Week 64

Hello my Family and my Friends! 

This week has been epic.. I've had some SWEEET teaching opportunities, and if I learned one thing this week, its the fact that the spirit is the converter. Not us missionaries.. I knew that before.. But i know it even more now! 

We went on 3 ex-changes this week... So it was pretty busy. But I loved every second of it! 

On the last ex-change, I was with a Elder named Elder Davis. He is a STUD! I love him so much.. It was the first time we had taught together, and it was like we knew what each other was thinking! We felt like we needed to go visit this guy named Joey. We knocked on his door and he was struggling... Life and all he's gone through has been weighing him down big time, and the despair and depression was radiating from inside him.
We began to talk about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and he knew it all, because he had grown up in a church for 20 some odd years.. And we both knew from that instance that we needed to be bold, and talk about how we have full access to the Atonement through the Restored Priesthood! It was sweet.. He enjoyed it. He had SO many questions.. And he told us that we were the first people that have ever given him logical answers! It was so cool.. I wish you could have been there.. Because i'm not doing a very good job of explaining! Ha ha.. But it was a great memory.

So this week has potential to be epic! We have been teaching a part member family and their baptism is on Friday night! The mom is a non-member, and also they have triplets who aren't yet baptized! So on Friday night the family will be complete! I'm so excited. The Father of the family cry's for joy when the topic of being together forever as a family is brought up. He has been praying and fasting since he married her that she would join the church. 15 years it took, and he says that he cannot explain the joy that has come into his heart. It's nothing like he's felt before. He's so happy!

Also.. Our my dear friend named Chelsea will hopefully be baptized on Saturday the next day.. We have been praying and fasting for a miracle to take place... We will know on the 23rd whether its ok, or whether we have to push back the date. Please please add her to your prayers this week. I will most likely be leaving this area on the 31st.. So i really hope for a miracle to see her baptized.. And if not.. Then that's the way the Lord would have it! And I'm perfectly ok with that! :)\

I love you family! So much! The gospel is true and it's changed my life! Mom I hope you got the Mother's Day Gift. Let me know if you didn't! 

Love Elder Russell

Week 63

Hello Family!! It was SOOO good to talk to you guys yesterday.. Haha its pretty crazy.. I'm sorry i didn't get to talk for very long.. And tell Berklee and Sayler i'm SO sorry that i couldn't call them.. I was so sad that i didn't get to talk to them.. But i'll send them a letter!

 

Anyways.. It was a great week.. I had a story that i wanted to tell, that i didn't have time to tell over the phone yesterday!

So we are meeting with a girl who's a single mother and she really doesn't understand the concept of faith.. She's had some rough things happen to her in her life. We have been meeting at this place called Panera Bread every Tuesday morning, at 8:30 because thats really the only time we can meet with her work and kids schedules! It's a pretty loud place and there seems to be a lot of people there in the mornings! It's hard to feel the spirit sometimes because of all the distractions! Anyways.. So we felt very impressed to teach her the Plan of Salvation, and we prayed that the spirit would be stronger than the voices all around us. We began by asking her if she's ever lost a loved one before.. And it turned out that she had lost her mother not to long ago and it was still very hard for her.. She was crying.. We began teaching her the plan of salvation, and it was like the whole room went silent to us, and we could only hear eachother.. It was such a cool experience!  She LOVED hearing about her mother.. And where she was.. The spirit bore testimony to her that day, that it was SO true! And now she has a totally different attitude about the church and it's teaching.. Haha she says it will be a while before she joins the church.. But we'll see :) Hah!

 

Ha the library in Ankeny is being remodled.. So we're kinda bouncing around trying to find places to email! Sorry it's so late! But its all good..

Today we played Frisbee Golf for P-Day.. And I got poison ivy all up my leg.. Pretty nasty!! Haha!. And i'm pretty sure i have an ingrown toenail.. ! Haha! But it's all good! Fun day today..
Anyways.. I love you and miss you all!

Mom your mothers day present is in the mail! And your gonna flip cuz its so awesome.. Haha a member in the ward here volunteered to help us! Its SWEET! I didn't wanna bring it up yesterday on the phone cause i would have told you what it was!

 

I love you guys!

Love Elder Russell

Week 62

This week has been eventful.. Haha! 
First week of the month is always a pretty busy week.. We have a meeting with our mission president for 2 days.. Then we go tell other missionaries what our president told us for 2 days.. Haa! So unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time in our area last week.. But things are calming down now and we're getting back to normal so thats nice!

    The lessons that we did have were almost too good!! We have an investigator named Chelsea and she is SO awesome.. She is so prepared to hear the gospel its not even funny! She has faced opposition and is taking it like a champ. She reverts everything back to the feelings she felt when we taught her the Restoration and when she thinks about that she says "there is no way that its not true!!" SO awesome! haha! We read through and explained the Articles of Faith with her and she loved it! She is now memorizing and reciting them to her friends when they ask her questions about the church! It's so cool and every lesson we have with her she comes back with an awesome story of how she was a missionary and how she is inviting all her friends to come learn what she is! Waay cool and she will be baptized on May 26th.. 

    We also had another awesome experience this week! We had taught this lady about the church and invited her to be baptized.. She said yes.. Then when we left things got a little iffy with some of her extended family & friends and she decided not to follow thru with us. Then on Sunday she showed up to church and told us that she was sorry for not calling or texting us back, and she was ready to join the church. Then she said something SO awesome.. She said.. "It's about time i start pleasing God instead of trying to please everyone else!" Waay cool.. Her husband is actually a inactive member. He made a new years resolution to get to church every Sunday that's possible and he's been doing it. His wife saw a HUGE change in him when he began to be active again so that's what got her interested in the Church! It was great.. 

That's what the gospel is all about.. Is change.. I love it so much. It's changed me, I'm watching it change others, and it has the ability to change anybody who will simply put it to the test.. Its a guarantee! 

Thank you Mom Dad and Lexee for emailing me! :) I appreciate it! 
Mom thank you for the package and the See's candy! The member here LOVED it! hahaha! She was so excited! 
Dad thanks for answering my question! I'm pretty sure i understand now.. I'm printing off your letter and i'll study it this week! 
Can't wait to talk to you all on Sunday! That will be pretty exciting! Haha! LOOOVE IT! 

love you! 
Elder Russell
"if it is to be, it is up to me!"