A Superb Week!

With Elder Villalba

Hello family!!                                                    

This week was a superb one! Yes, I am feeling much better! This week we really started to get to business!

Remember a couple weeks ago I was telling you all that I need to get better about street contacting? Well this week we finally got it. Our mission we have Normas de Excelencia, which are like the ideal goals in what we should be doing and such. And one of them is contacting at least 20 new people every day. Which honestly was crazy to me. I get in the habit of just teaching. I love to teach and not so much contact. But to teach you gotta contact!! So we got to work this week and we contacted TRIPLE of what we contacted the week before! And we gotta do more. But it has been awesome!! You get so tired and you want to just take it easy instead of pretty much running person to person, but THAT, my friends, is the dedication we need.

The RM's wife is doing great. She is preparing to be baptized on the 21st of February. She is so awesome. An ideal investigator and will be a strong member. And it looks like from her family we might get some other baptisms! Her parents are strong Catholics, but there are others that might like to listen!

Can you think of a "tender mercy" that you recognized in your missionary efforts this week?

Well, in contacting more, I think God is helping me realize some of the gifts he has blessed me with, along with helping me realize that I need to be searching to receive and apply other gifts he has promised me. I just need to pray and work in order to receive them. But as a missionary, I have many many gifts available to me, I just need to do my part and I have seen that God always does His part of the promise.

What is something new that you learned this week?

Well, today something just hit me. I have known this, I have grown to LOVE this fact with all my heart, but again it hit me and has given me a new goal of studying this week, but I learned that really the key to EVERYTHING that I am doing, or really the key of EVERYTHING in life is the Atonement. We all need to know what the Atonement is, why we need it, what must we do to personally apply it, and where or by what authority (The Restored Church) can we receive the application to our lives. If we do not understand the Atonement and our relation to it, we cannot live this life to our fullest potential or receive joy in its fullness. So I learned how important it is that I make that message known to EVERYONE.

How are you spending your P-day today?

This P day we had a Multi-Zone activity of dodgeball, soccer, and water balloons. haha Afterwards my companion and I went searching to buy really big cardboard boxes (that story shall come next week. And if all goes as plans, it just might be a mission highlight) and now internet and then hopefully we will be cutting the cardboard or finding where we can get someone to spray paint for us, if we have time... haha today a little more busy than usual. Normally we get to play soccer with the ward. But today we are still at work!

In my District now, we are 3 companionships: 2 Elder Companionships in the Lopez Albujar Ward, and 1 Sister companionship in the Piura Central Ward. And we are the best District ever.

Well, i love you all!! have a wonderful week!! I know that my Redeemer lives.

Elder Russell

Some photos from Christmas Eve...

 With his beloved Panetone :)

Short and Sweet

Hello family!!                                                      

This week was pretty good! I was sick for the majority, but we plugged along and worked hard!!

This week we were able to talk to the lady who came to church last week, she is SUPER AWESOME! We taught the first lesson and she accepted the baptismal invitation. At church a couple days later, her husband was like "don't be afraid to give her a baptismal date. I've been preparing her, she is ready." It happens that Elder Machaca and I already got the plans and this week we are going to set her with a baptismal date. it is hard because she doesn't have a very open schedule for work, and sometimes works on Sundays, so we will work on that. But she is SUPER awesome. Learns real quick and has great support.

You mentioned Carnival last week…Will you tell us more about that?

Well this south American culture comes from Brazil I believe, but around these months is where ALL of the youth are playing with water balloons and filled buckets and water guns. They normally don't mess with the missionaries, but sometimes they even try to soak US. It is a fun activity.

What have you learned about your new companion this week?

He is a great companion, he is dedicated to get running right off the bat in this area. He is a convert of about 5 years. He likes soccer. He is helping me be better at contacting. He is always walking up to the person, and we are helping each other be better in the quality of the contact. He is helping me learn that I need to be humble and patient. He is super awesome, a different personality, but we get along well and we both have the same strong desire for success.

What is the weather like now?

