The Wu Family

I dont' know if this was the family that he took around today or another day?  IF it is, they may know Cody?  If not, then it is just some people that knew Ryan when he went to school and church in Del Mar?  

Letter #17

!!HELLO!! sorry that this took so long to do but today has been insane!! first of all today is not my P-Day, but president told us that we can still write our emails!! our P-Day got changed to saturday just for this week because of new years! i guess we have to be in by six here because it will get so crazy!! today was crazy though! first of all, we woke up and gave a tour of china town to a senior couple in our mission and their family that was so fun! it was so nice to be able to just talk with people in english!! hahaha! after, they treated us to lunch and it was really cool! it was hilarious watching them all trying to eat chinese food... really great stuff! after that, we had an English lesson with two of our investigators and taught them after! (they are the two sisters that i was telling you about!) today we taught them about the plan of salvation, and invited them to be baptized!! they said that they would if they know it is true by the date that we gave them!! which, as we all know, they will! it was so amazing teaching them! i could not stop feeling how much heavenly father really loves them! it was like he was right there with me helping me out! it was so amazing!

as i am sure that some of you know there was a crazy blizzard here... it was AWESOME! we got about a foot and a half of snow! i never realized really how much that i like the snow! me and my district broke into many snow ball fights and it was really fun!! i drilled elder Faulkner with a large snow ball in the back of the head! he picked up a huge ball of snow and started chasing me, my companion and elder fan all over china town!! we were jumping over snow banks and stuff it was awesome! i felt like i was in an action movie and everything was moving in slow motion! a ton of chinese people started to cheer us on and laugh at us! even some of them threw a snow ball or two... it was great! it felt like some started this crazy food fight in the cafeteria!!

the snow gave us a lot of opportunities to serve, which i loved! because the snow was so high, the roads became really bad, so a lot of people were stuck here in china town (it was horrible)!! i went to the store and bought a snow shovel and started digging people out of the snow and helping them get out! it lead to a lot of people getting interested in who we were. it was awesome! our best two contacts were with two white people though! one of them we basically dug his car out of a whole snow bank! it was bad! i guess there was some one stuck in front of him so he tried to go up on a snow bank and go around him! we came up and started to help him. he got very confused! he had no idea why we would want to help him! when we told him that we were just out helping people... he said, "wow there is still some good in the world"! after, we had dug out all of the snow, these two homeless men came up and started to pretend to help. not really homeless, just not very good guys!! after they walked up to the man's car and started to ask for money, he ignored them and asked if he could pay us. we said no, we told him if he ever saw the english missionaries though that he needs to talk to them! it was great! the two men felt so stupid!!

I would say that we helped probably over 20 people that day!! Some of them were grateful and some of them were not! But it was still so awesome!! Christmas was so cool! I got to talk with my family which was awesome...I am not going to lie!! It got me so pumped up and ready to go!! We also did a lot of caroling while visiting all of our members which was very humbling! Some of these apartments will have 5 chinese families packed into one! They are such hard working people and they get so little back in return! It is very sad to say! It makes me never want to complain about a situation I have ever again!!

I am really having a great time out here!! It is so amazing how fast it is going by!! OH I also gave a talk this weekend in sacrament which was nuts!! I don't know if any one understood what I would say but it was still a great experience! I wish I could tell you I knocked it out of the park but that would be a lie!! I am so excited to just know chinese!! It is pretty rough!! Well, I love you all so much! Thank you so much for all of the letters that I got and christmas cards!! I love them! They were the best gifts that a missionary could get!!! Have a happy new years!!

LETTER #16!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!~

Well, I had an awesome week! We had a lot of things going on, very busy so it was great! 

To start thing off! We had a dinner appointment! Can you believe it a dinner appointment in chinatown?! One of our members, brother zeng invited us over for a hot pot dinner! My first one! It was such a great experience to have! He bought so much food!!! We had duck tongues, small octopus, crab, snails, hermit crabs, and many other various things that I did not even know what they are!! I learned something about the Chinese culture.. They will keep on feeding you and feeding you until there is no more possible room in your stomach!! They also hate it when you try to help! I was trying to help by washing my plate off and he really got mad!! Like he was actually upset! I felt bad! And for dessert we had this sugar soup stuff with mo chi balls in it! My companion and another elder did not like it, so they continued to give them all to me when brother zeng was not looking!! I was SO full! But it was awesome! I have not felt that feeling in a while! After we ate, watched a great Christmas movie! In his room where we watched the Christmas movie, he had a bunch of pictures of him and the same missionary ( the missionary that baptized him.) They were all over the walls. This man really loved the missionary's, you can tell the church has really brought him so much happiness in his life!  After the movie he began giving us a ton of stuff! And when I say at on of stuff I mean almost everything that he had, which was not very much. He lived in a small apartment with one room and a kitchen. He gave us pens, rings, leftovers from his fridge, fruit, protein shakes, everything that he had!

I also got to go to the temple for the first time! The Manhattan temple is SO cool! It is amazing how it can be so loud out side with so many crazy things going on, and the inside is still quiet, and full of the spirit. I went with my ward so I did baptisms and confirmations in Chinese! Yes, I did it! It was so scary, I messed up so many times!! But it was such a neat experience to have I really enjoyed it!! 

Oh and the one really nice lady I was telling you all about, that invented that cool Iphone case, MET WITH US!!! It was so cool! We briefly talked about our church, but spent a lot of time just getting to know her! She was so interesting and has so many amazing stories!! One of them that was really cool was one about 911! I guess she was supposed to get on they exact plane that hit the twin towers but she ended up taking a later flight! It was so amazing the spirit was so strong as she just spoke with us! She has been through so many hardships in her life! I really hope that she allows us to keep teaching her... she is amazing!! 

We also had another really cool thing happen! me and my companion got this random call from a man named Danny! He told us he has known some of the past missionaries before us and he wanted to go buy us some food! He met us at a local meat market, and bought us almost 80 dollars worth of meat! After, he said that he had to go because he was looking for a job! NO one had ever seen this man before! AND he would not give us any time to get to know him! It was SO weird!!! We asked all the other missionaries and they said they have never seen him before! I really hope that I get the opportunity to see him again! And really find out who he is! I am so grateful for his service! It was amazing!!

Oh and another great story, I asked the other elders in my district if I could sit in on a lesson with an investigator named Cathy! She is a Taiwanese woman probably in her sixties and she is a little different! She always thinks that the cops are after her, the cops are taping her phone line, and the Chinese communists in china town are trying to take over the whole world! It is very interesting! But any ways, she asked everyone in the room to go around and pray before our lesson started and throughout our prayers she would always yell "amen, amen!!!" hahahahahah It was very funny! Then she said about a thirty minute prayer asking cops to stop following her, and to change the bad Communist people! hahaha! I love my mission!!

