Feb. 5, 2013

Hey!

So, I got the package you sent earlier from the Evans. I kinda figured out what it is, a photobook. I can't wait to see what else you send. I hope you know, this Friday, I will go over to the Evans. The thing is we have Weekly Planning for 3 hours, lunch with the Bradshaws (to wherever I want), dinner with the Maskells, and two appoinments with investigators, one of which will be baptized this Saturday and one who we picked up yesterday, so it's pretty busy, but I will go there, plus we're on bikes.

Oh, by the way, I got a letter from Karla. I was like, whaaaaat? It surprised me. And, I am sending photos home today, most likely.

 

This last week has been awesome. At the end of last Tuesday, we picked up a new investigator, Taylor. She is a 14 year old daughter of two less actives, who are starting to come back to church. We even got to set up a baptismal date, for probably the 19th of February. It was awesome.

 

I had an awesome exchange with Elder Metcalfe. He likes a lot of the same things I do, so we clicked pretty well. He's in the same apartment as Elder Clark and I, so we can hang out at night and in the morning.

 

We had a lesson with Janice, the one who is going to be baptized this Saturday. She passed her baptismal interview, and we got everything finished up.

 

Saturday was alright. We had to walk for 7 hours because of Elder Clark's ankle.

 

Sunday, we taught Sunday School and Elder's Quorom. Just about everyone had left by Elder's Quorom with the Superbowl and everything.

 

Yesterday, we had so many miracles. It was AWESOME! So here they are:

1. We had a zone training meeting about being more effective planners.

2. We visited a less active who wants to come back to church and bring his non member wife with him.

3. We contacted one of our referrals who we set up a return appointment with for tonight.

4. We contacted another referral we got during our meeting from the Spanish Sisters. They'd been tracting in our area a couple days ago and contacted this woman who was interested. We went by and had a 20 minute first lesson. When we invited her to be baptized, she said she would need some divine intervention.

5. We met with a part member family, where the wife had agreed to take the lessons. It was her birthday yesterday, and it hadn't been going so well. Her husband was gone and the elementary school where her kids go had a lockdown because of a loose gunman, and they got out an hour late. So we decided to get her a cake with Happy Birthday candles. We gave it to her and she was very appreciative. One of the members in the ward, who is working with her, left us a voicemail saying that she got a message with a picture of the cake, and said it was very thoughtful and that we had planted a good seed.

6. We had dinner with the Evans. That's always awesome.

7. We talked to a less active and his friend. The less active is a die-hard Mormon who said he would give us each a picture of the San Diego temple. He is also going to give us the information of his friend as a referral for the other mission. We'd just gone up initially to help someone move since we saw the moving truck.

Suffice it to saw, yesterday was a great day.

 

Elder Clark is awesome. End of statement.

 

Lots of Love,

Elder Ryan R Rupper, the last email as a 19 year old

Tue, Oct 30, 2012 at 12:33 PM

Hello from California!   We have transfer meeting later today, so I don't have my new companion yet. We shall see who it is later.   My math teachers in HS did give me free response tests, but some of them were peer graded. I don't know if you want that. It can also be tricky sometimes too. Thanks for doing the Family History Stuff, and feel free to send the bound book. That'll be cool. That's so sweet you're going to the Transiberian Orchestra. I've listened to them on Pandora (Devin, see below). They're really cool.   I will be biking part time and in a car part time for this next transfer. We'll see what happens there.   Last P-day, we carved pumpkins (mine was the Philosopher's stone symbol) and played volleyball. It was fun, especially in togas. I looked like a Xiaolin monk, Elder Lake like a shade, Elder Gines like a Greek, and Elder Hegland like a Scotsman. Sister Workoff and Sister Bergau had their striped sheets as togas.   With Elder Lake leaving to head back to Arizona, I've inherited a lot of his stuff, including a GPS (I need to get a charger though), a sweater, a big plastic box to carry extra stuff in, and a bunch of other stuff. Elder Gines is going home too.   Our ward had a Halloween Party and Trunk or Treat. That was a lot of fun. There were a lot of non members there, but we only got to speak to one of them, one of the youth's friends. During the Trunk or Treat, we gave out candy with a less active sister, and after that we got a plastic bag and went to the other's saying, "Feed the missionaries." It was funny.   One of our investigators, Nikki, made it to church on Sunday. Elder Lake pulled the "Last Sunday of my Mission" card. We had a great lesson with her that night on baptism and the priesthood. Her main concern is the Book of Mormon, so we're going to help her with that.   Last night, we taught Kri, our only investigator with a baptismal date, the Word of Wisdom... while we were sitting in Starbucks. It was ironic. He took it pretty well.   Well. I'll email next week and talk about my new companion. I hope he's cool.   Lots of Love,   Elder Ryan Rupper

