April 23, 2012

this week has been awesome. We had a baptism for margie on saturday and elder thomas and I are STAYING TOGETHER FOR ANOTHER TRANSFER! :D were super excited. we just got a new ward mission leader this sunday and hes awesome. he has a lot of good ideas for finding more people for us to teach. Ward council still makes me upset. We have a lady that might be interested in coming to church and she has a 14 yr old daughter. youth conference is coming up and we suggested to get a form for her so she can go. Then the young womens PRESIDENT goes "no, i cant deal with that right now" elder thomas and i were so upset.   so we took a form to her anyway, and had her fill it out. The whole time were like really? a youth wants to come to a huge activity and you dont want her to because you dont want to put the piece of paper in a folder? Then, a recent convert is coming up on her year mark and we suggested for her to get signed up for temple prep and she just got called to primary. Well the primary PRESIDENT says, no i need her in primary, she cant go to temple prep. WHAT THE FREAK MAN!!! its not like random people, these are the AUXILLARY PRESIDENTS of each group that arent letting people in the ward progress. then they wonder why theyve struggled for baptisms and retention. ugh! so this is what we deal with. ugh.......!

anyways! thats way sweet that dad got called to that calling. Im going to send a package home for him when i can and a letter. :) tell him i love him and happy birthday grandpa!

thanks for sending the package, i cant wait. i love you guys!!

ELDER NONU 
:D

March 26, 2012

Ive loved these past 6 months a lot. Im almost done with the book of mormon and ive learned a lot from it. Ive actually studied it. 90% of the stuff ive learned makes life understandable and easier. as far as my future outlook on it goes. there was a leadership meeting for the mission this last thursday and Im not in leadership but i got invited to go. Im really glad i did. It was AWESOME!!! I actually understand my purpose as a missionary now and im trying really really hard to be better, because afterwards i felt like crap because i hadnt been doing all the things they had been talking about. Like making companion and personal study sacred. Praying for investigators, teaching by the spirit, focusing on the purpose of numbers rather than just getting them. It makes more sense. theres speculation that the younger missionarys that got asked to come will probably be in leadership positions in the reno mission, but who knows. But, elder liedecker (mtc companion) and elder mochi
(i cant spell his full last name) were there too, and theyre both amazing missionaries. We aspire to serve with one another. haha. But afterwards i was just super pumped to go out and find people. In this past week weve gotten 6 new investigators, 1 is a family of 4 that hopefully will start letting us teach them and 1 is a girl that has been saying she wants to get baptized like now!! im lke WHAT THE FREAK!!!! why havent we been teaching her? and the family thats close to her is like, she has family problems we dont want to ask her yet. we talked to bro hasting (ex stake prez and ward missionary) last night and hes like, ill go over there with you guys and well talk to them. so basically were gonna teach her and help her out. so yah. exciting stuff happening.

I gave a talk at an 8 yr olds baptism and im like, what the heck am i gonna talk about? so i compared baptism and partaking of the sacrament to super mario. haha. it was hilarious. but i liked it, so whatever. I dont even know the kid, but he wanted a missionary. Other than that, its been good. For the first time on my mission im physically energized and emotionally and spiritually drained... Emotionally because my roomate (zone leader) needs to stop whining all the times about the changes that president nieder is putting together and start sustaining our leaders and I bore my testimony a couple weeks ago at a district meeting about if you dont have a desire to serve god then go home.
I didnt come here to complain so if they are they can leave, we dont need people like that. jefferey r holland said it, if you dont have a desire, then stop waisting gods time and leave. After that an elder in our zone went home because he missed his girlfriend or something stupid like that. Everyones like good job nonu you made him go home (jokingly).

anyways. :) Im having fun, vegas is ghetto and ill probably never come back here again, unless i see people i really love. Thats the update!

oh and mike is getting baptized on the 7th!!!! :D yay!!!

oh and for my birthday, i want to buy a new pair of oakleys because its sunny and dusty here and potentially an ipod shuffle (the ones with the touch screen) because if were not outside weve got music playing around the house and its nice to fall asleep to. They also have watch bands that you can put your ipod into and make it into a watch and stuff. Ask keana, shell know. And thats honestly about it. I guess i could use more garments. other than that im content with my surroundings.

