Greetings from the Philippines!

Hello everyone! 
Greetings from the Philippines! 
I made it here safe and sound. The first flight wasn't all that great. but the second flight was really sweet! We met up with Elder Averett in Kuala Lumpur (he was my favorite person in my MTC batch) and that was super fun! I stole another Elder's seat just so I could sit next to him! After a 3 hour flight, we arrived in the Philippines. It is a cool place... It's a lot like America, but there is a lot of stuff that I'm not used to anymore... Like short shorts and skirts, American music, and the like. I never realized how sheltered (and blessed) I am in India. I don't like any of that stuff :) It feels wrong.... Haha! 
My companion is pretty cool. I'm serving in the Philippines Quezon City Mission, which unfortunately is not the same as Ed's mission, but they are super close! That was a bummer but I can't have everything that I want in the mission! My companion's name is Elder Panopio. He is from the Philippines and he is a pretty cool guy. My district leader is Elder Scanlan from Alaska! He is originally from Samoa but his family moved to Alaska when he was young. The problem with him as that he has been speaking Tagalog for so long that he doesn't like speaking English very much.. My companion does speak English, but it isn't his native language and so he doesn't like it that much. The other Elder is weird and speaks no English so... I don't care about him very much :)
My experience here hasn't been what I expected. Most of the Elder's aren't totally obedient and the work here sucks. I don't speak their language and not many here speak English so I am kind of stuck. My companion has 5 weeks left on his mission and so he is doing all he can to get some baptisms at the end of his mission so I am kind of stuck doing nothing. I miss India a lot. I know how everything works there and it is really awesome. Elder Alosias baptized the investigators that we were teaching and I am so happy for him! 
I can't wait to get back to India! I know that it is totally revelation that that is where I am supposed to be and that is where I WANT to be. Pray that I get my visa soon! 
Love you!
Elder Head

Heading to the Philippines.....A great Sunday surprise too :)

Hello everyone! 

This past week was really good! My companion and I are getting along really well and the work is going really well and we are sad that it is coming to an end, but tomorrow evening (Tuesday) I will be flying out from Bengaluru International at 12:45 AM to Kuala Lumpur International airport in Malaysia and then taking another flight to the Manila Airport in the Philippines. I'm sad that I have to go, but I'm excited for the next chapter in my mission and the challenges that will come with it. 

This week was a really good week here in Bangalore. Elder Alosias and I had two baptisms of a wonderful couple here in Bangalore. Their son Anand has been a member of the church for 3 years now and many different Elders have taught his parents, but they would never commit to being baptized. Something about our companionship was unique to this family and the Spirit touched their hearts and this last Sunday they finally entered the waters of baptism at the ripe old ages of 78 and 75. They have tremendous faith and we even had to have four of us in white for the baptism. They invited Elder Tiefenbach to give baptism, Elder Alosias and I also were able to help because of their age and weight. It was a really good experience and I was really happy to leave Bangalore on such a high note. 

Things here are going to go really well even after I leave. There are investigators that we have been teaching and we are expecting at least 4 more baptisms for this month. The Lord truly is hastening His work and I am so grateful that I get to be apart of His royal army. I love serving the Lord and know that He blesses me each day. 

Thanks for all the love and support!! 

Love,

Elder Head

Sunday night we got received an email with pictures of Elder Head from a nice gentleman, Shaun Stirland from Alpine, whom had been there on a business trip and had attended church in the Whitefield Branch in Bangalore.  He had called and left a message about his interaction with Elder Head at church. It was the sweetest message ever, as he told us that he could tell that Ryan loved the people in India and that the members in turn were fond of him. He then asked Ryan if he wanted him to take anything back to Utah for him and Ryan said no, but to just tell his parents that he loved them so much!  This sweet man was so emotional when telling us this part as he too has a daughter serving a mission in Puerto Rico! He said to call if we wanted to but to enjoy the pictures and know that our son was doing so good!!  We naturally called him back and talked with him.  He said that whenever he visits other countries for business he will seek out the missionaries and take pictures and send them to their families back home. What a great idea!! He told us of Elder Head and Elder Alosias  teaching the 5th Sunday combined lesson to the branch and investigators that day about finances and budgets. Jeff joked and said, "my son was teaching a lesson about finances and budget??"  It amazing the things that missionaries learn on their missions :) He asked Elder Head how long he'd been serving and said that he knew that he'd been out for quite a while as Elder Head has an Indian cadence to his voice. Well as you can imagine this visit with Brother Stirland was a wonderful Sunday surprise!!  We never thought we would have this happen as not many people get over to India very often :)  We also were looking at another missionary couple's blog.  Elder and Sister Tiefenbach are serving in the mission office and had all the missionaries from Bangalore over for an activity and dinner.  As we looked over the post, there we saw Elder Head.....another great Sunday surprise!  Here's a link to that post:

