June 27,2011

Hey hey hey! It's been a long week. Everytime we have transfers the
first week is always really long. It is hard to help the new guy
adjust. But things are going well! My new companion, Elder
Gottfredson, is the bomb! He is a really good guy. He has been out
on his mission as long as Elder Hirschi, so still pretty fresh. I'm
just finishing up his training. He is from West Jordan. Not too far
at all from home. We have fun. It's been nice becasue he is very
willing to work and listen and learn. He's a great missionary. It's
been lots of fun. He's super easy going and so I we get along very
easily and laugh a lot. Thank goodness. I need to have a good laugh
every once in a while.

What an interesting week. It's been crazy. We didn't get the chance
to teach many of our investigators this week. It was hard to get
appointments with them for some reason but we're still working with
them. But we got to do other awesome things that just rocked my
world! Thursday was amazing. We got to go to the temple with the
young men and new members. Awesome! We rode to the temple and back
home with _________ and he knows the twin cities really well so as we
were driving the cities he told us all about the many places we saw.
It was awesome just to hang out with him in the car. He is such a
good guy. And then at the temple______ and _________ were there as
well as another recent convert family and the young men. What a cool
experience! Unfortunately, missionaries aren't even allowed to be in
the baptistry at all so we got to work in confirmation room the whole
time. That was exciting. I loved that. ________ brought the names
for his dad and grandfather. That was super neat. He had a great
experience. I wish I could go to the temple every day. The moral of
the story is the temple is the best place in the entire world. Amen.

I think I told you about the family we tracted into who does the Bible
Bee, didn't I? Anyway, we went and taught them last Monday and the
lesson just was horrible. They had a million questions which is good
but it was an argumentative setting. No bible bashing but the spirit
was definitely not there. I don't know if they'll ever let us back.
I feel horrible about how the lesson went. But I have to not beat
down on myself. It wasn't all my fault. I just hope they at least
read the BOM. That's what it is all about. This was really the only
sad thing this week.

Moving on. We had 4 investigators at church yesterday! Yay! There
is an older woman that we taught once who is super cool. She grew up
Lutheran but has been telling us that she doesn't like her church
anymore. She keeps saying she needs something more. She is totally
ready for our church. So we've given her a BOM and she came to
church! WORD! I can't tell you how stinking hard it is to get
investigators to come to church. Seriously, the hardest thing in the
entire world. But she came and had a good experience. It was ward
conference and so she thought that all the sustainings were weird. We
explained it though and she was fine with it. We'll keep you updated
with her. The other investigators that came to church were kind of
unexpected. A less active girl brought her friend and another less
active lady brought her husband and granddaughter. It's exciting.

There is this less active lady in our ward that we visit every once in
a while. She is hilarious. It's so funny. But she took us to the
hospital yesterday and we gave one of her friends a blessing. That
was a good experience. Her friend is not a member and just got
diagnosed with colon cancer. I think that she had a super good
experience from the blessing. I don't know where it could lead to but
it was neat.

We finished the week off well with the most amazing fireside.
Yesterday was the farewell fireside for President and Sister Howell.
it was SOOOO good! The ________ actually spoke in the fireside and
talked about their conversion story and shared their testimony. It
was so powerful. They also had several musical numbers and then
President and Sister Howell each spoke. Man, you would have had to be
a cardboard cutout to not feel the spirit in this meeting. We also
have a tradition that we sing This is the Christ at the end of Zone
conference and other missionary meetings. So all the missoinaries
went up to the front at the end of the fireside and sang This is the
Christ. Ah! Delicious. It was such a good fireside. It doesn't get
much better than that. If you go to the Howell's homecoming I think
that all the RM's there are going to get up and sing This is the
Christ as well. That will be so good.

