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