October 27th

Hey Everyone-
Well another week has flown by and I still cant believe how great the weather has been! I have been expecting it to rain non-stop any day now! Today is also gorgeous, and we are planning on going to Snoqualmie to check out the Falls.
Last Monday went by really fast, but thats usually how preparation days go. We did have dinner with the Greenhauls, they are a wonderful couple, he is a local dentist and she is a nurse. She made us a huge breakfast buffet which was amazing! Tuesday was just a normal day filled with tracting and visiting members! Wednesday we did some service at the food bank, which was greatly appreciated by them. Afterwards they always tell us to take whatever food we want! But considering most of it is on the verge of being expired, I tend to not grab a whole lot.
Friday was Zone Conference, one of my favorite meetings. They are always long but they are very spirit felt and we recieve a lot of great instruction. and not to mention we are fed! We did a lot of training and listening to our leaders and in-between we play a couple of fun games! I enjoyed it a lot and also seeing a lot of my past companions and missionaries!
Saturday we had a Zone breakfast at President Johnsons (stake president) house. For the first half its a social event but the remainder of the “meeting” we get to go into his theater room and we discuss all of our wards and how they are doing and what are some strengths or weaknesses! I have been very impressed with his vision and how much the Stake has improved! Last year the entire Stake with ten wards had only 15 Baptisms, and now we are already at 25!
Sunday was exhausting and was full of church meetings and traveling between wards! After church we did a lot of visiting members and getting to know them! I feel thats one of my main goals is to again build the relationship of trust with the members. But things have been going good! We still arent teaching anyone real solid, but we hope to have that change! Our work seems to be with the members both active and not! I have been greatful and blessed to have a testimony of the power of prayer. It truly does work and will help us in any situation we face with in life! I love you all and grateful for all that is done to support me! Have a great week and a Happy Halloween!
Elder Russell

Oct 7th (Previous Week)

Hey Everyone-
Well I must start off and apologize for how short and hurried that this email will be but I really don’t have any time and yet I wanted to quickly let you know about my new area and companion. Last week was a crazy one, my companion was sick for a couple of days and we also got another companion with us, Elder Shaub. There were a couple of emergency transfers and so he was put with us. We had a lot of fun and worked really hard. It was tough saying goodbye to everyone since I have grown to love this ward and area! But to let you know about my new area, I knew that I was probably going to be transferred after talking to the Assistants. I also knew that my next area was going to be a place where there hasn’t been any success and I will also have the opportunity to help change my new companion. I was given an in-zone transfer and am now in Tiger Mountain and May Valley wards. Here is a little background on Tiger Mountain; it’s been eight years since they have seen a baptism whi ch is unheard of in our mission and I am all about trying to change that around! I am very excited. My new companion is Elder Rolstad from Layton, Ut. Now he is a great missionary but he does have his struggles, I am so glad to be with him and to learn from him. He can be socially awkward but he has a willing heart! Well I am sorry this is so short, but I loved General Conference and soaked up every single talk! My favorite talk was Elder Holland’s talk on Angels and also loved Elder Eyring’s message he shared with us during the Priesthood session! We have such inspired men guiding this work! I love it! Well may you all have a great week and I love you all so much! Keep the Faith Elder Russell

P.S. You will have to tell Heather I met a Sister who is brand new in the field today from Mongolia! She said she remembers her!!

October 13th

Hey Everyone-
Well it has been an interesting week and I have loved getting to know my area and the members that are in these two wards I am serving (May Valley and Tiger Mountain) they are great and willing to do anything that we ask of them! The first night in my new area I met a Less Active family, The Cahill’s. They are a wonderful family and the children are very outgoing. The father isn’t active but very nice and the mother is very solid and loves the Book of Mormon but struggles with Smoking, we all have our weaknesses! The daughter Moe, is very active and will be attending BYU-I next semester! Her brothers are great and I am excited to continue to have scripture study with them weekly and hopefully get them all going to church again! My companion and I have done a lot of former investigator work in the area and looking for any possible people we can teach! So far we have gone through the entire area book and haven’t had much success! But I still have a lot of hope and we will need the member’s help, if we want to have a baptism! We did contact a less active family, the Lesters, whom the ward didn’t really know anything about. But we came at a perfect time because they really wanted to start coming to church again, so we made a return appointment and went over last night with the Bishop! It went very well, and I recognized the Lords hand in that process. I can always recognize when the spirit is with me strongly, for my words come out simple yet powerfully. We met with the Ward mission leader, bro Tibbits and I am excited to work with him, he has been very helpful! On Thursday we had Zone meeting, which went pretty good, we continued to role-play! After we went and did some service for a lady whom we tracted into, she is from Russia and is so kind! I can tell her heart is full of charity which was expressed in what she does for a living; she takes care of seniors who can’t care for their own needs. She does this 24/7 and rarely leaves her home! I got to do a lot of landscaping and trimmed/hedged a lot of her shrubs! The rest of the week was filled with finding activities and also meeting all of the members! Sunday was packed with meetings and I was given the opportunity to bear my testimony in sacrament in the May Valley ward. Overall I am pleased with the progress we have made in one week and Pray for the Lord to bless us in all that we do! We need Miracles! Well my companion Elder Rolstad, is from Layton, Utah. He has a mother and a younger sister whom he is very close with! His father isn’t in the picture. But Elder Rolstad is very smart but does struggle socially. At times it can be hard for me to adjust, but we get along and he is willing to work hard!! It has been interesting to try and predict what he is going to do next! Ha for instance, in the middle of tracting he pulls out his harmonica and attempts to play some songs!! He is random but I have just learned to laugh! I love this work and even though it is hard at times I am reminded of every prophet who has testified of this message, living this gospel has never been easy! But the Lord has Promised to ease our burdens and make them Light, if we will but “come unto him”! It has NEVER been easy for HIM! And I often reflect on the words of Elder Holland and his response of “why does it have to be so hard, why don’t people flock to the fonts...” Because he says... “Salvation is NOT a cheap Experience!” I love all of you so much and apologize for not being caught up on my letter writing, I think I will be able to do a lot of catching up this transfer! But know that you are in my thoughts and prayers! Much love, Elder Jason Russell