WEEK 10 - October 24, 2016 (West Haven, Utah)

Hi everyone,

It has been another great week. First of all, Lily and her sister were baptized on Saturday :) That was awesome to see some of our work pay off. The room was packed at 9 a.m. with friends and family. It was great to see these girls take a big step in their life, and what is also amazing is their dad's story. His name is Sam. He was raised in an LDS family, but fell away from the church in his teenage years. Not long after, he was in a gang, living that lifestyle. A bit later, he realized this wasn’t the life he wanted to live. To get out of that life, he went on a mission and became fully converted to the gospel. But not long after his mission, he fell away again. Recently he has absolutely turned his life around again. When he saw the missionaries (us) he asked us if we could start teaching his kids and have them baptized as soon as possible. Seeing him in the font, somebody who has absolutely turned his life around for the better, baptizing his daughter, brought me such joy. It really teaches me you should never judge somebody by what they look like. Sam has tattoos from neck to toe, but has fully changed his life and has absolutely turned to Christ and wants his family to have the gospel in their lives. It teaches me that as missionaries we need to talk to everybody, no matter their appearance. I have loveddddd teaching the Fluckiger family.

Alright, so last Monday night we had a lesson with Alex and his family (The Russians). We decided to bring a guy from one of our wards who speaks Russian with us hoping maybe Alex will understand the lesson a little better. So we get in there, and these guys just start chatting in Russian. Laughing and joking and just being friends. And they talk back and forth for about 45 minutes. I have zero idea what they are saying, but at one point I could tell they started talking about the restoration. He seemed to understand it waaaay better in Russian. And at the end of the lesson we asked him to pray about the Book of Mormon.  He said in a thick Russian accent.  "I don't need to, because I know that it true. I just don't think I need it. The Bible is enough for me. It's like when I eat sandwich. I eat sandwich and I full. I need nothing more. Bible is sandwich. Book of Mormon is dessert. I don't need dessert. I am filled."

Soooo basically we just need to help him understand why the Book of Mormon is needed. I'm sure Nelson can attest to this, but the guy that came with us to that lesson said that Russians have a really hard time understanding the priesthood and authority. He said that you can talk to a Russian all day about authority but sometimes they just can't get a grasp on it. So hopefully we will be able to get through to him about those things he doesn't understand. Nelly should just come down to Ogden for a few weeks and help us out for a bit haha.(Cousin Nelson served in Kiev.) We have two Russian investigators including a family. One of them is an 18 year old kid that says he's from Moscow, but won't tell us where he lives. He's a mysterious kid. But we have a few guys in our wards that can speak, so we have some good help.

We have a few new people we are teaching this week, so I will update you on them as they start to progress. So frustrating - this one family we've been teaching canceled on us for one of our lessons. They are a busy family, so it is hard to get a hold of them. And then they weren't at church so that was a little saddening, but the willlllll be there next week. Let's see what else happened this week. I've been eating a bunch of Taco Time because we eat free. I’m soooo sick of it hahaha makes me feel so sick.. but hey, it’s free food. Thank you Aunt Renee sooo much for the pumpkin pie. I have absolutely loved having a slice after a long day of work. Also having a guitar here at my apartment has been nice. Whenever I have extra time (which is rare) I can just sit back and strum for a bit.

So, one thing I have learned about Utah missions is that there are actually a lot of people to teach to here. Before I got here I didn't really think there were that many non-members. And sadly, that's what a lot of the members think here too. But there is tons of work to do here. I feel bad for not going on more splits with the missionaries when I was a priest. Because that is what we need haha. Member help is soooooo needed and it helps the missionaries soooo much.

Thoughtful member texted this to me after feeding these fine missionaries  :)

One thing that has bugged me a bit while being here is when people are legit scared of us. We are innocent young boys walking around with smiles on our faces, and I guess people are a little frightened by that. We had somebody shut the door on us the other day and then lock the door with like 7 different latches. Not kidding. The poor guy was scared. I love being a missionary here though. Just going up to people and talking to them about anything and being friendly is amazing. I'll definitely miss being able to talk to people in English as much as I want. 

