Week 70

It was a pretty good week to be a missionary.. We had some dissappointing things happen this week.. But we move on and trust that God will give our friends another shot in the future..

     

     We had a friend we were teaching.. And she knew that her parents were not going to approve of joining the mormon faith.. She talked to her mom and her mom was very appauled at her meeting with us. And although our friend had recieved a spiritual witness that it was true.. She chose to stop meeting with us. And thats tough.. When she called us and told us this, in a way it was like her life flashed before my eyes.. I thought about her future eternal family, and all the amazing things that would be in store for her if she would just join the Church. I thought about her kids being raised in the Gospel, and serving missions, and I thought about how eternal life was literally hanging in the balance.. And once again i realized why this gospel is so important. I prayed real hard for her and I know that down the road she'll have another shot to accept the gospel. So thats good to know.

 

     A huge hit among the young families today is these temporary, non-denominational, christian churches.. People can go there, drop their kids off in the basement, buy a cup of coffee, and listen to a Christian Rock concert on Sunday morning from 11-12 and call it good for the week. It never ceases to amaze me how someone's idea of "worship" can be so different that what we're taught from the bible. People say all you gotta do is believe, and your saved. Nothing else is required. And then they come to us and say " You mormons are trying to earn your way into Heaven..!" And everytime it happens I try to explain that we don't.. But they don't listen. Haha.

     The more and more that I study the Plan of Salvation the more I love the Church of Jesus Christ.. It teaches us that the atonement was not just some huge favor that Christ did for us, but rather it was an huge investment that Christ made in us. We are saved by Grace absolutely.. But has the Grace which he's FREELY given us changed us? Ha I don't know why i'm typing this right now.. But at night sometimes my mind just goes to town thinking about this stuff.. So now you guys know what I do with my free time. Haha..

 

We are teaching this girl named Sam and she's great! Its so cool to see her grow in the gospel. She understands it, and she applies it, and therefore she knows its true. Its so cool. Haha every lesson is so spiritual and she's going to be baptized on Aug 18th! She's way excited and so are we!

 

Anyways I love you guys.. Its been a good week.. This week I get to go to Des Moines IA because our area is getting a new car.

Dad! Happy Birthday on Aug 2nd!! Woot woot! 62 years old.. Haha.. Also that day marks 18 months on my mission! AHHHH!!! Scary. Haha goes so fast..

Looks like the family reunion was a blast.. Haha I LOVED those pictures. SO funny!

Mom thanks for your email.. I couldn't help but laugh as you described all the crazy stuff that was going on around the house with the kids and the dog there.. Pretty funny! I LOVE YOU ALL! Thanks for everything!

 

LOVE ELDER RUSSELL

 

Week 69

Cool quote of the week.. " Pray as if it all depends on Him, and work like it all depends on you"

Haha i'm sure you've heard that before.. But it hit me this week that this is how I have to live for the rest of my life.

 

Haha.. SO i gotta start of with a funny story..

 

        We are teaching a family. They have 8 year old twins.. A 13, 14, and 16 year old.. And the mom and dad. We taught them about the Restoration, and then very boldely invited them to be baptized.. And when we did so, the 13 year old girl said... "I don't think we can, everybody at our baptist church would be really mad!" Then one of the twins named Dalton blurted out "Sure we can!! I'm already quittin the baptist church, all I do is get in trouble there..." Hahaha.. We all laughed forever... Haha. It was way funny.. We are working with them.. A big family is a busy family.. So its tough.. But I know that they will join the church someday.

 

     This last Thursday President Jergensen came out and taught with us! It was SO sweet.. We set up 3 appointments at the Church and people came to us all night. We didn't have to leave the Church. Haha.. It was a dream come true.. People coming to us, instead of us pestering them! Hahaha!!

 

     My testimony this week has been taken to a whole new level.. We have been teaching people about the Plan of Salvation, and it is literally the most perfect plan that has ever been given to mankind.. We were teaching our friend named Judy that I had mentioned last week, and she is wonderful.. One of the funnest people i've ever been blessed to teach. We taught her about this perfect plan, and she knew it was true.. She could not deny it. We talked about how a Prophet of God restored these simple truths to us. We taught her about how the Priesthood has been restored to the earth.

        I told her, I said.. "If you REALLY want to know if Joseph Smith was a Prophet, and if you REALLY want to know that God and Jesus Christ came to Joseph Smith in the grove of tree's in New York.. Just ask Him!! He was there! And He will tell you. Because he loves you and cares for you!"

