Temple Dedication

Hello my dear family!!

The temple dedication was AWESOME!!! A real nice set of journal entries for sure. The cultural event we were able to watch via satellite and that was really cool to see all the dances of Northern Peru. Piura was one of the first groups and we didn't get the web page set up to watch it until it was about half way in the Piura performance. But they represented real well and it was fun. We got J there and a couple other less actives we got starting to return, so it turned out nice!

And the temple dedication was a real wow. To walk into the stake center was great. They prepared it to be as if it were the temple, and boy did I feel it. And when they started the dedication and said the prayer, WOW. Seriously I have REALLY missed the feeling of the temple. But I felt it there. When I get home one of the first things I plan to do is go to the temple.

President Uchdorf and Elder Bednar came to Trujillo to dedicate it. President Uchdorf was really great and talked a moment about father's day. Because yesterday was father's day, he talked about how yesterday was a perfect day to remember our earthly fathers as well as our HEAVENLY father through this special event. A new way to look at Father's day, wouldn't you say? :)

Really great talks, an amazing prayer, the spirit was way strong! And it was nice to see several recent coverts there as well as a big group of my old Tambo Grande friends showed up!

Well, about the missionary work. A couple of our progressing investigators left town without telling us... one to Chimbote, another to Chulucanas, another to Lima.... bummer deal there but hopefully they contact the missionaries there! 2 of the 3 I think will be living with LDS members actually!

But we got our Nicodemus progressing (E, but just like Nicodemus approached Jesus, E came to us). He is a top notch young man who wants to join the church and we got him reading and praying and he is doing real well.

J will be having his baptismal interview Tuesday, and his date is set for Saturday! This week we got him working on getting a testimony of Thomas S Monson, and I think he got it! We watched that video "On the Lord's Errand" of his life, and we all walked out filled with the spirit. J walked out super edified, so that was a really great lesson. He should be great and set for Saturday!

We got a couple others this week to set baptismal dates. We have a family that is super awesome but the father now is getting sent all around town for spinal problems that have recently come up, so hopefully we can get a hold of them this week! O and his family could be our convert family! Pray for O's health and that we can get a hold of them!

well, I am going to start sending some pics now! Love you all!! Have a great week!!

Elder Russell

Some photos from last week's house building service project

"Trabajar como Locos"

Hello family!                                                                

Well this week was a fun one! A couple changes coming up, and all outlook optimistic! :)

So first off, with JL we decided together to change his baptismal date to the 27th. He was a little sick this week so we didn't get as many visits in as we wished, and with the 21st as the Temple dedication, we thought it best we get him super solid for the 27th. He is pretty much all set, we are working this week to help him get his testimony solid on Thomas S. Monson, and help him advance in his Book of Mormon reading. And we are going to start working on his family a bit harder I think, their work hours have not allowed anything yet really, but we are going to get more serious on that.

As for the tipsy man, we have gotten to know his whole family a bit more. We got to his house last Monday and his sister about his same age got up and walked into the house away from us. When we were walking up they were playing some card game outside. So we get up and sit down and we ask this investigator "How do you play this game?" And he replies, "My sister knows how to explain." And yells out for his sister. She peeks her head out and he says "They want to play cards." And we said "Yeah, Teach us!" It is a fun little game I will be sure to teach you when I get home. We played like 10 minutes but then we had to go for another visit, but now we've gained confidence with the family. He takes a good deal to capture what we teach... so we are going to try to take it real slow and see what we can help him reach.

This week we also came into contact with a new investigator. The other elders were buying a drink or something in front of their apartment one night and a young man walks up to them and says "You guys are Mormon's right? I want to be Mormon. What do I have to do to be Mormon?" Those are always awesome moments as a missionary. He came to church Sunday and also attended the baptismal service of the investigators of Elder Miller and Elder Plata, and we are going to start the missionary lessons this week! His family also seems nice, so pray for E!

What was the best thing about your week?

Well, we were able to pull out the service project clothing Saturday! The Ward is helping to rebuild a member's home, so this week we helped out! We built a wall, put up another wall, and laid out the sheet metal roof. Working with the Bishop, Ward Mission Leader, and a couple Young Adults, it was a good time! I will have pictures next week!

 What are you most looking forward to this week?

THE TRUJILLO TEMPLE DEDICATION ON JUNE 21ST!!!! We are going to be able to participate through satellite transmission! So we are going to see it! They are also going to transmit the Cultural Program the night before, so we are going to try to load up the Ward building that night with investigators and less actives! I am so excited to be close again to the temple. Everyone here is so excited for the Trujillo Temple. You should hear these faithful saints "We are so privileged to now have a temple so close. it only costs 90 soles to get there and it is only a 6 hour trip!" I hope all of you Saints with temples close realize how privileged we really are.

The funniest thing you saw or experienced during the week?

hmm... honestly this week I stressed myself out a little. We had my first Multi Zone Conference as a Zone Leader and we had to conduct the meeting. Also trying to organize the Zone P Day activity we had today with the missionaries from Chulucanas and losing our cell phone and our current replacement doesn't get cell service in our apartment... lots of stories I will surely laugh about when I get home! hahah but probably the best part was doing exchanges with Elder Volcanes in Chuluananas. Chulucanas is a town a lot like Tambo Grande, just a tad bigger. So that was fun to met some people there and teach once again with Elder Volcanes who was in my District in Lopez Albujar. We had some good laughs from all the inside jokes we developed in Lopez Albujar. We are now in process of deciding the Pokemon similarities with the missionaries in the zone. haha

This multi zone meeting was the last one with President and Sister Rowley. To end the conference, all the missionaries got up and started singing "God be with you till we meet again" and we got to shake hands with them once more afterwards. Lots of missionaries got emotional to see them leave. If I didn’t know I live pretty close to them back home I am sure I would have been a tad more emotional as well. They are top notch and they have made unforgettable marks on the lives of all of us missionaries. We will miss them when they go in 2 weeks, but we are also excited to meet and follow President Rasmussen and his wife.

