Elder Russell West

3.4.2010

2010-06-14T22:36:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom! If you haven't already sent my birthday package, you should put a bunch of candies in it, like little ones like jolly ranchers. Elder Cox and I are going to teach English and we need rewards for the students when they answer correctly! I love you! Russell

3.1.2010

2010-06-14T22:21:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom and Dad,
This area is really strong. Many members have been born within the covenant. The work is really progressing her really well. Our ward, called Brisas, is strong. It pretty much has all of the calling filled that are needed. It has been an adjustment. Like you said dad, changing places and people and things is not the easiest thing to do! It has been challenging, but a wonderful learning experience. We are doing really well. Elder Cox and I get along really well. We were both a little worried about each other at the beginning. He thought I was really strict and I thought he was really cocky. But we talked about that, and we actually really get along well. It is so interesting how much an understanding point of view can do. I have learned a lot in this past week.
Man, they made me the district leader. With Elder Anderson, we were both the district leaders, so it is not all completely new. The elders in my district are me, Elders Cox, Dominguez and another Elder I just met and don't remember his name. Elder Cox is going to finish his mission in June. He is a great guy!
We're planning on having two baptisms this Saturday. One is named Fidel, he is an older person that had an accident in his hip. He doesn't have nay family and feels lonely. He was actually a referral from a recent convert named Carlos. The other baptism is Lydia. I have actually met her only one time, so I don't know her that well.
We found a really cool lady that has read all of the homework that we left in the Book of Mormon and is really interested. But, her husband doesn't want her to go to church. He told her that she is a Catholic and she can't be going her and there to other churches. I read her the scripture in Matthew 7 that says seek and ye shall find. She is seeking!!! There is nothing wrong with that! The men that are really controlling and usually drunk, are called machistas.
We are going to keep teaching English, and I am going to teach piano/music. Last night I had the opportunity to attend a stake priesthood meeting. WOW. There are some powerful men here that have really strong testimonies and are so strong. A scripture came to mind in the Doctrine and Covenants 49:24 that says that the Lamanites will "blossom as the rose". Also in 2 Nephi 30:5-6, it says that not many generations will pass away before they become a pure and delightful people. It was encouraging to see the fruits of the gospel in men that probably three generations back had ancestors that went' so pure and delightful. The effect that the gospel has on the human soul is amazing!
I love you all. Thank you for all that you have done for me! You are wonderful examples and teachers! Russell

2.22.2010

2010-06-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom and Dad!!!!
I'm not in Tepalcingo anymore. I have been transferred. I'm now in a place called Brisas, in Cuautla, which is actually pretty close to Tepalcingo. I thought I was gonna stay in Tepalcingo for a long time, but President Spannaus, and God, have different plans for me. My new companion is Elder Cox. I just met him today. He looks like a good guy. I'm taking the place of Elder Ence, my old companion in the MTC. He was here before I was.
So yesterday, Mariana was confirmed and Rafael was baptized. Rafael was a miracle. He felt so nervous before his baptism, but he was fine. I sang a solo at his baptism of "Our Savior's Love" and then I baptized him. He has read the majority of the Gospel's principles book and a lot of the Book of Mormon. He invited his family to his baptism, but they didn't want to go. So he was there all by himself, but he was really happy!
Laura, the mom from Axochiapan, is so awesome. She really wants to know God. Her husband is inactive, but is a really good person, and is willing to return to the church. He is not bitter or anything, so they are doing well. They're just gonna have to have other missionaries teach them. There actually aren't going to be missionaries for 6 weeks in Tepalcingo. They closed the area. There is every year a huge Catholic fair that takes up all the space in Tepalcingo. So President decided that the missionaries shouldn't even be there. Laura wants to learn so much and is such a good person. I have high hopes for them. I just need to keep in contact with them so that they get baptized!
Sofia didn't go to church yesterday. We didn't see her all week long because she was in Guerrero, so I am going to tell the missionaries in the neighboring area to look for her. Tepalcingo was doing so well when we left. Yesterday, we had an activity, another movie night and we projected the Prince of Egypt on the wall. It was cool. A lot of investigators came and felt good. After that we had some refreshments. I love Tepalcingo. The people there are so good and always willing to help.
Here in Cuautla it is a little more like a city, a little bit faster moving. But the church is strong here. I ate breakfast today with a couple that is a little older that was sealed in the Mesa temple. The church is going to grow so fast in Tepalcingo and here. I feel like God has lots of things in store for the faithful Lamanites.
I have no idea where Elder Anderson's gonna go. He went to Cuernavaca this morning. Yesterday was crazy. We had Rafael's baptism, and then we had to get the projector and set up for the movie. After we ate we had the activity and after that, we went and moved all of the stuff out of our house in Tepalcingo to another house in a different area. We started moving the stuff at about 10 pm and finished at about 1 am. Then we woke up at about 6 am and went to Cuautla for transfers. It was crazy!
I felt a little frustrated with President Spannaus yesterday. I know we are just supposed to obey the President and all that stuff but it's natural to fell frustrated. I fell like we are little chess pieces and he can move us when and where and how he want to. I felt like "How can he take me out of this area where I love so many people?!?!?! How can he be so insensitive?!?! But then I thought, this really isn't about me. Really, I am the Lord's chess piece and I should just obey and do what ever He wants, because when God plays chess He wins! So I am content. I need to be more humble.
I got to see Elder Ence. It was good to see him. Right now I am with Elder Barnes, who was in the MTC with me. He's a great Guy.
I have a bunch of pictures that I want to send. Which reminds me...the camera that I have, it's screen is broke. So I need a new camera. And, I think that 34 waist would be fine for baptismal pants, and a white tie too. Things get so lost in the mission with all of the madness that there is sometimes!
Here are some more names for you to pray for:
Rafael Quintero Zuniga, Laura Zamudio de la Torre, Evelia Medina Soriano, Mariana Bravo Perez.

I love you all. I hope that you have a wonderful week and day. Give all the little ones a hug for me!!
Russell

2.15.2010

2010-06-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
It sounds like the 60th anniversary party was a real success! You'll have to send me pictures of the party and the kitchen! I want to see how it turned out!
This week has been a little difficult for me emotionally. It's kind of weird because some days I'll be studying the Scriptures and I'll feel really good, but then when I leave the house and go to the street, my energy and excitement go away. I have improved so much! Meanwhile, the roller coaster keeps coastin".
We have been really blessed here. Heavenly father has answered the prayers of many people here. One of our investigators, Sofia, is doing so well. She's gone to church two times and feels so good there. She's the lady that told us that God doesn't exist for her. On Saturday night we went to her house and met her husband and spent some time getting to know him and the family. I felt so good in their house. It is such a good family! She likes to sew a lot and she's volunteered to teach the other sisters in the branch to sew really well. Her mom has cancer and is probably going to pass away soon, so she's having a hard time with that, and goes to Guerrero every once in a while to help her mom.
Mariana was baptized yesterday! She's been doing so well! She's had an interesting life from what I've seen. She has a few tattoos and she's single mom of a little girl named Amairani. But she wants to change and she's wanted to baptized for a long time. So now she's done it and she'd got a long trail ahead of her. We need to get her some more friends in the church. Her grandma has gone to church about 3 times and watched her baptism. She's hard of hearing and is a little old, but we're gonna try and teach her and get her to pray. Once they understand prayer and they start to experiment, they know it's true!
Evelia didn't go to church yesterday. She's an interesting person. She's had a really Catholic background and has really high morals and standards. I think she'd just got a little hippy in her. She likes to express herself kind of openly and kind of "HALLELJU-ish". But we've been teaching her and she feels like she has received an answer to her prayers. She told me she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet. She still hasn't accepted baptism, and doesn't really understand yet. For her it takes a while to really understand mentally.
There are two members of the church here that are so awesome. They were baptized about 3 months ago, and they're already missionaries! We have been having the lessons with Evelia in their house, and they've had the opportunity to bear their testimonies, and they're actually really good at it! They are progressing really, really fast!
Yesterday we had two miracles happen. I left the gospel principles class to get some air (sometimes it gets a little crazy at church) and I found a young man wandering around the chapel. I think God sent me out to find him. His names is Rafael. He told me he wanted to know what the church is and he heard around town that we have the services at 10 am. So he decided to go alone. He arrived and I found him, so I gave him a tour of the chapel and taught him some of our basic beliefs. I then took him into the Gospel Principles class. All of the members were so awesome to him yesterday. He felt so good. He then got to see Mariana's baptism. That was an extra plus! During the baptism I talked to him to find out what he believes about God. He told me know knows God is everything and that He is loving, but he never has know that love. He's never known God. I bore my testimony to him that we are here for a purpose, that God lives and that if we want to, we can get to know Him really well. He left the church really impressed and content. We're gonna go to his house on Tuesday to see him and teach him the Restoration.
Also, in the evening, my companion and I were having a meeting with the branch president. A tall lady walked in with two little boys and all of us were confused because we didn't know who she was. She told us that her husband is a member that doesn't go, and told us she's been looking for a church. We gave her a tour of the chapel and she likes it a lot. Once again, the members were really polite and welcomed her. My companion showed her the baptismal font, and explained baptism to her. She asked him "So, how long does it take to get baptized?" I think Elder Anderson almost fainted! We were so happy last night!
Well, here are some more names that you an pray for!
Rafael Quintero Zu iga, Mariana Bravo Perez, Marilu Reyes and Evelia.
Someone stole my white baptismal pants. I need some of those, and also my debit card already expired. Sometimes it's necessary to take out money out of my own account, so I probably need one!
Elder Anderson is probably gonna get transferred this change. He's been here in Telpalcingo for 9 months! A long time! I'm probably gonna be here for a while too. But it's all good. President Spannaus is doing well. He's such a good president!
I am gonna try to sent some fotos to you guys if the computer accepts the card! I love you all so much! Russell

