#graciasaqueÉlVive

Another week just flew by!!

Well, yesterday M went to church again!! That is going well, she accepted baptism but when we invited her for a date she did not accept. She is also really distracted about a son who is out of the country and out of contact, so prayer is a big theme we have been trying to help her with. But I think this week we are going to get some good progress and keep helping her out!

M didn't make it to church yesterday because his wife was having some difficulties with health, but this week we are going to try to get a hold of him!

For conference we will all be in the Stake Center! I am so excited for General Conference, during our weekly planning session we decided that we will be teaching "Follow the Prophet" to pretty much everyone to get them excited to go to Conference. haha so hopefully we get a good turnout!

I have some photos to send you next week!! Last week I forgot to tell you that in the Multi Zone conference we did sketches of the Book of Mormon. Our Zone got assigned the story of Alma and Amulek. I was assigned the part of the angel (since I am the whitest one in the zone... haha) and everyone got a kick out of that one. :) So get excited for next week!!

Also next week, transfers!...! We'll see what happens there.... haha I know that the Lord guides His missionaries to where they need to be so I am excited to see what comes! :)

Are there any different Easter traditions in Peru that you don't see here at home?

Mostly you see a lot of Catholic traditions, in many places they even do reenactments of the life and death of Christ. And the food this time of year has its culture. The most well known is the Mala Rabia that I told you about. Delicious.

Tell us about your Zone activity of watching Meet the Mormons!!

Holy Smokes, that is one good movie!! We gotta get a hold of that here! We all really enjoyed it, I really did too personally!! It has got me thinking a lot. Really they are all just normal people but the video makes  you feel like they are Heroes. But really all it is is that they follow the example of Jesus Christ. And I guess in some ways that does make you a Hero. :)

Funniest thing you saw or experienced this past week?

Well... it wasnt very funny in the moment but now it has got me laughing... :

Saturday night we were walking to a house to visit a family and in that part, the street is lower than the ground and they call this street "the drain", because when there is rain in runs down the street into a marshy river then out farther to a pong. Well, a sewer pipe (I believe it was sewer, or at least very gross water) was opened and overflowing down the street. Where the street ends and changes into the river was rather high. And that is a passage way for the people. We saw a mother and her daughter passing through all this gross water passing their ankles. So I was like "Hey, Elder Machaca, lets go get some of those bigger rocks and form stepping stones so the people don't have to pass through that stuff." So we get working on that. And we both had brought over 2 big rocks to place, when my companion just chucks if right off into the middle. I am standing right by this river and SPLASHHHH!!!! My companion soaked me!! I will admit I wasn't too happy for a moment. But yeah, we finished the steps and carried on to the visit. But from the second I saw that rock hit the water the thought came to my mind: "This is going to be a fun little story for your email." haha so there is a little tale for ya. :)

Really this week I have been thinking a lot about who I am and who I am becoming and who I want to become. I think that is one of the things that hit me again during Meet the Mormons. 2 years ago I would not have necessarily seen anything too interesting about their religious factor, but now I finally get how special that is and how I want that to be the key to my life. I got to bear my testimony yesterday and I testified of Jesus Christ. I never saw how He suffered on the cross. I have never seen the marks in His hands, at least not yet. But somehow I KNOW Him. When I contact people I often ask them "How is your personal relationship with your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?" because now I know that we can and should be on a personal relationship with God. This Easter I plan to place some life goals for myself on how I can strengthen that relationship even more throughout my life, and I invite you all to ponder and pray and do a little analysis on how you are on life's highway - are you gonna make it to where God wants you?

I know that our Heavenly Father loves us. I know Jesus of Nazareth died for us. He suffered all pains afflictions and temptations for his people. Now He commands that we repent and be baptized in His name, having a perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel. I know that this is His restored Gospel and we hold His Priesthood authority.

I wish you all the best of Easter!! This is a very Holy Week to remember Him. Love you all!!

Elder Russell

#becausehelives #graciasaqueÉlVive

"Difficulties are opportunities to progress"

hello my dear family!!