Well, Thank you all so much for the love and support that you have been giving me. I have been loving getting Christmas cards, and hearing from you all!! I love you SO much, I hope you have a great Christmas!! I am loving my mission it is the best Christmas gift I could ask for!!!

Love,

Bao zhang lao!!

Letter #15

Hello everyone!!!

 

Wow... this mission field is amazing! I remember being in the MTC thinking that time went by really fast! I feel like every other day is a P day in the mission field! WOW it is going by way too fast!! But i am loving every second of it!!

This week was really good for my companion! We received a ton of new phone numbers from street contacting! AND we had a ton of lessons scheduled however, we got stood up on every single one of them!! In chinese they say that "we got our pigeons released"! YES it was very surprising but we still have more numbers, so i think that at least one of them should end up meeting with us!! However, we did have one really cool lesson this week Chen Rei Lin brought down two of her daughters from China!! Chen rei lin is a recent convert. We had the opportunity of teaching both of them!! It was soo cool!! They didn't even know who God was! Their knowlege of christianity was very small because they were from China! The government allows very little religious beliefs. The lesson went great though and they were so exited to learn about all of these new things! We had to use so many visuals and analogies to help them understand each subject! But when it would finally click, they would light up and get so excited!!!

English class this week was hilarious! I read them a children's book called, "small brown dogs bad remembering day"! They were so confused why a dog would be talking! They thought that it was the funniest thing ever! at least i think they did! After i would read each line, they would all get very confused faces.... but then as i translated the words, they thought that it was hilarious! I felt like i was reading a book to my little sisters, it was so awesome! I really love the chinese people they are so funny!! I have been loving contacting!!! It is so funny when you speak chinese to them...they get so excited!!

Well most of the time they get excited! One time this week, i accidently contacted a Filipino lady in chinese!! YAH that was not a fun experience! She got very mad and started to yell at me! Luckily a big bus went by so i did not hear to many of the words that she had to give me!! But that was horrible, i really need to get better at telling the races apart! I had a lot of stories like that, that same day! I felt like i was having the worst day contacting ever! It seemed like chinatown was just in a horrible mood or something!! BUT then at the very end of the day, i ran into one of the nicest, most friendly people that i have ever met! She was an older lady that had just invented a new product for the i phone! It was a case that was also a battery... it was really cool! She was so nice! She gave us her card and offered to buy me and my companion dinner!! It is so crazy how blessings come like that! Heavenly father really makes you work for them! At least in every miracle i have seen or heard of, it always takes a lot of work.... they do not come for free! We are tested until the point where we feel like we are going to give up! BUT then right at the last second, you have an experience, that is so personal you know that it was a gift from heavenly father!!

Oh and this is a great story!! SO Elder Faulkner AKA Chad! (for some of you that might know him!) Chad was walking up to our church when he saw a large jewish man! He said "hi" they talked for a while then he left. About twenty minutes later, the jewish man comes up into our church and starts talking to Elder Faulkner! I walked out of teaching English class and saw him (thinking that he looked very familiar)! It turns out that he told Elder Faulkner he left his wallet in a taxi and had no way of catching a train to go back to New Jersey (where he lived) AND asked to borrow 100 dollars. Elder Faulkner (being the great man that he is) allowed him to borrow the money! The man said that he would be back tomorow to pay him back! I am sure that you can see where this story is going! The man didn't come back the next day to give him the money! AND I remembered why he looked familiar! HE TRIED TO DO THE SAME THING TO ME WHEN I WAS CONTACTING ONE DAY!!!!! He said he was stuck in chinatown and needed 20 dollars for a hotel and dinner! AND that he lost his wallet! He also told both of us the same jewish saying! (which means one good deed!) Luckily at that time, i did not have 20 dollars to give him! AND i saw he had a hole in his yamaka, so i thought he was homeless! haha oh you have to love chinatown! NO worries though Elder Faulkner had a lot of extra money saved up so he was ok!

OH and one of my friends from the English program ran into the Berthas!! Thanks for the notes that was so awesome!! I was so excited!!! I came to watch the stake opera show! There are four famous opera singers that came and oh my gosh opera is interesting!! It is amazing how loud these people can get their voices to go!!! OHHH there is so much talent in New York! AND at another thing i went to, we had one of the main characters from "wicked" sing a song! Her name was "gladia" in the play i think! BUT i guess she is mormon so she gave us a show! IT was awesome! Gladys Knight is also in our stake as well! IT is so crazy what talent is here! I hope that now you understand why i am so scared to do my little musical number in CHINESE this weekend! haha!
Well i love you all so much! Thanks for all of the letters, it is so nice to feel your support!!

Love BAO ZHANG LAO!!

Letter #14

Okay... Elder Barton's corrected address is: 117 Mott Street Apt 3B, New York, NY 10013
>
> Hello everyone!!
>
> OK well to start off, i just want to say thank you so much for all of the letters that i recieved this week! I got a huge stack of mail in my apartment mailbox on probably last thursday!! It was a very exciting time! I forgot to tell you all my apartment number is 3B, ha ha sorry about that! i am so happy the mailman was still nice enough to deliver them to the right spot!! But it was so nice to hear from you all!
> This week went very well! I mentioned last time that i was going to give a talk at a baptism! I did and it actually did not go that bad! I actually managed to even crack a joke! I had to ask my district for help but hey, it worked out so i was really excited! It is amazing to see a baptism like that.. it was different seeing someone recieve baptism that was not a eight year old kid and he was so excited to recieve it! He had just moved here from china and had never had really any contact with the church before! The spirit was so strong! I really did not know him that well because i have only been here a few weeks, but it was awesome!!! The missionaries sang, "i am a child of god" right after he was baptized, and he started to sing along from the audience! I am sure that it sounds wierd, but it was soo cool! AH it was awesome and i really hope that i can be involved in another expeirence like that!!
> Chinese is impossible!!!!! BUT seems like it is starting to get a little better! I am so lucky to have a few natives in my district. They help me out so much!! We are getting an elder from taiwan soon. I really hope i am his companion! For my language study lately, I have just been talking with them for the whole hour and writing down words that i do not know! How much better could it get!! I learn so much doing that! AND they all correct my tones and pronunciation!! Don't get me wrong, the language is still impossible! I almost feel like i am starting over again because i picked up alot of bad habits at the MTC!!
> English class this last week actually became one of my favorite things ever! Because i get to watch others struggle with a language! I know this sounds horrible but it is great! Last time that i taught, i asked them to say nauseated! We were learning about illness and doctor expieiences!! It was awesome!!
> I have actually been meeting some really cool people while teaching in our english class! One of my favorites is named Peter! He moved to america 10 years ago and has lived in China working in a restaurant the whole time!! He has a wife, son, and daughter. I asked him if he would be willing to teach me how to cook and he said that he would teach me how to make sushi next time that he makes it for his faimily!! I was really exited!! I realy hope that i can get him interested in the church! He is only interested in english right now but he said after he learns english, he wants to hear about the church!
> Me and my companion are working very well with each other! This week we made big signs to put on our backpacks so that we could advertise our church! It actully seems to be working pretty well! I made a little pass along card holder on mine that is pretty awesome! We also have been trying to contact in a bunch of different spots! (the subways!) and even the chinese people in little italy sometimes!! When we went into little italy, i met the mob boss! His name is tommy.. tommy the nose! He had a huge mink fur coat on and was extremely large! Whenever he would say his name, he would turn to his side and point at his nose! He was funny! He really likes mormons! AND usually gives them money! My comp said he gave him a twenty one time!!
> Well, thank you all so much for you love and support! I am loving new york! This is really the best place for me to be! I have the strongest testimony that god loves and knows each of us because of my mission call! This is the perfect place for me to learn the things that i need to learn in this life. Every companion i have had so far has taught me a ton! (things that i needed to learn!) IT IS AMAZING!!