Another little story. So we went and visited somebody who was on the nonmember list. And it was an older lady in a wheelchair. Turns out the whole right side of her body is paralyzed and she has a prosthetic nose. She also really, really struggles to talk to us. But she really wanted to show us around her house. So she showed us around and then took us into her garage and there were a ton of paintings and like 15 Bob Ross books. Haha. She then expressed her love for Bob Ross and showed us all the paintings. After going through them, she offered us one! Haha I was actually way excited 'cause they were all actually pretty good. So we each chose one and promised to visit her when we are in the neighborhood. And even though she isn't a member, we noticed tithing slips all around the house, so that's good too.

I love being a missionary and teaching the gospel to people. There is nothing I would rather be doing than to be meeting new people every day and handing out copies of the Book of Mormon. It's awesome when they open the door and you immediately try to find something in the house or something that they are wearing to talk to them about and build some kind of connection. 90% of the time it has to do with sports of some sort haha. Yesterday we were knocking doors at around 2:00 and I knew that's the time that people like to sit down to catch an NFL. We knocked one door and a 20ish year old guy answered the door holding a Budweiser. I asked him what game he was watching and he seemed surprised that I knew he was watching football without even seeing his TV. He said he was watching the Niners game, and I told him I'm a fan. We talked about football for a while and he invited us to come back a different time. So there are good things that are coming out of all that fantasy football playing and all sports watching haha. 

We had a Stake Conference broadcast yesterday and Elder Christensen and Elder Gary Stevenson spoke to us. They talked a lot about missionary work and how members can get involved. So I was glad that he shared that message. They also talked about how the Book of Mormon is such a great main conversion tool. They both shared very good messages. Oh and yesterday evening we went to visit an active family. And it turns out both the mother and father served in the Roseville Mission. And the wife (totally forgot their names) served in Gridley for 7 months. I named off just about every family that I know from Gridley and she says she remembers all of them. Apparently Bishop Havens (Ryan's uncle) was her bishop while she was serving there. I think she said it was 16 years ago. But yeah that was pretty cool to make that connection. 

Quick update on my elbow - rehab has been going great. My very loving Uncle Sam has been doing a great job, and the numbness and tingling has pretty much all gone away. President Jaggi is going to call my Philippines mission president tomorrow to see when I will be sent out there. He said it's most likely that it will be in 3 weeks, at the end of the transfer.

Well I'm looking forward to a good week hopefully with lots of work and lots of finding new people to teach. Hopefully I'll have so cool experiences I can share with you all next week. I love being a missionary and I love the gospel. Going to try and make the most out of these last 3 weeks here in Ogden. Love you all.

-Elder Jenkins

WEEK 9 - October 17, 2016 (West Haven, Utah) - A Trio No More

District gym time :)

Hellooooooo friends and family,

This week seemed to go by really, really fast. So I don't have too much to write about but I'll give ya a rundown of what happened this week. 

Well, sadly the trio that I was in has come to an end. Elder Hernandez got his visa last week and flew out to Brazil this morning. He had been waiting for it for almost 8 months!! Definitely sad to see him go though, he was a good trainer. So now it's just me and Elder Stoner. We have sooo much more space in our room now, which is nice. He also forgot a pair of shoes and a nice sweater, so that's also nice. And I get shotgun in the car now. So there are good things that come from this.

So first of all, Lily's baptism was pushed to this coming Saturday because more family will be in town and be able to attend. So we are very excited for her. Ok so it was a pretty solid week for us finding new people to teach.  On Wednesday, we met with a family that is pretty new to this area. Their name is pretty hard for me to forget because it is "The Jenkins!". The Jenkins family has one daughter who is 11 and a son who is 7. Mike, their dad, is a less active member of the church and his wife, Monica, is not a member. So we found them through our ward mission leader, Brother Gibson. This guy absolutely amazes me. He is a blind man who has been blind ever since he was a kid. When you walk up to him and say hi, he immediately recognizes your voice and reaches out to shake your hand. He was driving with us to one of our appointments the other day and he gave us directions on when to turn and where to go. He is incredible haha. But anyway, back to the Jenkins...so we met and taught them The Restoration on Wednesday and they loved it…especially their daughter. She absolutely wanted to be baptized, and so did her little brother but he isn't quite old enough yet. So she is set to be baptized on the 5th of November. But what was also awesome his how much Monica seemed to love the lesson. We would love to see her be baptized with her daughter on the 5th.

