Week 7

Okay so we are down to a week and a half left here in the prison i mean CTM... whoops haha. no this place isnt to bad. im just ready to get out and move on and actually start my mission.

anyways so today on "The life of Elder Ruesch" we are going to go in more detail on the specifics of Brasil. today will be the cars. and mabye more depending on how fast i type. so first i think the most popular car here is the VW bus. you honestly cant look any direction without seeing about 5 of those beautys! which is awesome i mean i love them but i half expect to see the "Darmen inisiative" written on the side of it. (dad Brittney and Clay) sorry i think i spelled it wrong no spell check on these computers from the 60's haha. okay next... um the driving here is crazy so they all have the smallest cars so that they can do they can do and fit the most amazing situations. its always enjoyable to go out for a drive in our huge tour bus through the city to go to the temple every p day.

okay lets think what else happeded this week...... they all seem exactally the same! umm well the language is getting better. i am starting to understand people a little bit. i sat and had a little conversations with one of the instructors the other day. so that was pretty cool. i can teach okay lessons. i dont have all the vocab i need but i can usually get my point accross.

umm well thats about it for this week. sorry not much... next week should be pretty good because were going tracking for the first time. so im sure ill have some good stories for sure!!

WEll i love you all!!
Love Elder Ruesch

Pictures!

Week 6

November 28th, 2012

And there goes another week!!! were down to 3 more weeks until im finally get to get out of the CTM. and not that i dont like it here. but im soooooooooo ready to get out of here. especially because this place is a cesstpool for bacteria. (i doubt i spelled that right) i have been sick here more then i have in my life i think. this week im trying to get over probably one of the worst head colds of my life. i think the ctm doctor thinks im a baby or something because im in his office all the time!

ummm okay lets see.... i think this week i will tell you about some of the other elders here that i have come to call my friends. first is elder klomp! he is probably my favorite elder here. He actually reminds me alot of Luke! which is always a plus. but he has a way awesome story. he wasnt very active but one day while he was sitting in class he felt he needed to go on a mission so he dropped everything. he was one semester away from applying for med school. he put in his papers and he was off. he is such a hard worker and definetally is on a high maturity level then everybody else. i think thats why we get along so well. you know becuase im supper mature!!! hahaha

um next elder rock.. hes actually not in my district but i still freaking love that kid. hes actually a triplet with two other brothers and they are all here in the ctm together. all three of them leave this tuesday to there different missions. its going to be a rough day for all of them. but ya a another cool fact is all four of us. me and the triplets were born on the same day!! how cool is that. so we call eachother brothers. well atleast i do. i try to say were quadruplets but they dont like that idea. but i still try.

um Elder Merrill. hes our ap and i love the kid we sit right next to eachother in class so we spend basically every moment together in that dang classroom becuase were in there like 9 hours out of every day. gosh but we basically just joke around with eachother all the time. if people were to hear us you would think we hate eachother but it the exact opposite.

um and to finish it off for this week i just want to tell everyone how much i love you. thank you all for your support and i miss you all so much!!!

um for this nice holiday season i would just like every one to know that i will be out of the ctm for christmas so if you are going to send any packages send them to the mission home. and also i think i heard if a packages total value is over 50 dollars then i will have to pay customs fees on that. so just keep that in mind!!!

Love Elder Ruesch

Week 5

November 21st, 2012

Family and Friends!!!!!!

First off i miss you all so much!! i Think about you every day. its been weird how your emotions can change so much in such a small amount of time! this week was a little harder for me. i felt a little more home sick then the last few weeks but thats probably becuase im getting a little tired of the same things over and over and over and over again. but you know what i passed that half way mark for here in the CTM so its starting to look up.

Today we went to the temple. last week on p day we had that area president come talk to us. it was way good to listen to him. and i really enjoyed it. but i really missed not going to the temple. the temple makes the biggest difference in my week. im going to really miss not getting to go every week when i get out of the CTM.

so earlier this week we were at a teaching practice on night and when it was all over my companion told me to come meet on of these sister missionaries. so i walked over and all of the sudden she starts signing to me!!!! WHAT!!!!!! i was so excited we then proceded to talk in sign language for the next hour! i Loved every second of it! i think go new i needed a pick me up this week. it honestly was one of the funnest things that has happened to me so far. it helped me to feel a little bit of home again. on thing about brasil is they arent really huge fans of america in some ways. they love to talk to us americans and they love american music and american movies. but if you talk about american they get a little mad. they think were trying to show off or something... i dont know...

so a little about brasil for you all! um first. they average 3 holidays a month that they legaly have to let all there employs off. which means no mail!! ya not good Next! um so you know steat vendors ya they have the same thing except they are freeway vendors. people will just be chilling on the side of the street and all the sudden somebody will see something they like and they will pull over and then just jump right back on the road. if you stop in trafic they will walk up and put what there selling on your mirror and if you dont show intrest theyll come back around and pick them up before you drive away. ummmmm..... ohhhhhh hahahaha brazilians dont beleive we ever made it to the moon and they say they had two guys that actually beat the wright brothers to the first flight. haha they are so funny. if you try to tell them that they are wrong they will get really upset at you. they are very proud of the there accomplishents!

