many things have changed! I am safely in the land of Dinkytown. It
is super great. We got here on Wednesday and have been going at full
speed ever since. Elder Checketts is way awesome. He is way excited
about the work. He's been on his mission for 3 months now and this is
also his second area. It's pretty sweet. This is a good area for him
because he's super personable and friendly to the students and so they
are willing to listen to him. I don't know if I told you this last
week but we also got sent into this area with a pair of sisters who we
work closely with. It's kinda fun because the area isn't split in
half or anything we just sorta play "finders keepers" when it comes to
investigators. Any investigator you find, you get to teach. And it
is sweet to have two sets of missionaries that work on the U of M
campus. There are 70,000 students that go to the U of M and so there
are a lot of people to talk to!
When we came to the area, we met up with the sisters and went through
the people that were in the previous Elder's teaching pool and just
split them up. So we are going to teach half of the less actives and
recent converts as well as investigators. The Elders had three
investigators before and we got two of them :) One of them is so solid.
This ward is killer diller awesome. And the U of M campus is so
sweet. It sits right on the Mississippi River. Half of campus is on
one side and half is on the other. So pretty. I love it. Plus, the
members of the ward are really willing to help out in the missionary
work. They give us rides anytime we need it and will come teach with
us anytime too.
There are most excellent advantages to serving in a in singles ward.
For example, we totally get to go to Family Home Evening tonight with
the ward! And yesterday there was a CES Fireside and we went to it
with a few of the less active people we are visiting. It's super
fun! Plus all the students have nonmember roomates and so there is
potential for some sweet biscuit referrals. Awesome! Also, mom you
made the comment that we wont get fed very much in the singles ward
but you'd actually be surprised! We have a dinner every night this
week. The students either cook for us or just take us out to eat. It
is super fun. Gosh I love this area. It's so rad! Sister
missionaries get pampered and we get to benefit from it. It's
awesome. All sister missionaries get a car to use, no matter what
area they are in. So typically, Dinkytown is just biking and walking
but the sisters brought the car with them and so we get to share it
with them. However, we mostly bike anyway. It feels so good to
finally be on my bike a lot!
Since we are working with young people. They are typically WAY more
open to learning about the church and what not because they aren't set
in their ways yet. I love it. So we have a lot of really good
conversations with people while walking around with them. Man, it's
crazy though because it's a whole new kind of ballgame. In Plymouth
the afternoons were dead because everyone was at work and so tracting
was horrible in the afternoon. Well, now campus is crazy busy in the
afternoon and so that is the optimum time to talk to people on campus
and then the evenings can be sketchy, especially weekends. All the
frat party's going on and people drunk on friday night. It's funny
but you gotta be careful. Crazy college kids.
Another cool advantage to serving here is we get to use the computer
that is in the institute building to email. In fact, the dinkytown
missionaries have their own gmail account that they can use to email
students and set up times to meet with them that way and stuff. It's
so sweet. No other area has the advantage of email.
So as you can see, life in Dinkytown in flipping sweet. Since we
whitewashed in it's been crazy trying to meet people and having no
idea what is going on but we figured stuff out pretty quick and are
doing the best that we can. It's a super fun place and I can just
feel a few baptisms around the corner. I'm also looking forward to
Conference coming up here pretty quick. That is going to be most
excellent! I was sad to leave Plymouth but change is good and I am
really loving the work here in Dinkytown. There is so much we need to
do!
I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pumped to here about my little peanut
NIECE!!!!! WORD!!! I can't wait to be her favorite uncle. It's
going to be a party!
Well, I love you guys and hope you have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Ruesch
P.S. Sorry about how random and totally ADD this email is. I keep
getting distracted by people coming to talk to us. Enjoy!
