Week 59

Wow it has been a memorable week. I love it SO much. We had a CRAZY rain and wind storm last weekend.. Haha and some area's were flooded pretty bad.. But other area's of the mission got it much worse. Everybody's ok tho..

I received word that i will be staying in Ankeny for 1 more transfer and I'm really excited about it. I've come to love the people here SO much.This ward is so special. I'm already dreading the day that i have to say goodbye. That's probably the hardest part of the mission. Saying goodbye to so many new friends. That means that i'll be calling from here for Mother's Day. I'll probably just call.. No Skype. Sorry.

I have a super funny story to tell you.. Kinda sad.. But pretty funny too..
So we've started to do service at this old folks home, and old people in Iowa are usually really nice.. or reeaaalllly not nice. No where in between.. Ha ha! So we were serving lunch, and these old ladies started to hit on us.. Ha and telling us to come over and sit by them and eat with them, and wondering if we could give them a ride home so they didn't have to ride the bus.. Haha i was blown away.. It was SO awkward!!

At the same old folks home, I sat down next to this old couple and we began talking.. The wife would not look at me straight in the eye and she was acting like she was ashamed to be sitting next to me! I asked her a question and we began talking and she told me that she went to the First Family Baptist church and she had been going there since she was little. She asked me if i was from Utah! And of course i said yes.. So we began talking and she said.. "me and some of my friends travel to Manti UT once a year to witness the truth to you Mormons!" Then i remembered previous in the conversation how she said that she was a member of the First Family Baptist church. They are a BIG church in town that preaches anti over the pulpit and hands out anti pamphlets and stuff. I felt so bad for this old lady. She was so stuck in her ways and wouldn't listen to a thing that I tried to say. She firmly believed that our Church was founded by the devil. She was angry and malicious when she was talking to me. And yet she said "well.. we do what we do because we love you" I didn't know what to say and that point and when i tried to say something she wouldn't even let me get half way through the sentence without interrupting.
It makes no sense really.. That a Church that does this much good in the world would be founded by the Devil. But she was convinced. I learned a valuable lesson that day at the old folks home.. I learned that i cannot ever become close minded. I learned that i have to have a soft heart till the day that i die.. Its amazing what Satan can do. The power he has, the anger he gives. Christ opens our hearts.. And Satan does everything he can to close them.

I have one more story i have to tell you..

We began teaching a young girl who's aunt has been a member her whole life. As we walked into the lesson we could tell that something had gone wrong that day, and we were pretty worried because it needed to be a awesome lesson for her. We started in on the lesson and we taught the Restoration of the Gospel. We told the story of Joseph Smith and as i recited the first vision to her, tears filled her eyes and all she could say was that i know that its true. It was one of the top 3 greatest moments on my mission. I love it so much. It turns out that she had made a mistake the previous night and felt like there was no hope anymore... But after the lesson she said "i am filled with hope". That's what the gospel can do to a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

Of all the places i could be in the world, and all the things i could be doing, i can honestly say that i would rather be no where else than in Ankeny Iowa preaching the gospel to those who are desperately in need of help.

I love you all Family! SO much! Thanks for the encouragement and Dad thanks for that awesome email. I'm going to print that off and use it this week! Lexee! Your an awesome missionary!! Haha keep it up! :) Mom thanks for bein great.. and always emailing me! Hope you had a good week!

Hope all is well!

Love, Elder Russell
"If it is to be, It is up to me"