Week 45 - Rugs for President

Well Family,

This week was not super eventful but there is always a calm before the storm... This upcoming week we will be having a baptism on Saturday and after that, a 4th of July party that the sisters in my district are planning. I can honestly say that if there were just elders here we would not be doing this but it should be good. We have all the members involved and we will be grilling up hamburgers and hot dogs, having watermelon and lemonade and playing water balloon volleyball! It will be a great way to get new investigators but there is going to be a lot of stuff to do this week... I will let you know how it goes.

Our investigator who is marked for this Saturday is doing good. We have been teaching her a lot and she is understanding a lot of it but her family has a hard time because Portuguese is not their native language, it is some weird dialect from the Congo! She has been reading but the biggest problem is no one knows how old she is. Every time we ask the mom, she gives us a different age and the little girl doesn't know her birthday... I'm sure we will figure it out eventually! We didn't do much except teach her this week.

Today for P-day the sisters wanted to do something together, you know how they are always making plans and what not.... anyway we ended up going bowling which was really fun. My team of course won but Elder Jones got a higher score than me. I bowled a 114 which is not my best and he bowled a 134 and I don't like to admit it but Sister Johnson bowled a 116... all the other sisters barely broke 50 haha. Next time I will do better but it was fun! 

In other news, today was my mission president's last day in the mission and tomorrow we will be under a new reign. Our new presidents name is president Amorim and he is from Brazil but lived most of his life in Park City, Utah! President Amorim barely beat me in the race, I won the popular vote but in the end he pulled out all of the swing areas. I almost pulled out the win but Amorim had a little better campaign. I am not bitter though and I will continue to serve my mission with all my heart, might, mind and strength! Love you guys and keep the letters coming!

Love,

Elder Ruggles

Week 44 - Mormon Wine Tasting

Well family,

Another week of my mission come and gone. This week was a lot better and we are finding some cool people. We got a little sick of the city considering I have been here for 6 months and Elder Jones loves hiking so we decided to walk as far as we could and we talked to a lot of people on farms and vineyards. Don't worry, we didn't try any of the wine but we did steal a handful of the best cherries I have ever had! We had a little success but it was really fun and my legs were super sore after but a change of scenery was nice.

This week we had to go to Coimbra 2 times for a mission conference which was the last time I will ever see President Fluckiger in the mission. It was sad to see him go because he is the most inspired man I have ever met and he is very loving but it will be cool to meet the new Pres. As you all know, I stayed in the Portugal Porto mission with Elder Bianucci but something I heard the other day is that because it is a different mission they had to resubmit our names to the first presidency to see if the Lord wanted us here so technically I have a new mission call and the plaque at the church is wrong. I am no longer serving in the Portugal Lisbon mission... I have 2 mission calls haha. 

The day after the conference we went back to Coimbra to do a division with the ZLs. I served in Viseu (as if I haven't served enough here already haha) with Elder Wilkes! He was in my MTC group so it was way fun! We talked to a lot of people and reminisced about the MTC and it was super dope.

This week we were knocking doors a lot and we knocked the door of a less active family from Congo! They were baptized in Lisbon but haven't been to church in 3 years. They didn't know there was a church here so we talked to them and they have a daughter who is 10 years old who still isn't baptized. We marked her to be baptized on the 4th of July (you're welcome....AMERICA) and they all came to church this Sunday for the first time in 3 years. They loved it so much they said they would come every Sunday from now on! It was a huge miracle! I know that The Lord is aware of every one of his children and He loves us.

Love, 

Elder Ruggles

Week 43

Hey family,

This week was alright, we didn't teach many lessons because we don't have that many investigators. We tried starting from scratch this week and going to the area book and I have never made so many calls in my life, we called a ton of former investigators and potential ones but it did not really get us anywhere so we have been doing contacts like crazy. We weren't really getting any real people to listen so we decided to try a different part of the city. It was a part really far from the house and takes like 30 minutes to walk out there but when you have been in one area for 4 transfers the center of town gets a little old. We went there and the people were way nice and we got a couple actually potential people which was awesome!

We had zone meeting this week and so we went to Coimbra which was awesome. I always love going there, but we have zone conference this week too so we will be going back to Coimbra which sucks especially because it is on a day we actually have some lessons planned but oh well. It's cool though because our new Zone Leader is a friend who was in the MTC with me so it should be fun to go on a division with him. I am still DL here in Viseu which is alright but I am not a huge fan of leadership... maybe it would be better if the whole district wasn't sisters, I am the relief society president over here. They are cool but they call us a lot for blessings and problems that I have to solve. Maybe next transfer I will go to the islands and be a junior comp and buy a guitar and a hammock haha.

