Week 29

May 18th, 2013

So Im not going to lie. This week was kinda weird for me. After seeing you guys on Skype it reminded me how much i miss you. And i started to think about how much time I really have left. And to add to it again. One of my other really good friends from the MTC is going home this next week. He has been having a lot of problems with his knees. He cant really walk around to much anymore so he is going home. Just seeing so many people going home the last few weeks has started to make me a little sad because i started to think about how much i actually want to go home also. But you know what..... I guess that's part of the sacrifice. If the mission wasn't hard or make us sad or mad or any of the thousands of emotions that we feel here how would we become the men God wants us to be. How could I become the person you all are waiting for me to become. Or who i'm waiting for myself to become. We have to have struggles. Clay told me a few months ago something that has sticked with me so far. He said," There's no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone." 

So this week we didn't do a whole lot. Well more like i didn't do a whole lot. Because Elder Wylie cant more around a whole lot because of his knees i have been hanging out with him until he can go home. So right now im feeling a little drained from the spirit from the lack of doing contacts and teaching lessons. Its so crazy how that can make such a huge difference to me. Honestly i feel like im not fulfilling my part as a missionary but some times you have to just take a step back and look at the whole picture and for this situation right now it just how it has to be. I think God makes us feel that way so i have a drive to never be a slacker while im out here on my mission. Every day i have things that just sit and eat at me that i know i need to do better. And im so glad for that. That's how I become better. I guess we could Probably call that the Holy Ghost. Im pretty sure that's what his job is. But that's actually one gift I am so glad I have. As long as i keep trying every day to be a little better i'll slowly become that person God is waiting for. 

Well back to what i did this week...... The transfer is coming up on Monday so i started to get everything ready for that. All the people going home and all the newbies coming in. I have buss passes for every single missionary that is being transfered that i had to buy. And just a lot of little things that had to be done. So long story short... It was a crazy week but will be over probably around Wednesday.

But that's about it so i ll leave it at that. 

So i love you all!!!!

Love Elder Ruesch

Week 28

May 4th, 2013

[Chris met Sister Meyers, a good friend of Brittney and Jamie's from their singles ward in Orem.]

so lets see.... what has happened?? really not a whole lot this week.... just working in the office.. i really didnt even have much time to go out trackting this week. we had an emergency transfer that poped up so we had to take care of that buying passes. picking people up at the bus stop. and unfortunetally one of my really good friends is going home so i had to buy his airplane ticket for him today..... i feel so bad..... but what can you do...

um so its been kinda cool here in office talking on the phone so much becuase its actually helping me a bunch with the language. especially understanding. so thats a blessing.

so i have decided i really do stink at writing email. you guys have been saying it and i know... one thing i have decided im really bad at is telling you about my investigators and that kind of stuff.. so i will now put atleast one experience in every email!!!

so this week i am pleased to tell you i have another baptism!! and its actually tonight!!! yaaaaaaaaaaa his name isRafael. he is 9 years old. so really ive only taught him one lesson. he was an investigator that they already had before i got to the area but hes very cool. definetally a 9 year old. yeasterday i was sitting at my desk and he just came up to me and was showing me all these cool tricks he can do with his little teck deck that he has. thats a miniture skateboard fyi. but it was supper funny he would do these tricks acting like he knew exactally what he was doing but he basically would just through the skateboard in the air then slam it down on the desk and hope it would land on its wheels. then when he would sucessfully do it he would be like see see i super good at this. haha what a kid!

then also last night i was out doing contacts with elder wylie and we were walking around and we passed this store and we saw some really cool ties inside so we decided that we would take a look really quickly! so we go inside and this kid asks us if we spoke english. so of coarse we said yes!! so he goes on to explain how his dad lives in california and how he lives there some times so we chatted for a while then i invited him to our english class so hopefully he will show up! any time i get to speak english to not other missionaries is always fun so i enjoyed talking with him a little!!

but thats about it for the week!

i love you all!

Elder Ruesch!

