak with us from 8:30am - 3:30pm. There was so much encouragement and I gained so much from it, I just wanted to go out and just make sure everyone knew my testimony of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. I have so much to apply from what I learnt but planning was a massive part of it, I love planning, but I see it in a whole different light now from yesterday. There are so many quotes from yesterday that are so simple yet, so powerful. "Don't let dumb things, mess up eternity". Goals and Planning are the most important way I can fulfill my purpose as a missionary. Not only that but how I use my time, how much time is my fishing line actually in the water? We have been called to be fishers of men, and sometimes we are too busy worrying about all these things that aren't relevant or don't talk to everyone because we are going to and from places or whatever it is. I realized how much more I need to have my fishing line in the water, in order to more fully be a better fisher (missionary). We have the resources we have for a reason and we need to use them! Preach My Gospel is there to show us how we can be the missionaries Heavenly Father needs us to be, sometimes it's hard adapting little things to being a Visiting Center Sister, but most of it is still the same and as we apply the things in Preach My Gospel, turning to the Lord kowing we cannot do this alone, we will be the best missionary we can be, the missionary the Lord called us to be. To actually serve Him with all our heart, might, mind and strength. "Don't count time, make time count."
I can't possibly put all my 17 pages of notes in a few short paragraphs, especially with the time allocated, but if I could I would. The heavens were truly opened to me and I received so much personal revelation for me and my investigators, it was awesome to see how prayer, faith and humility took a toll in how much I learned and received from the Mission Tour.

Never forget that Joseph Smith truly did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, I read the accounts this morning in my personal study and the Spirit I felt as I prayed and continued to have a prayer in my heart to reconfirm my testimony of the Restoration was incredible, I hadn't felt the Spirit like that in a long time and I can't exactly put it in words, but I know with all I have, that it happened and I can never forget that. It really happened! It's not just a story that sounds cool to start the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. As I said to Jacque, Joseph Smith would not have gone through everything he did, all the persecution he went through majority of his life, right up until death, sealing his testimony of it in his own blood as he was martyred in Carthedge Jail, if he did not see God the Father and Jesus Christ. He did everything humanly possible to bring forth the gospel because of that one amazing experience he had in the Spring of 1820, a 14 year old boy, humble enough to ask God for the truth. I know it, and I could never deny it. The first vision really happened and I don't dare say it lightly. I teach the Restoration more times in 1 day then some missionaries might do in a week being here on Temple Square and it never gets old and that's because I know it's not just a story, it's not made up and it was not a dream. It is real and God and Jesus Christ live and they love us so much! So much that a way was provided that we can return to Heavenly Father and have eternal life. You can come to a knowledge of this for yourself as you read the Book of Mormon and as you pray and ponder having real intent! Really be willing to act on the answer you receive, you can not fail as you follow the promise given in Moroni 10:3-5 you will come to know without a doubt that it is true. I know it, I have seen how the gospel changes lives and it's because of the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ that this is all possible.

Don't give up, keep pushing forward! If you feel like you're not there yet I promise you can be, it took me a long time to get my own testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, it took Bringham Young two years to get a testimony of the Book of Mormon and he became Prophet! I hope it doesn't take you that long, but don't worry if it takes time, everyone's experience is different. The greater the struggle, sometimes the greater the reward, and there are immeasurable blessings ahead of us all as long as we humble ourselves enough to receive them.

I love you all and thank you for the blessing you are in my life. Thank you for your support and love.

Love, Sister Ryan xx

Photo: Jennifer at her baptism with her 2 sons (don't worry, I asked her if I could a photo home)

photos

Sister Ryan in front of Temple

1st Baptism   Jennifer 

Temple

companions

Statue

P-day

love my companion

No! picture is not upside down, Temple in reflection pool

Transfer 2 Week 1 - I've Reached My Second Transfer!‏

G'day everyone!

First of all HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! To all you Mothers/future Mothers out there!