I am sure going to miss the Howells. They have had a major impact in
my life and I will dearly miss them. I am super excited to meet the
Clements though. They come on Wednesday. I am super pumped! Oh and
guess what. You know how we have this goal to baptize 60 people in
June? Things are going really well and we are only 1 baptism away
from reaching our goal. We're waiting for a miracle! It is still
June and we are going to reach our goal and so I can't wait to see
what happens. Missions are the bomb. The MMM (Minneapolis Minnesota
Mission) is seriously on fire right now. I can't even tell you how
well our mission is doing. It's a fact, this is the best mission in
the world! President got a call from one of the Quorum of the Twelve
the other day telling him that Salt Lake it watching our mission like
crazy. There is so much faith here and so much is happening that Salt
Lake is watching our every move. I am so grateful to be a part of
this mission. I wouldn't have wanted to go anywhere else. I love it
here. The members are awesome, the missionaries rock, and the work is
dang hard. I love it!

The Lehi round up looks like it was a party. I am sad that I missed
it. I only have to miss one more of them! Sister Ford is here in
Minnesota now. I'm sure I'll see her sometime soon. I am excited to
see her. That will be a fun connection to home. I'm excited.

Thanks for all of your love and support! Love you guys so much!
-Elder Ruesch

June 20, 2011

Woo hoo! This was a really great week. Lots of fun and exciting
things happened. First off, never fear! ________ is now officially a
member of the Church of Jesus Christ! Her baptism went as planned on
saturday and it was a very neat experience. There weren't many people
there at all. Just like 15 or so but it was very spiritual and such a
powerful program. The best thing was that she asked me to baptize
her. So she is the first (living) person I have ever baptized. It
was so neat! Funny story: we thought the font was filled really high
because it looked like it was. And then when I walked into it I
realized that the water level was only just above my knees. Super
low! So it was an advenure trying to dunk her all the way. The first
time I baptized her, her knee came up out of the water. When I pulled
her back up and explained that we needed to do it again she exclaimed,
"Oh no!" She was really afraid of the baptism and so to do it twice
took some courage. But she had a great experience. The second time
was perfect and she was fully immersed. What a cool thing!
Elder Hirschi confirmed her in church yesterday. His first
confirmation! He did a great job and it was super excellent
experience again. I can't tell you many other places where I have
felt as much power as I do when I stand in the circle of Melchezidek
Priesthood holders confirming a member of the church. Ah. So cool.
The church is true. You better believe it.

Speaking of Elder Hirschi. Transfers are this week and believe it or
not, Elder Hirschi is getting transfered! It was very surprising
because we're supposed to stay together at least 3 months. But for
some reason they decided to switch around a lot of the trainees. So
Elder Hirschi is going to St. Paul to be with another trainer where
he'll finish his training and I will be getting a missionary from
Rochester and I'll finish off his training. Kinda cool. His name is
Elder Gottfredson. We've got some really awesome things happening in
Plymouth now though and so Elder Hirschi is really sad to leave. It
was just very unexpected! He will be missed. But he's going to do
really well in St. Paul. He's a good missionary.

We also did an exchange this week and so I went to Uptown for a day.
It rocked. We went tracting up in North Minneapolis where a huge
tornado hit a few weeks ago and the damage was insane! Trees with
HUGE trunks were totally torn out of the ground. Houses had trees
fall on top of them. Sidewalk squares were pulled up. Crazy stuff. I
completely forgot to take pictures. I wish I had. Maybe I'll go back
soon. But probably not. Oh well. It was cool to see, very sad
though of course too. I don't think anyone was killed in the tornado,
so that it really good.

There is a lady who we have taught a few times. We met with her again
and had a fantastic lesson with her. She recently had a friend die
and so we taught her the plan of salvation. It was great and she
commented on how she felt so much better after the lesson was done.
We had been talking about baptism with her in the past and brought it
up again and invited her again to be baptized. She accepted and said
that the first date that popped in her head was September 23...
Really far away, however, Elder Hirschi and I both talked about it
after and decided that it felt good. We were shooting for July but if
the spirit is telling her september then I'm not arguing. And the
more we learn about her the more things we find that she needs to sort
out in her life before she can be baptized. So three months might be
the time we need to help her out. I hope that all goes well. Her
dearest friend is a member of the plymouth ward and is awesome. So
she is helping and so are we and with Baby steps we will get her to
the place that she needs to be.

