pictures that you sent me! It's so exciting!!!! Jen sent me some
pictures of little peanut and I loved those. And then from all the
pictures and emails it looks like the wedding was amazing! How
awesome! I am so pumped for the Smash face and Brandon!!!!!!!!! I
can't contain my excitement!
This week was a pretty good week. The university had spring break all
week long and so we thought that the campus was going to be barren.
But it turns out there was still a decent number of people around to
talk to. We're working really hard to try and find new people to
teach because we just don't have that many investigators. So we're
working on it. We were able to have a few appointments with people
that we had never taught before and so we're slowly teaching more and
more again. With a lot of our recent converts, we're kinda in the
awkward stage where they can't rely on us so much any more and need to
rely more on the ward. So we still meet with them and support them a
lot but we're trying to meet with them less and have the home teachers
meet with them more and other members as well. I've learned how
fragile this time is in a recent converts life. They have a brand new
testimony and are trying to get used to the culture within the
church. For some people, it is really easy and for others it is
difficult. But everyone needs this church and needs to stay active
within it. So we're working on helping these converts to be super
solid! So far, they are all doing well. Which is so great!
Last week I forgot to tell you a hilarious story. We had a training
meeting with the mission president two weeks ago and after it was
done, one of the Elders came up to me and said, "Elder Ruesch, I have
a very important question. How do you get your hair to look like
that? I've been trying to get it to look that way for ever but I
can't get it to work. What do you do?" Ha ha! I laughed really
hard. He said it in a joking way but he was still serious. Sister
Clements even heard him ask me and she laughed a lot too. It was
great! Soon my supremely parted hair will become world famous!
Speaking of hair, I totally gave Elder Truman a hair cut this week and
it looks good! I am extremely proud of myself. The first hair cut I
have ever given anyone. A lot of missionaries like to cut their own
hair because it's a lot cheaper. But I just don't trust my companions
with my hair I guess!
Another awesome story. A member in the ward here is a professional
fighter. He does MMA fighting and makes quite a bit of money. We
helped him help his girlfriend move and he felt the obligation to take
us out to eat to a nice place. So he took us to a place in Downtown
Minneapolis that is a lot like Tucanos and it was awesome! I ate way
too much food but it was glorious.
Anyway, back to missionary things. We been having a little bit of a
tough time recently. Yesterday was the third week in a row that we
haven't had an investigator to church. It was frustrating because we
had several people who said they were coming and we even had members
going to pick them up but they all totally bummed out. I don't know
what the deal is. But it is lame. Oh well.
So I got a letter from Mike Summers this week and he was asking me
what advice I should give the Priests as they prepare for the
mission. So I'm gonna include it in here and then Dad can pass the
news on. Yes? Okay. The most important thing in my opinion is to
learn the doctrine. They need to have a solid testimony of the
truthfulness of this gospel. I thought that I had a strong enough
testimony before the mission. And I did but it can grow so much
more! I think it is really great to make a real focused study on the
atonement of Jesus Christ. A testimony of the Atonement will change
the world. And it sounds like you guys are studying preach my gospel
a lot? That is great! They need to know the 5 lessons contained in
chapter 3 like the back of their hands. They MTC doesn't ever talk
about what to teach anymore and instead they focus on how to teach.
And so they need to already know what they will be teaching so that
they can improve their teaching skills. The last advice that I would
give them would be to then practice teaching. Which it sounds like
you guys did that too. But practice helps SOOOO much! Especially
when the person you practice with has real concerns and real problems
that they need to help them work through. It's important to learn how
to teach people and not lessons. If the Priests can do those things
they will be far ahead of all the other missionaries at the
beginning. To me, the most important is to gain a powerful testimony
of the Book of Mormon. That book is incredible and it will change
their lives as well as others.
So I'm running out of time. Garrett Vance also asked me to walk him
through what a normal day on the mission is like. I will talk about
that next week in my letter!
By the way, this weather has been out of control! It's been in the
70's almost all week long. We skipped spring and went straight to
summer. It is super messed up! Minnesota is being crazy. I am
afraid that this summer is going to be ridiculously hot. We'll see.
Right now it doesn't look like the weather is cooling down at all
either. Weird!
CONGRATULATIONS to Ashley and Brandon again! I am so excited for them
and I hope that they have fun in Cancun!!
Love you guys!
-Elder Ruesch
