Hello!
I would like to begin with the most adorable story you ever did hear.
There is a lady in the 4th ward who has a son that's 3ish years old.
One day they were talking about Peter Pan and what your happy thought
would be for you to fly. And her son said that his thought would be
seeing the missionaries everyday! Aint that just the cutest? It's so
funny because to the world we put this name tag on and we are the scum
of the earth and then to the members of the church we put this name
tag on and we become heros! Ha ha. It is so neat to be an influence
for good in everyway. It just reminds me that I need to be an
excellent example to all the kids that really look up to the
missionaries.
We had a miracle in Rochester! I think I have mentioned before a lady
that we are teaching that is what missionaries refer to as an
eternigator (eternal investigator). She was taught for like a year
and a half and then missionaries stopped going over. And then they
started teaching her again like a year later and she's been taught
ever since. She has had all the same hold ups for the longest time.
So Elder Last and I are to the point where we are pushing her to take
the steps to be baptized or stop meeting with missionaries all
together. So a few weeks ago we were really bold and invited her to
be baptized on a specific date. She wouldn't commit to it but she did
tell us that instead she would read the BoM for 30 minutes a day and
pray twice a day and come to church. Since then her progress has just
soared! She has come to church 3 times now, and she is much more easy
to commit to live the commandments. She has forever had a hold up on
Coffee. There were two different times where she quit for one day and
then started drinking it again. I don't know why she doesn't want to
give it up so bad. But this week we had a powerful lesson on
sacrifice and we left the house with her coffee cup in our hands! It
was a total miracle! She even said that she feels good now about the
decision to stop. So progress is moving ahead! This is progress that
has not been made in forever! It is amazing the things the Libro de
Mormon can do! It has an amazing sprirt!
The _____________ Family is the BOMB! I love them so much. We had
two lessons with them. We had to move the baptismal date for the son
a week in advance because they will be out of town the next week. But
he will be ready by then. Holy cow he is the most impressive 13 year
old kid ever. In one of our lessons he started with, "Can you explain
the Law of Tithing to me? Where do the funds go to?" He is like a
little adult. He is very mature and will be do incredible things
during his life for the church. His mom is also doing well. We have
taken the focus of the teaching off her for now and put it on her son
because we want him to be ready to be baptized on his scheduled date.
I have full confidence that his mom and his little brothers will
follow quickly after though and also be baptized. They just need a
little more time. The major lesson I am learning from this family is
the importance of families. The mom and the boys are all broken so
badly because of the divorce. It breaks my heart to see them in
pain. And the divorce was years ago too. This couldn't have been a
better time for the gospel to come into their lives though. The only
way they can receive the healing they need is through the atonement.
Minnesota weather is crazy. It will rain and then the sun will come
out and get super hot and humid and then rain and do the same thing
multiple times in a day sometimes. I worry that I am going to shrivel
up someday when I come back to Utah. The dryness will eat me.
Our week was funny with a lot of ups and downs. We had these miracles
with these investigators progressing super well and we also had a TON
of lessons fall through. I am really tired of people not keeping the
commitments they make. We set up so many lessons with people and then
they just dodge us. It gets really really annoying. This week it
happened a lot. We got tired of it by the time the week was ending
but sunday night we actually had a first appointment with a lady go
through and it raised our spirits a lot. She was a neat lady who we
tracted into a few days earlier. We shared the restoration and the
spirit was really strong. She is also divorced and is looking for a
new church. What a neat time for missionaries to come by! Hopefully,
she reads the Book of Mormon!
We also talked to the coolest African lady ever yesterday! She was
from Nigeria. Talk about a strong faith in Christ. She was amazing.
So we shared a little about the Book of Mormon and the church with her
on the door and set an appointment to come over later this week. I am
excited! That is one thing that I love about Rochester. It is really
diverse for not being a super big city. There is a really big
population of Somalian people. I've also met people from Bosnia,
Romania, England, Ughanda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan and I can't
remember if there is more. But that is a lot! And I don't think I
have seen more different license plates than I have here. I should
start keeping track because I might be able to see all 50 states
license plates. I guess a lot of people come here for the Mayo Clinic
or something. It is interesting!
Well, that's about it for the week.
Anyway, I love you guys! Have a happy week!
Love,
Elder Rueschki
