Hey Everyone-
It’s amazing to me to see how fast things can change in a matter of one week! It was a very memorable week and seemed to be over before I knew it. I have to first update you on Anna and then I’ll proceed to tell you the rest of my week!
Anna was all set and ready for baptism the last time I emailed you, but once again things changed that night. She had called me up in the afternoon on Monday and explained that her parents were deciding whether or not she could be baptized, they had even threatened to not help out with college and other major things in her life. We figured that we could pray and maybe even meet with her parents to overcome their views, but that all changed when she called us that night and explained that she had gone to the doctor that day and they found a tumor! The doctors didn’t know if it was cancerous or not but preformed a biopsy to determine the results. In the meantime we continued to meet with her and give her encouragement and to uplift her in any way we could, she is a strong woman and always had a cheerful countenance despite this challenge! She kept Praying and reading her scriptures every day and we even gave her a Priesthood Blessing, and she was still determined on getting bapti
zed! We found out on Thursday morning that it was not Cancer, which meant she was still scheduled to leave for Boston the next day. We felt blessed to hear that great news but we also found out that because she had stitches, it meant she had to wait 6 days until she could be immersed into water! So on Friday (also her Birthday) she set some time aside so she could say bye to us. We ended up giving her as a present; some scriptures we bought and she surprisingly enough had given us a goodbye present, Ties!! Ha-ha This was a good experience and we plan on continuing the friendship we have developed and hopefully see her baptized!
Tuesday, was District meetings and a day full of tracting. We did have a lesson with Anna that night and finished teaching her all the lessons, she always wants to know exactly what she can and can’t do (very faithful!). So after I taught the Law of Chastity, she made me discuss dressing modestly, something I’ll never forget ha-ha.
Wednesday, we had IngaLisa’s Baptism Interview, she was nervous for it. We went over the program so she is ready for the baptism on Saturday. We invited a couple of the youth to another lesson with Anna, we watched Special Witnesses of Christ, a DVD of the Prophets and Apostles Testimonies, we, wanted her to be familiar with President Monson’s personality and voice.
Thursday, I honestly can’t remember what happened; it seems like a blur and mixed within all the other days of the week! So Friday, I mentioned saying goodbye to Anna, we were a little sad but decided to get to work so we can forget ourselves in the Lords Service.
Saturday, the highlight was the Baptism of IngaLisa! I could tell how excited she was and pray that she will remember this for the rest of her life. Her father came along with her Brother and Sister-in-law. There was a good turn out with the ward, to support her; they really made it special for her! I had the blessing and opportunity to perform the baptism and loved feeling the spirit that is always present on such occasions! My companion and I celebrated by getting an ice cream cone at McDonalds!
Sunday, was such a busy day but again a highlight in my life. The Gift of the Holy Ghost was given to Anna, followed by a sweet and tender blessing. Her mother was very touched by it. That night the Wickstrom’s (IngaLisa’s family) invited us to dinner, we had a wonderful time and took a couple of pictures and I just cherished that moment, especially seeing IngaLisa’s personality come out! Last night was also transfer calls; Elder Stapley is getting transferred along with one other missionary in my zone! I feel at peace knowing that this is the Lords will, but I am never pleased to see a change!
Well I have got to go but I love all of you very much and have an amazing week! I hope that every day you will come one step closer to the Savior and let him continually bless your lives! I also heard that it was Grandpa Earl’s birthday today and so I want to wish him the best day ever!
Love Elder Jason Russell
Elder Jason Russell
Site Updated by his parents..