2.15.2010

2010-06-13T21:46:00.000-07:00

Hey Sterl!
How is life? So you got sick? That stinks. Man, getting sick on the mission is so horrible! One time in La Mira I got so sick. I was shivering and sweating bullets, and I started to barf my guts out. It was pretty gross. I didn't eat for about two days, and I lost a lot of weight. Yesterday, we had a baptism of Mariana Bravo Perez. She's a single mom of a little tiny girl called Amairani. That little girl is SO CUTE! We've been looking like crazys for people to teach. Yesterday we had two miracles in the church. I went out the principios del Evangelio class and I found this guy wandering about the church. I asked him if he needed help and he told me he just wanted to know what the church is. He said he's been looking for God. His name is Rafael. It was the perfect Sunday to have him there. All of the members greeted him and were so nice and polite. He also got to see a baptism. We gave him a gospel principles book and he left really impressed. I was able to teach him about the gospel in the baptism. He said he's never known the love of God and I bore testimony to him that God loves him and has a plan for him. He knows it's true! He felt so good there. The members here are improving so fast!
Another miracle: Last night we were having a meeting with the branch president (what a miracle!!) and a really tall lady came into the chapel looking around with her two little boys. She told us her husband is a member that was baptized about 6 years ago in Cuernavaca, but now lives here close to Tepalcindo. He's not active, but his wife, Laura, (the tall lady with the little kids) has gotten really interested. She's left her number with the church multiple times but the missionaries never went to her house. So pretty much my companion showed her the baptismal font and she asked him, "So how long does it talk to be baptized?" I think he almost fainted! This is the first time that this has happened to me in my mission, two strangers walk in and ask to be baptized! HOW CRAZY! God is blessing us a lot here in Tepalcingo.
Well, how are you doing? How was Nana and Papa's party thing? My companion and I are doing well. He's probably going to be changed this transfer. He's been in Tepalcingo for 9 months! There's another missionary that's from my generation that's been in Acapulco for over a year, and in Acapulco it is stinkin' HOT. Poor guy;s probably like a stick!
Have a good week Sterl! Thanks for the email and the support! Love, Russell

2.8.2010

2010-06-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom and Dad! I don't have any time to write! We we t to a pueblo called Chalcatzingo and hiked up a huge hill and looked at old ruins. It was so cool! Mom I am going to get that note out, I promise! Russell

2.1.2010

2010-06-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom and Dad! This week has gone by well. It was kind of difficult because we had zone conference, and we had to go clean a house in a different area. The missionaries aren't there anymore. There haven't been baptisms for a really long time, and the branch is sort of dysfunctional. President Spannaus decided it was better to close the area. So we went and cleaned and took out all of the stuff. Two brothers came to help us. They are so awesome. One is named Pablo and his son Ruben. Pablo has had a rough life. He was abusive to his family before and is still a little controlling. But I had a good talk with him today. He opened up a lot to me and talk me some of his problems. His wife, the other day, also came to me and started bawling because she has had so many problems in her family. So I have heard the story from both the wife and husband. I'm gonna try to help them and get them to go to the temple.
Mariana is still not baptized. We've been visiting her trying to help her get excited. She has problems with coffee, and she hasn't been very consistent in going to church. She didn't go yesterday. I am a little worried about her. She's also had a dysfunctional life. Her mom left her when she was eight years old with her grandma. She's never had a real family.
Sofia is doing well. She doesn't really have faith right now. She's told us openly that for her, she feels that God doesn't exist. But she was so receptive to our message, and Elder Anderson and I felt really good teaching her. Her daughter Norma is more receptive and is reading.
We've also been teaching a couple named Alejandro and Julia. They want to be closer to God. We've taught them the restoration and baptism. They were very receptive! They just work on Sundays. But after our lesson they started getting excited and were talking about changing their work. They're in the process of doing that.
There is a little boy named Fidel in our branch that is not baptized. His mom is inactive, but his grandma brings him to church. He really likes it! His mom finally went to church on Sunday and I had the opportunity to give a talk. I talked about the restoration and the reality of the apostasy. Many people, and members included, say that every religion is the same and that it really doesn't matter where we go as long as we love God. What they don't realize is that they are really not happy. They don't understand that there is something better than what they already have.
Josefina is doing really well. She got baptized about a month ago. She is excited to work. She's looking for a way to contribute to the work. We are gonna take her to visit investigators.
I am doing well. President Spannaus is so great. I've been able to see Elder Workman a lot. If you don't remember who he is, he was my trainer. He's now the assistant to the president, so he comes to every zone conference. It was really good to see him and talk. I've also been able to see Elder Barnes and Elder Matthews from my district. They are so awesome! I'm in a great zone.
Sister Spannaus just had surgery done on her. She had something wrong with her intestines. She's an awesome person. President Spannaus came alone to the zone conference.
I have some new names for you to pray for:
Pablo Amaro, Yolanda Amaro, Ruben Amaro, Magdalena Amaro, Jaquelin Amaro, Josefina, Laura Cadenas Soto, Mariana Perez Bravo, Pedro Cedillo, Abel Tenango Tlizlalapa, Petra Tenango, Elia, Benito, Anestacia, and Andrea Spannaus.
I am doing well! I am happy! I have learned a lot about myself in these last few months! I hope that everyone is well, Love, Russell
P.S. If you see Adam Clarkson again tell the guy to write to me! I'd like to hear from his family!

2.1.2010

2010-06-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

Sterl,
How the heck are you? Who called mom's phone? I don't know crazy people!! How's life going? We're working hard talking to a bunch of people about the gospel. I've felt the spirit really well this week. I feel really good about what we're doing. We haven't had too many baptisms, but I feel like we're about the have a lot. We've been setting good goals and we're working hard to achieve them. This past week we had to go clean a mission owned house because the elders were taken out of the area for about four months. We took the stove out, the fridge, the beds, everything. It was pretty gross what kind of stuff we found in there. The fridge was like half melted and almost exploded! I think a lot of my work here in the mission is to help the Mexican elders. Generally speaking, they are not very obedient. They come from very different back-grounds, but they are good people.
There is a person that we are teaching that is named Mariana. She has problems with coffee we found out this week, and she also has a hard time going to church. She feels like she hasn't gotten an answer to her prayer about Joseph Smith. I can't seem to sacar su duda. We've also been teaching many people that have felt the spirit and have read the book of Mormon, but they just have a hard time going to church and leaving the world behind. I need to be more eficaz. I'm trying to learn the best that I can.
I hope everything is going really well in life! When are you gonna get married? Russell

1.25.2010

2010-06-13T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
How are you? Life is going really well. I am having a good time here in Tepalcingo helping people accept the gospel. I've been really blessed in this area and in my mission. I feel free!
Yesterday I was talking to a young member in my ward named Pedro. He wants badly to go on a mission, and he's going to go, but he has horrible problems with depression. He's also had problems being afraid. Every two or three days he starts to feel dark inside and really afraid and nervous. He also has dark dreams. I don't really know what to do to help him. His family has had some rough times. The mom got pregnant at 15 years of age. The first baby died. The dad's now a drunk that we've tried to help multiple times. The gospel is in the home. We just have to give it time to work it's way into their lives. I just told him to go on the mission and to trust in God. If he has to take pills on his mission it's okay. If he has to talk to a psychiatrist, it's okay. He felt better after we talked. He put a lot of confidence in me to tell me these things.
The members here in Tepalcingo are just starting to understand the gospel. They haven't grasped the whole scheme of things, but it's a little hard to do that when you're in a little pueblo in the middle of nowhere.
We've been working our best these past weeks. We are contacting at least 35 people each week, or we talk to people on the streets and we get 35 of them to accept a visit. The majority of them aren't home when we go to visit, but sometimes they are. I've felt the spirit a lot stronger since we've been doing this.
The investigators we have are doing well. We didn't have many in the chapel yesterday, but we have a lot that we are teaching. One is named Mariana Bravo Perez. She's a single mom of CUTE little baby girl. She's had a ton of problems going to church on Sundays. She's gone two times and was going to be baptized yesterday after church but she didn't go. She had to work selling clothes. I don't really know what to do with her. We're gonna keel trying to help her. There's another special lady named Sabina. She has been looking for the truth. She asked my why there are so many churches. I explained apostasy and spiritual darkness and prophets. I felt the spirit really strongly, and I felt that He testified to her the truth of what I was saying. I asked her is she had any questions and she said, "Nope, it all makes sense." We've invited her to be baptized and she want to think on it more. We found her over three weeks ago, and she's read all the way to Jacob 2 in the Book of Mormon.
We found a lady names Sofia. She's a little bitter against all religion. When she opened the door, she looked angry and started to ask us a bunch of questions. She has so many questions and wanted to know all of the answers. We taught her the restoration and invited and committed her to pray. She said she would. We are also helping people recognize that they really don't have faith. Here in Mexico, all the catholics say they have faith, and a strong faith, when it's really not true. We don't accuse people of not having faith or anything like that, we just lovingly explain to them that it is the first principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that to really be happy, we have to really have faith. Many think believing and going to mass every once in a while is faith. It is pure belief, but not faith. Faith is belief that moves us to act, to change! I don't see change too often in the average person here! I love the Mexican people, but they are so ignorant. They've been kept in the same dead religion for centuries! There's no change, no progress, no real happiness. Sometimes I feel like I'm swimming against the current here, but that's been the problem since the beginning of the world. If we're going to be disciples of Christ, we have to understand that the world is not perfect. We have to recognize the reality of Satan, sin and the horrible things that happen in the world; but in spite of all of that, we have to have faith and be HAPPY! I was talking to Dr. Morgan the other day, he told me that "optimists are people that just don't know what the heck is going on", referring to all the bad stuff the happens. We can't be optimists, in that sense. I understand that we should have hope and press forward, but we shouldn't ignore the problems in the world. We have to face them courageously or nothing is going to change or be better. The people here in Mexico are at least willing to try. They've got fertile soil. They are humble, and willing to believe. The hard thing is getting them to be constant! You've got to get a little hard on them sometimes. The world doesn't like compromise, and less here in Mexico. People flee when they hear the word compromise! When we ask people if they'll go to church, they tell us, "well if I have time I'll go" or "If God wills it, I'll be there." or "THREE HOURS???" Crazy monkeys!!! They make me laugh!

I have another list of people here that I need you to pray for:
Pedro Cedillo, Sabina, Marianna Bravo Perez, Jose Luis Coyote, Sofia, Masiel, Sagrario, Aventure Pliego, Laura Cortez and Alejandro y Julia.

