Merry Christmas!

 Hello family!!

It was so great talking with you all! It is great to see you all doing so well! It reminded me a bit how much I miss Teddy and his hair (our dog, whose hair is always somewhere! :), but I'll be home before long and I can start murmuring about that again. And love the photos!! A White Christmas!!! What a blessing. Today we had a water balloon fight. I would say we are living on opposite sides of the world or something. :) And I had totally forgotten what was in those gifts! haha but thanks for the photos to remind me. I got a laugh out of what I gave Logan. I am sure I was filled with great ideas with that kit...

Well, answers!

What has been your favorite thing about Christmas in Peru this year?

I love Paneton. And here the people are always inviting us to eat Paneton. Also this year I actually made Chocolatada (Hot chocolate, but different. I got to melt the chocolate bar myself to make the drink! It was a fun experience.) And the music. Here there are other types of Christmas songs too, and all Christmas music gets me excited. :)

What is your favorite thing about the area you are working in now?

Right now we are working on the Directory. There are lots of people that have moved away so we are really cleaning it up to make the directory list more helpful and effective. And in the process we are finding less actives with quality doubts to answer and help back to church and also finding SUPER less actives (like 20+ years) and that gives us lots of work to do. I just like having big projects and having to work constantly.

As for A, she says she still believes that it is all true, but she is going to take time away from the church for a while... So we are just focusing on helping her family right now with this drama and hopefully we can get her back. Crazy how Satan works. She is just enbarrassed, but she still talks to us and everything, so we are gonna help her get over this and continue to teach her.

But good note!!!! There is a RM here in the ward with like 2 months back home. He is the only member in his whole family. And now he is going to town on getting all of his family into the church!! So we are teaching the family of his oldest brother who is super awesome!! So hopefully we can get them committed to baptism this week or two. We have hit it off really well and real quick with the whole family, the 2 we visited Saturday went to church the next day, so hopefully that will all work out well!!

Also at church a woman with a young girl showed up. She is from another ward in the stake, and the girl is her niece who lives in Los Polverines, which is a closed area since 5 weeks which now pertains to our ward but the missionary area of another ward (yeah, its confusing, hopefully we can clean up that kink.) But the lady there said that we should visit that family "there are 4 baptisms there" she said to us. it was like "Ok!" so hopefully we can figure out how to help that family and see if they really would like to be baptized. another goal for the week.

It has been fun lately to see the Nicodemus scenes. A "Nicodemus" is a street contact that comes to US. They are awesome. Like P, who went to a member in his neightborhood asking if we could visit him. We passed by and was asking about what he needs to do to be baptized. Can't really complain with those situations. Recently miracles are popping up and hopefully this week we get some sight of baptismal dates. They are super powerful miracles and I hope and pray we can take Godly care of them. Pray that we receive revelation to handle all these people as they need to be and help them make it to baptism.

This last week I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting. I gave them the 6 steps of discovering who in their lives they can introduce to the Gospel. Here it is easy since like 80% of the people are converts. But my goal for this week is to edit and apply it to a Utah setting. Hopefully I can get that to you guys by next week. Deal? :)

Also today I was starting to reflect about the inner peace we feel when we do what's right. You find situations where you stand alone no matter where you are. But just follow what is right. Be obedient. And whatever happens, you can feel that inner peace. My goal to help me enhance that inner peace is be better in street contacting. You guys gotta do follow up for that on me, alright? :)

For New Years there is a ward activity starting at 1am. We are the only people not invited. haha But New Years is like over there -- stay up until midnight then fireworks. But here they make like scarecrow dolls and burn them in the streets too. But I will be enjoying the night sleeping in my bed. haha

Well, I love you all!! The church is true! Talk to you next year!!

Elder Russell

Ward Christmas Party

Christmas Multi-Zone Conference

He is the Gift

Hello family!!

Well, this week was great!! And this next week will be CRAZYYYY. This week consisted of way too many rehearsals. As a zone we performed for the multi zone conference, and we also performed in a park as a zone. The sisters in our zone contacted a lady on the board of some organization, and they ended up inviting us to perform a choir for a Christmas activity for local children (especially the homeless and less privileged I believe they told us). We went and sang and that was such a blast! The people really didn't seem to be too enthusiastic with us, but we gave it our all with the Christmas hymns and ending with the Spanglish "Feliz Navidad" song. That was an unforgettable experience. Then we gave out a million of those "El es la dadiva" cards (he is the gift) and hopefully the sister missionaries get a lot out of that!