Letter #13

Hey oh and what do you know!

 

Wow it is really crazy how much faster time flies by when you are in the mission field! I really feel like i just barely wrote an email home! But WOW what a crazy week! It is really insane how busy you are out here! There is no free time to do anything! I forget that i am supposed to eat sometimes but hey, i am still continuing to get fat... it is a mystery!

  OK so first of all, it was thanksgiving this week! Which let's just say was not a normal thanksgiving at all!! At first, i went to the MACY'S DAY PARADE! (that was so cool... there were so many famous people that went by on floats and i got pictures it was so sweet!) A lot of Nickelodeon stars so i was really happy about that! It was so cool though as it was awesome to see it in real life! I was so excited! There were so many people there though it was insane! My Mission President is SO cool! He lets us go to things like that all of the time! We are aloud to go to Yankees games that are on Pdays! AND we get to go to one Broadway show before we leave! AND we can go to all of the museums on our Pday as well! My mission president made or Pdays on Wednesdays because it is free to go to the museums on Wednesday! Today is Wednesday right!? ha I have no idea anymore!! But anyways, thanksgiving was really cool! We went to a members house to eat and it was really cool but very different! They live in QUEENS so we had to get special premission to leave our mission boundaries! He allowed us because that is the only family that was able to have us over for dinner! For our meal we had chicken feet, sea food and a bunch of things that i had no idea what they were! AND yes, i said chicken feet! Which actually surprisingly is really good! It kind of tastes like candy in a really weird (not candy way) at all! BUT it was still very good! OH wow i love Chinese food! It is Delicious! After we ate, we all talked! WELL, my district and the family talked and i got lost pretty easily! Chinese people speak sooooooooo fast!

   I was blown away this week with my Chinese! My first church experience was insane!!! IT was so weird not being able to just walk up and talk to people! I definitely tried though! IT was a little discouraging though because of how blunt Chinese people are at times! I had one lady flat out tell me my Chinese was horrible, and she did not like my last name! what do you say to that?! I just laughed, then ran to the bathroom and cried! hahah NO i am kidding, but i did laugh i thought that it was hilarious! I am glad that she was honest about my Chinese! But i love my ward everyone is so nice! At least, if i understand what they are saying correctly!! They all are so humble and really willing to help! they are all also very hard workers. Most of them work all day and everyday!! China Town is always busy! It is hard to get members to come to lessons with us though because they are always working! It is very rare that they have any free time at all! That is why we had to go to Queens for Thanksgiving as that is they only family that was able to have us over for dinner!! it is pretty crazy!

  Because China Town is so busy, it is often very hard to contact people! They have no time at all to do anything! They are usually running, so you have to run after them as you are trying to tell them about our church! ha BUT sometimes they will still talk back and it is really funny! I have recently found something that works pretty well though! You offer to help them carry their stuff! They are always walking around with huge bags and boxes! I saw this guy carrying five bags of Chinese food in each hand!! I asked if i could help him, and asked my companion to come with me! We helped him with his food all the way to his house!! Most of the time, we walked with him we were just talking and getting to know him! AND he was asking questions about what we do as missionaries! When we got to his house, he tried to pay us!!! We refused the money and he was very confused!! We said that he could pay us by letting him teach him about the church!! He agreed and gave us his phone number! I really hope that we have the opportunity to help him learn. I think that would be so cool! That was probably one of my best contacts the whole week! We continue to pray for opportunities to serve people!

  We don't have very many investigators, but the ones that we do have are really cool! One of them is getting baptized this Saturday!! AND he is so ready! I don't know him very well at all but he is so smart. He has really read the book of Mormon and has a very strong testimony that it is true! He loves the scriptures! This is a person my companion and his old companion taught, before his old companion left! BUT i am giving a talk at his baptism and i am extremely nervous! It is going to be in front of real Chinese people! NOT just missionaries at the MTC! It is going to be crazy! Oh and me and my companion are doing a duet in the Christmas program in Chinese!!!! hahahahah! that will be interesting!! I really wish that you could all hear what it will sound like! Just imagine "angels we have heard on high" sung in Chinese by two missionaries that can't sing! IN a language that one of them does not know! Doesn't that just sound marvelous!!

  Ok now it is time for my two favorite stories of the week! First one: Our land lady asked us to take out the air conditioning vent from our window! It was one of those ones that hang out of the window and that is held down from the window being shut! I am sure you can see where this is going! We had Elder Fan (the native elder from Hong Kong) hold down the air conditioning unit as we tried to pull up the window! The window was really old and really hard to open!! My apartment is 100 years old! SO me and my companion and Elder Fan's companion were pulling up on the window to get it open! The window opened way faster then we thought that it would, and then we saw a flash of light (electricity) and heard an unearthly scream (Elder Fan) as the air conditioning crashed five floors down to the street below!!!!!!  We sat in silence for about a minute and a half... after that we all started to cry we were laughing so hard! AHHHH that was amazing! Luckily our land lady was really nice about it and did not get mad! We are also lucky nothing else broke and no one else was hurt!! I hope that you are getting the correct imagery from this story!

  Next story is not nearly as funny! I don't know if any of you have seen the rain in New York, but it rains to the side! Because the wind blows soo hard!! It is the strongest wind that i have ever felt in my whole life but it is really funny because in China Town a ton of little Chinese men almost get blown away! This morning i saw a little Chinese man, fighting to keep his umbrella in his hands! He kept pulling against the wind until finally the wind BROKE HIS UMBRELLA IN HALF!! It was so funny! ah gosh, i love it here!

