Week 86

Holla!! Haha whats up family! Man.. SO good to hear from you

I got an email from Kylee Runia saying she was going to Independence Missouri! Super exciting! Congrats!

All you other friends have to tell me where your going too!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! :) By the way. Haha.. We're going to be going to a few members houses so that will be fun!

I've got a new companion.. Fresh out the MTC.. Haha his name is Elder Jones! And he's from Rexburg Idaho! Pretty cool.. He's pumped to be on a mission and I can tell its going to be a great 2 transfers.

This is one of the funnest times of my mission simply because I get to look back and remember how insecure and scared I was as a new missionary. I never realized how far I have come untill now. Its amazing. I've been transformed by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love it. I love the Gospel so much.

Unfortunately some not so good things happened this week with our investigators.. We have quite a few that are struggling with opposition. But I think it will be good here in the long run. We just have to pray and work and show them the way..

We have investigators who are struggling to stop smoking.. One of them wakes up at 5:30 every morning and thats when he first smokes.. So in order to help him quit one morning we showed up at his door at 5:30 in the morning.. And said.. "We're here to make sure you keep your promise you made to God to not smoke." He was SHOCKED! Haha.. But it worked and he went a whole day without smoking and he's severly cutting back from his usual habits. Love it.. He thanks us every time we see him for coming.

We have a family who commits to us everytime we have a lesson that they will study the scriptures as a family EVERYNIGHT. But everytime we follow up with them it NEVER happens. SO last night we went over to their house.. at 9:00 at night, knocked on the door, and walked in. I yelled at the kids to come downstairs for scripture study. They came in, they sat down with their Book of Mormons.. We had a prayer and they started studying the scriptures and we walked out of the house to get home on time.

I've learned that you HAVE to go the extra mile if you want people to do what you asked them to do. You have to go to the extreme if you want a guy who's been smoking since he was 12 to quit smoking. Because thats extreme.

I love my mission with all my heart. Yesterday we had an amazing experience. We headed to Des Moines and there Elder Don R. Clarke of the First Quorum of the 70 instructed us for 4 hours. It was truly amazing. He taught us about going the extra mile with investigators.. And how our relationships with them should be. I loved it SO much. The Church has got to be the greatest Organization upon the face of the Earth. There is nothing like it.

Mom.. I DO NOT WANT ANYTHING FOR CHRISTMAS! Please don't send me anything..

There is a Recent Convert here named April.. She's a single mom and is SO awesome. And all I want you to send me is a set of new scriptures for her to have. Possibly engraven with her name if at all possible.

Not a quad but Book of Mormon and Bible seperately! And in black color! Please let me know if this is possible! This is all I want for Christmas.

I love you all SO much. Have fun in St George!! :)

Thanks for being the greatest family a missionary could have..

Love Elder Russell

Week 85

If I were to tell you everything I really wanted to tell you guys, this email would probably be 6 pages long. Haha.. I'm pretty sure this week I witnessed more miracles than I ever have before! It has been so cool. I'll do my best to tell you about them.

I got a call from my Mission President on Saturday, and he has asked me to train a brand new missionary coming in for my last 2 transfers. Pretty exciting! I'm looking forward to it. So on Thursday i'll have a new companion.. I'm ready for a new one! Haha. So i'm excited! And dad to answer your question. I will stay here in Knoxville till February.

I want to tell you about a CRAZY experience that I had tho. Really cool but crazy.. Haha.

One day after driving back to Knoxville, we pulled into our apartment complex, and out front was a couple who were very intesnsly arguing, and especially the woman seemed very angry.. Vulgar language was flying, and soon enough the woman's fist began to fly too. She connected a couple times. I asked myself why isn't he stopping her? It was then that I saw His hand tied down to a hand that was much smaller than his.. A little 4 year old boy with tears streaming down his face was clinging onto his Fathers leg and hand. He poked his head out behind his dad's leg, and at that moment my heart sank into the bottom of my stomache. I've never felt so sad for anyone before. The Father began walking away from the woman, and actually walking towards our general direction. The woman began to follow, and I yelled out "ma'am this better stop or i'm going to call the police" She looked at me, and stopped following the guy and then tried to justify herself and gave me all these excuses why she was acting like this. I could smell alcohol on her from 5 feet away. It was bad.

I asked her if that was her son.. And she said yes.. Then I said.. No kid deserves to see his mother act that way.. And then she once again tried to give me excuses. She talked about how she really was a good parent, and "took such good care of her babies" and all this stuff.. She seemed to be really scared. She tried to tell me all this stuff, but what I had just witnessed was the total opposite. So I said " ma'am parenting is a 24/7 responsibility, its not something you can do when you please. If your such a good parent then why are you drunk and saying all sorts of words that a 4 year old boy should never hear?? She got quiet, and said that she was sorry.. And that she knew she was in the wrong. Then she walked away with her friend that she was with. It was NUTS!!!!

But the most amazing part of this story is, is later that night, me and Elder Wally were tracting, and to make the story short.. We tracted into this Father , and the 4 year old son. (thats how I know he's 4) It was so cool. He said that he was scared.. And he didn't know what to do when the girl was hitting him.. He said he would have done something that he would regret. But he said he saw us get out of his car, and he knew that everything was going to be alright. Then by us tracting into him was a sure sign for him. It completely re-knewed his faith in God.. And he knew God was looking out for him. SO cool. We're going to teach him on Thursday.

