Assistant to the President

One of my favorite families. He is the 2nd counselor, far left is his wife, and the one next to me is my investigator Dane, who is a friend of that family. We found her because we reactivated her older sister and she started learning. At first, she didn't want to learn and hated us. Now, she was super sad to see me leaving and is planning on become a member and becoming a missionary in 1 year. She set the goal herself, i didn't even mention that yet.

Well. It was Saturday at like 6, president gave me a call. Elder Sem has been sick for a while so i thought that he was calling about that and got the wrong number. He asked if i had a minute. Then he asked me if i would accept the call to be his assistant. I totally forget that transfer were even here. So i have been called to be the new AP for president Moon. I go in today at 3. The actually exchange happens on Friday but i'm getting called in early. Elder Sem is going to whitewash 9th branch with a khmer companion. Elder Garlick will be district leader. And elder An will be with my old companion, Elder Jongsma. Super crazy.

Me and a bunch of the youth at Kah Ko. They all went in order to go a big party we scheduled down there and to say goodbye to me.

It will be super sad to leave this area. It was so hard not to cry. This was the first area where people were calling me and saying goodbye and saying how much they would miss me. People actually cried, it was so nice. I really did feel loved in this area. I am glad to say i can leave this area with no regrets. I did was I was supposed to do and now I am moving on to something new. 


I just want you all to know i know this church is true. And that God has a plan for all of us.

Love always, Elder Rucker

Service in Baku

Things went really well this week. This transfer as a whole has gone super super fast. Next week i will be telling you about transfer calls already. The thing is i don't think anything will be changing so don't expect too much. 

So Tuesday as you know was cleaning and CBR day, nothing too cool. Wednesday was sports day. That was really fun. Most of the time me and Elder Jorgensen just yo-yo'd. The real highlight of the even is that every single one of us ate a crazy burger. Haha. That was so fun. Elder Sem Elder Garlick and Me ate the whole thing. Elder An ate about 1/4 of it. Got home, and threw up. haha he still doesn't know how to eat greasy fatty American food.

Thursday was the best day of the week. We all rode out to a place called Baku. There are a lot of members there. They say its 27 kilos away i say its only 19 or 20. But anyways its quite a bike ride out there. Anyways, its just way out there. But we went in order to help them harvest rice. It was so fun. There was a group of like 15 of us that ride out there. Lets just say the members got their butts kicked from the bike ride, but the Elders were good. It was really fun harvesting the rice, but let me say it was really hard. Everyone got super tired after about an 1 hour. Me and Elder An dominated. Me and him did the equivalent as the rest of them all together.

Friday and Saturday were pretty normal nothing different or abnormal. just meeting with our investigators.

Sunday was the day where all the successes were had. 5 inactives at Church. Our guy Rido from Kah ko came and Srey Lot came too. The big success was we had a former member of the branch presidency, who has been inactive for years came back, as well as another man who was big in the church come back as well. Their families haven't come back yet but they've expressed their desires to bring their families back too. We also got another lady back who has been inactive too. All for like 5+years. The branch was so excited too. Everyone got up and bore their testimonies about how grateful and happy they are to see all those people come back and how they know when we follow the commandments of God we are blessed. It was a great day at church. Everybody was very welcoming and it was a great experience for everyone, active and inactive. 

I know this church is true. I know that when we obey God's commandments we are blessed. Almost every inactive will say they were happier when they first joined the join. Then most admit that they aren't happy anymore because they are inactive. That is the truth of the Gospel, the biggest it gives us. It just makes us happy. You would think the happiest day of the week would be Wednesday of Playing sports with friends and playing with a yo yo and eating a crazy burger. But Friday Saturday and Sunday were by far way happier and way more satisfying.

Love always, Elder Rucker