Week 93 - The Unexpected (8/6/2018)

 So this was a week full of surprises!! It's always fun when weeks like that happen. Last Monday we had a crazy Preparation Day. We went into Twin and we got stuck there. But my companion bought some Cowboy boots. He's assimilating into the culture really well. Had some good sports and then out we went to work. Everything that we had planned, of course didn't happen, but that's because we had some things come up. Pretty nice.

Tuesday we got to go to Boise for Mission Leadership Council and it was nice being back in my first area (considering the fact that I covered everything in Boise). It was a long meeting and it was cool seeing all the old familiar faces of missionaries. We made our way back and had a great lesson that night with one of our Recent Converts which was awesome! We also waited with an Elder cause his companion was doing a Baptismal Interview. 

Wednesday was a jam packed day. We had one of our District Council meetings which was great. Had a lunch and then we went and sang for a bit. Then the rest of that day was planning out things for interviews and exchanges with other missionaries. Had a dinner and it was bombtastic. Then we hauled over to Wendell to go give a Baptismal Interview. It was pretty nice, Elder Tauanu'u gave his first baptismal interview. We then helped the Elders out with moving hand lines to close the night. We were practically swimming. Luckily they gave us some old clothes to wear for the service otherwise our proselyting clothes would've been soaked. 

Thursday was a hectic day. We woke up and right at 9 we left to go help out with this huge event the food pantry was doing. It was crazy with all the unloading and handing out food we did. We had to do an exchange cause my companion needed to go with one of the other Elders to Boise for a doctors appointment. So I stayed with his companion for that time. We did some good hard work and boy was it crazy!! We did some tracting and it was fun. Met some really nice people. They finally made it back and we went and had dinner. Then tried some people. We got a referral for a Spanish Speaker which I have been waiting to receive and we tried finding where he lived and couldn't find it, so we called and set up an appointment for tonight! The Sister Missionaries from the Salt Lake City Mission that referred him to us, are going to join in with us in a Skype call in the lesson. It'll be so cool!

Friday was just another busy day. We had another District Council and interviews. We were supposed to be interviewed in Shoshone, but it got to jam packed so we were going to be interviewed in Jerome after everyone else. We went to Jerome and made it just in time to our shift at the food pantry. It was a good shift and we went to the church for interviews and they were behind so, we did some planning and then my companion had his interview then I had mine right after. We had dinner right after that and we then closed the night seeing someone that we are teaching. It was a really good lesson and the spirit was definitely there as we shared what she needed. She is so prepared!!

Saturday was a long day. Since we didn't weekly plan, we got stuck doing that on Saturday over a prolonged period of time. We started at 12 cause we had some things planned that morning and we didn't finish until dinner time. Things came up that we needed to go and do and we got stuck doing those things. Funny story. We had received a box of copies of The Book of Mormon. We took it with us to District Council on Friday and it was gone. So we called around and found out that the farthest companionship from us, took it. Lucky enough they were on exchanges and they were going to re-exchange back that afternoon. The Sisters met us and we got a box. They told us it was an unopened box of English Copies. We were like sweet and they took the open box. We get back to Jerome and we find out it's Spanish... We gave them a call and met them in Twin and got the box back from them. Probably doesn't make the most sense right now, but that's as good as it'll get for know. We had a good dinner that evening and then we had a surprise Birthday Party for one of the Elders!! IT was pretty fun!!

Sunday was a long day!! 7:30-3:00 for church. Gets tiring. It was a good day though. Just don't remember much between all the church meetings and trying to stay awake. 

This week has been pretty dang unexpecting. It came to a fast close for sure. I love what I do, but I do miss home. Soon, I'll be back. It scares me to think about it. I hit my 22 month mark yesterday and it's pretty insane. I love you all and I do miss you all. Hope you enjoy your week!!

Elder Ruesch