Hey Everyone,

 

Thanks for the pills and the letters. For the past couple days, I tried seeing what it would be like without the pills, and it wasn't very fun. My legs were definitely restless, and the ached a little. I opened the letters last night at the Evan's house. They laughed when they saw the emails blown up in size. So, for the most part, you can delete junk (most, including some of the BYU ones) emails without reading them. For 23andme sharing, accept the invitation unless it's an extended invitation (basic is OK). For Ancestry.com, delete those. And for the Family History stories, Daddy's family history stories was what I was referencing, but the Briscoe's would be cool, too. As far as Facebook goes, delete them, and email me the names of the friend requests, to see if I want them to or not. Put not now on Whitaker, Edholm, Nielsen, and Mills, and confirm with McNeff and Lerud. If the Evans friend request, say yes. And thanks for sending Easton's address. I sent him a letter today.

 

Hopefully you all had fun during Fall Break. Glad Daddy was able to relax (I hope he did that at least a little).

 

Devin, I draw and summon Drill Barnacle. I will attack your life points directly.

 

We went by a pet store last Tuesday. I got to pet the cutest Pomeranian puppy. It was great.

 

We have been to the doctor's office a couple of times this past week for Elder Lake. The doctor here told him he should probably go home at the end of this transfer, or else the meniscus in his knee will need to be taken out. He has been praying a lot to know whether he should stay for one more transfer or go home the day before Halloween.

 

Saturday, Connor was baptized. He is an eight year old kid whose parents are both LDS, but divorced. We taught him two small lessons before that, and we got to be there when he was baptized. It doesn't really count as a convert baptism, but it was still good.

 

We finally got our plans in motion to help the ward do missionary work. Elder Lake showed me this cool devotional called 'Missionary Next Door' by Diana Holscher. He said it changed Laguna Beach. They were about to close it down, but applying that talk, it became the highest baptizing area in the mission. We talked about it with the Ward Mission Leader, and they want us to began teaching it to the ward.

 

I gave a training in District Meeting yesterday. It was alright. No one was that excited. I was teaching the 42 principles of the gospel found in Preach My Gospel. The practice was really good though, because the purpose of that was to help them be united in teaching, and they were.

 

We talked with Coleen, a potential investigator, who lost her 19 year old son a couple of months ago. She still struggling, but we taught a mini Plan of Salvation and answered some of her questions. It was really cool. Note: the son was intelligent and had OCD, so it's not drug related from what it sounds like.

 

Through the past couple of weeks, I've made it a habit to write down at least one miracle that has happened that day. It makes you see that the Lord really is blessing us a lot. Try it out for yourselves. Every night, will you think of one miracle/ tender mercy the Lord has blessed you with that day?

 

Lots of Love,

 

Elder Rupper

Hey All!

 

This has been a pretty good week, but now it is certain that Elder Lake is going to go home in a week, and I will get a new trainer. We don't know who it is yet, but we'll see next week at transfer meeting.

 

Oh, I gave my first real blessing today to a member girl in our area. It was kinda cool.

 

We've had two more appointments with Kri, one of our investigators. He said he'll be coming to church in the next couple weeks, and then he can be baptized! He's already been taught all the lessons at one point or another.

 

Another one of our investigators, Nikki, is making real progress. After this Sunday though, the Zone leaders, who are over the YSA branch, are going to pick her up (she's 18 now). I'm pretty sure in a couple weeks she'll be baptized, which is so cool! She has been investigating since she was about 11.

 

President Cook came over to the apartment and had the exit interview with Elder Lake. We took a picture with all of us in fake moustaches. I looked like Hitler in mine since I couldn't smile with it on. Pres. Cook told Elder Lake to do something with my hair. So what we did was poof it up a little and move my hair over to one side more. It's pretty cool (pictures to come in like two weeks).

 

We had an exchange on Sunday with the Zone Leaders. It was amazing. Elder Jensen and I talked about ways that we can improve. Apparently he's also a bit more reserved, and he's trying to change that too. So we helped each other out.

 

Love you all!

 

Elder Ryan Rupper

 

P.S. Kayla, study using the book we have! I'm glad the Banzai was fun. Kayla, what does Kay-chan think about a mission? Also, we can't have those kind of conversations we had a month ago, mission rules.

P.P.S. Devin, you need to email me and send me what your next move is.

