December 26, 2011

It was so amazing to be able to talk to you yesterday! It feels like
it was a dream and that it didn't actually happen at all. That is
probably because it was just too fast. It's amazing how quickly that
time actually went! Goodness. But nevertheless, I am still soooooooo
happy I got the chance to talk to you for just a short time. It was
so awesome that all of those people were there! I loved it! It was
like I was still at the party! I hope that you all had a happy
christmas. I wish I had had more time because I never had the chance
to ask you guys about what you all got for christmas! I want to hear
what awesome goodies you all got. I'm sure it was an awesome
Christmas. I sure sounds like it was.

So I'm not really sure what to talk about in this email. I feel like
you are all updated now! I guess I'll go over it all again briefly
anyway.
__________ is doing well. This week we had a lesson and at the end he
surprised us by saying, "let's do the baptism on the 21st." He is
determined to go for it . I hope that all goes well. I can't wait
for the day that he becomes a missionary.

Speaking of missionaries, ______________ is doing well and she texted
us last night asking about what sister missionaries do. We told her
that they do pretty much the same thing and asked her why. She said
that it's because she might like to serve a mission herself. How cool
would that be?! I was pumped when she said that. She's got at least
two more years to think about it though. It's just exciting.

____________ is still doing well also. I think that both ________and
__________ are just really happy still after their baptism last week.
Baptism is good.

We did have quite a miracle this week that I didn't really explain
yesterday. Since pretty much the only peolpe that are still around
now that school is out are the foreign students and many of them are
from china, we decided to put together a class for those who don't
know anything about God. We have found that most chinese people we
talk to are much more comfortable learning in a group setting then one-
on-one. So we thought the class might be a good idea. We held it
last thursday and sent out a bunch of emails to try and get people to
come. We were just hoping for even one person to come! I'll be
honest, I didn't have much faith in it. But the Lord showed me once
again that he's in charge and two chinese girls that I had talked to
on campus with Elder Mumford showed up! It was awesome! We had a few
members at the class to make it a bigger group and just taught the
class aimed at the two chinese girls. The lesson went really well and
so we invited them to church and they showed up yesterday! Word. It
was fantastic! The thing that was cool is that _______ came to church
yesterday as well and so all three of the chinese girls spoke chinese
together and it was good. We're meeting with the two chinese girls
again on tuesday and actually, I'm super pumped because one of them is
coming over to the institute building today to play some ping pong
with us. I hope that she is good! It's going to be way fun! Ha ha.
So that was awesome.

Like I said too, _________ came to church. She is doing really well.
She came with us to have dinner at the Bishops house on Christmas
eve. She was SO excited to come because it is her first Christmas in
America. She has an awesome experience too. The Bishop shared his
conversion story with her. She definitely feels something good in
this church! In fact, yesterday after church she commented to me how
she feels so happy whenever she is in the church or around members and
so forth. I told her that that was the spirit and she agreed. So
there are great things happening with _________!

The campus is a ghost town now. I have never ever seen so few people
in dinkytown and on the campus. It's craziness. This next week is
going to be quite an adventure.

We also have another investigator that is doing well. We had a great
lesson with her this week and she was really commited to read and pray
about the BoM. A few days later she texted us and told us that she
has been praying everyday and she feels so much closer to God. She
said that this is exactly the feeling she was looking for. The funny
thing is that she also said, even if I don't join your church I am
really grateful for you two guys and helping me get closer to God. We
just need to help her realize that it is actually the spirit that is
telling her that she needs to be baptized. We're also meeting with
her tomorrow and so I'm excited to see how it goes. Hopefully we can
commit her to be baptized!

Zone conference this week was awesome. It was really nice that they
let us watch Miracle! That was a really good movie. Sometimes I just
keep on going and going and never stop and so I get really up tight.
It was nice watching that movie to just have the chance to relax for a
second and let my mind rest. It was great!

Well I hope that you all have a Happy New Year! I'm excited to start
the year that the world is going to end in! Let's make the last year
before the end of the world a good one! :)

Have a wonderful week and hopefully it snows soon!

Love you!

