My First Week in the Mission...

Elder Stucki & Elder Duncan

A person in the mission sent me this picture of Elder Stucki.  

They were feeding him and his companion dinner on his first Friday night in the mission.

A member sent me this picture.  

(I wanted to share this picture of your son doing some service for our family.  Our washing machine broke and he helped us get the water out, take our old machines out and bring in the new ones. He is doing such a great job here serving the Lord.  We appreciate his hard work and dedication.  Brother & Sister R (Ward Mission Leader) 

P.S. My husband gave them all matching shirts to wear that had my husbands name on them. They thought it was pretty funny. He is very happy and doing great. I am sure you miss him very much. I will let him know. Elder Stucki is such a hard worker and we appreciate his willingness to step up and do anything. He is a very nice young man. We will make sure he is taken care of.  @BR 

Family,

The flight was fun! We flew straight to Seattle and the Mission President picked us up. They are super nice. We went to the Presidents house which was way nice.  We had ribs and met with him. After we went to a chapel and got our companions.  Mine is Elder Bryson Duncan.  He said look him up on Instagram.  He is pretty cool. You guys know more about Orting then I do. It has been pretty slow.  We mostly visit less actives and we have 2 investigators.  There are tons and tons of less active members. It is hard here. After you go to the MTC  you come out on a mission...  and you forget you actually have to find the people to teach. I love teaching people... but I hate tracking!!! Everyone here is young families that just moved in and they already have a religion so they do not care at all to listen to you or hear what you have to say because their life is already going good.

Mom...
There are no church shoes here so you might have to send some.  Also boots would be nice if because it is super muddy here. Service projects are ruining my tennis shoes.  An ipod with church music would be really nice.  Music is kinda okay here as long as its church appropriate. Vocal point is really good. I'm going blind. Literally my eyes are getting worse and worse it's so weird.  I can't read things on the other side of the room.  I sent a letter to the house and it has a SD card in it with like 200 pictures.  


Letter from the Federal Way Mission:

Elders and Sisters, 
Here is the mission website and on it has the updates and latest news on the mission and also the pictures taken as as whole mission form the visit of the General Authorities !! A thing to do is to look at it for yourself and to send this link to you parents to look at.

http://wfwmission.blogspot.com/

Also, here is the Scripture Focus for this week from the Rasmussen's

This weeks scripture to ponder is 2 Nephi 11:4-7

Nephi declared that his soul delighted in proving "the truth of the coming of Christ" (v.4).  

Identify some of the things Nephi delighted in.  

What do you delight in as you teach about Jesus Christ?

I also had the opportunity to meet and shake hands with Elder Rasband, Bishop Wadell and Elder Clayton and Elder Call of the Seventy. They were here on Saturday and talked  to all the missionaries in Federal Way.

So we go to some sketchy houses, some of them are tucked away... clear up in the woods all by themselves.  There are these sketchy little cabins with big dogs (as big as bears) I have been told there have been people in the past who come out with guns when they see lights.

We should be able to email about the same time every week. We email from a library.  I have been praying for an Ipad.  My ward is super nice. You can send mail to the Mission home and then they get it to us. I live in an apartment.  It is just me and my companion.  We are the only Elders in the area.  It is pretty here and it is starting to get cold.

I read my patriarchal blessing the other day for the first time in a long time. I decided that it should be scripture. (ha ha ha) It was so good. I read it like everyday now. I can see how important serving a mission is.

I love you guys
Elder Ethan Stucki
October 24, 2016

I made it to Washington...

I was sent this picture from a family friend, who ran into Elder Stucki in the Salt Lake airport. 

She was able to hug him and send him off with encouraging words.  

Thank Heaven for tender mercies. 

Hey I made it here.
We are at the Mission Presidents home right now. It is so pretty here.  The weather is perfect right now.
I love it. I find out my companion tonight. My p-days will be on Mondays. So I will probably talk to you next Monday.
I love you guys.
Bye!
Elder Ethan Wayne Stucki
October 18, 2016

Just a quick note to let you know your son has arrived in the Washington Federal Way Mission safely.  We love him already and are thrilled to have him serve with us.  This is a very beautiful mission with strong wards and stakes.  The Lord has hastened the work in this important hour and he will have an impact on the work here.  We thank you for your sacrifice to send him to us.  We know the Lord will bless your family as you share in his missionary experience.

Sister Rasmussen

Inspiring Devotionals...

I am doing laundry right now and we don't really have a free time today. We are just doing all the stuff we need to do during our personal and companionship studies. I have class in a little and won't be back on until about 6:00. This last week has been pretty cool.  After I got off last Tuesday we went to a devotional and we got there late so we were in the very last row of the bleachers. But a usher came and grabbed me and Elder Waters and took us up to fill in some seats that were on the floor. Dead center and only 7 rows away from the microphone.  Guess who the speaker was... David A. Bednar!!  It was really cool.  We got so lucky because we were in the very back but got moved so close to the front that one time he spit on accident...  and it landed on me!!!

No not really. But we were close and it was cool!!