This week is going to be great!! We are working to get a couple new people all set up for baptism!! We are working hard and we know what we need to do to hit our goals. So it is time to "trabajar como locos"

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

Elder Russell

Another Week Gone!

Hello family!!

Another week gone! Holy smokes!

The leadership meeting was great!! We talked a lot about setting goals and making plans, which was a great refresher. We also talked a lot about Family History and how we need to work a LOT harder with our recent converts to send names to the temple.

This week we got 3 new people with baptismal dates! One is a new couple we invited in the first lesson. The young man has yelled out to the missionaries many many times to go visit him as he has walked in the streets a little tipsy... but we finally visited him and he is willing to change and his wife is happy to see it, so we are going to start working with them and see how it goes

The other new person is a member of a LDS family. She is the aunt that has recently moved from Chimbote (if I remember right) and she likes what she sees in the member's family. So we taught her the plan of salvation and she really liked hearing all that and is working for baptism.

Questions:

How far away from the Ocean are you now?

like around 2 hours I think... maybe 1.5 hours.

What are your favorite activities to do for PDay?

Today we played Monopoly again. But I lost rather quickly today... But I like low key PDays, we work hard during the week and I like to take a rest.

How much does your rent cost?

we pay 300 soles per month. So around 100 dollars a month.

Do you have air conditioning?

Nope, but we have a fan and open windows.

Does it ever rain?

There was a rainy season where it rained like 5 or  times. Now it is just cloudy a lot of the time, which is nice.

Do you still play the piano sometimes?

Sadly no... In my whole mission I have not yet had a ward with a piano.

What was the best thing about your week?

This week we found several families where there is like just 1 or 2 baptized members in the family. Part Member Families are AWESOME. So hopefully this week we are going to get a hold of several of these families and reactivate the members and baptize the others! A lot of that came from the help of our Ward Mission Leader and his assistant because yesterday we did splits with them so we could attend our regular visits as well as go track down the inactive converts of the last 2 years. We found lots of work to do! :)

Anything else you want to share? :)

All is well! We are having fun! I am tired, but we keep working.

I finished the Book of Mormon this week!! Tuesday I finished. When we were invited by President Rowley to read the whole Book of Mormon before 1st of July, I was already in Alma 30. So I put that to the side and started over. Now I finished so I am starting back in Alma. I plan to finish before I get home and maybe try for one extra run through if I can! I LOVE the Book of Mormon. I have seen how God gives us Line upon Line, Precept upon precept. I now understand SO much more than I did 2-3 years ago when I was reading back home. This Book is loaded with amazing stuff.

Well, I honestly don't have too much more to tell! We keep working hard and I keep trying to improve! I want to become a better teacher and I've just got to keep working on it!

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

Elder Russell

A Busy Week!

Hello family!!

Well this week I don't have too much time to write.... I've got lots of little things to do here... send off emails in preparation for the week and print stuff out and all that jazz...

But it was a great week!! JL is doing GREAT and progressing! We've got him with several good friends now at church. Today we went out to lunch; the missionaries, J, S, and JC (2 other members that help us out a lot in visits and friends of JL) and that was really fun. He is still going strong for the 20th. We are trying to get him to go send his resume to the auto-sufficiency organization that the Piura Central Stake has so he can get his name out there for people looking to hire here in Piura, so I think this week we are going to help him figure that out.

The other missionaries are also doing well! The sister missionaries are teaching a young man who is a real character! This Sunday I sat with him the first 2 hours and I had to teach him how to read a hymnbook. some little things in the church can seem so natural, yet to others it is something completely new.

This week I got to go out and proselyte again with Elder Plata, my old companion from Tambo Grande! That was fun to see how he is doing. He is the same old Elder Plata with such a fun attitude yet he has grown in his power to teach.

Hopefully this week we are going to get a couple new people with baptismal dates!! We need it desperately!!!!!

This week a miracle happened!! Have I told you about D? She is an 8 year old girl whose grandma is a member but her mom isn't. Her mom gave permission for her to be baptized but never comes out so we can talk to her. Well... Monday we went over with the video of the Restoration. We asked D to go call for her Mom just to come watch a video with us. And FINALLY she came!!!!!! So we watched the video and Elder Mallo and I were Praying during the whole video that the spirit would just touch her heart. And it looks like it did!! Afterwards she started asking questions about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and we were able to set up a following visit for tonight to teach her the first lesson!!! So it is a miraculous start, and hopefully we can help out this entire family. :) 

As for this week: Leadership Training Meeting, meeting with the Stake President, Zone Meeting, apartment inspections, it will be busy but AWESOME!!!

Congrats to Connor!! THAT will be such a great experience! And a culture change for sure!! haha ¡Felicitaciones!

Well, that is all for this week! Love you all!!

Elder Russell