"Mothers are endowed with a love that is unlike any other love on the face of the earth" - Majorie Hinckley
"There is so limit to what a righteous mother can accomplish. Righteous women have changed the course of history and will continue to do so." - Julie B. Beck

New Transfer Update: WOOH! I've reached my 2nd transfer! Last transfer I had a lot of "Square time" this transfer I have a specific assignment... I'm in the Beehive House! and I couldn't be more excited! I love the Beehive House and I'm so excited to be serving there this transfer! and I'm still with Sister Magidson, which we are so happy about! Last night was terrifying, are we going to be together still or not? It's crazy how close you can get to someone in a matter of weeks and how you can come to love someone so much in that time. The thought of being separated and having a follow up trainer scared me so much and so I'm so happy to know we are still together! Crazy thing is! Sister Magidson has a dream that we would be serving in the Beehive House and Sister Walsh would be our Zone Leader... yep, guess who is my zone leader! So funny and crazy all at the same time! haha. So everyone get ready to hear some awesome Beehive House miracles in the next 6 weeks. And it's going to be summer so it's going to be CRAZY! We are going to be busy little bee's! (incoming terrible honey, beehive, bee puns in the next 6 weeks)

Unlikely P-day Activity: Last Monday we had our Zone activity and we watched *drum roll* FROZEN! and ate waffles, it was amazing. But after Frozen had finished they had another movie for us and it blew my mind, never in my life did I ever think I would watch this movie on my mission... They told everyone to close their eyes and wait for the music, we did and the music comes on, we watched the first HARRY POTTER! on P-day! Never thought it would happen, but there you have it! It was so much fun and I didn't realize how manyTemple Square/Mission jokes could be made about Frozen and Harry Potter, so much fun to be in a room full of Sisters all over the world watching a movie! I laughed so much! It was just hilarious! "He just needs the gospel! "The Atonement is real!" "Church is true!" hahaha, so funny!

Sacrifices Must be Made: We have an amazing investigator who I have mentioned a couple of times in my last few emails, Jennifer, great news! SHE IS DEFINITELY getting baptized this Saturday! (May 17th). She had to quit smoking however, so we thought about what could we do to help her and show our support all the way here in Temple Square, well we decided we would give up something too until her baptism. We were talking and before I even really thought about it I just said "Yep, and I'm giving up chocolate!"... What?! Yep... I went there... I had TimTams waiting for me at home and we had so many chocolate involved plans... I came to just a part of the understanding of how she felt having to change for someone in a positive way. Her quitting smoking to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized, me giving up chocolate so I could show my support to Jennifer. It might sound silly, but she was so appreciative of the things we were willing to do, though far away to help and support her though this time in her life. We love her so much and she is so incredible! We are so excited to hear all about it and she has promised lots of photos which is awesome. Giving up chocolate is nothing in comparison to the life change she is making in a matter of a few weeks, she is so inspiring and so wonderful! It's the best feeling to know we had a part in bringing someone to the waters of baptism so that they can return to live with Heavenly Father. I feel so honored to be part of this journey with her, to help her come closer to her Savior Jesus Christ. We have seen so many instances where the Lord is so aware of her and of us as missionaries as we have been teaching her, just thins like the local missionaries teaching the same thing we planned to or them setting the same baptism date we extended to her. It's been incredible and it's so marvelous to see!

Answering a Prayer: This week I really came to know the importance of following the promptings of the Spirit, this week we followed our inspired plans and went down to Scriptures and Revelation, I saw a girl and had the greatest prompting to talk with her, we started talking and sat down and we talked about so much! Turns out she is a less-active member, really struggling with a lot of things at the moment. She had come to Temple Square to get away from life for a little, she went to the Christus which is such a spiritual feast of a place and missionaries were constantly walking by or they were one a tour and busy with other people and she had been listening to what they would say to try and get the upliftment she needed. She felt discouraged that no one talked with her and prayed to Heavenly Father that someone would come and talk to her and help her in her needs... She decided to come to Scriptures and Revelation and only a few minutes later, completely unaware of what she was going through or the prayer she had given, we walked up and talked to her. We talked with her and gave her motivation and bore testimonies and shared experiences and gave her hope, invited her to read and pray and to go to church... We talked for quite a long time and she felt a lot better afterwards with a hope in her heart that she would be given the strength to do what she knows Heavenly Father needs her to do. She thanked us so much and told us that we were truly an answer to her prayer and shared her experience with us.
We also saw her the next day and continued to uplift and support her through these tough times, she had lost her bus pass and came back to Temple Square to find it and we saw her again! We again gave her that upliftment she needed and helped her come closer to Jesus Christ, we prayed with her and we talked a lot about faith, humility, repentance, patience. I still truly believed that she lost her bus pass so that we would run into her again and give her that motivation she needs and help her come to an understanding of the relationship she has with her Heavenly Father.  I can't even put it all in words, but I really look forward to helping her through this time in her life.

