GUYS I DON'T THINK I'LL BE ABLE TO GIVE UP MY NAME TAG IN A
YEAR AND A MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
seriously. i am so blessed to be able to wear it. to BE a
representative of Jesus Christ. to have that authority and power!! and i only
get it for NOT MUCH TIME!!! gotta take advantage of every moment.
man. what a WEEK. it's been crazy and full of meetings and
interviews and lots of stuff but SO GREAT.
first of all this is for my dad. DAD. there's this thing on
all of the mission cars called a TIWI, and you would love it. so....
much....... basically it moniters EVERYTHING and if you speed it says, (watch
your speed) in a loud bossy voice, and if you drive aggressive, or do anything
wrong, it yells at you. me and him have a love hate relationship. I sometimes
yell at him back... BUT. his intentions are good! so it's okay. haha just
thought you'd like to know since I used to always get mad at you for going
exactly the speed limit all the time.
alright guys. eh HEM. let's begin.
awesome stories this week. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. not a
ton of progress with investigators but PROGRESS WITH LESS ACTIVES!!!!! it has
been SO hard to get into their houses but we are finally seeing some change!
and be happier! oh MAN it is the best feeling in the UNIVERSE!!!
this sunday was AMAZING! because JULIO CAAAAME!!!!! julio is
the husband of a member, the missionaries have basically been teaching him for
fifteen years, but he never wants anything to do with it. but for some reason
he CAME TO CHURCH!!!!! AND a less active came too!!!!!!!!! and i was DYING! i
seriously couldn't stop shaking his hand i was so excited. haha and i just
can't describe to you guys how awesome it feels to see people making changes in
their lives!!!
anyways. aw man guys here's something sad! we had the cutest
old couple we were teaching for a little while and the first lesson he just so
sweetly was like, i just have a question! and we said okay go ahead! and he sat
down and looked at the BoM and said.. who's nephi? aww man he was so cute :)
but family stuff was complicated so we can't teach them right now but they'll
get the gospel eventually :)
we had interviews with the new president too! he's awesome!
so just get it DONE attitude. i love it, he's getting the mission ready for the
next level of mission work!!!
OOOOH!!!!! guys guess what. i'm gonna be singing in the
national anthem of the field for the Rays game coming up :) WHAT!!! hahaha i
dunno how that happened. but i'm so excited! our mission always has a choir for
it.
okay guys some cool moments. there's this less active we
teach, and she's amazing, her son though has been hatin on the church, we've
been getting him to warm up a little bit but it's been a challenge! and we had
just gotten permission to teach his son Aiden, BUT then the dad, Joel, changed
his mind, so we just wanted to have a heart to heart with him and figure out
WHAT was goin on.
SO. we sat him down, he was super tense and didn't wanna
talk, haha, and mind you guys we have gotten like 5 words out of this guys for
months, we asked if he wanted aiden to be taught, and he was like... well...
what is the goal for teaching him? and said, well... baptism! and he said yeah
i don't want that, he can choose when he's older. so then i was like okay well
let's talk about you, what's your deal with the church right now? and he was
hesitant, but HE OPENED UP!!!!!!!!!!! he just explained how he's frustrated
about how there are just so many religions and people telling you what to do,
and how he doesn't know where to go, and that he'll find his own way but right
now he just wants to live life. and it was SUPER spirit directed, we did not
say a word we didn't feel prompted to say, we basically just got him to talk
out all his feelings, and even though it would've been good to share joseph
smith, we didn't feel like we should teach him anything, BUT, we got him to
promise to take the lessons. when he's ready, which is a HUGE DEAL. you guys
don't understand!!!!!!!! haha, it was SO COOL. probably doesn't sound that
cool.... but... it was. TRUST ME!
okay. AND, another story, this less actice Miriam, she's
been avoiding us forever, and out of the blue she calls and is like... so. i
just watched the most adorable movie ever! and she describes the other side of
heaven! haha and she said and i just had to call you guys cause that's what you
do! missionaries for the mormon church! bless that movie :) haha and so we went
over the next night, and were gonna what the restoration with her cause she
doesn't remember much about the church, but it wouldn't work so we just watched
some mormon messages and talked about where's she at, and she said she just
hasn't been happy. and hna JUDD was a BOSS and said, straight up, it's
because you took to steps towards baptism, and you got on the right path,
and now you don't keep your covenants. and she just looked at us and said...
hm. maybe i should get the address to the church again... WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
and THEN her son and his girlfriend came in and he is super
against the church and preachy and his GF too so we were like oooh boy... and
the GF started preaching to us and stuff, about how we're young and still
searching for the truth and we're gonna find it one day! like her, and etc etc,
and we just stopped her, and bore strong testimony about how we know we have
the truth, and we're here serving beCAUSE we have it, and we want to bring it
to everyone. and when we spoke and testified that's the only time everyone in
the room was SILENT and listening. it was SO SWEET. guys i haven't felt the
power and authority of my calling as strongly ever before as i did in that
moment. everyone in that room knew we were representatives of Jesus Christ, and
it was just SO AWESOME. and then i said a few more things, and miriam sat up
and clapped and said look at these girls! so powerful and etc etc (didn't
understand, haha) and the son TOTALLY felt it!!! we know it :) so that was
awesome.
AND right after that we get in the car and come thou fount
is playing super awesomely and loud and we're just looking at the DANG
BEAUTIFUL SUNSET and like.... man............ :) this is the LIFE. haha
guys. my HEART. is going to die. because.... it.... is....
sooo..... HAPPY. AND FULL!!!!!!!!!! i used to hear testimonies of people say,
man my heart is so full of joy right now, and i was like WHAT DOES THAT FEEL
LIKE!!! and now? ................ :) man it is the best feeling in the world. I
just wanna bear testimony to all of you that this church is true. I KNOW IT.
and i love it. and i know life gets distracting and busy and hard but DO NOT
ALLOW yourself lose the spirit in your life! make changes all the time! always
be improving! life is progression, always! ya gotta make changes to come closer
to God, don't ever stop :) so EVERYONE right now look at your life and write
down one thing you want to change! you think i'm kidding! get a piece of paper
and pen right now and write it down! and then change it, something to
strengthen you in your life, towards God, no matter where you are or what you
believe just keep going strong. God has got your back. i love you all SO
MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so grateful to be here.
con MUCHO AMOR! :)
hermana RUSSELL :)
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