Another quick story.. We had just got done teaching Saturday night and it was like 8:45. We didn't have breakfast or lunch so we were STARVING! Haha.. So we decided to go to Subway for dinner. (I'm tryin to lose weight. haha) Anyways.. As we were paying for our food, the cashier put a scripture from the bible on our subway bags. It was cool. We started talking about God, and she said she needed a new church. So we invited her to ours, not thinking much of it, and the next day, SHE SHOWED UP! Wow.. I don't think that's ever happened before. Haha! And she LOVED it. We taught her after church, and she said in her prayer at the close of the lesson "Lord thank you for sending these 2 Elders to me to lead me to your church." It was so powerful. Thats my favorite thing to hear someone pray after they just learned about the church. Great day. Haha

This last week we went on ex-changes with missionaries from Centerville Iowa. They have a pretty tough area, and we saw an amazing miracle while we were there on ex-changes.

We went to this guy's house who was known to try to bash the missionaries and prove them wrong using the Bible. I wasn't sure why we were going there because I usually avoid confrontation and people who want to bash.. But we knew we were supposed to go. We knocked on the door, and he was hopping in the shower and his Fiance was there too. So we stepped outside on the front porch and we taught her about our church. It was awesome. She was so prepared. Halfway through the lesson the guy came out and tried to argue and bring up scriptures against us, but the Fiance, who we were teaching told him to be quiet or leave! HAHA! So we got to finish teaching and then she asked me politely to show her scriptures in the Bible to back it up. And she LOVED IT! The fiance left, and she wanted to know more.. So we taught her the Plan of Salvation. It was amazing. We found out that she had a mother and brother who had died in the last 2 years, and the Plan spoke peace to her heart. It was so truly amazing.

Haha.. So thats all I got time for today.. I really wish I could tell you one more story.. But thats ok. :) Its been a great week. It truly has. So much growing has been done. Love it. I love you family! SO much. Thanks for everything!

I'm glad the wedding plans are underway!
Lexee I liked the engagement pic! That was sweet!

MOM AND DAD! Did you get my email about my passport!!?? Please let me know ASAP!!

Love Elder Russell

PS I will email on Tuesday this next week.

Week 83

Hello Family! Last week was SO sweet.. SO rewarding, and SO spiritual.

Lexee... Did you forward those pictures that I sent for the family pic to everyone?? I hope not. Haha. Anyways..

We have been working with the Briggs since I've been here in Knoxville.. And its been an adventure to say the least.. We have overcome SOO many challenges and trials, and we have seen her spiritual progression sky rocket since day 1 of teaching. Its been one of the greatest conversion stories i've seen. She comes from a small town called Hartlepool England. Its a SUPER rough town.. And she went through a lot of bad things there. But all of those bad things is what eventually led to what she called "the greatest day of her life." On Saturday she was baptized. The service couldn't have gone more perfectly. It was fantastic. Spirit was so strong. As I witnessed the baptism an overwhelming feeling came into my heart that God truly does have a plan for all of His children. Before the world was, he knew that a young man from Draper UT, was going to bring a lady from ALL the way accross the world in Hartlepool England the gospel. He made our paths cross, and He is in charge. SO cool!!

Sis Briggs asked me to confirm her.. While I was giving the blessing an overwhelming sensation came over me that one day they would be sealed for time and all eternity. And also that they would live a life dedicated to service to the church. It was cool..  Then afterwards in the Gospel Principles class, Brother Briggs said that He wanted to be a senior missionary someday! Haha! And Sis Briggs said that they would definately have to look into that! :) SOO cool!!

Cool quick experience.. A couple of weeks ago.. Me and Elder Wally were walking to an appointment in a town called Pella. I think i've mentioned it before.. Haha and to put it nicely.. ITs a town that REALLY doesn't like Mormon Missionaries. About 6 years ago missionaries actually lived there, but they had to move because bad things were happening. Haha.. And tracting in that town is pretty crazy. You get some harsher than harsh rejections.. But I was pretty determined to find somebody in Pella from tracting. One day as we were walking, I felt like we needed to tract this apartment building. We didn't have time then.. And it killed me to walk away from it, but I knew that we could come back. So a week later we came back, and we found a couple named the Larry and June Fredericks. WAY cool!! Hah. June had family from UT and she would actually visit and go to church there.. And we've been teaching them, and they came to church and things are going great! :) Way cool.. We're gonna be bold with them and invite them to be baptized on December 15th here this week! Woot Woot!! Pray for it!

I love you all family! Very much. THanks for the emails.. Thats crazy that Lexee is getting married.. Geez.. Haha I still don't know how I feel about it.

Mom and Dad thanks for your email.. And Dad to answer your question Springfield IL is actually not in our mission. Its on the border. But there are a few area's that I would have liked to at least visit, like Dubuque Iowa, and Davenport Iowa, and Peoria Illinois, but over all, i've been able to see quite a bit of the state and the mission so its pretty sweet. The biggest thing that I wanted as a younger missionary was to serve near Nauvoo, and I got Quincy which was SWEET! Haha and especially during Pageant Season.. So i'm really happy with the area's that i've served. But its cool I love the mission SO much.

I love you guys! Thanks for the prayers! It means a lot! And I feel them!

Love Elder Russell