So Tiffany Brown got her mission call??? When does she report in the MTC? That is so cool! Good for her! Give her a hug for me, and if you see Brittany Windsor, do the same. How is the family? I hope everyone is doing well. I love you all and hope you are all well. Russell

1.18.2021

2010-06-13T18:24:00.000-07:00

Hey Sterl,
What I would tell your convert, and all new members that have joined the church, is that she has to hold on to the iron rod. Have her read 1 Nephi 8. It is interesting that the people that were holding on to the rod with all of their lives and the people that were wandering about in confusion were covered by a mist of darkness. Many new converts feel so good after baptism and in the church, but when the mist of darkness comes, they seem to doubt a little. But we just have to remind them that it's okay. It is natural to doubt sometimes. We're not perfect, but we have to keep going/ If we keep holding onto the rod, even thought it seems like the mist of darkness is never going to end, we will leave the darkness and reach the fruit of the tree. The fruit for me, is happiness and peace. I assume that's what she wants, and what we all want.

Also, what I've been focusing on with the people here in Tepalcingo, is that faith is like a little seed, if planted it will grow. If we cultivate it, it grows, if we don't it will die. If we want to have greater faith, we can start little by little, having the surety that it will grow in time. I hope that she is okay. It's all part of the plan. These people can't be expected to be perfect!

I love you Sterl! Russ

1.11.2010

2010-03-10T17:25:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad,
Elder Anderson is still here !!!!! He's going to have been here for a really long time, like nine months! President Spannaus has a different style!
Thanks for putting the names on the temple prayer roll. I know they'll be blessed. They already are blessed. We've found many people that have accepted the gospel so rapidly and freely. The people here in Mexico are ready to exercise faith. The Catholic church, in spite of some of the bad things it has done, has helped prepare the heart of the Mexican people. They understand the principles of the gospel. They're just waiting to put it into practice.
The gospel of hope and faith would help so many people here. There are so many women that do the same thing day after day: wash, clean, take care of the kids, make tortillas, wash some more, and wait for their drunk husband to come home. They believe in God, and in Jesus Christ and they try to be positive but you can see in their faces that their just tired! They need real doctrine, and real faith, and real help! We haven't had any baptisms in the past few weeks. We need to start working a little harder, looking a little more for los escogidos. Everyone that has been baptized is doing pretty well. Laura Cadenas didn't go to church yesterday. She's had some struggles within her family. She needs some help too.
Concepcion and her girls didn't go to church either. I have faith that her husband is going to change. She has to get baptized. Just little by little we'll be working with the Santos.
I have been thinking a lot about faith. Many times I have said, I have faith when really it's not true. I "believe" but sometimes without real conviction. Many, many people here say they have faith, but they don't do anything to show their faith. We're helping people see that faith is very important principle of the gospel. We have helped them see that they have to exercise their faith, not just believe.
A sister named Mariana and her grandma came to church with us yesterday. She's accepted a baptismal date for the 24th of this month. She's a single mom with a little baby girl 1 1/2 years old. Also, we've found a woman named Sabina who has been really, really receptive to the gospel. She is a great woman, and does all of the homework. The only problem is that she hasn't come to church yet. So if you could remember her in your prayers. Actually, just remember everyone in your prayers!
Yesterday, we had a missionary devotional that went really well. We saw a slide show of the recent baptisms that we've had and then we watched a conference talk by Elder Perry called "Bring Souls Unto Me". Then I gave a little talk, then Elder Anderson, and then some people that were baptized in these last months bore their testimonies. It was pretty special.
There's a little kids that keeps coming to all of the church activities names Carlos, I call him Carlitos. He's a sweet little kids, and he likes everything we do. I've actually taken kind of a father role to him. He doesn't have much of a dad in his home, actually none of these people do. I gave him a book of Mormon on Saturday and on Sunday he told me he had read 20 pages. The only problem is that his mom doesn't come to church. We've gotta convince his mom to start coming so that he can get baptized.
Keep me in your prayers. Ask God that I can keep focused and positive and keep up the energy. That's what I need. I feel like there are so many thins that Satan throws at me that try to keep me down. But I feel good here!
Thanks for all of your love and support! Russell

2010-02-22T22:25:00.000-08:00

2010-02-22T22:24:00.000-08:00

1.4.2010

2010-02-22T22:05:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad! Life is still going well! We are working well and trying to find new people to teach. I had a special experience yesterday in church. A member of the ward that was baptized about three months ago, gave us a referral. He took us over to his dad's house and had us teach his sister. She is very receptive. She, her husband, and her daughter went to church yesterday and felt the spirit. After church, I gave them a tour of the chapel, and they liked it a lot. I showed them the baptismal font and explained why we need baptism and what it is. The sister, named Antonia, asked me what is needed to be baptized. I told her faith and repentance. She told me she would like to follow in this church. Basically, I was able to teach the gospel to the whole family in front of the baptismal font. Members were also there to bear testimony. It seemed to all go perfectly. They're going to get baptized.
There is another beautiful family that we are teaching. The dad is a punk sometimes. He doesn't want to get married. But he's just afraid of change, afraid of commitment. He's a good dad, and wants the best for his family, but he doesn't want to change too fast. So we're working with them. The mom's name is Concepcion and they have two daughters: Daniela and Alejandra. The girls love the church, as does Concepcion. The only thing that keeps them from getting baptized is their marriage.
Everyone is doing well, speaking of people that have been baptized recently. Laura Cadenas went to church after a 4 week period of inactivity. She and her baby boy have been sick. It's been rough for her.
Okay, so these are the people that I would like you guys to pray for:
Laura Cortex Bautista
Laura Cadenas Soto
Yamilet Cadenas Soto
Petra y Abel Tenango Zitlalapa
Marilu y Martin Coyote Reyes
Rosa
Tania
Josefina
Fransisca
I don't know if you need their names complete, with last names and everything, but these are a few people that need help.
New Years was good. We had an activity in the church, organized by the members, not by us. I sang "I know my father lives" but in Spanish. It was really good. We're doing well. There are things that are in my patriarchal blessing that are really coming to pass at this point in my mission. Heavenly Father has helped me a lot. He's given me understanding more than anything.
I am probably going to be here in Tepalcingo for like three or four more transfers, or 18 -24 weeks more. President Spannaus likes to leave us in the area a longer time. Elder Anderson has been here for 7 1/2 months. If you need anything from me, just tell me. I love you all so much! Russell

2009-12-25T17:56:00.000-08:00

2009-12-25T17:54:00.000-08:00

2009-12-25T17:52:00.000-08:00

2009-12-25T17:51:00.000-08:00

12.21.2009

2009-12-24T12:02:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad!!! How are you all doing? We are doing well here in Tepalcingo. Everything has been going really well! Okay, first things first. I am going to be with an hermano named Pablo on Christmas. You're gonna have to call on Christmas day. I can't on Christmas Eve. Sorry, but we can do the speaker phone thing. Okay, the number is: 017351310373. You can call at 2:00 Mexico time on Friday December 25th. It's gonna be the same as when you called me on Mother's day. I don't know if you need a card or anything like that.
We just had an activity on Saturday night. It was a nativity/dinner. It was really successful actually. A lot of members participated and it turned out to be a really spiritual. About 25 people who aren't members came to the activity.
An investigator called Josefina was baptized yesterday. She is so awesome and has made so many changes in the life. Her baptism was the most spiritual I've ever seen. She has had such a hard life, partly her fault, partly not. She struggles with depression and has been angry with God the majority of her life. She's finally made peace with herself and with God. She said in her baptism, "I've been able to see now that God has never left me alone. He was always with me." She was crying when she said that, along with a lot of other members, and her daughters, that are not members. We confirmed her at the baptismal service.
Church was really special yesterday. I sang the song Oh Holy Night as a solo. It was really spiritual yesterday. Heavenly father is blessing Tepalcingo so much!
In gospel doctrine for investigators, we watched a conference talk by Elder Holland that he gave in April about the Savior and how He walked the path of the Atonement completely alone. So many people like it!
Laura is doing well. Her family if completely against her going to church. She is really faithful and wants the best for her life. She needs your prayers too. She's a single mom that is always smiling. She's so awesome!
We had a zone conference on Thursday. It was so great to see four of my old companions in my MTC district. Elder Ence was there. I also saw Elder Matthew and Elder Barnes. They are so great!
President Spannaus interviewed Josefina for her baptism. It was great to spend a little time with him. Josefina arrived a little late to her interview, so we got to talk a little to him. He is such a great person.
I am doing well. We want to have another activity with the members helping them to see the importance of missionary work. Seriously, Mom and Dad, I feel really good. It just seems like I had a down period for a little while. I feel like I'm making my way back to normality. My relationship with Heavenly Father is really strengthening. Today I was in the bus going to Cuautla, and I felt like I could preach a sermon to the people on the bus. And the cool thing here in Mexico, is that they would listen. They want to be closer to God. They are ready to have really faith. Instead of preaching a sermon, I just talked with someone named Jose Luis. In this mission they tell us that we need to contact the people in the street and wherever we are, in less than 30 seconds. REALLY FAST! But it has had results. I talked to him about the church and gave him a Book of Mormon. Missionary work is so easy once you get the hang of it! You guys should talk to everyone too! Seriously, thinking about it there is nothing more important. Look for the elect, or in Spanish, Los escogidos. The elect are those that listen to the voice of the Lord and don't harden their hearts.
I 'm going to follow the West tradition of Secret Santa here in Mexico. I just changed the dollars that I had to pesos, so I've got about 640 pesos now. There is a family that is really needful. The mom is single, and has 4 kids. The oldest is named Luis and is handicapped. He thinks and talks fine, but his little body is mis-shapen. He's twelve and sometimes passes the sacrament. The other ones are rowdy little boys. The last is a time little baby that was born in November. The mom's name is Mayra. I was thinking about buying toys and baby stuff for her. You guys should put the names of the people in this letter on the temple toll. It'll help!
Things are going well. I love you all! Tell everyone "HI" for me. Love, Russell

