week 6

oh my goodness HELLO FROM FLORIDA!!!! I'M HEEEEEREE!!!!

wow not enough time to tell everything that has happened.... seriously. haha but everyone read it all cause it's awesome :)

let's see first of all on the plan ride here i totally fell asleep and then fell on an elders shoulder..... and NO ONE woke me up... and apparently he just awkwardly leaned forward and over for like thirty minutes... hahaha how embarassing. even more so cause he's in my district... what are the odds! but we joked about it it's all good. anyways, already on the plane ride the work started! i sat next to a nice guy, in the military, felt prompted to share some thoughts with him, ALMOST didn't cause oooobviously that's a little weird, but it was super awesome, he was way contemplative the whole time and then after lots of silence talked about how is life is too negative and he needs to remember the little things that keep the spirit. and he was so fun to talk to! anwyays, not a miracle or anything but just cool!

lets see... yeeeah FLORIDA. okay. the rumors... are true... i don't know why but i never believed any! cause i've been her and didn't remember any of this... but let me tell you. it is WAY humid. my hair was so frizzy the first day! haha i was shocked. also. the water tastes like fish... dead fish.... dead smelly fish that have been soaking in water for days.... make that months... okay i'm being dramatic and it's just our apartment but SERIOUSLY. it smells. and tastes bad. hahaha even the shoooower :( so i don't drink water... no good, buT! i'm getting smarter and filling up my water bottle at the church!

uhh i eat a thousand bugs every day, and my eyeballs have been made a home to plenty of them also.

I ride my bike a LOT! skirts on a bike isn't actually as bad as you would've thought!

lets see, well story! real quick, first day... third door we knocked, a couple answer, super sweet, english speaking, but we go in and after like an hour of talking, and sharing the joseph smith experience, they BASICALLY are converted. it was amazing, they said literally the night before they had talked about needing to find a church cause the 2nd coming is getting closer! haha and they said they really needed this, and it was AWESOME!

lets see, we have 5 new investigators! all really great, can't understand a word usually... but that's okay! seriously cubans are CRAZY fast and slurry talkers. but thankfully my comp is fluent! so after a couple days of not udnerstanding i started making her translate and nooow i can understand and reply in my broken spansih :)

story! we visited an investigator and he has tons of books and beliefs and talks SO MUCH and everything, it's crazy, anyways so it's really hard to get a lesson in with him cause everything you say he just interrupts and goes off on a rant, but i was really discouraged that night with my spanish, i had just let it get to me, and so i was not in the spirit feeling mood, we got in and my companion looked at me like we were gonna teach the first vision, SO, i decided to knock it off, something good was gonna happen! IF i could pull myself together! so i said a quick heartfelt PLEA for help, and relaxed, and then i recited the first vision! the spirit was SO strong.. it was crazy... and he was SILENT. after i finished, we waited for a long time, to let it all sink in, and he was STILL silent, just looking at me! and then we all testified and everything, and he did go off a little after that, but then his wife told us the next day that he had been up reading the book of mormon till 3 in the morning that night :) how CRAZY huh?? SO AWESOME. so never let yourself get discouraged in anything!

well we met a jehova's witness who asked us if we were his religion and we said no and he appaaaarently thought we said yes (god probably adjusted his ears for a minute :)) and he invited us over whenEVER we were in the neighborhood! so that's cool, excited to see where that goes when they find out who we really are! haha

oh yeah!! i live in a zoo :) it is amazing here!!! SO BEAUTIFUL!!! everywhere!!! and so many animals!! holy cow... well. mostly just squirrells bunnies and lizards and ducks. haha but still! and the occasional peacock!

oh and EVERYONE here (spanish) does the whole cheek kiss thing :) i LOVE IT! i feel super cool... and everyone is super friendly so all the new people we teach, the guys go to give us hugs after and i just quickly stick my hand in his face... hahaha so awkward, i hate it, but oh well!

