Week 97 - Back to Spanish!!! (9/4/2018)

Elder Blaisdell and I saying goodbye to each
other :'(  I'll miss him. 

Well this has been a crazy week for sure. Time has flown by so much and it's just been pretty incredible. So last week Monday was a great opportunity to listen to the spirit. We made so many good contacts with the hours we had on our schedule. It was pretty neat.

Tuesday, the anticipation was on. Waiting for transfers is by far the worst thing as a missionary. Why? Cause I get sick every time. It's terrible. So yea I fell ill that morning and it was a struggle. But eventually snapped out of it. Someone that we were working with gave us a call and told us that she was moving that night!! It was crazy to hear that!! And she was just moving in around the corner to where we were living at. That was super crazy! We had a good eventful day of trying to get YSA work in the area, just because we had all the time in the world. We then ended up helping the other missionaries out with ride situations and getting them places. We had dinner and then made our way to a correlation meeting. Had a good meeting. We then helped out the lady that was moving. We got her all settled in and it was remarkable how much joy she had just because she has her own place now! It was really cool to witness. We got transfer info that night and I was called to be transferred out of Jerome for my last transfer. Best part is, I was going into an area I know nothing about with a new missionary!! Whitewash training an area!!! WAHOO!!!

Elder Blaisdell and I saying goodbye to each 
other :'(  I'll miss him. 

Wednesday was a day that I hoped wouldn't be spent packing and saying goodbye. Needless to say it was. Had one last hurrah with some people and visiting with them. Had our weekly service at Creekside. That was fun. We then helped out the Spanish Elders with the apartment they left cause they are moving Spanish Sisters into their and the Elders are leaving. Two sets of Sisters in the area. Fun! We helped them clean up and get that place looking nice. We called our dinner and went over and they weren't home... awkward. So we went out cause neither of us were really that hungry. Finished packing a lot of my things and then got back into saying my goodbyes. It was hard with some people, but I made due with it.

Thursday, the beautiful transfer day. That morning we got a phone call just before we were going to take off, from the lady that we helped move in. She told us that she is in the hospital in Twin! She was admitted not too long ago. So she called us and asked if we could give her a blessing and we told her that we would be able too. We got all my stuff loaded up in the car. Made sure everything was set in the Spanish apartment. And we took off for Twin. We got to the hospital and gave the blessing. We then made our way and grabbed some lunch. Saw some familiar faces which was really nice. We then went to the Stake Center behind the temple and I left to a trainers meeting. We talked about all the trainees and we found out that all of the Elders that are speaking a foreign language, are waiting on their Visas.... So Wendell, my area now, will be getting whitewashed again! Cause we will be here for 6 weeks and I go home and

New Comp Elder Cox

Elder Cox, who is my companion, will be going to Ecuador. Pretty crazy for Wendell. Well I got him and we went to Jerome to shop and got him some things. Made our way to Wendell and got settled in. We then planned out our night and it was basically make contact with the Ward Mission Leaders and meet with them. Which is exactly what we were able to do that night.

Friday was another day at the grind. We had our weekly planning and it was a little difficult when you don't know anyone and you are just reading off of what past missionaries left. We made plans and we set out to contact these people and find new people. So we went out to work and broke apart our studies and we just hit the pavement and worked. It was pretty fun. Closer to the evening we were able to meet with people which was really nice. We had a good night and we were able to meet a lot of people within the time we had.

Saturday was another day hitting the pavement. It's just been pretty fun here to say the least. We decided to go tracting and just hit up a street. We knocked on a lot of doors and it wasn't until the last one, that we were let in. We met this family that the husband isn't really interested and the wife is a member of the church. We talked with them for quite awhile. Learned a lot of things. Made us late to our dinner since we were walking. Had a great dinner and we went back to the grind again. Met someone else that is a huge talker and we talked with him for quite awhile. We then tried some other names before we closed the night.

Salsa that I found mom!

Sunday was another great day. Walked into the church building knowing no one and we just got acquainted with the wards very quickly. It was pretty fun. Had a lot of meeting and greeting with people. The coolest part is that they have a class for the Spanish speakers in one of the wards!! It was soo awesome!!! I definitely enjoyed it. We then got out of church, changed and went and tracted again. The same street we did on Friday cause we weren't able to do the other side. First door we knock on, they let us in. Had a good discussion with them and best part is, they are interested!! The spirit was totally there and it helped me a lot to be able to teach in Spanish again. I've missed that so much. We then made our way to an appointment that we had with one of the people the Elders were working with. We were able to meet the entire family and it was awesome!! We are honestly so excited to work with them. We were even able to set up a dinner appointment with them for Monday (yesterday). We then had our dinner and it was super good. We then closed the night with all our studies that we have to do.

Monday was such a good day. We decided to go up to Gooding, which we cover in Spanish and just try and find. Boy let me tell you that we did find. It was incredible. I couldn't believe at how many people we were able to find that speak Spanish and want us to come back! It was incredible!! We got up there and we tried contacting some former people that were being taught in the past and found a few that have some possibilities. We then went and had lunch and then went and tracted out the trailer park right before you get into the hub of Gooding. Dang we met tons of people. We had some good discussion with some of them and we were even to get some returns and place a few copies of the Book of Mormon. It was even cooler to watch Elder Cox with the enthusiasm that he has to talk in Spanish to the best of his ability. It was awesome see him do that. We worked hard and we were in the sun a lot. Cause by the time we were finished, I was exhausted and it was only 3:00... We got back to it and tried some names that we found in our area book and started contacting those people. Had some luck there which was nice. Did our studies up in Gooding and then made our way back for our dinner appointment/lesson. It was really awesome as we had dinner with them and we just got to talking with them. It was super cool. Tried some other names and then closed off our night.

I'm honestly excited to see what this final transfer will bring. I'm nervous, but excited. I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us here in Wendell. We plan on giving it our all for these next few weeks. Wendell, will be lit!! I love you all and I miss you all so much!! Always remember there is someone above who loves you and misses you more!!

Elder Ruesch