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
August 18
Subject: Miracles
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:45:37 +0000
Hey Everyone-
I can’t tell you how much the Lord has blessed us this week, we truly saw miracles! I wish I could explain all the details of this week perfectly so you can feel the joy and excitement I have experienced. First off, Anna, well from last week I had told you that we were planning on getting her prepared for the Boston Missionaries, but we still had a desire to be able to baptize her but knew it would take a miracle. So we prayed mightily and diligently worked for us to be able to be worthy of such a blessing. On Monday night she called me up and told me she had been reading the scriptures and Enos 1:8 had really stuck out powerfully to her so she decided to kneel in prayer to ask if it was true, she received an answer! She said she felt so happy and had no doubt that the Book of Mormon is true! We were so excited to hear that! We continued to teach her, we found out that she had given up tea completely (she’s British, so she has been drinking it her whole life) she has been
keeping all of the commitments necessary for her to be Baptized. I love to hear her pray because her prayers are so sincere. She also likes to call us her angel’s haha and we love to hear that! So we explained the situation to President Moffat, he wanted to know all about her and thought that she needs to be baptized before she leaves! My companion and I were so happy! There has been some opposition from her mother but she realizes how important this decision is and she needs to do it! Anna has been amazing, she is reading the Book of Mormon every chance she has, and every time we bring up her baptism, she gets so excited!! It will be on Thursday, and she leaves the following day to Boston! The Lord has blessed us tremendously and I feel indebted to him each day.
We also had interviews this week, I love being able to hear President Moffat speak to us, there is a lot of power in what he says and you can feel his love! I have no predictions on if I am staying or not. I hope to serve one more transfer here with Elder Stapley, our area and zone is having a lot of success. But I will go wherever the Lord needs me to serve.
Ingalisa is also still set for her baptism on Saturday in which she is also excited for! I am so grateful for her mother’s support especially since she is at a young age! Ingalisa has a testimony and I am excited to see her mature in this gospel!
I went on Exchanges on Saturday with the Assistants; I went with Elder Kime, my first Zone leader. I have always looked up to him and we had a lot of fun and saw success. I got to learn a lot from him. Well this week went by way too fast and I really don’t remember anymore of what happened! But those are the highlights! I hope everyone else has a great week. Thanks for the support and love. Things couldn’t be better! Love ya!
Elder Russell
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:45:37 +0000
Hey Everyone-
I can’t tell you how much the Lord has blessed us this week, we truly saw miracles! I wish I could explain all the details of this week perfectly so you can feel the joy and excitement I have experienced. First off, Anna, well from last week I had told you that we were planning on getting her prepared for the Boston Missionaries, but we still had a desire to be able to baptize her but knew it would take a miracle. So we prayed mightily and diligently worked for us to be able to be worthy of such a blessing. On Monday night she called me up and told me she had been reading the scriptures and Enos 1:8 had really stuck out powerfully to her so she decided to kneel in prayer to ask if it was true, she received an answer! She said she felt so happy and had no doubt that the Book of Mormon is true! We were so excited to hear that! We continued to teach her, we found out that she had given up tea completely (she’s British, so she has been drinking it her whole life) she has been
keeping all of the commitments necessary for her to be Baptized. I love to hear her pray because her prayers are so sincere. She also likes to call us her angel’s haha and we love to hear that! So we explained the situation to President Moffat, he wanted to know all about her and thought that she needs to be baptized before she leaves! My companion and I were so happy! There has been some opposition from her mother but she realizes how important this decision is and she needs to do it! Anna has been amazing, she is reading the Book of Mormon every chance she has, and every time we bring up her baptism, she gets so excited!! It will be on Thursday, and she leaves the following day to Boston! The Lord has blessed us tremendously and I feel indebted to him each day.
We also had interviews this week, I love being able to hear President Moffat speak to us, there is a lot of power in what he says and you can feel his love! I have no predictions on if I am staying or not. I hope to serve one more transfer here with Elder Stapley, our area and zone is having a lot of success. But I will go wherever the Lord needs me to serve.
Ingalisa is also still set for her baptism on Saturday in which she is also excited for! I am so grateful for her mother’s support especially since she is at a young age! Ingalisa has a testimony and I am excited to see her mature in this gospel!
