Recognize the Feelings of the Spirit

Hola mi familia fantástica!

Well, this will probably catch you off guard, emailing in the MORNING! Sorry about that. We are off to get our hair cut after this so we just thought why not email now so we can have more time to get to soccer this afternoon! This will only be our second time doing that, and it was quite enjoyable last time, even though those Peruvians learn quickly not to pass to the Gringo. ;)

Actually, I never told you about the last time! Afterward, Elder Inocente and I were sitting outside by the street and a bunch of niños ran over! I was wearing my sunglasses (the sun is SO Bright here!) and they started talking to me asking about where I was from, how do you say this in English, and THEN they started pulling out my blonde leg hairs!! That kinda was painful and I was kinda caught off guard, thinking "What in the WORLD are you kids doing?!" hahah but apparently they thought I was Elder Bradley, the Gringo here before me, and they would do that to him. Then I took off my sunglasses, and they were like Ohhhh, turned over to Elder Inocente, and were like, this is a different missionary? haha! So that was an experience, quite a fun time!

I am doing well! My first 6 weeks is up, oh my how crazy that is! Sometimes it just flies by, but other times I feel like I've already been here for 2 years!! Frustration is always there, this language can shut me up often times! But I am learning a lot about prayer. If you pray specifically for something, God will bless you specifically. If you ask specifically, God will answer you specifically. And always Pray with faith. Faith that He hears you and will always answer! Also don't pray by routine, Pray in a manner that anyone listening knows you are having a CONVERSATION with God! But with this, I am learning to truly talk to my Heavenly Father about my thoughts about Spanish and ask for the gift of tongues and strength to endure and be patient and diligent, and then afterward, WORK to recieve the answers, by listening for his reply, and acting in a manner in which you can recieve the blessings and responses.

We had a reunion with all of us new missionaries this past week, and we got together and talked about what we were learning, how we had progressed, and also there were lessons about effective Personal study, companionship study, language study, and so on. I am so grateful for these times! I feel like I never have enough time to study all the things I need to! But it was also so so great to see all my old friends, I saw Hermana Eames who seems to be doing great, she says she is understanding Spanish much better, and she seems very positive about it all! That is so great, and I think she was one of the people with no Spanish background before the mission! And I saw Elder Chapman, and he is really into the work, I can tell! He is still the Elder Chapman with the sense of humor, which is so great! And his Spanish is GREAT!

It is getting quite toasty here!! My collar at the end of the day is always quite dirty. And Hermana Mara says just wait until January and February, she says its like an OVEN! And if this isn't an oven to them already, I just might turn into a puddle before too long. Also, I was informed this week, I am currently living in the second largest desert in the WORLD! yep. And it's a desert all right. It's been quite an experience, it's always fun!! But I am missing snow. All I want is a white Christmas, and when I told Elder Inocente this he said "only in your dreams". So that brought me real hope. :)

Oh! For transfers, Hermano Camocho, the mini misionero will be leaving tomorrow. And Elder Arce, we found out, will be a trainer!! A new nuevo misionero, with less time than ME! I am hoping for a Gringo too. But if it is a Gringo, I hope he knows that we are only speaking in Spanish. It's just how it goes. haha! But that would just be a sweet deal, another gringo to have around!

I learned this week that Satan is real!! We always just need to stay strong! The Holy Ghost is so so important!  We can know EVERY SINGLE THING we need to do in this life through the guidance and direction of the Holy Ghost. This week I challenge you all to try to recognize DAILY the feelings of the spirit! If you are being a good boy/girl, keeping the commandments, and following your covenants, it should be there in every second! So it should be easy to find a time to recognize it's there. :)

I love you all so so much!! Keep choosing the right! I love you!! And your Heavenly Father loves you!! :) Don't you DARE forget those two points right there. :) I hope you have the BEST week ever!! Thank you for all your emails, I LOVED them all! Enjoy that little bit of snow, and if you ever feel too cold, feel free to send some my way! haha!

con amor y felicidad,

Elder Russell

(More pictures from Lourdes -- so grateful for her!)