  Well, i hope you are all doing great! i am loving my mission more and more each day! i am exited to know Chinese that will for sure make things a lot easier! The language is insane! But i am doing great! Thank you all for your love and support!

 bao zhang lao

Letter #12 OUR BOY IS OFF TO NY

OH MY GOSH! SO it turns out today is my PDAY out here, so i am really exited that i get to write everyone so fast! WOW this place is insane, let's just say it is not very much like Carlsbad, CALIFORNIA or the MTC! Very different! The streets are filled with people! As i am sure all of you can guess... my first area is China Town! I have a really cool first companion, his name is Elder Near and he is from Iowa! (dont worry, he doesn't wrestle so i won't be getting any more skinned knees!) But he is really funny and knows amazing Chinese! I also live with two other missionaries who are also extremly cool! One of them is from Hong Kong and the other is from Utah i think? Pretty good guess! But they are all awesome i really lucked out!

Ok... so let me just tell you about yesterday! First i woke up at the mission home, ate breakfast, had a fast lesson then we hit the road to meet our new trainers! Of course, as i am sure that you can guess we met in the Bronx, in a five story church building! The windows were bullet proof and it had a parking garage that was located under ground with a steal plated garage door! haha! The Bronx is actually a very good area for missionary work!!! Supposably, the missionaries have a really good rep with some of the gangs there so that is really cool! So then me and the 4 other Mandarin elders grabbed my stuff and walked through the Bronx to the closest subway entrance! Subways are soo cool! There are so many people on them and very interesting people! Our subway ride was about 30 minutes to get to China Town! Let's just say you know when you are in China Town! The smell changes to a nice pungent fish smell and all of a sudden a ton of Chinese music starts to play! I am no longer in the U.S.!!!!!!! I am in CHINA, and it is awesome! I am so happy! I had the biggest smile on my face walking through the streets of China Town, it is so awesome! OUR apartment is in the back of China Town! AND is very small!! so cool!

So then, I unpacked and we went contacting right away! I guess one of the main ways that they contact here is by getting to teach chinese people ENGLISH! You tell them that it is a "free class" and they get all excited!!! They are a hallarious people! One of the ladies i contacted yesterday laughed at me the whole time and did not speak a word, then said "bye bye!" haha! I love Chinese people! They get so surprised when i speak to them! They say, "how do you know chinese!" really loud! It is awesome! I asked this little old man where he was from and he grabbed my shoulder pulled me about two inches away from his face then said, he was from Beijing! Then said something that i did not understand! I asked my companion what he said and he said he asked me if i could get him a green card! Contacting is so fun!!! I got a few people to take pass along cards and i was really happy about that!

Then, i went and saw my church building! A very small floor of a building with about 30 members! They have a ping pong table in one of the class rooms! How awesome is that! I look forward to getting "whooped on" by some of these members! It will be a blast! ha ha! We also have two sisters in our district from mainland China and they are very nice people! At least if i can only understand what they were saying!

Then to close of my day, I taught a lesson in English! some of the English Speaking elders in Manhattan needed a companion to come teach a single lady! It was so wierd teaching in English! She had 4 kids and was a single mother! Last Sunday she took all of her kids with her to attend church all by herself! Getting on subways and pushing her 3 month year old child in a stroller! She is an amazing investigator, i really think she is ready for baptism! Then i came home and tried to sleep through the sound of sirens and car alrams! "It's the best!" (nacho libre voice!)

Well, yesterday was awesome! I really am enjoying the mission field! 117 motts st new york new york 10013 is my China Town address! You CAN send small packages and letters there!  (bigger things to the mission home address!) THANK YOU all for your love and support! Sorry this email was a little long! I had alot to say! Love you guys and hope you have a great week!

Letter #11

> Well i had a very interesting week in the MTC! lets just say fisrt of all i am now not leaving tomorrow! I was extremely surprised! My whole zone leaves tomorrow but i have an extra week! Because i would have been the only one in my travel group, they wanted me to wait a week so i could go with a few other New York North missionaries! I am going to be very out of place though because they all speak spanish! I leave neaxt monday at 5 in the morning! So unfortunately, i don't think that i will be able to write an email next week.

> I think that my P day when i get to NEW YORK is on a Monday! So i will spend my P day on a plane! Not that it is a bad way to spend a P day!
> ANYWAYS let's get to some good stuff! Guess who came to the MTC this week to talk?!?!? ELDER BEDNAR! Is that four apostles in a row now?!?! It was amazing!!! I have always loved Elder Bednar. He speaks so clear and diriect about his topics! He taught us about teaching with doctrine! He said we all focus on appications to much of the time and don't think about the doctrine and principles behind it! It was really funny...ME and my district were in the cafeteria and we heard someone say that it was Elder Bednar speaking that day.... we were planning on just going to the overflow, but we sprinted in to the gym to get seats when we heard who was speaking! I ended up with almost front row seats! It is amazing to see an apostle in person! If you have seen one, you know what i am talking about! As he spoke, he caught eye contact with me a few times... I don't think i will ever be able to forget the feeling that i had. WOW i am so spoiled here aren't I?
> This week was extremely effective! I only had 4 people in my district all week so i was able to get alot of individual attention from my teacher and it was amazing! I really was able to feel myself improve this week! Not even close to prepared for the Chinese people of New York however! I met some native Chinese Missionaries this week, they speak so fast! But it is very helpful to talk with them. They all have such funny personalities! They are really trying to help me speak Chinese! One of them heard about the gospel in main land China, but had no idea what it was. He flew to Hong Kong ( which is not owned by China) and gave the Mandarin Missionaries a call! They taught him and he received baptism with in a week!! The other received baptism in MAIN LAND CHINA!
> It is so amazing to see what some of these people are willing to do just to be baptized! I wish that everyone had that strong of a testimony! If we did, we would have everyone serving missions and a huge increase of members!
> Well everyone, keep me in your prayers next week that i will be a good example to the younger elders in my zone! AND that i won't teach them any words in Chinese that are WRONG! ha! Well, i love this church and this amazing opportunity to serve a mission! It is so amazing how well heavenly father knows each of his children. I know that there is a reason that i have another week at the MTC... I am sure there is something that i need to learn from one of the younger elders! I will be sure to let you know as soon as i can how AWESOME NEW YORK IS!
> wo ai nimem
> bao zhang lao!
>

Ryan is now leaving to NYC on Nov 22nd... (early in the morning) His new address in NYC is:
Elder Ryan Barton
New York North Mission
700 White Plains Road, Suite 315
Scarsdale, NY 10583
We believe the mail will reach him weekly? The mailing address is different from where he will be living, so the Mission Home has asked us to not send too many packages nor too large as well! They asked us to NOT send perishable items ;(
They don't want Ryan to be mugged trying to get his things to his home in China Town and it is also difficult to carry packages on the transit systems... Once we get a chance to talk to Elder Dennis (returning from NYC NORTH Mission) next week, we will be able to let everyone know the mail situation :)

