Week 76 - Porto Conference

Hey Family,

This week felt weird because it felt like 2 mini weeks with a little 2 day vacation in between. It was a bad week for numbers because I was gone for 3 of the 7 days but a great week overall. On Monday we had a good p day and then Tuesday we worked during the morning and then I drove to Camara de Lobos to drop off my comp and get another district leader and then we all jammed in the car and drove to the airport.

The travelling was nice and we got to Porto at 10 at night and then we took the metro to the hotel. It was a nice hotel but the best part was that there were about 50 other missionaries in the hotel so everyone just started hanging out in everyone else's rooms. Needless to say, we did not follow the mission schedule that night.

The next morning we went to the chapel in Porto at 9 and had a training given by president. It was really cool and I learned a lot about what president expects of the mission. One of the best things is that president bought us lunch and dinner... both were McDonald's but I didn't complain. We left the conference at 6:30 which for those of you who didn't do the math, it was a 9 hour conference which was a long time to sit and listen. That night we went and worked in Porto which was chaos... 50 missionaries in the same city; we just bombarded and thundergunned the people of Porto into hearing the gospel.

The next day we did the same exact thing except Elder Moreira, an area 70, came and gave some of the trainings, which was cool. He talked a lot about prayer which helped me. It was another 9 hour conference and the food was the same so I was pretty sick of McDonald's by the end of those 2 days. It was a great conference and super cool to see all of my buds. I even got to see some of the sisters who came into the MTC with me. They are going home in 2 weeks, so I guess if I was a girl I would be seeing you guys in 2 weeks but fortunately that is not the case haha just kidding.

The rest of the week was ok, things are getting better. We have a cool investigator named Manuel who wants to be baptized. We just have to see if he has any problems with the commandments but he has faith and he wants to follow Christ and that is the most important thing. 

Also, I got my package while I was in Porto! Thank you so much for all the things you sent and all the love you guys give. I have been trying to get a package together for you guys for a while so hopefully I can send it soon. Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Ruggles

Week 75

Well family,

This week was hard but it's getting better, our numbers are slowly climbing and I don't feel as scared to send them in at the end of the week. Not a lot happened this week, but it was just a long one I guess.

This week we did have a world wide mission conference put on by the First Presidency and some of the apostles. We all went to the church to watch a video broadcast and it was pretty cool. Everyone thought it would be like a huge announcement about missions and stuff like having to serve more time but in the end it was just a training on how to find people and make sure that they are converted.

We will also be having a leadership conference in Porto this week so I will be flying with the zone leaders to Porto and spending 2 full days with president. Another exciting thing that happened this week is that the sisters planned an activity for all the members and investigators. It was a movie night in the chapel so we invited everyone and we had a lot of members show up but no investigators, oh well, I guess. The zone leaders got president's permission to watch the Saratov Approach because our president apparently loves the movie. I love it too so I just got to sit around for an hour and a half and watch a movie with some popcorn! Best day ever haha.

Other than that the work has been normal. We found some new people this week who hopefully will start progressing in a little and we are still working with some old people, same old same old. Well love you guys and praying for you all! 

Love,

Elder Ruggles

Week 74

Hey Family,

Just another week has gone by and it was good. For those of you who are really following the letters you will be relieved to hear that we finally moved into the new house. The new house is small and it's a house house, not an apartment so we have no one above or below us but we have people on the side of us. It's nice,  kind of in an annoying area but it has a really nice kitchen.

In mission news, our president really wants us to find new investigators so this week we went hard on knocking doors. We found a couple of new people and one seems like he has some potential. His name is Manuel and he has been taught in the past and he really likes the missionaries. All of our other investigators have decided not to progress.

I have been going over to the zone leaders house to eat lunch because my comp doesn't eat meat and so he just eats a salad and we all eat together. They also have Monopoly so we have had a week long game going on and my zone leader cheats I think so me and my other zone leader decided to really cheat. We stole over 100,000 dollars from the bank and we still lost. We are thinking about buying Risk but that is pretty much all the fun I have during the week. Patience I guess. Anyway love you guys, you are in my prayers.

Love,

Elder Ruggles

Week 73 - Mission Chauffeur

Hey family,

Well transfers happened at the beginning of this week and me and my comp stayed together so I can finish his training. It will be interesting to see what happens at the end of this transfer because we are both new to the area so we could even stay together one more... so buckle up. Unfortunately my zone leader got transferred out, the one from Cape Verde, which was sad because I really liked him. The new Zone leader is Elder Wilkes and he is way cool he is from my MTC group so we are tight.