2009-12-24T12:01:00.002-08:00

2009-12-24T12:01:00.001-08:00

2009-12-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

12.14.2009

2009-12-24T11:45:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad! We are going well! Yesterday we had a baptism of a sister named Laura. She is a single mom and her whole family was against her being baptized, but she was fearless and I baptized her yesterday. She is awesome! We've been working a little bit differently these past few weeks. We are trying to contact more people in the streets. We've kind of been profiling in the past, only contacting families, but we're starting now to contact everyone. It's been going pretty well.
I sent off a letter today to Caralynn and Braeden. I hope it gets there before Christmas. Is everyone getting ready for Christmas? Actually Christmas is going to be so great here. The other day we made a nativity out of paper meche. It was really fun, and a lot of investigators came. We're gonna decorate a tree too. This Saturday we're gonna have a live nativity. A lot of members are going to participate.
I am going well. We're going to have our zone conference this Thursday. It should be really good. Actually, I am going to get to see my trainer, Elder Workman. He's the assistant to the President. It'll be great to see him.
Laura didn't go to church yesterday either. Her baby, Bryan, has been really sick. She's probably been going to the doctor every day for about three weeks. Abel and Petra are awesome. They're still progressing really well. We are breakfast this morning with Rosa and Tania. Rosa was baptized about two months ago. She's so awesome. Her mom and dad were both members, sealed in the temple and everything! She was baptized after their death. Tania is Rosa's niece. Tania is an awesome person. She reminds me allot of Sydney actually!
I am still with Elder Anderson. We're doing well together. The only problem he has with me is that he doesn't like it when I whistle! He likes silence. He's cool! How is Aunt Sharon? Has she gotten better? Who else has gotten their mission call in our ward? Jason Hartman, Butch Bond, Steven Phelps, and all of them? What's going on?
Well, I've gotta go. I love you all, Russell

2009-12-24T11:44:00.000-08:00

2009-12-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

12.7.2009

2009-12-24T11:05:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad! How is everyone doing? I am doing well.
We haven't had baptisms for about 2 weeks, but we are doing really well. We just need to find more people to baptize. We hope to have a baptism this week of a sister named Carmen. She's a great person. She's the daughter of a sister that was just baptized. Josefina and her grand-daughter are going to be baptized the 20th. Josefina has taken a long time to a accept a baptismal date, but has finally consented. She is so awesome. She's had a rough life, and is coming to God for the first time in her life. I have seen a transformation in her life. She's so much happier. She's allot like me actually! We have personalities a lot alike. I've been able to help her and understand her more than anything. Two other sisters are going to church every week, but still haven't accepted a baptismal date. They're really funny. They laugh all the time. They do have the pure desire to be happier and to be closer to God.
Kayra, that was just baptized, the woman in the picture I sent you with her daughter, has been having some problems. She hasn't come to church for two weeks. I am a little worried about her. Petra and Abel are progressing so fast! They already have a strong love for God and the Book of Mormon. It's been awesome to see them progress. They are going to be a strong part of the church here!
My branch president is named Jose Luis. He;s a great person. He is SHORT but has a really big testimony. I have been working well with him and his counselors.
Have you gotten the new manual for priesthood and relief society? It's about the principles of the Gospel. It's a great book! I'm starting to read it now. I've been able, in these past few weeks, to understand the Atonement a little bit more. The Atonement is what changes us. We are changed through the power of the Atonement. It's is what has made everything possible!
Do you have any ideas of activities we can have, or things that we can do as a ward? Something cheap but fun? I wanted to go caroling with the branch, but that idea got shot down. They don't sing too well down here. Actually, yesterday, I taught a choir of young men and Young women. They sing pretty well, they just need to practice. The members here are so great! They love to participate.
A convert of Elder Anderson is having a hard time. Her name is MariLu. She's struggled through out her life with alcohol and is getting help from the church and Alcoholics Anonymous.
Keep these little Mexican people in your prayers please! They need all the help they can get.
The virgin's day comes soon. How I hate that day! They set off fireworks FOREVER!! The fireworks here are so loud and obnoxious! They also celebrate the Virgin by dancing, drinking, sinning and all sorts of wickedness. My companion says that the Virgin of Guadalupe is Satan in a skirt.
We're gonna find out soon where you're gonna call for Christmas. I'm excited to talk to you. Now I'll be able to talk to Max a little bit right? Can he talk now?
I miss the little kids more than anything. There are such cute little Mexican kids here. I've got a favorite one. His name is Bryan. He's so fat! He's only ten months old and his HUGE! I call him Goliath.
We sing a lot here. Elder Anderson doesn't like to sing very much, but he does it. It's good to help people sing here. The church is growing little by little, very slowly. But it is progressing!
I love you all. Thanks for all the help and love. I hope you have a great day and week!
Russell

11.30.2009

2009-12-22T14:49:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad! I am doing really well. I'm sending you a picture of Laura, one the the people that we have baptized here. She is so awesome. She is the one that payed her tithing before her baptism, and she has no money.
How is everyone doing? I hope Thanksgiving went well. Actually, I ate a lot of tacos this past week so I didn't really miss Thanksgiving. The tacos here are so good! When you come down I'll take you to a good taco place.
This week went really well. We've been finding quite a few people that are generally interested, and have the desire to be baptized and be closer to God. It's been going really well.
Last night, we had a movie night in the branch. About 120 people came. It was a big success. We watched the Joseph Smith movie that is about an 1 1/2 long. They all like it and a bunch of them were crying. There were quite a few investigators.
I love the little branch we are in. The presidency is made up of return missionaries, and there are a lot of members willing to do their jobs. It's GREAT!
I've almost finished the Libro de Mormon. President Spannaus challenged us to read it all before Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, I'm so excited for it. We're gonna have some really good activities. I wasn't to organize a little choir and go caroling to the inactivies. It'll be great! We also want to have a dinner and nativity with the little primary kids.
The people here area really ready to hear the gospel. They are more humble and willing to act. It is such a difference from the coast!!! The people like to read here, they're more awake!
Everything is going well. Did you get the letter that I sent to Sister Barnwell? I sent one in the mail to you. That's great that you saw Aaron Johnson. He's a great guy! I'm glad that he is doing well. Jessie and Taylor should be getting home soon right? From the last letter I got, Tiffany Brown wants to serve a mission! That'll be great! Did you go the the receptions of Carmen and Sydney? How are they doing?
Thanks for everything. Actually, Elder Anderson also needs new shoes and asked his family for them They sent a pair that was way too big for him, so I'm using the, So for now, no worries about the shoes.
I love you! Tell everyone HI! Russell

2009-12-22T14:48:00.002-08:00

2009-12-22T14:48:00.001-08:00

2009-12-22T14:45:00.000-08:00

11.23.2009

2009-12-22T13:58:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! The mission is going well. Here in Mexico I'm livin' the good life eating tacos, and working hard. I love Mexico! I have seen so many little miracles here on the mission. About two weeks ago one of our investigators payer her tithing. She wasn't baptized and didn't have any money. But she had faith, and payed her tithing! A little old lady named Fransisca has a fear of water, but conquered it and was baptized yesterday! Another person named Anestacio stopped drinking completely in three weeks and is now passing and blessing the sacrament each week. A Catholic lady named Petra who said she didn't want anything to do with the Mormon church was baptized three weeks later. I'm walking on sacred ground. The people here are ready for the gospel, and are willing to to live it. I've eaten some weird stuff. This past week, I ate little bugs called Chumiles. They were alive, crawling all over my beans. I also are grasshoppers. They actually really don't taste that bad. When I was on the coast in Michoacan, I ate iguana, sea turtle, sea turtle eggs, cow stomach soup, pig foot, chicken foot, and the weirdest was armadillo. We were at a sisters house, when all of the sudden she pulls out this armadillo our of her freezer. It was funny.
I have been all over the mission, from one end to the other. I started out in Chilpancingo, Guerrero. They they sent me to Jojutla, Morelos, then to La Mira, Michoacan, and now I'm in Tepalcingo, Morelos. La Mira has been the most callenging area, but I am grateful for the experience.
The mission has been the hardest thing I've ever done, but I am so grateful that I am serving the Lord. I have learned to overcome fears, doubts and insecurities. This experience will help me for the rest of my life. The only thing I haven't liked from Mexico is the beans, that magical fruit. We eat so many beans!!!! Sometimes my stomach can't handle it all!!!
I love you all and hope that everything is going really well in the missions that you are serving in.
Hast Luego! Russell

11.23.09

2009-12-22T13:40:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad! I didn't get any emails from you guys. I'm not sure if it's a problem with the program or what. This week went really well. The work is progressing well here in Tepalcingo. We are going to have an activity on Sunday. We're gonna watch the Joseph Smith movie that's about an hour and a half long. We're gonna invite a bunch of people.
Our branch president is so great! He wants to work and has a lot of ideas. He's really willing to help in the missionary work part too. It's such a difference form other areas where the Bishop doesn't want to do anything. Yesterday we had a baptism of a woman named Fransisca. She has a fear of water. I baptized her. We descended into the water pretty slowly, and a few times I thought she was going to back out! But she conquered her fears and was baptized.
Out little branch is growing and everyone is excited. We're having a lot of activities. I'm excited for Christmas. We want to have a nativity and a dinner. It's gonna be really good.
I'm going well. Life is good. There are changes on Sunday. Elder Anderson might go, but I'm not sure. I hope everything is going very well at home. Happy Thanksgiving!
I love you all, Russell

2009-12-11T18:59:00.000-08:00

2009-12-11T18:58:00.000-08:00

2009-12-11T18:56:00.000-08:00

2009-12-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

2009-12-01T16:43:00.000-08:00

11.16.2009

2009-12-01T16:16:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
Como Estan? Just Kidding, I'm not going to write you in Espanol! Pues, tal vez Pap entiende un poco de lo que estoy escribiendo. Estas estudiando tu espanol toda via? Si quieres, puedes escribirme en Espanol.
I'm doing well. Mom, I did get your box. Thank you. Thanks for the pancake mix and the cookies.
You can send me some more shoes in the Christmas box. Just make sure their not huge boots or anything like that. And my foot size is 11 1/2 to 12. We're gonna receive packages in the middle of December. Send it as fast as you can! I'll write this week to Sister Barnwell. You're gonna have to use pictures from the last group. I have pictures, but I haven't made a C.D. yet.
Do you guys have any ideas of what we can do to excite the branch? What are some fun activities that we can do here? I've been suggesting a few ideas like Christmas caroling or a dance, or a movie night, but what do you guys thing? Now that there is a chapel, it is much easier to do things.
Sydney is getting married? How weird! Have you met her future husband? Carmen too? Sheesh! Make sure they're marrying good guys fir me!
This week was a little slower. We didn't find many people, but we're gonna work harder on that this week. A person named Mariana accepted a baptismal date for the 29th of this month. But she didn't go to church, so we are gonna see what happened.
I was so happy to see one of my old companions, Elder Lara. He's from Tijuana. He was with me in La Mira, and is an awesome elder. I just barely say him playing futbol. Also, I've seen here Elder Ence, my companion in the MTC and Elder Matthews, an elder from my district in the MTC. It's so good to see them!
The branch is getting organized. It's so relieving to see members of the church that are excited, that want to do so much!
Thanks for everything you've done. Ah, other weird things that I've eaten:Fried Grasshoppers and more little bugs called Chumiles. The grasshoppers are kinda weird. Man, I've eaten some weird stuff here!
Thanks Mom and Dad. I love you. Russell