After that lesson, we, as a trio were feeling so confident because of how well they received the message. And of course, not soon after that, Elder Hernandez got a call from President telling him he's headed out on Monday. Right when we were kind of feeling comfortable, changes had to be made. God wasn't going to let us get comfortable and hunker down haha, He wants us to grow and get better and we all understood that.  

So another solid investigator we have is a girl named Kelton. She is friends with one of the girls in the Riverbend Branch. We actually went to a little Halloween festival with them and hung out for a little bit, and then taught her right after. She understood everything really well and also wants to be baptized. 

I realized something the other day that I can't help but notice. Whenever we are teaching about Joseph Smith and begin to recite his First Vision, there always seems to be a potential distraction. I'll give a few examples. When we were teaching Kelton and we started talking about the First Vision, a bag that had a candle in it lit on fire and went up in flames. People started racing over to put out the fire. When we were teaching a family about a week ago, a car drove by slowly, blasting music. The other night, it was kind of comical but still a bit annoying… somebody absolutely ripped one during our explanation of the First Vision. Yes, it was a bit funny, but yet again it was another distraction. I firmly believe that the devil really does not want people to hear about the First Vision because of how strong you can feel the spirit while listening. Every time one of my companions is reciting it in a lesson I feel so much peace and comfort. And I know that is the spirit testifying of the truthfulness of Joseph’s experience.

So tonight we are teaching the Russian family. We are bringing a member with us who speaks Russian - that will be a big help to us. One of Alex's (the father) biggest concerns is that the Sabbath should be from Friday night to Saturday night instead of on Sunday. So we will try to work out that problem for him and help him understand. 

My therapy seems to be going well. My wrist seems to be a lot looser and flexible (editor: last basketball season injury that was never rehabbed correctly - Uncle Sam's taking care of that too). The only thing that is still a little numb is my pinkie, but it's not too bad at all. 

Well this should be a good upcoming week for us. Hopefully I will have a lot to tell all of you. I hope it doesn't get too cold over here. And let's hope that people stop feeding me so much because I am not loving eating a big meal on a full stomach haha. And let's just say it's putting on a few unneeded pounds. Alright I love you all, talk to ya next week :)

-Elder Jenkins 

(Editor: one huge perk of stateside...we get random pics sent to us from kind people who know we love seeing our boy. Below are a couple that we got this week.)

WEEKS 7 & 8 - October 10, 2016 (West Haven, UT) - Stateside is Niceeeeee:)

Editor: This letter needs a little prefacing…bear with me. On Friday, September 30th, Ryan was scheduled to see a neurologist about his numb pinkie. My brother, Sam, who is an OT specializing in arm/hand therapy, offered to go with him. The long and the short of it is that Ryan was diagnosed with cubital tunnel syndrome and was being “transferred” to the Ogden Mission for 6-12 weeks to do missionary work AND to be treated by his Uncle Sam. His original mission call to the Philippines remains the same, this is just a little detour. Ok – now Ryan’s letter should make more sense.