Well this week has gone rather well!! We are getting ahold of a few progressing investigators, which is always real awesome. :) We got 2 investigators to church Sunday!! One is the lady which we found last week thanks to a ward member who introduced us. We have had 2 lessons and she has already attended a Relief Society activity and church, and she seems to have liked it! She is a single mother with 3 sons I believe, one is 7 who also attended church, another 17 year old who is always working and we haven't gotten ahold of yet, and another one living in Argentina. She is really great, we really think she could reach baptism so we are gonna try to place a date this week!! Pray for her!

Another awesome guy we got a hold of is M. We contacted him one night while he was sitting in his car. He is like 85 years old. He has 25 kids and 74 grandkids. Yep, that is no typo - 25 kids and 74 grandkids. and a couple great grandkids already as well. hahaha but holy smokes he is AWESOME! He is just so super excited to learn! In the second visit he asks us, "Hey, you are the religion with the Book of Mormon, right?" We said yes, and he tells one of his grandchildren "Go bring that black book in the cardboard box" I am thinking "black?..... they are blue here..." then he brings a Book of Mormon with a name signed inside from 1991!! The Book of Mormon that we use now started printing in 1992, so that was pretty cool. And he is starting to read it. And he made it to church!!! .....with only 15 minutes left in the 3rd hour block... haha but he even got to participate in the class and he said he enjoyed it. What happened is that he was searching and searching for the chapel and then apparently his car broke down so he had to take it to a mechanic and THEN he made it to church. hahaha but he made it!! He's gonna go places. :)

Mom, I learned about "Come, Follow Me" because my companion has a DVD of video segments to use in YM and YW clases. A RM from Mexico got me excited to watch some of the training because he has been helping us figure out how to ask more inspired questions during the lessons. I really do admire the form of teaching. And my companion and I are getting better at asking questions. Now we are starting to work on using the scriptures better.

Favorite "Peruvian thing" this week?

Actually one thing I liked this week was a lot of new phrases or sayings I learned. With different church leaders you hear new phrases. This week in church here are some of the cool new thoughts I got ahold of:

"The church is not a Salad Bar. It isn't "Oh, this commandment I like, I will take and apply that. Oh, that commandment is a hard one, I will just leave that there. We go to church to apply all that we learn"

"Be like the mama eagle, not like the mama pig. When the mama pig is happy, she goes to the mud hole and splashes around. And her baby pigs go and do the same. But when the mama eagle is happy, she tries to soar as high up as she can. And her baby eagles go and do the same."

"Difficulties are opportunities to progress."

just a couple fun ones. We have really good church leaders here.

Any big (or not so big :) events coming up in the mission that you are looking forward to?

Next P Day we are gonna watch MEET THE MORMONS with the Mission President as a Multi-Zone activity!! I know that is nothing new for you all... but for us, that is is a big event. haha

Best part of your week?

Hmmm.... I am really enjoying my Book of Mormon reading! I am blazing through it, I think I started too fast and wasn't marking as much as I could to really study diligently, but now I am finding a good balance. I am already in Jacob. I need to finish before July 1st. But I plan to mark this book then go back and finish how I was studying my other Book of Mormon, marking the 5 missionary lessons. I left off in Alma 32. But I LOVE the Book of Mormon. It is the best. Especially 1 and 2 Nephi. Nephi teaches with such clarity and his teachings are SO COOL.

Well, that's all for now!! Have a great week!!

Elder Russell

Best Mission in the Whole Wide World!

Hello family!!

Another good week!! This week we were actually able to get 7 new investigators to work with!! THAT was a good score there. It came really half and half: street contacts and member references.

For example for one, a Sister came to help us visit a certain new family, but there weren't able to take the visit in that moment. It just so happens that we were talking to her as we walked over to the visit about her missionary goals, and how she wasn't sure who she could introduce us to yet.

So we are standing outside this house trying to think what to do, and she had walked off to go talk to a friend that lived acoss the street. And she flags us over and we are introduced to a top notch new investigator!! We are just starting with the lessons with all these people so we will see how far they get but the members are doing GREAT at helping us out.

