the Adventures of Sister Russell: May 5, 2014

HEY EVERYBODY!
one question. has anyone heard the song... what does the fox say??

one of the kids in the ward had a shirt that had a fox saying "wa paw paw paw paw paw paw paw" and iw as like what is that? and he got all straight faced and serious, and went...

"WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?? WA PAW PAW.. PAW PAW, PAW PAW PAWWWW" hahahahhaa i was laughing so hard He sang most of the song and i'm so excited to listen to it after the mission! i feel like I would like it... hahaha!

anyway. it is weird when you see the end coming... when you start your mission you NEVER suspect it. ever. It just wasn't a part of reality! I couldn't imagine it happening. but now it's gets more real every week. I'm focusing, and working hard, i'm just trying to live up these moments while i have them. I admire all of you guys living the gospel at home, it's a lot harder! It's so easy out here with other missionaries, and always being trained and looked after and kept on your toes. I LOVE IT. haha it's so easy to just have the spirit and stay focused. I'm gonna need help and support from all of you when i get home to STAY this way!! Elder Holland talked to our mission president and said that the most important thing he wanted us to know, is that we can NEVER GO BACK! they do not send us on missions for so long, to learn so much, to change and grow, to learn HOW to study, to appreciate family, etc, just to go home and go back. and waste this time that the Lord gave us. go back to the way they used to live, go back to the world, go back to pride and selfishness and laziness. man, I am not going back. I can't go back! none of us can, we are in a battle you guys! A BATTLE!!! A FIGHT TO THE DEATH!!! HUZZAHHHH! MAN OH MAN YOU GUYS! it's just the best! haha I am so thankful for my mission.

I just wanna testify that when you get those spiritual moments, when you get a testimony or experience the atonement, etc, you cannot just live the same way! or you will loose that witness. You need to act on it, and continue to feed your spirit. if you don't continually feed your spirit with scriptures prayer and church, service love and hope, etc, it will die. DO NOT LET IT DIE!

okay anyway. this week was great! ups and downs, like usual. it was a trying week, but a rewarding one. we had a zone p-day on monday, which is awesome cause Pres. is way strict about elders and sisters never spending time together. haha! i think that if he could he wouldn't have us speak at all! it's so funny, BUT! it was so fun. man we had a talent show and me and hna perez sang and rapped and opera sang inside our mouths. (SHOUT OUT TO ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS JILL FOGTH FOR TEACHING ME THAT!) we've gotten pretty good i'm not gonna lie.... haha! a bunch of the elders did a HUGE skit with a ton of well known songs rewritten, HAHAHA i can't even describe it it was the funniest thing i have ever seen. you guys... i'm serious. i have no words. i was laughing so hard. man. for example, they took the EAT IT weird al song and made it READ IT! about the book of mormon, haha! okay, hopefully someone recorded it and i can send it or something.

oh man and we went on exchanges with the other sisters in our ward, I was with sister Bowe, I LOVE HER! she is so cool! we had an awesome day, we had a DISTRICT LESSON! which basically means, worthy to be on the district!!! haha it was so awesome, the perfect silence+tears+baptismal invite+concerns resolved+spirit+COMMITMENT!! WOOO! so cool. and we discussed so many interesting things! like how amazing it is when you brush your teeth how quickly your hand is capable of moving in all directions and flipping the tooth brush and switching it and etc it's so awesome! when you brush your teeth next do it really fast and watch! it's so cool! and how when you eat how your tongue just moves all the food around without even thinking! it awesome! AND how just talking is so weird and cool! just the way we make sounds and different sounds to make up words really fast and we don't even have to think about it! it's so awesome. THINK ABOUT IT! hahaha

anyway also on exchanges we went to the gym and when she shut the door a frog fell from up top and had a dead black leg and sis. bowe thought she killed it! so we named it, she sang the rainbow song the kermit sings, but made up new words about this frog, it was SO FUNNY. hahaha and then yeah. then AFTER our work out, we went back and IT WAS GONE!!!! and then we see it by the door! the little FIEND we had a moment of silence for it and everything! haha it was fake dead! that or the song brought it back to life... hmmm...

anyway it was really funny. haha

not so funny story.... as we were driving to the gym a DIFFERENT morning... i run over something in the road, here a PLOP. and stop..... NO NO NO NO NO!!!! we turn around and get out and hna perez is like....... did you run an animal over??? we look.... and alas..... A POOR HUGE FROG..... dead... smashed... I nailed him. just.... dead. very dead. hna perez almost threw up. hahaha we had another memorial for him. his name was gregory. :(

anyway....
MOVING ON.

well we got yelled at for like an hour it felt like by someone about our temples and secrecy and joseph smith and MAN i have been doing so well with being patient and kind and loving in lessons and keepin my cool, ya know? but i have not gotten so angry in a lesson since the very beginning of my mission. I was LITRALLY. about to stand up and punch this guy! haha just kidding not punch... but i was about to start yelling at him back! I was gonna explode!! i did raise my voice a little at one part to correct a HORRIBLE FALSE DOCTRINE! anyway. it's just cause he wouldn't let us talk! we literally had to raise our hands for him to stop and let us speak. it was kinda funny. hahaha but then i pictured him in temple clothes and where he could be one day and i was like... okay. it's all good. :)

lets see, we had MLC this week! leadership counsel for the mission. we went to the beach but it was pouring and then there was a tornado warning so we had to go to a chapel... :( and so we were in our jeans all day in chairs and i realized how much i hate jeans!!! haha man they are so uncomfortable...

okay anyway AH NO TIME!!!!!! SHOOT!

okay gotta go.

last words.

read your patriarchal blessing.

pray.

read your scriptures, really read them.

and don't give up.

DO NOT GIVE UP.

every wall you hit is NOT THE END! just get over it! (hahaha get it? literally! climb over it!)

i love you all so much!!!!
BYEEE!!!!