the Adventures of Sister Russell: March 17, 2014

OH MY GOSH EVERYONE BIGGEST NEWS EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (this is kinda long by the way.. sorry!)

so i'm starting with this story cause it's so cool.

and I feel like I have this vision/day dream of what is going to become of the story, meaning all of them get baptized. and if it doesn't happen i'll be crushed.... so i GOTTA relax and leave it to God and whatever happens happens. haha!

anyway. okay.

so One day me and Hna Meldau and driving and we see a spanish family walking so we stop and offer them a prayer, we pray with them in the street, offer the lessons, they aren't interested. etc. bummer! but then we see this cute little old lady raking and so we go to offer help and she starts speaking in a language I don't understand.... and she was saying she was or asking if we were jehova's witnesses and i was like what....? haha and THEN!!!!! I understand the word.... ALBANIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i'm like... wait.... ALBANIA??? pointing to her!! and she says yes and I say... oh my gosh.... what is the word for sister??? mota.... mrota.... MOTRA!!!! it was the only word i knew since Missy is serving and it's what her name tag says! So i say it! and she's like MOTRA! and i'm like motraaaa! haha and i tried telling her my sister is in albania, and i think she understood it. and then she got her daughter in law who speaks some english, so we start talking, and they start teaching us all these cool albanian phrases and one word is like a sentence sometimes and holy moly i was like.... my sister is so cool. THIS IS SO COOL! wow this language is beautiful! wow this language would suck to learn... haha and then we start talking about the church and Valbona doesn't really like the church because we have prophets and because of polygamy, she thinks we choose the prophet and that only God could possibly choose one. and that they have too much power over the people. BUT they are willing to hear the lessons and try and learn more so they can understand! oh man and it was so cool we had her read a paragraph from one of the pamphlets about the holy ghost in albanian and translate it into english for us, and the spirit was so strong! it was awesome, hearing it in that BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGE and her explaining what she is reading to us, she understood it and we think that's how we're gonna do most of the teaching. have her read what we discuss, and translate it, so that the grandma can also listen! even though she is orthodox and i mean orthodox... haha but GOSH I REALLY THINK IT WOULD BE THE COOLEST MIRACLE if they got baptized!!!
me and my siblings missions are so connected! haha it's so awesome! me and Aaron are both in Florida, Albania came to me, and we all have a baptismal date on the 29th! so awesome. anyway.

MAN though. it's funny. hahaha cause the cute grandma always talks to me and hugs us and I just look at her and after she says a bunch of stuff i'm like........ what.....? haha and she starts talking again and says a bunch of stuff and i'm like...... yeah... I uh, still don't speak Albanian but okay! I'll just hug ya and laugh! hahaha I understand Missy's emails now...

anyway ALSO the grandma wants to take us to Albania after our missions... so. cool!

Also I think I'm allergic to figs.............

anyway. so that's pretty amazing......

OKAY! next topic. KRISTEN!!! holy moly I love her so much!!! she came to church on sunday and I almost passed out with joy! haha she loved it and is just progressing so well. and we are making sure we have the daily contact that Preach my gospel says we're supposed to have, and it makes a HUGE difference. everything is going so smooth and everything is more confident and she is getting past questions and problems, etc. it's the best. AND OH MY GOSH wavaney and Orion went to the temple yesterday... :') WOOO!!! It's so awesome to see them continue on strong, I love missions. just being able to be a part of someone coming into the gospel is the biggest blessing. seriously, we do nothing! It's all the Lord, and we just get to be blessed enough to be an instrument in that. GEEZ THIS IS THE BEST.

Okay and ANOTHER MIRACLE!!! WE FOUND ANOTHER SPANISH PERSON!!! they are like GOLD TO US up here! haha I love white people just as much.. haha!.... but man my heart just feels at home when I'm with the spanish people and teaching them :)

anyway we knocked cause we had taught her son outside a while before, and wanted to follow up, and she was struggling in english to tell us he wasnt there, the minute we started speaking spanish though she was like OOOh come in come in!! so we go in and we teach her the first lesson and the spirit is strong and she's like man I LOVED your message! and the way you teach and talk and it's so peaceful! I feel it and I think it's true I really do! and we invite her to be baptized and she's like... well I dunno if I'm gonna switch to Mormon, haha, and we're like the SPIRIT IS LITERALLY CONFIRMING THE TRUTH OF THIS TO YOU! haha but sometimes people just don't really understand the significance of that.

BUT! it was awesome. and she is excited for us to come back :)

hmmm i can't think of too much else in this very moment... but it was a good week. went by really fast! too fast.................................

something that really stuck out to me this week though was church. every week that is my favorite time, because I get to soak in all this awesome knowledge and i learn SO MUCH from it. and we have 5 hours of it plus 2 hours of meetings so it's a long time and that doesn't even bug me! haha I just honestly love it. and we had an incredible lesson on the sacrament, I invite you ALL to go to the gospel library and look at lesson 6 in the Joseph Fielding Smith teachings of the gospel book, about the sacrament. actually just the whole book... he is an awesome teacher. but It really changes your perspective. well at least it did mine! I really think I'm getting the hang of things and then I realize I still have SO MUCH TO LEARN. I've really been trying to make the sacrament mean more to me and get something out of it but I wasn't doing it the right way, or... well. i can't explain it, haha! but after this lesson, MAN. mind blown. there is just so much more to it than so many people understand. and that is so sad. honestly, how many people partake of the sacrament completely unaware of the significance of it all, and the importance and seriousness of that renewal of covenant that they are making. SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS GO READ THAT LESSON! it's good. i don't have time to talk to much more about it!
haha anyways my whole point to this all is that the church has been teaching the same doctrines and principles my whole life. and all of a sudden I feel like all of this is GOLD and I want to soak in as much as possible every sunday! before my mission, for a lot of my youth, I was not a bad person, but it didn't mean as much. i didn't get as much out of it, but they didn't change what they teach! I just changed me, or rather the Lord changed me. And now, because I cherish knowledge and wisdom and the gospel, it makes all the difference. So when you go to church, be prepared to listen. When King Benjamin started to speak, in Mosiah 2:9, he says that he didn't tell everyone to come and listen to trifle with his words. but that he was speaking to them so they would listen, and HEARKEN to his words. and asked them all to open their hearts and minds so that they could actually hear. I love that, and I challenge all of you to prepare yourselves to hear. there is so much to learn that we miss out on.

ANYWAY. i gotta go but I love you all so much!!!!! remember to love each other, and serve each other. that's the point of this life, so don't miss the point! pray for charity :)
LOVE YOU ALL A TON AND A LOT AND SERIOUSLY LIFE IS THE BEST!!!!

OH! p.s. attach this part to my email.

we are allowed to read emails any time during the week now! can't respond still till monday, but since we have ipads! so. if you have anything any of you need me to know that day then send it and i'll read it! and know! hooray! daily letters!