Guess what! The Young men in our ward are going to the temple to do
baptisms for the dead this week and they invited the newly baptized
members to come along too. So the _______ family , __________, and
another family are all going to go and we got permission to go too!
Word! It is going to be the coolest thing in the whole world to do
baptism with them. _________ is taking the names for his father and
grandfather and is going to be baptized for them. It's awesome.

Things are starting to pick up in Plymouth. We got several new
investigators and have potential to get quite a few more this week
too. We had to drop ________ and sort of drop the _______ family
because they just weren't progressing. We need to have another
baptism soon so that Elder Gottfredson can have one in Plymouth. I
plan to :) I have the faith, now it's time to work.

After __________'s baptism we were tracting and knocked into this
family that were doing their own bible study. Actually the kids
compete in what they call the Bible Bee where they memorize a ton of
bible scriptures and have to recite them in the competition. And that
is what the family was studying for. So they invited us to their
backyard where we sat around the fire and and they showed us what they
do for their study and we shared some principles of our message. They
were super skeptical about our teachings but said that we could come
back to share it all with them. So we're going back today actually.
I'm excited. If they really are true seekers of God's truth then they
will have an awesome experience and will find the truth here. We'll
see what happens! I'm excited.

So it's been a delicious week. I feel like I'm finally learning how
to be an effective missionary. It's taken me a while but I feel more
confident as a missionary. I sure did have to learn fast. Finally
things are moving forward and we were very blessed this transfer to
see TWO baptisms. Amazing! The Plymouth ward is seeing some
wonderful success. It's been really neat. After this next transfer I
will have spent 6 months in the same area. Craziness. That is
uncommon but I love it. This ward is the BOMB.

MJ. It sounds like Engineering state was awesome. That was such a
fun time! And congrats on your scholarships!! Way to go!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD! I hope that is was a happy one. I'm glad to
hear that you got the text from Brother McGuire. He was so nice to do
that for me. Thanks for being the best Dad in the whole wide world!
I love you very much.

I think that is a pretty good update for the week. I'm excited to see
where this area will go. So many neat things can happen in just 6
weeks.

Oh and guess what? Elder Farnsworth goes home this transfer. Isn't
that just weird? I can't believe it. But that happens. He's had an
awesome mission. I'm very grateful for the lessons he taught me.

Well, life is good. I love you guys. Thanks so much for your love and
prayers. You are the best!
Love,
Elder Ruesch.

June 13, 2011

Hi!
It's been a pertty good week. We saw some good things happen. And
the weather has been delicious. It really feels like summer. Tuesday
was crazy. I think it was the record hottest day the Twin cities has
seen in a long time. It was 103 degrees. That's different than the
110 that Utah gets sometimes but when you add in the Humidity it feel
like death on a stick. It was awesome but really hot. The funniest
part was hearing everyone complain about it the next couple days
after. Minnesotans love to talk about their weather and they are very
dramatic about it. It's hilarious. But seriously, I think I could
have an hour long conversation with a Minnesotan if I wanted to. So
funny.

Good news! It looks like __________ is actually going to get
baptized! So awesome. She had her baptisimal interview on friday and
she passed. Funny story about that actually. The district leader
came to our church to do the interview and we went on a miniature
exchange afterwards so the DL's companion and I left while the
interview was going on and went tracting and Elder Hirschi stayed
behind. After the interview, I was still out tracting and so Elder
Hirschi, the District Leader and __________ came up with this wicked
plot to pull a prank on me. They all pretended like she didn't pass
the interview. So I went throughout the whole day thinking her
baptism wasn't going to happen anymore and it wasn't until later that
night that Elder Hirschi told me that it was all a joke. What a
punk! But it was hilarious. They did a good job making it seem
real. I was laughing pretty hard after I found out. And, oh my
goodness, you should have heard her after the prank was all done. She
was laughing her head off when I called her on the phone later that
night. It was hilarious how much enjoyment she got out of it. So I'm
glad I could provide her with a little happiness. Ha ha. Anyway, the
baptism is scheduled for this saturday! I'm pretty pumped. This
baptism is going to be a neat experience.