11.9.2009

2009-12-01T14:52:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad! How are you!!!??? Thanks for the e-mails. I love to hear about the family. I've been doing well. I've really been changing, in my heart more than anything. President Spannaus seems to know exactly what to say to me. He told us in our Zone Conference that we shouldn't expect to change our hearts in an instant. We should be patient with ourselves. He gave us the example of Paul, who after his baptism, waited fourteen years until he started to really preach and write his doctrinal essays.
I am playing the piano allot here! This weekend was pretty intense. On Saturday, we had to go to the chapel early and fill up the baptismal font with buckets, because the pump want' working. After that we went to the apartment and took a rest. My back hurts still! We went out to work and to eat, and then we started to teach Piano and English classes. After I taught the English class we had to rush to Cuautla, about an hour and a half away, and I played the piano in Stake Conference. I also played the piano in the second Sunday session.
President Spannaus's mom came to Mexico to visit. She's an old lady in a wheel chair, and flew all the way from Argentina to visit. President Spannaus is one person that I respect so much! I feel a close connection with him. His wife is so awesome, and they have two young daughters. Laura was baptized yesterday with her daughter and with another brother named Abel. It was a special service. I baptized Laura and Elder Anderson baptized Yamilet and Abel.
The people here are so special. They have allot of curiosity. They want to know what's going on with the new chapel. They also have allot of gossip.Allot of them say that the church is only for rich people, and that we share wives and all that stuff. It's hilarious how the people believe silly things like that!
The LDS Church version of the bible in Spanish just got released. President Spannaus and his wife gave all of the Elders a brand new bible in Spanish, leather with the name printed in front in gold. This bible is something amazing because now the Spanish speaking people have references to the Book of Mormon, and the Joseph Smith translation.
We are going to start singing to people in their houses more. I'm teaching Elder Anderson how to sing! We're gonna go tracting and sing to the people in their houses. I think they'll be a little more receptive if we sing to them. The Mexican people are so open and willing to listen. The hard thing is helping them to understand and open their heart. Some are so attached to the Catholic church that they aren't willing to open their heart to the message. It's so important to listen to the Spirit.
We really don't walk that much. It's a pretty small pueblito. We don't use transportation much either. It is a really good area.
We wash our clothes by hand. There is a little washing area outside of the the house. We just dump our clothes in a bucket with water, Clorox and soap and let it sit for a while. Then we wash them one by one. I actually like to do it. As Dad would say, it builds character!
The church is so amazing!It's amazing that there are saints in Argentina helping saints in Mexico and saints in the U.S. that are helping saints in China and all over the world. It's a miracle to be part of all of this. It's a miracle that people are so believing and willing to have faith. For every door knocked on in Europe, one person is Mexico is baptized! Even though the Catholic church has done a ton of damage, it has prepared the people to believe in the Messiah and have an idea of what faith and repentance are.
Do you and Dad want to come and pick me up, or do you want me to come home by myself? Gosh, what happened to Steven Adams? Why did he come home early? I felt a pit in my stomach when you told me that. Is he doing okay?
Tell everyone that I love the, If you happen to see friends from High School, tell them hi. I love you so much and am very grateful for your examples of faith.
Russell

11.2.2009

2009-12-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad! I didn't get Dad's e-mail. I don't know if he didn't e-mail or if it didn't get through.
This week went really well. We had a baptism yesterday of a woman called Rosa. She has so much faith. She was going to baptize her babies in the Catholic church, and her family was pressuring her to do it. She felt the Spirit while we have been teaching and decided to be baptized herself. She told her family and everyone that she's not going to baptize her babies in the Catholic church. She had even chosen the God-Fathers, so it was a pretty big deal. She went to church yesterday and to the baptism and payed her tithing, without being baptized. She told our branch president that she didn't have money yesterday to pay for tortillas. She is wonderful!
Yesterday was the famous day of the dead or dia de los muertas. It is interesting the tradition that they have. They make a whole bunch of food, and breads and fruits, and they put it all on a table in their house. The things they put on the table are called offerings. They believe that their dead ancestors return to their house to eat and join in the festivities. They actually buy a while bunch of flowers and make a trail of petals from outside of the house that leads to the table full of offerings. The trail of petals is supposed to guide the ancestor to the house. They make bread shaped like a dead person. They are partiers here in Mexico. They like to have a good time. Someone here told me that if there is not alcohol or music, it's not a party.
I still haven't gotten your box, but I'm going to go to a zone conference tomorrow. I usually receive my packages there. I did get the box from sister Brewer. She's so great!
Yesterday in the branch, we had the primary program. It was so good! The kids here are wonderful. There are actually a lot of little kids that aren't members yet that love the primary and just go to participate. Their parents don't like to go to church, but they go themselves. They all arrived at 8:30 sharp to sing! The little kids here are more faithful than the adults!
No one told me Jen and Emery were going to get sealed! When did they decide to get sealed?!?!?I had no idea! Oh well, that's awesome. I can imagine it all in my mind. Little Max sounds like a little bundle of fun!
I left La Mira pretty late at night, around 9 pm. I got to Cuernavaca a around 7 in the morning. It is a long bus ride. We first leave from a city in Michoacon called La Zaro Cardenas. From there we make our way to Guerrero to a city called Zihautanejo. From Zihuatanejo. We go to Acapulco, from Acapulco to Chilpancingo, Chilpancingo to Cuernavaca. When I got to Cuernavaca we all waited for President Spannaus to to tell us our new areas. From Cuernavaca, I made my way to Tepalcingo. We are the only missionaries here in Tepalcingo. There are other cities around s that still don't have members! There is actually another city about 10 minutes away that is much bigger than Tepalcingo, and still doesn't have anything to do with the church. We should probably start expanding now that Tepalcingo has a chapel.
The branch is doing really well. The people here are wonderful. It's so different from La Mira. I know it all depends on the attitude, but La Mira was a really hard area.
I love you Mom and Dad. Thanks for all the help and support. I feel much better! Tell everyone hi.
Russell
PS. Hey Mom! Could you also send me some Christmas C.D.'s from Mannheim Steamroller? You can make some copies of the discs that you have. It would be much appreciated! Love you, Russ

10.26.2009

2009-12-01T13:19:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad,
I love my new area. I've fallen in love with the people and the little town. It's a little town called Tepalcingo. The people here are good and calm people. They mostly work in the fields. They love to party. I was actually cold the first morning I slept here. I was so happy.
I miss La Mira, but really not that much. It was a good learning experience. I feel really good about the people here and the members. They are all willing to do good things, and work. They just barely built a new and beautiful chapel here in Tepalcingo. I really like the sacrament meeting. Our Branch President is awesome. He's a tiny little guy. He has to use a little stool to talk in Sacrament Meeting. He's a return missionary and loves the work and the church. His testimony is very strong.
My companion is Elder Anderson. He is great! I am so blessed to be in this area with this companion.
Yesterday, a sister that was baptized the Sunday I left La Mira, was confirmed. She's called Petra. She's so awesome. About three weeks ago the missionaries found her as a referral. She told the elders from the beginning that she was Catholic and she was NOT going to change religions. After three weeks she was baptized and is loving life in the church. She loves to bear her testimony and read the Book of Mormon. She is so great. Her husband Abel is going to get baptized soon. The only thing that keeps him from getting baptized is his femur bone, which he broke when he was run over by a taxi.
We've got other investigators in the process of conversion. One is named Laura. She's got a bunch of little kids. The elders found her and she wanted to be baptized. She is really humble and understands everything. She still hasn't accepted a baptismal date because her family is pressuring her to be baptise her little kids in the Catholic church. Another sister called Rosa is going to be baptized. She was also a referral. The members here are so wonderful. I feel so happy to be here! There have been so many miracles going on here in Tepalcingo.
The weather is awesome. We are actually really close to the state of Puebla. My companion in La Mira, Elder Soriano, is from Puebla and his house is just on the other side of the volcano that I can see from my house! The volcano is still active and erupts about every December. I hope I get to see it erupt. It's name is Popocat Petl. The original language of the Aztecs, Nahuatl, is still spoken today in some parts. There are allot of different words and names still used in the everyday Spanish dialogue here in Mexico. In this language there are allot of T's and L's put together. Popocat Petl, Xochitl, Nahatl, Tlaquiltenango, Tlalitizap.
I and content and at peace. I am doing so much better here. Heavenly Father has heard and answered my prayers through the inspiration of my mission President. He is an awesome President. I feel so good to be back in Morelos. I love the state of Morelos.
I still haven't gotten you package, but it's okay, I'll live. There's actually a Wal-Mart in a city called Cuautla about and hour and a half from Tepalcingo.
I have learned allot in the mission. I have to say the mission has been the hardest thing I have ever done. It has been really hard! But it will all be worth it! I feel much more optimistic and happy. I feel happier and a little more calm. I feel like I can control myself a little bit better.
I love you all! Thanks for all that you have done!
Russell

10.19.2009

2009-11-30T22:14:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom! I've been transferred to an area that's called Tepalcingo, in the state of Morelos. My companion is Elder Anderson, from Utah. I got sent all the way from Michoacan to Morelos again! I'm doing well! I love you, I don't have that much time, but I will write you next Monday!
Russell