Tiefenbach India Mission Adventures: The Great Escape

Elder Head with Brother Stirland from Alpine, UT

Elder Head and Elder Alosias in the Whitefield Branch

ONE Year.....complete!! Birthday package finally arrived :)

Hello everyone!! 
HAPPY YEAR MARK! I can't believe that one year is finished! I still feel like a brand new missionary, but after seeing all the missionary noobs in the Worldwide Leadership Training I felt much older than where I was at one year ago!  :)
This week was a really good week missionary work wise. We found a bunch of people last week and after carefully following up and reminding them about their baptism dates, we had 9 people come to church yesterday! And 7 of them have baptism dates! Two of them will be baptized this week, 2 on the fourteenth, and there is another family of 5 that we are working on for the twenty-first and some others  that we are working on to get in the last week of July. Unfortunately I won't be here for any of those! That's okay though! The numbers don't matter. I'm just really happy that we found a bunch of prepared people. 
I got my birthday package... Thanks so much! I share with everyone because if I keep them all for myself I will gain all the weight that I lost here! The new glasses are great, but they are a little different from my other pair.. It's okay though. My companion got sick this week and then he got the other companionship sick, but I haven't gotten it yet so hope and pray for me that I don't get sick! 
I really really liked that Worldwide Leadership Training.  The missionary work really would explode if the members were as helpful as they were in the videos. ;) Haha just kidding! I know that the members work hard, but if we jointly worked together then nothing could stop this work! I love missionary work! 
Love,
Elder Head

Not registered in Bangalore??? 6-23-13

Hello everyone! 
This week was not a very exciting week.. Birthdays on the mission just aren't as exciting as they are at home. For my birthday, I took us to an Indian restaurant called Feast. I took my district: Elder Fitzpatrick, Elder Singh, and Elder Alosias. The food was pretty good and the price in rupees was expensive but in dollars it was cheap! Before that we cut cake, had pancakes, and then made another cake that we bought from the store! They had Betty Crocker, but the power here isn't the best and the power cut during the cakes baking time and so it didn't really cook all the way.. But we still ate it! 
In other news, I tried to register here in Bangalore to be legally residing here and they won't let me register! I hate it! But it's okay. Sunday was good this week. Church was pretty good. The other elders had a baptism so we stayed for their service and then after that we made lunch (of the preparation I was of integral importance...) and then we went out proselyting. We had a couple of kids show up at the church and so we went to their house after lunch and taught them about the Restoration of the Gospel. It was a really good lesson that we had and the Spirit was there. In these times as we teach and the Spirit is there, my testimony of the truthfulness of the work that we are doing grows. 
As soon as we finished that lesson we received a call from our branch president, President Prince, telling us that there was a brother in the church who wanted to be baptized so we got on a bus and went to the church to meet this brother. We taught him and his wife (who is from a Hindu background) about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what He expects from us. That also was a really good lesson and they asked us after the lesson how soon they could be baptized..... It was really cool! We set them with a date for July 14.... 4 days after I leave. I am really sad, but I'm excited to go to the Philippines. 
Things here on this half of the world are good. I didn't get my birthday package yet.. Hopefully it didn't get lost! But I hope everything there is going great! Love you! 
From,
Elder Head

Happy Birthday Ryan!! 6-17-13

Hello everyone! 

Thanks so much for all the people who wished me a happy birthday! And for all of you who haven't yet, you still have one day! 

Haha so this week was a pretty normal week here in Bangalore. Things with my companion are really good. Elder Alosias is a really good missionary and especially he is a really fun and funny guy so being with him is more of a present from the Lord than I deserve. I am really grateful that I get to be with him. The days just fly by and it is really sad because we won't be companions after I go to the Philippines. So we found out that we will be flying from India on July 10 to the Philippines and that just happens to be right on the transfer schedule for the North Quezon City Mission so fingers crossed, I will be able to serve with Ed! 