OH! I'M SICK!!! can you believe it... in the warmest place ever i have one of the worst colds i've had in years. haha i'm almost better though, but it's so funny. the Lord deeeefinitely gets me through every day!!

okay yeah i'm definitely gonna get FAT by the way... hahaha we haven't been fed a ton but when we do it is so much...... it is so hard to finish everything on those plates. AND like you'll see in the pictures the spanish ward gives us SO MUCH FOOD. they are so kind.

uhhh no one pronounces russell right, it's funny. uhhhh... lets see. i suddenly can't remember anything! but that's good cause i gotta go. well i love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!

miss you all and want you to know that without a DOUBT THIS CHURCH IS TRUE. and no one can tell me it isn't because i know :) god told me multiple times!

okay gotta go! bye!

week 5

before i start here is my mission address!! if you send anything that won't get here by saturday i won't get it! so send it to this address :)

 

Hermana Jessy Russell

Florida Tampa mission

13153 N dale Mabry Ste 109

Tampa, FL 33618

 

HOLA!!

boy what a WEEk. every week is what a week but SERIOUSLY. hahaha okay i'll start with the boring stuff! which means the not spiritual stuff :) haha

I got called as coordinating sister! technically now the sister training leader, but it's really fun! I LOVE getting to know all the sisters more in my zone, every single person has SO MUCH to give, get to know as many people as you can! haha

I HAVE MY FLIGHT PLANS!!!! WOOOO!!!! so so so excited!!!

oh yeah everyone listen up!!! I SPOKE SPANISH IN MY SLEEP TWO TIMES!!!! let me explain. everyones who has slept with me before knows i mumble a ton and make weird noises but lately it has been way worse. hahaha at least from what i hear, my roomates say every time they wake up in the night i'm either singing or humming or many other things, but i feel bad for my poor future husband. haha anyways though... last week... i woke up to the BEST news.... :) i spoke... yelled..... out loud.... in spanish :) WOOOO!! so that's my big accomplishment for the week. haha

lets see, we threw a birthday party for one of the elders last week too! I made him candles out of cutips! i'll send pictures, it is crazy how real they look! haha it was really fun though, it made him so happy, the little things you can do people! do them! people need it!

oooh and on sunday VOCAL point came and sang for us!! they were amazing. i would not mind a cd of their music. haha SO GOOD. at the beginning of the meeting i was noooot in the best of moods. none of us girls have been lately... hahaha and seriously when all the missionaries started flooding in like it was black friday to get to good seats i wanted to punch every single person in the face, and THEN during the meeting when the spirit came it was AMAZING how much love i felt for everyone. the spirit can get rid of any bad emotion! it's really awesome.

lets see.

FUNNY STORY OF THE WEEK.

it's not that funny it's actually DEVASTATING. but... it's the only one i can remember. haha

eh hem. so i was walking with my hermana and 3 elders back from gym, when i saw a CUTE little rolly polly bug!!! love them, i passed it and then turned around and exclaimed, "oh my GOSH it's the cutest rolly po.........." ........ as i was saying it. an elder behind me obviously smashed it............. :( what are the ODDS. hahaha it was kind of funny. i just stood there with my mouth open, everyone else laughed really hard. ANYways. maybe ya had to be there!

okay lets see.

now the good stuff. SPIRITUAL :)

conference. was AMAZING. does everyone agree?? holy COW i cannot get over it! i slept prooobably the same amount i usually do.... terrible. hahaha but i tried so hard not to! anyways i still got most of the good stuff, i LOVED L. Tom Perry's, uh... never heard him speak so strong before!! but it was definitely something everyone needed to hear.

those other 6 commandments are STILL commandments, so many people including myself take them noooot seriously at all, for me, the keeping sunday a day of worship, not recreational activities, one stuck out, the worshipping idols, and the taking the lord's name in vain, so many people don't feel guilty for doing those things anymore but that doesn't mean that it's all good now wtih the lord for you to do that! it just means that you ignored the spirit long enough for it to stop talking to you, which is BAD NEWS BEARS. so i liked that one a lot, also about the worshipping idols one, how many movvie stars or singers or people do we wooorship and want to be like and want to meet and look like and everything, i've done that so much, the question i thought of though to ask myself, was do i do that with Jesus? do i think he is the absolutely most amazing person ever?? and wanna be JUST like him and meet him? if you do those things with someone else, more than you think it with Christ, you know there needs to be a change.