With President & Sister Jaggi

first day in the mission field

Wow, it seems like it's been a while since I've talked to everyone. Let me tell ya, it has been a crazy week. So I'll get into what I loved about General Conference and everything later in the letter, but I just want to go through what has been going on. So on Tuesday morning, I was called into the District Presidents office in the MTC. It was about 9:30 and he pulled me in and said "OK you have about an hour and a half to pack all of your stuff, then you're taking a train to Ogden, and you will be there for one transfer, two if needed” (I don't think it will be two). So I got back to my room and threw all my stuff into my bags and hit the road. Had to say bye to all my new friends again haha so that was rough. But I got to the mission office in Ogden at about 2:00. They told me to drop all my stuff off and they put me with a trainer and we immediately went finding. The very first door I knocked on was a bit wild, and I probably unfortunately won't forget this experience haha. So we knocked and there wasn't an answer, so we knocked one more time. All of the sudden the door opens in a fury!! A large older woman was standing there only in a towel -__- this was not the sight I wanted to see from the first door being opened to me. She was sooooo angry and said "We didn't answer the first time, why would you keep ******* knocking!?!!" She then SLAMS the door in our faces and we walk away chuckling a little, yet a little distraught. We go to the house right next door, but before we knock, the lady's husband from the house before opens the side window and begins yelling at us "You are terrible representatives of Jesus!!! You kept knocking after we didn't answer the first time and that is horses***!!!!" When we walked back by their house to get to our car, they put a big sign on their door that said "NO MORMONS" haha. A couple houses down we knocked a door and a nice lady let us in. We started talking and it turns out she just moved to Ogden from Roseville (editor: a city close to home)!! So that was cool. We then taught her the restoration real quick, and she seemed to really like it. Sadly, she isn't in my area, so I don't get to teach her :(  - but she has good potential. 

So the next day I met my TWO companions: Elder Stoner from Virginia and Elder Hernandez from Ohio. They have both been out for about 7 months. Hernandez is visa waiting for Brazil. They are awesome, and we got a car, so I was happy:) However, our room is soooooo small haha. We have about 5 square feet of space to walk. So we are pretty packed in there. We live with a member, and share a bathroom with his 10 year old son Haha. The best part of this house was when I walked in and saw a guitar sitting there. Finding the time to play it is a little difficult though – so, so busy all the time. But yeah, I'm starting to get settled into life as a missionary out of the MTC. 

On Friday we were knocking doors in an apartment complex. And one of the doors we knocked opened up, and before we could say anything this larger man in a thick Russian accent yells "Come in! Come in! Please!" They just moved to Utah from Portland and have been living in the U.S for 13 years. He has a wife, 2  daughters, and 1 son. They are very open about and love their Christian church, but really liked the restoration lesson. They are soooooo cultural. They refused to let us leave until they either fed us or had tea with us. He offered us some "stuffed papers".   We were so confused until he brought the stuffed PEPPERS to us haha.  They fed and fed us even though we really weren't hungry at all. They are extremely, nice and told us they want us to keep coming back. So I am looking forward to teaching them. We also have a baptismal date for a 9 year old girl named Lily for this Saturday. I have only taught here once, so I don't know her very well, but she is a very sweet girl. 

Man, I thought back home that 3 hours of church was brutal - I hit 7 hours yesterday, but I surprisingly enjoyed it. We went to 3 different youth Sunday school classes to try to get to know the youth better.

So I am in the West Haven area in Ogden and am kind of starting to get familiar with this place. I am extremely happy that we have a car though. First, because it is starting to get frigid here. Also because my legs are sore all the time. We go to the gym every morning. And since I'm resting my elbow, all I can do is hit leg days hahaha. But yeah, I really enjoy the car.

OK so I loveddddd General Conference. I'll talk about a few talks I really enjoyed. So one thing I love about conference is that it seems like every talk is applied to you and your life. I loved Elder Nelsons (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/joy-and-spiritual-survival?lang=eng). I was reading his talk the other day and I counted 48 times he used the word "Joy". One part I liked that he said is:

"If we look to the world and follow its formulas for happiness, we will never know joy. The unrighteous may experience any number of emotions and sensations, but they will never experience joy! Joy is a gift for the faithful. It is the gift that comes from intentionally trying to live a righteous life, as taught by Jesus Christ."

Just being on my mission for a few months, I can see how this is so true. The main message of Elder Nelson's talk was to Find Joy in Your Journey. And that is exactly what I am trying to do through this journey. Another cool experience I had was during the Sunday afternoon session. For some reason ever since I walked into the building, I was really looking forward to Elder Rasband's talk (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/lest-thou-forget?lang=eng). I'm not sure why, but it was on my mind. When he stepped up to the pulpit, I felt like I needed to listen closely. And there were a few things he said that really caught my attention. One of the things he said that I really liked was:

"I encourage you to recall, especially in times of crisis, when you felt the Spirit and your testimony was strong; remember the spiritual foundations you have built."

