February 4, 2013

Hey Mom and Dad,

Things are going so good here and it seems like it will be a great transfer. My new companion is Elder Kay and he is from Snowflake AZ. He actually came out with me so we have the same amount of time left... :) I am not district leader, another area is now.  So it’s nice I don’t have as many calls and I don’t have to make time to do all the numbers part of missionary work; we just go out and do it. We have been having a lot of success in the area now and have found a few more investigators. We have been teaching a lot more which is nice because of the bitter cold. Although we have gone tracting and I think it’s the first time I have actually lost feeling in my face... Wind off the lake sucks so much; but I still love it out here.

So we are having a shorter transfer this one because the changes that took place with the MTC and how long they stay there now, so my return date has moved up a week earlier and I will see you a whole week earlier now.  But don’t worry I’m still focused Dad so I have been working really hard and trying to stay warm... just like you and the truck.
So it’s good to hear about Alyssa now there are so many new nieces and nephews I get to meet. I am very excited to get to know them even better now.

Nothing is set in stone with school yet, I’m still thinking of what I want to do but I’m sure I’ll get it figured out soon.  Don’t worry I have been pondering and praying about what I need to do for school whenever I can; now I’m just searching for the answer. 

Well I hope that you can help the Eddings out a lot dad. You are the perfect ones to do so. I guess it’s really going to have to be up to the spirit and letting it guide you at all times with them. I’m sure that you will do great. They are a great family.

Love you all and hope you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Ryan Furtney

January 29, 2013

Hey Mom and Dad,

Things are going great by the lake but we are not teaching too much... we’ve basically been tracting a lot. Amherst is pretty set in their ways but we have found a few people. We are still teaching Lucy... the one I have been teaching since I got here but we are struggling to get her to church.  Other than that, we do service for a lot of people and things but no solid investigators except Lucy.

Well, today its up in the 50's but Ohio is so weird because it was 20 a few days ago. It has been so much colder this year than last but it hasn't been way bad; I think it’s just because of the lake. We have transfers this week and I’m staying but I’ll be getting a new comp.  So I’ll tell you a little about him next week when I actually know who he is.  

We haven't had to do much snow shoveling this year surprisingly, even though we have had more storms than last year. Don’t worry Dad, this area is going great and I’m enjoying it; just not a ton to write about. Oh and I’m still losing weight so hope I can keep it up. Sorry I don’t have a ton to write about but maybe I’ll have more in the coming weeks.

Well, love you all so much.  I’m doing great and surprisingly pretty healthy with everyone around being sick.... more than half of our mission has had the flu so I’m pretty happy so far not being sick.  Although not too much to do when we are stuck inside our house haha. Well, have a great week!

Love,

Elder Ryan Furtney

January 23, 2013

Hey Mom and Dad,

Thanks for both your emails.  They were both pretty interesting to say the least... or at least Dad’s was. Well things are going great here... just super cold. We hit the negatives yesterday and had a bunch of weather advisories saying not to stay out long; so pretty fun over here. Still not too much snow here.  I can still see grass so it’s just freezing but the lake is pretty frozen over; which looks way cool by the way but not enough for me to run on it yet haha. So that is really cool to hear about the meeting on Sunday; I’m sure Cameron and Trevor will do very well on their missions. Also that is great to hear about K'loni; she will do great out in Florida... just hope she doesn’t get blown away by a hurricane. That is so great to hear about the new niece. I can’t wait to meet her.
So college... yes, don’t worry Mom, I haven’t completely forgotten about it. I have been trying to plan where I want to go at the moment. Right now I’m going to take at the most just one semester off before I go back. I have been thinking about SUU and Dixie State, but I haven’t really decided yet where I’m considering more.

Thanks for everything and I’m still doing great out here other than the cold. Love you all and hope you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Ryan Furtney

January 14, 2013

Hey Mom and Dad,

Well, we just had a pretty warm week actually. We were up in the 60's one day but it’s back down to 20's now.  It was nice while it lasted--I loved it although I knew it wouldn’t last forever. Sounds freezing there though luckily I’m here.  haha.  Things are going really well here though and we have been finding a few more people to teach.  Hope it keeps up. We haven't been tracting too often but we are out for a little each week.  

Ah, so you saw our Christmas card for the mission office ha.  It’s a pretty nice tie I would say. haha. Ya, it’s crazy how many missionaries are in our ward now haha.

 Well, I hope that you have a great time with Eric on his birthday. That would be way funny if Arlee had her baby on Eric’s birthday.  Well, sounds like you are doing pretty good with the Christlike attributes.  Hopefully it goes well and I know I learned so much from it.  I have grown a ton from them and hope that continues. Well, have a great week.  Sorry I don’t have a ton to report on.  I love you all.

Love,

Elder Ryan Furtney

January 8, 2013

Hello Beloved Familia,

Things are going really good here and it’s kind of warming up again.  It sounds like Utah is getting hit with the cold; hope it doesn't last for too long.  I’m sure we will get some cold very soon. I would say it feels colder this year than last year but I wasn’t near the lake last year either so that might be why.  

Well, that is really cool Mom that you are working on the Christlike attributes. I just recently restarted and have been making a little notebook of my favorite scriptures and quotes for each attribute and also other parts to each attribute.  It took me about a week to get just through Hope and now I’m working on Faith and Charity; so I’m excited.  It really has helped me to grow so much.

Well, we are still teaching our same investigator who finally made it to church and really enjoyed it.  We are struggling on finding in Amherst and Vermilion... the two cities in our area. So mostly we would work in Lorain but now that we have so many new missionaries coming out, our area got split and now we just have two towns.  We now have 3 sets of missionaries in our ward and this is just the start of the influx. Actually, we haven't even got any 18 year olds yet.  That will be next transfer.  We had a couple of missionaries waiting for Visa's so they got sent here.  So in our area we really have like no members…they live mainly in the sister's area.

I am sad I missed the baby blessing but I’m sure it was great.  We are doing great here and really enjoying the winter so far. Thanks for the email. Love all of you and hope everyone is doing great. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Ryan Furtney