Week 27

April 27, 2013

well talking about exciting things...... mothers day is coming up soon!! and yes im excited because mothers day is such an amazing day. we all have the oppertunity to give our thanks and love to our wonderful mothers!!!! but also i will have the oppertunity to talk to my whole family over skype!!! now i just want to remind everybody that this is coming up just to make sure you all prepare for this. make sure you have your cameras ready and working so when that amazing day comes we will get to talk for a little while!!!

so about the office....... lets just say its the same thing every day........ but .......... i...... FREAKING love it! i end up doing just about the same thing i did before the mission but know instead of earning money im earning blessings!!! wooot woot!! so ya i just sit at the computer and doing some busy work and answer the phones. that part is still a little freaky for me.. you know you kinda need to be able to speak the language to talk to people on the phone but im actually starting to get the hang of it. right now its not that bad because elder hoopes is still here training me. but next transfer ill be all alone and ill have to figure something out when i dont understand..... oh well im sure God will help me. he wouldnt have called me here to the office if he didnt plan on doing that!! Thanks Nephi!!

so ive been doing so many video on my camera i started to fill up my memory cards so i went and invested my money at the black markets here in floripa and bought a 500 gb hard drive.. its pretty nice. so mom when you see a big chunck of money missing from my bank account dont worry! haha!!

well thats about it for right now.... im a little worried that in the next 6 months my emails will get a little boring because i basically do the same things every day... but ill still try to find the things that are different!!!

well i love you all!!

Elder Ruesch

Week 26

April 20, 2013

so i got to the office for my first day on monday. it was so crazy because it was transfers. so we were all running around like crazy trying to get visas and passports ready and buying people tickets to for the bus to there areas. gosh it was crazy. but i kinda was just watching and seeing how every thing works. now that a few days have gone by im starting to catch on with some of the stuff. its all pretty basic but the hard stuff is like the paper work for the visas and the type of stuff... ohh and the other scary part is i have to talk on the phone with people.... and one thing ive started to figure out so far being here is my Portuguese has a lot of room for improvement... gosh im so tired of hearing that. but you know what theres one thought that always comes into my mind and that is.... God makes weak things become strong. so you know what ill just keep going. obviously god called me to the office for a purpose. and we know that he says that he doesnt give any commandment unless he knows theres a way for us to complete that commandment. so ill just keep trying and see another miracle happen!!

ummm.... sooo i feel like thats about all thats happened here. in the last little while.... i was pretty sad to leave my last area. the branch president almost started to cry when i was leaving. he was having like a little heart to heart when i was just about to leave. just telling me how i need to stay who i am and how im going to be a good misisonary. his eyes were welling up really bad and his eyes were supper red. you could tell he was holding back. and just before i left i bought new scriptures for the two that i baptised. they were very excited for that. they only had the the book of mormon. not the d and c and pearl of great price so i bought them a triple in portuguse for like 15 dollars and its very very nice. they were very greatful! when you guys come here at the end of my mission thats one place i really want to go back to. it was not very pretty and most people didnt have very much money. but it was a super special place to me!! im so excited for you guys to come. getting to see elder bateman and his family together was so cool. i could just see how proud his parents were of him and how all they wanted to do was cry. and i cant wait for that to happen to you guys! i really want to be the best missionary that i can so i can make you guys proud and also my father in heaven proud for that day i go home to him i can look in his eyes and see him just about to start crying and i will know that my father in heaven is proud of me...

Week 25 - Exciting News!

okay sooooo here it is!!!! i got called to the office as the executive secretary. so my p days have now changed to Saturday so im just sending you a really quick email just to let you know that im all good and i will send you a better email on Saturday.

just really quickly im going to be serving here for at least the next 6 months!!!!!! haha its crazy!!

but i love you all!!!

Elder Ruesch

ps now that im in the office dont have to wait for packages like i used to the address you all have is straight to where im at now so you all can send packeges now!! yayayaya

A Letter from a Fellow Mother

This is a letter from a Mom who picked up her missionary (someone Chris was serving with) in Brazil and got to meet Chris!  She sent this message and picture along to us!

"Hi Michelle

I wanted to send you this email of a pic of your son and my son elder Brodi
Bateman. Our son is being released on Tuesday. And we traveled down to
Brazil to pick him up!!! We are going to tour around the country for a
couple of weeks. Before returning home to Seattle. Your son is a wonderful
missionary. It was so fun to see my son as well as those missionaries he
serves along side. I know my son, elder Bateman had nothing but praise for
your son. I told him I would send this pic to his mother!! I remember
exactly what my feelings were when my son first left. I am truly amazed at
how fast it goes. Believe me before you know it the time has come for your
missionary to come home. Take care and find comfort in knowing your son is
doing a wonderful job.