Today we have a multi zone conference. Remember how I told you about how I needed to repent and play more piano? Well I am now well repented. Full out broken heart and contrite spirit. I had to play piano for ALL the songs. But it was great to learn all those songs! :)

Tonight we are also singing as 2 zones in the biggest shopping mall in Piura and we got missionaries dressing up as Santa and elves for photos and with a projector of El es la Dadiva (He is the Gift) playing and we will be giving out more of those cards. IT IS CHRISTMAS

This week is going to be crazy. Hopefully this week we get people to visit. We've also got to help A. Her baptismal date fell again. This time we really don't know what happened. Pray for her please. :)

Thinking about He is the Gift, I actually think a lot about the song, Little Drummer Boy. Elder Encarnacion had that song and it is seriously my favorite. But when it says "I have no gift to bring" but then "shall I play for you? Me and my drum." We all have our gifts or talents or something to give to our Savior. Right now I have the miraculous ability to give my full time. But you all also have your miraculous gifts to give. Maybe it isn't Gold or Frankensence or Myrrh. But we must all find what we can give, just like the little drummer boy. We can all give something. Something personal, something special.

The Book of Mormon explains that if it were not for the Saviour, we would all become the Devil´s angels. We would be under Satan's control, to be miserable forever. Only through Jesus Christ can we escape from the bands of Physical and Spiritual Death. Think about that. Now I know why there were so many angels singing at his birth. It makes me want to sing praises to my God. And I hope every single one of you feels the same way this Christmas. Trust in the Lord, discover who He is, "Come and see" was his personal invitation to every single one of us.

Sorry I don't have too much to say today, I will be seeing you all on Christmas :) I love you all!! Did you guys find my presents I had ready for you? I already forgot what they were... hahah they should be in my room or maybe you already have them?

But I love you all!! Jesus is the Christ. His birth changed this world forever.

con mucho amor,

Elder Russell

RANCH DRESSING!

Hello Family!!

Well another week flew by!

One fun thing this week was that I had exchanges with one of my Zone Leaders, Elder Rich. On the moto taxi ride to their house, he tells me "Hey, I got a suprise for you in our house." I was like "sweet!" I was thinking it would be my new set of scriptures I asked for. But no. When I got there, he motions to a big blue sack. "Look inside." I start sifting through the letters and packages and then he says "To help you out, those are all for you." WHAAAA? So thank you all, wonderful friends and family!! We are all set and decked out for Christmas.

This week went by quick. We had a district leader training meeting (yes, I am still District Leader here in Lopez Albujar, it is actually my 8th transfer holding this responsibility) and the assistants asked if I could play Christmas music for the meeting. I told them I am so sorry but I don't know any well enough right now. Later the President came up and told me to repent. I explained it wasn't my fault that I have 15 months in the mission and that not a single area has a ward building with a piano. But I did tell him that I am repenting anyways because I have to play for the next multi zone conference. And I found that our ward actually has some old keyboard they don't use anymore. Some say that it is broken, others say that it isn't. I think we are gonna run over there after internet right now to check it out. But my fingers have been playing some good Christmas tunes recently! :)

What plans (if any) have you made for Christmas Day? 

Well Christmas Eve as a Zone we are going caroling in the Plaza de Armas of Piura (like the central plaza) then I heard members are inviting the whole Zone to a dinner. Which is awesome, but we also have lots of invites from members, the Bishop, so we are going to do a lot of running around. On the 25th we've got skype all set up. An awesome family we are teaching told us we could use their skype. It seems like it might be in the morning or later evening... my companion has to figure out if his mom will be working or not and schedule when they'll be home. But I will have all the info set for next Monday. any preferences of time? 

Does the Ward have any big events or activities going on for Christmas?

YES! we have a Ward party with a nativity, choirs, hot chocolate and paneton (even in this desert they like hot chocolate!) and it is going to be awesome. We are trying to invite lots of people. but I am excited because this ward is doing serious planning and they seem to plan well! I am excited!

Tell us about your Pensionista... and what is the best thing you ate this week?