10.12.2009

2009-11-30T22:00:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
I'm glad you were able to go to conference and spend some time with Sterl! I miss being with you guys at conference time! I have so many good memories.
I'm happy it's cooling down there in Mesa. Here it is still HOT!!! It has cooled down a little bit but not much. It's still pretty darn hot. I guess to grow mango and coconut here it's got to be pretty hot. Here, everyone is sweaty. Really no one cares about sweat. I'm practically always wet! Some people carry little towels around to wipe the sweat off.
This week was a good one. Mario, our investigator, is progressing well. He's about 30 years old, and is single. He lived in the U.S. for about 7 years and speaks English well. I met him when we were getting into the public transportation. We started to talk in English, and from there we lost contact. But we found him again, and we set up an appointment to go to his house. Turned out that he lived one street away from us. He is a great guy, and wants to change. He's going to be baptized on the 24th.
We found a woman when we were contacting, door to door,. Her husband didn't want anything to do with us, but she accepted the invitation to go to church and to listen. We taught here and she listened very well. At the end of the lesson she told us that she had dreamed about us, especially me. She told us that she was us in a beautiful field, like a golf course. She said I was standing near a little lake with a book in my hand. She is a good person. She ended up not going to church because, I believe her husband persuaded her not to go. But that dream she had is interesting.
My companion is going well. We get along pretty well. He's understanding and helps me out with some of my problems.
You need to meet some of the people here in Mexico, and hear some of their stories. A lot of people here could write a book!
Sorry to hear about Aunt Sharon. So how long has she had that tumor? I hope everything goes well with her. I am glad you got to spend some time with her and her family.
I'm doing well. I haven't gotten your box yet, but I'm sure it's waiting in the mission offices.
I love you all. Give everyone a hug from me!
Russell

10.5.2009

2009-11-30T21:39:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
Conference was really good. I enjoyed it allot. It was awesome because we had a lot of assistance from our ward, La Mira. I was proud of our members. I also enjoyed or because we had an investigator come, names Mario. Sometimes he works nights, and that was the case on Saturday night, the 3rd. He entered at 7 at night and left work at 7 in the morning. We had previously planned on meeting at 9:30 on Sunday halfway between where he was and where the chapel is. We were there at 9:30 but he never showed up. After about a half-hour we decided to go to the chapel. When we got there, he was waiting outside of the chapel in his uniform, having come from his work and not having slept in a long time. He didn't pay any attention at all to the conference, because he was SLEEPING, but what counts is that he went. He accepted a baptismal date for the 18th. Pray for Mario that everything goes well.
Also, Antoniao, a member that was inactive that barely started to go to church again, brought his investigator nephews to the priesthood session. They went two hours away to watch the priesthood session in a city called Zihuatanejo, and got back home at midnight. We're gonna invite them to be baptized tomorrow.
I really liked Elder Hales talk about God. Also the talk about love by President Uchtdorf. Like you Mom, I enjoyed the talk by Elder Holland. He always talks really powerfully.
What hit me most is that we were repeating history really here in Mexico. The ancestors of these people had once gone and heard the Prophets speak before, and had even seen Christ. I was witnessing the fulfilling of the prophecies of Lehi and Nephi and other prophets in the Book of Mormon. These people little by little are going to return clean and pure and simple!
Ana Maria and Jose Luis are doing fine. Jose Luis went to the morning conference on Sunday and liked it. Ana Maria had to work on Sunday. It is actually a long story. She and her daughter, Magdalena, had committed to work on Saturdays and Sundays because they had been looking for work for a really long time, and they don't have any money. Elder Soriano and I Taught them about the Sabbath. We exercised our faith. About fifteen minutes later we found one of our other investigators, Rub. She told us that she was looking for someone to watch her kids while she works. It was perfect how it all worked out. God blessed us and them so that they don't have to work on Sundays. They worked this past Sunday, but they aren't gonna work on Sundays from here on out.
Emotionally and spiritually I'm getting better. I've noticed a pattern. I'll feel good for about a week and then I'll feel down for two. Each week when I'm feeling food, the good feelings are getting stronger. Every two weeks in which I am feeling down, the bad feelings are getting worse. It's kind of a roller coaster ride.
I love you all. Tell everyone that I love them, especially to Aunt Midge. Gosh, that came out of nowhere! How did they find out that she has Parkinson's disease? Were there signs, or did it just hit her?Gosh, tell her that I love her. Thanks Mom and Dad. Give Marin a hug for me.
Russell

9.28.2009

2009-11-29T22:03:00.001-08:00

Hey Dad! How are you? I'm doing well and the work is going well in La Mira! We had two baptisms on Saturday of Ana Maria and Hose Luis. They are a couple that had never been married. They were married on Friday, baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. The wedding was actually really beautiful. The baptism was really nice and the confirmation as well. Jose Luis was also ordained to the Aaronic priesthood in the office of a priest.
I have been going well. I can't believe little Marin is here already! She looks exactly like Max! She is so cute and dark! She doesn't really look like Jen does she? I am excited for General Conference. It's different here, because to go to the priesthood session, we're gonna go to a city 2 hours away! it'll be good to go with the men in the ward, and to know them a little bit better. We're all gonna pack in their cars to go to Zihuatanejo, Guerrero and listen to the Prophet!
My companion's little sister was baptized yesterday! He has a family that is part member. The members of his family that are members are his step dad and sister. But they're inactive right now. His Mom and other sisters aren't members. He's a great guy and a great missionary.
Today was the preparation day. We washed and read and studied and wrote. It rained a whole bunch today too. It's kind of weird how it rains here. It'll rain about 20 minutes really hard, and then the clouds will leave and the sun comes out and it's all normal again! But when it rains at night, there is so much lightening. It's really cool.
The people here are really good people. They are either really Catholic or really Jehovah Witness! If they're not in that group, they're just believing and don't really do much religiously. But all them are really good and loving people. They'll give you food and water and will listen to you just to not hurt your feelings. Really the work is new here in La Mira. The members tell me that the people were scared of the missionaries when they first came to the area. This religion is really new here.
I am glad that Ana Maria and Jose Luis were baptized. Jose Luis is a little joker. He likes to laugh and tease me, especially because I'm a gringo and don't understand the half of his jokes. He doesn't really like to talk about spiritual stuff, but he told me that he feels good. Ana Maria said she feels content and happy, like she's really accepted the true Holy Ghost in her life. They're good people and very humble!
I love you Dad. Congratulations for being a new Grandpa again! Tell Mom the same! Russ

9.21.2009

2009-11-29T21:38:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad! I wasn't able to talk to Doctor Morgan this past week. I had to go on divisions with other elders and we didn't connect. This past while I've been feeling better. I've been feeling more optimistic. I've been learning allot!
Our little ward is progressing a little bit more. We have counselors in the Bishopric now and the new members are starting to work! Yesterday, the Stake President came to our Sacrament meeting and canceled Sunday School so that we could go out and visit the inactive members, and if possible, bring them to church. People can go inactive so easily, and especially here where there isn't much money. Allot of people don't have enough money to get to church!
The work is a little slow still. But it's all good. It's going well. On Saturday, Ana Maria is gonna get baptised. She is a humble woman who wants to be closer to God. Her husband is going to be baptized on the 3rd of October. He's an awesome person. He really likes to joke and relax, but he also is sincere. They are so poor! They don't have money, and Jose Luis is looking, but not finding. I read them Jacob 2:18-19 and told them they need to involve the Lord in all of this. It's hard in this area because no one has work! They're all pretty poor.
Ana Maria and Jose Luis are gonna get married on Friday! We all walked down to the civil register to see if they could buy their birth certificates. It's a long process. So, they are gonna get married Friday and on Saturday Ana Maria is going to be baptized.Ana Maria and Jose Luis are parents of members that were inactive. But we found them when our ward had a reactivation activity. Good humble people, and they are going ti church again! Their daughter Magdalena was baptized, but never confirmed, so we might end up re-baptizing her, if we don't find her church records. Her boyfriend Antonio was also inactive, but is now going to church. He was really active when we went to church, but for some reason he stopped going. He really likes church now, and told me it was his goal to have Jose Luis get baptized. Good person!
It hasn't cooled down much! It's still pretty darn hot! But it's okay, it's gonna purify me. When it rains here, it is pretty cool. I've never heard thunder so loud in my life!
Our investigator Brenda, didn't get baptized on Saturday. She says she feels pressured, and wants to know more, to go to church more. She also said she would like to be baptized in the beginnings of October. So we re-set her date for the ninth of October. She didn't go to church yesterday, so pray for Brenda.
Yesterday, three investigators went to church. Two of them were Ana Maria and Jose Luis, but the other was a young teenage girl. She went with one of her friends from school. Her mom doesn't want her to go to church or to be baptized, but we're gonna talk to her about it!
I am doing well. Tell everyone that I love them. Tell Jen that I love her. I wrote her and told her to not worry! I can't wait to see pictures of little Marin! I love you both! I have taken more pictures! I will send them to you when I get a chance. I'm gonna write to the grandparents! (and I haven't gotten the box that you sent me).
Love, Russell