Sincerely
Sis Joyce Bateman
Buckley 2nd
Seattle washington mission."

Video-Log

Chris has started sending us little video-logs! We love to see his beautiful face and hear his voice! I miss this kid like none other - but his testimony continues to grow and bring tears to my eyes! How neat to see such growth!

Easter Video From Chris!

This is a video Chris sent for Mom to use in her Easter Sunday Program at The Deaf Branch.

Week 24

April 8th, 2013

okay!!! since we had such an amazing oppertunity to watch general conference just a few days ago i thought i would take the oppertunity and talk a little about that!!

one thing ive always like to do is take all the talks and put them together and see what is the big picture..... so what do you guys think??

for me it is as follows.....

today, this time that we are in is so very close to the last day. but we have alot a head of us. they talked about misisonary work like crazy! i take that as hello!!!!!! there are millions of our brothers and sisters out there that have not had the oppertunity to hear this presious gift that we have been so lucky to have in our life. so what about missionary work?? what we need more more missionaries??? well sure that would help... but if we take a look at the last page of the first chapter in preach my gospel there is two pages of quotes from past profets that talk only about how all members are missionaries. we are all missionaries with our without a tag. we all have friends and family, coworkers or just people that we see everyday that are spritually dying to hear the message of the restored gospel!!!! you have that message! the scriptures say how great will be your joy if you bring but one sole unto me!!! this is our job as members of the church of jesus christ of letter day saints to share this message to the whole world!! i have always had the thought that god doesnt plan on only saving a few of his children. that means the end cannot come until the greater part of the everybody living on the world right now or who has lived in the world has had an oppertunity to hear and accept the gospel of jesus christ.

next yes we are very close to the end! what does that mean. well the scritures say that in the end there will be wars and rumors of wars. ya we see that every day! one of the talks in confrence he talked about how the churches standerds have never and will never change. but now the standerds of the world cant even be seen. they have fallen so far that it is unbelivable. we see it evey day. so what does this mean for the members of the church. we have to do all we can to keep our selfes strong..... how can we do that.
1. it all starts in the home. it doesnt matter as much whats going on in the outside world as whats going on inside our houses. our houses need to be steadfast and centered on christ! we need to get back to the basics. reading praying family home evening every day and every week if we arent strong inside our own homes how are we going to be strong in the outside world were the devil is the strongest.
2. jeffery R Holland nailed this one!! our faith and our testimony is our biggest ally! dont you dare second guess your faith. thats ground that you have faught for. dont retreat and give up that precious truth you have come to learn and belive. and with that faith belive that you can and will do miricles!

because we are in the last days we have more and more need to be the strongest we can be. one gift we have been givin in our lifes is the 10 commandments. just like we have laws to keep us safe in this world but the god has given us commandments to keep our spirits safe! we need to hang on tightly to these commandments and make sure we are living our lifes the way that god has asked us and commanded us to live them.

and lastly god is our loving heavenly father! HE LOVES YOU! many times we put ourselves in this dark place and then ask god why am i here! we all have to remember god cant move a parked car. if you want to be happy god is more then willing to help you! actually thats all he wants to do but you still have your part! remember ......Oh what a beautiful morning!!!! even if we have hardships in our life we still have the oppertunity to see the bright side! its hard i know it is but the more you look at the bright side they easiser it gets to keep doing it! i have learned this first hand here on the mish! honestly i think i was a bit of a down person before the mission. i kinda sulked alot. but know ive never been happier! ya this is hard. i miss my family like crazy! but i have a better attidude then ever in my life! i enjoy my days. im thankful for the joy im able to find every single day. the scriptures say we need to become as a child.... i think this is very fitting for this topic. let your inner child out a little. honstly thats how i find joy is having fun with the oppertunities i have. we dont have to be serious all the time. joke have fun sing. yes we are in the last days. yes there is alot of bad in the world but we have the gospel of jesus christ in our lifes and nothing should bring more joy to our hearts then that.