LOVE YA!!

ELDER NONU

March 12, 2012

Ryan and his companion baptise Ashley

thats crazy. So sorry to hear about Gordon passing away.

 but yah. tuesday is transfers and elder zelenski is leaving. -__- im staying right here. i dont know if im going to the other mission or not, time will only tell. hopefully i get someone cool. i always worry about having a lame companion. but well see. my bike has been breaking almost weekly now. ive had to replace 7 spokes now and its ticking me off. i dont know why either. So im trying to find a bike shop that will have what im looking for and trade also. but well see what happens. ill let you know.

I did not get any package from the YW yet. thats really nice of them though. :) i appreciate it. transfer week we get mail at transfers on tuesday. elder roedel and his companion are both getting transferred out of my first area. The area died after i left, im not saying thats because i left, but theyve been messing around and playing for six weeks. but what else is new.

OH!!!! :D the jacksons went to the temple saturday with the kids and did baptisms for the dead for 6 generations of her and her husbands family. i was sooo mad because they already had the olsens coming down with them and prez said i couldnt go if someone was already going with them. i guess its more of a support thing if we go. im so excited for them though.

oh yah, almost forgot. we had a baptism saturday for a 16 yr old girl named ashley.  we had a lesson with her monday night and she said she wanted to get baptised. so elder zelenski said we could do it that weekend.  :D

 

mike is our other investigator thats super awesome and hes been progressing like crazy. hes so close, but waiting for something huge to happen. im thinking hell take the plunge soon. well see though. :)

 but everything else is going good. your all in my prayers. love ya!

 ELDER NONU

LETTER FROM MISSION PRESIDENT REGARDING MISSION BEING DIVIDED

From: <2013800-PRS@ldschurch.org>
Date: Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 8:13 AM
Subject: Mission Division
To: ryan.nonu@myldsmail.net


Elder Nonu,

NEW MISSION ANNOUNCED

The First Presidency announced this last weekend the creation of the new Nevada Reno Mission.  In the process  of forming the new mission, our mission boundaries will be changed.  This inspired change has come about because of progress in real growth which is the result of your efforts, and the efforts of leaders and members of the Church in Nevada.  This is a compliment to you and missionaries with whom you have served, because the changes are required because of the progress and growth of the Church.

On July 1, 2012 the Elko West, Elko East and Ely Stakes will become a part of the new Nevada Reno Mission, and the Mesquite, Logandale and Panaca Stakes will become a part of the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission.  The missionaries serving in those zones on July 1, 2012, Elko and Mesquite, will also be transferred to the same missions.  We are sad to think of transferring any of our missionaries.

Our mission will be required to provide 4 new zone leaders and 1 assistant.  No missionaries will be transferred from the mission who have already had 2 mission presidents.

As is the case with all transfers, the missionaries will be selected as a matter of prayer and inspiration.

TEMPLE GUIDELINES

When performing temple ordinances, full time single missionaries may not serve as a husband or wife proxy for sealing ordinances, but may serve as a child proxy.

Single full time elders may not officiate in or perform baptismal or confirmation ordinances for female patrons, and may not participate in any baptismal or confirmation ordinances at any time when female patrons, including sister missionaries, are in the baptismal font or in the confirmation ordinance rooms.

Missionaries may participate in all other ordinances.

Sister Neider and I love you,

President Neider

THE LAS VEGAS MISSION GETS DIVIDED!!!!!

Nevada Reno

The Nevada Reno Mission is being created from a realignment of the Nevada Las Vegas and Nevada Las Vegas West missions.

MARCH 5, 2012

i just got the package today. i love everything.

 

good to hear about your class though, im sure they appreciate the treats. im sure their parents do too. ha

 

thanks for putting the money in my account too. honestly not a whole lot has gone on this week. no cool stories or anything. I guess its just normal life now. aha. the only thing is actually pretty big. ill send the email from president to you guys also, but our mission is getting split up. Theres going to be the reno nevada mission now. you can go on lds church news and look up new missions and you can see a map. but theres a chance that i might be sent to the reno mission and serve the rest of my time there. id be really close to home now. haha. its a really big deal. i guess the work in nevada is growing a lot so they need 3 missions now. we lost most of our mission. we basically just have part of vegas and then the south of our mission from there. so yah. crazy. other than that nothings going on really. same things as every week. transfers are coming up in a week i hit 6 months on the 7th and i really hop e i keep my companion as is.