GREAT pensionista. We always get a main dish, then usually a side dish of vegetables to share as a companionship, or a soup, and then always dessert like Jello or flan or fruits. it is awesome. Her name is Socorro. She is a great lady, active church member and just awesome. But actually one of the best things I ate this week was homemade RANCH DRESSING! The Mission President's wife has to make it, or taught their pensionista how to make it, and they served it for the lunch in the District Leader meeting.

Well this week we are going to work really hard with A. She had a baptismal date for the 21st, but she didn't come to church. We have been having to focus a lot on helping her mom (recent convert) with personal problems and stuff but this week we are going to really help her out and hopefully to end the month or to start January she can be baptized. She is an awesome young gal.

Sorry gotta go now. I gotta take care of bugs on my USB and get some more Mormon Messages to share. We got some less actives that LOVE those things.

But I love you all!! Have a great week!!

THE CHURCH IS TRUE!! MERRY CHRISTMAS

ELder RUssell

Merry December!

Hello family!

I wish you a merry December! the first Presidency Christmas Devotional was awesome!! We got to watch it last night!

What lessons do you feel you learned best in Zarumilla?

I feel like I learned loads and loads about the Christlike Attribute of Knowledge. I had two spectacular companions that focused a lot on expanding their knowledge. First off, Elder Corpona would not sacrifice his personal study for the world, and CONSTANTLY used scriptures in lessons. Elder Encarnacion studied everything. He read the Book of Mormon within a week at one point. And also the New Testament within one transfer. And lots of other books and we always talked about doctrine. He would try to trick me a lot about doctrine. He would even get the whole District in on it. He once told me that the Islamic religion comes from the genealogy of Ishmael (1 Nefi). I knew it was not true but he fought it off long and hard, then Elder Moses confirmed it and told me to check out the Institute manual about it. When I started searching frantically they all started laughing. Elder Moses also knows a ton of doctrine. But I say that now I have grown a good deal in knowledge, and a real strong desire to constantly learn more spiritually.

What are you most excited about experiencing in your new area?

This ward is strong. We got a girl with a baptismal date, and the other companionship in our district has 3 with baptismal dates! I am most excited that is seems to be really progressing here! We found 8 new investigators even this week!! We got to really organize our missionary forces and focus well, and if we do that and get settled, we can really take care of business.

What is the most interesting/funny thing that happened to you this week?

Well, this Sunday we were walking to find a family we contacted in the street and on the other side of the street there was a group of young hoodlums and one of them yelled out "HEY! GRINGO! TEACH ME THE WORD! (to say the scriptures or such)" And normally we just shrug it off when it is just kids or whoever just yells out GRINGO!!! But in the Zone Conference we talked about not wasting any opportunity. So I was like, "Hey Elder, lets go talk to them. Let's go give them the word." So we started walking over and the majority went running into the house. 3 stayed outside and we talked a bit. We were like "you guys like internet?" "Yeah!" "Alright, then you guys gotta check out this video. check out this URL, it is a video about Jesus Christ. Watch it, share it, and if you want to learn more, we are always walking around here, you can just flag us down." And they were like "yeah cool."

It was a real fun contact! I am making lots of friends with all the people who yell out GRINGO here. We have a special bond, I always yell out to them a big QUÈ TAL! BUENOS DÌAS! :)

Elder Villalba is awesome. I am his third companion and this is his first time to have to teach a new companion an area. He seems like a youngster, he has his fair deal of voice cracks, haha, but he is awesome. He loves music (we are the only 2 in the zone who play piano, he is self taught.) He has his harmonica just like me but he plays his a lot more. He is very personable and loving. But awesome. We've still gotta get the hang of one another but I think we are gonna have an AWESOME Christmas. Here they have been working with lots of Investigators. The big trick we've gotta work out here is organizing the forces. Also I love to work with less actives so we will quickly be coordinating with the ward on magnifying our role with that.

A massive strength of this Ward is the youth programs, and YSA! It is unlike anything I have seen in my past areas, it is really awesome. And the ward is really getting down on fellowshipping investigators and less actives. The bishop is spot on.

Well, we don't have much time today... We gotta go to Catacaos to buy me a new bag... That is another story for another day... haha But I will be sure to send pictures next week!

Love you all!!

Elder Russell

Transfer!

Hello my dear family!!                                                  

Merry Christmas!! We are in December!

Well, let's start with the questions:

When is your next trip to Piura?