After he said that I started to think back on times I have felt the spirit stronger than usual and times that I have felt my testimony grow. It is so important to remember these things when we are struggling or going through trials. These memories can lift you back up and encourage you to press on.

Sorry I don't really have any good picture to send you guys, I'll try to do better this week. Hopefully I'll have one with Lily in some baptismal clothes. 

Love you all, have a great week :)

-Elder Jenkins

WEEK 6 - September 29, 0216 (Provo, UT) - Careful what you wish for :)

Remember in the past few letters how I talked about how much I love it here and that I wish time would slow down a bit?? Well, I guess somebody was listening haha 

So this week has been pretty crazy. I’ll just jump into it and let you all know what’s happening.... So about three weeks ago, I noticed that my pinkie and ring finger were feeling a little numb on my right hand. I didn't really think anything of it because it really didn't bug me at all. Didn't cause any pain. Just was a little numb and had that tingling feeling. (Like when your foot falls asleep). But it didn't really go away, so I decided I would go into the clinic and see what they thought. I talked to the doctor, and he thought it was just inflammation in my wrist that could be causing the nerve to be pinched a little bit. So he gave me some medicine and told me to come back on Tuesday, and if it wasn't healed yet, that he would need to delay me. A couple days passed, and there was no healing happening. Monday morning I kind of realized that I was probably going to be delayed. So when he told me on Tuesday that I would be staying back, it didn't surprise me too much. The doc put me on more medicine, and set up a couple appointments for me this week. I have a nerve conduction study today, and then I meet with a neurologist on Friday. Hopefully I come out of those with good news. 

Yesterday was probably the hardest day of my mission so far. Seeing everybody that I came in here with pack all of their stuff up and leave was very difficult. Especially knowing that I probably won't see very many of them again. I didn't really realize how different it would be without all of them until I was sitting at dinner and realized that 40 of my best friends from the past 6 weeks just left. That hit me and kind of put me in a terrible mood. I went to class and sat down with a different district and 2 new teachers that I didn't really know. That was probably the loneliest I have ever felt. I sat there and wondered why I am still here. Then my new teacher met with me 1 on 1 to get to know me a bit. We sat down and she immediately started talking about how she knows I am here in this new district for a reason. She talked about how my new companion had been struggling in the trio he was in before I joined him. And how the district kind of lacks in leadership. That really changed how I was feeling. I realized something that I'm sure I will realize plenty of times on my mission. That I am not here for myself, but to help others. I knew that this is the purpose of a mission all along, but sometimes I just need a reminder. So although I have been delayed two weeks, I am looking forward to really helping this district learn and grow. I also see this as an opportunity to work as hard as I can to learn more about the language before I'm in the Philippines.

Elders Armstrong and Jenkins

I had another humbling experience on Friday night. We were all sitting in class that night, kind of exhausted from infield orientation. Infield orientation is when you sit in a big room for 8 hours, listening to people talk to you about preparing for the field. This day was especially kind of rough for me, knowing that I might not even be leaving. Anyways, I sat there in class selfishly feeling bad for myself. Our teacher then started telling us a story about a teenage boy in the Philippines that she taught. His life was so hard. His dad died when he was a little boy, and his mom just died a year or so ago. She talked about how even though all of this was happening in his life, he had the strongest testimony and stood strong. There wasn't a dry eye in that room, everybody was so touched. I sat there and realized how pathetic it was that I was feeling bad for myself. And how fortunate I am in life. I am so grateful for the teachers I had the past 6 weeks. Through them teaching by the spirit, I have already learned a lot of valuable lessons that will help me in the future.  

So although I will be here for longer than expected, I am very excited that I get to be here for General Conference. A little frustrating knowing I could've been in the choir though!! haha This will also give me a chance to finish all the food I have. By the way mom, thanks for the cookies. Not sure why there was a piece of bread in there, but that tasted good too I guess (editor: I wish I had a picture of the little baggie of bread that said, “not to eat, just to keeps cookies soft”). I apologize that it will take a few more weeks for my emails to get exciting haha. 

I miss and love you all!! Glad to be here another couple weeks:) Have a good week!

Elder Jenkins

(editor: look who got to take Ryan to his appointment...love these boys of mine!)