Yesterday we had another devotional and dad might know of this guy. Vai Sikahema. He played for BYU and then later on went and played for the Cardinals, the Green Bay Packers, and one other NFL team and now he is a news anchor.  He is a super cool guy and I know this because me and Elder Eccles snuck passed his security guard after the talk and met him and got a picture with him!!  I will send them later. I don't have time right now. But it was pretty cool!!

I love you all.
Elder Ethan Stucki
October 17, 2016

Elder Stucki is right where he needs to be...

Hey guys! Happy Birthday the other day Mom. I love you and miss you!!!

There has been a lot that has happened this week but it's all just the same thing.  Every day is just a bunch of classes. Last night was a crazy night though. One of the kids... not in our District but in our Zone went a little crazy. So Elder C. is this really cool kid from ....  who really wanted to go to the temple this morning.  My District and his District were going together. But his companion Elder .... was saying he was sick but he really just wanted to sleep in. So every one in the two Districts were trying to get him to quit being dumb, cause we are on a mission and this is what we are here to do.  The Zone leaders were telling him he had to go because he can't just stay in the room by himself.  But the kid is so stubborn he just kept complaining and then he totally freaked out and had like a rage.  He is just a short kid like shorter then me but he is huge. His companion is way bigger he was a big football player. Anyways the Elder pulled out his brass knuckles and a knife and set them on the table in front of him. He never said anything about using them or never threatened anyone he just pulled them out. He did want to fight everyone. This went on until 1 am because no one wanted to call the security because they did not want to get him in trouble for having them. They were just trying to convince him to send them home but he wouldn't. Finally Elder ..... had enough because he just kept getting on these rages and so he called the security and they sent this little guy and HE SIDED WITH ELDER ....  AND LET HIM KEEP THEM BECAUSE HE NEVER MADE A THREAT WITH THEM.

So ya....  that's how my night went. All because he did not want to wake up early to go to the temple.

Yes. I have seen Olivia.  She seems to be doing good.

I leave next Tuesday at 6:20 am. So I don't know when I will be able to email you next.  I don't know when my P-day will be out there yet.  I am excited to go to Washington.

Use dearelder.co to write me anything you hear about (Bishop) (Brandon) Because I get those everyday. We can't check our email everyday anymore. They told us we could and then they said we could not because some people were just staying on them to long.

I am glad you told me about Bishop. I would want to know. But that is so sad!!!!  Like it's unreal. It just makes me so sick.  I love Brandon.  I always wondered what I would do if something happened like this while I was gone serving my mission.

Ethan's Bishop, good friend and co-worker Bishop Brandon Jones was killed in a bicycle accident 

2 weeks after Ethan entered the MTC. Bishop Jones sent Elder Ethan Stucki this email 

the night before his accident.

What a blessing for Elder Stucki.

From: Brandon Jones <12brjones@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Oct 9, 2016 at 8:12 PM
Subject: Hello
To: ethan.stucki@myldsmail.net


Elder Stucki,

So it has taken me so long to reach out to you.  Hope everything is going well and you are enjoying your time in the MTC.  If you send out a group email to everyone, will you please add me to your list?  I would love to hear about all your experiences and know how you are doing.

It is crazy that your family will be building in Cobblestone again but I am so happy they are.  Too bad they had to go through all that they did with the moves.  I love your family so I'm glad they will be sticking around!  They finally started on the Stake Center across the street so that will be great to have a building so close to us!

I hope and pray that everything is going well for you, sure miss you but know you are where you need to be right now.  Take care and please keep in touch, you're a great young man and will be such a blessing to those you will teach in Washington.  Let me know if there is anything I can ever do for you.  Take care Elder and know that we love and support you!

Bishop Jones


Love you all!
Elder Ethan Stucki
October 11, 2016

First week in the MTC...

The MTC really is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I am super excited to get out to Washington though. Sunday we had a devotional and this group called "Vocal Point" came they are a group of guys that sing without using instruments and they were really good.  It was cool because they are all about the church and each one of them have served full time missions. Anyways just look them up they are good.  My companion... He is a really nice kid. Lots of the Elders in the district are all super fun and funny and we have so much time everyday to just study with our district.  We literally have about 5 hours every day in the same little room to just study as a district. His name is Elder Ethan B. So we have the same name that's kinda cool I guess.

There are 10 people in my district. Elder Waters who is probably my favorite.  He is so funny and his companion is Elder Pospisol. Elder Faulner and Elder Mason. Then Sister Humpries and West and Sister Purves and McCrae.

They are going to Texas, SanAntonio. My church shoes are already worn down but they will be fine until I get out to Washington. A mission so far...  like the MTC part...  it really is not hard. It is just a lot of classes and long study hours and tons and tons and tons of prayers. Before and after anything you do. It is just something to get used to. It is really going good though.  It is so much easier to focus here then it was at home and the spirit really comes easy. We have been teaching members that act like they are investigators and just teaching makes you feel so good.  I can't wait to get out to Washington and to bring that feeling to someone who knows nothing about the gospel. It is going to be cool.

I got to go to the temple today.  That was cool. The temple here is so pretty. How is the family doing?

I love you guys.
Elder Ethan Stucki
October 4, 2016