Letter #10

> Hello!!
> Oh my... soo a crazy week in the MTC! A lot of really great things and some kinda sad things! First off, we will start with all of the great stuff that happened to me this week! First of all, I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS!! I leave next Tuesday! I have to be at the travel office at 5 in the morning and have a one way flight into JFK airport and i am sooooooo excited!!! I can not believe how fast it came it is incredible! I am extremely excited yet scared at the same time. I am scared to go into the real world after being here for so long and having this constant spiritual charge all the time! It is going to be so weird!
> The sad...My companion and two other roommates left TODAY! So it is really wierd! I have a new companion now named Elder Stuart! He is from Provo, Utah and is going to New Zealand speaking Chinese! He will be able to walk the path of mordor from "lord of the rings", so i am a little jealous!!!!! I am not going to lie! I also have two new roommates who are serving in Hong Kong who are also very cool.
> We had some amazing speakers come to the MTC this week!! First off, we had M. Russel Ballard! I have heard 3 Apostles in a row now!!! I am so lucky! After that, we heard from Sheri Dew! Both of them were amazing speakers! I am sure now you can see why i am going to miss it here so bad!
> We took a Chinese Culture class this week that was insane!!!! I had no idea the chinese were so superstitious! If you write their name in red ink, they take it as you wish them to have a shorter life! RED INK! If you pass a old man on the street, it is very rude. If you drum with your chopsticks, it is rude. If you stick your chopsticks in the rice and leave them, it is rude. If you cross your legs with the bottom of your shoe pointing at some one, it is rude! If you give them an odd number of fruit, it is rude! haha This should be very interesting! I will be sure to count how many times I accidently offend someone!
> I also had an amazing expierence at my TRC this week. (the thing where we have the fake investigator) She was a native from Taiwan and was extremely friendly! The lesson was going great, we were really working hard to find what she needed to hear as the investigator, asking and answering questions. The spirit was very strong in the room. Suddenly we went off on a tangent about how her parents will eventually see that this church is true and be proud of her. We bore testimony of this for almost half of our lesson. Her eyes started to fill with tears as she told us that in real life she had just joined the church and her parents were having a hard time accepting her choice. It was amazing I was soo grateful that heavenly father gave me that opportunity to be an instrument in his hands. It really got me excited to start off my mission! I hope that i can have many more of these experiences.
> Well this week was amazing! I hope that all is well for all of you! Thank you so much for all of your love and support! You are making this mission so great! I LOVE my mission! I am soo excited to really get started in New York NEXT WEEK!
> bao zhang lao

Watch Out New York, Here comes Elder Barton!!

Elder Barton reports to New York on November 16.  His new address will be:

Elder Ryan Lee Barton
New York New York North Mission
700 White Plains Rd. #315
Scarsdale, NY 10583

You can also write him on dearelder.com (a stamp charge will occur)

LETTTTEEERRR #9!!!

 Hi there!!1
> Another great week at the MTC!! And to start off, i would like to say sorry this letter has taken me so long to write! There was an E-mail account malfuntion today at the MTC!! And it was really scary, for a second i was not sure if i was even going to be able to write one!!
> But anyways!! Great week! We had a talk from Richard G Scott! We got two Apostles in a row!! How lucky are we!! I was so exited! He gave an amazing talk! He talked about spiritual promptings and the impotance of writing them down and remembering them! He then gave us a list of his own personal promptings! We are not allowed to copy them or use them in talks or anything. He wants us to just keep them for us!! It was so special! AFTER IT STARTED SNOWING!!! I was so exited! I of course, started a snowball fight! Which was all fun and games until, Elder Randel (a large man from New Zealand that plays rugby) got involved! He got a huge snowball and attacked Elder Peterson, a elder in my district! At that point, it was time to surrender!
> Next crazy thing! I am getting a new teacher! My native teacher is getting replaced with a new native teacher! And my new teacher barely speaks any English!! It is crazy!! I am bummed my old teacher is leaving, she was so funny and awesome! And made class very fun! But our new teacher seems awesome! I will have my first lesson with her on Monday! MY COMP got his travel plans. He is leaving next Monday! So i am freaking out!! I should get my travel plans this week! Can you believe how fast this has gone by?!?! It is so nuts! I will be sure to let you know if my departure date changes next Monday! But as of now, it is Nov 16!
> SO, i heard Alex Bertha's name called over the intercom this week to come to the front desk! I sprinted to the front desk! I saw his VISA but not him! hah... I saw his VISA before he did! That is pretty cool! But i didn't see Alex that day! I did the next day though and it was awesome! He seems to really be doing great!
> I bought an awesome pair of chop sticks this week! I have been using them very often to eat! However, most of the time i just eat "tator taughts" with them, I am becoming quite skilled! I am really starting to love Chinese and teaching! I have to rely on the spirit so much! The whole time that i teach, i am constantly praying!! It is amazing to see how much heavenly father is willing to help you when you give him all that you have to offer!!! There is no way i would be able to learn Chinese or even teach with out his help. It is very humbling! Well, the MTC is soo cool!
> I am loving my mission! I am getting so pumped to get out into the field!! I love you all, thank you so much for your love and support! It helps me so much!
> Love bao zhang lao!!

Letter #8

Wow another great week in the MTC! It feels like they just keep getting better and better! I keep learning more and more new ways that i can be more effective! This is such an awesome place! We also were lucky enough to have Elder Russell M Nelson come and give us a talk at a devotional! It is amazing to be in a general authority's presence! They all carry the spirit with them so strong! I really enjoyed the talk! My lesson this week in chinese was really cool, it was the best that i feel that i have ever taught in chinese! The reason being i did not depend on myself as i taught, i completely relied on the spirit! There were so many things that i was not expecting at all going into the lesson! I invited for babtism in chinese, and i had no idea where it came from at all! but it was so awesome!! I was planning to simply invite my investigator to pray, but the words just flew out of my mouth in chinese, BABTISM! ( keep in mind this is not a real investigator) but it was still awesome, it really started to feel real as i taught!

I am getting so exited to get out in the mission field! But extremly scared at the same time!! time goes by soo fast at the MTC! Each week here feels like a day, it is starting to scare me a little! I feel like i need to practice chinese more, but i know that when i get out in the mission field is really when my chinese will start to improve! I saw Elder Monahan this week at the Mtc!! It was so great to see him! He got his visa and is now off to mexico city! I was so surprised to see him, but it was really cool! He has already been out on his mission, so he had a ton of great insight to tell me!! He is part of the reason i am so excited to get out into the mission field. He had a ton of great stories! I also saw Elder Hansen, it was great to see him as well! I made sure to show him the ropes here at the MTC! Because i am kinda becoming a big deal here on campus, not going to lie! kidding! But he seems to be doing great and adapting to the misson life really well!!

Fall is so pretty up here! The season actully changes! It is very cool to see! All of the trees are changing color, and leaves are all over the side walk! It is really fun to step on all of them walking back and forth from class everyday!! OH I HAVE A STORY I FORGOT TO SHARE LAST WEEK! so a few elders from my district were in the laundery room, and these three chinese officials walked in receiving a tour of the MTC! Of course all of the Mandarin Missionaries got really excited thinking that China is going to open up! I don't know what is going to happen, but it was really cool to see that! But who knows it could still be a very long time!!