well thats my quick review of what i learned this conference. i hope you guys loved it just as much as i did!!

quickly yes i watch it at the stake center in joinville. the first session was in portuguese so it was very hard to understand but then all the rest were in english so i was able to get more out of it! it was amazing. i honestly can i say i know that thomas s monson is a prophet of god! and that he and many others recived revelations specificaly for my questions that i had.

i love you all

Elder ruesch

Week 23

April 1st, 2013

so hows the fam?

me ohhh you know just fine and dandy. nothing to crazy this week. it was our first week this transfer that weve stayed in our área the whole week. so it was good but very long!!!! but im starting to get anxious becaus the end of the transfer is coming and im almost 100 perent positive that i will get transfered. i pretty much need it. like you said im starting to get a little tired of little ole Itapoá. but you never know the lord has a plan Always!!

but somthing thats kinda cool. im my email from the president today he finished it off with .... i know that lord has something very special planned for you...... um okay you know i feel president fernandez is a man worthy of reciveing reveleation... and you konw ive Always belived i had something special for me in my life but know im positive. president frenandez said it!! im really exiceted to see where i will be in a few months from know. as soon as i get the language a little more under control i know i will be able to do some amazing things here in santa catarina.

so today we were walking to go get our hair cut and some car pulled up to the side of us and they started to ask us if we had eaten yet. we said no and that we were going to eat in our house a little later. they then procede to tell us to get in there freaking nice car and that they were members and wanted to take us out to eat. so we get in and eat at a buffet. it was really good. better then what we normally eat. so as were eating they start to tell us about themselves..... he then tells us ohhh ya im just an área athourity. okay thats cool i just ate lunch with a member of the 70!!!!! haha so that was pretty cool!!!

but i love you guys so much!!! thanks for your prayers and support!!

love Elder Ruesch

Week 22

March 25th 2013

well this week.... not a whole lot.. most exciting part was probably our lesson with the twins Brothers i talked a little about them in my vídeo. but ya they are so dang smart!! i honestly dont know whats going no half the time we are there because there using words i wont know proablaly for another 6 months haha but they really like me because im american and they speak a little english so we talk a little bit in english also while were there. so thats Always good!

well were half way through this transfer.. ive been talking to on of the elders that Works in the mission office in florianopolis and he said he thinks i would do really good there in the office. it would give me some time to study more and i would get to work on a computor so thats alwasys a plus so he put my name in to president to conisder calling me to work there for the next transfer. but usually when you get called to the office you stay there for atleat 6 months so that might be kinda long but i still think i would enjoy it. bucause that is what im used to doing every day..

i started to do more contacts this week. i got to work with Elder bateman for a day this week. it was very good. hes my favorite Elder here in the mission. to bad hes going home at the end of this transfer. but he said he was a little worried about my language skills. he said im a little behind..... but you know thats normal for me. i was behind in english when i was younger and know im behind in my portuguese hahaha but he said he would talk to president for me and make sure we get me a companion that can really help me with the language!!

but i really do love you! i miss you like crazy!
love Elder Ruesch

Week 21

March 18th, 2013

so this week..... lets see.... oh gosh ya i rembember now. so lets just say for the last little while here in itapoá all the rules hadnt been by the missionaries. but now that elder meza is here he is cracking the whip and it is amazing. but over time people get acustomed to not following the rules perfectly and when somebody tries to change that those people arent very happy. now saying that i will explain what i am talking about.

so last week i think we had a member that had a referal for us. when we went by her house to receive that referal she said she cant give it to us because some people in our branch of 10 people has some problems with us. well she countinues to go on and tell us that its becuase my new companion doesnt like children. well one good thing about a small branch is its not very hard to figure out who is frustrated with us. so we talked with our branch president about what he would like us to do. and we came to the conclusion that we would talk to everybody on sunday about the importance of following the rules in all things. and how if the missionaries dont follow the rules it is hard for our little branch here in itapoá to grow because the lord wont bless unrighteous people.. so we explain all this then one of the members storms out. very frustrated and tell the branch president she was never coming back.....