 

love ya!!!

 

ELDER NONU

February 27, 2012

its all good. I still havent gotten your guys package yet. btw. Derek wrote me a couple weeks ago, but thats about it. i havent heard from him in a while.

 

this weeks been pretty good. Monday we had a lesson with our investigator mike. we took him to the "why i believe" fireside on sunday. A bunch of converts get up and bare their testimony and talk about their conversion story. It was super awesome. At first i thought he didnt think much. but the next day at the lesson he said that only 2 times has revelation really hit him like a wall, the first was a while ago when he felt prompted that he needed to go to church and he got dressed with his son in 20 mins. and showed up, and he said the 2nd time was at that fireside. It was super awesome! and he said he doesnt want to set a date yet, but hes pushing toward being baptized now. We also have another lady named juliet, we have her set for baptism for the 24th of march. she hasnt come to church yet, but hopefully shell come around, she just needs to follow through with comittments. Were also teaching a girl named ashley. She might be kinda slow because of the stuff she says. for example... we taught about repentance and baptism and how its essential to return to heavenly father. And we asked "what do we need to do to return to heavenly father?" right after explaining it, and shes goes... "heavenly father? like god? ummm.... i dont know."  ugh....  She just has to understand what were talking about. I felt bad, because i was tired the other day and got frustrated and we taught a lesson at her house, and we asked if she had a testimony of joseph smith, shes like no, because i wasnt there. then i ask... "ok? do you believe that jesus christ was the son of god?" she says, "yes, of course" i respond, "well, you werent around for that either, were you?" elder zelenski just goes.. SOO... and moved on. hahaha. we laughed really hard when we got outside.  This ward's home teaching percentages are like 10%. YOU GUYS BETTER BE DOING HOME TEACHING AND VISITING TEACHING!!!!  Its not a super missionary minded ward. a lot different from kingman. but i still like the area. I think its mainly due to how much i love my companion. we have so much fun.  

 

thats crazy that Leilani is already 1, its gone by so fast. im coming up on my 6 month mark, which is pretty crazy too. im now meeting elders that have been out less than me. one of the elders in my zone is from lehi. he said he used to live in saratoga springs.

 

but anyways. everything here is good. im tired all the time now that i bike all day. Ive been having problems with my bike. A couple of the spokes on my wheel have broken. luckily we had a nonmember that fixed them for free, which is pretty cool. 

 

lave ya!

 

ELDER NONU :)

February 6, 2012

hey guys!

 

(drum roll) I have been transferred to Paradise stake in the middle of vegas. and guess what also. I cover HALF of the strip. :D haha. Although were in the middle of babylon, I LOVE my area. and my companion. His name is elder zelenski from houston texas. Hes been out for little over a year and was the missionary that i spent my first night in the mission with. wierd right? haha. Last wednesday president let elder z and i go back to kingman for the day and let me baptize the macaroone family. It went awesome! All 4 of them got baptized and elder roedel and i left off together as the highest baptizing companionship in the kingman zone, which is about 12 companionships. so yah. Weve found a lot of success together and im going to miss him a lot. But i love this area. Its pretty hood. so its just like back in sacramento. :) so nothing new here. haha.

 

this weeks been pretty slow, so not a whole lot is going on. Luckily when we drove to kingman we drove 2 missionaries all the way down to blythe. Then we had our temple session at 7 am the next day. We drove all the way back to kingman, slept for 3 hours, hugged everyone goodbye, and then drove ALL the way back to vegas. We got there at 630 and I was SOOOO excited, because i hadnt gone to the temple in 4 months. so that was good. but after they logged our miles we drove 600 in 1 day. thats a lot. haha. but they knew that would happen, so yah. good times. it was fun. we were soooo tired.

 

btw, ask dad if he could send a rugby ball or two, i cant find any and everyone in my zone wants to play, but i also dont want to buy one. haha. anyways. I love you guys. stay sweet, and pray for more missionary opportunities, and theyll come. LOVE YA!!

 

Elder Nonu :)