It was TODAY. We had transfers, and I have now left Zarumilla. I am now in Lopez Abujar 1, in Zona Piura Central. I am rather in the center of Piura City! I am now with an Elder Villalba. He has 6 months in the mission, from Ecuador, we have a good pensionista, the ward has around 170 in attendance, and my area is 100% sand. And that is about all I know for now. So there is some big news!! I will miss Zarumilla, it was such a blast and learning experience and now I am going to move on to even bigger experiences. I intend to baptize every waiting soul.

Here our apartment is a little smaller but awesome! There is so far NOTHING of Christmas decoration. This is my last Mission Christmas so I went ahead and bought a baby Christmas tree we are going to deck out. :) And Mom don't worry about the packages now!! I am in Piura, the office missionaries are in my zone and so we are some of the first to know when the packages arrive. :) Tumbes is a hard place for packages, but Piura I will get them in no time. :)

What is something new you learned this past week?

I learned that I gotta stick to it with the Book of Mormon!! We found that that could really be a key deal especially with R, M, and their family. So we are getting them on reading and they are getting interested and READING!! Also when I got to say farewell to a couple members, they shared with us the fact that they had never seen missionaries as dedicated as Elder Encarnacion and I when it comes to following up if they are reading the Book of Mormon. it is the keystone, ALWAYS read it and keep your testimony strong about it.

One thing about R and that family: well, they are actually going to Piura for Christmas/Summer break and they won't be heading back to Zarumilla until March or April... They will be living with R's Sister and Brother-in-law. Bummer right? Well, not quite. The brother-in-law with the father R is a MEMBER. And guess which ward he attends? Lopez Abujar. Not quite my area, but my ward/district. hahaha small world right!! I will be keeping tabs on them and see what I can do to get them to church! With a family member helping out that could be a lot of extra help!

Looks like you are all having a blast over there in USA! That is so cool, Becky, you guys have a Spaniard staying with you guys! What part is he from? That would be so fun.

Also Uncle Bryan made a quick note about how this summer we will be having another pair of missionaries off! Connor and Parker, prepare yourself NOW. Read the Book of Mormon daily! Learn all you can, it comes in handy later. :)

As for Thanksgiving here, a member invited Elder Encarnacion and I dinner, so that was my way of celebrating. I actually had actually lost track of that holiday.. haha But Christmas is big here like there. With lights, trees, Santa, all that jazz. And also, us missionaries bringing the most important message of Christmas to their homes.

Sunday for lunch was the coolest thing EVER. The district had lunch together in a member's home. The father that night later traveled to Piura for his cancer treatments and asked for a health blessing. As us 6 missionaries joined together to give that blessing I felt the power and knew we were the Lord's hands and His missionaries. We were a stellar District, but now I am in Piura, Elder Orellana also, and Elder Moses to Sullana (With Elder Plata!!!!) I love this work and I know it is the Lord's work.

Well, I love you all!! Talk to  you next week!!

Elder Russell

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello family!!

THANK YOU so much for the Halloween packages from Mom, Dad and Logan, as well as the Hales family!! I got them today! That was a real sweet suprise!! Lots of goodies and I put up those Halloween decorations today just in time to celebrate Thanksgiving. :) But lots of awesome awesome stuff! Sadly here in Tumbes, packages seem to take more time to get here.

Well, R and M went back to church!! Just for the first hour this time, because M actually was NOT a fan.... She had to go do homework with a friend but when we showed up that morning, her Mom made her go with us. This Sunday was the primary program!! And for some of us, that is the best Sunday of the year, but for others, like M, she was hitting her leg with her fist like the whole hour bored... haha But R had a good time!! He was telling his Mom that he likes church, he would even like to become a missionary he told her!! And his mom was like, "well, you are 18, you can make your own decisions. If you like the church, go for it!" BOOM!! That was nice to hear. But yesterday we had a visit with M and her mom where they both told us that they just like to learn and listen but they don't want to go to church, just stick with Catholic. Luckily we had a stellar R.M. with us and we are just going to be working to get them reading the Book of Mormon, and with that they can see if it is true or not, and we can work from there. But great progress with R, but M hit a patch. But we are also getting her some friendships set in the church.

.

Do you ever get the opportunity to play the piano?

