Una Semana Mas para Brillar! October 24, 2016

Man, this doesn't even feel real right now. This is my last week to work my Heart out!

With " All of my heart, might, mind, and strength." Doctrine and Covenants 4: 2

Wow, this week has just been speeding by!
We had a crazy week. So sorry I didn't write y'all last Monday and I did on Thursday because of Columbus day and then we had mission Tour on Tuesday.

Elder Keetch of the Seventy and His wife (they are from Pleasant Grove and live in Highland area)

came and spoke to us. They are so awesome and ill probably see them around when I return home:) Those from Pleasant Grove, y'all know Taco Amigo? His parents own it... pretty cool:)

Sister Keetch spoke about

1. A knowledge and a Love for God 2. A knowledge of and Love for the Scriptures. 3. An Increased Love for Parents 4. A love for the people among whom you labor 5. Appreciation for Hard work 6. Assurance that the inspiration of the Holy Ghost is guiding you always 7. Understanding importance of team work! 8. Value of personal virtue 9. Faith to Act! 10. the humility to pray.

It was so good:)

And Elder Keetch talked about Ether 2:14 and how The Lord sometimes asks us, " how are you going to do it?" He wants us to figure it out. He has given us a mind and the ability to think for a reason. The Lord Trusts us and lets us figure it out for ourselves!

It was such a good meeting. And then we went on Exchanges! It was super crazy! We were out of our area for too long:/ But it works out!

A less-active met with the Branch President yesterday because he is preparing to receive the Aaronic Priesthood! We are so excited for him. And also another Less-active family came to church and they are working on becoming more active! They are the cutest little Spanish family and their daughter is getting baptized this Saturday! We are very excited.

I gave a talk in church yesterday and Our investigator who is preparing to be baptized and working through some things came. He said he cried when I shared my testimony:( He will get baptized one day. I probably will miss it but all that matters is that he is truly preparing to make that sacred covenant with out Heavenly Father. He truly is working so hard and he has changed so much!

We can get back in contact with Darvy! We are hoping everything has worked out between him and his wife and that we can start teaching again but ill let y'all know more next week!

Also, we are praying that Priscilla will be able to go to the Temple this Saturday to do baptisms for the dead for the first time! She is so excited to do her mothers name!

Man, good things are happening. We had 9 new investigators last week that we are working on to progress in the Gospel!

I spoke this past sunday about how the Gospel has influenced my life and my mission. I cried literally the entire time!

2 Nephi 31:13

Sorry not much time! I love y'all!

Got to see sister Rosenvall and Aviles!! At mission tour

Mission Tour with Elder Von G Keetch (of the Seventy) and Sister Bernice Keetch

See ya'll in 2 days (October 17, 2016 sent October 26, 2016)

Ya.... just realized that my last letter didn't send and was still in the Drafts... I am so sorry.

Wow. This has just been a rollercoaster of emotions this week. My Heart is just tearing apart into two different directions. At least that is what it feels like. I have come to love everyone here as family. They each mean so much to me! Everyone that we are teaching, it has been so hard to say good bye. But I just have to tell myself that it ain't a good bye, it's just a see you later.

The baptism that we had on Saturday was so beautiful:) Angelica is such a sweet heart and she was so excited to be baptized. This was such a good thing for their family as they are striving to be more active in the church. Their next goal is to get sealed together in the temple as a family:) Such a beautiful thing and I will be there.

It is such a blessing that I just live 17 hours away and that we have technology so that we can keep in touch:)

Priscilla has received her Temple Recommend! We are so excited for her! We didn't find time to go to the temple with her this week but that was just fine. All that matters is that she has a date to go and that she goes:) That will be such an amazing day! She says she will Skype me the day she goes and tell me all of the amazing and beautiful feelings that she will feel when she has that wonderful opportunity to do that baptism for her mother. Wow. The Gospel is just so true.