so last night we went over to here house to try and explain ourselve better to her and try to help her understand.. i was very worried it was just going to get worse. but luckly it didnt. everything turned out fine. we were lauging and having a good ole time by the end. so ya thats kinda the only big thing this week.

i love you guys very much!! thanks for all you do!!

love Elder Ruesch

Week 20

March 11th, 2013

okay so this week was kinda long... first i we had to go to joinville for transfers. so elder talvane went home and i stayed there for my new companion. Elder Meza. but he had a meeting in florianopolis so he didnt get to joinville until thursday. so i just hung out with some of the missionaries and worked with them for a few days. but i dont like being away from my area. its kinda like my home now and i hate being away. so on friday morning we had a zone conference then after we went home to itapoa. saturday the work started. wow let me tell you. Elder Meza blows me away. he is a freaking work aholic... we work non stop. even when we have absolutly nothing to do he still can find a way to do something productive. so the last two days its rained like crazy!!! like water up to our shins in some areas. but does that mean we stop... nope. we just keep on working. so the last two days ive been working soaked... ya im not a very big fan of that. the natural man in me says how i want to tell him we should go back and wait out the rain. but first i know god will bless us for our diligence. and second i know he will say no haha so we just keep on going.

haha i can tell this will be a really good transfer. i can see my portuguese improving also. i mean thats the only way i can cominicate with him so i end up using it alot. so it is starting to get a little better. but definetally have alot more to go.

but hey i love you all family!! thanks for your prayer in my behalf!!

Elder Ruesch

Week 19

March 4th, 2013

soo.... this week was pretty normal. not a whole lot going on. Elder Talvane went home today.. crazy the thought of going home is a weird one. i think about it often. i think every body does. i would love to be sitting at home and being with the fam right now but there is always two thoughts that come into my head....

1. nobody at home wants me to be there right now. you guys are all so great and even though you miss me ( i think ) none of you want me to be at home in the good ol US of A.

2. if i was to go home right now i would not be able to live with the thought of not knowing what i could have learned. what type of a person i could or would have been if i would have finished the full two years.

its so crazy!!! becuase honestly i would love to be in my nice air conditioned house. without worrying about all the things in a mission. all of the uncomfterable feelings. all of the hot nasty sweaty days. but i just cant do it. i have to stay here. God has a plan for me. he has things he wants me to learn. things that i can only learn on my misson..

so enough of that.... so i have some crazy news about this next transfer.... i get my new companion on wednesday. hes from paraguay. yes that does mean he speaks spanish.... ill have you know that is not the language we speak here in brasil. we speak portuguese. i think he has about the same amount of time as me and last i anybody knew that ive spoken to is he still hadnt figures out the whole new language so yes that should be fun. and intersting. but think this will be a good oppertunity to finaly figure out the dang languge. becuase is dont have anybody to speak english to.. it was just to easy to speak english when my companions could understand me. but i dont think he knows any english so now i will be forced to learn the language better if i want to be able to comunicate.

okay just a little update on things that have happened in the passed...
i have had 2 companions elder alison and elder talvene. next is elder maza. i am still in itapoá yes for the third transfer. yes i am one of the onlly missionaries to do that. because it is said that any missonary that stays in itapoá for more then 2 transfers will go insane.... so i guess we will see.. um thats it for right now...

um a couple things that i am in need of here....
deoderant
gel (got to be glued) yellow container. ask jamie she knows
flash drives ( one filled with classical music... president just approved classical music in the mission)
lint rollers
peanut butter
pictures ( printed so i can put them in my photo album)

i think thats about it probably more but thats all i can think of.

well family... you are all wonderful! i think about you often and i love you very much!!

Love Elder Ruesch

Package IMPORTANT

hey can you let everybody know when they send me a package the name has to be

Christopher Ruesch

Do not put Elder!!!!!!

