June 23, 2008

Hey Everyone-

I just got done with a huge email where I put a lot of details about our week and then it shut down! So I will try to include as much info as I can with the time I have left!! This week has been great but way busy as always!

On Monday after I emailed you I played racquetball with Bro Avery. I loved it and it was a lot of fun, he played well for being 70 yrs old! Ha-ha. The rest of our P-day was a blur and they always go way too fast! I did try to catch up on my letter writing, I have been slacking! Sorry.

On Tuesday we had exchanges and I went to Mercer Island and Newport with Elder Small, he is from a tiny town in Colorado. We did a lot of service that day especially pulling weeds!! We also did a lot of tracting. Mercer Island has been known to be hard and unfortunately we didn’t have any luck despite how hard we worked. There is a strong Jewish community and everyone is very wealthy and not interested! We did talk to one very nice girl who was Muslim and she told me all about her religion! The District leader Elder Anderton went to my area and after having a lesson with Katie said I know President Moffat was inspired because you both have the perfect personalities for Katie" I thought that was cool!

Wednesday was a typical day and I can’t remember what we did or if anything stuck out that day! But Thursday was our Zone Conference which I loved! My companion and I gave a lesson to our Zone and President Moffat sat in! I know the Lord sustained me that day! I taught beyond my own natural ability and President also wanted to listen to everyone role-play the lessons (with me being the evaluator) and again the Lord helped me give appropriate advice and encouragement! I am grateful for the Lords Hand that continues to hold me up!

On Friday we got to go to another Zone Conference because we are the backup office Elders! We were asked to inspect all of the mission cars, it was a lot of work but I enjoyed doing it and we got another great meal out of it! That night we had a great lesson with Katie at The Lathrops home (young couple, both converts) we taught her another lesson The Atonement. It’s always enriches the lessons when we have members there who add great thoughts and testimonies of what we teach! I can’t emphasize enough how important ward members are to the success of missionary work!

Saturday went by fast as well, we tracted all morning in a beautiful area and that night we went on a mini exchange with some other missionaries! Which was fun? I think it’s so important to show them that they can have fun and work hard while doing missionary work! I love getting to know each missionary and developing that friendship! We had a lot of success that night as far as numbers went!

Now Sunday! Wow it was very busy and I was at church for a total of 8 hours! I love attending all of the meetings and learn so much. I love it when they have musical numbers during sacrament; it always touches me in some way! Maybe because I wish I had developed a musical talent. We had the Privilege of teaching the entire Young Women’s about missionary work. We talked about the Who, What, Why, and How. In other words, we told them who we were, what we do, why we do it, and how they can do it. We made it very fun and they are all now inspired to bring their friends to church! One girl afterward told us she will introduce us to one of her friends who is interested! Then to top it off, we got a bag full of cookies and a caramel apple! I wish we could teach Young Women’s every week!! Ha-ha

As you can see I am busy as ever but loving every minute of it! My companion and I are having so much fun and have developed a strong friendship already and we truly are united in everything we do! I continue to learn a lot from him and hope to become the leader the Savior would have me be! I am now more aware of my weaknesses and imperfections but I get to depend on the Lord to help with that!

Well I love each of you so much.

Elder Russell

June 16th Email from Jason

Hey Everyone-

I can’t believe another week has flown by; time is starting to go by way too fast! We had a pretty great week and I’ll try to update you on what I did, hopefully I can remember everything. Well as you know on Tuesday I was able to go to the Temple, which was amazing! That night we had a lesson with Katie, we have finished teaching her all the lessons so we will have to prayerfully come up with things to teach her next!

On Wednesday we attended one of the District Meetings which went pretty well. I always have a hard time evaluating how the missionaries teach and what they can improve upon (we are asked to write three things down and explain it to them). I could easily point out hundreds of things they did great and what I loved about their teaching, but its finding the things they could improve on that is hard for me. I know that I am there to help them be better teachers.

This is when I have to depend on the Lord to help me with it! We did a lot of tracting the rest of the day.

Thursday, we started off doing service for the Food Bank in Issaquah; I loved it. They let us take anything we wanted and I found a huge bag of goldfish crackers. (I enjoyed that treat) Then we ran to another District Meeting! It went better than the one the previous day and I was able to give constructive feedback on how they did. We didn’t have much time for a break because the meeting went longer than planned. That night we had another lesson with Katie; we had a movie night at the church and watched the movie, The Testaments. I could tell she enjoyed it but when I asked her what she thought about the film, she commented on how poor the special effects were! Haha true, but we were hoping for a better answer!

