August 13, 2014
I heard you are in Italy now! I hope you are having fun.
I had an awesome week last week. There was a really amazing experience in a
park that I want to write about really quickly. We were going to the
park to teach an African man and when we called to confirm he
cancelled on us. So of course without hesitating we started to contact
some people in the park. The first 4 or 5 people we talked to weren't
interested, but then we passed by a group of 3 friends that were
sitting on a bench. At first they didnt want to talk, but then we
cracked a joke about something that made them laugh and found out they
all spoke english. So we talked to them for a while, and sat down next to
them on a bench. They were all 30 to 40 year old italians.
After we talked about America and California for a bit one woman
asked us about our message and what we were doing here, and we found
out she was someone who wanted to believe in God but found it hard
because she had a hard time accepting things that she couldn't see.
So in that moment I felt the spirit really strongly and bore testimony to
her about how I knew. I described to her the feelings of the spirit,
how through my quest to know, as I kept doing these things such as
going to church, praying, reading the scriptures, I started to feel
really powerful feelings that I had never felt before, and every time
I did those things I felt it again. I would also get many answers on
directions I should take in my life accompanied with those feelings.
And thats why I am here, I told her, to share that everyone can have
this relationship with God, and that he loves us personally. I'm not
the most perfect missionary or person, but that day I was able to
testify to that woman.
Afterwards she said, wow, you are the first person that has ever explained to me why they believe in God in that
way. We gave her and her friend a copy of the Book of Mormon and
invited them to read it, and then invited that same women to english
class. By then her interested was high, and she told us, you know, I
am definitely going to come.
I was so thankful I was able to be a tool in the Lords hands that day, and that I was able to bear that
testimony. It makes me thankful to be a missionary, even if I am only
a missionary for the next week and a half. I love the gospel and I am
thankful to be here!!!!!!!!
Well, it looks like I have arrived to my last Preperation Day in the
mission. Its a strange feeling to think I will have to take my tag off
and become a regular person again in a couple of days, I think it will
probably just melt into my heart instead.
I have been thinking about all the stuff I have learned, all the people I have met, and all of
the great things that have happened for me and I have had a big
feeling of gratitude. I have learned so much, grown so much, and have
loved every moment. Through all the hard times, times of success,
times of hard praying and everything I have really felt the influence
of my Heavenly Father guiding me and rooting for me every step of the
way.
Through all my reading of the scriptures and my experiences I
have come to realize God loves me and is there watching over me even
when I dont know it.I really feel to join Ammon when he says "blessed
be the name of our God, let us sing to his praise, let us give thanks
to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever" Alma 26:8
How great is He. I am so grateful for this opportunity I have had to be a
missionary, for all the opportunities to impact others lives. I know
now that my time as a missionary will end, and now I have the
opportunity to serve in a different way. I won't have a suit and tie on
every day, but I will still wear a willingness to serve my neighbor.
A new phase of my life will start, but I will never forget the many
things I have learned and experienced in these last two years. I know
they will serve as tools and reminders for who I can become and who I
need to be as I continue to learn and grow on this journey of life. I
am eternally grateful and indebted.
I know as I continue to learn about my Heavenly Father and the saviour and redeemer of the world,
Jesus Christ, this mission will more and more become a model for the
rest of my life. Although I am going to miss the mission A LOT and all
the opportunities it has brought, I am excited to grow and learn and
impact in different ways for the rest of my life.
I just want to thank right now my family, my parents and my brother
and sister for their support and prayers, as well as all the people
that have ever wrote me, ever prayed for me over these last two years.
I have literally felt the support at times as I have been working and
continuing to press onward.
I have a strong testimony of the reality of the Saviour, Jesus
Christ, and of the divinity of this work to help people come to know
Him and His redeeming power. I know that the Book of Mormon is the
word of God, that Joseph Smith restored the gospel of Jesus Christ and
that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet of God on the earth today. I love
this gospel and am thankful for the blessings that it continues to
bring in my life and the lives of others.
I just wanted to lastly express an eternal thanks to my Father in
Heaven, for this great earthly experience. Even though it seems hard
sometimes, I continue to love it! I hope that everyone who reads this
will understand this relationship that you have as well. I'm so
grateful for that which I have discovered in my own life.
Sono eternamente grato
Anziano Ryan Day
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