About once every month and a half they ask me to play in the District Leader Training Meeting. I keep telling them, after over a year of areas without a piano makes a pianist very rusty. Maybe one of these days I will have an area with a ward piano... haha

How are things going with the plans for a big Ward activity?

a Big Ward Party not quite anymore... but we finally rescued Missionary night! Where the ward holds activity Friday night to help get all the members together along with any investigator or friend or anyone. We haven't had one in all of my time here, but we finally got it back and this Friday we will be holding it!

Do you have an example of when you really felt guided by the Spirit this week?

Well, this week I was on exchanges with Elder Cisneros in his area and they have an investigator who is just like Brother Rodriguez, for all of you who have seen The District 2 videos (Missionaries should know it, and it is also on BYU TV). It is an investigator who knows this is the true church, he is just scared to make the baptismal committment. But we taught an awesome lesson and the spirit was so strong both us missionaries felt it and really to hear what he felt, afterwards talking with Elder Cisneros we talked about what Elder Cisneros and Elder Moses need to do to help him get baptized. And we both felt that he can do it for the 20th of December. We told him to go to the temple grounds (he went on the stake temple trip to Guayaquil) and think and pray about baptism, and he went! But the spirit was so strong, I felt Him helping me in my form of teaching and what I was saying what what was really needed to be said. I just hope that man makes the decision.

Well, this week I am determined to get somebody with a baptismal date. The Tumbes stake is having a white night (group baptismal service) and President Rowley wants at least 25 baptisms that night. I want to find people for that date, and there is still a little time but we need to work super hard. This week I think we are going to go through all of the less actives in our area we can find, searching  for part member families and asking all of them for references. We also have a couple quality couples I think we could get in there. We have a couple options already but I need to pray hard about them. Pray that we can receive revelation this week and find those golden people and families.

Today for lunch we ate Sudado de Pescado (it means something like sweated fish) which is fish in a broth with tomato and onion and such, which is served with a side of rice. Well today our pensionista served it but it wasn't just fish, but also calamari and octupus!! like those little bitty octopus' whole alongside the fillete. THAT was a quality meal. I will send pictures. :)

Well, I love you all! I invite you all to continue studying and reading your scriptures and the words of the prophets. I am learning more and more how much I DON'T know and how much I WANT to know, with so little study time. Take advantage of every single day to learn something new, espeically of spiritual value. I seriously LOVE the scriptures. Recently I cannot get enough of the Bible, lots of treasures I never knew about in there! And seriously this week I studied the Book of Mormon for a half hour every day, but studied in SUPER detail, I barely passed 1 Nefi chapter 1!! I will be doing more studying like that when I get home, MAN there is LOADS of stuff in there!! So take advantage of your scripture studies! That stuff changes lives and grants testimonies.

As for Thanksgiving, in the morning I will be on exchanges with Elder Wilson. Maybe we will have to do something to celebrate. :) But I will be sure to cook me a burger or something!! :) But recently I am accepting more and more Peruvian Christmas and eating Paneton. So good. haha ask Jason, I think it is an Italian thing too!!...?

Well, I love you all! Have a GREAT week!!!

Elder Russell

We Must Give Him our ALL

Hello my dear family!!

Well this week was a dandy week! Having all of Friday and Saturday's proselyting taken away due to travel was a little bit of a bummer deal, but the conference was SPECTACULAR and the week still went great!

So about the mission conference with Elder Evans and his wife. I actually don't have my notes with me but holy smokes there was a MOUNTAIN of things he taught me. He talked a lot about repentance. If someone has not repented of their sins, we have no authority to baptize. And nobody can repent until they have faith in and understanding of the Atonement. We talked a lot about Mosiah 18, Alma 5, and D&C 20:37.

He also wanted a lot of participation. Luckily, at one moment, nobody else in the 200 missionaries wanted to participate so I raised my hand to answer a question. We were talking about Preach my Gospel chapter 9, talking about ways of finding. I raised my hand to talk and converse with him about the section "Hablar con Todos" or "Talking with everyone". He then commenced to burn us all (especially the Elders, we are terrible with this...) that we are talking TO everyone, not talking WITH everyone. We just want to get in our message and GO GO GO. But we need to show our love or they will just not care what we have to say! I needed to learn that lesson. Recently knocking so many doors and so many people saying "Oh, well I am Catholic" "Yeah, my parents aren't home" (you mean that gentleman who just ran to hide in the other room...?) "We already have our religion" and everyone always "busy" I sometimes get frustrated and forget the part where we need to love these people with ALL of our hearts, and they need to SEE it!

