spring! This last week wasn't cold at all. It's absurd! The last
couple days were in the 40's and then tomorrow might even hit 50. I
was getting myself mentally and physically prepared for this winter
and I was excited. And now all I have to deal with is this warm
weather! But I really do consider it a blessing. People are a lot
more willing to talk to us when they aren't freezing. In fact, we had
interviews with the president on saturday and when I got to the church
I hung up my coat. Well, when we left it was so warm that I forgot I
had even brought a coat and I left it at the church! Ha ha. I should
be getting it back today but it was craziness! I wont be surprised
though when it randomly drops to 20 below zero. That's minnesota for
you.
It was a pretty good week. We had some cool adventures. President
Clements has started having the AP's do exchanges with all of the new
missionaries at some point in their first transfer. And so on Friday,
Elder Neeley and I both went to the Assistant's area and split off
with one of the AP's and worked in their area all day. It was pretty
fun. The Elder that I was with for the day I actually have a funny
connection to. His name is Elder Crepeau and he actually dated
Jessica Frazier for a while in college! Ha ha. It's a small world
aint it? I thought that that was hilarious. But he is a way cool
Elder and a really good missionary and I had a fun time with him and
learned many good things. I think that Elder Neeley had a good
experience with the other AP too. It was a fun day!
We are still in contact with ____________. He is doing pretty well
and he is still solid on being baptized on January 21st! That is
exciting. It's actually the first saturday after the next transfer.
So there is always the slight chance that one of us will get
transferred but pretty unlikely since the training program for new
missionaries is 2 transfers long. But we'll see! I hope neither of
us are transfered.
________________ is doing pretty good too. This week we met with her
3 times which was awesome. We taught her about the ten commandments,
the word of wisdom, and more about modern day prophets. It was good.
She wasn't too excited to live the word of wisdom but she understood
why we have it and she has been living it ever since! It was funny
when we were talking about the ten commandments because we mentioned
keeping sabbath day holy and talked about how we need to keep it a
special day for the Lord by not working or stuff like that. She liked
it and thought it was a good thing. I don't know if she'll be ready
to be baptized on the 21st. We've talked about it with her and she
said don't push her too much, which I think is really good. Whether
or not she does it on the 21st, I do think that in the near future she
will be baptized. She's really close.
Our other investigator is also doing really well! We taught her the
restoration this week and it was INTENSE. It's amazing how difficult
it is to teach someone that doesn't have a christian background. But
she figured it out pretty good after we taught it to her twice this
week :) and she came to church and it's great! She even came to the
CES Fireside that we had last night. She thought it was SUPER boring
but endured the whole talk. She is funny. And then afterwards, she
asked us to teach her how to tie a tie. I didn't realize how
complicated it can be! Ha ha. But she figured it out.
Also! The girl that was a referral from that return missionary guy.
Remember her? Well she is doing really well! We had a fantastic Plan
of Salvation lesson with her last week and she came to church
yesterday. We were supposed to also meet with her on Saturday but she
got sick. She's feeling better now. So then we're going to visit
again this week and hopefully we will commit her to be baptized in
february. She really liked church. She is really exciting!
So things are going great! I'm still alive, awake, alert, and
enthusiastic. The institute building here has a ping pong table and
so last week the Zone Leaders came over and we had some INTENSE ping
pong happening. It was so fun. I don't think I've sweat that bad in
a long time. That's how intense that ping pong was. And it was so
fun that they are coming back again today. I'm excited. They are
going down!
I can't believe Jen's baby shower is this week! That's craziness.
Good luck with everything! That is super exciting!
Have a wonderful week and next time I email I should know what is
going on for transfers. Can you believe that another transfer has
already flown by? Gross!
Love you!
Elder Ruesch