Thank you

Week 18

so this week lots of traveling!! i used to love traveling but know we do it so much its starting to get so annoying!! but it has to be done! um..... so this week is transfers again! so that means Elder Ruesch get a new companion again!!!! Always a scary thought you never know what he will be like. ive been praying god will send me the companion i need. i still have a lot to learn i need sombody who can help me with those things. but i guess we ll see what god has planned for me! because the truth is i can pray and beg for my idea of what i need but i honestly have no idea what i need. just what i want. god knows what i need exactally and maybe what i need isnt for my mission. maybe god wants me to learn somthing for later on in my life. who knows.. oh ya thats right.... God know.. haha

this week i had a really cool experience. i really enjoy reading the new testament. but something ive found to be really cool is when i read a chapter i then go and read my good ole friend Elder Talmages thoughts on that chapter or story out of jesus the christ!!! wow talk about power. i honestly dont think there is any man on this earth that is smarter then him. half the things i read in that book go right over my head but it is still great! so i read a few different stories just about some of the miricles during the mortal ministry of jesus christ.... and when i then read about them in jesus the christ i had the strongest comfirmation of the truthfullness of my brother jesus christ. my heart was so full with so many thoughts and ideas but when i tried to write them down in my journal i didnt know how to explain it. it was way beyond what i was capable to explain.. out off all the things i have gained a testimony on so far during my mission is that jesus christ is my brother and my redeemer he died for me and he loves me so very much... ahhhhh i cant even explain my love for him.

i love you!!!!

Elder Ruesch

Week 17

Hey mom!!! so This is terrible timing for no time to email this week. elder talvane wanted to go on this huge bike ride so we just got back and its actaully when were supposed to be out working.... whooopps!!

but ill tell you about the baptism really quick!!

so yes iascara did pick me to baptize her! so cool my first baptism was in a forign country in a forign language and in the ocean!!! heck ya! so we have the pre part with the talks and prayer and hymns. that was at the branch presidents house. after we got in the car and drove to a part of the beach that we thought wouldnt really have a lot of people. well when we got there there was a few diffent groups of people so we had to walk a little ways to get away from them. but then we started!! i went first. so we entered the ocean. then i asked iascara for her whole name. and it is iascara asdfiojpasiopdfhaopisdhfiop aosdfpiasdoifpu.... ya i have no idea what it is she said it to me and i was like what?????? elder talvane had to mouth it to me during the baptism for me to say it. after i said the prayer part we had to wait for a wave big enough to get her fully submerged. it was so funny it hits us then im trying to keep myself from falling and trying to make sure she goes all the way under. gosh it was crazy!! but after i was on of the testimonies for the other baptism so i stayed int he water and watch the other.

after we took some pictures then went back to the house of the president and finished up! mom it was so cool! just the how i was able to use my preisthood to help somebody else was such an amazing experience!! i cant wait for more!

well sorry its supper sort today. i promise ill send some pictures of the baptism next week!!

i love you so much!!!

Elder Ruesch

Week 16

Alright Family!!!!

Well this week.... not a whole lot . we actually spent most of the week in joinville because we had a zone conference then the next day we had interviews with the president.. so i actually wasnt in my area very much this week. but we were still able to do some good..

my interview was awesome! i have been a little un easy about my president before the interview. unfortunetally my first day in the area one of the elders in the office tried to give me the scoop on every thing about the mission. lets just say it wasnt all good. so he had me worried a little. but my interview went great! president is a very busy guy but he loves every one of his missionaries! and the best part was i think i understood about maybe 70 percent of what he said. so thats an improvment for me.

um ohh before i forget again!!!! mom and brittney and jamie i have received your packages! thank you so much for everything in them! nothing makes you feel better then getting a huge box of american stuff!!!

So we have 2 investigators marked for baptism this saturday!! coolest part...... We get to have the baptism in the ocean!!!!!! i dont know if i get to actually do the baptism but atleast a witness so i get to go in the water!!! um so these investigators are deffinetally a blessing. they kinda just fell out of the sky! they had been taught all the lessons but they work at a bar so they had some problems with some things. and they werent married.. just like every body here in brasil!!!!!grrrrrrr. but one day i hear there getting married. so a couple days after we go over to there house and they asked ok... um ... when can we be baptized..... are you kidding me!!!! um how about in a week... well okay two weeks becuase this week is carnival.... lets just say they were a little busy working at the bar this week. but ya im so excited. oh the best part is because they were progressing any more the missionaries had stopped visitng them. i didnt really even know about them. so even though the missonaries werent working with them anymore they were still working by themselves and they fixed all there difficulties that they had.. so we really didnt have to do anything. they were just ready to go.... what a blessing!!

so ya carnival this week. lets just say a little crazy. it actually hasnt been to bad. just really loud at nights and alot of people here in the little town of itapoá but its kind of a cool experience!!

but ya thats about it for this week.
i love you All!!!!

