November 14th, 2011

Hello!
Ha thanks for the 6 month wishes!! :) crazy huh?  No I feel just like you, its gone by really fast looking back. Sometimes in the moment it's a long time, but like I said looking back, saying that I´ve completed 1/4 of this is just nuts to me. We´re going to celebrate it on Friday, but I dont really know how. Guate is different when you celebrate something, it's always the person that's celebrating that takes out everyone else, so it's kinda backwards from how we do it back home ha ha. I might take my companions to ice cream or something like that. So, for the holidays, today for P-Day we actually had Thanksgiving turkey and mashed potatoes and everthing!! Super good :) they dont celebrate that here obviously, but for like Nov 1 it was Day of the Dead, kinda like halloween. What they do is go to the graves of people and paint them because the graves are above ground... yeah it's weird but for that day NO ONE WAS HOME lol it was ridiculous. They can get kinda intense in their culture things, but not too often.
I have some scriptures this week; some have to do with families and stuff like that and others were just things that I was thinking about a lot and it helped me. So, in D&C 29:48 about how we will be responsible as parents. Also in D&C 68:28 and Deut 6:5-7. Then, speaking of time and what  not, D&C 31:6 about how it's only ´´a little time.´´
So on a different topic, again in my studies this week I went over the parable of the 10 virgins, and how we really do need to prepare NOW for whats to come, cause it really is close.  Everyday we need to do self checks and see if we´re progressing and preparing for Christ. Through all of these deep thoughts I came to the conclusion or thought and I wrote down ´´So what did I learn?´´  Every class I made the goal to think to myself,  ´´In my own words, what did I just learn, and if I cant think of it then I just wasted my time´´  So hopefully over time I can make sure that EVERYTHING I do, will be something that I learn, grow, progress, or accomplish and not waste the time that the Lord has given me.  One of the harder things for me as a missionary is to always be just super happy all the time. I think i´m pretty mellow all the time, but here in Carcha, the members always ask me ´´Elder Ware are you sad?´´ I just respond with a smile, ´´Nope :)´´ lol but it got me thinking about what people see in me if im always just ´´mellow´´ so I made a goal to be more happy smiley when I need to be ha ha kinda weird, but we´ll see how it goes ha ha :)

So to answer you questions:  The languages are getting better.  I focued on spanish more this week and I noticed a difference, so i´ll worry about the other one when I actually get to where I have to speak it :) Other things that were good is that we are super close to getting our baptism this saturday!! I´m stoked, its my first ´´real´´ baptism :)  oh i'm going to the Capital tomorrow to get my tooth fixed and to go to the Doctor about other things lol, so i´ll let you know how it goes. Thats about all the smiley faces I can put into an email ha ha I just realized how many i did... oh well ;)

Love always, Elder Ware

November 7th, 2011

Hey!!! I am doing just great today ha ha how are you? Your letters definitely help my weeks go by so much better; having these amazing letters helps me focus on my work here as a missionary, and then the next monday comes around and I can't believe how fast it goes by!  I am having the time of my life right now, it's hard but it's beautiful. So, about the whole working out thing, the hardest part is actually waking up to go ha ha I leave the house with my eyes half closed every time ha ha, but I´m happy with the progress I´ve made in the little while we´ve been going.

I read something interesting this last week and it had to do with names.  Back in ancient times, names were more than just to identify someone, they were used to describe that person. Your name reflected who you were.  So, in the scriptures when people had a change of name, that means they had a significant change of self.  In all this thinking about names I was going to ask you... in one word, what is my ´´name´´? :)  Also if you can,  Look up this poem by Lorenzo Snow called ´´Man´s Destiny´´ I read that in the manual that I'm studying for D&C and I really liked it.

I´m sending that package of the DVD and some other little things for you this week, I had to wait and buy stuff to be able to send it sorry it's taken forever.