A couple new people got here and seeing as how I am the only one with a license I had to get everyone to and from the airport at 4 in the morning which was fun. I don't know what this island will do when I leave. But I have figured out my purpose in this mission and it is not to baptize, it is to give people rides with the magical card that allows me to drive! It sounds more exciting than it really is.

We didn't have great numbers this week but numbers don't show work, at least that is what they say. We tried some new ways to find some new people and some of them worked, some did not. One of our ideas was a booth in the center of town about New Years goals and helping people achieve those goals with the gospel and it worked pretty well, especially when people wrote things like I want a happier family. We tried using Family History contacts which didn't work but my comp refuses to give up on them, he is a little obsessed with FH and lectured me for an hour about how important it is, oh well. Patience.

I have yet to send you a package, I have some things for it but I don't know what else to put in it. I have been super stressed so I am sorry. If you are wondering, we haven't moved into the house yet but like I said... Patience. Thanks everyone for your letters, love and support. I love you guys.

Love,

Elder Ruggles

Week 72 - Happy New Years!

Well family....I come home this year.

Not to sound trunky or anything, I just hope all of you are aware that I will be home sooner than you think. This week was pretty good, not a lot happened on account of the holidays and no one wants to talk about religion during the holidays so it was a little slower. We tried passing by some of our investigators too but in the end we didn't really teach anyone.

The other day we went to a lady´s house who let us in and she had the biggest nativity scene I have ever seen in my life. She also had a dope view of Funchal so we came in and talked to her a little. She is cool but she is old and doesn't seem to have all her screws now but oh well, she was nice!
Not a lot of highlights this week. President came to Madeira with his whole family and stayed in a 5 star hotel so he could see the world renowned fireworks show that has been in the Guinness book of world records for best fireworks show. The only problem is that he wouldn't let us see it... doesn't really seem fair does it? We tried to get on the roof of our building to see but it didn't work. We went to the window to see them but there is a big building right in front of us so we saw a little bit of it and heard quite a bit. Shortly after the show we got a call from some other missionaries and turns out everyone on the island got to see the show from their roofs except us... it's not that big of a deal, it's just cool explosions in the end anyway. So if you were wondering how my New Years was, please refer to the part in Hot Rod when Rico finds a bag of fireworks in the mens' bathroom and lights them off...

In other news, we still have not moved into our new house and we got a call from the office saying we should already be there... I think we will move in this week but at this point I am not going to worry about it until they say something.

Transfers are tomorrow, they should have been last night but president moved them because he didn't have time to do the transfers. He was a little busy seeing a dope fireworks show haha just kidding. I am guessing I will stay with my comp, woohoo... I'm with Jake McCleary on this one where training is testing my patience. He is difficult sometimes but he is a nice kid. Well that is all family, keep those prayers up! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Ruggles

Week 71 - Island Christmas

Hey family,

I hope you all had a great Christmas, I sure did. This week was a little slow due to Christmas and all the festivities but it was still stressful. We had some appointments up until Christmas but nothing on Christmas, I mean who wants to talk to 2 kids about religion on Christmas? We didn't really get invited over on Christmas eve so all the missionaries got together and made steak and shrimp, it was super good.

On Christmas we passed by some members to wish them a Merry Christmas and then we waited while the zone leaders Skyped. We had an appointment with a cool family who lived in Utah for a long time on Christmas night. We had to go get some other missionaries but everyone was making things harder than they needed to be but in the end we all got there... an hour late haha. I felt bad because this family does a lot for the missionaries and we were only there for a little and didn't eat much.

Skyping was the greatest thing ever. I love hearing how you guys are doing and in all honesty it made me a little trunky haha but I got over it and I'm back to the work. The hardest thing about Skype is hanging up. It takes a lot of will power to say goodbye for a couple months, but I only have 1 more Skype session and the distance to Mothers' Day is less than from Mothers' Day to Christmas so it will come fast.

Our investigator Carlos is doing well, we haven't talked to him in a couple days so we will go by tomorrow and wish him a Merry Christmas and all that jazz. The work is going and it is hard with little knowledge of the area but we will baptize for sure! Love you guys, thanks for all the prayers and love!

-Elder Ruggles