Elder Ryan James Grant

January 2010 - January 2012

Brazil Belo Horizonte Mission

Baptism in Florenca

Baptism in Florenca

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

It is officially getting hot here too.. oh wait it never got cold. its weird. already my 3rd P-day. its seemed forever away but now its already here ha. time is going by but still seems really slow at times. each day is a frustration. every morning i hate waking up because i know what the day for me holds. lots of frustration and headaches for sure. the language is getting better but not to where where i feel comfortable yet. i think that will take another month or 3 or 10. i can tell my comp gets frustrated when we teach cause its mostly him all the time. and it bugs me to cause i cant say anything and its so hard to just start talking when you have no clue whats going on. we've taught some crazy people this week and last. haha oh boy the stories i will have. there are some interesting people here. but its all good. this week we have a baptism. both of ours fell through last week. and maybe next week well have another one or 3. well see. our zone has been suffering alot lately. my comp is the ZL as you know and hes also training me. pretty tough i think. but this week has been going better. its really hard to find the elect here. most people have just been wasting our time lately. letting us in to teach but not accepting. its extremely lame. it happens alot. but I've tried to pay more attention to how people accept and talk to us and i am starting to pick up the people that really need it and the people who are a little further down the confusing road. you guys are so lucky. i would give anything to watch conference. even on TV. we don't get it here. and if we wanna go we have to bring investigators but we don't have any able to go cause its like an hour or 2 bus ride and no one can pay for it. so if you wanna send some ensigns of the talks next month it would be nice! i know dad prob will have plenty of those.
well im doing alright here.. hope you guys are doing well back home. love ya and if you can send me some of the stuff i said lat week gradually would be nice! oh and send me some fam pics! i have none and everyone always wants to see! and candy. oh and at deseret book there's a picture book that's like 5 bucks that has pix of like the 1st vision and stuff i can use while teaching. if you can find it there pleeeeeaaaasssee send it. it helps so much. well anyways.. i love ya mom hope everything's going good back home!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

oh track and field. ha i miss those days. wow. timeout. the garden got planted. sounds like things are starting to happen in the grant household. ha. its funny. tons of people ask me if im related to President Heber J. ive gotten it like 5 times this week. its so different here. we have a branch in our city with 300 members. 50-70 are active. tops. but i was amazed at how much some of them know. suprisingly everyone is like you're American? and they are like amazed. it works when we make contacts and get people to let us teach them haha. but the members and especially others know so much about the bible and book o mormon and the gospel. and also the profetas. they know more about my ancestor then i do! i think i might have to study up on him.
i was reading in alma this week. started it monday and im in 30. it talks alot about missionary work and oppositions and the trials people have. not only the missionaries but todo mundo. i keep having this weird feeling inside me that reminds me of the miracles that happen in the book of mormon.
me and my companion do most of our work in the favelas. which is pretty much the ghetto. gunshots everyday. theres drugs everywhere and people drink and sleep that's all they do. but as i read in alma it is a perfect example of what is here in Itauna. peoples hearts are set on false things, false profetas, idols and many things. they are bnound by the power of the adversary, and they no nothing of it.
just like in Alma! as we learn the missionaries performed many miracles through great faith. lives were changed and nations were converted. i can see the iniquity that is going on in just this small city. each day i talk to people whose hearts are down troddened, whose spirits are low. i also see the exact opposite. people who will not let go of what they believe when we give them the truth. that is why we mostly work in the favelas. where the people are more humble.
this week might be my irst baptism. we have 2 scheduled but its gonna be tough. lots of hard work will be taking place in the next 3 days.
this week went by kinda quick but not...my comp is Elder Brown i love him to death. he does most of the teaching and most of the work. which sucks. this week was the most quiet ive ever been in my life. ive just sat there and tried to understand what people are saying 100% o the time, its so hard! this week i started teaching a principle or 2 a lesson,. i think ive butchered every one haha.
oh yay.
tell jon i said happy bday. i didnt know it was his bday oopsas...
speaking of jon, guess who my comp reminds me of. yup. my very own brother. i never would have guessed it. its so interesting. he has the same little laughs as jon. he smiles like him and he even looks like him! but he has blonde hair blue eyes. and yes same amount of patience.. haha and i would like to think he and jon teach alot alike. Elder brown is a great teacher. its so awesome to work with him. i think of jon like 50 times aday. it feels like im just walking and talking with my bro everyday. it made me love him and jon so much more and appreciate them both. it brought us closer real quick. i love him.
well im doing alright here. im learning a bit everyday. still really tough but its gotten funner.
miracles are waiting to happen here mom. i can feel it. as i see the state that the world is in it reminds me of the Book of Mormon so much. and how its likened to our time. and it truly is. the people are in need of this message. the Savior is coming soon. the more iniquitous the world gets the more miracles will happen. i can see it here. its a sign! i cant wait to be able to teach these people with and from my heart instead of my mind. im trying to take every advantage i get to learn from my comp. he is a natural leader. i would love to be his comp for a while. (well.... i prob will get bored of him soon haha) but i wish i could teach so much better! we would be so amazing along with the spirit. but nevertheless...
love you, mom. hope everything is doing good back home.
oh and my old teacher at the CTM might send jason some guarana soon. but idunno. anyways...
love ya! bye!
hope ya like the pics!




Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Yeh I am in Belo now. It's not that hot. It's pretty nice. My area is called Itauna. Just me and my comp. It's a more wealthy part of the state or part of Belo but it's still yeh...haha He's a zone leader and the only one in the zone, plus he's training me. Tough task. He's good though. His name is Elder Brown. He's from Draper, UT. He played bball for UVU and I guess he's pretty good. Our area is pretty big. I'm having an especially tough time now. I know barely anything! again! and my first day has been tough so far. Lota carrying luggage everywhere. Very annoying, just like this key board.with a broken mouse. The address you send it to is just the mission home address that was in the booklet. I get those every 6 weeks, with transfers.
My area has a lot of hills.
My Pres is pretty cool. He is really strict but if you're doing what you're supposed to be you're fine. A few months ago he sent home about 20 missionaries. yeh crazy. My trainer is pretty cool though I think I'll learn alot from him. Im mission home alot now. (not sure what that means.) It's gonna be really tough this next little while. I'm so tired already. Well I love you all and miss ya. Hope gma gets better and everyone does too. Well til next Wed!
Love ya
Elder Grant

Monday, March 15, 2010

Send letters/packages to the mission office until they notify us of his address in his first assigned area.

Elder Ryan James Grant
Missao Brasil Belo Horizonte
Rua Sao Paulo, 1781- 10* Andar
Ed. 17 de Maio - Sala 1001
Lourdes
30170-132 Belo Horizonte - MG
March 10
Well one week left! I talked to a teacher here who served in Belo. He said it was awesome of course. He also said the mission baptizes weekly...yeh. That's sweet which means they teach that much more. He also said they make the best candy in Brazil. Which I don't know if its a good thong or not. I'm almost out of American candy and I prob won't have any after that. So hopefully I don't get addicted to the candy there. He also said they eat a lot of Mexican type food. Which surprisingly I'm excited about. The food here is the same pretty much everyday. It's so bland. I can't drink guaranna every meal cause it rocks my system. So I've laid off that stuff. But for once I'm kinda hoping they have a lot of Mexican food there. But I'll deal with whatever.
Last Friday we went to the masp to proselyte. It was way cool. There were tons of people. We had 5 BoMs and we had about an hour or more to hand them out and talk to ppl. My comp is one of the more shy type so...I had to kinda take the lead. We met these shoe shiners on a side road by some shops and we talked to them. They were really cool. We talked to them for half hour and I told them they should read this book I had. They were like what book. And of course you know my response. And they were like no way... and I was like ok can you read a chapter for me? And they agreed. So I marked a chapter for both of them and gave them the number if they had interests or questions or such. And I said I'm not gonna give it to you if your not gonna read it and the guy grabbed it and took it. It was funny. so hopefully they read. I shoulda had them shine my shoes too.
It was really tough to talk to ppl when you barely know anything. Although it was way fun. It was really hard to understand them haha. My comp doesn't really know much and he stutters a lot so it is hard to follow. I just told him to be bold and firm and grab their attention. After I said this I walked up to ppl and said hello then stopped talking. ha It was funny. My comps face was like you gotta be kidding me. It was a learning experience for both of us. Only six days left and then my new trainer will probably do that same thing to me. Haha But I'm excited, the MTC here is really tiring me out. I don' think I've learned anything here. Provo was much better surprisingly. I don't have much more to write. I'm doing good here. My district is struggling with a lot of pride these last 2 weeks. It is very, very tough. No one really likes our DL and they don't listen to him. He gave them a challenge and we made goals and no one showed like any interest. It 's really frustrating to me when people say they will do something then don't. It bugs..This all happened before our district meeting and me and my comp were supposed to teach during DM. Our DL told us we didn't til next week but I was prompted by the Holy Ghost to just go ahead and teach, even though we only had like 15 min. to prepare. Once again my comps face turned read after I said we're gonna teach today. The lesson we taught was on having the qualities of being successful as a missionary. There 10 points in PMG. I had each elder write down 2 each to see if they would get any. Out of 10 elders, we barely got 2. The doesn't cut it. Once of the points was to the extent of loving and teaching your companions/other missionaries, like I said our district is, very...."my way or no way" minded. It turned out to be an interesting lesson. After, they