Week 86 - The Shoe and The Swim (6/18/2018)

Buenas Tardes Familia y Amigos! This week here in Jerome has been pretty crazy!! Have had some different weather here so it has been strange. Start off with Preparation Day last week, we had the nice opportunity to play some floor hockey and it was incredibly fun and we were all sore when we finished. We then got to work and had some amazing appointments that night. We had a great Family Home Evening with a family as we talked about Spiritual Strength and Physical Strength relating it to the story of Samson! It was awesome!!
Tuesday was quite a day. There was a meeting for the District Leaders and me and my companion were with their companions. Needless to say, I went back to Spanish!! And best of all, I was with Elder Blasidell again!! We had rocking time contacting so many people. Had one that the lady talked and then started yelling at us haha it was funny. We worked all day and then his companion came back and we unexchanged and I was back with Elder Tauanu'u (pronounced Taw-wa-new-ou). It was a great day.

Wednesday we had a wonderful District Meeting and we went out for lunch at a Mexican Restaurant here in Jerome. Great food. We then had some quick studies and we went and did some service. We sang to some old people. They had a piano and I was initially going to play and the rest of the Elders and Sisters sing, but we changed and I joined the choir and we went accapella. It was wonderful. We then went and got to work trying to contact some people and some names as we got to working. It was pretty fun. We then had to do some errands and I got to see some familiar faces and heard some stories of how things are going down in Rupert. Pretty cool. We then had two great appointments that night and it was awesome as the spirit was in both of them!! It was amazing!!

Thursday we had the classic planning session and boy was it long. It was really good though as we planned for all of our people and helping them come unto Christ more. We had pushed everything back a little later cause we went over in planning and figuring stuff out so we were pushing through some things. We then got to working pretty hard and had a great lesson with one of our investigators. Funny story, he was looking for his Ensign that we had given him to read a Conference talk. He starts looking for it and his wife comes in and starts to yell at him for wasting our time. He was digging through his drawer for it and his wife came in. He tried explaining it, but she wouldn't let him so he sat down and we pulled our phones out and read with him. We were dying of laughter and we joked about it afterward. We read the talk with him and wow it was so powerful. After that lesson we had a Facebook video chat lesson and it was really awesome!! I love the tools the Lord has given us to teach the Gospel. It was a really great lesson. We then had some meetings to close our night and it was awesome!

Friday was interesting. Drove all the way to Shoshone for another meeting and it was a long drive there. Had another great District Meeting and it was so awesome hearing all the missionaries share their miracles with the work they are doing. We then came home late and we had to rush over to do some service at the food bank. It's been pretty nice helping others and a good opportunity for us to meet new people. I was able to use my Spanish a bit to help out some Hispanics that came in during our shift. We then did our studies and had some good proselyting time as we got to work. We contacted a lot of people and tried finding some people it was crazy how fast the day went. Poof it was gone just contacting.

Saturday was such a miracle. Someone that I taught in Buhl was getting baptized and I had asked for permission to go back. Our Mission President gave the go ahead under certain conditions. First being that we had an investigator go and Second being that we get a ride to there for it. We were able to get the first one and worked on the second one. We were able to invite one of our investigators the night before and they said they would go. We just needed a ride there. So we called and worked in trying to find someone and we eventually did. It was by a miracle. We made it to the baptism and it was awesome seeing this little girl get baptized it was awesome! Another great thing was, that this was our investigators first baptism, ever!! She really enjoyed it! After that we came home and we got busy at work. We had another meeting and then we got down to business and started on a finding spree. Found some people and had good contacts. We were able to catch one of our investigators that we've been trying to find for quite some time. It was awesome! We even helped in jump starting her car! We then had some really great appointments to close the night which is always great!

Sunday was a day! We got up and ready for a lot church. Had some great surprises with people coming to the 2 wards and the branch that we cover. It was awesome!! Even a great Fathers day. Got talking with a lot of people at church and even had some great lessons at church too. It then started to rain. We thought it would be a great opportunity to tract cause people will probably let us into their homes. So we parked and we walked. I didn't get soaked, but my feet and shoes did. I had my handy umbrella and as we are walking my foot is making a "squish" sound kinda like a duck. I came to realize that my shoes have holes on the bottom and right where the heel is, it lets in a whole bunch of water. And my feet were swimming. I was soaked. We came home after 2-3 hours of tracting and I changed my socks and my shoes. It was quite an experience. It was a good day though. Got a lot of referrals. 

Today we went to Twin and I got myself some "new" shoes from DI to last me till I finish my mission. Hopefully, these will hold up. Well I love you all and I miss you all! I hope things are going great for everybody back home!! It has been an awesome transitory week for me!! Hope everybody stays safe!!

Elder Ruesch