On Sunday I went to church and everyone was surprised to see me because I have already been here for such a long time which was super funny. A couple people were happy and others... not so much, haha just kidding they were all ecstatic! Good thing the time on the mission goes fast or 6 months in an area would be a long time. But after church we of course went to pancakes so the new comp could try them and he loved them. There is not a missionary who doesn't like the Silvas house on pancake night. My kid is doing well in the Azores but it was sad to see him go. One of my buds from the MTC is serving with him now. Anyway I'll talk to you guys next week! Love you!

Love,

Elder Ruggles

Elder Jones in his natural habitat

We got a pretty important call this week...

Week 42 - Sticking Around...again

Hey Family!

Well this week was more or less the same except me and Elder Reni went to Lisbon at the beginning of the week because he had to do residency so he could stay in the country. We went there and slept over at the office elders' house which was super fun! I didn't get to see anyone that I knew but I really like the office elders. 

We still don't really have many progressing investigators as of now and we had a really bad week for numbers because people don't show up to the lessons we schedule so we sit at the church and wait for nothing... oh well, patience I guess haha. 

As you all know, this week was transfers and seeing as I have been in Viseu for three transfers, it was safe to assume that I would be leaving. We spent transfer night at the Silvas house like we do most Sundays and we had pancakes which is my favorite thing in the world. Transfer calls usually come around 7 in our mission but last night we waited at their house with the sisters forever and then 9:30 came around and still nothing. Everyone was freaking out and we thought that we were all just staying and that president changed nothing but then at 10 o'clock the phone rang and we finally got transfers... Everyone in the mission was super upset and people were up super late because of the late call. It had to do with some email that we were supposed to send in and president didn't release transfers until all the emails were in but me and Reni did ours early so its not our fault. Anyway Elder Reni got called to the Azores (a chain of islands in between Portugal and the states) and I am staying in Viseu for my 4th transfer... After this transfer I will have spent 1/4 of my mission in this area but I like it here. It just gets a little hard staying in one place forever. 

It's weird that my last 2 comps have been called to the islands and my dream is to go there... oh well. This morning we woke up early and went to Lisbon to drop Reni off and wait for my new comp. I saw a lot of people at the bus station in Lisbon so it was cool to see them. Also, this was the last transfer before the mission splits so unless there is an emergency transfer I will be staying in the Portugal Porto mission which is the north part! I called Elder Bianucci last night and he is also staying in the north so we have a chance to serve together! Unfortunately, Elder Reni will be staying in the south so I will not being seeing him and a lot of my other friends until after the mission which is sad. Anyway, here is to sticking it out in Viseu and that we will be baptizing this transfer. Oh, my new comp's name is Elder Jones and he is from Oregon! I don't have a pic of him yet but I have a ton of other pics because I thought I was leaving! Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Ruggles

Week 41

Hey family,

This week was better than the last week that is for sure. Elder Reni and I have been on the hunt for new investigators and it is going....kinda well. We have been contacting almost everyone we see and most people don't want to talk as usual but we have found some nice people we will try to meet with later this week.

The other day we passed by Keily and she has been very sad and distant lately because of everything that happened and she really misses her husband. Elder Reni and I started to notice a wall that she had up whenever we would try to talk to her. She would just say that it was more complicated than we knew. We had a 3 hour lesson and we bore a lot of testimonies and she started to cry by the end of it. She said she would go to church but that she did not want us to come knock her door. Later that night we were praying and a scripture that I forgot about flashed into my head. It was weird, I could almost see it on the back of my eyelids, but the scripture was Jacob 4. I told Reni after the prayer and neither of us could remember the scripture so we read together and verse 13 talks about how the spirit cannot lie to us. It helped a lot because she has been doubting a lot because of her friends in other religions showing her anti Mormon stuff.

On Sunday we went by her house even though she told us not to and she was not awake 30 minutes before church and she was mad we came by and said, "You 2 have problems in the head" but she got to church! After that, we had a lesson with her and she said she is moving to France soon and that she likes the church and is going to try to attend in France but it is impossible for her to get baptized here because she wants her kids to be baptized too and she wants to talk to her husband. I pray that she doesn't distance herself from the church.

In other news, both companionships of sisters had baptisms this week and I had the opportunity to interview the baptismal candidates! I was excited for the sisters and one of the baptisms was one of our friends we have gotten to know while the sisters have been teaching him. His name is Andre and we have become really close. At his baptism he was feeling bad that he didn't have a suit so we went to the house and grabbed him one an Elder had left behind and gave it to him and we said he could keep it and he hugged us and started to cry. He said in one year he will fill out his papers to serve a mission which is awesome. He also chose Elder Reni to baptize him so it was cool for him to get his first baptism in Portugal even though it wasn't our investigator! All in all it was a good week but it was sad that Keily won't be baptized here. Thanks for all the support and the love! I Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Ruggles

Week 40 - Be of good cheer!