Well i love you all! thank you so much fot all of the love and support you have been giving me! I hope that all is going well for you, because it is sure going well for me! I love this church so much, and i am so grateful for the opportunity to be out on a mission! I am learning so much, and hope that i will continue!! It is such a great feeling to know that the lord is happy that i am trying my best to help him!

zai jian!!

Bao zhang lao!

Letter #7 YA YA YA

Ni men hao!!

 

Another amazing week in the MTC!!!!

I taught the first lesson again this week and it went way better!!! I SAID THE FIRST VISON IN CHINESE!! I am sure this probably seems kinda late, but lets just say there has been alot of translation problems!! It was so cool, the spirit is so strong when the first vison is told no matter what language it is heard in! We had a talk yesterday, from the secretary of the MTC, Brother Beeson. It was a really great talk! He read this couple page article to us that this guy wrote with all of these "facts" as to why he believed there was a God. The list dragged on and on, and there was really no feeling as he read it, i felt like i was sitting in a science class. After he finished, he looked up at the audience and recited the first vision.. tears filled his eyes and the audience was silent. He then asked us what was more convincing - where did we feel the spirit stronger? We all new the answer! There is nothing that invites the spirit stronger than a testimony! I love Joseph Smiths first vision and i dont think i ever really thought about what exactly it was until i came here.

This week my zone recieved new missionaries! I am officially one of the older Mandarin Missionaries here now, WIERD! The new missionaries are awsome, it is so nice to be able to answer other peoples questions about Chinese and the schedule! Although they are probally not going to ask me too many more questions... i like messing around with them alot!! On Sunday, i convinced all of them that they would have to give a 5 minute talk in Chinese - it was awesome! They were so relieved when i told them that was not the case! It was hallarious!! With new missionaries, unfortunately old missionaries leave! I am starting to lose some of my good friends i have made here! There were two Hmong elders that left that were so funny! One of them was from california, i was bummed to see them go! Now there is a new Hmong elder and he is the only one in the MTC!!! He doesn't even have a companion!! It is crazy!! I also lost Elder Toolson this week and that was sad! But i am exited for him, i know that he will ROCK the misson field!! I met a movie star this week! You know the church little movie clip, seminary or surfing?! Well, i met the elder in that movie! His name is Elder Kimble. He is going to the Dominican Republic and is really a cool guy!

I found out some awesome things about my misson this week!! My native Chinese teacher is from there! She lived exactly where i am going to be serving!! She said there are a ton of people that speak Mandarin there! There are enough to fill 2 branches! So that will be sweet! I am glad that i will be able to use the language a lot! I also heard that i get one couple week trasfer to English speaking on my mission! Just so i don't go insane in China Town the whole time!

Well, i hope all is going well! I love you all so much!!

 

Bao zhang lao!

 

Lovely Letter #6

Hello!!!

 

SO to start off, i had an amazing birthday - thanks to all of you! Thank you so much for sending me all of that stuff! Not going to lie, i felt really cool! It was one of my teacher's birthdays the day before mine so we celebrated together and it was awesome! My class sang to me in Chinese, happy birthday! It was really cool! Then we all went outside and had cupcakes! Later that night, it was party time! And when we got back to the rooms, we broke out the candy and ran around the whole floor making the guys day with candy and treats! I am officially very loved now in my building!! Thank you all, awesome birthday!

Next, i taught in Chinese the first lesson! It is so weird because i feel like i have only been here like a week, it is amazing how fast time goes by here! I was really surprised how easy it actually was. I was expecting it to be brutal but i actully got through it! Now did i dominate? That is questionable, however i did finish the lesson which i was very happy about. I have to do that again next week, but this time i want to go more in depth, sharing personal expierences, and this one really cool quote i found about the atonement that i want to memorize in Chinese! So, i am hoping that next week i will teach better!

Here is the funny story of the week.. so me and 2 of my roommates went up to the floor above us to take showers because all of the showers on our floor were full. As we finish our shower, we walk to our room, AND THE DOOR IS LOCKED! We were standing outside our room in towels and it was locked! We waited there for like ten minutes.... then we looked at the room number and realized that we were on the opposite side of the building! And that was not our room! You have to understand that everything looks the same in the MTC! But it was really funny and we have been laughing about that all week!

Also this week, all of the older missionarys left in my zone, which was really wierd at first!!! Now we only have like 15 kids in our sacrament meetings! My district was in charge of the sacrament and we gave a musical number in Chinese! That waas pretty cool! It is actually kinda nice to have all of the older missionarys gone! I am getting alot closer to all of the guys in my zone! There are some really funny kids in here! I am very blessed to have such a great zone! They are making my MTC expierence so much fun. I found out 3 other kids in my zone wrestled! I am sure you can see were this is going! We cleared out a room and started wrestling each other in the room! It was really funny and the next day was Sunday, and we were all covered in carpet burns! 2 of the elders had carpet burns on there foreheads! Everyone kept asking them, "what happened", it was so funny!

I say this every week, but i really do love it here! This is the best decision i have ever made in my whole life to serve a mission. I am finding myself so excited to go out and teach people this great message that all of us are so lucky to have! I have never realized that more. I love this church, and i know that every princible of it is true! I love all of you guys soo much, and thank you again for all of the packages, and letters! It is always so nice to hear from all of you! I hope that all is going well.

Love Bao Zhang lao!!

 

Elder "STUD PANTS" Barton's letter #5!

This week was the best week of my life! I have so much to say and I just hope that I will have enough time!!

First of all! I recieved so much love this week! It was amazing! one of the days, I had so many packages, each of my companions had to take some! not going to lie, I felt really cool! I am trying to wait until my b-day to open them though dont worry! However, some of them could not make it! I felt like it was Christmas, convincing myself I could just open up one on Christmas Eve! I loved it soo much thank you all! you are amazing!

NEXT WAS CONFERENCE! That was the best expierence that I think I will ever have my whole life! The spirit was so strong in that room sitting behind all of those amazing men! Usually when I see some one famous, I realize right away that they are just a person. when I saw these people, I realized they are not just people. They are called by God. We all stood when President Monson walked into the room, and the room went silent. He was followed by Uchdorf, and Eyring. After they were all seated and confrence was getting ready to start, President Monson stood up and walked into the audience. The room was still, completely silent. He made his way through the crowd, and then came to one little old man that had a cane in one hand. When he reached him, he held out his hand and helped him to his feet and then embrassed him with a big hug. I started to cry the spirit was so strong, it was so powerful to see how much love our prophet has. On both sides of me were two kids from Utah. I caught them out of the corner of my eye staring at me for crying. They had grown up seeing the Prophet and were used to the POWER that follows him. The next best part of the meeting was when we sang "called to serve" at the end of the meeting. The spirit was so strong during that song! I looked out into the audience and saw a group of boys (looked about the age of a deacon) smiling ear to ear. I felt so proud to be an example for those few boys, I started to cry again! After the song and the prayer, we all stood again as the Prophet exited the room. after he was gone, we all stayed standing. The spirit was so strong that my body froze. We all stood for a few minutes until I saw Nick Allegretti and Andrew Bertha waving at me! That was so funny! I was so happy to see them! It added on to the the amazing day that I had!