Haha anyways, church this week was good. Nothing really eventful happened except that all the American families that are living here are leaving tomorrow and then Elder Fitzpatrick and I will be the only two Americans in the branch again. Yay! I love all the attention ;) 

I don't really have any big plans for my birthday.. We have district meeting and then I'm going to take my district out for a nice lunch (thanks for the money) and then we will be off doing the Lord's work. Nothing stops the work from progressing here! 

Well, I don't really have too much else to say. Things here are great. I love being a missionary! 10 days until I finish my year mark.... CRAZY! 

Love,

Elder Head

We can't believe that Elder Head has been out on his mission for nearly a year already! We were able to email back and forth with him for a little while last night....which was nice because we haven't done so for a couple of weeks :)  We sent Ryan his birthday package on May 23rd and sadly he has yet to receive it but hopefully it will show up before he leaves for his visa renewal trip!! We love you Ryan!! As per Indian tradition Elder Head will be taking his district out to lunch tomorrow for his birthday :) Wow!! 20 years old tomorrow.....where has the time gone!?? 

Bangalore 6-9-13

Hello everyone! 
First things first.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA! I know that today is the 10th, but emailing yesterday was not an option so... I still love you though! Also, Happy Fathers Day Dad! 
I have a little bit of a funny thing to tell. I got a mail from Elder Taylor who is now in the Phillipines and he bumped into the famous Elder Jeong! They both emailed me and talked about it. Its pretty funny. I seriously hope that I get to go to Ed's mission. That would be so fun to see him halfway around the world! 
This week was a pretty good week. I got to go to Hyderabad to do my second passport stuff and we left Tuesday morning, got there Tuesday morning, and then had some training stuff on what we were supposed to say. Then I went on exchange with the Elder's in West Marredpally 1st Ward (my last area) and I got to visit my converts! I hope they got baptized this week, but Elder Britton hasn't sent me any news yet. Anyways, it was very fun to see them and get to hang out with them for a little bit. Then Wednesday we went to do the passport stuff and they didn't even ask us any questions so that was really easy. It took only twenty minutes. Then I went on exchange with the Zone Leaders in Hyderabad and that was pretty fun. I was close with them so it was really enjoyable. Thursday morning we flew out and resumed missionary work in Bangalore! I know that I am supposed to be here though. Being in Hyderabad was fun, but I really just feel at home here (for now). 
Church this week was really good. We had a baptism service for one of our investigators and that went pretty well. Church was good. I miss knowing everyone, but still it was pretty fun to be here and observe how things work. 
I want to share a cool experience from last week. So when you travel in India by air, you need to have identification to get through security. My passport was with the senior couples in Hyderabad and I was flying from Bangalore, so I didn't have any identification. If you don't have any, then they don't let you fly. So I only had a xerox copy of my passport, but they don't allow copies. So basically I was in trouble. I said a prayer in the cab so that the Lord would soften their hearts and allow me to go and finish the work in Hyderabad and the Lord answered my prayer! It was really cool and they let me through without any problems. 
I love India! 
Love,
Elder Head

Excited to be in Bangalore! 6-2-13

Hello everyone!

My name is Elder Head and right now I am serving here in Bangalore Whitefield Branch! Bangalore is such a sweet place! The weather is really awesome. It's cool and you get a cool breeze.. It's really nice! I don't know too much about the branch because this Sunday was district conference which was good. The building here is so nice! It is a legitimate stake center! It is super sweet. I love my companion. He is so fun and funny and we enjoy a lot together. 

In other news, I am going back to Hyderabad this week! I have to go to the U.S. Embassy there to get a second passport so that I can go to the Philippines next month to renew my visa. It is a pain in the butt to go all the way back after I just got here, but I'm excited to go back and to see the people that I taught in Hyderabad. That is what I am most excited for. Also, the food there is so much better there than it is here. Hyderabad has the best food! 

My new district is sweet. I live with one american and two indians so we all get along well and enjoy one another's company. Missions are fun when you have fun things to do. I'm really grateful for this transfer because the last two were so hard. I met one of the former assistants who just finished his mission and he said that this transfer was a vacation for me ;) haha it is funny but really I'm way happy here in Bangalore! 

Love you! 

Elder Head