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