So, to answer your questions:  I already shared what I learned this week and what not, so the Language... it's good. It's hard to study two languages at the same time but its getting there. The weather is good now, it's still kinda chilly but it's not freezing at night, and it's not raining everyday anymore. How has the Lord blessed me... other than just being happy when there´s not a whole lot to be happy about lol, and there's been many times that i´ll be teaching and get to the end of what I was saying and think to myself ´´man, I didn't make a mistake in spanish´´ and I know the Lord is helping me in those important moments like that. Have a fantastic week!

Love you! Elder Ryan Ware

October 31st, 2011

Happy Halloween!! Everything is going super great here thanks for askin' :) Teaching is going well I´m getting better, I´ve learned though that it all comes down to preparation... So we were teaching our investigator last Sunday and I felt I was saying everything simple, but he just wasnt getting what I was throwing at him ha ha so needless to say I went home super depressed cause I felt I let him down, the Lord and myself... I was really sad, but yesterday we taught him again so I spent a whole morning just preparing for that one lesson so I wouldnt ever feel like that again, and the lesson went amazingly well and so the moral of the story is prepare and then you can teach :)

I like sleeping with the hoodie for some reason lol I might need new pants by the time I come home though cause I´m still getting slimmer.  We´re actually getting up at 5:30 and going to the gym for an hour! I´m loving getting up and working out even though it's super hard at times to just wake up, but it's definitely been paying off I´ll tell you that much lol. The gym we go to isn't anything special, just a room with weights but it's just the 3 of us and maybe 2 other guys, so it's super chill and we´ve made good friends with the guy who runs it.

I was reading in D&C 25, and it is a revelation for Emma Smith. It was just really cool to see how God plays a roll in the relationships of his children here. Even more so was Emma´s willingness to be by Josephs side no matter what happened, she was super "pilas" at supporting him in all he did. 

So I have some scriptures I want you to look up and tell me what they all have in common :)

John 16:23

3 Nephi 18:20

3 Nephi 27:28

Moroni 7:26

D&C 50:29-30

I know that if you do this you WILL receive it!

Tell everyone I say hi, or better yet ´´Ma sa´ laa ch´ool?´´ ha ha. Thanks for your emails and your support. I love you, Elder Ryan Ware

October 24th, 2011

Hey!!

 I´m doing well :) How are you doing? So, to answer your questions... the weather has been SUPER COLD!!  It's only like 65 degrees, but for here it's sooo cold!! I´m sleeping in sweats and two hoodies ha ha nuts huh?  The only interesting thing I´ve eaten recently has been pig skin... super gross... some of the pieces they had still had hair in them... luckily I didn't get one of those pieces ha ha.  My comps are great! They are teaching me Q'eqchi and is been a super fun change so far.  The coolest thing I saw this week would have to be two things actually,  one was this beautiful view overlooking the valley from this super big hill we climbed with clouds and a sweet sunset, the other sweet thing I saw was with this young family we´re teaching, and the husband has a strong testimony, but the wife is still stuck on her catholic roots. The husband said that he really would like his wife to ´´go through the wrestle of learning more about God´´ and he kinda challenged her in front of us it was really cool cause you could tell that he really knew this gospel is true and wants it for his wife too, so super sweet. 

 

So, to tell you a little about my week,  we had zone conference and a member of the 70 (Elder Amado) came and talked to us for like 4 or 5 hours.  I took a TON of notes! I want to apply these now and throughout life: what did I do this week to strengthen my companionship?  Am I progressing EVERY day?  If it's worth doing in this life, do It to better myself for the Lord. What am I doing to prepare myself for what is to come?  Are MY desires the same desire that God has FOR me?  Then Elder Amado said something that I wrote down big lol he said that the biggest commandment we have in this life is to have families, and that the greatest title we can possibly achieve here in this life, or even into the eternities, is not zone leader or senior companion, but its the title of ´´Father.´´ We need to prepare ourselves to be fathers here and into the next life. Have a great week! Love, Elder Ware

October 17th, 2011

Why Hello There!

