October 3, 2011

In Paducah, Kentucky! It is pretty much like Brazil haha not even close but from what I have seen I love it. Currently in Eastern Kentucky and am with 2 zone leaders as my companions. Its been great and I am learning a lot from them and from the member. Taught my first lesson or should say listened to it, we gave a lesson to a family members friend at their home at the 2nd counselors home. I didnt really say much but it was great I almost started to take notes. Oh and pretty much everyone here has a church which I guess is a good thing and everyone seems to know the bible well, aka the Bible belt. Definantly got some reading to do. Havent had a real day of missionary work with general conference and then my p-day today but its been great so far. I try to catch up on my Portuguese in my downtime, not that we have a lot but just when we are waiting for something or are driving. We have a huge area, we drove to a house last night that was 21 miles from the church building and that wasnt even the farthest member, definantly not like utah where if you go 21 block you are in a different stake. I have really enjoyed it here, the other missionaries are definantly trying to help me adjust as I figure out the routine. We dont have a ton of investigators but I feel like we are making progress.

So I got to mention this, we are allowed to listen to mo-tab and a nashville tribute, the nashville tribute is great. I guess only in the Nashville mission can you listen to country music and call it church music, its got church type lyrics mixed with country...so pretty much like mo-tab....haha. But I really enjoy it out here, I still cant wait to get down to Brazil but am enjoying it here. It really helps how nice everyone is here, I cant get over it. I also learned a lot about how to trap beavers and bow hunting for deer, so I cant say it hasnt been educational being out here! Got to love hearing about trapping beavers while having bbq right before conference. Its fantastic. OHHHH I can also email family and friends, so mallory if you could put that on FB and send me some email addresses of my friends and other members of the fam that would be great! Oh and our mission does Facebook, where we talk to investigators online, I dont get it yet but we will see how it works. I also set up a mormon.org account, I dont feel productive when I do it so I might just study portuguese but we will see. But ya can't beat Paducah! Oh and conference was fantastic, I think I learned more than I ever have and we are lucky enough to have Elder D. Todd Christofferson come on the 15th, you will have to tell Grandma Mary Ann that, I remember her saying they were good friends. I love this work.

Love you all and thanks for the support.

Nashville, Tennesse

Ryan will be going to Nashville, Tennessee while he awaits his visa to Brazil. He leaves September 30th for Nashville. He does not know how long he will be in Tennesse.

To send him letters, the address is:
Elder Ryan McCord
105 Westpark Dr. Suite 190

 Brentwood, TN 37027
United States

September 29, 2011

I think I will call the home phone between 6 to 630 Utah time, so 5 to 530 your guys time. I think I only have 5 minutes to talk though and I should be able to call you tomorrow morning at the airport, I get my flight plans after lunch so I will be able to tell you then. I am pretty excited to go to nashville, obviously never been there before and never guessed I would, still hoping I get my visa soon but I am definantly excited to go to Tennessee, cant complain about going to two missions. Oh and dont worry, I am not breaking any rules by emialing you, since I have P-day again today because I have to pack and what not. I am going to send the shoes back to Kess today, and do you know if she has sent new ones yet. I just dont know how the pair of rockports I bought with dad will do walking. Its great to hear from you all and thanks for telling me about Jacob, that sounds amazing. I know the beginning of my mtc experience was a little rough, and everyone for the most part kinda questions what they are doing here but I really feel now that I have made the most of this experiences. I have worked hard and made a lot of friends, overall a great experience and I love the direction I have been getting while being here. Love this work.

Love you all,

Elder Ryan McCord

September 28, 2011--Nashville, Tennessee

So I am leaving on Friday, I will call you all tomorrow and give you an email, it will probably be in the afternoon. send you an email a few hours before. Love you

September 27, 2011

So this is the week when I get my reassignment to somewhere in the states, english speaking. I really have no idea where I could go and from what I have seen so far its very random, most of the times you only go with one other elder from your district. So I should find that out tomorrow around 1 or so and then depending on when I leave can call home at the airport or friday or something. I will definantly send you all an email the day before I call. So thats the big news for this week, it is crazy that it has already been 8 weeks, I am actually having a great time, even though it seems like everyone else doesnt really like the mtc. I guess I just got pretty lucky to have 2 good friends in my district and have made friends with a lot of other elders. Finally started to work well with my companion and planning and studying together so that has made things go by real well and its amazing how time flies here. The portuguese is coming along pretty well, still working on verb conjugations and memorizing words, but at this point I no longer have to translate before I speak. Hopefully I dont lose it while I am in the U.S. for who know how long. I have a feeling I will go to NYC, anyone else have any guesses? I should be able to watch general conference here but the schedule is pretty crazy as they have to feed everyone in between sessions and what not, but I am excited as its a chance to get out of class and listen to some inspired men and women. Oh I also had the chance to host this past wednesday and tomorrow, its basically where you take the new elders with their bags to their rooms and then their classrooms, it is actually really interesting how families interact, there was one family who was crying and another one that says "see you in two" and drives off. It was a good experience though and funny to see how nervous some of them were. The phrase for this week for you all is Tudo bem? I feel blessed to learn a language here and the 8 weeks has also given me the opportunity to get a lot more scripture study in which I was kinda behind in. Oh I also didnt realize that in order to go to Brazil you must graduate seminary, guess those early mornings actually payed off.