The baptism is exciting news, but as for most of our other
investigators we don't quite know what to do. Dispite all of our
efforts, the ______ family and _______ all didn't come to church
AGAIN. So we are thinking we're just going to have to drop them for
now. It is time to find new investigators who will actually
progress. Right now just isn't the right time I guess and
missionaries can try again in the future.

Last Monday we were tracting and talked to this Hindu family that said
we could come back. We talked to her about how families can be
together forever and that interested the mom. So we went back and
taught them on saturday and had a pretty good lesson with them. We
gave them a Book of Mormon and they said they'd read it. It was
interesting because both parents grew up in India and then came here
later. But the mom actually went to a catholic school in India.
Because of that she is pretty familiar with the Bible and
Christianity. The dad is not as religious. But they have really good
potential. The biggest problem we find with Hindu people is that they
are so open about religion that they are too open. And so they will
accept and agree with everything that you teach but it is impossible
to get them to realize that they need to do something about it. We
were excited about this family though because they were a little more
willing to learn. We'll see what the future holds.

We have been doing extra amounts of tracting and other finding stuff
this week because we really are trying to find new investigators that
we can start working with. So many of the people we've been working
with will only let us help them to a certain point and then they wont
do anything else. And that is when you have to move on. So hopefully
some people will come out of their hiding places for us to find,
teach, and baptize them! Yay

We also got back into contact with ____________ again. She fell of
the planet for a week or two and finally we got back in contact with
her and hopefully we'll be able to meet with her today. She has a lot
of things to get done before she is ready to get baptized but
hopefully we can help her move along swiftly.

Saturday was kinda cool because we had gotten a referral from a member
of the ward a few days before. She just told us to go over and offer
this couple some service. So we went over on saturday and it was the
perfect timing. The husband was just about to start mowing his lawn
and we ran up and talked to him for a bit. We offered some help and
he was kinda excited and gave us some jobs to do. It was fun to help
out in the yard for a little bit. Unfortunately it didn't turn into a
teaching opportunity yet. Maybe someday. The couple was very cool
and we had a good time. They just aren't religious. So someday when
they realize they need religion then hopefully they'll remember us.

So things are going pretty good. At this point we're sort of erasing
the chalk board and starting over regarding the people we work with.
Hopefully we'll see some miracles! We see them everyday. That is for
sure.

Happy summer! I love hearing from you and reading your emails. I
hope MJ have fun at Engineering State. Tell them to not let all of
the geeks ruin the dance. They can make it fun! They should have a
good time.

Parents: I hope you have a very happy anniversary. 22 years! Talk
about awesome. Thanks for being the best parents ever! And have fun
at Antelope Island. That sounds way fun.

Much love!

-Elder Ruesch

June 7, 2011

Well hey there! Yeah, I forgot to mention last week that our P-day
this week was going to be on Tuesday. I apologize! But don't worry,
I'm still alive. I wont be surprised if this happens many more
times. It's a good thing you guys are already used to it.

Happy birthday Christie!! I hope it was a delicious birthday. The
party looked like lots of fun. I'm sad I missed it.

This week was interesting. I think I mentioned an older lady who has
been investigating the church for like 10 years. Well I think she is
actually going to get baptized. We set a date for her baptism with
her for June 18th. She is now consistently coming to church and we
think she is actually serious about this baptism. Have I already
mentioned the goal our mission set to baptize 60 people in June? I
think so. Anyway, we set that goal as a mission because we wanted to
double our baptisms. And so there has been a huge push to baptise in
June and Elder Hirschi and I really wanted to be a part of this goal
and it just didn't look like we were going to have anyone ready for
baptism in June. But then ____________ decided to take things
seriously and it looks like we really might get to help the mission
out! It's totally an answer to prayer. Awesome! So we can only hope
that things continue to go smoothly and she does get baptized in two
weeks. That would rock!

