October 10

Hi Mom and Dad,

This week is going good I pulled my hamstring playing football with some elders but other then that i have had a great week. Its not cold yet but it is suppossed to cool down at the end of the week and its possible that it will be snowing at the end of the month. I will go and check out dick sporting goods and see if they have any and then if not the UPS guy is pretty smart about keeping the boxes and not leaveing out in the open for people to steal. Well the halloween decorations are starting to show up around here and i think that its pretty funny. I guess on halloween we can only work during the day then at night we just have to stay at a members house tell we go back home to sleep. They must be scared that we will get jumped or something that night haha. I have been able to email carmen and i loved hearing from her she sounds like she is growing up more each day and I love the letter you sent me too thank you so much. I am glad that you and dad are still thinking about a serving a mission. The senior missionaires are great around here they help us so much and they are all so kind. Like elder holland said they bring a maturity to the mission that is so true. We actually have a senior couple in our district and we have been helping them move in and helping them learn how to teach because they only have a week at the MTC. But they are great people and i am so glad that you are still thinking about it. Well skylar and Tyler were not able to make it to church today tyler was pretty sick and didnt feel like going. So we pushed the date back to the 23rd but now their gradma is able to come to church more because she changed her work hours so she will start taking them now. I have been learning a lot from once i started to now and it is amazing. Love all of you and thank you for being great example to me i love both of you so much.

Dad,

Its great to here your humor over here in ohio. Long underwear looks good on me didn't you know haha. I would rather have a nice new pair then one from the DI just saying dad that pretty gross haha. I am glad you are still doing missionary work dad i really wish that we had member here that would do the same because that is where we get the baptisms its not from tracting even though that is good. I hope you keep handing out Books of Mormon to those you feel impressed to give them to. Member missionary work is amazing and like President hinkley said "There is no point to missionary work without the members" If the member dont help missionaries then those we do baptize will just fall away we need strong members to keep them active. I am sorry to say but we do not have to many lamanite brothers here it would be nice but i have not seen one yet I dont think they like the cold. Well thank you dad for all the good news and humor. I hope you know that my testimony is growing and I feel like i am learning so much everyday that i am out here.

Love,

Elder Ryan Furtney

October 3, 2011

Hi Mom and Dad,
This weekend was amazing, elder Trammell and I were able to watch all of the sessions and it was so amazing. Watching Elder Holland's talk was amazing it was another testimony to me that this is where I need to be and it gives me a greater desire to go out and work. It was great to hear from the Prophet and it is always nice to be able to have a good laugh from him and be taught so much at the same time. There were so many talks that I loved and I don't think I have ever been so into a conference before in my life. I took a lot of notes so that is probably why haha. We were not able to have the baptism yesterday Skylar and Tyler need to make it to church more often but we were able to talk more to their mom and we gave her a Book of Mormon to start reading for herself. We hope that she will have a greater desire to listen to the lessons and want to be baptized. That's so great that you were able to see Eric on Skype, I have been thinking a lot about him and I miss him a lot. Hopefully i will be able to skype on Christmas i don't really know yet but it is very possible. I wish that we had warm weather here the past two days we have had coats on and it seems to be getting colder but i think it should warm up again by the end of the week. Yesterday i was surprised it didn't snow though it was very cold but it was raining all day too. I got the boots and thank you so much for them. I haven't tried them on yet but i will tonight and I hope they fit. Oh so i guess my coat i have probably wont be thick enough for the winter but i will wait and see i will just buy one here so you don't have to worry about that but I will probably need money in my account so i can buy it. We have dinner most of the time with members but really only three families feed us at least once a week and they are amazing. The members here are way funny, we have been working with one of the 17 year olds in the ward and we have had a lot of fun with him he would be a great missionary he just has a lot of doubts and doesn't feel like he needs to go. We are hoping he decides to go, but it is his choice. Well the flu shots just came out and actually like more then half of our mission has had the flu, The last two weeks like every missionary was sick but it didn't hit us so its great here. President Sorensen actually just sent us an email recommending us to go get a flu shot but it has to be paid with our own money. Well i have heard from Brock and Matt but not Dillon yet, i sent him an email but nothing yet. It was great to hear from Matt I guess he is doing really well in Brazil so that is good. Well I am expecting another great week and it should be very good and productive week this week as well. I love you all and pray for everyone all the time.
Love,
Elder Ryan Furtney

Pictures!