Elder Ruesch

December 19, 201

We had a glorious weekend to the max here in the land of Minnesota!
On saturday both ________ and ___________ got BAPTIZED!!! Woo hoo!!!
It was such an amazing day. _________ was really excited and it was a
special day for him. And it truly was! Everything worked out
flawlessly. It was a miracle! President Clements came to _________'s
baptism as well. And then in the evening ________ got baptized! That
was also super exciting! I had the super amazing opportunity to
baptize her. She was nervous but the baptism went very smoothly and
we only had to dunk her once :) ___________'s cousin and aunt flew
out to the baptism. They are members and they are the ones that
introduced her to the church. So that was cool to have them come.
Both __________ and _________ were just so happy! It was cool how
each service worked too. It just worked out swimmingly. It was a
great day. Then in church the next day they both were confirmed. I
got to confirm __________ which was just killer diller and then
_________ was confirmed by a member of the ward. Talk about a party!
I loved it.

The baptisms were also really great because ______________ came to one
of them. He really liked it and I am sure he felt like he needs to be
baptized too. He has been waiting for way too long. He says that he
wants to be baptized the first or second week that he gets back to
school. That will be really great. I hope that he actually goes
through with that! He needs to be baptized. He has been waiting too
long. The thing with ___________ is that I really feel like he needs
to serve a mission. And he wants to. I think he feels like he is
supposed to also. And the longer he takes to be baptized, the longer
he waits to go on his mission. If he waits too long he may never go,
which is exactly what his family wants. (Little does his family know
it will be better for them too if he serves a mission!) So we are
praying all goes well this break and he gets baptized when he gets back.

Also, our awesome friend ___________ came to ____________'s baptism.
It was really great! She kept on saying things like, "If I get
baptized and I slip and fall and mess everything up, will I not be
allowed to me Mormon anymore?" Ha ha it was so funnny. She is
hilarious! But it was a good sign because she is really thinking
about being baptized. That will be awesome!

We had another investigator come to church yesterday. Her name is
_____________. She is trying to find a church and we have had some
really great lessons. I can see some great potential with her! The
great thing about __________ and __________ is they will still be
around over the Christmas break and so we will actually have a couple
investigators to teach. Otherwise, things are going to be pretty
sparse. We may end up finding a lot of foreign students to teach
because they are the only ones that don't want to fly home for
christmas and so they will still be around. Finals for the U of M end
on Thursday (kinda late!) and so we'll see what happens after that!

We also had a great miracle! Do you remember ____________? Probably
not. He is the one that emailed a member and said that he wanted to
meet with us. And we had a baptismal date set with him for dec 10th.
And then he fell off the planet. But last monday I gave him a call
randomly and he totally picked up and we set up an appointment with
him! We met up and taught him the Plan of Salvation. The lesson was
awesome and he totally knows that this church is true. He just has
really difficult struggles in his life and he can't quite bring
himself to act by coming to church or being baptized and stuff yet. I
think we may have rushed him too fast. But now we're going to take it
slower for him.

Last week was crazy busy but it was crazy fun too! Christmas time is
the best! You know, one of the things I'm starting to learn really
well is how to use my time wisely. That is one of the greatest skills
that the mission has taught me. I love it! It is amazing how fast
your time flies by and if you don't make every second count, it's all
gone and you've got nothing done. I think a truly honorable mission
is one where you used the Lord's time as effectively as you possibly
could. This is not the time for us, it is the time for the Lord. I
hope I can continue to use this skill throughout my whole life too.

The best way to sum up this week is to say happy. It's amazing, you
work so stinking hard every day all day and it totally pays off and
way more to watch someone make so many changes in their life and take
the step to be baptized. Missionary work is the most awesome thing.
SUPER EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS!! For our delicious skype sesh, I can't
wait!

Well Merry Christmas! Thanks for all the packages and letters. I got
a package from Brian and Jen this week which is awesome! I look
forward to opening my presents! And I have loved reading the letters
every day for my 12 days of christmas. It is the best! Thanks
everyone! I wish it was Christmas every month because I get so much
mail! Woo! Can't wait to talk to you! I really gotta go!

