Ryder's Mission

Food flicks- first one is la famosa "pan con pollo" (literally just like what it sounds like, chicken with bread, its actually super good) Cleaning the baptismal font Christmas decorations!! Missionary budget cookies Hola everybody!! Como estamos?? Primera cosa: Merry Christmas!!!! It's crazy to think that it's already Christmas, man time is going by so fast!! I hope you guys all enjoy it, let me know if you guys have any crazy or fun plans!!! Our pday also got moved from Monday to today,  It's also been a couple weeks, so sorry if this email is a bit long!! It's been an absolutely insane couple of weeks though, I'll start with a couple miracles and stories!!  1: Baptisms!!! We had 2 baptisms this last Sunday (first baptisms in the mission!!) It was amazing, we've been teaching a family for just over a month, and their testimonies are actually insane! The day before the baptism, we were making sure they were ready and Tatiana (the youngest daughter of ...

After and before   guadaña (scythe) I used for the service project  Elder Allgaier y yo Heyyy everybody!! Buenas tardes!! Man this past week has been quite the adventure. I've been leading the area, showing Elder Allgaier all around, he's a dawg! He's from England/Utah, so quite the change from Elder Toledo, but we've been working together really well, this transfer is going to be awesome. Just a couple things from this week! 4 gringos: For my first (and probably last) time in the mission there's 4 gringos in the house here, which has pretty much never happened. It's been a blast... but we may or may not be speaking a bit more English in the house than before. So here's to hoping my Spanish doesn't take a hit this transfer Service: We had an awesome opportunity to help some people make a road through a pasture (by hand of course). It was pretty sick, let's just say I was definitely feeling it the morning after though. I'll throw in a before and a...

Hola everybody!  Man this was quite the week! We have cambios today, so I don't have a lot of time today so I'll make it quick! The recap: saw a lot of miracles, had a lot of people come to church, and we were able to set 3 baptism dates!! It was amazing!! Funny/terrible story, we were waiting for a member who was going to help us with one of our lessons when 2 drunks guys (bolos) on a motorcycles pulled up and told us they wanted to change their lives, asked to meet with us later in the week. They live in a place called Tongolona, which is in our area, but barely, super far from our house. Anyways, we picked out a day to visit them, called to confirm and everything, took a bus and then had to walk for 3 kilometers to their house, just for them not to be there . (Keep in mind we had called to confirm like 15 times). So yeah, then we walked all the way back (another 3 kilometers plus 1 or 2 more to get to our other appointments.) Moral of the story: if drunk guys on a motorcycle...

  Hola everybody! Como están? Man what a week!! Don't have a whole lot of time, so I'll just give a quick rundown: Not to make two emails in a row about fish... but I had the most interesting lunch out here yet in the mission, went to a members house for seafood (crab, catfish, shrimp, and more, it was crazy, definitely throw in a pic) but the best part was we got to help make it too! Got to help dress and cook the fish and shrimp, definitely not something I thought I would learn on the mish Also this week, we had a lot of miracles with people coming to church! With the other two elders, and with the help of an amazing member, we had more than 16 friends and inactive members come on Sunday, it was amazing!! I've also been a missionary for just about 4 months!! Man the time flies by, still feel like I just got here. As for spiritual, gotta stick with the theme of thanksgiving week. I was reading and found a great scripture in D&C which says: And he who receiveth all thin...

  Hola everyone! Como estamos?? Wow, can't believe it's Monday again already, these weeks are flying by. This week was pretty great, just a couple things: 1st: Had intercambios with the ZL's, and I got to go back to Gavidia, my first area!! It was super sick, went out with Elder Gomez (he's a dawg), and got to hang out with Elder Moss again (my first comp). It was a also a really great confidence boost to go back, because I was able to see how much I've grown in spanish and being a missionary in the past weeks! Obviously I'm still not perfect, but always remember to celebrate the little victories!! Also remember that you're growing, whether it seems like it or not. 2nd: Man the rain has been crazy this past week. I've heard there's 1, maybe 2 hurricanes (though I'm not for sure, we don't have Google or news or anything, we're pretty separated from everything, if there’s stuff I'm missing feel free to please lmk ). But yeah, it's b...

  Hola everybody!! Sorry its been a little while! Not a whole lot has gone down the past couple of weeks ngl, so this should be pretty short (but no promises lol).  First up is Halloween! (Or the lack thereof)  So yeah... Central America doesn't really celebrate Halloween, but don't worry- we stayed in the spirit- ate lots candy and dressed up for our zone call . What Central América does have however is Día de los Muertes; we spent a lot of that Saturday handing out water and helping people in the cemetery, all the decorated graves and people were super cool! I'll throw in a pic below.  Something else I've been loving down here (as always) is the food... especially the tamales. Everyone's been harvesting milpa (corn) and making tamales and wow... they're incredible. If you ever get the chance to have homemade tamales, don't pass it up, they're a lifechanger!! About the title: Everyone here has a hard time pronouncing my name, and the closest word in spa...

  Hey everybody!!  Man I can't believe it's Monday again already, time is absolutely flying by down here. Not a whole lot went on this week, it should be pretty short. To start off, we finally pretty much know our way around the area around here, so it's been good! We've had a lot of good lessons and contacts this week, found a lot of new people! Coolest thing this week though was an impromptu service project. We were in an area a bit far from our house on our way to meet some recent converts when we came across this guy and his daughter moving a hugeee pile of dirt, so of course we jumped in to help! A couple hours and a very dirty white shirt later we finished. It might sound strange, but I actually really enjoyed the physical labor, reminded me of the good ole days back home building fence on the ranch.  Other than that, we had a super cool miracle this week!! We've been teaching a super nice couple and we've had some really great lessons with them, the only ...