I was on TV!! I hope that all of you guys saw! If not, you can go onto the church website and there is a link to a conference site. If you go onto the priesthood section you can watch the songs that we did! I was sitting in the front left wearing a red tie!! This week I have to teach the first lesson in Mandrin Chinese! I am studying like crazy to prepare for it! I hope that I can at least get through the lesson! I was listening to a talk form Elder Bednar a few days ago that he previously gave at the MTC. In the beginning of the talk, he said "Elder Barton, I want to let you know that you are making the right choice!" talking to another Elder Barton but still it was awsome to hear him say my name! Later in his talk, he said that he feels awful for people teaching the lessons in Madrin Chinese! It was so funny! His talk was about relying on the spirit and recognizing its promptings!!! I was very grateful to hear it! It really helped me out!

Well, I hope that all of your weeks were as great as mine! I love you all so much!!! Thank you so much again for all of the Birthday Gifts!

zai jian! Bao Zhang lao!!!

Elder Barton Sings in General Conference

Click here to see

Letter #4

So i decided to wake up early this morning because i have huge news, and i have been really exited to tell you guys all week!! I AM GOING TO BE SINGING IN PRIESTHOOD SESSION OF GENERAL CONFERACE THIS WEEKEND! i made it! i was so excited i am going to get on a bus with the choir and go sing right behind the PROPHET! i have never seen any of the general authoritys so i am really exited! i feel like i am a teenage girl going to a back street boy concert! it is funny what the MTC does to you! ok so now the story of how i got in to the choir. first my whole district got in exept for me and one other elder! it was a raffle and there were no try outs or any thing to get in! so we went to the first practice anyway and asked if we could join the choir! he said he had 5 more spots, and there were 15 people in our position! he made us fill out a little expierence card, ( i of course wrote about my ammon days in the road show!) then we left! we both really wanted to get in, so we decided that we would fast! We eventually got a call to go to this room. we were both really nervous, we had no idea what was going to happen! as we sit there a ton of boys walked in, then eventually a lady! the lady was talking about try outs! SOLO try outs in front of everyone! we were very scared! but, then we figured out we were in the wrong place! we were in the room to audition for musical numbers at the next devotional!! it was soo funny! so we went to the next room over, and turned in our things and walked away! that was alot less stressful! so any ways later that night a lady came over the intercome and said will ELDER RYAN BARTON please call the front desk! i was a little nervous, i thought i would be in trouble, but then BAM! I was in the choir! SO anyways i am really exited, and hope you will all watch prestood conference to see me singing as a first tenor! i dont really know what that means but hey, it is first! must mean that i am like the first best or something! ha! KIDDING! i hope that you all will watch priesthood session and look for me singing away! ( along with all of the amazing talks that i am sure will be given!) But anyways, this week was another great one! I did way better at the staged teaching appointment then i ever have! I got the "investigator" to commit for baptism! although it was fake i still felt really cool! we also taught the second lesson, which was cool! i bought this little dry erase board to draw out the plan of happieness!! i thought it was a pretty cool idea! the other part of the task was to pick up the "investigator" from church only using chinese, and take them to the "Bus" (it was actully a room with a bunch of bench seats!) then talk with them about the commitments that they were asked to make! i was very lucky to have an investigator with very clear chinese. i could mostly understand him, and respond! which i was really happy about! I learned that whenever you have no idea what is going on, just bear your testimony! it usually works out, or they just look at you really funny! OH I got my full chinese name this week! Ra Li Bao which translates to hot strong buns! i thought that was pretty cool i am not going to lie! it might get changed, but as of now i am hot strong buns! chinese is still really hard! but it is amazing how much you start to like it even when it is kicking your butt! i like the challenge of it! I am really exited to just be able to speak it! My testimony grows here every day! it is amazing to see how much heavenly father knows me as a person.

Thank you all so much for the letters! I really love getting them! i hope that everything is going well for you guys!

Wo ai nimen!!

Boa Zhang Lao!

PS i think i am going to wear a red tie at confrence if that helps at all!

LETTER #3!

Hello Everybody!!!

 

So this week was a really cool week! it is amazing how fast that the weeks go by here! i still feel like i just barely wrote an email! well, where do i start! let's start with the funny stuff! so my zone assigned all- of the new missionarys mentors this week. (which has been really cool) the mentors are all really nice. One of my roomates mentors is halarious! he came into our room and started showing us the "secerets" of the MTC. the first secret was something called a narnia hole! it is a smal compartment in all of the closets that past missionarys hide various items in! we looked in ours and found a sword made out of toilet paper rolls!! it came with a note! that said this sword is named shengling (which in chinese means the spirit) it also said next door has a matching sword and do what you will with it! it was awesome! we have been having many wars with our new narnia toilet paper roll swords! the next seceret was the CREAM SODA TREE! some of you may have seen the picture i sent of the grass that said "dont step on me i am trying to grow" well the reason they don't want you to go on the grass is because the tree smells like cream soda!! it is incredible! i smelt it with out touching the grass of course! no joke leaned and sniffed! he also convinced me to try something called veggie paste and said it tasted amazing! (i know i am an idiot) i tried it and nearly threw up but it was totally worth it! what also really made my week was... every one is now getting their visas and flight plans! every one has been excited! a few days ago, an elder ran out of the mail room screaming,"i have a one way flight to boise baby!!!" that was the funniest thing that i have ever seen in my life! everyone was all amped about all these crazy places and he was so exited to go to idaho!! i love the MTC! this week i contacted 3 doors in chinese and talked about families! however, not as cool as it sounds! i had a bunch of phrases memorized, and had no idea what they were replying back! so i would just say "Hen Hao!" which means very good! or "dui!" which means correct! so hopefully all of them had families because i just continued through with my lesson! on the third contact, i taught the person the first lesson! but not in chinese, in english! but it went pretty well. i taught two guys and both of them were really nice! For any one that has not been reading my letters, these were staged investigators, and were not real! on the spiritual side of things, i bought a fresh copy of the book of mormon and have been marking every reference, attribute, doctorine, and words of christ! all in different colors! it has been so cool to really see how much that book really is another testiment of jesus christ! almost the whole book is completly marked up so far! i love doing this, i really recommend it to anyone that has enough spare time! it is a really neat expierence! i also heard a quote from gordan b hinkly that says "if you are learning a language, if you read the book of mormon at the same time, by the time that you are finished reading the book of mormon, you will know the language!" I HAVE BEEN READING REALLY FAST!! hah! i love my mission and the MTC. my testimony has grown every day from studying these things so much! I am still making so many new friends! Oh and another couple funny things... me and T J Toolson (Elder Toolson) are going to start writing letters back and forth! haha we got each other's box numbers (at the MTC)! that is going to be really funny! we had alot of catching up that we wanted to do! so that will be really good! and the other thing that was funny was last night about 400 young men watched "the testaments", it was funny to see 400 young men bawling their eyes out at the end of the movie!! you can't beat the MTC! I love all of you soo much and thanks for all of the letters! i look forward to them everyday! and they really do help me get through the week! 

