Baptism!

 Hello my wonderful family!!

Well this week was the BEST. V got baptized!!!!! Woo!!! This whole experience is something I will never forget. It was spectacular. Thank you all SO SO much for the prayers!!!!

After her baptismal interview she told me that she wanted me to baptize her. She has been super awesome, this week we also set up a Family Home Evening visit (but it was on Thursday... haha) with our Pensionista and her husband as well as the Ward Mission Leader. We had a lesson about Temples and holy smokes our Pensionista, Hermana S, and her husband, Hermano J, knocked it out of the park sharing their testimonies and experiences in the church and in the temple.

Then Saturday night we had the baptism. Here it is part of the culture to arrive late.... but in the end we got a good number of members there and we had the baptismal service. V was a little nervous but after the baptism we all sat back down and continued the baptismal program. She was starting to get a little emotional and started to tell me she couldn't put words to how she felt, then they invited her to share her testimony with the group. And moments like THAT are priceless. She go up there and shared such a powerful testimony! I know she is going to stay strong and endure to the end.

She then got confirmed the next day (Sunday) and she actually already has a church calling! Bishop assigned her to be in charge of the bulletin board in the church, so when people want to post things, they go to her. And after church that day, she was already to work!! She reorganized the whole thing and set it up really neat! When I saw her already working on it I was caught by surprise how she got to it!! I know it may not be the biggest calling, but you can see she is excited and felt the change through these magnificent covenants. She and her husband are already looking towards the temple! And from the moment I get home I want to start saving up to come back and see them go through. haha This has been such a great experience.

What was the highlight of your week?

see above. It has been a week full of highlights. haha

Who is a person that made a difference in your life this week?

Well, not to make everything based on the baptism... But V and V. I am set on keeping in contact with them all my life. They are super awesome.

Any funny or unusual experiences to share?

Well... remember how I said people here tend to be late?... hahaha well I was getting a little impatient that we were about 15 minutes past the hour set for the baptism and the Bishop wasn't there yet, so I asked a member to call him and tell him we are waiting on him. He asked the member to pass the phone to me and when I answer he replies "Elder? You are waiting on me? But Elder, I can't come... Nooooo I'm here at home sleeping, I am just too tired from playing Soccer yesterday.... I'm not coming...." And I am just sitting there thinking: "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!" and right in that moment he walks into the church building all ready to go. hahaha I was about ready to beat on him. hahaha Our Bishop is really awesome. :) So that was a fun little moment.

Well, that is all the time I have for now!! 

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Russell

Buenos Dias!

Buenos días mi querida familia!

Bueno, this week went real well!! This week we took a whole new turn. Pretty much all of our visits were with people we have street contacted. We are really starting to search for the people waiting for this message. We just need to be prepared to share this message powerfully and clearly so they can receive it. We keep working on how to improve how we teach the first lesson of the Restoration. In my last area a return missionary explained that we need to learn how to NAIL that first lesson down. and from then on I realized that I was teaching weak and now we are really starting to get it down better. Hopefully we can find some new golden people.

So hopefully V will be getting baptized this weekend!! We got her interview set and hopefully all goes well. They have both grown a lot. We sat with them in Stake Conference and they liked it! There was a special conference session in the night (I think it was about the temple) and they decided to go!! V has started to put a lot into it. Pray lots for them so she can get baptized and that all goes well!

Today for part of P Day we watched Ephraims Rescue as a zone. I have become a well loved missionary for having that video. haha but that is one of my favorite movies of all time. It really helps me see what potential all of us have and really what I can personally achieve if I try hard.

What is the most unusual thing you saw this week? 

You know what? We actually saw 2 other tupperware trees YESTERDAY!! But this time we stood there for 5 minutes and watched them chop it down and set off fireworks. Wow, those people go CRAZY for a plastic bucket or plate! They were tearing down those branches! What a fun tradition. I was thinking it would be a fun Homecoming activity if I was still SBO Pres. Maybe you'll have to pass that idea over to Shasta. hahaha

What was the best thing you learned or experienced?

This week? I learn lots of things and they are all the best. haha

But this week my companion and I were talking. We sometimes ask one another questions about doctrine and principles as if we were investigators that make us study and try to find how to answer the questions. For example, we once had a man who told us that Tithing is no longer a thing because Jesus fufilled the Mosaic Law or Why did the church practice polygamy or so on. And I had gotten to the habit of searching obscure proving scriptures from the Bible or something, but yesterday we both kinda got woken up when we brought up the point "Do you believe that Joseph Smith restored the gospel and church of Jesus Christ?" THAT is such a key, because if we learn that this is the RESTORED church, that helps us find the answer to the majority of questions about our practices in the church. So that is nothing too spectacular or new, but that was a key thing I learned this week.

What are you currently focusing on in your personal scripture studies?

Right now I am starting to do that Preach My Gospel attribute activity weekly and focus on 2 or 3 attributes. I am also loving the Book of Mormon (I am starting Alma) which I mark my scriptures in 5 colors for the 5 missionary lessons. and I am trying to get work down on Jesus the Christ. I just get filled with Preach My Gospel and the Book of Mormon sometimes I don't get time, but I have learned a lot from that book!

Well, gotta go!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Elder Russell

"What Can I Do?"

Hello family!!                                                      

another week come and gone!!