It just breaks my heart to leave those who are preparing so well for baptism! Y'all remember Darvy? He still keeps in touch which is good and I know that one day he will get baptized when the time is right. He needs and is searching for that happiness and he will find it with the Gospel:)

And Tracy is working hard towards his baptism even though he has no support from his family. He knows that it is true and he has changed so much from it! Our last meeting with him was last night and he talked about how much he has changed since he has been meeting with us. Wow. He knows how much Heavenly Father loves him and wants the best for him and he knows that this is the right way. It is so hard not to let a tear slide down my cheek. These people are amazing.

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to be a missionary for the Savior Jesus Christ and help him in his vineyard. I know with out a doubt that this Gospel is true. I know that the Savior Jesus Christ loves us so much that he gave his life for us upon the Cross. I know that the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ is real and it is meant to heal us and strengthen us. I have seen proof of this on my mission. But most importantly I have received a witness of it for myself that it is true by the Power of The Holy Ghost. It is true. And I can not deny that.

I know that Heavenly Father is helping us prepare to return back into his presence because he wants us all there. That is all that he wants. But we have to decide for ourselves if we are going to be there. Its our choice. He isn't going to take that away from us and he isn't going to force us. I LOVE this Gospel. I LOVE the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saint and I know that it is true!!!

I Will see y'all soon:) 2 Nephi 9: 54

"And now, My (brothers and sisters), I would speak unto you more; but on the morrow I will declare unto you the remainder of my words. Amen."

I love y'all so much! Continue to live the Gospel and share it with others daily! We have so many opportunities!

This is not the end of my missionary work.

Con amor- Hermana Russell

 Last brisket meal at Hodies BBQ with sister Washington:/ man im gonna miss brisket

Tracy, workin towards baptism!

Gonna miss the Baumart family! They are amazing! Their son leaves on his mission to Bolivia in December!

2nd to Last week in the Garden! October 12th 2016

Hello! 

Wow! So we had a pretty crazy week. We had a baptism scheduled on Saturday last week and he was so excited! But we were going through the baptismal questions and he is going to need a little more preparation which is perfectly fine:) Repentance is amazing and Heavenly Father sometimes takes time with us. Tracy is really working hard to overcome some Word of Wisdom issues and everything. 

He has been coming to church and working towards making that sacred covenant with our Heavenly Father. He got a little discouraged when we had to push back his baptismal date a bit but he knows its for the better!

Priscilla is working on going to the temple for the first time to do baptisms for the dead! We are so excited! She has a calling in the Branch and she is loving it! She is going to help out with teaching in Relief Society!

Also, One of our new investigators came to church and brought her daughter! They are going to get baptized. Plus some less-actives are coming back to church and their 8 year old wants to be baptized:)

Another Returning less-active is making preparations to receive the Aaronic Priesthood!! He is so awesome and he is Tracy's cousin.... small world:)

Life is just awesome here:) We are teaching some other really amazing people but i dont have a whole lot of time!! I love y'all!! 

D&C 105:3 and 4- Unite with one another because it will be eternal!!

Chao and Love you ALL,

Hermana Russell

General Conference Miracles**** 10/3/16

Alright, we have had an awesome week:) There was a couple days where it got a little rough because our appointments feel through but you know what, with all that God has blessed us with, We can not complain:) That is how we notice all the Good God does for us as well. God is Good.

So as y'all know we had Conference on Saturday and Sunday this past weekend and I loved both sessions but Saturday was probably my favorite:) Answered many of my questions. What a blessing it was as well that it was all centered around missionary work! It was a great last General Conference to have as a missionary:)

Tracy is doing well. He is so prepared and we talked to him about moving his baptismal date forward. We committed him to pray about it and see what Heavenly Father thinks. We feel pretty good about it:) Hopefully he will be baptized not this week but the next. He is so ready. He is already doing missionary work with sharing the book of Mormon with his friends at work and with his family. And he is literally related to everyone in town. His cousin is actually a Returning Less-Active in the branch who is receiving the Aaronic Priesthood pretty soon here:) (sorry if I already told y'all that and I'm repeating myself)

But things are going pretty great. We are headed to the Temple on the 15th with Priscilla to do Baptisms for the dead for her first time! She is working on obtaining a Temple recommend.

