> meeting with our zone at the mission home and so our P-day got
> switched to today. I apologize for any grief I might have caused.
> I'm sure this will happen several more times throughout the next 2
> years and there is no need to worry.
>
> I got your easter box! It is great! I already read all of the
> little papers and the scriptures. Oops. Oh well. They were
> awesome. And the little cereal boxes are wonderful! Thanks so
> much. I am super pumped about the Joseph Smith CD's too. Thanks a
> bunch. I wasn't expecting you to get them that fast. You are on
> the ball, mom! Thanks much.
>
> Well, this last week was pretty rough. Probably the most
> frustrating part of missionary work is appointments falling
> through. And this week was just full of that. It was killer. Even
> all the appointments we had with our solid investigators fell
> through. First of all, unfortunately, ________ dropped us. She
> called and said that she loved learning and everything but it is
> just not something she wants to do right now and she is especially
> busy at this time. That was hard because she is like our favorite
> person ever. She is so cool and has so much potential. In all
> honesty, I think that she is afraid to find out if everything is
> true. So we'll make sure the Elders in a few months contact her and
> see how she is doing and try to teach her again.
> Before last week even started we had 24 lessons set up and most of
> them ended up falling through. Rough stuff. Fortunately, we were
> able to pull it together and still teach 19 lessons but a lot of
> them ended up being recent convert/less active work.
>
> I feel like educating you a little bit on the goals the mission has
> for us missionaries. We are suppossed to teach at least 20 lessons
> a week and get an average of 20 ITL's per day for the week. ITL
> stands for Invitation To Learn and basically represents every
> nonmember person that we talk to that we invite to learn about the
> gospel. That can come from tracting, stopping people on the street,
> whatever. Basically, we are given a charge to talk to EVERY person
> that we see and counting ITL's is a nice little way of helping us
> stay focused and getting us to talk to everyone.
> Unfortunately, most missionaries do not complete either of those
> goals. But they should! Many missionaries tend to be lazy. It is
> sad. And as you can see, we didn't even quite complete the 20
> lessons goal but we sure did work our tails off for it. It was a
> bad week. But since everything was falling through, we did a TON of
> tracting. It was fun but A LOT and it got very tiring. There
> hasn't been much immediate success from all that tracting, but we
> will see blessings from it eventually. If you were wondering, we
> averaged 33 ITL's per day from tracting. Which is a ton if it is
> all tracting. Ha ha. Anyway, so now you know a little bit about
> the numbers we use in the mission to help keep us motivated. There
> are a lot more numbers that we report every week, for further
> questions see Preach My Gospel.
>
> The mission is really going well. Although we haven't seen a ton of
> progress this week it is happening slowly. We have to be tested
> every once in a while! Hopefully, this next week will take off a
> little faster and we can bring some souls into the kingdom of God!
>
> That is so freaking cool that Dad got to design the Jimmer Fredette
> Player of the Year poster. Can you send me a picture or copy or
> something of it when it is done? I really want to see it. Way to
> go pops! Sounds like spring break was awsome. I am jealous that
> you guys got to lounge around. I love the hard work of being a
> missionary but dang do I miss naps! I am excited to hear about MJ's
> roles that they get in the play. Let me know. Oh! Happy Easter!
> I wont email you again until it has passed. Have lots of fun at the
> Easter picnic! I wish I could be there. Send everyone my love.
>
> Oh yeah! One other awesome thing! Sometime in the near future I
> get to go to the temple! Yay! I don't know if I told you this but
> Elder Farnsworth actually served in Plymouth a year ago and while he
> was here he baptized a woman who's husband was already a member.
> And now, they are going to the temple to get sealed and we get to go
> with them since we are here in the area. So awesome! I have been
> dying to go to the temple. I miss being able to go so much. So
> yeah, that is exciting!
>
> I'm glad to hear that life is going good at home. I love you guys
> and miss you. Thanks for being the best family ever. And I can't
> wait for Grandma to be done with her chemo. I pray for her all the
> time.
>
> Much Love,
>
> Elder Ruesch