I got sick on Friday with something. That’s when it’s a blessing to be able to call Sister Moffat, and she told me what I have and how to get over it!

I hate taking a sick day since the work doesn’t go forward but my companion insisted that it’s better to take one day off then get worse and miss a whole week, I agreed! Saturday was also very busy! We attended a Baptism with President Moffat. After that we met a woman named Jane, she had just gotten back from Utah and requested a DVD. I believe she might be Golden. She told us she has read half of the Book of Mormon and believes Christ came to this Continent! But she doesn’t see why she needs to attend our church! Since we know how to explain that question to her we set up a time next week to talk with her about it! I am very excited for it! Later on that night we had another lesson with Katie at the Avery’s home (they are amazing). We taught her Repentance since she asked to know more about it! The lesson went very well and at the end of it Katie gave us a bag of about 50 cookies she had made and also a Mexican Lasagna! We have the best investigator in the world! By the way she quit

2 of her jobs so she can keep Sunday a day of rest!

Sunday was the longest day but I loved going to church! Especially this Sunday with it being Fathers day. My thoughts turned to you Dad and how much you have blessed my life and have been an amazing example to me! I sent you a letter so you should be receiving it today. It was a beautiful day with nothing but blue skies!!

Today is also a gorgeous day! I am going to be playing Racquetball with Bro Avery, and just enjoying the day! I hope to have time to write letters since I am desperately behind, which I don’t like to be! But I want everyone to know how true this work is! I love being a witness of Christ and seeing the Lords

hand in His work. I am learning and growing each day! I love you all so much!

I miss you as well but I love this work!

Elder Russell

June 10th

Hey Everyone-

I knew that you would be anxiously waiting for my email, but we had to have P-Day today since we will be attending the Temple in a couple of hours which I am very excited for! Well as you know I am in a new area so let me fill you in on that!

I am serving in the Bellevue South Zone, it’s amazing and gorgeous! I already love it. I am serving in two wards, the North Bend ward and Mount Si ward. The area covers Mercer Island (where President Moffat Lives) and the Temple is in my zone! My new companion is amazing, I am so grateful we get along so well, we are always laughing and working very hard! His name is Elder Stapley, he is from the SLC area but lived in Africa and now his parents are in Russia helping build the Temple there. Now you wouldn’t believe my apartment, I feel very spoiled! It’s called the Cottage and has two floors, two bathrooms, and is very nice!

I also want to tell you about Katie, a very special person I just met. The Missionaries who served here before transfers found her while they were tracting about 3 weeks ago on the street. Ever since then she has really enjoyed learning about the church. We have been teaching her every day since I arrived. She has progressed in so many ways and will be baptized on July 12. It’s been great being able to be a part of her conversion.

Well this week has gone by SO fast. We had a great Zone meeting on Wednesday and I got to meet all the elders in the Zone! I only knew 2 of them out of ten. On Thursday we had to do a lot of office work and gather a lot of information from each individual companionship and jumpstart some missionaries’ car! On Friday we had Zone Leader Council! I loved that! It was all day long and all the Zone Leaders got to talk with President Moffat about many subjects. I didn’t say too much since I am still learning but I am excited to go to the next one so I can add more input. Sunday was one of my busiest days! We spent a lot of the night getting information about each ward in the zone, so we can present it to President Dean, he is President Moffat’s counselors. We had PEC at 7:30. Church for the Mount Si ward started at 9:00am and then after Sacrament meeting was over we taught a lesson and ordained a recent convert to the office of a Priest. Then for 3 Hours we talked with President Dean, he is a great man! Then we did it all over again for the next ward! A lady in the Mount Si ward made me a Quillow (quilt, pillow).

Well I don’t know what else to fill you in on but I love every single aspect of the work and also having the responsibilities that I now hold, I will be able to stretch myself even further! Oh and Elder Kehl, has taken my place in Enumclaw with Elder Lewis. Thanks for all of the support and prayers on my behalf! I am being richly blessed! I love all of you and will talk to you next Monday! Love Elder Russell