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