I can´t believe its been another week. It has flown by! I loved
hearing about the lake and all the crazy adventures. I do want to
know about the lip syncing if it actually happened. J well I am really
excited for Michael! When is his report date? That´s so crazy!
Mom was mentioning about the people being really small here. Its true
that they are really small but I don´t know why because they eat a lot
of bread, rice, and potatoes and those things make you gain weight.
Two of my favorite people in the ward are Erika and Karen. They are
the sisters of our mission leader so we are always seeing them. They
are so cute and have so much love for us. They also always give us
referals and Erika is always willing to visit people with them. This
week our pension Hermana Yrma is going to the temple to be sealed to
her husband who was less active for many years. WE ARE SO HAPPY FOR
THEM. But it means that we don´t have pension for a week, but
Hermana bengina (mom of our ward mission leader) is going to feed us.
Which means more time with Erika and Karen. They are both so tiny, but
while we were at lunch with them yesterday, Erika called Karen a
little fat… It wasn´t mean or anything but I couldn´t believe it
because they are both so tiny. Anyways I feel like a giant here.
So yes the cold is ending but august is the month of wind. I am not
looking forward to it and find myself everyday wishing I had a ski
mask. Also Its hilarious that you guys commented on how everyone is
bundled up all the time. Our pensions little kid always always always
has ski pants on and hats and gloves in the house. The people are
always ready to make snow men we just need snow. Haha Its hilarious.
And yah they don´t have heating or anything. I think they just deal
with it with a lot of clothes and hot drinks.
Well this week we moved into our new apartment finally! It is so
beautiful and lovely. But we realized quickly that it has a hole in
the ceiling that is only covered with plastic. I like it because we
get a lot of natural lighting but we also have a breeze in our room.
I also happen to sleep on the top bunk which is right by the hole.
It's lovely. We covered it with a blanket but its still a little cold.
Haha we also don´t have a hot shower so we have been heating up water
and taking bucket showers. So that´s a little sad, but we are all
moved in and so happy that we have unpacked our clothes finally after
four weeks. Hopefully the others things will be fixed soon.
This week we started English class for the missionaries who don´t
speak English. I was trained a few weeks ago on how to give them so
now I am the designated teacher. I don´t like it very much but the
missionaries in our zone want to learn so I don´t mind helping them.
The worst part is that sometimes I don´t know how to pronounce words
in English and I have to look at Hermana Love for help. Its terrible.
English is completely gone and I can´t even pray in English. Ask
Hermana Minaya because everytime I try we just end up laughing our
heads off because its so terrible. Ah man. I am going to have to
listen to a lot of prayers in English to be able to pray again.
I realized this week that Missionary work is so much fun! I love it
so much. Its so much fun to teach the restoration or teach someone
how to pray. Or finding people. I love it so much. I was talking to
Hermana Minaya this week about this and we realized that we really do
love inviting people to be baptized, giving them dates for baptism and
watching them strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ. I am loving it
here, really its the greatest thing ever. This week we have two
people with baptism dates. It might not seem like a lot but I feel
like they are two dates that are going to happen that are not going to
fall. One is Sirilo. He is great. His son is a member but less
active. He has been coming to church and is always willing to listen.
He is super humble and always prays that his wife´s heart will be
softened. Its a little bit stressful because we have two weeks until
his baptism and a lot to teach him. We explained to him that we
wanted to come every other day and he was so fine with that. We
brought him a Book of Mormon yesterday and he was so happy. During
Sunday school he was taking notes and he sat on the front row. He´s
the best! But he´s also hilarious. One time he was explaining to us
how he prayed, this was the second lesson and we had taught him how
to pray in the first lesson, and he was reading a part of the pamphlet
where it teaches the steps to pray. He was saying how I prayed the
night before and he said, “I addressed my heavenly father, I
expressed my feelings, and I ended in the name of Jesus Christ, God
and the Holy Ghost…” it caught me off guard when he said that! But
we taught him that we only end in the name of Jesus and at the end of
the lesson he offered a perfect prayer. J
Yesterday was the best Sunday that I have ever had in the mission
field! We visted a investigator named Hilaria and put a baptismal
date with her for the 5 of september, then we went to the church for
an activity with the ward. The activity was to pair off in
companionships and visit the less active members of relief society and
elders quorum. A lot of people came and we were able to visit a lot
of people. My companion went with the young womens president and I
left with the relief society president. We visited some less active
and after two hours we all met up at the church again. Upon returning
we recieved lots of referrals and the Bishop visited a young man who
wanted to be baptized and we have an appointment with him tomorrow.
We also found out that a member had passed away 8 years ago and nobody
knew. It was such a great activity and I felt so good that the
members are taking care of their sheep. Sometimes I feel so
overwhelmed with all the menos activos in the area and that there is
only two of us to visit and rescue them all, but with activities like
these I feel so grateful for the members that are willing to give up
their time and go a little bit out of their comfort zone to visit
menos activos. I also found that a lot of members don´t know how to
visit people and I found my self giving the lesson each time. I was
able to teach the members a little bit about how to visit someone and
I am truly grateful for the ability to talk and to share my testimony
and I think that comes from being a missionary. Anyways we were so
happy to have this activity and next Sunday we will be visiting the
young men and young women who are less active. I am excited to go out
with the members again!
After we had a family home evening with a family in our ward. They
are a great family but I think he will get a kick out of their names.
The dad´s name is Jesus, mom´s name is Miracle and their daughters
name is Heaven. Hermano Jesus is also a part time clown named bom
bom cito. They are awesome! And their names inspire me J
Well I just want you guys to know that I am so grateful for the gospel
in my life. I have been studying a lot about prayer and I think its
one of the greatest blessings that the Lord has given us. The ability
to pray anywhere and at anytime should be something that we take
advantage of. God listens to us and he loves us. I know that he
answers prayers because He answers my prayers every hour of every day.
There are so many blessings waiting for us if we seek them and ask for
help. Just want to end this letter with a quote from President Joseph
F. Smith about prayer. He taught, “ WE do not have to cry unto Him
with many words. We do not have to weary Him wth long prayers. What
we need do need and what we should do as Latter day Saints, for our
own good is to go before him often, to witness unto him that we
remember him and that we are willing to take up us his name, keep his
commandments, work righteousness, and that we desire His spirit to be
with us.”
I love you guys with all my heart and I pray for each one of you
daily. I know that the Gospel is true and that is the only way to be
truly happy in the life. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be
apart of the missionary work! It is the greatest!
Love you all, Have a great week!
Love, Hermana Russell
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