        Change is such a difficult thing. Being told by two 20 year old kids that you need to change your church, and be baptized again, and you need to stop drinking Coffee and Tea and you need to keep the Sabbath Day Holy is a difficult thing for people to embrace.. But you can always pick out the people who know and trust in God, and those who don't. Because the spirit speaks to them in a way that they understand. Its wonderful!

 

        One last story.. We went to check up on a lady who we taught like 5 or 6 weeks ago.. And we had trouble getting back in with her to teach her more.. So we went back and we ran into her and her friend who was 19. We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.. And it was so cool. The 19 year old friend named Kelsey said "earlier today I doubted if God really did exist. But now since you guys have been here I don't doubt anymore. I know he's there." We asked her what made her decide that.. And she said.. "because I felt him here." It was so cool.. Then randomly she said, "I think I lived with God before I came to this earth.." Haha we were a little taken back.. But it was SO awesome. We taught her a little about the Plan of Salvation. She LOVED it and we're going to teach her more tomorrow.

 

I love you family.. Thanks for everything! Its been a sweet week.. WE are preparing a few people to be baptized in August.. And i'll tell you more about them later. Haha.. I'm teaching more people than I've ever taught right now and its the greatest time of my life. I love it! Thanks for all you do for me! HOpe the family reunion if fun! Tell everyone that I say hello!

 

LOVE YOU ALL!

Elder Russell

I'll send pictures next week!

Week 68

Wow!! It sounds like everyone is doing good!

Grandma Russell thanks for the update!! SO good to hear from you!

And mom and dad please let know Scott Standage thanks for the email... And I'll definitely use what he gave me!

And Lexee, tell Sis. Cox thanks for the email! And i'll be waiting for that letter! :)

 

Nauvoo has gotta be one of the greatest places on earth.. Haha the spirit is so strong there, and there is no denying it. Its weird tho because we walk around and ask for refferals from people, and everybody knows who you are, and they are way nice because they are mostly all members! It's just a different way of doing missionary work that i am NOT used to.. Haha! But its definitely enjoyable and its really easy to get used to!

ALso.. Nauvoo just makes you happy to be associated with the Church. Its so cool.. And no other church does it quite like ours does. Its awesome! :)

 

On Saturday night we got to stay in Nauvoo to actually watch the Pageant. Usually we just leave right as the Pageant is starting, but Chelsea and Sis Decker from Ankeny came down and I called President Jergensen and asked if we could stay.. And to my suprise he said yes!! Haha it was SOO awesome. So good to see them. I also saw some people from Fayette! Way fun night!

 

I want to tell you guys about this lady who me and my comp met. She is WAAY awesome.. And i swear she could be my Aunt.. Haha she acts just like my Mom and Aunt Stacey. haha!  We began talking to her, and she was confused why we were stopping her! She kept saying "we're on the same team! I believe in Christ he is my Savior, and you guys need to help someone else!" It was tough.. We tried to help her understand the Restoration.. But it wasn't clicking. We asked her to check it out on Mormon.org and so she did.. Which led her to other sights as well! Some good, some bad.. But something about this peaked her curiosity. We met with her last night, and she asked questions about Polygamy, and the restrictions of the Priesthood, and we answered it and shared with her a scripture in Acts 2 about the "Restitution of ALL things from all the prophets since the world began" and it began to make sense to her! It was SO cool and you could literally see her countenance change. It was amazing. EPIC lesson for sure.. Its going to take her a while to accept it, but it will happen!!

 

We are keeping very busy.. But during summertime people seem to be very busy.. Which is no good.. Haha! We have so many people who keep postponing or just bailing on our appointments and thats pretty frusterating! But we work through it.

 

Dad you asked some questions about the ward here in Quincy. Its pretty big.. There are 220 active a week. And there are actually 4 missionaries in the ward here. So we work the South Side of Quincy. The amount of In-Active or Less-Active people is a little overwhelming.. Haha thats for sure.. But we're workin on them. Haha..

 

I love you Family.. Sorry.. Kind of a boring email.. But I've gotta get heading. I Love YOu All!! Have fun at the Family Re-Union! Sounds like its going to be a blast!!

 

Love Elder Russell

 

Week 68

Hello!! Thats pretty crazy about the fires..! I hope all is good!

Hope you all had a good 4th of July!

And those stories of Zander and the kids crack me up.. I'm always laughing and everybody else in the Library is looking at me like i'm crazy.. Oh well! I miss my little buddies! :) Give them all a big hug from their favorite uncle!!

