week 47

Heyy Family!
Things are going great here in the state of Iowa. Its warm, sunny, and not really winter. Haha.. But from what i hear the snow and the cold are on the way.. So we'll see what happens! Its crazy to think its already Jan 9th!! Time goes by so fast..

Anyways.. This week we have some funny and awesome experiences!

Haha we gave service at this members farm house, and we were basically ripping the whole front porch of his house, ceiling and everything. Ha and i'm pretty sure racoons had been living up in the ceiling for about 10 years. It was NASTY!! We went in with our masks and just tore the place up! Haha it was kinda fun! But gross..

I was listening to a talk one day about how God answers specific prayers! It was a sweet talk and so i decided to apply it to missionary work... Sometimes knocking doors and finding through our own efforts can be very disappointing. People avoid us, and say no to us, and it gets frustrating especially in this part of Iowa. Anyways.. One day as we went out to find people, and as we went i said to Elder Harris, lets set specific goals. We set a goal to give away 3 Books of Mormon, get 2 return appointments, and 4 potential investigators. I thought these goals were pretty lofty for the amount of time that we had. We prayed right there on the street, and set out for a days work. It was amazing how much more drive i had to reach the goals that we had set! I knew that the Lord had people for us to meet and it was so cool to see it all happen before my eyes. I felt like i was where i was supposed to be. And yes, we did reach our goals.

Dad that story that you told me of Tim Tebow was SWEET!! Thanks so much. I felt the spirit so strongly and its just a testimony builder to me that God knows what up! Haha.

We have been getting our teaching pool a little bigger which is always nice. We are teaching a young lady who just married a les active member of the Ward here and she is LOVING the gospel and the happiness and peace she gets when she reads the Book of Mormon. She says that she's "in the zone" when she's reading the Book of Mormon and nothing can really distract her. It was sweet! She will be baptized soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BERKLEE AND JED! Hope you had a good one. Ha Jed a card should be arriving at Mom and Dad's house today. Its pretty funny.. You'll like it.

That was way cool to hear about Sayler and her baptism!! :) I love that little girl and tell her that i am proud of her!

I hope all is well in the UT and i love and miss you all. Those pictures of all you playing the dance game on the wi was PRICELESS! Haha.. Love it!

All is well! Love you all!

Love Elder Russell

I'm gonna send some pictures next week!