said the challenge that our DL gave an hour prior was something they didn't want to do and most were opposed. The challenge was of course being more obedient and working harder and such the last week. which of course none of them opposed to doing but just by our DL saying it gave it a bad taste. Luckily, I was the DL back in Provo and I kinda had heeded and pondered the situation before and during the time we taught. I was again prompted to re-challenge what our branch president and DL said prior and was also prompted to ask them to erase their goals they had and start fresh. (since I've been in the MTC every time we make goals no one keeps them for the most part. It sounds all nice and pretty and an Elder made a paper with all the goals he got ppl to sign it which I thought was ridiculous.) I of course didn't sign it and told them how I don't agree to things I won't do and if I do I will do it. and I encouraged them to do the same. I saw some heads nod. Which was good to see. Then I bore my testimony on how we set goals to improve ourselves and our gifts that we are given. And how those gifts aren't in the least bit for you, but for others and in our case the people we teach....to bless the lives of others like it says in D & C. Afterwords, an elder came up to me and said I loved your lesson so much, you made what we were supposed to do more clearer and things. And I was glad of course...our DL has a problem with explaining things for too long and going on tangents. He talks monotone constantly and he is quite controlling. I'm going to put up with it for another week.
One reason I was glad we taught is because I learned a few things. I love taking the quickest route. I love being precise and not wasting time going from point A to B as fast a possible. The Lords work isn't quick. In fact it's very slow, but constant. It's very hard to humble ourselves and give up our way of doing things. I know that's why I was given a companion who walks behind me and stutters when he speaks and so I have to constantly wait for. I've learned a lot from him. I love that guy. But I'm very prideful and always want things my way which is occasionally fast. He works sssssllllloooooowwwwww...but I'm learning. I pray nightly to have my heart softened toward him. Prayers are answered.
Well, I'm doing great down here a world away. Only a week left! I hope everyone is doing well back home! Love ya.
Elder Grant
March 3
Well, hello. I'm in Sao Paulo right now. Its my p-day today so we get to leave the MTC. My flight was good. I played battleship for 4 hours. I only lost once. custom was repido. We only were at the airport for about a half hour. The weather is way nice at night. Very coo. We leave the window open sot he breeze comes into our room. Just my kinda room. I love it. OUr dorm looks onto the city. Its beautiful. There's so many ppl and building. Lots of high rises. The people here are really nice. They talk alot. Driving is an adventure everyday. They honk a lot. But just to warn or say thanks. unlike American...it's nice. You should have shar send my package to the mission home. Also, there's another thing called missionties, just like dearedler but for Brazilian mish's, so try using that. Tell Tif to throw it up on the FB. I'. so tempted to buy some clothes and shoes here. I love lots of the shoes that are here. But I am waiting til I leave to get some.
I got put with the same companion again which is a challenge. I was hoping for a Brazilian or at least someone else. I just hate being followed all the time. (He never walks next to Ryan) its like I have luggage that I'm always carrying around.
The food here is............well, beand and rice every mean. and of course guarana. I drink 5 glasses a meal. haha plus we we some other flook like rolls and meat every now and then. Surprisingly it is not too bad.
Our mish absorbed another mission so it's about 1/3 bigger then it was a year ago. It's now the whole state of MG plus more. Plus less missionaries, so luckily I'm for sure going there in 2 weeks. I can't wait. I heard my mish pres was like a drill sergeant, but I heard lotsa ppl loved him, so that's good. Everything's chill here. It's pretty much more like you make what you want out of it. If you do nothing you get nothing. . If you work hard then ya, but we have like no time to study or anything. I don't like it. But we'll see how it goes.
It feels like I've already been here before. I don't know how to speak. ha. That is what I am working on the most right now. On Friday, we go the busiest and biggest part of Sao Paulo to proselyte, Yeh I'm scared. I barely know anything. My comp knows less so...ya. It'll be interesting...
Well, my district is pretty cool. I love the ppl already. I just can't understand any of them, but they will talk if you talk. super nice, tell everyone I said hyello and thanks to Chris for coming to the airport. It was nice to see him before I left. Tell everyone I love em and I'm doing good. I gonna go walk around the city. Boa tarde
Elder Grant