Our Purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ, non-members, members, less-actives, everyone! To come unto Christ, to help them understand the relationship they can have with Jesus Christ and our loving Heavenly Father. Help them apply the Atonemtn of Jesus Christ into their lives. One thing that has really stood out to me this week is knowing that Heavenly Father is so aware of each and every one of us, He hears all of our prayers, and answers them when the time is right and in the right way, even if we really don't understand it at all when it happens. No matter how insignificant you feel or how silly you think something is, He cares and He has given us everything we love, every emotion, every color, every word in a book, every note of music, every flower to smell or see, everything. He had given it to us, because He loves us and knows us so perfectly! He knows our needs and He is aware of us and our situations, I see my prayers answered nearly every day, in the smallest ways, I put all the faith I have into Him, love Him with all I have. I have never prayed more sincerely and with more intent in my life being on my mission! I have come to a greater understanding of His love for me, His love for us all and all the beautiful details he puts in our lives. To make the most of every opportunity He has given me, make the most of the life he has given me! He loves us all so much and I could never doubt or deny that love. What makes the difference is when we turn to Him, in order to feel all of this, to appreciate all of this and understand it, we much turn to him. Be humble and have patience (I'm still working on these), when we submit, knowing that we can't go though this life without Him, He will open up the windows of heaven and bless us so openly! But only if we will let him and we turn to him...

I love this gospel so much, I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God with all that I have, I know that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God and that he did indeed see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Once you gain a testimony of these things, everything else falls in to place and I wouldn't be on my mission if I didn't know these things, and if you don't you can come to know these things for yourself, I know you can! Sometimes hard times come, and yeah, they suck. But, we are given them because the Lord knows we can get through them and He gives them to us so that we can become a better us. To be the us that He needs us to be, to help us understand our potential. What a wonderful blessing that is! Trials always turn into blessing in the end. We are pushed to our limits so we can become something greater that we could ever see our selves.

I love you all so much! and I'm so grateful for the support you give me. Thankyou for everything.
Love, Sister Ryan.

Photos: Announcing on Sunday for the First Time! :)

Photos

Everyone Announcing

Ice-cream Time at Farrs!

My excitement calling
 home for Mothers Day!

Sister Baba and I
 (Japanese and English)

Sis Ryan announcing

Transfer 1 Week 6‏

 
G'day!

I love saying that here! Everyone loves it, hahaha.
Though I get "what part of the UK are you from?" most of the time here, I've learned to just say "guess again" haha.
People always ask me about kangaroos and koala "bears", it's pretty funny.

But! This week was awesome, so let's jump right into it!

Best Testimony Meeting of My Life: This week Elder Quintin L. Cook came to our Fast and Testimony meeting! Yep, you heard me right. Elder Quintin L. Cook! I even got to give my testimony and my testimony was the LAST one that he and his family listened to before he had to go. He was smiling at me the whole time and it was hard to look away from him and look at the rest of the people in the Chapel, but it was incredible. Our sacrament meetings are full of sisters and the Senior Couples, such a strong and powerful spirit in that room! Plus we are in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, so if you can check out the chapel, and that's where I have sacrament every week. Just you know, the most beautiful chapel I've ever seen in my life!

Meeting an Inspiration: As most of you know I love the social world of the internet, and one of those things is blogs! One of my favourite Bloggers/YouTubers of all time is Al Carraway (Fox), guess who I met just randomly walking to my apartment to get dinner, yep, Al Carraway! Yep, The Tattooed Mormon! Not going to lie, I freaked out and went to talk to her and her husband, she is so sweet! We talked for a bit and she complimentd my earings and said I was so cute and SHE gave ME a hug! It was so awesome, she is such of an inspiration! I quoted her in my farewell talk even! haha! I was so nervous and just freaking out, I probably looked crazy! Even though Sister Magidson reassured me that I didn't, Sister Magidson didn't even have an idea who she was or why I was freaking out! haha, wow... So crazy awesome! The people we meet here on the Square! (in this case, off the Square, but you get what I mean)

Feeling Famous: This little girl, her name was Kira, came up and was talking to Sister Magidson and I and just randomly she says " I think we have to take a picture!" and it was like what? That was random! haha, but we got down on our knees and we stood each side of her and she had the biggest smile on her face! It was the cutest thing in the world! She was loving every second of it! I think we just planted a little missionary seed, so beautiful!

