Hello!
Sounds like it was a nice weekend in the family. Except that stinks
that Jen got sick! Speaking of Jen, the pictures of little Emilia are
the cutest things I've ever seen! Time just flies at rocket speed.
We're in November! I get a letter from the Vances every once in a
while and Sister Vance said that they have Carson's flight plans home
already. That is crazy! By the way, Mom could you tell them thank
you for all the letters they send me. They are awesome!
And Thayne is home! Give him a big hug for me.
Moving on. Halloween was interesting. The Nepali people kinda
celebrated it. It didn't hinder us visiting people too much. But it
was funny to see little kids running around in the apartment buildings
trying to get candy from the homes that knew what was going on. They
all had excellent costumes. Our Halloween was definitely not as warm
as yours but it was still pretty nice. Elder Shrestha thinks it is
freezing here and I think the weather has been really great all week.
He's going to be so tough by the time next winter rolls around. Ha ha.
We get fed a lot. But I love it. For the most part the Nepali make
really delicious food. And they eat with their hands and so that is
really fun. It's like being a kid again! For living his whole life
in Nepal, I am surprised at how good Elder Shrestha is at using a
fork. I don't really get where he learned that. My next goal is to
teach him how to use chop sticks.
We've been busy this week and it was great. The Assistants are
supposed to do an exchange with all of the new missionaries so we went
to Bloomington one day and spent the day with the AP's. That was
fun! Lots of good learning opportunities. The thing that I hate
about being an old missionary is I keep learning so many things that I
need to improve on! You'd think that by the time you finish the 2
years you would be like Mary Poppins who is practically perfect in
every way. But it's a lie. And it's frustrating because I wish I
knew back in the day what I know now! Ridiculous! Oh well. Life
goes on.
Holy cow we met the coolest family this week. They are Nepali but it
was a young couple who has been in America for about 4 years now and
they spoke great English and were in college! They were going
places. The wife was super interested and was asking a ton of
questions about Christ. So we had a great time meeting with them.
Unfortunately, they were so busy they didn't want to meet again until
mid December! The only problem is this time their "busy" excuse was
actually kinda legit. Don't you hate that? It was a miracle that we
found them though and so we are excited to teach them in December.
Finding Nepali families to teach is always an adventure. Elder
Shrestha and I have mastered the technique of getting into Lock-out
apartment buildings. Then we will go over to the Mailbox area and
look at the names of the people listed on the mail box. If any look
Nepali we will go knock on their door. The incredible thing is that
when they open the door, all we have to say is "Namaste!" (hello) and
they let us right in. They don't even know who we are and they let us
in. I love it! These people are so gracious and welcoming.
Cool story. The Baxters were teaching a family English and the son
pulled Elder Baxter to the side to talk to him. The son is about
25ish I think. Anyway, he is a cool guy and he told Elder Baxter that
he had a dream that God told him that he needed to "join the Kingdom
of God" and asked what he needed to do. That was really surprising to
Elder Baxter. But he explained we need to teach him more and he needs
to be baptized. Miracles are everywhere. God watches out for his
people.
Oh by the way! transfer calls were today and Elder Shrestha and I are
both staying here in Nepali land as expected. Thank goodness! I
would have been upset if I had to leave. I would like to tarry here a
while. Perhaps till the day I die.
We taught the Adams Family the Plan of Salvation this week and I
didn't fully anticipate how difficult it would be. The story of Adam
and Eve really does sound odd until you give it more perspective of
that is why we need Jesus Christ. It actually was a powerful
experience teaching them the Fall because I think it really opened up
their eyes just a little more to why they need Christ. A lot of these
people are very interested in Jesus Christ but they really have no
idea at all why we need him or how he helps us. It is really
interesting. It is a special experience for me to be able to open
these people's eyes up to the most powerful and most important
doctrine in the whole world. That is the doctrine of the Atonement.
Pretty amazing. But you really do need to start from square one which
definitely has it's challenges! It's great though.
We have a huge pool of people that we are teaching regularly and
irregularly but not many are progressing very quickly. I'm learning
that this is going to be a long process. Elder Shrestha has 2
years! :) Well, Nepal is awesome. I am really excited to see what
happens tomorrow with the election. I sent my ballot in a week ago.
Thanks parents for the help!
Don't get too warm!
Love,
Elder Ruesch