I went on Exchanges on Saturday with the Assistants; I went with Elder Kime, my first Zone leader. I have always looked up to him and we had a lot of fun and saw success. I got to learn a lot from him. Well this week went by way too fast and I really don’t remember anymore of what happened! But those are the highlights! I hope everyone else has a great week. Thanks for the support and love. Things couldn’t be better! Love ya!
Elder Russell
August 11
Hey everyone-
This will be a really fast email because we had a Mission Olympics today and I am out of time to email. It was a blast getting together as a mission and coming up with team names and then competing against each other!
This has been a very busy week and one of the highlights was when Elder Richard Hinckley came for our Zone Conference! I loved the opportunity we had as Zone Leaders to meet with him on a personal level and listen to the advice he has for our mission! He reminds me so much of his father, President Hinckley and he also has a wonderful spirit about him! I wrote all the details for that day down in my journal because I loved everything he said!
Another amazing highlight this week is that we have two amazing investigators! We found Anna and Daisy while tracting last week. Anna is 19 and her sister Daisy is 17 and they are from Great Britain. They have the nicest family ever, her parents are both atheist, but letting Anna explore other religions! The two sisters have had a lot of Mormon friends and admire them greatly. Anna even had her own Book of Mormon. She has loved the lessons we have taught her and is willing to meet with us often to learn more! The only problem is she is moving to Boston next week for school! So we are going to prepare her in all the ways that we can and then we are having her commit to us that she will find missionaries in Boston to baptize her!! I was a little sad we aren’t going to be able too, but we have a great relationship and we help her any way we can! Ingalisa is doing amazing and is still on target for her baptism next week. On Sunday she got up with the young women to sing a
song and it was a great joy for me to see that! Her mom is now becoming active in the church again!
Well our zone is seeing a lot of success and the Lord is truly blessing us! We now have 9 people on date for baptism which is unheard of in this Zone! I couldn’t be happier!!
That’s about all I can update you on sorry for the short time, but know that I love all of you and that my heart is truly in the work!! Keep the faith-
Elder Russell
This will be a really fast email because we had a Mission Olympics today and I am out of time to email. It was a blast getting together as a mission and coming up with team names and then competing against each other!
This has been a very busy week and one of the highlights was when Elder Richard Hinckley came for our Zone Conference! I loved the opportunity we had as Zone Leaders to meet with him on a personal level and listen to the advice he has for our mission! He reminds me so much of his father, President Hinckley and he also has a wonderful spirit about him! I wrote all the details for that day down in my journal because I loved everything he said!
Another amazing highlight this week is that we have two amazing investigators! We found Anna and Daisy while tracting last week. Anna is 19 and her sister Daisy is 17 and they are from Great Britain. They have the nicest family ever, her parents are both atheist, but letting Anna explore other religions! The two sisters have had a lot of Mormon friends and admire them greatly. Anna even had her own Book of Mormon. She has loved the lessons we have taught her and is willing to meet with us often to learn more! The only problem is she is moving to Boston next week for school! So we are going to prepare her in all the ways that we can and then we are having her commit to us that she will find missionaries in Boston to baptize her!! I was a little sad we aren’t going to be able too, but we have a great relationship and we help her any way we can! Ingalisa is doing amazing and is still on target for her baptism next week. On Sunday she got up with the young women to sing a
song and it was a great joy for me to see that! Her mom is now becoming active in the church again!
Well our zone is seeing a lot of success and the Lord is truly blessing us! We now have 9 people on date for baptism which is unheard of in this Zone! I couldn’t be happier!!