 

This past week was EPIC.. Oh man.. And this week is going to be too! We're so busy its not even funny...

 

So first thing.. Ross went to the temple and it was the greatest. He loved every second of it. He learned SO much and he was at a loss for words when we were sitting in the Celestial Room. Spirit was SO strong. I learned a valuable lesson too.. Its going to be hard to describe it on email tho.. Haha!

About 8 months ago.. I thought that there was no way that Ross would have been able to make it to the temple.. I assumed that it waasn't going to happen while I was on my mission. In a way.. I put a limit on what Ross could do and what he could accomplish. The valuable lesson that I learned is that there is no limits with God. ANYTHING is possible.. There are so many times where we set limits on ourselves and say things like "oh that will never happen" or "I could never do that." And the only reason that thats true is because you say it is! I learned this week that anything is possible with God. SO COOL! So don't set limitations.. Haha they are no good. And they keep us from reaching our full potential!

 

Second.. Thank you Mom for the card!! Its always a good day when you get mail.. Hah! :)

 

Third.. This week we get to work the Nauvoo Pageant 3 days! I'm super excited.. Its kind of crazy tho because that takes us out of our area for 3 nights a week... But its ok the Lord has provided and all of our friends who we're teaching can still meet on other nights. So we're gooood!

 

Fourth.. I've got poison ivy like crazy all over my legs.. It sucks.. Haha its ok tho. We have like 89 doctors in the Ward here in Quincy.. Haha ok probably not 89... But we have a ton.. And they are helpin me out! Ha!

 

Fifth.. I LOVE YOU ALL!  So much.. Thanks for the emails Mom and Dad! :) It scares me how fast time flies.. Man.. Mission life is good.. Anyways.. I gotta go!

 

LOVE,ELDER RUSSELL

 

Week 67

Its so hot.. Oh man.. It was 104 degrees with 98% humidity the other day. We were riding bikes, covered in sweat from head to toe, and it hit me how crazy you have to be to be a missionary! Haha! But I love it.. Its the best.

 

Anyways.. We saw some awesome miracles this week. Some of our investigators made some poor decisions and thats always dissappointing, but we move on, and get better.

 

I wanna tell you a SWEET experience that I had. Its a little long.. But it'll be worth it.

 

     So we got a call from somebody in the Macomb ward, and he told us that somebody needed a blessing at the Hospital here in Quincy. We headed over there and had a nice visit. She was a real nice lady named Cooper. We gave her a blessing and we went on our way.. Then the next day... We had a huge impression that we needed to go back to the hospital. So we headed back, and it turns out that this ladies sickness had took a turn for the worse.. She was in a lot of pain, and she was crying, and throwing up, and to the point of almost giving up. We asked the nurses out in the hall if we could visit her, and they said no. We begged the nurses to at least ask Cooper her if we could come and give her a blessing. They said no.. So just about when we were going to give up and leave, another nurse walked out of Coopers room, and we asked her real quick if she would ask Cooper if she wanted a blessing. She went in and asked.. And Cooper said Yes.

   As the blessing began, something changed inside the room. Cooper slowly stopped crying, and what seemed to be a dark and dismal hospital room, turned into a happy and warm place of healing. It was amazing!! When the blessing was over, Cooper said "now that feels good." Haha! It was sweet. The nurses were in shock.. They had been trying everything that had learned for the past few hours to help the pain go away.. The other Nurses that told us to go away came into the room because they wanted to see why she wasn't crying anymore.. And they saw us there. They weren't to happy at first, but Cooper made sure that they knew that we were welcome anytime in her Hospital Room! Haha! :) It was an amazing experience. We came back the next day with Baloons and a rose for Cooper and she was doing great. She got to leave later that night, and the whole rest of the time she was there she shared the gospel with all the nurses who watched it happen! SOO COOL! God is good..

 

Tomorrow.. I get to go to NAUVOO!! Haha Ross Conrad from Muscatine is going through the temple and I am more excited than ever. Its going to be the greatest day in the world. He is so pumped up.On the phone the other night he said.." I feel like i'm gonna find out what Heaven feels like.." It was so powerful. Loved it!

 

Thank you all for the emails.. They were so good.. I love them. Thanks Mom and Dad for all you do. Have a greeeeat 4th of July. We've got like 5 lessons planned for that day so its gonna be one of the best ever for mme!! :) Haha! I'm excited. And I think that our mission president will let us stay up till 10:30 to watch fireworks.. He did last year so we'lll see what he will do this year. I love you all and miss you.

Love Elder Russell