Hollands obviously was amazing too, i loved when he said i invite you to lean on my faith if your faith is lacking, we do not need perfect faith we just need that desire. and i loved how he said do not focus on what you don't know, or your doubts, focus on what you DO know, because what you DO know will always trump what you don't know. that was really powerful to me too.

aver... here's something an elder quoted from priesthood, can't remember exactly but it was something like, "thinking that we all need to be the same is mocking the genuis of God"

love that!! be yourself everyone, don't try and fit in, you weren't made to fit in!! that's god's genuis! i'm so so grateful for a companion and a district who accept me for who i am, haha cause i'm not a normal person... and i don't hide it one bit here.

all the obedience stuff really got me too! i wanna make sure i have the spirit with me. someone spoke here and told a story about how an elder was chewing a big wad of gum, and it was against the rules, and told him to throw it away, and the elder freaked and said YOU can't tell me that i am going to damage my salvation because i'm chewing gum. the president said, no, no your salvation will not be damaged because you're chewing gum, but it might because you are disobeying. so for myself, and anyone else, remember even the little things, God EXPECTS obedience. even if you don't think it'll damage you, it doesn't matter, obedience is SO important, more than you think, and brings blessings and the spirit, so don't give up the spirit because of your stubborness!

well. i think that's about it, i LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! hope you dont get bored with my emails, and i hope you read it all :) hehe

soon i'll be in FLORIDA!!! i'm SO BEYOND grateful god gave me this opportunity. you guys have no idea. what a blessing to be allowed to go on a mission, WHAT a blessing, i am giving up NOTHING. my act is not selfless at all, but only a blessing from God, i've never been so happy. ever. cling to the gospel everyone! with everything you have!

ADIOS MI AMIGOS!!!

 

love hermana Russell :)

week 4

HOLA EVERYONE!!!

another week of pure bliss :) haha

i don't know how people can hate the MTC i think it's GREAT! seriously. i could probably stay here for months.... maybe.... probably not but just the spirit and joy from the spirit is SO WONDERFUL.

okay lets get to the GOOD juicy stuff.

spiritual experiences :) haha

fisrt of all. memorize this and apply it in your lives!! DON'T ALLOW YOURSELF TO DOUBT ANYTHING THE LORD TELLS YOU TO DO.

lets be real everyone, God is God, and we are people, questioning him is probably the stupidest thing anyone could ever do... haha but of course we're all gonna do it! because like i said we're human, but work on trusting him, work and NOT doubting, and knowing that he will never ever do anything not for your good, even if you can't see that right now. i testify of that with all my heart!

read this scripture! don't be lazy! grab your scriptures and read it now! haha 1 Cor 1:25,27 basically it says even if God was having a bad day and made a foolish decision, it was FAR surpass our most wise decision, sooo... yep :)

this applies with anything, but if you are having a hard time trusting, or a hard time having a desire to work, or serve, or have faith, or ANYthing, that's what the atonement is for amigos! it's not just for repentance, but we ALWAYs, at least me, forget that, it is powerful beyond belief and can literally CHANGE you, physically, mentally, spiritually, any way, if you take your weakness to the Lord, wanting it to change, and try, he will change your through the atonement, we should use it EVERY day, because becoming better like christ is CONTINUAL, not just for when you mess up on something big, always try to make your weaknesses strengths :) I've been doing that a lot lately, because i'm a pretty lazy person... haha so i can testify that it works! and it's amazing!

OH, easter :) what an amazing holiday. first if you don't know Christ, if you don't understand what he did, and that he did it for you, than you need to find that out for yourself! study it, search the scriptures, pray, watch talks, mormon messages, anything! continually, until you do know that, please do it! cause he loves you and wants you to be close to him. easter was amazing, i was exhausted, so much i learned! i really felt his love for everyone, it was really awesome. and i have a much stronger testimony of the atonement and what he gave so that we could be with him again, so that WE could be happy, and we waste it so often, don't let yourself waste it!

we also watched a talk on the character of christ, by bednar! that was amazing, he told us to GET OVER ourselves, haha, stop complaining about everything you aren't getting, whether it be baptisms, investigators, or anything in life, stop turning INWARD like the natural man does, and turn outward, like christ does, even in times of need, turn outward, to help other people. life is not about how to help yourself! it's about how to help others, and THAT, is what will help yourself.