Well family i love you!

Week 4

November 14th, 2012

so this week was pretty good. my mood was way better. this place is the craziest roller coaster i have ever been on. it messes with your emotions so much. but its defentaly a trail and like Clayton Bird says ... theres no growth in comfort and no comfort in growth.... its so true! that helped me so much this week!! im so glad i have so many family members and friends supporting me on this. you all have no idea how much the letters i receive make a difference!

so lets see.... what did i do this week..... its so hard to remember what i have done and what i have already told you all about. if i repeat myself every week please dont get upset... hahaha um so today we had a devotional and it was amazing. the area president a member of the 70 came and he spoke. it was so motivational!! i loved it. note taking has become a very cherished thing to me. i love to see the inspiration that comes when you do that. i have learned so much from that alone. I love the spirit that comes with it.

so a couple weeks ago President Dagne the CTM (mtc) president was giving us a little history on the ctm and it was so cool. he told us when the ctm was dedicated it was actually dedicated with the same type of dedication as a temple. this ctm is one of the only buildings in the world other then temples (obviously) that have been dedicated like this. Thats amazing. The spirit that brings to this building is amazing. we are so blessed to be in the lords presence at all times..

today at the devotional i and with some other elders and sisters. it was so much fun! i enjoyed every second of it! music makes such a big difference in my every day life here. it can bring the spirit so strong! i love the spirit i cant get enough of it!! oh and i cant remember if i told you all this but i sang a duet with Elder shields a couple weeks ago. it was acupela....(i think thats how you spell it). but it was soo cool it was infront of all the elders and sisters. around 300 people total... i was freaking out before hand but it turned out really good!!

um so every week we teach our fake investigators and this has become very difficult!! at first since we didnt know the language they let us slide on the language a little but know we have to be full portuguese!!! its crazy!!! Hello!!!!! ive only been here for a month.. but no its really good.. just really hard at the same time. im actually getting okay at speaking but i dont understand anything they say back to me. so every time i turn to my companion Elder Mecham and ask him what they just said and he has to repeat it back to me in english!! ya a little annoying but ill get there eventually.

well i want to thank everybody for all there support and im so glad i have such amazing family and friends!!
I love all of you!
\Love Elder Ruesch

Week 3

okay this week we will talk a little more about the first few days here.

so the flight here was crazy. i met this kid in ontario that was going to brazil and the first thing he said was. so how much portuguese do you know. i was like. um ive learned a couple words... hes like oh..... well ive already read the book of mormon in portuguese.. so that was really uplifting. i got to salt lake and there was like 20 other missionaries going to brazil. and over half of them were going to my mission. we flew to detroit and thats where i had my final american meal..... quiznos!!!! yes im not going to lie i would love to have that meal again. the food here isnt bad.... but we have the same 4 set meals that we eat over and over again. its a lot of meat so my stomach hasnt felt 100 percent in a long time. um so from detroit we started our 11 hour flight to san paulo brazil i slept most of the way i was sitting by elder sandage on the flight. he was really quite but him and i have become pretty good friends. after we landed we had to go through customs which was a hoot. i was seriously scared from some reason but it all went fine. i think i was scared that i might get arrested for something i didnt even do and be locked up here for 5 years or something

so once we got our bags we were looking for the person who waas supposed to pick us up and we wait for like an hour. haha our minds were starting to freak our after the first 30 minutes.... haha finally they picked us up and we were off in the crazy bus that they had to pick us up... well sorry guys im out of time.. more next week i guess..

when im out of the mtc i will get an hour to write so my emails will be better then

\love you All

Elder Ruesch

Week 2

\hello family

so this week was pretty good. im starting to actually learn the language a little. i can speak it. just not very good at understanding it. we teach a fake investigator every day and i feel like i do pretty good at teaching but every time she says something i have to turn to my companion elder mecham and im like what in the heck did she just say. it is pretty frustrating. but it should get better.

so last p day after i wrote all my emails later that night we checked the mail and i had three letters so the dear elder isnt the best option they have this thing called missionties.com and its way better i can hand write the letter then they scan them and email them to you. and when you write your letters on the computer they print them out here in the mtc and put them in my mail box that day so everyone should use that because i dont have enough time to read everybodies letters in the short 30 minutes i get to email on p day.

on las p day we were walking in the mtc and we looked out the window and there was a dude just laying on the side walk. at first we thought he was dead..... but then we saw his bottle of whatever he was drinking laying right next to him. so a few hours pass and hes still there. im not going to lie i grabed my camera and took some pictures of the guy.

ohhh so this last week my eye decided that it wasnt happy being its normal size so it decided to swell up to about 100 times its normal size. but no i got a sty. in it and it was the worst i couldnt walk around anywhere without everybody asking me what was that matter with me. even the brazilinas would ask in portuguese and even though i cant understand them i could tell what they were talking about when they started pointing at my.... haha

so we got 2 brazilians that moved in to our room with us and they are the most amazing people i have ever met. they are so loving and they just make you feel so good. every time we see them they come up and give you a hug. the other night we were sitting in our room and i was singing some american song and they dont know any english but he starts singing it. so i asked him if he new what that song was talking about and he had no idea. so we started testing them on how many songs they knew. they love american music....

so im running out of time. can everybody that emailed me remail it to me through missionties.com. because ididnt have time to read any of my emails.. sorry i know its a pain but i would love you even more it you do that.!!!

but im so excited to be here i love every second of it. there are deffinetally hard times but i have been able to come so much closer with the lord. and we are starting to be very good friends. its amazing how strong the spirit is here and how good all these different elders. i am very privilaged to be here with so many good men.