Hey family!!

This week was better, last P-day was awesome at that waterfall. It felt like I was back in Utah hiking with my friends again, even though this district is all sisters, I do enjoy hanging out with them on occasion haha. This week started out kind of rough and we still didn't have contact with our investigator who was marked for baptism.

We did a division with the zone leaders on Wednesday and I stayed here and did a division with Elder McColley which was way fun. Elder Reni went to Coimbra with Elder Neilson. Elder McColley and I had a lot of fun with some funny contacts including one where we were talking to a lady who was really nice and we asked her what she does for work. She said that she used to own a restaurant and then sold it then it went out of business and so she bought it back to remake it into a bar. Elder McColley gave me a big smile and starts talking to the lady about her old restaurant and he said, "Much like the gospel of Jesus Christ, your restaurant was perfect until it fell into the wrong hands but now it will be restored into a bar." We both busted up laughing because it was too perfect. We couldn't stop laughing and then the lady started laughing and she had no idea why. It was one of the funniest contacts of my mission.

During the division, Keily texted us and said we could pass by finally so we went and talked to her and turns out that her husband had told her before he left to France that he did not want their children being baptized and Keily took offence to that because it made it sound like he cares more about the kids than her but that is not what he meant. Needless to say, she doesn't want to be baptized anymore and she doesn't want to come to church. She is kind of giving up. We have talked to her more since then and she seems a little more open to keep trying but she just seems sad and stressed. You can really see a difference that the gospel makes in peoples' lives.

The week was kind of focused on Keily and we didn't have very many lessons. We had some pretty bad numbers this week and no investigators in church but this week we have some new people to talk to and hopefully they will be ready for the gospel. In good news, the sisters in the district have baptisms this week and I am super excited for them. One of the investigators is named Andre and we have gotten pretty close with him over the past couple weeks and he really likes us. Reni will be doing the baptism and Andre wants to serve a mission and be like us. 

Even though these past couple of weeks have been hard, I have been very blessed with the spirit of comfort and I know that the Lord is pleased with me. "Let us not forget that 'be of good cheer' was a commandment too" (I think some apostle said that or something). Love you guys, thanks for all the support!

Love,

Elder Ruggles

Week 39

Dear family,

This was a hard week, let me tell ya, probably one of the hardest of my mission. It started off awesome. We were preparing Keily for baptism and I have never had an investigator as prepared as she was. We were teaching her every day and she was reading every night in the Book of Mormon and then she would send us a text about what she learned and she was stoked to be dunked. We had the Zone Leaders come down for a night on Friday and they interviewed her and she passed and we kinda just had a little party that night and didn't get much sleep so that was fun.

Saturday got here and we were way excited for the baptism and during morning studies we got a text message from Keily that said her husband's uncle died and that there would be no baptism. Elder Reni and I called her but she wouldn't answer or text back so we ran to her house which is like a 2 or 3 mile run....in our suits. We told her we were at her house but she said she already left. We waited at her house for her to come back or call or something but nothing happened so we went back to the church. We called her a ton and texted her but then she said that she would call us later. We called everyone and cancelled the baptism and walked to her house 3 more times that day. We haven't heard from her until this morning and she said she would call us on Wednesday... we were pretty sad and the ward was upset as well. In the end, we did all we could do and it still fell through. We are hoping to mark her again but if she won't talk to us then there is not much we can do. 

At least we had dinner with the Silvas on Sunday to cheer us up and we had pancakes like we always do. Then after dinner we went out to work but it turns out that on Sunday night Bemfica (one of the big teams here in Portugal) won the Portuguese championship and so the Bemfica fans raged the streets and started fires and threw alcohol! They drove around and honked their horns and behaved in a way I thought only wild animals could. I thought the human mind has too much of a conscience for this kind of behavior but people were taking clothes off and making so much noise... They are nutz here.

But, on Sunday night Miguel invited us to go to a waterfall for P-day so this morning we woke up and skipped studies (YOLO) and drove an hour to go on a hike! It was beautiful and so much fun! The whole district went and Miguel is my favorite person in the world. He just makes jokes about sisters like I do and he thinks I am super funny. One of the sisters tried to sit shotgun and he said, "Nope, Elder Ruggles sits there." It made the week a lot better and it shows me that the Lord will never let me feel alone even at the worst of times. I can still see his hand in my life. I love the work and even though this week was hard to keep working, all of your support means so much and you may think, "He is on a mission and is busy" but the letters really make the week a lot better so thank you for all those that write me. I love you guys and miss you.

Love,

Elder Ruggles