Hey Mom,
Well first off, Elder Trammell is from Pocatello, Idaho. He is a great guy and we are always joking around with each other, its pretty funny. Well I cant remember all of your questions so I will try my best to remember but I'm sorry if I miss some. So Warren is a great city - not to big but it is big enough. There is alot that happens here. Its kind of a run down city, but its nice and i love it. Most of our investigators live way out side of Warren though. So yes we have a car because our area is pretty massive and it takes about 40 minutes to get to the edge of our area and its mostly farm country. There are a few Amish in this area so its funny to see them we have taken a few pictures of them but we have to be pretty secretive about it or they just get mad and want to kill us haha. But I have a pretty funny story about our car that happened on thursday.Well first of all our car is a Toyota and there is always problems with that haha. I think you can kind of guess what will happen just by what kind of car it is. Well anyway, we were driving home from doing service for a nonmember when all of a sudden our battery light pops on and we were a little confused. But then all of a sudden all the lights turned on and we lost power steering. We call our vechile cordinatoor for the mission and he told us to get it to a shop that was near us. So we start driving again and the RPM's are freaking out and we couldn't get past 20 MPH's cause the car is pretty much just dying. once we are about half way there all of a sudden our brakes went out and we could slow down but it would try to go by itself as well so it was a little freaky. But we made it to the shop safely and got it in the shop but we were told it would take a least a day to fix. So we walk home which was about 4 miles away from the shop which isnt to bad but when we got to our place we remembered that our keys for our place were on our car keys. So ya we were locked out for about an hour before someone came to let us in to our place. Then we get a call that we wont have a car for at least a week haha. But our day was far from over at this point. We still had a lot of time to go do stuff so we went to vist a part member family that was a little bit far from our place but we had bikes so we were good. But we locked our door thinking that we had a spare key but also left the back door cracked as well. Well... When we got home we found out the key didnt work and back door was actually closed.... Ugh. So we were trying to call everyone that could let us in and we could not get a hold of anyone. So we got there at about 9:30 and started calling people we finally got a hold of someone at about 1015 and they couldnt get us in so they started calling people for us. They got a hold of the apartment manager at 11:15 and they live like 45 minutes away so they drove down and let us in. By that time in was pouring outside and we were just hanging out under our garage area. And we got in at a little after 12 which sucked a lot. But we learned a lot that day. First lesson was to never forget your keys and also test all the keys you think work. Then second, people in Warren after about 10:30 never have shirts on. I'm not lying about this, there was not one person we saw who didnt have one on and im pretty sure more than half of them were either really drunk or high so it was pretty funny watching them. Well thats my story of the week haha it was just fantastic. Oh and the next morning our mission president called and made fun of us for like ten minutes and then he said the assitants were bringing us a new car so now we have a chevy malibu. But we were freaking out cause our place was clean but not at its best so we were cleaning everything that morning haha. Well hope you dont worry too much about me, we are usually very safe here in warren actually all the time unless our GPS wants to lead us into the ghetto then we dont feel too safe. Well hope you enjoyed that story it was pretty fun other than being way tired the next day. Well I am loving Ohio and having a great time. I havent been too homesick so dont worry about me. I work so much I don't really have anytime to think about much so I dont get too homesick ever. Well I love you all hope you are having a great summer and enjoying it.
Love
Elder Furtney

Hi Mom,

I'll be looking for the box hopefully I can get it but it might be hard. Hopefully Matt is doing okay and Lisa too. I think he will be fine. I will pray for him. I have been working very hard and we are just trying to get new investigators as much as possible. This area was kind of dead when I got here but we are teaching a mom and her two kids and we invited them to be baptized and they said yes so we just have to teach them some more and get them to church. They are way funny and have been very nice so far. Also we have been trying to teach another mother and her kids as well but she is always pretty hard to find haha. We have been working with a lot of less actives but they are pretty stubborn but always love to listen and talk with us. The ward is pretty small but we are being fed pretty much every night so I'm happy. The only real hard part so far is getting people to care and actually want to keep commitments. But other then that most people will talk to us and are usually kind there are a few who will yell at us but they are usually high or really drunk so its pretty funny. There is a massive falcon that lives right outside my window so its pretty much like failure to launch all over again cause the bird has the screech of death. Its not crazy over here but I'll just say I have stumbled onto the ghetto more then once and actually have talked to a few gang members so its been great here. Also in Cleveland our car got broken into and they stole our gps which was pretty funny but thats just how it is. Well I am still having a great time and im sending some pictures to you in the mail. Also at Christmas I'm supposed to be able to skype so you should talk to ari about that and try to set something up so I can talk to you on skype, but I will have more info later I don't really know yet. Also thank you dad for the post on the blog its great to hear about things back home. Hopefully your not letting Jesse drive yet haha. Well I just want to thank you for all and day for all the stories you told me about your mission, it helped a lot. Well I love everyone and love to hear how everyone is doing thank you so much.