WEEK 5 - Sept 22, 2016 (Provo, UT) - 1 month down

Aunt Britt, thanks for the tie. I can now participate in Floral Fridays :)

I was astonished to hear that most you guys didn’t think that looked like Matt Damon. I've seen him almost every day and I still double take every time.

Hey Happy early B-Day Buck!! Finally in your teens! Don't spend all your bday money on video games. All you cousins that went to LP HoCo looked great. Kajsa, is he a senior?? lolol

Well this week went by extremely fast. I cannot believe I have been here 5 weeks. Time is absolutely flying. I don't have much to talk about from this week but I’ll give a quick rundown of my week. 

So last Thursday after Pday was over, we got to do a lesson over Skype. So we skyped a Filipino lady and talked to her for a while, trying to understand what she was saying. We were almost at the end of our lesson and were about to bear testimony and close, when I accidentally pulled the plug out of the wall with my foot haha. It was sad because I’m pretty sure she thought I did it on purpose. I was looking at the camera trying to think of what to say and then the computer just shut off haha... So I guess I’ll get another try at it tonight. 

On Friday, we got our flight plans. We leave on Wednesday Sept. 28. We fly out of Salt Lake to LA at 7pm. Then we have a 5 hour layover in LA. 16 hours later we land in Hong Kong. Then from there we fly to Manila. I guess we stay in the Manila MTC for 5 days and then make a loooong bus ride to Laoag (editor: pretty sure they fly from Manila to Laoag...time will tell). So I am way excited for that. Saturday was a pretty regular day. On Sunday we were sitting in sacrament meeting when all of the sudden, while announcing the program, we hear "And then we will be pleased to hear a special musical number from district F." (That’s our district) We all sit up and look at each other in a panic. Then we remember how the Sunday before that, Pres. Delamare asked if we wanted to sing in Sacrament Meeting, We accepted and he said he would talk to us Tuesday night if we still wanted to do it. Well, he never talked to us about it, so we all forgot about it. Luckily, we have a few musical geniuses in our district. So with about 5 minutes of preparation time, we planned to sing Nearer My God to Thee. One of the elders that has an incredible voice was sitting 10 rows ahead of us and had no idea what was going on. So as the intro was being played on the piano, one of the elders whispered to him "Hey you are singing a solo for the first 2 lines" and about 5 seconds later he sang it like an angel, and it sounded like we had been preparing for weeks haha.  

I've talked a lot in my past letters about how much I enjoy the MTC. I’m very much looking forward to Wednesday, but it will also be a little sad. Leaving the comfort of the place I’ve been living for the past month or so will be weird. It seems like everybody around me cannot stand the MTC and just wants to get out of here, but I have loved it haha. Not only because of the pickup basketball I get to play every morning, but just the comfort of feeling the spirit in the classroom and in the devotionals. Also, I make new friends everyday, and know how to say "hi" in like seven different languages haha. I learn something new everyday, but I'm sure I'll learn even more when I can't understand what people are saying and I'm making hundreds of mistakes a day when trying to talk to people.

With Elder Penney (from our ward)  

going to the Philippines Bacolod Mission on Oct 19th

I've had so many great testimony building experiences while I’ve been here. I was teaching a lesson the other day, when I realized a certain thing or pattern that kept occurring. While I am teaching, I think of the word I want to say in English, and then say it in tagalong. Well, sometimes I’ll be trying to think of a certain word that I know I have memorized but it won't come to my head. And for a split second I question myself and wonder "Is the spirit with me right now?" And this has happened to me a few times. Immediately after I think this to myself, the word seems to pop into my head. And that reassures me that the spirit is there. It’s so comforting to know that I am not going on this journey alone and that I will have help with me all the way. 

Sorry my letters are a bit boring right now. I promise that they will get better starting next week.