Hot. We are in the summer now. But I mean it stays within 80s and 90s I think. But I hear it might start raining in a couple months... but for now it is just hot. haha

Wow, time FLEW by this internet time today... sorry!! And mom, I brought the wrong memory chip, so I didn't get photos sent this time.... sorry! NEXT WEEK I promise.

Have a great week!! I LOVE the Book of Mormon and I know Joseph Smith restored the true church.

Elder Russell

Time Flies by...

Hello family! I hope you are all doing well!

Well this week FLEW by. Sadly the solid plans all are kinda flopping... D returned to live in Talara. We got her number so I think we will call and set it up so she can get the missionaries to visit her there. We called P and he said he was still stuck in the plantations but would get home yesterday and he would call us. Maybe we will be giving him a call tonight. But the Wife of the family we have been teaching is accepting visits and is receptive! But that family is now hard to reach for work and such, but hopefully this week we get back into constant contact!

We've also got some great new deals coming up! Like in church a man showed up with his wife to church. We didn't recognize him so we walked up to introduce ourselves and get to know him, and wow!! He is a RM from around 2001 of the Lima North Mission and was there with his non member wife! He has been inactive for work for several years but now he is back and wants us to teach his wife (who is also willing!) So that could be a sweet deal there. I just love it when God puts prepared people in our paths. And here I have seen it more than anywhere!!

Well, sad news... Transfers. Well, more like bittersweet news. Because now Elder Villalba is in Tumbes! We were both hoping to have more time together. What we did together was top notch. We seriously spent like 4 weeks studying how to effectively teach the first lesson. Hopefully with my new companion we can swing right into all that we have learned and figured. We were AWESOME. And we became super good friends, lots of laughing too!

But the great part is now I have a new AWESOME companion!! His name is Elder Machaca. He is from Arequipa, Peru. He has 8 months in the mission, and he left Sechura to come here. And right off the bat we are rocking it. We have spent all day laughing! And he is upbeat, humble, and we are gonna baptize thousands. I think we are going to start building baptismal fonts for P day, because the 1 we've got just isn't enough. haha But I really hope to see some miracles this transfer. And I feel so prepared to do it.

Oh! Elder Spencer also left from the district (he is off to Sullana!) And Elder Volcanes came! He is also from Utah and he is a super awesome Elder! 

To answer questions:

What was the funniest thing that happened to you this past week?

Well... Carnival is starting up again here in South America. So all the kids walk about with water balloons in their hands. Sunday, walking away from a family we visited (the 4 missionaries) there was a group of kids with a bucket full of water balloons and others with their hands full of them. Then Elder Mallo starts telling them (jokingly) "Hey!! Soak the gringos!!" Then the kids look over and get super excited and started yelling and starting towards us. They decided to attack the 4 of us. But Elder Spencer and I just booked it as they threw the balloons. We didn't get wet, a water balloon even bounced off my arm that they threw at me! (I remember comparing myself to Samuel the Lamanite. Elder Spencer later started quoting Moroni as the last Nefite :) And our Latino companions got water balloons thrown at them and got their backs soaked! Then they got after the kids and they left. But THAT was a fun little experience.

What are the greatest strengths you and your companion have as a companionship?

Well, of Villalba and myself, I would say our shared desire to improve. It was the first time where my companion and I sincerely and consistently walked out of every lesson and start to analyze "what went well" "What can we do better" "We need to study this topic" "We need to plan how to teach this topic better" "How did applying this teaching skill go" and so on. And we improved SO MUCH. But now I am blessed to have all of the investigators actually UNDERSTAND what this is all about. They know what they need to do and the importance, and it is just up to them if they do it or not. So that was the greatest and my favorite strength.

Best or strangest thing you ate recently?

Last week our pensionista made a soup that was DELICIOUS. It was a little out of the ordinary for the culture here, but it was exactly like Mom's Taco Soup. To the exact. So I downed that soup. Like normally soup doesn't get me excited, but this soup was great and rather like home. haha

Well we've got a good week ahead of us!! Time flies by when you're having fun and working hard!! Hope all is well back home and always keep working to build your testimonies!

Love you all!!