LOVE,
Elder Ruesch

December 12, 2011

Ha ha! I love how both mom and dad said they couldn't believe I
opened my birthday presents. I couldn't resist! Plus I thought there
was a chance I would get transferred and I didn't want to carry around
wrapped packages. But don't worry! I learned from my mistakes and I
have not opened the presents yet that you gave me for christmas. :)
But I did set up the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, which is the best
thing ever by the way! It looks great on my study desk. I also put
the paper christmas tree on the wall. Except the dumb tape isn't very
strong and the tree keeps falling down! But it is okay. I decked it
out with tape this morning. It should be good now.

So it has been an eventful week. It feels like forever ago that I
last emailed you. My new companion is Elder Nick Neeley! He is an
awesome kid. And guess where he is from? Just guess. I bet you can
get it. That's right! Logan! Ha ha ha. I love it. He graduated in
2011 (weird...I'm getting old) so he is a year behind me and he didn't
do any college yet. But he does plan on going to USU. That's three
companions in a row! Awesome! Cleary, Utah State is the superior
school. Either that or the Apostles know that the people that live
in Logan are more used to the cold and so they send them to
Minnesota. Or I'm just a perfect companion for a USU student. One of
those several options. Anyway, moving on. Elder Neeley is a way cool
cat. He's got some big muscles and could totally beat me up.
Fortunately, he is also really humble and teachable and willing to let
me teach him a few things here and there. The best part about Elder
Neeley is he is totally fearless!! It's amazing! When I was out my
first week I was scared out of my mind! I just wanted to hide in a
corner and not have to go knock on peoples doors because I didn't know
what to say. But Elder Neeley is just a machine! A lot of times he
has no idea what to say but he just takes his challenges head on and
if he stumbles a little bit I'll take over. His personality is
actually a lot like Thayne Thompson. He talks very similar and uses a
lot of the same words in his conversation. It's really fun. He and
Thayne will be best buddies when they get home. Elder Neeley went to
Mountain Crest High School. He played football there. Actually, do
you remember a time when Lone Peak played Mountain Crest in Rice-
Eccles Stadium? He played in that game. It's a good thing Lone Peak
won! But it's still a cool connection. So the moral of the story is,
we have been having a lot of fun the last several days. It's looking
like this is going to be a good transfer! I'm excited. Elder Neeley
will have no problem getting used to missionary life. I have been
very lucky with my companions so far! It's great!

So for the missionary work business, things are going great! I don't
know if I accidentally said that we were having a baptism today or
not, but that is not true. However! ____________ and ____________
are both going strong to be baptized this saturday! Word! We are
super excited! ____________ asked Elder Mumford a long time ago if he
would baptize her and it stunk that he got transferred. And so then
she asked me to baptize her. I'm excited about it but I also feel sad
because I wanted Elder Mumford to baptize her really bad. I tried to
convince President to let him come over to the baptism but it was just
too far. So that is sad. But he is already doing really great in his
new area from what I hear. So that's good! The funny thing about the
baptisms this saturday is _________ wanted to have her own service and
so we will be having two separate baptisms on Saturday. It is a
little more work to make that happen but it is definitely worth it.
Ha ha. It is going to be an awesome day! ___________ is really
excited and she is bringing several friends, and so that will be
really great. ____________ is having quite the struggle. The last
week is always the toughest week though and so I hope that both
__________ and _____________ can stay strong.

I hate satan so much. He's such a jerk.

Yesterday we went to a christmas musical program put on the mission.
A member brought a friend and we all rode down together. It was
really fun. The nonmember friend wasn't really interested in the
church but she was really cool and I think she really liked the
program. That was a fun thing to do. I love all the Christmas
celebrations. There will be the same program happening next week too
and Elder Neeley and I have been assigned to work at a table with all
the church supplies and answer any questions that anyone has. I'm
excited for that! There is a cool choir here called the Minnesota
Mormon Chorale. It is an audition only choir that is actually pretty
good. They sang at the fireside too. That was good.

This week is finals week at the U of M and so it might be a pretty
sparse week. With the weather getting colder and with finals, the
students on campus have been a lot less nice to us. It's weird how
things work that way. But I can see why. Everyone is just stressed
out.

