We did meet with Charles again this week. He is just awesome. We taught a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went very well like usual. He has such good intentions to study hard and prepare for baptism and I hope that things really do work out. We were able to set a date with him for his baptism for April 30. It should be most excellent! He is seriously the nicest person in the world and we are going to do everything we can to help him be ready. I think the only thing that could stop that date from going through is his health. Knock on wood! If he really has a strong desire to be baptized then the Lord will provide a way.
The .................'s are doing awesome. We visited them twice this week and they are just happy as can be. We are most likely going to watch a session of general conference with them at their house on Saturday, and I am pumped. They are pumped too! When you think about it, General Conference is the most incredible idea in the whole world, especially for recent converts. We pretty much have Moses standing there on TV telling us the things that we need to do to be happy. Can you say awesome?
I think I might have mentioned last week that the ......................'s had fallen off the face of the earth. If not, now you know. And so because of that, we went to their house on Tuesday to see what was going on. They are so interesting because they told us that they had found another church with their friends that they decided to go to and they didn't know how to tell us so they just dropped all contact with us. Sad stuff. Let's remember that they contacted us and told us that they wanted to be baptized. They said they had done lots of prayer and study and decided that this was the right church for them. And now they have done a complete change around. So odd. Honestly, we think that their friends anti'd them. And also, I think they didn't realize that this church is a church that you actually had to to do stuff. The best thing is that they think they are done with missionaries. He he. Not even close. We'll go by their home in a few weeks and they will also go into the former investigators section of our area book and missionaries will be contacting them for years to come. This church is awesome.
Speaking of former investigators. We met with a man who is a former investigator and has met with missionaries a lot in the past. We picked him up as an investigator this week and had a very interesting lesson with him. We had a long discussion about the Holy Ghost and about the role it plays in our life and he thought it was interesting. The reason he let's missionaries come over is because he likes hearing different ideas and stuff of our church and finds it all interesting but he doesn't necessarily care to know if it's true. I don't know how to explain the lesson we had with him. We are just going to try and find ways to make the gospel really connect with him and help him to see the need for the church in his life. We'll do our best.
The homecoming/farwell of Timmy and Kenny sounds like it was awesome! That would have been very fun to go to. It sounds like Kenny had a very successful mission, and I am just pumped for Timmy to get out into the field! He is going to have a party. If you give me his address or he wants to write me or anything I would love that.
Well, it's been an interesting week. Not a lot of exciting things to report on. Just the usual good ol' work for God. Sometimes I get sad for the people when we are tracting. Because it's like here we are! We're on your doorstep and all you have to do is listen to us and you will learn how to be even happier. But then they don't listen and I feel really sad for them. On the other side however, Minnesota is a very religious area. Everyone here is either Lutheran or Catholic and a lot of people really are active in their church. It's comforting to know that there is at least a strong faith in Christ among the people. And if they listen to us their faith can get stronger! Too bad they don't know that.
It's sounds like Jonny boy is a babe. I'm sure that even though he is taken, all of the girls flock to him as Mr. Darcy. Nice work!! Keep up those acting skills and good luck these next few shows!
And I am dang jealous of Christie! Bungie jumping in New Zealand?!? Talk about awesome.
You know what's cool? It wont be too long before I will be able to call you. Mother's day isn't too far out! Speaking of that, missionaries are allowed to use skype when talking to their family. So if a member will let me use their skype then I could not only talk to you, I could SEE you too! So set up a skype account and hopefully we can work it out when the day arrives.
Life is good as a missionary. It has been exciting and fun and crazy and scary and everything else. I love it! I got the package from you. Thank you very much. I will probably send home a flash drive with pictures on it pretty soon. I'm excited! And tell sister Smith thanks so much for the hat!! It is way cool. I like it a lot.
I will email again next week and will officially be an experienced missionary because I totally finished one whole transfer :) It sounds like life at home is great. I'm always praying for Grandma and am so glad to hear she is doing well. Thanks for all the updates and have a wonderful week! I miss and love you!
Love,
Elder Ruesch