Hey Everyone!                                                     Oct. 9, 2012

 

To begin, I will address things from your emails. Yes, $300 will be great. I will let you know ASAP if it goes missing. I will write the phone number to call if it gets stolen, so it can be cancelled. Next, to Kayla, I was freaking out too. I realized that I will probably have to train a lot of new missionaries in the coming months, joy. ;). I did hear the announcement about the age lower limit. We were all freaking out. It will be nice for Kayla to get into BYU easier. Kayla, if you decide to serve a mission, that's great, if not, I will not be disappointed, but you also do have a while to think about it. One of the cool things about this is that we will probably get a lot more sister missionaries in the field than we have been. Our mission actually has a greater concentration of sisters than other missions. Say congrats to Ranelle and Liz for me. Oh, and Kayla, STUDY FOR THE ACT AGAIN... please. To Mom again, I don't know what I could really use down here, but I'll think of something. Send the pills to Sis. Evans again. The mission office only gives us our mail once a week. Send pills to Evans, anything else to the mission office. Have fun during Fall Break!

 

I had a really cool experience at zone training last week. We had pretend investigators with real concerns come and we were supposed to ask questions and figure out what their concern was. For one of them, I read the quick little bio, and she had a concern on there that we knew was fake, and the first question out of my mouth was "What do you know about the priesthood?" She was shocked. Everyone stared at me in confusion. Come to find out, it was her exact concern. We had another experience like that with another pretend investigator. I immediately understood her concern and helped her resolve it. It was way awesome.

 

General Conference was so great. It is like Christmas for missionaries. It's great. We watched it at the stake center for the 5 sessions. (I hope Devin went to priesthood.) I took a lot of notes and learned a lot of cool things. Some of my favorite quotes, "I'm a Mormon. I know it. I live it. I love it" and "Ask the missionaries. They can help you.".

 

We had a lesson with one of our investigators, Nikki, and her less active mom, Jill. They're Filipino and very nice. Jill asked for a blessing, and I got the chance to, for the first time, participate in a blessing. It was really cool. Last night, we blessed a less active's son, who had pneumonia.

 

The weather has cooled down a lot. Just about every morning it's foggy out or looks like it's going to rain, but it clears up by noon. I wish it would stay like that.

 

I was wondering if you could also send some of the stories of my ancestors. I would like to remember them, but I can't.

 

I hope everyone is doing well at home. The Church is true. Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. President Monson is the prophet today. We're Children of God.

 

With Love,

 

Elder Ryan Rupper

 

P.S. Devin, you haven't sent me your turn, so I can't sent mine.

Hey all,                                    Oct. 2, 2012

 

So first, for the prescription. I went to the pharmacy this morning, and they said they would call in and see. They called back and said you had picked it up. I would like to take four a day (one with each meal and the other before bed), but 3 would be okay too. Sometimes when I don't take it, my legs feel like they have tiny pins and it hurts. Right now, I have 7 pills left to last me the next two to three days. So, I await your package. Mail through the mission office is kind of slow since it's far and we only get it once a week.

 

Don't let Devin read this part until he finishes his turn. Last turn, I attacked with Blue-Eyes. New turn. I draw and activate Pot of Duality. I reveal Chaos Sorcerer, Gravity Bind, and Gene-Warped Warwolf. I pick Chaos Sorcerer. If you have a monster, Blue-Eyes attacks it. Hurry Devin.

 

My companion is talking a bit more, and I found out what was on his mind. This ward isn't really thrilled about member missionary work, which is super critical. We are trying to figure out how to help them, but it may be a little while.

 

We had a cool miracle a couple of days ago. It was about 8 pm-ish. We hadn't had much success that day, so we say a prayer that we would find someone who was ready to receive the gospel. 5 minutes later, we were walking and this older lady (not elderly, but 50-ish, no white hair) walks out of her house with her phone in hand. We asked her what was wrong. She said that there was a guy on her roof who has been there before. We tried to find him, but he was gone. We allowed her to use our phone, because her's was dead, to call 911. We waited with her while the cops showed up, and she explained that a guy had been on her roof. We appeared when she needed, and vice versa. We taught her the next day, a bit of the Restoration. She kind of believes what the Jehovah's Witnesses do, but we tried to help her see the truth. We left there knowing that even if she didn't want us to come back later, we had planted a seed the size of an avocado pit. We talked to her yesterday casually because this little kitten had attached itself to Elder Lake and wouldn't stop following him, so we tried to see if she could take it for a little, but she couldn't. She wasn't hostile to us at all.

 

Today, we went to the mall. They have this cool Japanese store there. I bought a tanooki (racoon) hat, for Halloween and Imaginary Minecraft. They had a full Pikachu suit ($100), and katana swords ($25). I really wanted both, but decided I couldn't.

 

I met a friendly basher on Thursday. It was at night, and this car had its inside lights on. I decided that I would be a good neighbor and tell them. So, I knocked and told them, and they invited us in! We sat down, and this guy in a wheelchair begins talking to us. He knows some LDS people, and he begins to question us about the afterlife. He kept saying that all you need to do is believe and you are saved (faith, but no works). It was weird, but I gained some experience with bashers.

