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