Transfer 4 Week 2

I feel like this week didn't even happen, the mission is going by faster and faster and I don't like it! Soon enough I will only have a year left and that's just crazy!

This week was magical! Sister Magidson and I went on exchanges to go through the Temple with Jacque!!! It was a truly marvelous day and we felt so blessed to be a part of it. 

It was one of the most powerful times I have ever been to the temple and being able to experience this with her was so incredible! There were tears and many many smiles, I was so overcome with complete excitement, joy, peace and love.
If you had told us that Jacque would be going to the temple in August I would have laughed in your face and said "yeah right" but Jacque has done everything she could to come unto Christ and run back into His arms of mercy and love. Jacque was so incredibly beautiful, a beauty that is just unknown the world, it is a Heavenly beauty that is just so magical and wonderful. It has been an honor and privileged to be the instrument in the Lords hands helping Jacque come back into the arms of our Savior.  I know that Jacque is one of the reasons I came on my mission, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind whatever about that. We were friends a long time before the 8th of May, that I am also certain of. I must have made a promise to her in the pre-existance to help bring her back if she ever fell away and the Lord helped me fulfill that promise.

After the Temple we took photos and went out for lunch to the Lion House and it was incredible spending that time with her family, we felt like we were members of the family, joking around and having a great time! Just before we went to sit down and eat Jacque told me that when her Dad came I had to turn around/close my eyes and so I did, when she said so I turned around and saw Jacque wearing a Hot Pink Fanny Pack and she had her arms out and said "I'm Heeerree!!!" I just about died laughing! (if you remember the Fanny Pack inside joke/dream you will get this, if not, sorry!). It was seriously the funniest thing ever! She made the dream came true and I now have my very own Hot Pink Fanny Pack with a little Australia tag saying "I'm here!" on it! It was perfect, the perfect moment, Jacque is incredible and a very close friend and a big Sister to me now. It is incredible to see how the Lord has everything planned out to have certain people come into our lives at certain times, this is the Lords work and it is incredible to be the tools of it. It was such of a beautiful and incredible day! A day I will never forget!

This week has been a week of exchanges with the beautiful sisters in our District, Sister Hadzik (Germany), Sister Orndal (England) and Sister Hirro (Philippines), I learnt so much from every one of them and we all had incredible days together. 

When on exchanges with Sister Orndal we went out for dinner and then got ice-cream and then on our way to Deseret Book I got stopped and this girl started to call me by my first name and then asked me if I liked Adventure Time, I said yes and then she said "I follow you on Instagram! I knew you were on a mission, but I never thought I would actually get to meet you! you're basically famous!" and I was just shocked by it all and then she asked to take a photo with me and then she had to go, it happened so quickly and it was so random! Hahahaha. 

When on exchanges with Sister Hirro, the day went by so quickly! We had a Youth Conference then a 10 minute lunch and then Guest Services and next thing we know it's 3pm! We got out on the Square and the time was just flying by, at dinner we prayed and asked Heavenly Father to see a miracle, that through our faith and efforts we will be able to help someone and see that miracle on the Square. Not long after that we saw this lady and her little girl on the Square and felt strongly we needed to go talk with her, so we started talking to them and it started off with just a general chat "What should we see?" "Where is..." type of thing and then we started to talk about what we do as missionaries and about our families and the church back home in our own countries and religious heritage and we were talking for quite sometime, we were open with each other and I felt so strongly we needed to ask her if we could keep in contact and she was more than excited to keep in contact with us! She thanked us for the time we spent with her and her beautiful little girl and for the work we do, we offered to email her some uplifting videos and share more about what we believe and she was so excited to learn more! It was the miracle we had prayed for. Heavenly Father heard our prayer and through our faith and efforts it happened. The Lord truly answers prayers and blesses us according to our faith! After that moment I truly understood what Ammon was talking about in Alma 26: 11-12, 15-16. 

"But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.
Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.
Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting darkness and destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting light, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love; yea, and we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work.
Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel."

This is how I felt, I was so overcome with joy and peace and love and just rejoicing in my God for all He has blessed me with, to be an instrument in His hands and to do this work of His. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the day! The best part of my day was when I was on my knees thanking Heavenly Father for the blessings and opportunities given to me. It was really the best feeling! I seriously can't describe it, I was so happy, energized, ready to get back out on the square even though it's night and the square was closed, but exhausted all at the same time! With everything that has gone on lately, I feel like I haven't been myself completely, that something has been lacking from who I usually am and yesterday it all flooded back! Sister Ryan is back and better and stronger than ever bearing testimony and stating our purpose more passionate and burning brighter than ever before! but not because of anything I did! But because the Lord has blessed me with this strength to do this work which is His and not my own. I have done all that I can to give my all to Him, because as Ammon said "I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.".

Everything I do on my mission has been made possible because of my Savior Jesus Christ, I love this work so much, yes, it is hard, but it is truly the best thing I've ever done in my life! My mission has changed my eternity and changed others as well, Everyday is another testimony to me that these things are so true, that all things are possible in Jesus Christ through faith, that Heavenly Father knows me so perfectly and He has a plan for each of us, that He answers prayer, that The Book of Mormon is physical evidence of the Restored gospel of Jesus Christ. All these things!
The gospel of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith has so much against it, the world is constantly trying to pull it down! But nothing can stop truth, absolutely nothing, the truth will always be opposed but it will never falter. As each day passes I come to understand more and more, and there is no possible way these things are not true. No way at all! And as a missionary, as a representative of Jesus Christ I get the blessed and wonderful privilege of declaring that truth to the world.

Thank-you for everything, I love you all. 

Stand strong and Stand true, No matter when or how much the world tries to drag you down, just remember you have the Lord by your side to help pick you up and stop you from sinking in the waters of the world as long as you let Him.

Love, Sister Ryan xx