He also taught about how to ask referrals in ALL interactions. We teach to find, and find to teach. If we listen to what the people say about their friends and family, we can even receive the ability to SUGGEST the people they can refer to us! Teaching to find, as I have been trying to apply it more and more these past days, is an amazing mentality we should have. And I am already seeing the fruits!

Another thing he taught was from Mosiah 18:30. Piura/Tumbes Peru will be beautiful to me, even though it is hot and desert and very different from home, because it is where I came to the knowledge of my Redeemer.

I know you all live in a place VERY highly populated with active members, but always look and strive to find people to refer to the missionaries or who you can personally help get to church. I know the missionary work over there if far different from mine, but try to figure out what you can all do to help in the work.

What was the most delicious thing you ate last week? And...the strangest?

Probably the strangest was... I don't even know what it was. A member gave us, is was ciruela (a fruit, "plum" in english, but very much different here, it has a taste like plum mixed with tomato...) but the member made like a... I dont know how to describe it... I have more left over in our fridge maybe I will send you a picture next week.... but it is like a cobbler more or less. But suuuper sweet. I mean it was good! But a new food. :) hahaha and the most delicious? hmm... last night I cooked that Annie's mac n cheese! That always is tasty after such a long time! And also I love the yogurt here. Especially of Lucuma fruit flavor. :)

 

What was your best moment of the week? And… your worst?

The best, was probably the conference with Elder Evans and then seeing the fruits of applying it Sunday. The power of quality referrals will make the wards explode with new converts, it has been promised to us.

The Worst was probably when we had a follow up visit with a man that I really felt the contact got to his heart, then when we showed up his wife lied to us from the window saying his husband wasn't home... He was home, we saw him through the window before knocking the door... That always gets ya a little down. But OH!! Another AWESOME part was R and M came to church!!! Just for the first 2 hours but seriously it was the BEST! They liked it too, the ward was perfect helping them out and fellowshipping (we were asking everyone to go tell them hi, and we asked a young woman to be Maria's friend that day and that was the perfect match it seems like!) And then that afternoon when we passed by their house I told Maria "if you want, next time you can even invite a friend or two" and she was like "Really? Yeah I have a friend I want to invite!" BOOM!! Seriously, stuff like that is what keeps me going. So awesome. The parents didn't go. Mom, you asked about the mom, I think a lot of people just feel good with following their traditions... She does go to the Catholic meetings quite frequently, which isn't very common among Catholics here, but she does like the visits and I really think we can get her to check it out. That is the goal.

What is the area you are in (Tumbes) most known for?

Seafood. Here lots and lots of people work in the Shrimp, Lobster, Clam, etc producing. Here there are like Shrimp farms, which look like greenhouse ponds. Here all fish and seafood are high quality. Also tourism beaches. The best beaches in all of Peru are here in Tumbes or upper Piura.

A fun little pastime thing I did within the 10 hours of bus rides this week... I learned how to solve a Rubik's cube! Not that there is much time to play with those, but it was a fun little thing this week.

Another fun little thing about church with R and M attending, I was a little nervous about how Sacrament would go for them. During the Sacrament Meeting we had a wonderful boy (active family) sitting in front of us reading his Jehovah's Witness picture book. When I saw that I nudged and motioned for Elder Encarnacion to look, and we both got a kick out of that. And another kid sitting in front of us kept showing us how he can pop his nose (like someone would crack their knuckles... he can do something of the sort with his nose...) But in the end Maria actually got a kick out of that. And when the spirit is there, everything works out great. And I really think this Sunday was a success! A good deal of people in attendance, and we are really starting to figure out well how to all work together to hasten the work.

As for temperature, here we stay pretty close to 36 C during the day, maybe a little hotter, but around there. I would like some snow.

And I just keep celebrating Christmas here! This is my second week buying a Paneton to eat for the week (that is like a Peruvian culture of Fruit Cake, but you would all actually like this I think, haha!) and I listen to Christmas music a lot. You have to send me more Christmas music! Speaking of, Dad, Bar J Christmas sounds like a stellar show, ENJOY!! That is some good music there. :) 

Again, I had a dream last night that I was returning home from the mission after the 2 years were up and I could not speak English for the life of me!! Those dreams are crazy... haha

Well, I think this week I am going to start over my Book of Mormon reading, I figured out a better way to study it so I might try it out, my last form has fallen a little ineffective.

