October 29, 2012

Hey mom!

It was good to hear about your week. Only 2 of the tv shows caught my attention and you know what 2 they were lol. But that is good to hear that Nate is back. Has he told any crazy stories yet?

The other night one of the Elders and I were talking about Gabriel Iglesias and laughing at all the jokes. Typical, it was the Mexican and the Ecuadorian that were laughing! Man that was a good ten minutes. I didnt even hear Gabriel Iglesias and I was still tearing up from laughing so hard! I'm not going to lie though, I am jealous that you got to go see him live. Just throwing it out there.

 We had stake conference on Sunday too. It was really good. We found out that my Bishop here got released and is now the 2nd councelor in the stake presidency. We also had Elder Whiting of the 70 and Elder Rhein come and speak. Everybody gave amazing talks. It was really nice to see a whole stake of spanish speakers. I hope the Spanish elders are pushing themselves in Iowa so there can at least be a Spanish branch.

Honestly, this past week was really hard. I was getting really mad because the investigators we have didn't want to be taught and we couldn't find anybody to teach. We pushed ourselves really hard and it felt like we weren't getting anywhere. I was getting down on myself thinking how the heck am I going to teach anybody here. Even though we have a big area, there aren't a lot of Spanish speakers. Plus the neighborhoods are mainly white, so even if we get in to teach them, we won't get to keep on teaching them. It was hard for all of us though. The 3 of us had a hard time. I got upset 1 day, then Elder Hudson got upset another, and then Elder Fullmer got upset a different day. Then we realized that we just need to suck it up! lol We were called to be here for a reason so that means that there is somebody we have to find. Maybe we found them or maybe we didn't, but all I know is that we worked hard this week. We knocked, talked to people on the street, offered service. We tried member referals but nobody was giving any. Plus nobody talks to their neighbors here. It is really wierd. We will talk to somebody at their door, they aren't interested so we ask if they know anybody around where they live that would and they say that they don't know their neighbors. It is insane. Yesterday we took this kid out who is our age. Freddie Ossorio is one of the coolest members out here. This Sunday was the 1st Sunday he had been to church in 2 months. I'm not sure if he is a strong member or not, but we talk to him on a weekly basis. His family feeds us every Monday. But we are working to get him excited and wanting to serve a mission. He has a brother on a mission and a sister who is about to come home from hers. We also went by this family that was considered in-active but aren't really. They were honestly busy for 2 or 3 weeks because each one of them got called into work. Idk what they do but they were there for stake conference. Their little son was hilarious. He is about 10 and he is the only boy in the family, so he liked having the missionaries over. My companions and I also got this member mad. She wasn't at church last Sunday because she was really sick and we didn't call her. But here is the thing, she lives in the other Elders area. We know her so she will be over it  and is just kind of joking around. We should have called her, but it also should have been the other Elders to go over. Other than that nothing much happened. We are just working hard to get new people to teach. We found some people that are potential investigators, but we just have to wait and see. Hopefully those people will be around this week and are willing to accept the Gospel. I have seen how it has really blessed peoples lives out here and I want that for every person I meet. I have met an alcholic who gave it all up and a family who was completly lost in life do a complete 180. It is honestly an amazing experience to see people change for the better because of the Gospel. Even though this past week was hard, I love doing this.

I love you mom!

Elder Ruelas

P.S. No im not buying a new coat. I might have to though if I ever get transfered to the Desert. It is really cold up there. Maybe you could send me my black nike jacket if I get transfered there. Otherwise everything is good here.