9.14.2009

2009-11-29T21:09:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom and Dad!
This week went really well. I was happier, like you guys said feeling more at peace and a little bit calmer. The mind is amazing! Sometimes it feels like my mind tries to trick me or is against me. I feel like I kind of subconsciously let the bad or negative thoughts in. And when one thought slips in, they all slip in. I remember sometimes Mom when you were probably depressed and I didn't know it. Mom, now that I'm feeling all of this stuff, I can see that you really didn't feel good sometimes. You are such a good and positive example!
Our life is really, really simple, but at the same time it's complicated! I am forgetting myself, but even when I serve I still feel bad sometimes. I have sincerely tried my best to do everything I can to help these people. I am getting the hang of changing my thought patterns. It is amazing what the thoughts can do to you. Really I have known what I needed to do all along, but I didn't know how to do it. I really need help to get out of this hole! I feel good. I feel optimistic. Seriously, I don't care about what's happened in the past, I am going to learn from it and go on! My weaknesses are not stronger than me, and I can do whatever I want in this life.
This week we've been working with a family. the Dad's name is Jose Luis, and the mom, is Anna Maria. They are such good people. Their daughter, Magdalena, is a member that was baptized about a year ago, but never got confirmed. Don't know what happened there! They've accepted baptism and want to improve! Magdalena's boyfriend, Antonio, was inactive, but has come back with a lot of resolution and has repented. Pray for all of them. Brenda, was an investigator that we taught, but she started to work on Sundays. She's a good person, my age. She's still a little wild and party-ish, but she wants to be better. She accepted baptism for this Saturday. She told us she feels a little uncomfortable. She's gone to church and has read the Book of Mormon, or parts of it. I think she's afraid of the commitment and still wants the party life. So, you guys should pray for Brenda!
There is something i would like to share with you Mom. It'll help in all aspects of life! It's called the Commitment Model. It's basically the following: Prepare - Invite - Verify - Resolve Doubts.
We need to prepare the investigators, members, other missionaries, the Bishop, by helping them to feel the Spirit. When they feel the Spirit, we invite them to DO something, a commitment. We verify that they've followed through with their commitment. We resolve the doubts that they might have in the process. It's amazing how this works.
We can first A.) Prepare the people to feel the Spirit by: 1.) Establishing a relationship of trust 2.) Base ourselves in what we have in common (in the mission field, common beliefs) 3.) Show comprehension or understanding 4.) service, Christ like love 5.) sincere testimony.
All of these things help people to open their hearts to you and to the Spirit. There can be real communication when the hearts are open on both sides of the relationship. When they feel the Spirit, you can B.) invite or commit them to do things: help you, serve others, be baptized, go to church, fulfill their callings in the Primary! Then you C.) check up on them, or verify to see how they are doing and if they haven't cone their commitment, with love m you help them to do it. Throughout the whole process you should D.) help them to resolve whatever doubt they have. They key to all of it is sincerity!
I love the Model of Commitment. it's pretty cool! It's actually helped me allot! I love you Mom and Dad! Thank you for all that you have done for me. Russell

9.7.2009

2009-11-29T21:03:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom!
In the box you send me, send me whatever you want. I'm good. I think just some snacks would be cool for my companion and for me. We sometimes get a little tired of the same food day after day. I love you Mom! I'm glad you're working with the Mexican people too! they're fun people, a little crazy, but fun. I love you all, tell everyone I love them! Russell

9.7.2009

2009-11-29T20:38:00.000-08:00

Hey Dad! I actually feel really good today. I've been able to relax a little bit. A lot of my problems come because I feel like the whole world is against me. I really don't know why, in my head I know that I have a family that loves me, a God that loves me, but I feel nervous, pressured and worried sometimes.
I am still in La Mira, they didn't transfer me. We're going to work more with the Bishop and his counselors. Right now there hasn't been much organization in the ward. It's alright though, you've gotta start somewhere. We're gonna help them to get organized and help us with the missionary work.
A woman came to church yesterday named Anna Maria. Her daughter is a member, but inactive. On Saturday we had an activity of reactivation. Some members went to the house of Anna Maria and asked her if she would like to go to church. She is not married to her spouse, and her spouse is catholic and doesn't really want to get married.
We're going to work hard to get people to the church. The assistance at church is low. We need to get the assistance up so people get animated! Then they will be able to build a little chapel here in La Mira.
The people here are good people. They love to give us rides and water. It's a little bit more worldly here on the coast. I don't know why but it seems like the coasts are always a little bit more open sexually. There are quite a few young girls that are pregnant. It's kind of a combination of indigenous people and a new technology culture. It's interesting to see dirt poor people in houses of wood and metal laminate for a roof that have a T.V. and cell phones. I don't know how or why, but they do it!
Gosh, I hope Grandma is okay. That's too bad she had a stroke. Is she able to move freely and talk still? How bad was the stroke? How is Grandpa doing? I am sorry to hear that Brother Lyons passed away. That's a big loss.
So Jen's ready to pop? I can't believe she's gonna have a little girl. It seems like Max was just born! So what's going to be Marin's full name? Little Max is so cute! He looks allot like Jen and Emery.
How is Alyssa's medication working? Is she doing better? How's Adam? Where is he working? Tell her that I love her and to keep going on! Is Sterling engaged yet? Is he dating anyone seriously? I need some pictures from him! I need to see how he's doing!
I am doing good, Dad. I feel more optimistic today. Everything depends on our state of mind, on how we think, for our thoughts eventually effect our actions. I feel like I try sometimes to think positively, or to change my way of thinking, but I just can't.
How is your calling going? Is Elder LeSueure doing well? How is there are where you are serving? How is the ward and stake doing? Have any new members been baptized in our ward? Are any of the priests in the ward getting ready for the mission? What is going on with Butch, Jason Hartman, Stephen Phelps, and Golden? They should be getting ready or gone by now, right?
I love you Dad. Russell

8.31.2009

2009-11-07T19:23:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom, I am doing well. I sent you a message last week. I am wondering if it didn't get through or if something weird happened. My companion and I went to the beach today We've gone there to proselyte and visit members, but we've never gone to walk and explore a little. It was really cool, I took a lot of pictures.
While we were walking on the beach we found a sting ray, and a bunch of dead puffer fish and some of them were still inflated. I took a bunch of pictures. We walked to where there is a sunken ship. It was pretty sweet. It looked pretty old. The beach that we went to is called Playa Azul. It was nice to get away from everything and walk on the beach. I felt relaxed. We got sun burnt pretty bad. My companion got burnt worse than I did, which is weird because he is the Mexican!
This week was kind of hard because we found really good people, but they fell. One of them is called Felix. He is an ex-narc, or ex-drug-trafficker. He''s told us some of his stories. He's been in California, and in Reno Nevada selling and trafficking drugs. He told me he has spent sometimes a million dollars a day. He was horribly addicted to drugs too, but about a month ago he found the strength to leave the drugs. He dais he's been praying and he has felt really good when he prays.
We taught him the restoration and the Book of Mormon, and he really liked it. The next day he accepted baptism after reading 3 Nephi 11. The next day his cousin came to his house when we were there and we taught his cousin. His cousin put a bunch of stupid ideas in his head about the Book of Mormon and prophets, and he lost that simple faith that he had. His cousin is a little punk. He's one of those people that really doesn't believe in God, he just likes to fight. I wanted to punch him in the face. I don't like proud people, especially proud Catholic Mexicans (ha, ha). Felix says now that he would be baptized, but only to follow through with his commitment that he made with us to be baptized. He says he wants to read the Book of Mormon before his baptism His pride came back, and he has lost his faith. Gosh, I was pretty upset with his cousin.
A lot of people here in La Mira are really afraid of commitment. Also, a lot of people here are a little bit undeveloped socially, but at the same time, they're a worldly people. They like their beer, their coconut and their hammocks. They are really good people at heart, but they just can't leave the world.
I have eaten some more weird stuff since I've been here. The other day some members invited us over to armadillo. It was pretty good. Felix, the investigator, invited us to eat turtle, the kind of turtle that gets really big from the ocean. His wife showed us the head and everything. It was really good. I liked it a lot. We also are turtle eggs, raw. That was weird. i am going to eat everything when I get back! Tell Scott hi! I hope he is doing well home! I love you Mom, Russell

8.4.2009

2009-11-07T19:14:00.000-08:00

Hey Sterl! How are you? I'm glad you're dating someone! I'm excited for you to start your own family and a new life and all that stuff! How are your studies going? I am doing well. The area is hard, it's hot and it's easy to get frustrated. But I really like this little area. The people just don't understand sometimes. The people here are generally more open sexually. There are a ton of young girls that are pregnant, and they;re only 13 to 15. The economy is tough. There isn't work. The people aren't focused on God, they're focused on the temporal things of life. It is hard. Then add to all of that, the ward is horribly divided. There is a lot of pride. The only person that can change there heart is God. I've tried my best in my own circumstances to help.

The last couple of days I've been sick. I've been throwing up and I've had diarrhea. I haven't eaten since Sunday! But i am good. The doctor told me to not eat solid food, only liquids. I don't know what it is that I have. It is pretty gross, but I am getting better. Thanks Sterling, for your support! Love Russell

7.5.2009

2009-07-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

Hey Dad!
How's Elder LeSeuer? How's the work going there in Arizona, or in the zone that you are over?
It sounds like you had fun on the 4th! Hows Adam? Have you gotten to spend some time with him? How is he? Is he a good provider? How does he treat the kids?
How are Caralynn and Braeden and Remmy and the other little guys?
I still haven't met my mission president. We're going to a city called Zihuatanejo to meet him. It's about two hours away. I'm excited to talk to him. He sounds like a great person. His name's Alin Spannaus, from Argentina.
We really have been having hard times here in La Mira. We're trying to work and be obedient. We tract and look and search, but really no one has been receptive. And the people that are receptive do not accept a baptismal date in three weeks. They want more time, which is understandable. I think it's probably just because my faith is weak. Sometimes after hours of contacting, I just don't feel the desire. A lot of people lie, and say they're going to go to church with us, but when the morning comes they aren't there, or they're asleep, or something! It's been more difficult here to bring people to church. They're a little bit lazy, and dis-animated. But it's all good. Maybe our job here is to just plant seeds.
Dad, thank you for always being a good example and being diligent. Example is SO important. Example is also contagious. If one person does something, usually other people follow. Thanks for always being good. How's Daniel? Have you gotten to spend some time with him? Man, sometimes all a person needs, no matter how stubborn, stupid, or foolish he is, is some quality time. Just time to relax and build a relationship between you and him. Maybe that's what he needs. Who knows?!?!?!? I love you Dad!
Russell

Hey Mom! How are you doing? I hear you're sick! Goodness woman, when are you just going to be better? !?!?! That's great you are going to spend some time with Nikki, Butch, and Josh. Give all three of them a HUGE hug from cousin Russell! Tell them I love them. There are so many times when I meet someone here, that reminds me of them. Sometimes I find little Mexican Nikkis, or Butchs, or Joshs!
Is Aunt Midge doing better? What's going on with her? I hope she gets better? Has she seen a doctor? How's Uncle David? Are they holding up under the stress?
Mom, you are so awesome. I can't even begin to describe how much help you've been to me in my life. I'm sure Aunt Tracy and Aunt Midge and all of your siblings can't begin to describe how much help you've been in their lives. You are truly a life saver: small, round, and sweet! We're really just not seeing success, baptism-wise, here in La Mira. We work the best we can, we try to stay animated and excited, but it's just rough here. And it's blasted HOT!!!! But it's ALL good. Like you said, God's in charge! I love you so much. Thank you Mom.

