Sorry I've been a stinker! 8/29/2016

Ok, I'm truly sorry for not telling y'all everything that is going on.  So the work in Dalhart is picking up.

The first week I got here we were out contacting and we ran into this guy named Darvy. He looked at us like, you've got to be kidding me. I don't want to hear squat of what you say. We were as positive as we could be but really fearful of him being really mean. He came over slowly and said, "listen y'all, I don't know why I'm even talking to y'all but something is telling me that I should" we helped him recognize that that was the spirit and we gave him a book of Mormon to read and explained a little bit about it. We set up a return appointment to follow up on his reading. He read half of the Book of Mormon! At the moment he is in 3 Nephi 30. Probably farther by now.

He recognized that ever since he started reading he has felt like something does not want him reading it and there have been crazy things happening in his life. Man he is just so Golden. He told us at our last appointment, "Sisters, I believe this book is true. I feel so good when I read it. Why don't people open their eyes and see what this book is truly about?" He is so legit. He is getting baptized on September 17th! Well, we will probably have to push it back because he is trying to overcome word of wisdom problems. Please keep him in your prayers!!

Also, Eve has a baptismal date for the 24th! she is super legit, too!  I will tell her story next week! Love y'all! Just remember that life Is way too short so never waste time for anything!!

Have a great week!

BTW, taught Gospel Doctrines in Spanish last week. I was super worried but the gift of tongues was real!

Cutest old man ever. Wood.

Our investigator Raymond and his sister made us yummy Cuban food!

Ya'll I'm so sorry August 22, 2016

Ugh. I swear time is getting shorter and shorter every day!!! I ran out of time.

So Darvy has a baptismal Date for the 17th of September and Falicia and her family are gonna get baptized and we are setting a date for them today!

A part member family we are doing family home evening with which is awesome! They just got to get their marriage license and then percilla is getting baptized.

Woot Woot! Love the Mission!

Have a great week!

Me amo todo sobre el mision!

I will write more next week!

Stake Conference was awesome! We all Translated for it! I got to translate with my baby! Hermana Wimmer

Zone Training

From Sister Sadie Hughes letters:

Ran out of time! August 15, 2016

I am so sorry Y'all but I ran out of time! Here are some pictures and scriptures to keep you busy until I can email next week and update y'all on everything!! Dalhart is going to be harvested soon!

D&C 130:19  Stay in School!!

Cant believe school is starting up! Good luck everyone!!!

Love,
Sister Russell

Sister Jackson hit her 1 year mark! We celebrated and went to Sonic!

Exchanges!!

Zone Training!!

I Love Dalhart!! August 8, 2016

I love this area so much!! It is the best thing ever!! I'm so excited for ending my mission here.

We were out contacting when we came up to this guy named Darvy. At first he did not want to talk to us but something told him to. He came up to us and said, "look, I don't know why I'm talking to you but here I am." And we taught him about the Book of Mormon and we set up a return appointment. He is super Legit! We went to have our appointment the next day and he has lots of great questions. He says, "so I made some not so good choices in the past and I was in prison for a bit and I have lots of time to read the whole bible. I read it and then prayed about it and knew it was truly the word of God. Can I do the same with the book of Mormon?" We said, "uhhh Yes!!"

He is super Legit. We are meeting with him again on Wednesday and he asked to give him a whole week to read the book of Mormon and we will follow-up then. we are praying he receives a spiritual witness that it is true!! I just felt soo good about him from the very beginning. I just pray his wife and kids will be supportive of him.

There are lots of people here who are in line for Baptism. They are so prepared they just got to take that step of entering into the water. We are going to help them with that. Dalhart seriously has so much potential!

So There was the XIT this past week. K, this is HUGE in Dalhart. Everyone in town goes. So some awesome members set it up where we could help out in it. We helped the Baptist church with the watermelon feed and then the next day the Methodist church with the pork chops and then the next day the catholic church with the barbeque. The food is all free so everyone was there. They were soooooo grateful we came and helped out!! The Baptist church asked us to help them pass out candy on their float in the Parade. So that was really fun.

We also got permission to see the rodeo and it was great because during the rodeo, God placed Francisco in our path. He came by himself because his family is all in Mexico. He is here for work. But we are pumped to teach him until he goes back to mexico!! he only speaks Spanish so I did all the talking because sister Jackson is an English sister. I taught about the Book of Mormon and the restoration and he is interested. He immediately gave us his address and number.

We received a lot of new investigators this week and we are teaching a ton of Spanish!!

I translated for Sacrament meeting for our Spanish members. We have a cute little branch and some awesome members!

Hope y'all have a successful week!

Acts 10:38

Love, 

Sister Russell

member made a welcome cookie

Happy Birthday Sister Jackson!!

Dalhart, Tx here I come! August 1, 2016

So we got transfer calls on Saturday evening and I am being sent to Dalhart, Tx. All I've heard is that it reeks of cows🐮🐄 and it gets super cold in the winter.  Good thing I leave in October. That's all I've heard about it. So should be interesting.  My heart just broke when I thought of having to leave Childress. I love this place sooooo much!! I feel like a piece of me is just being ripped away from me. I am definitely coming back to visit and hope my mission president will allow me to go to the baptisms coming up here!

I am very excited for this new adventure that God has put me in but Man, I am gonna miss Childress!

Skylar is getting baptized this coming Sunday:(   I'm so sad I have to miss it! But it's all good. There is a reason for everything. I just cried and cried on Sunday because a lot of our investigators came and I had to say good bye to all of them. The worst feeling ever. You just get so close with these people.

In my talk yesterday I talked about how the Repentance Process helps us endure to the end!

I was so grateful to be able to speak on this topic. I feel like every time I have had to speak it has been on repentance.... hmmm maybe God is trying to tell me something.

A quote I shared in my talk, "God cares a lot more about who we are and who we are becoming than about who we once were. He cares that we keep on trying." -Elder Dale G. Renlund

That is truly all that God cares about. How we are changing and becoming better. All he wants us to do when we are in the deep pit of Pain, is to get up and try again! He has given us the Atonement in order for us to do so.
Mosiah 26: 29 and 30
Repent and Go Forward
It is that simple:)

I am so grateful for repentance. With out it I wouldn't be who I am today. I have changed a lot and continue on changing. @ times it is really hard to change (like me having to change areas) but once we allow it to happen then we look back and see how it was so needed. As we continue to Repent and Change, then we will continue to Have Eternal Joy! I love you all!
Love,
Hermana Russell

We rode a ridding mower to mow the Wyatt's yard:) Yeeeeee haww!!!

This is Skylar trying on her suit for Sunday:) She is awesome. She is the first in her family to get baptized and her family will follow:)

This is Maddi and Alex. They will be driving me to Lubbock tomorrow for exchanges:)

Bro. White has to use these to read because of his bad eye sight. I thought they were hilarious.

Bro. White

gonna miss our awesome District. Missing the zone leaders in this picture. But My district leader is now my Zone leader.