Love Elder Ruesch

Week 15 - PICTURES!

Week 14

so this week i got a new companion!! yes so that means that is on more transfer done. Elder alison was a great companion. but nothing like my new one. From what i can tell i am going to make some good head way this transfer. in two days i already speak way better portuguese and i under stand a lot more. no where even close to ready but im makeing head way. so Elder Talvane is my new companion. this is his last transfer. that scares me a little. i can already see the trunkiness coming out. but i think he will be pretty good about it. hes trained a few differnt elders in the mission. hes last american companion that he trained has become on of the best missionaries in the mission. right now hes serving in the office and the financial secretary. he speaks perfect portuguese. now i know that doesnt automaticaly mean i will to. i have to put in the same amount of work as he did or more if i want to become anything close to what my heavely father wants me to be. but i know god has given me this blessing becuase he know i will take what he gives me and run absoulutly as far as i can with that. i just feel like god has more planned for me in this mission then just a mission. i feel like i do some very amazing things here.

its so funny how my whole life i have always feared the unknown. i absolutly hated it!!! and still to this day i am not a huge fan of it. but what i have learned is the time i grow on the mission is i am 100 percent uncomfterable. like yesterday. i had to show my new companion how to get to our area by myself. ya okay that means busses reading signs. talking to people. gosh it was so scary!! i didnt not know if i could do it. but i tried to put all my faith in god and ya we made it there without any flaws. and that is just a tiny portion of the expericences ive had here with strange situations i was uncomfterable in. but every one helps me grow to be the missionary i want to be. oh gosh the thought of wanting to go home comes into my mind every day. but i cant even stand the thought of how my life would be without this mission. the thought of not living a life to total capacity seems unbarable. i cant wait to see where i will be by the end of my mission. it will be absoulutly amazing!!

Well i love you all!
Elder Ruesch

Week 13

so if there is one thing i can tell you ive learned here on my mission is god seems to be confusing.. i feel like i can either never get a answer or its never a straight answer. but what ive come to find out... alot of times... we are actually the ones that are making it confusing.. maybe hes trying to tell you both ways will be okay. both ways will work out. i dont know exactally what he has told you or not so far. but i know that every time we teach a first lesson the first thing we talk about is our greatest gift that god has given us is our family.. they really are important. think where you would be without your family.

talk to you again next week

love elder ruesch

Week 10 and 11

[Week 10 was transfers so we didn't get e-mails from Chrissy!]

okay family!!!! so i dont even know where to start.... well my new area is called itapoá. its right on the beach. my appartment is in looking distance but of coarse i never do that because that is not a good place for missionaries. haha so lets see. okay new years. not to exciting. just spent it with a members. we got to her house around 7 pm and i was not having it. i didnt want to be there again until 1 in the morning... then to add to it i found out we werent going to eat for over 3 hours. oh thats cool i just havent eaten since noon. but that was rude of me and i have repented of my sin.. haha well once midnight rolled around we were eating and we watched the firework show on tv... i dont know if that is against the rules but... it was amazing best ive ever seen. it lasted over 15 minutes and it was of the coast and they were shooting the fireworks off of like ten different barges. amazing

um so this week i finally started to actually open my mouth just a little. at times people actually seem like they understand what im saying so thats a positive. or for all i know they just nod their head and act like they know what im saying. oh the other day were walking to contact more like normal and this man says something. so i give him the regular thumbs up like i do to everybody becuase there either saying he retard in portuguese or something else i dont understand. but he says it again. and i barely could make out what he said but it was do you speak english. in english. this man has seribral palsy....sorry mom.. i know i spelled that wrong.... but he was such a nice man. he asked me if he could practice his english with me. and of coarse i said yes. so we walked to this old folks home with him where he live. and he was just telling me all about his friends and where his family lives. he was a little difficult to hear only because he was really quite. but his accent was actually really good. i could have guessed he was american. but that was cool..

