Week 89

Wow.. What a week it has been..

We've seen some great things happen and I think that I've learned the
true meaning of Christmas after all of these years. Haha.. Finally!
We have had SO many opportunities to help and to serve this week its
incredible. And it feels SO good! We have delivered food and presents,
and made plans to help the people who don't have anything for
Christmas. Its been so fun to see it all come together. Its great.

This last week we made some great progress with some people we are
working with. Specifically one investigator is doing great. We were
worried about the law of tithing, because she doesn't live in the
greatest of circumstances. We taught it to her, and shared experiences
and stories, and it was so cool to watch it click for her. She walked
out of the lesson with a determination to pay tithing. She was
convinced that over time it was going to get her out of the place that
she's in now. SO amazing. Such great faith.. Me and Elder Jones were
so worried too.. Haha I learned that we need to have a little more
faith in the ppl we teach! :)

I'm emailing right now from Oskaloosa Iowa. Our Zone Leader Elder
Moore got called to be an assistant last night.. So now for the next
week and 1/2 his companion Elder Purcell will be mine and Elder
Jones's companion too! And we will be covering 2 areas! Pretty
exciting! haha.. Its going to be SO busy.. Everyday we have a
conflicting schedule but it'll be good to see how it all turns out!

For Christmas we are going to be spending some time at members homes,
caroling, eating food, and just stuff that every missionary does on
Christmas. I'm excited really. We've got good members who are taking
care of us! So that's good! I'm not sure what time i'll be calling on
Christmas.. I think it will be around 1 in the afternoon ish.. or 6 or
7 at night..I'll hop on my email and let you know later! I really hope
the whole family will be there!! If not then please tell me ASAP cause
I need permission to make 2 phone calls.But if at all possible I NEED
Mr. Kash Johnson to be there. I need to speak to him. Haha so
hopefully he will read this or mom, call him and tell him to be there
if he can. And my mission president is fine with him being there. I
asked.

Lexee to answer your question.. The scariest thing about being a
missionary, is seeing ppl have a spiritual confirmation of the truth,
then choose to go the other way.. Also.. The idea that your not going
to be a missionary forever is pretty darn scary. Haha.. So its a tie
between those 2 things!

I have been so blessed with so many opportunities to serve and see
service bless the lives of others. I have seen myself be used in the
hands of God to be an answer to someones prayer.. I have seen how
service can soften even the hardest heart. I love this Christmas
season because most everyone is in a mood to serve.. But I hope we can
ALWAYS have the spirit of Christmas in our hearts throughout the
year.. Because as we all know.. Its simply the spirit of Christ that
makes our hearts full this time of year.. And I hope that we don't
have to wait till December each year, to let our hearts be full of the
Spirit of Christ. It can be ours each and every day.

Mom I got the Scriptures for the Lady in our Branch. Thank you SO
much. She is going to love them..
GMa RUssell, I got your package in the mail! I appreciate it. I opened
it, and I can't believe how much the kids have grown and how
different, but yet the same my family looks. Thank you SO much. I
LOVED the picture!
Dad thanks for the email and the thing on intelligence. that was great
and i am going to print it off!
I'm looking forward to talking to you all! Its going to be great.
Hahaha.. I can't believe its already that time.

I'll talk to you soon!
And next week i'll emial on Wednesday!

Love Elder Russell

Week 88

What a week we had.. Great things are going on here in the Mid-West..

I'm pretty sure that i've mentioned this before.. But our Iowa Des
Moines Mission goal was 400 baptisms for the year of 2012..
As of this morning we have 347 baptisms here in the mission! We have
people on date in order to reach this goal.. But people have a
tendancy to fall off a week or 2 before there baptism..
So for this next 3 weeks please pray for the Iowa Mission to be able
to reach there goal of 400 baptisms.. We are SO close. And we need all
the prayers we can get. It would be the first time in a LONG time that
this mission has actually reached its goal. Our Mission President has
done amazing things with the mission to get us to this point.

We had a wonderful weekend. We had the baptism and it was yet another
sweet experience that i'll never be able to forget. The spirit was
unbelievably strong, and the service went smoothly.
A little less than 4 weeks ago.. Me and my companion had been teaching
ALL night and we were hungry.. It was about 8:45.. And we really
didn't have anything to enjoyable to eat in our apartment.. We decided
to go out and eat.. Which we never usually do.. And as we were
discussing where we should eat, I said " I want to go somewhere where
we can share the gospel with someone." We said a quick prayer, and
Subway popped into both of our minds. We went to Subway and this young
lady who was making our sandwhiches was so kind to us, and asked
questions.. She wrote Bible verses on our Subway sandwhich bags.. We
invited her to church, got some info from her.. And the next day she
came to church. We taught her the first lesson, and she's never stop
coming since.. She was baptized Saturday.. And it was so amazing to
see the Lord's hand in both her and our lives. I love my mission.. So
much.. It the greatest thing.

