The fam fam!
I'm basically fluent in Nepali now. Not! I still know nothing. But
that's okay. It's not necessary. I will say I am getting pretty good
at Elder Ruesch's version of sign language. The Nepali tend to
understand pretty well.
This last week was great. Elder Shrestha was a trooper! He was
feeling sick and had a small fever one day. So we took it a little
slower but we still went out to work and had several appointments and
he toughed through it. One of my favorite parts of being with a new
missionary is being able to watch the rapid growth that occurs in them
at the beginning of their mission. Elder Shrestha is really starting
to become a powerful missionary. He learns quickly! It's been awesome.
Saturday was delicious! It was 60 degrees! It was amazing. And then
the next day it dropped to 30 and we had freezing cold rain. This
morning we woke up to a tiny bit of snow. We haven't gotten a
substantial amount yet! I think you guys have gotten more snow than
we have. Oh well, I have a feeling that this winter is going to be a
doosey. And we are on bikes!
I can't believe Thayne is home! Thanks for giving him a hug for me.
I got a letter from Lauren and Mandy and both of their mission papers
are in. It is crazy how much life is changing right now. It's
freaking me out!
Guess how many investigators came to church? 12! That was really
neat. I wish that we could have all of those people come
consistently. That is the struggle that we are running into is
getting these people to become consistent. Since there are 3 sets of
Elders in this ward, we had more than 20 investigators at church all
together. This is such a cool ward. There is always so much stuff
happening.
We ran into a very interesting struggle with the ____________ family
this week. Another church chose them as the family that they wanted
to sponsor which means that for 4 years they will pay for this
family's rent and insurance and everything like that if they need it.
It is really neat that they are doing that. But of course they want
the family to come to their church. Ha ha. So this family is kinda
freaking out because they felt pulled between two churches. Oh boy.
It was interesting. And of course we want them to have that
sponsorship. That is an amazing service that the other church is
doing for them. But we want them to find the fulness of the gospel
too. And of course we don't want to compete with other churches for
people to come. That is just dumb. So we went over and had a great
lesson with them where we reviewed the Restoration and the family
seemed to really understand it this time. So the plan is they want to
go to both churches as much as possible.
This is definitely the most unique opposition I've seen an
investigator have to face on my mission but it seems to be totally
within the plan. I am interested to see what the family observes as
they go to both churches. They will clearly see a difference in the
spirit. If they go through the next few months with the right
attitude it may be a huge testimony builder. Something I have learned
hard core on my mission: You can never ever ever progress in the
Gospel without opposition. Period. It is not a matter of if the
opposition comes, it is a matter of when. So be aware! And the
opposition comes in many different ways.
This week is going to be awesome. We have a member of the 70 coming
to our mission. Elder Gaverret. It is going to be super great! I am
really excited!
In the last transfer we went through a ton of Nepali people. We are
going to have met every single Nepali person in Minnesota within a few
months and ask if they are interested if we keep going at this pace.
Ha ha. But the rate at which we are finding new people is slowing
down because we have a lot more people to teach now. Things are
moving along really well. I am coming to realize that this is going
to be a much longer process than I was hoping. These people all have
a long process before they can truly understand the gospel. But
things are moving along slowly. Someday there will be the St. Paul
Nepali branch. Someday SOON!
Well, I need to run. Happy Veterans Day everyone! Thank you to the
people who have fought in the military for our freedom.
Love,
Elder Ruesch