Happy birthday Mom!!! I wish you the very best!! If you were here in Peru we would probably throw a couple eggs into your hair and shove a cake in your face, but I hope you find an even better way to celebrate back home! Maybe not as messy... haha

All is going well! This week we got our plans more organized for working with past investigators and future investigators and hopefully we find some quality stuff out of that! We need new investigators. We get those moments where we have so many new people to work with, then the next there is nobody. So we gotta fix that this week. :)

From the pictures last week: Are there missionaries serving in the Morropon area? (And is THAT where you might someday need to wear a coat? :) 

(I'm still trying to figure out why he had to take a coat to Piura, since it is ALWAYS hot!)

There is 1 companionship there. A coat, maybe for the rain... it rains more there but more in the morning and night. But for the cold I really doubt it, it is hot there too. haha

What has been your biggest challenge this past week?

Probably having to deal with the "What do we do now?" thought when it comes. Lots of visits got cancelled when we showed up to their houses. We have grown to have good back up plans set, but even those fall some times! But this challenge has been helping me figure out how to keep myself completely busy even when everybody cancels on us.

What was your biggest success?

Well, the other missionaries in the ward had a baptism!! That was a success for us all! And the church attendance for that day too. V made it there on time and stayed even for the baptism! I didn't get to ask her how it was (we had 2 missionaries in the baptismal service and the other 2 had a quick ward council... I got put in ward council since our ward is giving the example in stake conference next week in how to have an efficient ward council meeting) but it seemed like she liked it! So that was good! We also got a less active and his wife (an eternal investigator who needs to get married to get baptized) FINALLY came back to attending church with the whole family! And another less active family came in late that we have been helping with their goal to go to the temple, and they haven't been coming for a couple weeks. So it was all a big success Sunday!

So yesterday there was Seminary Graduation here in Piura! Our Bishop announced to us that all full time missionaries should be in attendance so we went. And there was only 3 other companionships there, but 2 were part of the program... So we sat in for a bit then left. But in that quick moment I learned something pretty cool!

I don't know if it is a real psychology study or what this came from, but it explains the mentality of Dogs and Cats:

Dogs think: "This human gives me food to eat, a roof over my head, he loves me, He is my God."

Cats think: "This human gives me food to eat, a roof over my head, he loves me, I am his God."

2 equal observations, but 2 different ways of perceiving it. And it relates to us in a way. Maybe we often think "What can my leader do for ME? God needs to bless ME. What should they be doing for ME?" but really we should think "What can I do for the church? How can I show God my love for HIM? What can I do for THEM?"

We should be constantly thinking of "what can I do", be anxiously engaged in a good cause. When we do that and create that mentality, we grow to do great things.

Well, sorry I don't have too much new stuff to tell you all!! The church is true! Jesus is the Christ! I love you all!!

Have a great week!

Elder Russell

"The Funnel Affect"

Hello family!!                                                      

Another week gone by! Things are indeed passing real quick. I've already got 17 months out here... Boy have I learned a lot but boy I would love a whole lot more time!

This week went well! We got a couple new investigators and a couple new groups of people to teach this week! Here in the mission there is like a funnel effect we have been taught. If you want 1 baptism, you should have 3 with a baptismal date. If you want 3 with a baptismal date, you should have 9 attending church. If you want 9 attending church, you should have 27 new investigators each week. And if you want 27 new investigators each week, just think about how many you gotta contact. Now I know that this funnel affect isn't solid 100% correct, but many are called and few are chosen. Hopefully when we teach and contact lots of people we can quickly find those who will commit and progress.

The R.M.'s wife is doing great. She knows the Book of Mormon is true, she is repenting, we found that she has an old friend from when she was in the university that goes to our ward(!!!), and yeah, she is doing real well. We just gotta figure out how to help her since she works on Sundays. So pray that we can help her get baptized! Because she is super excited and recognizes the difference she now has in her life! She's golden. :)

Any more info. about the "really big cardboard boxes" you mentioned last week?

Well, we actually didn't get to do it this week, but this next week we should be doing it. We are preparing a presentation to give in the open mall about the relation between the Book of Mormon and the Bible. The big cardboard Boxes are the books we are finishing up now! When we get that scheduled I will send more your way. It is taking longer than we first thought to get it all planned out.

Do you have weekly service hours that you are required to complete? AND/OR what types of service do you do and how often?

Normally we try to find service within the ward, but it isn't a big thing we do. But recently we have been having big community projects of Piura City. Like Saturday we had a massive Community Service Day of lots of local organizations, and we had 5 missionary Zones participating! We were just cleaning the streets of all the garbage there is. The big projects are becoming more common, but weekly service hours required isn't a thing in this mission.

What is the coolest thing you've seen in the area you're in now?

hmm... Oh!! Like last week (I cant believe I forgot to tell you about this last week!!) we were walking back to our apartment for language study after lunch and we find a Tree planted in the middle of the dirt road. Like in the little intersection. And the tree was loaded with like plastic kitchen supplies (tupperware I think it is called.... right? haha). Here for Carnivales another tradition is that. Then late that night they had like fireworks and music and a big party then they dance and chop down the tree and like a piñata they all run in to collect the tupperware treasures! haha we didn't get to see the real event, but we got to see all the setup (I will send pictures soon) So that was pretty cool.

This week I felt really good in how some of our contacting went through. I know that the Holy Ghost reveals to us what we need to know when we sincerely search and ask for his direction.

The pictures today are some of many from P Day today!! We went to the waterfalls of Morropon!! It is like 1 hour and a half from Piura, like Tambo Grande but even deeper into the mountains! Really awesome over there!!

The church is true!! Love you all!! And Way to go Ensley with her baptism!!!! That will be the key moment of your life and Heavenly Father will bless you. :)

con amor,

Elder Russell