Love you all and have a great week,

Elder Ryan McCord

Mals how are you teachers? you feeling better yet? what are you xc times? you running on your toes? take the SAT yet?

Pooch that stinks about soccer, sounds like you are getting cheated, just remember to play physical. Do you have more hw now? when does bball start? hows graham playing? and uw? Kess how was nyc? and can I get my memory card back yet? I might just have to ship those shoes back to you. Dating anyone? please dont send anymore candy, already have too much, thanks though. Love the packages! Taylor hows school going? you playing any intermurals? how many semesters left do you have? still living in that big house? Mom how are the little kids? hows the spanish coming? cant believe you are taking a college class. Dad hows school going? hows seminary with mals? heard sweets left for school. Thanks for the email from scott, need his address though.

Oh mals can you please update my address on fb when I find out. Thanks love you all and talk to you soon!

September 20, 2011

So I dont think those shoes will work, what should I do? Can I just send Kess a picture of the ones I want? Thanks for trying though mom I really do appreciate it. So why is Kess in NYC? still didnt figure that one out? How is mals doing in xc? can I get times? How is she liking junior year, crazy it seems like last month she was a freshmen. Thats great about Pooch, got moved up to forward, remember to be aggressive and dont be afraid to go through kids. Thats was pretty good for the laps though 6 1/2in 12 minutes, still running with mals? Thanks for the football scores too. Mom the kids sound pretty strange not going to lie, have any biters this year or any Pelles or whatever that little french girls name was. Dad you start teaching at BC yet? Still playing church ball? Hows chandler doing adjusting back? tell him thanks for the letter, it means a lot. Oh and any chance I can get ahold of Garrett campbell, maybe email b/c stamps are too expensive! Love you all and thankyou so much. Kess can you buy a medium BYU shirt and I will send you money in return and find me the propet's I need. Thanks and have a great week!
So I see Joon about everyother day, so its good to talk and I have a lot of other friends here, so its always a fun time. So still no word on my visa, however I am actually really happy I came to this mtc. So in the past 4 weeks we have heard from 3 apostles. First Holland, than Ballard, and tonight Russell M. Nelson. Elder Nelson talked about the the BOM a lot and made several references to the new ensign that came out. I read the first 50 pages or so and its truely it great. It has been great though to hear from the apostles so often, and often times it is not the words they say but the spirit that they bring to the meeting which is so great. We are still studying here a lot and most of the times that studying is focused on the needs of our investigators (our teachers), but I find that a lot of the time the studying provides answers for some of my needs. Then trying to say what I learned in Portuguese is often times another story haha but the Portuguese is coming along pretty well, my verb conjugation is coming along better and I can speak fluently and quickly more often than not and a lot of the times I find its more how you say it then what you say. The days really do go by fast and its fun here, the 6 hours of class dont go by so slowly as I really try to crack down and learn Portuguese. Hopefully my reassignment til I get my visa isnt that long so I can keep my language skills. I know all the stuff I wrote before sounds boring but it is a good time here, from the small squirt gun fight, to teasing our British friends, its a good time. But its been going pretty well so far, still winning in soccer, so no need to worry. Finally figuring out how to work effectively in our companionship. I feel like its all finally coming together, just before I leave. Thank you for all the letters and the packages it really is a great help. Love you all, and tell everyone I say hi. 

September 13, 2011

So I just got my pants that you all sent in the mail and I finally got my other pants hemmed, so now I finally have more than 2 pairs of pants to wear. Which will be nice, they are changing the mail room to another building so I will probably get that and dear elders later. Oh and I finally got my online visa done about 10 minutes ago, so hopefully it gets done soon so I can head straight down there, but who knows. This week has gone by pretty well, while the verb conjugations are still pretty tough I felt like I was finally starting to get a hang of the languange and talk pretty fast. Which is nice because I dont feel so boring when I talk. Our district probably talks about 50% of the time in Portuguese, so thats nice. There is a ton of study time too but we watch quite a few mormon messages to give ourselves breaks. We are literally studying for probably 3 to 4 hours a day. Which is pretty intense but oh well. Oh soccer is going to well too, our district still hasn't lost yet. Tell Pooch I had a 45 yard bomb , curved it in the top left corner. So I want to know when he can top that haha. The gym time really helps to break up the monotony of the schedule, which is tough because sometimes you feel like you arent making much progress but we got a great district and so guys are always helping each other out. But ya the study time consists alot of planning for lessons, reading from preach my gospel, studying portuguese words. Then we usually have class,which is all in Portuguese. Oh and not really related but we always hear about BYU football, like a friend of mine will get a letter about it, or someone will find a newspaper article just kinda funny. Well I love you guys and thanks for the letters.

How is Mallory doing in xc? times? how is junior year? How is matt doing in soccer? record? scoring any goals? Does he have any teachers I have? Hows school going? Hows BC going for dad, ever see Jeff? Can I get his, Jake's, and Chris' address? Hows pre-school going for mom? When does Taylor head back to school? Who is he living with? How come Kess is going to NYC? Hows her love life? Thanks Pooch for the scores! The guys in the hall love them haha. I might write a little more later today but love you guys. Oh and can you check with scott Mccord's family if I ever wrote them back.