um we taught a lesson to a lady we met yesterday while trackting. her name was sandra. she lives alone with 5 kids. but we taught her the restoration and it was amazing. by the end she was just balling her eyes out. probably the best lesson weve had so far. i loved it. i just hope she can remember those feelings for next time.

well im going to send some pictures so that will take me a few minutes so thats it for this week i need to be better at writing things down during the week so i can remember what to write for you guys.. but ill make sure i do better!! i love you all!! thank you for everything you do!!

love Elder Ruesch

Week 9

okay fam!! sorry this is going to be really short!! yes i finally left for my area! it really difficult but it will get better! im learning the language fast. but it will deffinetally take some time!! my area is right on the beach and you can see the beach right from my front door! i hope everything will work out tomorrow with the skype!!! remember to log in around 11 o clock california time and i should call you guys on skype within the next hour!! make sure you stay by the computer so you can answer when i call!! 

well sorry i have to go but i love you all!!! 

Elder Ruech

Week 8

sooooo!!!! this week was crazzzzyyyy!!! we went prosoliting for the first time! on monday we went out for a 3 hours. i was starting to freak out in during the morning. but the worst was when they handed me 2 copies of the book of mormon. when i got those i new it was legit. so we walked out and that was it. kinda interesting. i was wondering if i was going to have the spirit just tell me where to go? but when i did walk out i was pretty normal. i decided which way to go and that was it. we started walking. we would see sombody probably like a mile away walking towards us. we would get ourself all mentaly prepared but when they actually were right in front of us i would just say hi and thats it. hahaha but finally we just decided we had to do it. so we walked up to this guy that was sitting on his motorcycle. i went up and started to talk in my broken protuguese. i said hi then started to tell him who i was and what i was doing. then he said something...... um ya i had no idea what he said. so i just countinued to talk then we says in a little bit of a mad tone that he was working.. i definetally understood him that time. so we moved on. kept talking the little bit that we can. then this guy was walking really fast so i almost didnt stop him but then i kinda just stook my hand out and said hi my names elder ruesch blah blah blah... so we ended up giving away our first book of mormon. i felt so legit. i was sure he was going to be a conversion right there. then about thirty seconds go by and i relize i forgot to tell him our phone number if he had any questions or if he wanted to meet with us to learn more. ahahahaa i felt like kirby on the best two years when he realizes he didnt tell the lady the address and he starts running after her and his companion has to chase after him and make him stop. haha price less

         so we countinued for a little more and handed our two more copies one was really good that other was more like a pitty thing. but good practice. so we walked around for about like thirty minutes and couldnt really get anybody to talk to us. so we moved over to a different area. i stoped this older lady and started to talk to her. she was very nice. turns out shes catholic and very firm in her beliefs. but she let us talk. we talked for about an hour in our very bad portuguese. but we ended up having a very good conversation. she seemed very interested. and you could tell a few time that she felt something during a couple different times of our conversations. i mean i have no idea if she is going to do anything with it. but i know we did our part for her. hopefully she will trust in the promptings of the holy ghost and do what is right.

         so that was monday.... but today is wednesday. so let me tell you what ive done so far!!!!!! today we went to this grill with our instructor because its our last p day in the ctm. so this place was amazing. the food was so good. they would bring all differnt kinds of meat around on these huge stake thing then just cut the meat of for you on to your plate. and it was all you can eat. one time they came around with chicken heart...... i wasnt so sure but i did it anyways. it wasnt to bad until i started thinking about what it was that i was eating. and it was very rubbery so it made it a little difficult but other then that it was sooooooooo good!! best part it was on 20 reals($10) so it was well worth the money. 

        so next week on tuesday is when i go to the field. so i dont know when i will have a p day next. so it might be 2 weeks until you hear from me. actually on CHRISTMAS yayayayaya. i dont know how this is all going to work out. i dont know if its skype or not but im sure they have me tell you before hand so. oh and for mission ties for me to get my letters sent to me when im in the field somebody will have to update me address in the account informations on the website every transfer or else it will get sent to the wrong place. so i  will send you and email with my address and let you know. um probably dont sent any more letters with mission ties after sunday until i give you guys my address to update it with. umm well i think thats it for this week.