But the church is true!! Jesus Christ leads this church. This is His Church. We are children of God and He loves us. We must give Him our ALL. All of our heart, might, mind, and strength. And if we do, He will bless us now and for the eternities.

I love you all, I wish you the best for this week and that you may grow to know and love God even MORE this week!

con mucho amor,

Elder Russell

Taxi Rides and Haircuts

This week has been very great. I think the quality of the week is easily related to the quality of taxi cars you've used. This week I got to ride in TWO taxis where the speedometer and other gauges actually functioned. Let me tell you, THAT is a high score.

And so was this week!

Except for barbershops here. I got my hair cut today. Today they did it well, but let me tell you, even the most faithful of prayers are put to test there. You have to just go expecting the unexpected. hahaha

So how are you all this week? I hope you are doing well! Dad, I hoped you enjoyed your hamburgers and banana cream pie! When I get back home I will be sure to fry you a Peruvian burger, here they put the french fries inside the hamburger! Or other times it comes with grilled bananas and a fried egg.

So this week was great, you remember that couple I told you about last week who we have activated and got their temple recommends? Well this week we have helped them with their family history and together we got them set with 4 names ready for the temple! And they got more to send, they say they will go with at least 8 names! So I am excited for them!!

Another young man Elder Corpona and I reactivated told me Saturday that he is also getting his interviews to go to the temple trip!!!! I was so excited! He is a return missionary but he hadn't been feeling too set for going back to the temple just yet. But I think the Bishop helped him out and that is just so awesome for him!

This week we had interviews with President Rowley. I love those interviews. He sure does know how to help a missionary out. He really gave me more enthusiasm to keep running hard.

Another thing that was really cool was Elder Encarnacion and I setting up the goals for December for reactivated members and baptisms. We got some good goals and plans alongside. I sure hope we can make it happen. God has his plans, we just gotta give it all we got to make sure it happens.

Well, a new plan that Elder Encarnacion and I have is do more tracting. We visit a LOT of less actives and we could easily have 20 visits with just less actives within a week. But we need more investigators. So we have selected like a 4th of our area and this week we are gonna knock all their doors! So hopefully we get something outta that! We have already knocked a few and got a few fruits for the efforts!

R and his family are getting better and better! Their children want to come to church! We just gotta help the mom who doesn't seem to want to drop the Catholic tradition and the dad just seems to be holding something back. But they are reading and praying and hopefully we can get them to church this week!!

Well, this week we have a mission conference with Elder Evans, a General Authority! He is a Seventy, and something like the head of the Missionary Program, so it is a really big deal! And he only speaks English and Japanese, so that will be interesting to see how that goes! I will be sure to keep you informed on that awesome deal!!

Well, I love you all!! Have a great week!! The Church is true and Jesus is our Lord and Savior. I love him and am really starting to understand His eternal importance. This mission has changed ALL understanding I have about the Plan of Salvation. I KNOW God loves every one of us.

Love you all!! Adios amigos!

Elder Russell

 Scenes from a Banana Plantation...

Awesome Peruvian Birthday Traditions :)

Hello family!                                                     

Well this week was a good one!! A District leader training meeting, the Bishops Banana Plantation service project, a couple new investigators and members all set for ETERNAL MARRIAGE!

SO about the eternal marriage, J and Y who we have reactivated got their temple recommends and on the 23rd are going on the Ward Temple trip to Guayaquil Ecuador to seal themselves for time and all eternity. That is so crazy awesome. Also a recent convert hit his one year mark as a member today and he will also be getting sealed with his wife. We are working hard with a couple families to get more and more names sent for the vicarious work and I just love teaching that so much.

Halloween here was actually Elder Cisneros' birthday!! So in the morning they had to come over to our apartment so Elder Moses could make a call to report English scores of the Latino companions and while they were over we cooked pancakes and we also smashed 2 eggs on his head with a bit of flour too. I got it on video for you all to check out in a year. and for now I will send a couple photos.

SO this week the mission made a couple changes to help us all focus more on finding new investigators. It is really interesting and we are really starting to get a hold of it. We have so many different forms to find new people to teaching and a mountain of ways to street contact. That is a goal of mine for this week to find more ways to street contact. We talked about how Jesus Christ would do a street contact. I just thought about when he told his disciples "Come, Follow me." And they followed!! We as missionaries can have that same effect, we just gotta prepare ourselves right. So hopefully we can reach at least a little closer to that mark.