These pictures are long over due and a little out of order. The deal with pictures is Ryan takes them and sends the card to his mom and then they are uploaded here and she sends him a new card. I guess this is how it's going to work. The only problem is that now I am not always sure what the story behind each picture is.

This is Elder Trammell, the bird belongs to either a non member or less active member they are working with. Elder Furtney says he's a talker.

I thought I would add this just because Ryan went through all the trouble taking it. He is laughing about it because it's a super old car with super nice rims.

A mini tribute of sorts dedicated to Neil Armstrong who is from Warren, Ohio.

The first day there the other missionaries were taken on a tour of church sites in the area. They went to the Kirtland Temple and the N.K. Whitney printing press. Elder Furtney really enjoyed this and said there was a really strong spirit there.

sept 19 email

Hi Mom and Dad,
I have been doing great here in Ohio. It rains pretty much everyday which is really weird to me, i have never seen so much rain in my life haha. Its way green near the lake but once you get down near warren and those areas its still green but not as much as it is in Kirtland. Skylar and Tyler's baptismal date moved to Oct 2nd because of some family problems but their mom is thinking about taking lessons as well and hopefully being baptized with them as well. Im very excited for them. I hated having to move the date but we had to and they have been having a really hard time. That is so cool that Zack is going to England. We actually had a senior couple that is serving in that mission here last week with their daughter because they wanted to see their first grandson's baby blessing. They were so funny, they loved to see us and they feed us a few times. Also our ward mission leader served there on his mission, he finished 9 months ago but he loved it there. England is so cool, I'm pretty excited for him if you can't tell. He should start watching soccer and get into to that haha that is all they are about there haha. You will see the gnomes soon i just haven't taken many pictures for a while but i will start back up again. You will love my gnome his name is warren haha he is great. I think its funny but pretty much football is peoples lives over here, so I get an update from so many members about michigan. I don't watch games they just tell me how they did so its great I get to hear about my team all the time. I believe we go watch General Conference at the ward building or we go to a members house and watch it, but don't worry we will watch it. This week has been great and i have learned a lot. How is the family doing? Oh i was wondering what Dillon's email is and what Matt's email is, i can email them as long as they are not in my mission its ok haha. I haven't talked to Dillon in forever and would love to say hi to him. Well I'll try to send some pictures home in the next few weeks but not promising anything haha. Love you all and hope you have a great week.
Love,
Elder Ryan Furtney

sept 12 email

Hi Mom and Dad,
Its going great this week not to much has changed really. Elder Trammell and I are still together for another 6 weeks. Only one missionary left our district in these transfers so its not to bad. We are still looking for people to teach here but we have been doing a lot better we had skylar and tyler come to church this week which was great and we are setting three more baptism dates this friday. We have been doing a lot with less active members its been a huge push the past few months i guess and we had one come back to church last week and two others are planning on coming this week. The work is going great here we had a baptism for one of the other areas at our building on saturday and it was great to see him be baptized. We taught him a few times so it was almost like we did all the work haha just kidding we only taught two lessons, but he is a great guy and he was very excited. Thank you for looking i dont really know a mobile one would be a lot easier. The weather here has been cooling down a lot this week but only to the 60's about not to much lower. We have pretty much been getting rain every single day its pretty surprising I have never seen so much rain all at once. We dont get to much time to shop around here its hard to ever find time. If you could it would be great if you could send some stuff I probably wont need it until october i guess thats what everyone has told me when it really gets cold around here. Thats pretty cool jesse actually got a girl to say yes to go on a date with him haha. No but that is cool hope he has fun at homecoming thats always a fun dance. I hope to see some pictures of jesse in the BMW. Thats way cool that westyn sent his papers in im way excited for him it is an amazing experience out here, and there is nothing like it. I don't think i ever thought of the gospel in the ways that i have out here. The plan of salvation is one of the most joyful things in the world and it brings so much hope and peace to those who except it. Well hopefully eric gets sent home early that would be great, and then mom you would only have to worry about me haha. My testimony has grown so much since i got out here and i love the gospel so much. Actually this week i have been thinking a lot about grandpa and it has been nice. I always feel very calm and happy when i start thinking of him, and it helps a lot when im feeling down about that day. I have learned so much about this gospel and how much it blesses peoples lives. I love you all hope you have a great week im planning on having one haha. Oh also mom tell Lisa I loved her letter, i just can't find time right now to write back but i will. It was great to hear about matt i hope he is still doing well in Brazil.
Love,
Elder Ryan Furtney