Miss all of you so much!! Was so nice to see Kenzi and Aunt Robin yesterday, made me miss the family a bit though haha. Talk to you all next week, love ya:)


-Ryan

WEEK 4 - September 15, 2016 (Provo, UT) - I MET MATT DAMON

Hellooooo everybody... If that header didn't grab your attention, I really don't know what will. But it is true, Matt Damon was at the MTC. So here's what happened. We were sitting down eating some lunch in the cafeteria when all of the sudden one of the kids in my district says "Woah, look it's Jason Bourne!!" I look up and there he is sitting across from us. The Martian, sitting there, eating a burger.  OK, so it isn't actually him... But if there was a competition for a Matt Damon look alike, he would win. So I had to grab a picture.

(Editor: What Ryan sent...)

(...what we expected!)

 Well this week was great and it went by soooo fast. I really want to get out to the Philippines but I almost wish time would slow down here at the MTC because I really enjoy it here. So this week hasn't been too eventful, but there are a few things I can write you about. So we had the privelege to hear from two Apostles in our devotionals. On Sunday, Elder Ballard came and spoke to us. Talked a lot about valuing the time you are on your mission. I feel like that has been talked about a lot in the devotionals while I've been here. Elder Cook spoke to us on Tuesday. He based his talk on 3 things: loving the Lord, loving the People, loving your companion. Then he also said something that I found very interesting. He said when he is receiving revelation about assigning mission calls, it doesn't always come as a location of where the missionary needs to go. But it often comes as the Mission President that they need to be sent to. And then he talked about how important it is to build a strong bond with your mission pres. So I'm really excited to meet my mission pres, and come close to him. Ok, so also on Tuesday when Elder Cook spoke to us, the choir sang a song. I was in the perfect position to get on camera hahaha.. So I was trying to focus on the choir director the whole time and sing like an angel and all that, but out of the corner of my eye, I can see the camera zooming in on me, and I can't resist. I look up and there I am, being broadcasted to 7 other MTCs around the world hahah... So if anybody can find that devotional online, look for me, and send me a screenshot or something haha. 

So since I don't have too much to say, I'll share a pretty good spiritual experience I had earlier this week. My comp and I were in a lesson with one of our "Investigators" (who is also my teacher) talking about baptism. She asked a question, and I thought about it for a second and really didn't know what to say. I sat in silence for a few seconds, and then all of the sudden words started popping in my head in Tagalog. I started speaking, probably not in the right sentence structure, but was doing my best. Words kept on flowing out of my mouth as tears filled my eyes. The way my teacher/investigator was looking at me I could tell that she knew I was teaching directly from the spirit. It was such an amazing experience. 

I become more and more excited to go to the Philippines every day. Our Tagalog teachers always share stories about their missions and when they do, it makes me want to get out of here and fly off into Laoag. But at the same time I love it here. And love the experiences I'm having here. One thing I've learned this past week is how much obeying one little rule can change your day. Before this week I would usually not be in bed until 10:45 or so. So I decided just to try and get to bed on time this week. When I did that, I woke up feeling so well rested, and felt so motivated to learn something new. My whole day would change. Hearing Apostles come and speak to us about obedience has really helped me understand the importance. I'm glad that I figured that out so early in my mission.

Every new day here I feel like my testimony is growing stronger and that I am progressing in the language as well. It's so nice being able to be in a place where you can feel the spirit so strong every day. I miss all of you so much, but absolutely love it here. Can't wait to write ya next week :)

(This came a little later...too good not to share - ENJOY!)
I forgot to write you about something. So this one elder in my district, Elder Phillips, is a musical genius...one of the kindest kids I've met, and he loves college football. He's from bama. But for some reason one day I was humming "Santa Fe" from Newsies, and he bursts into the room and starts singing the song beautifully!!! hahah He was like, "Elder Jenkins, you like musicals?!?!" I said "I mean, I like Newsies" haha We absolutely love each other now and sing Newsies songs together. Then later he asked "So have you seen Les Mis?" I was like "Uhhhhh yeah kinda" hahahahah he's one of my favorites for sure. (Editor note: Let's just say that Ryan chose to sit out the last half of Les Mis in SF in the bathroom...)

WEEK 3 - September 8, 2016 (Provo, UT)

MTC District - only Ryan and his companion (Elder Wineberg, front 2nd from left) are going to Laoag. All others are going to San Pablo (south of Manila). 

