Monday, July 28, 2014

July 28, 2014

Hi Mom,
To start off, the video of the 80th birthday of Grandma almost made me cry. The only thing that kept back tears was the fact that I was in a public Internet full of people. The video was Awesome.


Well I don't have too much to say for this week. But...
A couple of things that happened in the family of David. 1) Danny, his brother, left on his mission. 2) Sarah, his sister, got married. That is what happened in the family of David.
This week I want to share an experience. We are teaching the Hernandez family. A family of three: Mom, daughter and son. They really like the church and are progressing to reach their baptismal date. The experience that I am going to share has to do with the son. His name is Samuel. He is three years old. When he was born the doctors said that he would never walk, but he walks. They said that he would never speak, he can speak, but only a few words. The words he knows are Mom, Dad, Valentine (his sister), bathroom, GOAL, and motorcycle. And in the few short weeks we have been teaching them he has learned our names. I am Uke and my companion is Mos!!!
At the end of the last primary activity a little girl gave the closing prayer. When Samuel saw that she was giving the prayer he too wanted to say a prayer. With the few words that he knew gave a wonderful prayer. 

Have a great week.
Love, Elder Rucker

Here are a couple of great video clips about children



Monday, July 21, 2014

July 21, 2014

Hey Mom,
One of the goals that I put for myself when I started to embrace the culture here was to score a goal in soccer using my head. On Saturday, the ward soccer night, I finally accomplished my goal. When I first started to train hitting the ball with my head I always woke up with a headache. Now I don't!!! My body is accustomed to it.   
My companion and I came up with an idea to have dinner once a week at no cost to us and to gain the confidence of the investigators. What we do is cook food from our countries of origin, that's to say America or Peru. This past week was a dish from Peru that is called "Lomo Saltado" (jumped steak tenderloin) It is really good. Check out the pictures.

Well, it was kind of a slow week, but still a great!!! 
Love, Elder Rucker

Saturday, July 19, 2014

July 14, 2014


Hello Mother,
This week I had some experiences in which I learned a lot.

First off, this week every missionary had an interview with President Pitarch. Every time I have an interview with President Pitarch I always learn more and always feel the spirit.

The second experience is a little longer so hold in there because it is a good one. Well, the same day as the interviews with the President an Elder from my Zone had to go to the clinic for a pain in his back. Here in Medellin a missionary can just talk to the secretaries of the mission and have them make an appointment in a clinic for the check up, that is what this Elder did. So at 8:00 p.m. he went to the clinic for the check up, everything was going grand. 
At 1:30 in the morning we get a call from the two missionaries that went to the clinic. Turns out that the clinic never got the papers from the insurance company, so the missionaries could not leave without paying. So we had to go and pay. 
Once we got to the clinic we met up with the missionaries and my companion went with the Elder that had the pain in his back to go pay and I stayed with the  Elder waiting in the emergency room waiting room. 
While we were there waiting I noticed cars pulling into the emergency drive way. All of them came and went rather slowly, picking up or dropping off somebody. Things went the same for about 15 minutes. Then the scene changed. Out of nowhere a SUV came speeding into the emergency room driveway, obviously for something serious. Once the SUV stopped a man jumped out of the driver’s seat in his pajamas and without shoes and ran to the other side of the car. At this moment I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Who was he bringing to the clinic? After a few short seconds this man’s wife also in her pajamas and without shoes came running into the emergency room. And in her arms, wrapped in a blanket was her baby of about two or three months of age. In view of the events that had just happened I knew that things were grave. As the mother entered into the clinic she went directly to where she thought she could find help for her baby. It must have been a mother’s instincts because no one was directing her.
While she entered, her husband stayed in the waiting room. Not because he wanted to or because they didn't permit him to be with his wife, but because he did not know what to do. I could see through his actions and facial expressions his despair. After a few second in this state, he entered into the room where his wife had entered. No one made a sound in the emergency room, no one hardly moved. I didn't know what to do, so I started to pray. Everyone was thinking about what had just happened. Minutes later the man left the room. And with a voice of relief and preoccupation said "Volvió, Volvió (He's back, He's back)". After that we left the clinic, returned to our house and went to bed.
As I thought of this experience in the days that followed, I thought of our Heavenly Father. I thought of what He must feel and how He must act when one of His children, one of his most precious creations is dying spiritually for incorrect choices. His pain must be unexplainable when he sees His children enter into what Lehi calls "forbidden paths" (1 Nephi 8:28) or "strange roads" (1 Nephi 8:32). I then went on to think of what our Heavenly Father feels when His child returns to the Iron Rod--to the correct path. Happiness for his newly returned son or daughter but preoccupation for the journey that is ahead. 

I know that everything will turn out well for the family that I saw in the clinic.

That is all for this week.  Love, Elder Rucker

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

July 7, 2014

Hi Mom,  
Well, this week was really good. On Tuesday I worked in another area to see how things were going. I worked with Elder Ochoa, he is from Mexico. We had a good time. He speaks English pretty well. 

On Wednesday, my companion and I went to a conference with President Pitarch and a few other missionaries of the mission. It took up the whole day, but I learned a lot.

Today, Monday, was our World Cup for Medellin. It was in the morning and for that reason I was not able to write this morning and I don’t have a lot of time. Tonight will be a multi zone conference with the President.

That's all the time I have for now!
Love, Elder Rucker