October 27, 2014

Hey Mom,

This week was an adventure.  On Tuesday I said goodbye to all my friends in Buenos Aires. I was sad to go. I learned a lot from the people and the members.

Wednesday, I traveled all day. We started our journey from Medellin to Monteria at 9:00 in the morning and got to Monteria at about 8:00 at night. It is an 11 hour bus ride. It was weird at first—we were in the mountains then after a while, rolling hills and finally flat lands. For the first time in my mission I can’t see the mountains. 

Thursday, my first full day in Monteria was not too bad. It was hot and humid but all right.

You know how when it rains a lot and the street outside our house floods a little? Well, on Friday it rained just a little bit and flooded the whole street. There was a creek in the street!

We had stake conference this weekend and it was super cool. They did a broadcast from Salt Lake. Elder Holland spoke and a couple other general authorities.

There are the highlights of the week.

Love, Elder Rucker

"For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction" 1 Nephi 20:10. This scripture is really great to explain where I am at.  Just follow the link and then scroll down a bit and do a little converting of temperatures and you will see why. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monter%C3%ADa

Apart from being a great scripture to explain where I am at it is also a great scripture with a great teaching. If you notice the word "in the".  God does not always wait until after the trial. He acts when we are ready, most of the time "in the" middle of our trial.  

Cool video to watch when you have lots to do.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3792885561001

October 20, 2014

Hi Mom,

Well, this week was a good week.  Yesterday we got our transfers. I have been in Medellin for more than 7 months and now I am headed to the coast. I will be in a city called Monteria. The coast is the hottest part of my mission. I will be living in 80-95 degree weather for awhile.

In my time here in the Buenos Aires Zone I have learned a lot. I have loved my time here in Medellin. The people here are amazing. I can’t wait to get to know the people of the coast. I hear great things about them. My companion will be Elder Collins, he was my second zone leader, when I was still in Manizales. I will be his last companion. It will be great. 

There are the highlights of the week. Next week will be an adventure.

Love, Elder Rucker

October 13, 2014

Hi Mom,

Really quick review of last week: One, we went to a big rock called the "Piedra de Peñon".  We went with basically all the missionaries who are working in Medellin.  There were about 60 of us, I think. Not all are in the picture. While heading to the rock we stopped at a petting zoo. It was cool. 

Two, we got invited to a bible class. It is basically a meeting with a bunch of religions. We discuss the bible. We share doctrine. The guy who invited us is the host. He always says when we start that we do not dispute or fight, we just share and learn together. 

This week: Once again we went to the bible class. And this time the host asked us to talk about where we go when we die. So the first thing we did when we started our discourse was pull out the Book of Mormon. We talked about the spirit world and then the three kingdoms of glory. After we spoke a member of the Seventh Day Adventist church spoke about their belief of life after death. It was really cool. Maybe we don´t share all doctrine or points of view but we all still felt the spirit and learned together from the scriptures.

Today, Monday, we went to "Parque Explora" a park to explore science.  It was really cool and we did a lot of cool things. We went with a family from our ward. 

And another thing we did in the middle of the week was MOVE. We finally found a house in a nicer part of Medellin. The house we had was good and safe, but it was next to a busy road. So we found a nice new house in a nice quite neighborhood.

Love you, Elder Rucker

October 5, 2014

Piedra de Peñol

September 30, 2014

Hi Mom,

Things are going good here. Every day is an adventure. And we are  plugging along at full speed. 

This week when we had lunch with a member, we went up to the top floor of the building where he lives. We had a great view.

Every Saturday we play football with all the members and investigators who want to play. This past Saturday not very many people showed up, so we bought pizza!

On Thursday we had interviews with President and Sister Pitarch. Everything went well.

That’s all for this week. 

Love you,  Elder Rucker.

September 22, 2014

Hey Mom,

There are many responsibilities of a Zone Leader. The biggest ones are be an example, be attentive to all the needs of the missionaries in the zone (health, materials, etc.) and interchanges. We work a lot with other missionaries so they can learn from us and we can learn from them. 

Cool story. The ward I am in goes really high up the mountain. So high, that every 15 days when we eat lunch with the Jaramillos we play with snow. Can you believe it? I play with SNOW!!!!!!!!!!! 

This week we had lots of meetings. On Wednesday, we had a meeting with all the Zone Leaders, Sister Leaders, Assistants to the President and President Pitarch. The meeting was all day. I learned a lot. After the meeting we played soccer. 

On Friday, we had another meeting. This time with President Pitarch and President Mantilla. President Mantilla is the stake President of the Stake that I am in.

SNOW!

We are planning to move in these coming weeks. There are many reasons we are tired of living in this house. If we move this week, I will send pictures next Monday.

On Sunday, we had another meeting. This time it was with all the ward mission leaders (leaders of the missionary work). Another responsibility of a zone leader is to be a bridge between stake leaders and missionaries.  

I love you so much.

Love, Elder Rucker

p.s. I am sorry if you went all crazy when you read that I played with snow. But the Jaramillo Family has a dog named "Nieve" which in English translates into snow. Funny right? You should have seen your faces. HAHAHAHAHAHAH

p.s.s. Another cool story. I have been working out so much that I was contracted to be a model. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

September 15, 2014

Hi Mom,

Things are going good here. Transfers are over and Elder Mansilla, my old companion, is gone. He no longer is in Colombia. He arrived in his home on Thursday. On Tuesday, I had to transport around Medellin the three missionaries in my zone that finished their missions. They were excellent examples for me. They were only in my zone for a short time but I learned a lot from them. 

The very same day on Tuesday I found some very interesting trees. They are growing on the side of a building. How Neat is that?

My new companion is Elder Gómez, he is from Mexico. He is 20. He, just like my past few companions, is finishing his mission. He only has 3 months left. 

This past week I finished my journal. That's to say that I ran out of pages. So I have to buy a new one.

A missionary returned from his mission on Thursday. We went to his homecoming to show our support and to talk with him a bit. His name is Elder Molina. He served in Paraguay. 

Everything is going good here. Steady as she goes.

Love, Elder Rucker