So, my new companions are Elder Smith from Lehi (also from that blog we´d read together) and Elder Olson from Tennesee (from my first group at the MTC) it's so weird seeing the both of them and even more so that we´re companions now ha ha. We´re in a trio, which is not ideal, but we´re making it work for sure ha ha its been a fun week. It's always different adjusting to living and dealing with other people, but this change wasn't too hard actually. You asked for me to share something that I´ve learned about myself, or just from my experiences... nothing huge stands out right now, but just overall I´ve learned that God truly understands me (everyone in that matter). He knows what I need and where I need to be pushed to reach my full potential.  It's been a hard life change here in Guatemala, they really don't have anything close to what I had back home.  And you know me, I love my things back home like being clean, having a nice house, eating cheese sticks ha ha. It really has been a blessing to set all those things aside, and look at my life for what it is right now.  I have this great opportunity to give my self up for two years and let the Lord mold me and shape me into who I need to become (or who I once was before I came to this earth). I´ve got into great habits of reading and really loving the scriptures! I adjust to whatever comes into my life, and try not to stress too much (hardest for me) and the whole time I know that I have wonderful support back home and a Father in Heaven who loves me and wants me to find the most happiness I possibly can in this life. And I know that these two years I´m giving to the Lord will set me up to reach that happiness later down the road.  I want to thank you for always being there for me. Hope you have just a fantastic week. PS Tomorrow is 5 months!! The time does go by ha ha ha. Love, Elder Ware

October 10th, 2011

You don't even realize how happy I am to be able to write you today.  This last week was kind of ridiculous...  just a lot of stressful things, but so I'm super excited to hear from you today! Okay, this week in a short paragraph: Tuesday one of the elders that I lived with left... so that was super stressful to deal with.  We worked as a threesome and slit the days in two different areas so it was super rough to work this week. Thursday I fell and when I did I grabbed barbed wire and it cut up my hand pretty good and down my arm. Thank goodness for tetanus. Friday I killed a turkey (and what I mean is I cut it's throat and poured the blood into a bowl) and helped this family make ´´caldo´´ which is the soup.  Super good!!  We put a date for this guy to be baptized in November! and Sunday night we all just waited by the phone to hear who had changes, and I´m still here in Carcha for another change. I still dont know who my new comp is tho, so i´ll let you know next week. Other than that, today was just a chill P-Day we didn't really do much. Thank you for your love and support you always give me. Elder Ryan Ware

October 3rd, 2011

Hey!

I´m doing fantastic, thank you for asking! :) Conference was amazing huh!?  My favorite was Boyd K Packer because he answered some of my worries... from being here, I´ve really grown to know the importance of the relationships you create in this life. I really like what he said about how we will still have the time and everything to get married, have children and maybe even grand children ´´if´´ we do what we´ve been asked and told to do.  I know that I´m doing what i´ve been asked and I am very confident that I´m working as hard as the Lord expects me to.  So if you want go over that talk again. The work here is going very well. We still don't have any baptisms yet, but we know we´re working our best and we´re going to try some new things this week and hope our changes will help our investigators. I´m super jealous that we have a Jimmy Johns!! Oh it's soooo good! We´ll definitely have to go in..... 19 months ha ha. I'm also jealous that you got to go to the BYU game. I miss football, but more that that baseball... and it's now the playoffs so if you could do me a favor??  Update me on how baseball is going ha ha. The pride cycle is very real. Something that we need to make sure we don't fall into.  I see it a lot here where people get some sort of advantage and they think they are in control of everything and everyone. I know who I am and who the Lord expects me to be at all times. I just want to tell you with all certainty of my heart that I know this gospel is true.  It can and will change everyones life if we do the things we´ve been asked and told to do.  Read, Pray, and Live the commandments. I also know how real the atonement is and how important it is to follow what Christ has told us. I know President Monson is the prophet today and that if we heed to his council and that of the apostles, that we will be doing God´s will.  And if we do God´s will, we will have his spirit guiding us and protecting us always.  I have such a strong testimony of all these things! Love, Elder Ware!