January 27, 2014 Letter to Tori

Hey Tori 
I just wanted to send you a quick email to say, “I love you.” 

I also wanted to ask you if you have seen Horton Hears a Who. Have you? Well, if you have I wanted to let you know that it was filmed in Colombia. How do I know you might ask??? The answer is simple. They have the flowers that Horton had when he found the Who's.

Tori I love you. Have a great week. 

Elder Rucker

January 27, 2014

Hey Mom

This week was pretty good.  We did not do a whole lot as in crazy things, we just worked like crazy. Usually after lunch we have an hour or more to study but this whole week we had no time for that. 

There were a couple of highlights for the week. First off, at the end of the day on Tuesday we came back to the house and found a huge spider. In the picture the spider is right next to my toe nail clippers, so yeah it was big. Well we waited for the other Elders to get home so we could show them. Elder Nobre made the mistake of saying he has a fear of spiders. And so, of course, I had to scare him with it. We all had a good laugh for about 15 minutes because when I scared him he screamed like a little girl on Christmas morning.

Second, there is a circus in our area. YYYYYEEEEAAAAAAHHHH! We can’t go in but we did get to take a couple of photos outside. It seemed pretty cool.

That is about it for this week. All-in-all it was a really good week. We worked a lot and found a lot of new people to teach. I am really excited for this coming week.  Love you! Elder Rucker

January 20, 2014

Hey Mom,

This week was really good. I worked with Elder Angulo. He is from Peru. We worked together for this whole week. The Zone leaders wanted to try something so they had us working with different companions for a week. We had a good time. 

Not too much happened this week. But I do want to share a cool experience that I had. Well, one day Elder Angulo and I left to go to work but we had to stop by an internet cafe so that we could print off some forms for our branch council. When we were there I felt that I needed to talk to the owner of the Internet cafe. So I went to talk to him for a little bit and then went back to my seat. Then I felt that I needed to talk to him again. I thought it was weird because I had just talked to him, so I paid no attention. Then I felt the need again. So then I went and talked to him. And wouldn't you know he was receiving the missionaries about 8 years ago and wants to start listening to the missionaries again!!! And wouldn't you know there was a girl who was in the internet cafe with the guy and she was listening to the whole conversation. And when I finished talking with him she said, "Hey I am a member but inactive". It was cool.  If I had not listened to the whispering of the Spirit we would not have found out the man wanted to listen to the missionaries and there was an inactive lady who wanted the missionaries to visit her. How neat is that?

Oh one more thing… very, very important.........Last week I was doing some shopping and found..........KRAFT MAC AND CHEESE. oh boy was it good. It was the first time, in at least 10 months, I’ve eaten mac and cheese. I am going to buy more today.

Love you, Elder Rucker

January 13, 2014

Hi Mom
This week was a good one!  On Tuesday we had to go to the emergency room.......Don't worry....not for anything life endangering. For the last long time my companion has had an ingrown toenail. So on Tuesday we went to the emergency room so that the doctor could take it out. It is kind of funny because he can't wear shoes for a while. A lot of people have asked him why he always wears sandals. For a day and a half we couldn't work because he was told that he could only walk around in the house.

So in my house there are four missionaries: my companion, me, and two others. The other two Elders are really cool. One is Elder Coc, he is the Elder Mitchell knows from Guatemala. And the other Elder is Elder Nobre, he is from Brazil. Anyway, the other day Elder Nobre made really good chocolate fudge stuff. He put sweetened condensed milk in a pot and heated it up and then added powdered chocolate. He then stirred it for a good while until it started to get hard to turn, then he put a little butter in it and then it was done. It was really good.


This Saturday we had a baptism. Her name is Janeth. Her baptism was a really neat experience. Ever since the day that we set the date for her baptism she has been really scared. She doesn't like to put her head under the water because she has a fear of having water cover her hair. So when we entered the baptismal font she was really nervous. I gave her a couple of words of encouragement and then I baptized her. when she came out of the water the first thing she said was, "When are you going to put me under the water?" I said,"Yeah, it's all done." She did not even notice that she had been under the water. Then she said, "Well that was not so bad." It was a really neat experience.

That is all for this week.
Love Elder Rucker

p.s. This is a video that we watched during the Christmas conference. It talks a lot about missionary work, but think about how it applies to you in your own life and in your callings. I really like this video and hope that you like it too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo0mOZ4S7GE

January 6, 2014

Hey Mom,

This past week was pretty good. We had a zone activity to celebrate the New Year. New Year’s in Colombia is pretty cool. They make dolls to burn at midnight.  I thought cool—they burn something to signify the end of the old and the beginning of the new. But what none of the missionaries knew was that these dolls are filled with gun powder. So at 12 o'clock everyone started burning the dolls. There were so many explosions that it was impossible to sleep so we just watched and listened from our house. All-in-all it was a good New Years. Let’s start off strong Family.

 

This week was also transfers and Elder Azañon was sent to a city to the north that is called Pereira. My new companion is North American. He is from Oklahoma. He is 20 years old. His name is Elder Johnson. He has been in the mission for a little bit less that I have. I started in March and he started in April. Of the four companions I have had so far, he is my third North American companion.

This Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. The spirit was really strong. Most of the time in fast and testimony meeting the people share their testimonies about one of many topics of the Gospel. But this Sunday everyone  shared their testimonies about the Savior. 

I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. I know that his example for us is the only way to return to live with our Heavenly Father.

2 Nephi 22   

 1 And in that day thou shalt say: O Lord, I will praise thee; though thou wast angry with me thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
 2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.
 3 Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
 4 And in that day shall ye say: Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.
 5 Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things; this is known in all the earth.
 6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

I love you all want the best for you. Let’s take more time this year to think about our Savior, not just holidays and Sundays, but every day!

With lots and lots of love,

Elder Rucker

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/none-were-with-him?lang=eng



I like to play with the magnifying glass some times when I take pictures.