August 1st, 2011

Looking back at this week kinda went fast, but some of the days were super long. Especially in the mornings when its super quiet and nothing is going on but study... So, part of this last week I learned how to make torillas!! Ha ha super sweet huh? It was freaking hard actually lol the lady that taught us made fun of me because mine were terrible; I just need more practice lol  she´s been teaching me some Q´echi´ phrases and it's been fun. I also played ¨happy birthday¨ on the harmonica for this other member in the ward who feeds us every sunday that was super fun. I´ve actually learned like four songs on the harmonica. To answer some of your questions... the area is super pretty, but hard because it's lots of hills and jungle area. It's kinda wearing on my knee, so I´m hoping all goes well with my broken body. Spanish is good I can understand a lot, but I'm still kinda shy to speak so poco a poco (little by little) it's coming. Like I said I'm picking up some Q' echi' . My bed is actually kinda nasty... I have fleas that bite me during the night, so I've been coming up with little ways to defend against them!! Ha ha it's basically wear a lot of clothes and don't use blankets lol super ghetto I know. Tell everyone hi! Elder Ware

Ryan's first transfer to Carcha (7/25/11)

So this week was pretty crazy with changes and all.  I'm now up in the foothills of the mountains like we always saw in the pictures.  I definitely wasn't expecting to get called up here right of the bat, but here I am!! So I'm in a city called Carcha it' a smaller town but pretty chill. The people here are so tranquillo (relaxed) but apparently this area hasn't had a baptism since last year... the good news is we have a fecha (baptismal date) with this girl who is probably 19. She lives with and works for a member, so it's been good to teach her.  Our house is.. well.. humble ha ha it's just cement and there are four of us elders in one room.  All four speak english, so it's been nice to be able to communicate. My companion is Elder Bishop from Orem. We´re the same age, but he has almost a year here in the mission. We're going to celebrate that soon!  Life is just different here, so I'm learning a lot it's been a great experience. My attitude lately has been just to enjoy every experience I can out here because I only get two years to experience this. Some cool things this week were just teaching real people. It's such a different experience than the CCM. It's actually real; hard at times, but so rewarding when the lesson goes well. I almost got bit by a dog, which scared the crap out of me ha ha. So, I told you about my trainer a little bit, but as far as my mission president goes he is a sweet guy. Super intelligent and he kinda takes his time when he talks to you ha ha kinda intimidating at first, but he opened up about some of his experiences and yeah he is just a real nice guy. His wife is just super happy all the time! Well, that's about all I have for this week. Love, Elder Ware

July 18th, 2011

So i´m writing on Tuesday because I leave to the field tomorrow!  I´m kinda getting Super nervous ha ha, but it will all go well I'm sure. It's just the unknown. This week was really boring, so I don't have much as far as stories go. We had something called CRE where we are taped when we teach. Elder vestal and I, since it was our last time, wanted to do something fun, so at the start of the video we did this stupid thing and clicked while we looked straight into the camera ha you´ll have to see it because I recorded it on my camera. Thats about all for stories... 

July 13th, 2011

How great it is to hear from you!! Sounds like everything at home is awesome, and it makes me so happy to hear about it all!  Well this week was just boring class. The most interesting thing I want to tell you is that I ate something called a mangosteen; look it up on google!! My companion Vestal is a stud; we've been tearing things up as AP's. te amo y yo se que toda sera muy bien y yo puedo sentir tu amor y estoy muy agradacido por tu familia tambien nos vemos!!

July 6th, 2011

This week was pretty uneventful, but it was better than my first week. Just same old class and what not. Since the temple closed this weekend we got to go twice this last week. Once in spanish and once in english. The temple is so amazing! I'm AP (assistant president), and as AP I conduct TONS of meetings!! That's kinda all I do anymore. I also make assingnments for prayers, music, and whatever the president needs; it's crazy busy everyday.  I like being AP but it's stressful all the time, so it has it's goods and bads. Oh, another good movie to watch is called Journey of Faith. It's super interesting to me. It's crazy how time flies at time and how it seems to stand still, but I know this is where I need to be, and I'm faithfully fulfilling my assignment to the Lord. Talk to you soon, Elder Ware

Ryan's first letter from Guatemala CCM (6/22/11)

This first week was hard for me. I gave a talk in spanish, I  taught a lesson in priesthood, and we went to central park to do contacting (ask my mom to read that letter theres a good story). My companion gave me my first haircut here ha ha it was funny! I´ve been rediculously sick like 24/7 on my throne... It's been rough. We have fish like every 3 days, so I don't ever eat it ha ha the food in general has been tough to eat, so I'm loosing tons of weight. My pants are getting loose ha ha. We went to the temple which was sweet and I did it in spanish! I'm teaching great, my spanish is fine, and I understand the majority of what's being said. So, none of those things are bothering me, it's just the culture shock like the food, living conditions, and people.  

June 6th, 2011

This will probably be the last letter to you in the United States. Crazy huh? These past three weeks have gone by extreemly fast! So, right now I'm chilling witht my District watching the Joseph Smith movie; it's a great movie. Today I got relased as DL which was nice, but I passed the sacrament and forgot to go to the Branch President first... everyone chuckled ( I thought it was embarrassing). I have a few butterflies as you could imagine, but I'm also very excited at the same time. A lot of this missionary work gets me thinking of who I WILL be as I return home and continue my life. Just to give you a little insight, I probably pray anywhere from 10-20 times a day; It truly has belessed me. I've been teaching really well lately. I'm getting a lot more comfortable with it. I'm excited to put it to real use. I've learned here that all great things require work! Love, Elder Ryan Jacob Ware

June 1st, 2011

The clock is winding down; I'll be leaving for Guatemala on June seventh. Teaching is getting a lot better! Not where i'll baptize right away, but I'm getting more comfident. My patience is running thin at times, but it's getting better at the same time. I've made some random friends. There's a lot of missionaries going to Guatemala, but I haven't met them yet. I'm just dominating volleyball (jk) it's just a lot of fun. I'm doing pretty good with basketball. So, this week has been good, but today (Wednesday) was terrible. I'm excited to leave but nervous at the same time. I'm so happy where I am at in life, and I have the most amazing peace. Read Matthew 6:33-34, Alma 34, and Moroni 7:48 because I've really enjoyed these so far. Love, Elder Ware

May 26th, 2011

We had an amazing devotional Tuesday night. Your not going to believe who came and talked... Russell M. Nelson, an apostle of the Lord! There was an awesome spirit in that meeting. So, being DL (district leader) it's more stressful than anything. I go to meetings and have to report on EVERYTHING that my district does. I assign every talk, prayer, and song. So, other than that I'm just keeping super busy with class and all. I went to the Temple this morning which was great! I could finally relax; it was super peaceful. We play volleyball everyday ha ha it's so much fun!

Ryan's first letter home (5/20/11)

Things are going amazingly well here. I have a great companion Elder Skousen from Lehi. He's only 5'4", but a spiritual giant. He's the senior companion, but you're not going to guess... I'm the District Leader. I feel so out of place and I have to write a whole lot. I also have tons of meetings, so they're definitely keeping me busy. All the guys in our zone are super loud and crazy which makes it fun. I'm kind of quiet and watch people. Well, have a great week and I will hear from you soon. Love, Elder Ryan Jacob Ware