 

Church was good. We had fast and testimony meeting, and I bore my testimony. In Gospel Principles, we watched part of Pres. Monson's biography. I talked with Sis. Evans about my prescription. They are going to LA for a little becuase Tristan, one of the sons, got a part on a show.

 

It is so hot down here right now. It hit 107 yesterday, and it won't cool down until next week. Thank goodness for the car.

 

We have one investigator right now who has a baptismal date, Kri Kor. He's 16, and plays football. We just really need to help him come to church (thankfully this weekend is General Conference and that counts as going to church). I think his father is gone, but his mom is a member and encouraging this.

 

Hey, Aunt Pam! I got your letter Saturday night. It was funny. Hope you all are doing well at home. The area out here is good. Your piece of mail is the first real letter I've gotten out here in the field. Thank you for sending that.

 

Oh, madre, make sure you are checking my yahoo account while I'm gone. I don't want to come back home with 2,000+ junk emails to read. Delete the junk and facebook ones. Check with me before you add people as my friends on Facebook, too. Thanks so much.

 

Oh, how much money is on my debit card. I have it here, and I don't know if I can/ should use it. Make sure, that if you are okay with me using it down here, that the bank knows I'm in Southern California.

 

Thanks so much for everything,

 

Elder Ryan Rupper

Hey all,                                                                                                          Sept. 25, 2012

 So, I left the MTC at 5 am on Tuesday, waited for a while at the airport. I didn't call back, because my companion went right after me, so I waited until one of the others got off. I drove in President Cook's car to the mission home. We ate brunch and were interviewed. After that we went to a stake center for the transfer meeting. My new companion/ trainer is Elder Lake from Tempe, AZ. My first area is the Chapparal ward in Temecula, CA, the most eastern part of the mission. We are literally on the border to our mission and the Riverside mission. I had my first appointment that night with the Coffinos, a part member family. We taught (mainly, Elder Lake) about miracles in our lives. I unpacked and realized that no pillow was provided, kind of a rough night. Oh, because Elder Lake tore a meniscus in his knee (again, it's happened before in the other leg twice), and he needs crutches (which he usually doesn't use unless he's around the Evans or at church). We have a full time car, YAY!, I mean, oh darn. I did get my bike okay. Elder Lake really likes volleyball and basketball. He has 3 months left on his mission, so he's going to try to stick it out here and then go home for his surgery when it's all over. Elder Lake hasn't done a ton of training with me, but oh well. He doesn't really talk to me much, except in the evening when Elder Hegland and Lake ask me various questions, such as what is your favorite scary movie, or dogs or cats? We had a district meeting of 6, the next day: the 4 elders (myself included) from our apartment, and two sisters serving in French Valley. We went shopping Wednesday for food and a pillow. We went around trying to find people to teach with our map book (it's sweet). Temecula is pretty cool. We also have part of Murrieta. The area is about a couple miles by a couple miles. This area used to be in another mission, but got put into ours about a year or so ago, when we gave the San Diego mission two different parts. Our area is apparently hotter than is normally is, getting up to 100 degrees, but now it's cooling down, thank goodness for AC. We visited a couple active families and met with some of the youth and the Bishop at the end of Mutual. Thursday, we studied and went to the library to get onto mormon.org and Mormon Messages. I need headphones, so I can listen to them, so in the next package you sent, remember to send those. I tried to make a mormon.org profile, but I need a picture (Mom, you need to do it for me, one of me smiling up close. Go to mormon.org, edit profile, enter ryanrupper and mvbruins, then add the photo). We went to different places, trying to see some potential investigators. What's really cool is that we don't really tract here (people hate it), it's mainly member referrals. We had a service appointment Friday, helping out the Evans family with stopping the dogs from digging holes by putting in chicken wire. The Evans family is so cool. The kids (ages 18 F, 16 M, 15 F, 8 M, and 4 F) are actors, and they play Minecraft. They are super funny. We went around again later to find people to teach, but no luck. We ate dinner with the Garcia family. We had chili and rolls and taught about miracles. I have not yet had any lasagna, so that's a good sign. I'm still eating not as much as I should, but I'm trying to do better. I haven't really applied any teaching principles from the MTC yet, but hopefully that will change. We have had a lot of people cancelling appointments (even dinner appointments) here. Sunday was good, the Primary had their Primary program during Sacrament meeting. My P-days are Tuesdays, and I will be online around 11:30-12:30. I could be in this area anywhere from 3-6 months, my companion said. We get to go to a trampoline park here soon. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Lots of love, Elder Ryan Rupper

P.S. Devin, I will attack your face down monster with Blue Eyes.