LOVE BAO ZHENG LAO!

 i found our that Bao translates directley to warm buns! pretty seet name huh?!? elder warm buns!

MISSION PICTURES!

Letter#2

hello!!!!!!
Nihoa!
 
So it is insane to me that i am already writing another letter!! The weeks go by so fast here!!! it is really wierd but i am still loving it! oh and BIG NEWS! i am not staying twelve weeks i olney get 10 and a half because of the time that transfers happen to new york so i am kinda freaking out about that! THIS LANGUAGE IS INSANE!! i feel like i need to stay in here my whole mission! It is hard but when i look back at my progress i am actullly doing pretty good! it is just hard to do that when eveyone in your district is fluent! haha! ha but it is good it is challenging me and making me really work, wich i like! i am getting so much better at studying and organizing my self! I am so happy this is going to help me so much in college, and in life! I have not missed one day making my bed scene i have been here! which is not because i am over achieving, they ask you to, BUT STILL! i think i have made my bed more times here then i have my whole life! but i love it it is really turning into a habbit!
This week was my first teaching appointment, well a pretend one but it was very good practice! I had to cantact them in chinese, which did not go very well! but then i taught them the first lesson on the resteration! which i really enjoyed! one thing that i learned is that if you try to teach people by your self with out looking to the lord the whole time, or listening to the spirit your lesson will not go any where! it is so important to completly rely on the spirit and the needs of the investigator! it is amazing how things start to change when you really do that! Sometimes you dont even teach the lesson that you have been working the whole week on! you just do what the spirit says!
I have also learned this week that studying the gospel makes the language come sooo much faster! last week i would just try to cram in as much chinese as i could! but this week, i would start studying by reading my scriptures! and every time i felt like my head was going to explode i would crack open my scriptures! it is amazing how much it really helps! i was able to absorb so much more when i would do that! and it helps me to really learn the gospel better! you can never feel like you know every aspect or princible of this gospel! there is so much to it, and the more you study the more you will realize that! It also helps you to come closer to the spirit which helps you learn faster!!
I am making so many new friends here! i love it! every one already treats you like there best friend because we are all here for the same purpose! we have all left the same things behind, and that makes really united! i feel like i can walk up to anyone here and immediatly be there friend! my roomates and i are still having so much fun! my chinese name is boa zheng loa, and now when ever some one has to go to the bathroom they say i have to go drop a boa zheng loa! i hope that you can understand this with out me going into detail! but i will tell you that boa is more purnonced bow! ha it is really funny! lets just say the caffiteria food is rough!
Thank you all so much for the letters and packages! i never realized how much they meant to a missionary until i was one! i hope that you are all recieving my hand written letters i am sending!! the mail system here is really late i think! i have been getting the hand written letters really late!! but the dear elders and the packages come really fast i dont know it is wierd!! but i will keep writning you guys as much as i can! I love you all so much!!! wai ni men! ( I love you guys in chinese!)
yes i know i am a boss........
 
scincerly,
              Boa Zheng loa
 
P.S. i go to the temple evey p day and it is amazing!

His First Letter

Here is Ryan's First Email!!!  :)

Ni Hoa!!! Family and friends!!
 
First of all thank you so much for all of the letters and packages! my distrct was so jelous of all of the love that i recieved from all of you! And they have really made me sooo happy i can not even tell you!! I love the MTC it is so amazing and the spirit is so strong here it is incredible! You feel like you are in this amazing army of teenagers! it is really a great feeling! so far i have seen Elder Toolson, Elder Dyer, Elder Willis, and Elder Braman! all of them have grown so much from being here! I was so surprised to see there maturaty and how well they are speaking there languages all ready!!
Mandrin is SOOOO hard!! I dont think i have ever done any thing so hard in my life! and to top it every one in my district is almost fluent in chinese ALL READY! they either lived in china, or took like three or four years of chinese in school! i am the olney one that has no expierence! i have to work 10 times as hard as every one just to attempt keeping up! it is insane! every day i feel like i am cramming in a bunch of information for a test the next day!! it is really gnarly! but if any thing i have learned that the gift of tounges is real! After a long lesson with Zhung Loa shi one of my chinese teachers that is from tiwan! and speaks chinese really fast, i was feeling very discouraged because i did not feel like i was remembering anything! But as i walked to the cafiteria after to eat dinner, i started singing Nearer My GOd to Thee in PERFECT CHINESE! MY companion looked over at me ( who speaks very good Chinese) and said where did you learn that elder barton? i said i have no idea! I feel that is how the gift of tounges works, heavenly father lets you work your but off, til you feel like you are going to give up, then just then something like that happens!
My companion is really cool! His name is Elder Jacobs, or Jung Zhung Loa! he is exactly what i needed entering the MTC his chinese is very good because he took it all through high school, and he is funny and we have alot in common! along with my whole district! wE HAVE two other room mates that live with us, and both of them are halarious! they are really making this expierence so enjoyable! I am so greatful for them! we have so much fun together! just the other day elder Fawcett said we are all going to be ripped when we leave from laughing so hard all of the time! he is another one of my room mates!
I miss you all so much! but surprisingly i dont think about home as much as i thought i would! you get so caught up in the work here, that it seems like days all form together, and it is all that you can think about!! I am really loving my missio soo much! and am so greatful for this great oppertunity! i am closer to the spirit than i have ever been! I feel so happy and great all the time! ( exept when i am done getting beat up by Chinese!) haha!
Me and my district are becoming really close! we all bought hymn books in Mandarin, and go in the bathroom a few times a day to sing! (for the acoustics!) haha! It is really fun! we actully do not sound to bad! At least we think! ha! OH Now for my progress! I can already bear my testimony in chinese, and say prayers! which i think is not bad for 5 days! I am sure that sounds crazy but it is truly amazing what you can do with the spirit on your side! I feel like i could move a mountain right now my faith is becoming so strong!
I am so sorry for the rushed email and for all of the errors i am sure that i am making! we olney get 30 minutes every monday, in the mtc for emails! I can hand write letters my whole p day if i want! i just have to do some studying! ha alot of studying!
Thank you all so much i love and miss you all so much!!! Thank you for all of your support! i really mean it when i say that i could not do this with out you! The letters help a ton! PLEASE KEEP WRITING