We are working with another lady right now who is great.. She has had
some pretty traumatic experiences in her past life which makes it hard
for her to trust people. But as she's come to church she's gained a
knowledge that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints are different. She says she feels welcome and like she belongs
and even to the point of trusting these people even though she's known
them for a short 4 weeks.. Its been really cool to see her overcome
her fears. We taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and had a
wonderful talk about the Atonement.. She said as we talked feelings of
anger and depression from past experiences was literally dissolving
from within her soul. Peace was again being established in the
chambers of her heart, and we literally witnessed the Atonement of
Jesus Christ right before our eyes. Her countenance changed. It was a
great experience.
Her daughter has some behavioral issues as well.. She would never pray
with us, and she would always be a distraction during the lesson. We
would try very hard to get her involved but she didn't want anything
to do with it. At age 6!! It was pretty intense.. But we promised the
Mom that if she would read and pray with her daughter every night
without missing a single day that things would start changing inside
her.. Yesterday as we were about to close the lesson I asked the
little girl if I could help her say the prayer. She, suprisingly to
all of us, said yes.. We said a prayer and it was great. She was so
happy. You could tell that things were changing. It was a very neat
experience.

Mom and Dad thank you for the email.. I appreciate it! It sounds like
things are going good with the wedding and all.. So thats fun. I would
love to see pictures! So please please send me some when the time
comes.
Mom I知 good for the winter.. I don稚 need any boots or anything.. and
also training my new companion is going great.. Haha. I love it so
much. It reminds me of the beginning of my mission.. I don稚 know what
time I will be calling on christmas yet.. But I値l probably let you
know this upcoming week..
Lexee Thanks for the email as well.. I appreciate it. I知 excited for
you to be married. Haha whats your new last name going to be?
We get to play laser tag in a town called Oskaloosa Iowa today.. I知
pretty excited. We had a district p day. So that will be fun!
Oh and yes.. I forgot to thank the Gleave Family for the letters last
week! That was great. Thank you SO much. It was good to hear from you.

I love you all very much. Thanks for everything.

Love Elder Russell

Week 87

Hello Family!

This week was great..! And Mom i'm sorry i forgot to mention it last week but yes I got my passport. Thank you for sending that!

We have an awesome young lady who is going to be baptized on Saturday.. She was SO prepared to receive the Gospel. And its going to do her so much good in life. I am excited. It will be great..

This week I have come to a reality that laziness is not something that our Father in Heaven wants us to develop.. Haha.. I know that might sound funny.. But its so true..

We are having such troubles getting people to follow through with their commitments.. And when we ask why they didn't do it, they start looking everywhere but our eyes and they come up with all sorts of excuses.. Its no good. At all.. In our Preach My Gospel there is a quote by Elder Holland that says we should be devastated when people don't keep commitments. So me and Elder Jones have started being devastated when investigators don't keep commitments. Its been great.. We are acting as if there life depends on them keeping commitments.. Because I've come to a reality that it really does depend on it!! Its so big. Its the most important thing someone will do in their life.

Its taught me a valuable life lesson too.. In the scriptures it says ".. I beesech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed."

The world is full of excuses.. And I believe that some people are just going to excuse themselves right out of Heaven. Haha..

And it reminds me of a quote that I once read that says "Whats it going to be.. Reasons? or Results...!"

Anyways.. We had the opportunity to speak to a couple who are In-Active. Specifically the wife we talked to for a longer period of time.. But anyways.. THis couple at one point was sealed in the temple, but something happened and they haven't returned to church for about 10 to 15 years.. Its so sad. When we knocked on the door and the wife opened, you could tell that her heart cracked. She invited us in, and we had a good conversation.. During our conversation she came up with a few different reasons trying to justify her inactivity in the church.. We let her know that we were here to show her support, love, and not to judge because of certain things happening in the past. I could tell that her heart longed to be back inside the church.. You could see it on her face. She was bound by covenants that she was not keeping.

At first we asked her if we could come back, and she said no. Then we told her how we prayed over the branch directory list, and the spirit told us that we needed to visit her at this time. She then agreed to let us come back again, and I have a good feeling that these people will soon re-knew their covenants. It was a great experience.

I love you family! I hope your all doing well. I have got to go! I'm going on a bike ride today with a few members and my companion. Haha! Its going to be fun! :) Its 62 degrees right now. And its Dec 3rd.. Crazy!! Haha.. This has never happened in Iowa history. ITs supposed to get real cold tho by the end of this week.

Thanks Court for the email and pictures. My boys look SO big!! Haha I can't believe it. Geez.. I'm not even going to recognize them!
Congrats Dad on the new Job!

Love Elder Russell