Welcome back to another episode of the life of Elder Ruesch.
This week was pretty terrible! Ha ha. I guess the Lord has to give
us those every once in a while doesn't he? Bleh! But I am happy to
report that Elder Truman and I are still cheerful and optimistic!
There are a few reasons why it ended up being so bad but it was mostly
because all of our appointments kept on falling through. We had like
8 different appointments set up with investigators this week and they
all fell through. Some just didn't show up and others called and
cancelled right before. It was stinky! We ended up with having only
one of our investigator lessons go through this week.
The worst part about lessons falling through is you get really excited
to have a lesson with these investigators because you plan on them
making significant progress and so you make awesome lesson plans and
everything and then they don't show up or cancel and all you have left
to do is go onto the campus and talk to people. Don't get me wrong, I
love talking to the kids on campus, but it is very exhausting if you
do it all day long because all of your lessons didn't work out.
I think part of the reason for the crazyness is the semester is coming
to an end in a few weeks and so everyone is really busy and doesn't
want to take the time to meet with us. Also, this weekend was OUT OF
CONTROL! They had this weird activity called Spring Jam. It kinda
feels like Homecoming but in the spring. To me it seemed like a big
excuse to party hard and get drunk. Ha ha. They had a huge stage out
on campus and there were bands playing all weekend and they had a
dance Saturday night. And when everyone is in their big groups going
to the dance they really don't want to talk to us! So the week was a
struggle.
On the bright side, we went to Taco Bell for lunch today and got some
Dorritos Tacos! Has anyone tried it? The shell of the taco is a
giant Dorrito! It is delicious!
Anyway, the week wasn't just all terrible though. We did have some
great miracles! The coolest miracle of all was on Thursday. We went
with a member of our ward to go visit a less active guy that lives in
a suburb of Minneapolis that is pretty far away. So we drove there
and had a great lesson. While we were headed back to the Institute
building we were on the freeway when the members car broke down! It
was a blue Volks Waggen Bug in case you were wondering. So we pulled
over to the side of the road wondering what to do. Elder Truman and I
stepped out of the car and stood outside while the member called the
insurance and got a tow truck. We were just kinda laughing at the
situation because we were pretty stuck. Well it turns out that the
tow truck was covered by the insurance and he was on his way but the
truck could only fit two passengers and there were three of us. And
then! We got a random call from one of our former investigators. He
was driving on the freeway when he saw us and called to ask if we
needed any help. So he came over and drove us to the Institute
Building and then the member we were with was able to just go with the
tow truck. And then the whole drive to the Institute we got to talk
to this former investigator and talked about where he's at and how
he's doing. It was a miracle! I actually had been hoping for quite a
while that we could get back in contact with this investigator because
he wasn't responding to our calls anymore. It turns out that he isn't
quite ready to meet with us again but it was definitely good to talk
to him and hopefully he'll be ready again to meet soon. It's pretty
funny that God has to break your car down in order to help you fulfill
his work sometimes. He truly does work in mysterious ways. It is
funny.
We also are working with a couple less active people who are trying to
come back into activity. There is one guy in particular who is just
awesome. We have been meeting with him for a couple weeks now. He is
doing awesome and has a really sincere change of heart. And you can
tell that there is a fire back into him. He now has a light about him
and a new commitment to be better and it is great to see. I love
seeing people bring the Gospel into their lives!
If nothing else, the last week's difficult-ness helped Elder Truman
and I grow closer together in our companionship and closer friends as
we had to rely on each other to still have fun and enjoy our
experience on a mission in the middle of a not fun week. It is a
special work that we get to be a part of and I am grateful for that.
We're still working hard and we are going to make this week better
than last week!
Well, the weather is beautiful. I can't wait to go outside. And we
also have a match set up with our Indian investigator in Ping Pong.
It sounds like he is pretty good. We'll see. Got to get my game on!
Have a great week! Love you!
-Elder Ruesch