Hi Mom and Dad,
I have been having a good week this week and the temperatures here are beginning to drop. Its been in the 60's the past few days but I have been enjoying it so far. Not too much is new with investigators. We have mostly just been looking for people to teach but its a great learning experience. Thank you so much for the emails I'll probably start writing them next week since I don't have too much time this week. So transfers are coming up but I think I should stay in Warren but its still possible that I might leave, so you will find out pretty soon. Oh also I was wondering if you could buy a GPS for me and send it to me in a few weeks, just use my amazon gift card so your using my money and if you know that I'm in a set address just mail it there. So that blog is made up by one of our senior couples there names are Elder and Sister Smith. They take pictures and videos all the time but I don't know what all they put on the blog but I'm glad you found it I was going to tell you about it this week but now I don't have to. Bishop told me that Zach and Westyn are both working on there papers that is way cool I'm glad they are going, I cant wait to hear where they are going. Well this week has been good I have enjoyed my time with Elder Trammell, don't really know if we will be together another transfer or not but I guess we will see. I hope that everything back home is good, How is Eric doing, have you heard anything? I got a letter from Lisa this week its great to hear from the Pellegrini's and to hear how Matt is doing. Ill try to write them back as soon as possible but I have been doing pretty bad the past few weeks writing letters, I am always so tired when i get home (which is not a bad thing cause I know I'm working a lot then) but its hard to write people back too. Well also something that was way cool this week was Elder Nash who is in the quorum of the seventy came and spoke to us. He is over the missionary department. He was great he talked a lot about purpose and focusing on our key indicators more. He was a great guy and he taught a lot. I just hope I can remember everything, luckily I took notes. Also last night a guy who moved out of our ward called us and he lives in minersville or new harmony I don't really remember because I wasn't talking to him but it was cool that he moved down to southern Utah. Thank you for the pictures as well they are great to see. Well this week I'm going on an exchange so I'm actually in Ashtabula right now its right next to the lake, so there are a lot more clouds around here. But its only a day thing so I'll be back in Warren tomorrow. Ok well I think that is about it thanks for the email its always great to hear from home. Love you all.
Love,
Elder Ryan Furtney

Hey Mom,
Thank you for the email its always good to hear from everyone back home. How has school been so far for Jesse, it just started here so I have been wondering. So like four days ago there was this crazy storm at like 2 in the morning. There were a bunch of tornado sirens going off but nothing ever hit, but the cool thing was the lightning storm that was going on the whole time. It was like those ones that every second a bolt is coming down so for like an hour or so it was very loud thunder and also lightning keeping it very bright the whole time. But I really didnt care and I fell back asleep like instantly cause I was tired. But dont worry Elder Trammell couldn't fall back asleep so he would have woke me up if a tornado did hit so I was safe haha. But I thought it was pretty cool and right now we have been getting some storms from the hurricane but it passed through pretty quick and it didnt do to much here. So thats great that you and dad did some service out in the heat. Edler Trammell and I have been doing a lot of service out here and its usually always very hot here. Ya our little mishap was a pretty great experience and pretty much every missionary that is near us have been making fun of us. Oh that bird is named Katie and it is hilarous. The bird belongs to a less active member and we have been teaching her grandkids and they have a baptismal date set for Sept. 25 so thats pretty cool. But that bird is hilarous it freaks out when it sees us because it gets so excited. So I bought the best thing in the world and you will probably just think I'm crazy for buying it but its worth it. I bought a Michigan Gnome haha its in all of the pictures I have taken just so you will know. If you didnt see Elder Trammell has an Ohio state gnome so we have a little rivalry its pretty funny. Thats so cool that Jordan Comstock is going to Hondorus he must be pretty excited. Well so far we have just been teaching a bunch of different lessons and such but mostly the Resoration and the Plan of Salvation. I have been learning so much since I got out here and its pretty crazy. In fact we went to early morning seminary and I learned that there are some scriptures that are scripture masteries that I never knew of haha that shows how much I paid attention. Well so far its been a great the past week... actually this next week we could have at least two new investigators that are friends of YSA people so we are pretty excited. Our mission is starting to focus more on YSA so we teach a bunch of people near our age and its a lot easier to teach them then someone that way older then both of us but we still teach them as well. Oh also we have a mission confrence On tuesday and Elder Nash is speaking to us so I cant wait for that.

Oh also mom could you send me some email addresses. Like Julies and Grandma Herrin, and any other family emails you might have. That would be great if you could do that for me, I havent been able to write to anyone really other then Aunt Penny. Also just say hi to everyone from me.

Love,
Elder Ryan Furtney