 Matt 16:25!

also something i've been learning a lot this week for myself is not allowing myself to care how other people see me, but only care how GOD sees me.

man guys sorry i always go off for forEVER but i wanna share everything i learn! i love it so much, how much we learn here.

okay leeeets see. we've been playing games in spanish study and one of them was a ball passing one and if you got the sentence wrong or dropped the ball you had to eat a peep, and they were old and naaasty, hahaha an hermana had to eat four, only four, you wouldn't think it'd be that bad... buuuut she almost threw up. it was funnier if you were there i guess!

uhh my teachers are awesome, my investigators are doing okay! almost have a baptismal date for both :)

the WEATHER is amazing :) love it.

can't believe i'm only gonna be here for a week and a half!!! AHHHH!!! mi espanol es no beuno! necisito mas tiempo... pero esta bien porque Dios ayudarame :) pretend the accents are all in there... sorry i'm too lazy to fix it!

gotta go but i love you guys!! ADIOS!!

week 3

HOLAAAA AMIGOS Y FAMILIA!!!

boy what a week. EVERY week is just a whole new best experience ever. haha

okay. i'm starting off with the spiritual cause its the most important!!

first of all let me tell you all that I already know the hardest day is gonna be when they release me and i no longer can wear my name tag. it is my FAVORITE part of the day, putting it on, honestly, it's just a tag but it means so much to me it's crazy, i love being a missionary. LOVE IT.

one big thing i learned this week was trusting in God's promises. that is suuuch a huge deal. I didn't realize till this week HOW SERIOUS god's promises are, he will NEVER break them. story time. so when i was younger i had an experience where i tried to pray about the book of mormon but before i could finish my prayer got a terrible sick feeling in my stomach and stopped praying and just started crying, i was so scared the church might not be true, and it was the woooorst night ever. well, I continued reading my scriptures, going to church and everything, because those were the only times i felt better, but ever since then, i was terrified to ever ask god a question like that, or to recieve a confirmation on something, and I would literally skip over any scripture stating that if you ask God, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, specifically moroni 10:3-5, because i didn't think i believed it, or maybe i didn't want to believe it because i didn't think god had answered me, SO. in class, we had an incredible lesson about the book of mormon, and it's power and truth, and a teacher shared a story about how he wasn't sure in the beginning of his mission if the BoM was true, i mean he knew but he'd never recieved that confirmation, so he was trying to tell someone about it one day and she just didn't believe him, so he promised her if she would go home and pray about it, he would too, and see what happened. well he did it, and recieved his answer, and it wasn't until a year later that he ran into her again, she had been baptized, and she said that it wasn't because of his testimony, that didn't really lure her in, because she couldn't feel the power and truth of it, but because something else pulled her into it, and that she could tell now that he really knew. so REALLY knowing is so important. that got me to thinking, and I realized that Satan had won this battle over me for five years, i've always had a strong testimony but that was holding me back more than i ever knew. so I prayed about it, sincerely throughout a whole day. and by the end of the day, we had district testimony meeting, and through the meeting the spirit was so strong that I literally was physically weak, i could barely write down my thoughts, I felt like the people in the book of mormon when it says they fell to the earth being overcome by the spirit, it was incredible. and so amazing, GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS AND KEEPS PROMISES. if you pray sincerely, and my teacher also said that if you pray about the book of mormon and don't recieve a witness, you did it wrong. because it is a promise. read, ponder SINCERELY, and if you actually truly desire to know, then pray, in the name of CHRIST (which is so sacred and important: bible dictionary under prayer, read it all!!!) you will recieve an answer.