Elder Furtney

ADDRESS

Ryans current address:

Elder Ryan Furtney
2292 Dunstan dr. NW
Warren, OH 44485

Made it to OHIO

Hi Mom,

Ohio has been amazing so far. I was only in Cleveland for about a day. It was very humid in Cleveland but not where I'm at its only slightly humid. Kirtland was so amazing, we had a tour of the temple and Karl Anderson gave us some pretty amazing experiences. Karl Anderson is the Church's main historian for Kirtland and he wrote a couple of books about Kirtland. He was amazing though and there was such a strong spirit in there, it was like being in all the other temples. But they brought us up to Joseph Smith's office where he recieved a lot of the revelations in D&C and the feeling of being in a room where God and Jesus Christ were is just crazy. The spirit was so strong in there and I loved it. Then after the temple we went to the whitney store and that was so cool as well. The School of the Prophets was so cool I loved the entire experience and I recommend it. I cant download my pictures today I left my camera at my apartment but I will do it next week. My compaions name is Elder Trammell and he is from Idaho. We have tracted alot but not much comes from it here. We have had about 14 lessons in the 5 days I have been here so its been great so far. Its good to here about Eric I hope he is doing well and hope there are more updates from him. Well I need to write a letter to my mission pres before my time runs out but I love you all and hope you have a good week.

Love Elder Furtney

More MTC

Hi mom I have been doing great this past week and it has been flying by. We are leaving this tuesday to Cleveland and I'm way excited, except we have to wake up at four in the morning so thats not going to be very fun at all. Our flight goes to Detroit and then to Cleveland so we will be in the Ohio at about 2 their time. Im way excited to get out there and meet my new companion although I will miss the mtc. Its been great here and I love my district we all have been able to enjoy ourselves but also we have been able to learn a lot about the gospel. I have been learning so much its pretty crazy but I love it. Our investigators here are mostly volunteers there to act like investigators or recent converts using their own conversion story to teach us. Its pretty hard but I am more scared to get out into the field and mess up with a real investigator. The good thing is that I have so much to do here then you pretty much have no time to thing about home. I would probably be freaking out by now if I didnt have so much to do so I'm grateful for that. I love and miss the whole family and hope everyone is doing great. I have been wanting to know how Eric is doing, when do they get there? And what are they doing? Well I heard jesse had his birthday, wish him happy birthday from me and dont let him drive until I get back haha. What else is going on at home anything new that I havent been told? Well I love the letters they make my day everytime I get to read them. I hope everyone is doing great. I dont think that we will be able to call but just be aware that it is still a possiblty on monday or sunday. And start sending letters to cleveland cause it will take forever if you send it to the mtc. I was able to go to the temple today so that was great probably the last time for two years so it was great. And I got my suit dry cleaned and have lots of stuff to wash today. We are pretty much now just getting ready to leave so its nice. Not tons of class and other things so I'm not always stressed out and worrying about lessons even though that is what I'm expecting once I get out into the field. So I guess that im the travel leader while we are going to Cleveland so I have to take care of ten other missionarys and get them onto their flights on time so we dont miss any flights. Im kind of stressed but I'm pretty sure everyone will be fine. Again I really cant wait to get into the field im so excited. Next time I email I will be there and have a new compaioin so you'll get to hear so much more about whats going on. You can tell everyone im doing great out here and loving it so much. I love the constant companionship of the spirit throughout the day its an amazing feeling and I love it. Without the spirit I dont think I would be able to be do this so its a great feeling. The mtc has been a great experience and I have been loving it so much. I'll write as soon as possible once I'm in the Ohio but dont expect much for a while except a email on p-day. Love you Mom and Dad you are amazing examples.

 

Love,

Elder Ryan Furtney

Hi from MTC

This was Ryan's first email to us after he left. If you would like to write Ryan, just leave a comment below and your address if you want.

 

Hey mom this is my email for my mission if you didnt know. I'm having a great time and its easier to send letters while im in the MTC because I only have wednesdays to write email. I am having a great time here and loving every day that I have been out here. It was pretty weird at first but I am starting to get used to it. We have class everyday and learn a lot in it. I hope everyone is doing great I miss you all but im doing great. How has everyone one been doing? I wish I could hold that fat baby again but too bad he will probably be skinny soon. Have you heard anything from Eric? How is he doing? I'm loving being out here and I love being able to feel the spirit everyday, its the best feeling in the whole world. I have enjoyed everything so far except our first couple of days we just studyed all day so it was kinda boring the whole time. But now we have investigators so we are planning lessons every day and we always have something to do which is nice cause it gives me little time to think about everyone back at home. I felt like I have learned so much and it has only been one week. I dont really know what to write but I'll write more next week thats for sure. I just need some more white church shrits, the short sleeve ones if its possible. And if you can tell president Rau that he helped me so much with everything the past year and perpared me so much for this. I have been able to use most everything that he taught me in his classes in teaching investigators. Also I can only send emails to family but everyone else can send me emails I just cant respond to them. Also I need some address for people I only have the house. I forgot to get everyone elses so if you could send those some how that would be great. I hope you all have a great week and hopefully your not missing me to much ha. Love you all and miss you all. I dont want to come back and see all the little kids grown up so just tell Asa and Carmen and Nate and Owen to stay the same if its possible. Love you mom and dad and thank you for all the support.

 

-Love Ryan