We are working on finding others to teach as well! We have planned on doing a lot more contacting this week:) And I LOVE contacting. Especially in Dalhart because everyone is just so prepared here.

Darvy contacted us Saturday night and asked if he could come to church. We said, "well I mean, if you really want to...." No im totally kidding. We jumped up and down and said, "yes! Of course you can come to church with us!" But in a professional way don't worry:) We were so excited and it was perfect because it was General Conference Weekend so he got to see the First session of the Sunday session and oh my goodness, it hit him hard. He has been really struggling with home life and Elder Nelsons talk just hit him. He tried hard to hold back tears but we still saw them:) He is so awesome. He has such a desire to learn more about the church and be baptized but he has to figure everything out with his family. He is working on finding another place to live. Please say some prayers for him:)

Also some of our Spanish Less-actives came and watched conference with us at the church:) they are so cute and they had their ear phones and listened from their iphones. So grateful for technology.

Conference:

 

The things that really stuck out to me in Conference was J Devn Cornish when he was talking about how "All the Lord expects of us is to try, but we have to really try!" Heavenly Father isn't going to sit back and just give us everything. He wants us to learn and to grow because he loves us:) Isn't that what we all want for our own children??

There is a quote that comes to mind by Thomas S Monson I think it is? But he said, "The only time He is disappointed with us is when we stop trying and don't give our best effort." That is so true and I might have already share that but I just love that quote.

And when Elder Bassett was talking about how "The Holy Ghost aids in our Spiritual Growth". Let him Help you:) Just listen to his promptings. That is what he is there for:)

 

I just love conference! Especially when we got to stand up and sing "Called to Serve!" so emotional. Cant wait for the next conference:)

 

BTw, we have mission tour this week so ill let y'all know how it goes!

Lots of love,

Hermana Russell

Went to Mazios after first session on Saturday:)

Zone Training

Life is Great :) September 26, 2016

I am so grateful to be a missionary! God has shown us so many amazing miracles this week! We of course had a great time at Zone Conference. Our leaders are very inspired.

I of course had to bare my testimony because this is my last transfer which did not go well. I was crying so hard that I'm positive they had no Idea what I was saying. I probably sounded like Dory off of Finding Nemo when she is attempting to communicate with the wale. Owe well, at least they felt how much I love being a missionary. And how lucky all of them are that they get to be a missionary for however long they have left. I hope every missionary is using their time wisely because it is short. Jacob 7:28. It goes like a dream. Literally.

But man, our investigators are doing great. One of our investigators is getting baptized on the 29th but he is progressing so well so we are going to move it forward a couple weeks. He is awesome!! He prayed about the Prophet Joseph Smith and he received an answer in a way I have never heard of. He said that he was woken up by someone @ 3 am in the morning and he is pretty sure it was his mother who has past away. He says that he felt so good and that Joseph was truly called as a prophet. We know and he knows that his family is helping him on the other side to come to know the truth! We explained that we can do his family names in the Temple and what an amazing day that will be:) We taught him about the Word of Wisdom at the Wright's home last night and he has fully committed to give up Chewing Tobacco (which is not easy.) and to give up drinking Tea. He has no problems with the other ones. He is so committed! He has told all of his family about his baptism and he is really excited. He thanks us every lesson for helping him to change his life. But its not us, it is Our Heavenly Father:) What a miracle it is to see this change in him. We tell others about His baptismal date and its a small town so everyone knows who he is and they are all shocked! He used to be a Saul. He was very angry at God but he has totally changed his life around! He has an amazing and tear jerking story and he is going to be such a great member of Christ's Church. we am so excited for him!

Oh and we have to take a break teaching Darvy because he needs to work some things out with his family but then we will get to start teaching him again:) He is still working to finish the Book of Mormon. Something has been trying to keep him from reading and he can feel it.