That’s about all I can update you on sorry for the short time, but know that I love all of you and that my heart is truly in the work!! Keep the faith-
Elder Russell
Monday, August 4, 2008
August 4th
Hey Everyone-
We had such a great week, our entire zone has been focusing on finding new investigators, and we have been fasting and praying with a lot of faith to accomplish it. We had a goal of 20 new people to find which might not seem like a lot but for Bellevue South it stretches us! Usually we average about 6. In a couple of our companionships we truly saw the Lord bless us, Elder Stapley and I found 7 and it was amazing! Another companionship had a family of 5 come to church yesterday and then had a lesson later that night and the entire family is now on date for baptism! Ingalisa came home from Girls Camp on Saturday; she had so much fun and really grew spiritually. She told us she felt like she needed to share her testimony in front of hundreds of girls and from what Bishop told us, it was great (she is very shy too). I couldn’t have been happier to here that. She is very excited for her baptism and her mother is now coming to church and reading her scriptures with her!
These were just a couple of the highlights of this past week! I realized that the Lord always wants to bless us, and when we come to him with our righteous desires, it can only be accomplished through our diligence and faith and through mighty prayer, and then we can witness Miracles!
It has been a lot of fun having Bro. Adams with us for the entire day! He is learning so much and he will have an amazing advantage because he will know what being a missionary is all about. We had two District meetings this week, which I love going to! We also had leadership training, which feels like a reunion with all the leaders! I love hearing the words of President Moffat and to feel the spirit when I am in his presence. He truly does lead with love! I went on exchanges with one of our District leaders Elder Ross; he is from a small town in Texas and has 11 kids in his family! We had a great day and I was able to him in areas he needs to work on. Although, I still find it hard to critique the missionaries in my Zone on things they need to improve on I try to follow President Moffat example and do it with love. I am much better at seeing all the things they do well! Sunday was very busy but I loved going to church!
Things are going amazing and I am so happy with the improvements we are having as a Zone! I am constantly thinking of how I can improve it while focusing on the individual missionaries! This truly is the Lords work and I am grateful I can be a part of it, and see the Joy that it brings not only me but everyone we teach! I love all of you so much!! Have a great week!
Elder Jason Russell
We had such a great week, our entire zone has been focusing on finding new investigators, and we have been fasting and praying with a lot of faith to accomplish it. We had a goal of 20 new people to find which might not seem like a lot but for Bellevue South it stretches us! Usually we average about 6. In a couple of our companionships we truly saw the Lord bless us, Elder Stapley and I found 7 and it was amazing! Another companionship had a family of 5 come to church yesterday and then had a lesson later that night and the entire family is now on date for baptism! Ingalisa came home from Girls Camp on Saturday; she had so much fun and really grew spiritually. She told us she felt like she needed to share her testimony in front of hundreds of girls and from what Bishop told us, it was great (she is very shy too). I couldn’t have been happier to here that. She is very excited for her baptism and her mother is now coming to church and reading her scriptures with her!
These were just a couple of the highlights of this past week! I realized that the Lord always wants to bless us, and when we come to him with our righteous desires, it can only be accomplished through our diligence and faith and through mighty prayer, and then we can witness Miracles!
It has been a lot of fun having Bro. Adams with us for the entire day! He is learning so much and he will have an amazing advantage because he will know what being a missionary is all about. We had two District meetings this week, which I love going to! We also had leadership training, which feels like a reunion with all the leaders! I love hearing the words of President Moffat and to feel the spirit when I am in his presence. He truly does lead with love! I went on exchanges with one of our District leaders Elder Ross; he is from a small town in Texas and has 11 kids in his family! We had a great day and I was able to him in areas he needs to work on. Although, I still find it hard to critique the missionaries in my Zone on things they need to improve on I try to follow President Moffat example and do it with love. I am much better at seeing all the things they do well! Sunday was very busy but I loved going to church!
Things are going amazing and I am so happy with the improvements we are having as a Zone! I am constantly thinking of how I can improve it while focusing on the individual missionaries! This truly is the Lords work and I am grateful I can be a part of it, and see the Joy that it brings not only me but everyone we teach! I love all of you so much!! Have a great week!
Elder Jason Russell
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