BOY!, that was long, haha sorry! but anyways, it was just amazing, i had to share it.

one more spiritual thought! for questions about if the spirit is there or if you feel it or not, what i've been realizing is that i can really physically feel it when i'm recieving revelation or being guided or it's testifying that the words i'm speaking or someone else is speaking are true, but just because it isn't really strong doesn't mean it isn't there! we have the GIFT of the holy ghost, meaning it is our companion constantly, if we choose. so, what you really need to focus on is when you know it isn't there, and change the situation.

alright. SO! this week, i have two fake investigators, miguel and maria, we're working on maria's faith, and working on miguel's actual interest, cause he believes it all! he thinks it's great, but so far we haven't really gotten him hooked, he doesn't seem to apply it to his life yet, and gets distracted easily! but i have a good feeling about our next lesson :) it's super cool! they are both actually our terachers but even though they're fake you can still teach with the spirit and feel their pain and everything just as much, it's really amazing.

lets seeee i've been eating HORRIBLY lately... haha let me tell you my dinner last night. 3 rolls... cereal... and icecream with brownies. the gym after was a nightmare, haha my body was so weak, it was bad. sooo gonna start being better about that!! BUT in other news :) i got 5 3 pointers iin a row at gym :) WOOOO!! hahaha not that awesome but we all just have our own records we try and beat every day so it's a big deal here!

oh boy, i love my companion! she's the best, and ALL the people in my district, i don't think i can say it enough! when the spirit is with us so much it is crazy how quickly you love the people the around and treat them like family. i love it here, TANTOOOOO!!! (so much)

well lets see. not much else happens! haha it's the same schedule almost every day... but uh, just know that life is great everybody, trust in God and know he loves you and if you LISTEN to him and do what you know is right you will never end up in a situation too hard, and you will find strength to get you through the situations you are in. yo se que con todo mi corazon :) (sorry no accents or anything) that means i know it with all my heart. it's true. LOVE YOU ALL!!!

week 2

HEY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!! woooo what a week :) you do the EXACT same stuff but you learn like five years worth of stuff. haha

where to begin, well. sunday! what a day. this last week for some reason i've been getting really distracted just letting my thoughts drift! no bueno, and on sunday I really decided to knock it off and put all my focus in, and geez it was on the the MOST amazing days spiritually i've ever had! Honestly the spirit testified to me so much. about so many things. we had a great devotional and a great district meeting on needing the spirit to be with you always! needing to be worthy for the spirit to be able to talk to you always, and it was crazy how sttrong the spirit was. I have never felt it so much before, and it always bugged, if you don't feel the spirit strongly very often than cut out some things in your life that are holding it back! stop making excuses and justifying, you know what things you could probably go without, haha, the peace and comfort you get from the spirit is amazing, you just need to take the time, and real real effort to allow it to speak to you.

we also watched joseph smith's movie, and geez it moved me to tears. one of my favorite parts is when Joseph commanded the jail guards to be silent or he or both of them would die, it was SO powerful, and just everything that he went through. we had watched the talk by Jeffrey R Holland, Safety for the Soul, oct 2009,everyone. go watch this talk immediately. it never gets old, and is the most powerful talk i've ever heard. you can't NOT feel the truth of it unless you are literally trying not to. it's amazing, testifies of the book of mormon and joseph smith. watch it! seirously!!!

oh also, everyone has to prepare a talk for every sunday because the speakers get called right before they speak! haha in spanish too! we usually just take stuff out of preach my gospel... hehe, anyways, it's good though, you get to know everyone so quickly that you aren't even nervous cause there is just so much love!

lets see, the hermanas and elders in our district are having a competition where we have a certain hour of the day where we can SOLAMENTE (only) speak spanish in the class, if you say english, it's a point, and whoever wins gets to make the other team do something embarassing. our elders are such spazz's, we cannot lose... hahaha cause i know it would be humiliating whatever they choose!

i know this has nothing to do with anything, but here are two wonderful quotes :)

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that, hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."

-Martin Luther King.

"Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults."

