Week 42 - House of the Lord (08/14/2017)

So this week has been a pretty interesting week. On Monday we had exchanges and I had a blast with Elder Farr who came into the Declo area. We saw a Less Active that night and an Investigator that night which is always a good thing! Tried to see some other people, but nothing too exciting happened. 

Tuesday the exchange continued and we got a lot done. We were able to contact some people and see some people we've been trying to see for awhile now. We also found someone new. Which is always amazing! His name is Jeff and we were the first missionaries he's ever met!! That was just awesome! We got to talk with him and we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he said he'd read it which is always awesome to hear! We then had dinner with a great family and after dinner we unexchanged. Then met with a family in the ward and shared with them the Plan of Salvation. It was really touching the Spirit that was in their home. From there we went and tried some other people, but nothing.

Wednesday came and we had our District Meeting. Elder Willis is going home soon and it was his last one. From District Meeting, we did our studies and met with a lady who is big into looming and we got to talk with her and loom/make yarn. It was pretty fun! We then had a correlation meeting with one of our awesome Ward Mission Leader and then had a good appointment with one of our investigators. He had a question regarding what Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians about Baptisms for the Dead. So we read it over with him and explained what it means and how in this day we apply that Doctrine. We talked about Family History and Temple work and it all made sense to him which is awesome! Then saw a family and ended the night.

Thursday we weekly planned and boy that was long.... We had dinner that night with an awesome family and what happened at dinner is hilarious!! So my companion spilled on his pants and had to get that washed off, then the Sister Spilled a glass of water and Elder Jones dodged it from spilling on him, the daughter spilled another cup of water on the table so that had to be cleaned up, and then their second youngest broke a plate!! It was awesome!! Fun filled dinner! We got some referrals to try and then went to our lesson with Ashley. It was great cause we got to talk about the Temple and doing guess what... Baptisms for the Dead! And along that line, family history. See where I'm going with the title. We then had English class and that went well! 

Friday came and we spent a day in Springdale!! We tried seeing a lot of people and we got to see a few people. We then saw one of the families we were trying to work with when I was with Elder Posadas. We got to talk with them and they were moving out so we offered to come back Saturday when it wasn't raining. We then tried some other names and had no success so we tried out our neighbor and visited with him. We ended the night with one of the Bishops over one of the Springdale wards. 

Saturday we did a lot of service. We helped the family pack up and move out and it was quite fun. We did service up to dinner. Had dinner and then tried to visit some families. We then contacted the rest of the night and tried to see some people.

Sunday!! Pretty only highlight from Sunday was sacrament meeting. We went to Church and all the talks were focused on Eternal Families!! It was awesome to hear all of the great things that came from it!! 

Yea this past week was pretty good. I love you all so much and I miss you all!! Hope you all enjoy your week!!! 

Elder Ruesch 

First two are from a family in the Declo 2nd ward. Assuming I got transferred. And the other two are Elder Willis' last District Meeting

Week 41 - El Espiritu Santo (08/07/2017)

So this week has been a very interesting week. To start off, last week we went referral contacting and got to know a few of the referrals that we have. 

On Tuesday we did service for Suzanne. We helped her clean out her shed and get rid of some stuff and we also had a small run in with some hornets/wasps. Luckily she had a spray that kills them so we were able to kill a few.... We helped her out for quite a big chunk of our day and we then did some of our studies. We did that and tried seeing some more referrals that we had and no success there. We then had dinner at the park with a family and it was really good. We then went and saw a family and talked for a little bit. We then tried another family and talked with them for a bit as well. From there we tried seeing some other families, but no success there. 

Wednesday we had Zone Conference. It was really amazing to hear all the training's that every body gave. We talked a lot on the Holy Ghost and it's role and our temporal and spiritual well being. It was really amazing. We then came back from Twin and did a little comp study and dinner. We then contacted our neighbor who's been gone for a little while. We talked with him for a bit and then we took off for our appointment with Rodrigo. He has been investigating the church for awhile and we went over to go talk about the Holy Ghost and his role in conversion. It was really amazing and different to see what was going on in that lesson. We left for him a Chapter in Alma to read and he had read it and had a lot of doubts (in reality questions) about that chapter. As we were answering these doubts of his we told him that they really aren't doubts, but questions of wanting to know more. We kept talking and he seemed enlightened at the stuff he was learning from that chapter. We then went and saw another family that night and we read with them the Family A Proclamation to the World with them. We shared what we really like from it and what the role of a family is in God's plan for us. It was really incredible to see them open up and talk about their family with us. We then tried seeing some other names that we had planned, but we were only able to catch up with Ashley! They had just gotten back from swimming/fishing and we talked with her at the door. It's really amazing to see that new spiritual glow about her and you could definitely tell that her husband can see it too!!

Thursday was our planning day!! We had to go to Twin first cause we needed something in our car replaced. So we made it to Twin and got what we needed done in our car then came back and planned all day. We planned and had a really good outcome on our planning. After planning we had dinner with the 2nd counselor in the Stake Presidency and his wife and it was really delicious! We then tried a few names that we had planned for the evening and we caught them home. It was really awesome!! A few of them had to take off or only had a little time to meet with us, but it was all good! We then went to the English class and met a new lady in the class. Her name is Rosy and she's from the Rupert area. She was having a great time in the class and we had to explain something to the class in Spanish cause they didn't understand it in English. Elder Jones was talking with one of the instructor's so I translated it into Spanish and I caught Rosy by surprise. She didn't think that I could speak as good as Spanish. I then told her how I knew and she wants me to say hi to my mom and that my mom raised me right. Shout out to you mom!! LOVE YOU!!