Okay, well that week flew by. It does not feel like I've been here 3 weeks. I'm now officially one of the "Older Guys". Yesterday was a pretty sad day. All the guys that welcomed us into the zone when we got here, hit the road. I was really good friends with a lot of them, so it was tough to see them leave. BYU winning made my day when I found that out. My comp is from AZ, so that saddened him a bit.

Sending Elder Anufe (center) off - the rest of them still have three more weeks.

Alright so I'll talk about the week a little bit. So getting bed bugs was pretty annoying, but there were some sisters that got it worse than us. One morning, one of them woke up to a bat nesting in her hair!!! Turns out, there was a nest of them living in a dorm somehow.. crazy gross. So they had to pack up their stuff and move, but also had to stay in the MTC an extra week and get a rabies shot.... so basically the MTC is infested with all kinds of things.

Sunday I had the privilege to pray during Sacrament Meeting, in front of like 100 people, in Tagalog. The Branch Pres said he was very impressed though, so that gave me a boost of confidence. On Sunday night, Chad Lewis spoke (previous BYU/NFL football player). It was soooooo cool. He's a really good speaker and taught a good lesson about valuing your time as a missionary. I really enjoyed that. So on Monday, I saw Kenzie (cousin, currently teaching Portuguese at the MTC)!! haha it was sooooo good to see some fam in the MTC. I think I'll probably see her a few more times. And then for dinner, Chick-fil-A catered. Best meal I've had here yet, by far. 

Tuesday was a really good day. I had no idea who was speaking to us for our devotional, and then D. Todd Christofferson walks in. I was stoked. Never been to General Conference or anything so this was the first time I would see an Apostle speak in person. Prior to Elder Christofferson speaking, the choir was going to sing. And I heard that this was going to be broadcast to all the other MTC's across the world. So I definitely wanted to get on the camera haha. While we were singing, I looked up and the camera was roaming.. It literally pointed at the guy sitting to my left, and then switched to a different camera..so that frustrated me a bit. I calmed down though and listened to the great talk Elder Christofferson gave. Talked a lot about the importance of teaching repentance. The Spirit was way strong the whole time, it was incredible. So yesterday I volunteered to host a new missionary. Luckily this guy got out of the car, said a quick goodbye to his brother and sister, and didn't even shed a tear haha. Well, even though I've been here for 3 weeks, I accidentally took him the wrong way and we ended up walking a half mile with all his luggage. My arms were begging for a rest, but I couldn't show him that I, his host, was weak. So I carried on. Got to his building just to find out that his room was on the 4th floor. Hauled his luggage 4 floors up and collapsed on his bed to rest haha. My forearms are in such pain hahah. But after that I had some free time, and I remembered that Aunt Robin helps here on Wednesdays.. so I went searching for her, but didn't find her. So can somebody figure out for me what day Aunt Robin will be here (note: she's on vacation this week...but will be back next Wednesday for Ryan to "run into").  Welcome, Kyle Penney (friend from our ward - also going to the Philippines - different mission), to the MTC!! I've see him a lot already, and he seems to be fitting right in.

So one night while eating dinner, I realized that the food seems to get worse and worse. I remembered all of the people telling me how incredible the food was here. And then I just realized that everybody that had ever told me that, were only in the MTC for 3 weeks! haha So I guess it gets worse from here. I'm sure I'll miss it though when I'm eating a few grains of rice off of a leaf in the jungle. Well I wish I had some cool stories to tell ya, but I am still in the MTC haha, so there's not too much that goes on. 

I'm learning to love the Lord more day by day, it's so cool. I'm also learning to love the language so much.. It's incredible, sometimes somebody will ask me a yes or no question and without me even trying I'll just spit out the answer in Tagalog. Its usually simple like "Hindi" or "opo" or "hindi ko alam" haha but it's cool how my brain is starting to think in Tagalog a little bit. I really am surprised by how well the language is coming along. I ask in prayer every night for my tongue to be loosened and for help to understand the language, and I can truly see how I am being blessed. It just takes hard work and faith. Sorry this letter isn't too exciting, I'll try to have something cool to write ya'll about next week. Love you all!!!

-Elder Jenkins

Spare time...push ups - can you tell?