So it is looking like I will probably be able to Skype with you on
Christmas. And it should probably be in either the afternoon or
evening. There is a member that volunteered to have us come over and
so we will probably go over there. We're not sure though. I will
definitely know by next week what the plan is. It wont happen in the
morning for sure because we will have church and all that good stuff.
I'll let you know!

It's been a good week! I feel like I'm always really tired. It
doesn't matter if I'm in high school, college, the summer, on a
mission, I'm always tired. It never ends doesn't it? Oh well. I'm
getting used to it ha ha.

Have a wonderful christmas! I think you're dipping chocolates this
week huh? Send me some cool pictures! I expect MJ to lick grandma's
fingers. :) Have fun!

Love you!

Elder Ruesch

December 5, 2011

The fam fam! Hi! So far we have not gotten a call about transfers.
So the hope is that Elder Mumford and I are both staying!! That would
be awesome! It is going to be an exciting adventure! We'll see if we
end up getting a call.
I can't believe that it has already been 6 weeks again. The transfers
just fly by at ninja speed.

Oh wait, I spoke too soon. We just got a call from president. The
transfer is official. I am staying here in Dinkytown! Unfortunately,
Elder Mumford is being shipped out to serve in a new area called
Buffalo. And my new companion is going to be a fresh newby missionary
straight from the MTC again. Oh boy! I'm pretty nervous. The new
missionaries wont get here for a few days, and so just like last time
I don't know the name of my next companion. I'll let you know his
name and everything that goes with that next week! Suspense!

So this last week has been a good one. Not too much has changed.
__________ is doing just great and is ready to be interviewed for her
baptism and everything is going to be good! She said that she has a
few friends that she would like to invite to the baptism. So we have
made some invitations and hopefully they will come and feel the spirit
and get baptized too! Word! ___________ is still shooting for his
baptism on the 17th ____________ wants to be baptized before the
Christmas break. We'll see!

We found a couple new people to work with this week. One had a ton
of questions and has some great potential. It's exciting! Our other
investigator is awesome! She came to church again this week for the
second time. We met with her on saturday and taught her about baptism
and the priesthood authority. She then brought up a question about
why God lets good people suffer and we had a really great discussion
on it. I think that she felt the spirit and enjoyed the lesson. I
can tell that she feels something special here and that is why she
keeps meeting with us. She is such a cool person! Really really funny.

We have a lot of investigators that we are working with, but most of
them are in the beginning stages and moving along kind of slow. So I
told you about our most solid progressing investigators.

We got a good amount of snow this week! I think it was 6 inches or
snow. It looks like the snow is finally here and is here to stay. It
was pretty unusual for minnesota to not get snow for so long. It
wasn't till the beginning of december that we got some decent snow
fall. Craziness! That probably means it's going to stay around until
like june. but whatever, I don't mind. I like snow.

We've got a lot of work to keep doing here in Dinkytown. I'm excited
for the future transfer. I am a little nervous though because the
next couple weeks are crazy for students preparing for finals and then
everyone goes home for christmas break. It is going to be a pain to
try and meet with investigators and when they go home we'll have no
one to teach. That will be a pain. But we'll make the most of it!

Holy Smokes!!!!! Ashley's engaged! Gross. Just kidding. That is
awesome! Congratulations! Now all you have to do is make it a long
engagement of about a year and 2 months and I'll be home in time to
see the wedding! Yay!
Also, the madrigal dinner sounded like it was way fun. I'm sad I had
to miss it. Did you get any pictures? I would love to see some pics
of that! That would be a funny show to see. I'm hoping jonny the
imposter didn't win in the end.

I got my birthday package!!!! And I also got the christmas tree
tube. It is awesome! I didn't put it up yet because I didn't know if
I was going to be transfered or not. But now that I know that I am
staying I will put the tree on the wall today. And also, there was
nothing in the birthday box that said I couldn't open my presents and
so I actually opened them the night that I got the package.... he he.
I was too excited! So basically I already celebrated my birthday :)
I promise I will make the cake on my actual birthday though. If you
really want me to open presents on my birthday you are more that
welcome to send me more packages :) Just kidding. But I loved the
tie and the sweat pants and everything!! Thanks so much you guys! Oh
and when I got my christmas package I promise I will follow the
instructions and not open the presents until christmas day. Thanks so
much!