-Ben Franklin

I love these! it's important to remember that anger or fighting or any type of pride will never help a situation, ONLY llight and kindness can push away darkness. kill with kindness guys :) and the second one I like because we often as humans immediately put our defenses up or pridefully rebuke others if we are told rude things about ourselves or get offended, but he makes a great point, we need to always look at what people say about us, and if it's not true, then throw it in the trash, but if it is true, then WOO!! you just got a weakness revealed to you!!! and you get to work on it and be better tomorrow :)

anyways, uh, don't mean to get all preachy with you guys! I'm just learning so much, I definitely still have so much to learn. and so much to work on, so thank you everyone who's been such an example and friend to me :) i love you guys!

well. life is great here, sunday walks are the best! the temple is flooded with missionaries, it's crazy. i love it. and i haven't gained weight yet.. sooo that's a good sign! the food is starting to get worse...  i think. haha I miss nutella!

well sorry this email is kinda boring everyone! nothing really changes here so all i can tell are funny stories or spiritual stuff! which i guess never gets old :) adios amigos!!! till next time :)

week 1

HOLA!!! the keyboard is in spanish mode.. sooo if anything comes out weird my tengo mi culpa! )that means my bad i think)

BOY! I don´´t know where to begin!! well. I got here and it was craaazy and everyone was so happy and saying bien venidos which means welcome and i had noo idea what they were saying and you don´´t get a second to be sad and cry about saying goodbye to anyone, i got in class and the teacher was already speaking only in spanish... so i got a little overwhelmed right away, especially when all the other hermanas y elders started coming in! but it was surprising how quickly you come to love your compañera. seriously the second day we were basically best friends already! you are constantly with them, you can only be apart from them when you´´re going to the bathroom in the residency or showering! haha so you get real close, real fast.

so. only ONE day after learning spanish we already had our first investigator... )fake of course) but STILL. it was the most nerveracking thing in the world! I understood nothing she was saying... haha my compañera knows a little spanish so she kinda ran the lesson, but i basically only said, como esta, y dios le ama. which means god loves you, haha sad day. but it was still exciting!! the next day we had another lesson set up and thirty minutes before hermana miller )my companion) suddenly had a thought to teach about the atonement instead, and we both felt really really good about it, so we did! and i still could barely say anything but my spanish improved SO much in just one day it is impossible to not know that we are all being blessed by the Lord to learn these languages. It was a really good, spirit filled lesson, anyways we´´ve been doing a lot of lessons and i´´ve also learned the value of prayer. I NEVER knew how MUCH prayer really helps, and how real it is! honestly by 10 in the morning every day we probably have already said about 5 prayers, personal or with your district or companion, by the end of the day it could be anywhere from 12 to 20 prayers!

EVERYONE LISTEN!!! pray ALWAYS! seriously. before you eat, before you go in the temple, before you study, before you drive, before you teach a lesson, before you recieve a lesson, pray is SO much more powerful than I thought, I already so many examples of how powerful it is but theres no time to tell them all so just trust me!!!

OH. also, miracle of the week. I didn´´t even realize but my lower back problems i´´ve been having lately have been completely gone since the moment i got here. pretty amazing huh!

Lets see, OH. GYM IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE DAY AND EVER IN MY LIFE. i used to hate working out, nooooo mi amigos, now it is my most cherished time! haha when all you do is study and be taught from 8 to 9 every day exercising is the MOST wonderful thing in the world.

the food.... is so.... GOOD. which is so.... TERRRIBLE. I can never choose which meal i want so i usually get them all and eat like five donuts which they have EVERY day and oh my gosh its terrible. hahaha i´´m exaggerating a little on the five donuts but STILL! so i´´m working out hard core to make sure i don´t gain weight... haha

so i have 4 other girls in my room! they are all really great, i was inCREDIBLY blessed with my companion and roommates, me y hermana miller get along so well, and we have a blast, and the elders are all great too!! they are so funny, and treat us all so well! it´´s wonderful, it´´s so nice the spirit that is always there, and the love you feel for eachother, but still have so much fun all the time!

by the way waking up at 6,30 is NOT even bad. hoonestly! we are well rested here! even though i always fall asleep throughout the day... haha

well, i´´m wrapping it up for the general email, I LOVE YOU ALL!! I MISSYOU ALL! but this is one of the best experiences i´´ve had and it´´s only been a week and one day! i can´´t wait for what´´s ahead of me. till next week! Love you guys Ñ= ...... that was supposed to be a smiley face. hahaha

THE CHURCH IS TRUE AND YOU CAN KNOW IT TOO! 

also. our district motto is BE A HELL SHAKER!! hahaha not really we all kinda just laughed about it one of the elders said that, but seriously everyone! make hell shake when you get up in the morning! love you guys Ñ= ... another smiley face!!