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