I better head out! Love you guys and I look forward to telling you
all about the new companion next week. Thanks!

Love

Elder Ruesch

December 1, 2011

I love Christmas time! There are lights up all over the city and we
got our second snow of the season last night. I am so surprised at
how warm it has been though. The snow that came was only an inch and
the other snow storm we had was almost two weeks ago and it was only
like 2 inches. Between those storms, the weather was warm.
Thanksgiving day was 50 degrees! But it looks like the weather is
finally going to permanently cool down. I'm excited to get some more
snow!

Sorry I forgot to tell you about Thanksgiving. Someone did have us
over for dinner. It was really nice actually. A member in the ward
goes to the small college Macalester in St Paul. I think I mentioned
it recently. Well he had a big group of friends over and invited us
too. It was awesome because everyone there were nonmembers and so we
got the chance to have some really great conversations with his
friends. I was even able to give a girl a Book of Mormon. So that
was cool! It was a really chill environment and it was really
relaxing. Thanksgiving was great! So don't worry, I got my full
helping of turkey. I even sang the Gobble Gobble Gobble fat turkey
song. The sister missionaries weren't big fans of the song. He he.

It was SOOO nice to go to the temple again today. I absolutely loved
it! It was refreshing. The temple is the best!
This last week has been really good! We're still working and moving
along with the same people. __________ is doing great and is still
planning on being baptized Dec 17th! The game plan is the same for
_____________ too! I would say that the biggest challenge I've faced
while working with YSA's is the family resistance. That is the main
challenge that these people have to face. So far, all our serious
investigators have all had to overcome family issues.

I love working with these people my age. I'm starting to realize what
a critical time it is in someone's life, when they are a YSA. These
investigators that are progressing so well have super strong
testimonies and it's going to set the stage for their whole life. I
love it. It makes me once again notice how genius the Lord is in
sending us crazy 19 year old's on missions. It's unbelieveable the
stuff I'm learning and the foundation I'm building for my future
life. The Church is totally true!

We have this hilarious new investigator. She has been christian for
just under a year. It's pretty amazing. But she is so cool and we've
now taught her twice and she came to church last sunday. So far we've
had some pretty spiritual lesons with her and we're hoping to see her
progress. We invited her to be baptized in January and her answer was
very wishy washy. She could make it though if we keep working hard
with her. She is seriously one of the funniest people I've ever met!

I don't know if I ever mentioned this but there are a lot of students
from the U of M that are from China. A ton. It's really cool.
Sometimes it blows me away to talk to someone and try to explain who
God is. A lot of these Chinese people haven't even heard of that
idea, and especially haven't heard of Jesus Christ. It's interesting
to try to teach people like that. It's also hard when you don't speak
chinese...

Last week we were talking to people by campus and we had a really
funny experience. I started talking to this guy who was in his 40s.
He was short but looked like a pretty rough guy. Well we continued
talking and he asked if we could all sit down and talk for a bit. So
we did and he proceeded to tell us all about his life. He first told
us that he's had a rough life and he went out walking today to try and
find a church! And that's when we talked to him. So he said he
wanted to come to our church. And then he started telling us about
his life. This guy had tons of crazy stories that seemed a little bit
on the extreme side. And who knows, maybe he was telling the truth
and if so, that is an insane life. But we have never seen him since
and he said he would come to church. It was so funny talking to him
because story after story kept coming out. But we gave him a Book of
Mormon and so hopefully by some miracle he'll read it and decided to
really come to church! How cool would that be? Word :)

Thanksgiving break was really slow for us because everyone went home
for Thanksgiving. The campus was dead. But we still made the most of
it and had some great times. Transfers are next week and so on monday
I'll know if I'm being transfered or not. I have a feeling I will be
but I don't want to go! We'll see what happens!

Love you so much!
Elder Ruesch