Friday came and it was a lot of referral contacting and trying to see people. WE were able to contact a bit of the referrals again, but one of them we completely just kinda strayed. So this referral built his own Western Town on his property. So we went through toured it, took some photos and just got explorey. We then tried a few more people and then made our way to our dinner who happens to be related to Neil L. Anderson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles!! They're brothers!! It was really cool to hear his mission experience with his wife and all the cool things that they did as a senior couple. We then got to end the night with Agustin and the Alvarado family. We shared with them The Family A Proclamation to the World. It was really nice cause this was the first time that the entire family sat in a lesson. It was amazing to feel the spirit in that case. 

Saturday was a great day. So we did our studies that morning and then had a baptism that day. The Albion elders had a family that was being baptized and we got to see it. It was a long baptism cause there were some fear with the youngest child about getting baptized. When he realized he had to go in all the way and not freak out about it. So it took him awhile as we waited. And while we were at the Baptism, guess he showed up.... My first companion!! It was really awesome to see him as he came up to visit the mission. It was good to catch up with him. He also got to talk to President Bartlett cause he was there for the baptism and then to have interviews with us. We had interviews and I had a really good interview with our mission president. Challenged me to go on a run and I'm excited. It's been forever since I ran. I kinda switched to other things in the mornings. After our interviews we went to go get ice cream and we ran into one of our families at the Little Classroom here in town. We talked with them and they ended up buying us ice cream and we got to talk with them and see how they're doing. We have a good service opportunity with them here soon. We then had dinner and from there we went to go invite people to Church. Then we closed the night with Agustin helping him write a talk. 

Sunday came and went. We were in church for the majority of the day. We attended the Springdale wards and had the opportunity to translate for fast and testimony meeting. But when we heard the things we missed in Declo, I almost started to cry. Ashley got up and bore her testimony and she has huge stage fright and when she told us that, I was just amazed and so sad we weren't there. Then Horencia, who is the wife to Rodrigo and is a member, she bore her testimony in English!! She had been prepping all week to do it!! I almost cried a kid you not. After church we had first dinner with Selena who is an investigator. She was throwing a party for her daughter Alison who just turned 3. We then had an appointment with Ashley and we were able to talk about the temple. Then we had second dinner with our Ward Mission Leader's family in Declo 2nd. From there we just tried to see people.We then found a lady home and we started talking to her at the door and she is pretty cool. She's in her 80's and has had a lot of good influence from the church. We started talking about her family and shared the importance of families. It was pretty cool.

Well here we are today and it's the last week of the Transfer!! I don't know what will happen as for this next transfer, but I'll go wherever the Lord needs me to go. I love and miss you all and I hope you have a fantastic week!!

Elder Ruesch Sosa

1-3: Old Western Town

4: Sunset in Declo with a fire...

Week 40 - Healing Water (07/31/2017)

So this week was kinda short since you heard from me late Tuesday. But to start off, this week has been absolutely wonderful!!

On Wednesday, we had a final lesson with the mother and daughter (Ashley and Neisa) and it was just so amazing to see how prepared they are!! No lie they are just so ready and they definitely were. After that we took some time to study and then we went to an older lady named Suzanne and visited with her. We took one Agustin with us and we were able to find out what has been on her mind lately. She isn't sure if she meets with is because she wants to do this or if it's because of her kids. So we were able to figure that out and we have been helping her answer that question since. We then visited with some people and then had dinner. From there we had an appointment with one of our investigators and we went in talking about the Plan of Salvation. We tried our best to answer his questions, but we aren't very good teachers and some of them, we just don't know how to answer. We then contacted some names after that and had little success there. 

Thursday came around and we had planned pretty much the entire day. We totally let time slip away from us and we had just planned out everything from beginning to end. We are definitely prepared for this week that's for sure. We then had dinner and tried contacting some people to no success. We then ended the night with the English Class. Really good class that night. 

On Friday we were able to catch some people home and we also attended a funeral with Agustin. It was very different being in the room. You could sense who knew the plan of God and those who didn't. It was very different. We then had some good success catching people home and we were able to meet with them. We had dinner and then we tried some things that just didn't work out. We then met and finished the night with Agustin. We talked about how things went in the lesson with Suzanne and how we can improve those things. 

Satuday!!! BAPTISM!!! Oh I was about in near tears just seeing the Ashley and Neisa get all dressed in white for their baptism. It was a real honor to be able to see them take this step. We had the baptism in the morning and then from there we tried seeing some people. WE had little success but we made do with what we got. We had dinner at the Little Classroom, which is the only restaurant in Declo, and then from there we tried to see some people. We then played some baseball with these two boys whom we promised we'd play with. They beat us 5-3. It was a good game. We then tied in how life is like baseball. It was pretty neat. We then ended the night with a family in the ward.

Sunday! Ashley was confirmed a member and was given the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was really amazing!! I was near tears again. We had church and we got to go to Primary. We were asked to play a role as one of our favorite characters in the Book of Mormon and how our choices impacted our lives. It was pretty cool. We then tried seeing some people and had little success. We did get to correlate with one of our mission leaders and we discussed the area a little bit and how we can improve on it. It was great. 

This week has been pretty great and we are excited for what next week will bring!! I love you all and miss you all so very much and I hope you have an amazing week!!!

Elder Ruesch Sosa

1. Primary Dress Up

2-5: Baptism Photos!!