You mentioned English classes that you teach -- I don't believe you've told us about that! Could you expound a little? :)

well... Elder Volcanes (from Clearfield) and I teach English classes in the Chapel Wednesday nights. It was the Bishop's request as an idea to find new investigators. It has been fun, we have been teaching pronunciation which is something everybody suffers with in learning and they love to learn tongue twisters. haha but so far we have not had many people in attendance... I have to work my patience because when I don't see results I just want to pack up and try the next thing right away, but I think we are gonna keep working on it and see how it goes. But it is fun! I need all the practice I can get! I have moments where I just CAN'T speak English!!!! haha

Any miracles or tender mercies that you've seen recently and can share?

Hmm... well actually talking with Elder Machaca we have been talking about the miracles we have had with finding people. After V got baptized, we were kinda like "....now what? We have nobody progressing..." But now we have a list full of people to teach and help get a testimony of the Restored Gospel, and I know that this has all come through our consistent prayers, talking with everyone, working with members, and being persistent. I think being persistent is something I need to work on a bit more, and my companion helps me out with that. :) But really, it has been a miracle to see all these interested people come out of the woodwork.

Now we just need to get them all MARRIED. Pretty much everyone here just lives together. So we are working on that.

What was the funniest or most unusual thing you experienced this week?

Well one thing that has been pretty fun for me is grocery shopping here. Today I finally found after a year and a half of living here the following items: (although I did not buy them because they are super expensive here) Pickles, Relish, Jalapeños (those I did buy! For our hamburgers and chili dogs we whip up!), and Ranch dressing. Those are just a few miraculous finds... you have to go look in the bottom corners of the shelves to find these kinds of things, and there is only one place in all of Piura you can find that stuff. Crazy how different it can be living on the other side of the world.... :)

Another thing I am gonna work on this week is improve how I teach. I love finding new and better ways to teach. And this week I finally got a hold of the "Come, Follow Me" teaching program. I have been watching the training videos. Even though it is for Sunday School teachers, it is pretty much what Preach My Gospel teaches, but I have really liked what I have seen and learned.

This week we are gonna keep working hard!! Hopefully we can help a couple people find that this the true church of Jesus Christ. I know it is. OH!! I never told y'all, I finished reading Jesus the Christ. And now I will be doing double time of the Book of Mormon! I gotta end for June, it is a mission goal, and we started about 2 weeks ago! Now I am ending 1 Nephi, and I love that book! :)

And tell Austin C. to get prepared because he is going to enter the Best mission in the whole wide world!!! I will get thinking about advice.... But I bet I will see him in the office his first day here then!!! haha that will be awesome:) 

Have a great week!! Love you all!

Elder Russell

Morropon Round 2

Hello my lovely family!!

Wow!! It sounds like a real eventful week!! Congrats Dad to the new calling!! Being Bishop is such a key role in the church and I am real excited for you!! From the sounds of it, it can be a tiring deal but your relationship with our Lord and Savior will grow miraculously I am certain!

Today we went to Morropon again, the photos have been sent your way.

This week went well! We are working on a couple new people. We found someone who used to be the missionaries' pensionista several years ago and it sounds like she was at the point of getting baptized but it did fall through. So we are working on her testimony of the Book of Mormon and hopefully we can get her feeling prepared to get baptized!

As for new callings this week, V actually just got called as the Ward Young Women's Secretary! We haven't talked to her about how she feels yet about the new calling, but it will be such a great thing for her! And right now with all the youth getting ready for Trujillo dedication, she has been thrown in at a bit of a busy time! But she will be awesome! Mom, you'll have to send me a note with all your Young Women tips to pass along to her! :)

V also helped us with visits yesterday and is TOP CLASS - seriously his testimony of the Book of Mormon is strong! So we got an awesome new power source there.

to answer some question/comments....

About the flyers you were preparing to hang up last week... any success with that?

I will send you a picture. But we put our information on flyers in what is like a lower class style of a Hospital. There is one like 2 blocks from our apartment so we put the direction to the chapel and our phone number for those people who are looking for help facing difficulties. So far we haven't gotten a call, but we will see what the future brings!

What are some good things you've learned about your companion?