We have some other people and Families that we are working with whom a member referred us too. Miracles come when you work with members in the missionary work. Its not the members helping the missionaries with the work its the Missionaries helping the members with their missionary work! That's how God has made it to be and when you do it his way, it works out a whole lot better:) We are so excited to continue to help the Dalhart Branch!

We love our amazing family that is here.

One thing that Heavenly Father has done for me while I have been on a mission is that He has helped me to receive Spiritual Eyesight. It is something that has changed everything that I can see! And has helped me to see a whole new miraculous perspective on things. I feel as though when I entered into the field, Heavenly Father placed some glasses on my eyes that have taught me how to recognize the spirit and to follow his guidance. I will never take off these spiritual Glasses. Matt. 13:16
"Those who have felt the touch of the masters hand somehow can not explain the change which comes into their lives." -Thomas S. Monson

Chao and love you ALL,

Hermana Russell

It took Tracy (who is getting baptized the 29th) 8 hours to make this and he gave it to us. He is so awesome!

The Rojas's cut our hair! Mine was getting bad. They are the cutest little Mexican family:)

Life is Great! September 19, 2016

Man this week was crazy!

We picked up our trainee and we just have been working so hard!

We have lots of studying to do though. We do 1 hour 12 week, 1 hour my plan, 1 hour of Spanish. plus our 2 hours of morning studies. That is 5 hours everyone. We try to split it up so we don't go crazy:)

But its amazing how each of our investigators have just been progressing so well!

One of our awesome investigators who referred himself to the missionaries came to church and he wants to get baptized the 29th of October! But he is so ready so we will probably move his date forward. But it is all in Gods timing:)

Priscilla's baptism was just so amazing. So emotional and the spirit was just so strong! Then in Sacrament meeting she was confirmed with the Holy Ghost. Wow. I just can't believe how blessed we were to get to see her baptized and help her prepare for that covenant that she made with our Heavenly Father. But it is only the beginning. She is preparing to go to the temple October 15th! We are so excited for her and then when her family gets sealed next year! Wow. Before Priscilla got baptized we had one last lesson and we talked about Why baptism is important. D&C 20:37 This scripture describes Priscilla so well:) She is the most humble person I know and so willing to do everything the Lord asks her too. Priscilla is now able to enter into the Presence of our Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for her and her decision to be baptized. She is a huge example of being humble. Also patience. She has been waiting for 7 years for this opportunity!

 We have a less active family who has been coming back to church and they are adorable! Their daughter who is 8 years old is preparing to be baptized as well. we are so excited! They are the cutest little Mexican family!

We are teaching English classes for our members and investigators who are trying to learn English. It is just the cutest thing. They are all the best and we have so much fun teaching that class!

Darvy is doing awesome! He has definitely been feeling y'all prayers so thank you so much! He went out of town and we were a little worried but now he is back and we are still teaching him. His family isn't a huge fan of us so we are just trying to figure out a way to meet them and show them that we aren't all that scary. They are the Baptists who have grown up with Anti-Mormon literature. So its been hard cracking that shell but we will keep praying and trying. Heavenly Father will prepare them for us:) Darvy has been trying to invite them to church and to come into the lessons. So little by little it will work!

I just love Dalhart! This work is absolutely amazing. Heavenly Father has shown us so many Miracles and I have been blessed with the best companions on the Planet! We get along so well:) We call ourselves, "Las Hermanitas Marvillosas!" Haha everyone comments on our awesome companionship. we have been blessed with an excellent Trainee! She came pre-trained! No joke. I am already learning so much from her. She is also a great teacher and just a great desire to be exactly obedient. What more could we ask for??

I just love you all and wish y'all success! Thank you so much for all the support y'all give me!!

Just remember,

"The only time He is disappointed with us is when we stop trying and don't give our best effort"

This is a very true statement. All Heavenly Father cares about is that we are at least trying to do our best. Don't give up! That is exactly what Satan wants you to do.

Love you all,

Hermana Russell

Our first night together!

Sorry I look horrible, We were just bawling. Priscilla' baptism!