My First Baptism Date: I have my first investigator with a baptism date!!! We called Jennifer and talked about church and the missionaries in her local area and everything and we put her on date for the 17th of May, we get to call her tomorrow and I'm so excited! She is so wonderful and such a beautiful daughter of Heavenly Father! We promised we would text her a "scripture of the day" everyday and then this Friday she sent us one! She was like "This one is for you ladies! 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected aend. 12 Then shall ye acall upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will bhearken unto you. 13 And ye shall aseek me, and find me, when ye shall bsearch for me with all your cheart. Jeremiah 29:11". It was the sweetest thing ever! It made our day! She is so wonderful, I can't wait to meet her one day and just give her the biggest hug! Sometimes I just wish I could jump through the phone and hug her!

Lion House: I got to go to the Lion House this week as a celebration of me passing off (which I mentioned last week) and it was some good eating! We had a great night and everyone was telling me how amazing the rolls and butter was, I didn't think it would be that good... but it was, it was THAT GOOD! Best rolls and butter I've ever had. It is part of the Beehive House and it's honey butter and the rolls are just amazing... Nothing crazy awesome happened, but it was good food.

My testimony has grown on a lot of things this week, but mainly, The Book of Mormon in missionary work and what it means to be a successful missionary. This week I really thought about all the sacrifice that went into having the Book of Mormon today, and I don't just mean Joseph Smith, but everything that Moroni, Nephi, Abinadi, Alma, Helaman, all of them went through so that we could have the Book of Mormon as it is today! I gained a testimony of how The Book of Mormon with the Spirit is the greatest tool of conversion! It is the sickle we harvest the white fields with (D&C 4). In Preach My Gospel it said to study Mormon 8, Moroni 1 and 10 and it gave me such a greater perspective! It is so important that we use the Book of Mormon in our daily lives, reading it, teaching from it, everything. It is the most correct book on the earth! It is a blessing to have the Book of Mormon today. It answers questions of the souls, it gives comfort, it is a source to receive revelation, everything! Everything comes down to if the Book of Mormon is the word of God and I can say very boldly and lovingly that it is! It is the word of God, there is no other thing it could be. While typing this I realized most (if not all) my emails have had a testimony of the Book of Mormon in it, and that it is because it is so important! I read the last 2 paragraphs of the introduction with people so many times a day, and it is so true! Through faithful and sincere prayer to Heavenly Father in Christ name, we can come to know for ourselves that it is God's word. We can come to know that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lords Kingdom once again established on the earth today.
To be a successful missionary doesn't mean you have a heap of investigators, or baptisms, people on date, people picking up phones... That stuff is important! Don't get me wrong, but sometimes we don't have that as missionaries, we have good times and bad times (Here I am talking like I'm in my 11th transfer). But we need not to be discouraged! Because people have their agency to accept of reject what we have to share (Which is the greatest and happiest message the world has to hear). To be successful we have to be, felling the spirit teach and testify through us, loving people and desiring their eternal salvation (Mosiah 28:3), being exactly obedient, live so we can follow the spirit direct us where to go, who to talk to, what to say, develop Christlike attributes (constantly working towards being Christlike), doing our best, inviting people to make and keep commitments, serve everyone, make the most of every opportunity that Heavenly father has blessed us with.
Even when we do all of this, we will still experience disappointments, but I have really come to an understanding of how I am a tool in the Lords hands, I have been sent here to do a work, once I have done what he needs me to do, and sometimes another tool is used to finish the task. But I know that the Lord is pleased with my efforts, I have no control over other peoples agency, only my own. And it is my choice to make the most of every opportunity that Heavenly Father has given me, and to make sure that the people I'm talking to will have that chance to hear the gospel and to have their lives changed through the atonement of Jesus Christ and his beautiful gospel.

I love my mission so much and I can't believe it's the end of my first transfer already! I knew it would go quick, I didn't realize it would flash right before my eyes!
I love Temple Square, I love being at the Temple everyday and seeing the difference the spirit makes into peoples lives. I love being a Temple Square Missionary!

I love you all! Keep Smiling! Stay Strong no matter what is going on, because I promise that as you turn to Him, the Lord is always by your side.

Love, Sister Ryan! <3
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photos

Sister Magidson and I at Lion House

This mornings breakfast after
 the Temple, Chunky
Cinnamon French Toast!

Happy selfie for you all! (Much Happiness!)

This is what half of my day looks like,
 me with a headset, calling,
 waiting for calls and chatting with people.

This lady took a photo of us and her kids
 and sent it to you, me, and Sister Magidson's sister. 
Her son is serving in the Melbourne mission!
 He is actually in Jayme's stake right now!
This is the photo just in case you didn't get it.