I have learned a lot. But with him we have learned how to laugh and keep working. I think we have both gotten stressed and we can both be a little stubborn, but we have learned together how to get over the stumbling blocks that are constantly coming and just keep doing all you can! We have a million inside jokes now. When I get home, you'll have to ask me about them, the new one is "the Gorillas and the Pirates". THAT is a fun story for when I get home. :)

The best thing about the past week?

Seeing the fruits of working with the members. We are now working to have a quality relationship with EVERY active family in our area. AND then create Missionary Goals with every active family. We have now taught 12 members and helped them get to work finding families. And they are awesome! The members are power houses just waiting for the invitation!! The vision I am starting to see is that every member/family has their family referral who they help us with teaching, fellowshipping, and, in the end, baptizing. so that has been really awesome!!

Another best thing... I will be finishing Jesus the Christ this week!!!! That book is the best book EVER. Well.... other than the Book of Mormon and such, but I have learned loads from that book.

The hardest thing about the past week?

Hmm.... I don't know really! Sometimes members cancel to accompany us last minute, or sometimes investigators end up not wanting anything to do with us, and we get tired, but that's all just temporary stuff!!! We keep progressing and we are finding those around us who need this gospel!

Well this week we are gonna work some miracles!! I was reading about when the First Apostles received the Holy Ghost and the difference you see in the class of men they were. Well, this week I plan to find and magnify that power and this week we are going to work hard!

I hope you all have a great week!! Keep praying!! Read the Book of Mormon DAILY!! The Church is True!! :)

Love you all,

Elder Russell

Arts and Crafts

  Hello!!

This week went well! A few new things going on and great moments.

What is a "regular" Sunday like for you? Do you participate much in Ward activities?

On Sunday we've got church from 8 until 11. Then we have ward council until 12. At 1 we have lunch with the members. Then we proselyte until 8, where we call in our weekly reports. I love Sundays, the ward here is fantastic. It really is one of the stronger wards in Piura. We normally don't do much with the ward activities unless they invite us or need our help, but we do teach English classes every week and play Soccer with the Single Adults and Young Men every week on P Day.

What is your favorite "Peruvian thing" this week?

ooooh!! Friday our pensionista served us something that is called "mala rabia" I believe it's spelled like that, and I think if you translate that to English, its called "bad rabies" or "bad anger" or something like that.... hahaha but it is a traditional plate of Catacaos (a city in Piura) for Easter and Holy Week, that time of year, and it is tradition to eat it on Fridays. But it is smashed banana with cheese. My companion doesn't like it, but I have been craving it ever since. so that was a fun Peruvian thing! :)

Any new and/or memorable experiences to share?

I've got 2 to share that I have on my mind!

Well, we have a recent convert who started living together with her ex-boyfriend. They aren't married so that creates a problem we are trying to help them solve. The future husband is not a member but he likes what he sees of the church, and he is investigating the church. And we are helping him get over a couple struggles. So we got creative this week and we made some stuff to help them out. We made a calendar to help him mark his progress in overcoming his challenges and we will be marking the calendar with him, and we modge podged "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" to a little vase that we put 2 plastic roses. The roses come from a story a member told them relating to the need of making your family a priority. And it was to help them constantly remember the goal: get married and become an eternal family. They live in a very humble home and even though the gifts were little and not the highest class, they cried to see what we are doing to help them. You'll have to keep them in your prayers that they can get all set to get married. I'll always remember this family in all we have been trying to do to help them progress.

This week there was an 8 year old who got baptized this Saturday. It wasn't a convert baptism, his parents are converts, but we were talking with that family earler that day. The father asks if we had baptismal clothes they could use and luckily my companion helped with that, and we also offered to go fill the baptismal font for them. Long story short, we ended up creating the baptismal program, conducting the baptismal service, being the witnesses, ...

In the end the father thanked us and told us if it weren't for us the baptism would not have happened. hahaha Sometimes the members need a little extra help but it has been such a blast taking part and in the end really getting to know all the members! So that was a memorable experience, taking part in the baptismal service. :)

Sorry,  got to go!!! I need to hurry and prepare a couple of flyers we are going to post around to find new investigators!! Love you all!!

have a great week!

Elder Russell

Collin's crafty side coming out :)

 Oh dear!!