Thank you all for supporting me i love you!!!!!!!!

Love Elder Ruesch

Week 1

Elder Ruesch's first letter home this week! We were so happy to receive it and hear all about his first week. It's amazing to already see the growth he is experiencing!

"Um so let me take you through the whole scoop.

so we finally landed in san paulo and we get in some van with people that we dont even know and they take us to this building thats surrounded by the gueto and had barbed wire and spikes all the way around it. there is a 24 hour guard by both entrances and ya its just creepy looking. so we get inside and they have us take our bags to our rooms and then we had to come right back down for a meeting. they tell us all about the mtc. there was so many rules it was very overwelming. um then we tought our first fake investigator and it was amazing. the spirit was so strong even though we had no idea what we were doing.
the next day um actually that day was just about like the rest. we wake up. study then have breakfast. then study some more. then study the language. then study some more. then teach a fake investigator in a language we dont even know yet.. haha its so funny. they probably think im weird because i end up resorting to sign language every time and they just look at me like im retarted. but its good im starting to pick up the language just a little bit. its very hard. usually by the end of the day im pretty down on myself but i pinned up a picture of jesus cristo in the top of my bed and i will just look at it and say a really long prayer and i usually can get over it.

I'm not going to lie home sickness is definitely a real thing. i have had a lot of nights of crying because i miss you guys. but i have also had a lot of nights of crying because i have never felt the spirit so strong. the other night i was just sitting in my bed and on of the elders turned on some Mormon Tab and i just started to ball. The spirit is so amazing and 100% the best comforter in the world. \he can help us through any problem or concern we have and he can heal any heart.

The other day we were teaching our fake investigator Patricia and we have spent already 3 lessons just teaching her what we think she wants to hear. but we finally figured out what she really want. her and her husband just got a divorce and he is trying to take her kids away. so all she wants is to be happy with her family. so tomorrow we are going to teach her the best that we can in our broken Portuguese the plan of salvation and how the gospel of Jesus Cristo can bring happiness and joy to all of our lives.

Ha the other day i was so tired when i woke up so i started to get dressed. well throughout the whole day i kept saying how those pants were the most comfortable pants i have ever wore. well i ended up going to the sanitario (bathroom) and i undid my pants and realized that i had left my basketball shorts on under my pants without even noticing. haha.


um the other night we were all asleep and all the suden the lights turned on. elder naria started sleep walking and he started getting ready at 1 30 in the morning. haha weve had some super funny stories already. and im sure we ll have even more.

Well my times almost up. sorry for all the spelling errors. this keyboard is super weird. but i love you all!!!!

\Love Elder Ruesch"

Elder Ruesch has Arrived!

Elder Christopher Ruesch has safely made it to the Brazil MTC! Here is a letter we received from the Mission President - Pay attention to the additional information at the end if you plan to send letters, packages, etc.

"Dear Friends and Family,

We are happy to send the good news that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil MTC. What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they come through the front door of the MTC for the first time. We promise to take good care of your missionary.

They now have companions and are settled into their rooms. They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study. The branch presidents and their wives, will soon give them a second greeting. These couples are rewarded in their callings through the love they always develop as they embrace and watch over the missionaries.

The MTC has a full time live-in physician to care for their health needs. He is assisted by his able wife. We are also happy to report that the Cafeteria food is abundant and very good.

Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple. This will be either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on individual assignments.

Your very important young person is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of others. We hope you will be encouraged and comforted by this quote by President Lorenzo Snow: “ There is no mortal man that is as interested in the success of an Elder when he is preaching the Gospel as is the Lord who sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord's children".

Please accept our love,

President Ralph Degn and Sister Mary Ann Degn

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION . . .
DO NOT SEND PACKAGES to the Brazil Missionary Training Center. All packages must be sent directly to the mission where your missionary will be serving, not the MTC. If you have already mailed a package to the Brazil MTC and it arrives after your missionary has left for the field, please understand that the package cannot be forwarded to his or her mission and will be returned to you.

WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE SENDING HAND WRITTEN LETTERS. Please write your missionary´s first and last name. Your missionary will provide you with his district and box number. Also, please DO NOT SEND ANYTHING BY FEDEX, DHL, UPS, or other private carriers. The cost to get this type of correspondence is exorbitant."

Elder Ruesch would love to receive letters via DearElder if at all possible. Although it does cost to use this service for the Brazil MTC Mission, it is nice for him because they deliver the letters daily that are sent through DearElder. It must be nice for him to receive letters at the early stages of this change in his life.

We will continue to update this blog with information and letters from our Elder!