1) your trip to Piura last week

As I explained, the meeting was superb. It was also an awesome opportunity to go to Chili’s with Elder Robertson! We got chicken fajitas and they were spectacular. A pure southwestern USA meal. All the way here in Piura Peru.

2) the Ward Halloween Party

It didn't happen... We could never get much help of the members. But now we are going to really start and be smarter for an activity around Thanksgiving. I would like to try out a Turkey Bowl of Football. Elder Wilson is all in. haha but we are yet to plan. :) But yeah, we didn't do too much for Halloween other than Elder Cisneros's birthday and I also went on Exchanges with Elder Moses. That was really fun. The next day we also had a glorious breakfast of Dinosaur eggs. I got those packages this week!! haha that took like 2 months!! But that was tasty.

3) the best thing about your week :)

I love going to the Banana plantation. I also get "the Lord's vineyard" references thrown to mind. This time I pondered a lot about the classes of servants. There are really 3 types I focused on. 1. Those who don't work. 2. Those who work, but inefficiently, and 3. those who work efficiently. To work with real efficiency, you gotta keep learning daily. And I really realized that this week, and I am now working to learn more and more daily, especially about the lesson of the Restoration. That is key as a missionary. And I really do love to learn.

Well, I am out of time!!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!! I wish you the best and a tasty pie or cake!! I will microwave myself a cake in your honor. I sure love you Dad, thanks for everything!

I love you all!! Keep learning and studying the scriptures! Doctrine and Covenants, that's awesome family!!! Let's do the New Testament when I get home!! And always study the Book of Mormon daily! :)

Keep up the great work!! Love you!

Elder Russell

 Celebrating Elder Cisneros' Birthday 

(looks like a lot of fun? :)

Stay Obedient!

Hello family!!

Well, today I will be off to Piura! Another District Leader Training Meeting that I love. 

So this week was good! We keep working hard. So I have never really told you about my area. Our area has been a little rough finding families to street contact, which is the new goal to street contact every single couple or family you see. And all the missionaries are to find where the families are, like parks or plazas, for example. In my area we keep having a bit of difficulty because we have not been able to find a family friendly walking area… We've got one park in our area, then the rest is pure residential or bars. I mean it is safe and all, it is just everyone in our area leaves for work or goes to the town center outside our area. so have you all got any ideas on other types of places that we could look into to find families?

But this week I studied a lot of the first lesson and the Restoration. I am so pumped now to teach it effectively. I think sometimes I focus too much on other key aspects of the mission but you really do need to improve constantly your ability to teach the missionary lessons.

Elder Moses had his birthday this week!! His investigators invited his companionship and me and my companion for a birthday lunch! It was awesome!! Such a great family, once they finally get married I am pretty sure they will get baptized. But it was a Peruvian birthday deal, so it included the egg to head smashing and also pushing his face into the cake. He has some fun pictures (I had totally forgotten my camera.... SORRY MOM!!!!)

I attacked Elder Moses with an egg for when he completed his one year mark in the mission. We ran over to their apartment before studies and threw them a breakfast of my special huevos rancheros. I will try to send the video but those things take a long time to send... But I am trying!

Also my companion this week read the Book of Mormon in 3 days!! He became quite a reader! I, however, am in Mosiah. My current study plans are 20 minutes daily of Book or Mormon study marking only the themes of The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then 20 minutes of Preach my Gospel studying especially the Resoration lesson. Then 20 minutes of Jesus the Christ. I gotta control myself with that book, I could just read it all day if I could. And I am also putting in 20 minutes of the Bible as my language study. I rotate between the New and Old Testament, mostly I read the New Testament. Genesis has been a little rough. But right now I am in the story of Joseph so the musical songs come into my mind and help me out. haha

Well, we keep searching! This week one of our recent converts got his temple recommend so he and his wife are going to get sealed this next month! Also J and Y that we got back to church got their recommends and are going to get sealed too!! So that was a highlight this week.

Well, this next week hopefully we can hit with full force! We gotta find more familes ready to accept the gospel. Hopefully this week we can really follow up with some of the good couples we have run into on the street and invite them to baptism!

I love you all!! The Church is true! Jesus is the Christ!! Stay Obedient! And have a great week!!

Love you!

Elder Russell