Elder Russell

 With Elder Machaca (my new companion) and Hermano Fasabi (Branch Mission Leader from Sechura)

6 Steps

Hola familia mía!

¿Cómo están? Bueno, esta semana pasó bien rápido pero en serio me siento muy bien, tuvimos mucho éxito.

This week was really good! The whole district really shot up and did well this week! I sure am proud of all us. As for us as a companionship, it was also one of our best weeks.

How many lessons do you teach each week?

Well, I will give this week as an example. We taught 7 lessons to investigators with a member present, 3 recent convert lessons, 6 less active lessons. Those are some of our key indicators. We hit around 20 visits a week I think.... which isn't too bad.

How large is the area that you are working in right now?

It is fairly big... I don't know how to compare it actually. Walking from one corner to the other... 20-30 minutes I'd say... Not too big really. When you are in the bigger city the areas tend to be smaller.

What was your best/happiest experience of the week?

Hmm... actually lots of really awesome stuff happened. Finding people who sincerely want to figure out which is the true church, being able to teach POWERFULLY when the investigator needs to hear it how it is, God letting me know through His servants that he is proud of my efforts of being Obedient, it was just a week full of best/happiest experiences. But I will go in more detail now. :)

We met a new young gal who is a friend of several members in the ward, but finally one brought us to visit her. She has seen that there are so many churches and so many are there for personal gain, and she knows that is wrong. Teaching the Restoration she understood great and is all excited to go to church next Sunday!! Woo!!! We are going to try to invite the whole family to listen now too. The bummer with her is that she is only free Sundays due to studies and all that.

As for P, he got stuck in the Morropon countryside on irrigation duty, so he comes back Tuesday, and there we will start working with him.

With the other family we are visiting, the whole family is doing great! But the father didn't read the Book of Mormon, he keeps pulling out the craziest facts and questions and things that don't really matter. So during one of his big topics about a different church and why they act the way they do, but we then all told him straight: They key is the Book of Mormon. Just read, ponder, and pray. Myself, my companion, the members helping us, even his own family members (also investigators) all had to tell him! haha He is such a great man, tonight we are going to see how he is going with his investigation.

This week we got 2 investigators with baptismal dates! for the 31st of January! But we gotta work real real hard. They are D and M. They have been attending church for a long time now and love it and came to us asking about what you have to do to be baptized. So we've got a goal, but we need to work to help the family really. Pray for them!

Well, I did some big thinking this week about what I told you about, the 6 steps to finding where to be a missionary. I am still fixing kinks, maybe I will get it all golden in time for a homecoming talk (haha) but here is what I've  got:

1. Do I lack a saving ordinance or need help in renewing my covenants?

(It always begins with ourselves. D&C 11:21, I Nephi 8:11 (Lehi ate it before he could invite his family to come too))

2. Who in my immediate family is in need of a saving ordinance or need help in renewing their covenants?

(D&C 75:28, Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

3. Who in my extended family is in need of a saving ordinance or needs help in renewing their covenants?

4. Who of my "Friends of Consistent Contact" is in need of a saving ordinance or needs help in renewing their covenants?

(A "Friend of Consistent Contact" I consider to be someone you interact with face to face at least once a week. ex: Coworkers, Classmates, BFFs, Neighbors, etc. St Mark 5:19)

5. Who of my extended friendships is in need of a saving ordinance or needs help in renewing their covenants?

("extended friendships" I consider to be everyone you would consider a friend or acquaintance who doesn't fit the Consistent Contact requisites. ex: How many of your Facebook friends know you are a Latter-Day Saint?)

6. Who else does the Holy Ghost invite me to help that is in need of a saving ordinance or need help in renewing their covenants?

(Who says that only missionaries can street contact?! :) But the Lord will put in our paths people who are in need of what he have. And if we pray and seach for how we can help them, the opportunities will come naturally. 1 Nephi 4:6)

Read through that one and hopefully you can get a few ideas of people to help out!! Like I said, I am still working on it, and I need for scripture references, but hopefully the Spirit will help you discover what you need to do. If you need help in what to do, "Ask the missionaries, they can help you!" :)

I love you all, the church is true! Have a great week!!

Elder Russell

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