Cool thing. There is a girl who was in Chamber with me and she told
me that her sister was in the same mission as me before I left and I
totally met her the other day! Random. But it is really fun
sometimes to have a connection to home with someone. It felt great to
just talk to her about Utah. Good times.

Things are improving for our missionary work in general in Plymouth.
I sometimes get pretty frustrated because we are both just brand new
missionaries and although I do have some experience, I'm still
learning how to be the most effective missionary I can. There are a
lot of skills that I need to master and I hold such a high expectation
for myself that it can get me down sometimes. Don't worry though, we
are getting better and better each day and I'm not letting frustration
get to my head. We're working our hardest and doing our best. The
task of training a new missionary after 3 months is a difficult one
and I don't know how smart it is to have a missionary do it. But
things are working out well and I hope that Elder Hirschi is at least
learning something from me!

This week we moved into a new house. We were living with a family and
they had several sons coming to live at home for the summer and so
there wasn't any room for us any more. So we moved to live with
another family in the ward. Their house is HUGE! Ha ha. But really,
it's big. We have the whole basement to ourselves and there is a
sports court in the house and all sorts of luxuries. I'll be honest,
I doubt there are many missionaries in the world living such a sweet
life. But we're only here for seven weeks so I'm going to enjoy it
while it lasts!

We had yet another week of NO ONE coming to church. Execept the lady
we are hoping to baptize. All of these investigators we are teaching
just can't take the step to make it to church. We're really focusing
on finding new investigators now. Investigators that will actually go
somewhere! But hey, even if all we can do is help someone build their
faith then we are still fulfilling our purpose as missionaries a
little bit. But in Minnesota we not only do that, we BAPTIZE! Just
have to find the prepared ones.

I'll be honest, MMM is by far the best mission in the world. Nothing
can compare! We really do amazing things here and President Howell
has just sent this mission off at light speed. There are amazing
things ahead and I can't wait to see what kind of growth there is.
The church is growing here in Minnesota like crazy. I sometimes
forget the work that I am a part of and only see what is happening in
my little sphere in my area. And then I look around at what is going
on across all of Minnesota and am just amazed. It blows me away.
This mission makes fantastic missionaries because it is hard. It is
dang hard. But we still are a baptizing mission. I can't wait to see
how the work progresses with President Clements. It's just awesome!

So as for investigators, _________ has been out of town all week and
we haven't been able to get ahold of her recently. Hopefully she's
okay. The _________ family stopped progressing and unfortunately we
don't know how much longer we're going to keep working with them. If
they can't start moving forward then we might drop them. But that is
what happens. We have faith though and for now we're going to still
try and help them. We've taught a lady a couple times who we tracted
into a long time ago. After many tries we finally got to meet with
her twice and she really likes the BoM and is pretty interested. We
invited her to be baptized in July and she said she would definitely
think and pray about it. She is super good friends with a member and
so I think that the member's example is what sparked her interest.
Members help so much!

____________ is doing fantastic. He got the Aaronic Priesthood on
Sunday and that was super neat. We also went over to his house last
week and visited with him and he was still floating on air. So happy
and at peace. And this was a full week after he'd been baptized. He
is the coolest guy ever. Oh and I need to send some pictures of his
baptism. I will do that! By the way, the _________'s are doing
awesome too. Brother M was called to be the assistant scout master
and sister M was called to be a visiting teaching coordinator person.
Pretty awesome. They rock. The coolest family.

So here we go on another week. I keep on thinking that something else
that was awesome happened this week but I can't remember what it was.
Maybe I will tell you next week. Thanks for the love. Happy
summer!! Speaking of summer, it has suddenly gotten really hot over
here too. 95 degress yesterday plus humidity = death. But we'll
survive. Making sure to drink water.

Much Love!
Elder Ruesch