6.29.2009

2009-07-07T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hi Mom and Dad!!!
Thanks for the update on the family! I like to hear of all of them!
I haven't been getting e-mails from Jen or Dad. I got an e-mail from Dad today, but the past few times I haven't.
So when is little Marin gonna be born? Little max boy sounds like he's doing good. Is Alex there yet? Tell him I love him. Tell Emery congratulations on his new calling in the Elders Quorum. How big is Jen's belly?
How're the babies? Give a kiss to all of them when you see them.
Ashlee came to the house? That's great! How does China sound? How's she doing? I can't believe it's been two years since I graduated from High School!
We're doing okay here. I don't think Luis has the mind or the body to be baptized. He's pretty old. But I think we're gonna talk to him again to see if he has the desire. Isabel isn't willing to be baptized. We talked to her about priesthood authority to baptize, and she is concerned about it, but not willing to be baptized. She was going to ask her pastor where he got his authority. Her daughter, Nubia, also is just not willing to act, to make the decision to be baptized. Another investigator we had named Patricia was taking the lessons, but isn't going to church, so we decided to drop her. Another investigator named Sonia, wants to be baptized, but her mother has been telling her it is wrong to be baptized twice. We explained that baptisms of little children are wrong, and she understands that. She also understands the need for prophets and authority. She just doesn't have the will to get up and go to church and act. The family of nine that we found also fell. We talked with the mom and one of the daughters, and they both told us they would like to be baptized. Then came the husband and after listening to him, they decided they wouldn't like to be baptized. So many people here have been baptized here without gaining a testimony of Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon. And it's hard sometimes to get people to pray and ask God sincerely. There is a lack of focus here in Mexico. People are either really busy, or they're laying in their hammocks. But when they are being taught, I don't know why, they can't focus very well. Some read the pamphlets that we leave, but when they pray, you can tell they aren't praying with real intent. Some people accept baptism just because they want to be clean from their sins. To know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, you have to believe that he was a prophet first, right? If people don't believe in Joseph Smith as a prophet, they'll never know if he was a prophet. You won't receive any testimony until after the trial of your faith, and beliefs right? It just seems to me that 3 weeks is a really fast time to baptize someone, especially in such an unfocused atmosphere. But there are many stakes and wards here in Mexico with members that are willing to learn and work, and they were all baptized in three weeks. There is a HUGE theme here in Mexico that we are looking for the "chosen", or "escogidos". We are looking for people that are willing and ready to accept and believe in Joseph Smith as prophet and in the Book of Mormon and the Restored Gospel. Literally we are looking for people that will accept the message with an open, and focused, heart. I've talked to a bunch of recent converts and members that really just think like this: "Yeah, it could be that Jose Smith was a prophet. It's possible." But they really don't know. They really haven't believed. There's quite a problem here with men that don't allow their wives to choose. They don't let their wives to go to church or to be baptized. They're called "machistas". One of our investigators, named Jennifer, won't be baptized because her husband won't let her. So, we're workin' on it. It's HOT and humid!!!! But it's all good!
I really liked the e-mail that you sent me Dad. I really like to hear talks from Elder Hafen. I am glad you are getting to work so close with Elder LeSeuer. It is funny to see the picture of Elder Andersen in the Liahona!
I love you all! I did get the face wash and the notes from the family! I loved them all. Keep praying for La Mira! Russel

6.22.2009

2009-06-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom! I'm still here in La Mira, in the state of Michoacan. It is HOT!! I sleep in garments without sheets without ANYTHING. The crazy thing is we only have one fan, so we stick it in between us hoping the air will reach us both. It's pretty funny actually! It really is hot here, but I love the experience. I will never complain about the heat in Arizona again probably. In Arizona it's dry, here it's about as hot as AZ but it is humid and we sweat a lot! Sometimes I actually just start laughing because it's so hot, but it's good for me. It's perfecting me little by little! Here there are a ton of mangoes and papaya, and a TON of coconut palm trees. There are a lot of other weird fruits that I've never seen in the U.S. There's a fruit called Ayaka. It's HUGE. They're bigger than basketballs, and filled with this fruity stuff that tastes pretty good.
It's weird to see the picture of Elder Wilford Andersen in the Liahona! That's awesome he has a new calling!
Yesterday was the last day to see President Gardner and Sister Gardner. You guys have to go out to dinner with them or something. Yesterday, President Gardner and Sister Gardner came to my area to help in the organization of the stake. La Mira is no longer a branch, it's a ward. We're still gonna have the services in a "house of prayer" they're called, but we're working on getting a chapel. Elder Octaviano Tenorio came from the Seventy to organize the stake. It was pretty cool. We brought a big investigator family and some other investigators. The big family we found, is a family of nine! There is the dad, Reymundo, the mom, Guadalupe, and the kids, Almadelia, Marisol, Esmeralda, Reymundo jr., Jose, Anna and Martin. We've only met the dad in passing, but we're going to talk with him more. Guadalupe and Marisol have accepted a date for their baptism. They have the desire to follow the Savior, but sometimes the husbands won't let them for one reason or another. They're "machistas", or exceedingly masculine and stubborn. They're really not that bad, you just have to gain their confidence. That's exactly what we're gonna do.
We found this little old guy named Luis. He's been sick for a while and so after we taught him we gave him a blessing. His neighbor came by to see what was going on, because he never lets people into his house. She came to "investigate". She is with a religion called the Evangelists, or something like that. She really liked the blessing. Then we visited HER house and found her daughter there. We taught her daughter and left a pamphlet. Luis and Isabel ended up going to the conference with us.
I did receive a new companion though. He is Elder Soriano, from Puebla, Mexico. He's a year older than me and likes to work, so I'm happy. We get along really well.
Really, the members of the ward here are awesome. They are all willing to work and do things and make things happen. We just need to gain their confidence and help them to get organized.
I know I can do miracles mom. Really, when I was in High School, I had such a good relationship with everyone: with God, with my fellowman, and with myself. I was so happy. When I went to BYU, I lost those relationships. Here on the mission I am rebuilding what I lost really. I really didn't realize what I had in High School. I was close to the Spirit. Here I am learning to do it all over again. I have learned that fear is a huge obstacle. But it's true, all we have to do is push out fearful thoughts and focus on the Savior and we have to trust in His power. My understanding is coming back. I feel much happier. I wish I could express all of my feelings over e-mail, but it's not possible.
I love President Gardner. He gave me a blessing in our last interview. He is such a great person and president. He has been faithful and has been a wonderful strength here in Mexico. Sister Gardner is awesome. She is always smiling and doing something to serve. I didn't realize that a member of the First Presidency interviews candidates to be mission presidents. President Faust had interviewed them both, also Elder Ballard!
So you are the stake Primary President? So you're not in the Relief Society anymore? How's that going? Who are your counselors? I tried using my credit card, and I don't remember the PIN. In fact, I don't ever remember using a pin with the credit card. But it asks for one here, so I'm not sure what to do to use it.
How is the family? How Jen doing pregnant? Did you guys have a little party for Max? How did that go?
Where's Daniel living? Is he working or studying or livin' the life or what? Alyssa's okay? How're the chilluns? How's Adam? What're you guys gonna do for her birthday!?!?!
I hear Sterling's doing so well! Gosh, I still can't believe he went on his mission and is already back! Mom, from what it sounds like in the e-mails, the mission changed him. Is that what you've seen? How's he doing?
How're you dad? Man, I wish dad were my companion for like a week, just to see how he does things.
I'm doing well! I'm not going to say the mission has been easy. But it is very worth it.
I love you all. Thanks for your examples and love and support! Russell

6.08.2009

2009-06-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

Hey Dad! That´s great you were able to spend some time with the Wilbur's. I miss the cabin and that same wonderful feeling of being up there with nothing but free time and people that I love. I´ve actually been pretty discouraged the last few weeks. And we really haven´t found anyone to be baptized. I feel like sometimes there is so much pressure to baptize and so much number pressure that I start worrying about that more than God or the people. How was your mission president? Sometimes I feel like there is so much pressure on numbers that I get pretty down. I can´t relax. I feel a constant pressure and weight in my emotions.
All of the members here really don´t have any idea what´s going on. They´re all so new. There are about six or seven priesthood holders that attend church. They´re willing, they´ve just never really organized anything. They haven´t put their priorities in order. There are a ton of people that have nice stereos and t.v.´s and cell phones but they are having hard times financially. They don´t quite understand.
Yesterday in Priesthood, the issue came up about a inactive member that needed a new roof, because the rain season is coming. They just sat there and talked about the problem. Eventually I helped them see that they needed to be organized and meet and plan and actually DO something. There are a lot of men here that supposedly know a lot about the ¨palabra de Dios¨ but they really don´t do anything. How can people study the bible and the Book of Mormon and not change? The people here don´t change. They just do the same things over and over and over again. I don´t know how to help people like that. I guess just being an example.
In our little branch there is a big problem with gossip. There are little wars in between the members. A branch of 40 or so members! It´s crazy! I have found out that Mexicans get offended really easily. So many inactives that are offended and we´re trying to help them come back to the church by serving and visiting. It´s kind of hard to balance all of these things.
I was thinking about God as a Man. He was once an Intelligence. We were once intelligences. I have asked myself many times since I was little ¨Why do we need bodies?¨ Why weren´t we just good enough off as spirits? Well, Joseph Smith said that the spirit and the elements when separated cannot have a fullness of joy. I think it´s just something that we can´t comprehend. I think that in the eternal scheme, there are a lot of doubles. Good and evil. Spiritual and Physical. Light and dark. Man and Woman. White and black. I was thinking about it, and I think that perfection is the combination of the two. We came here to experience light and dark, pain and suffering, good and evil. Like Lehi said, there must be opposition in all things. Also our spirits combined with our bodies. When we are sealed in the temple the man and woman become one flesh. We have to combine the two to have perfection. There are two great dimensions: the spiritual, and the physical. The point of life is to have the spiritual overcome the physical. Just like God didn´t create the elements, or the image of man, I don´t think he created gravity, shape, or color. As a man, he overcame these physical dimensions until eventually he gained power over them all. He can create worlds and has power over gravity to create them. He can organize matter. He has power over time itself. Jesus could walk on water, and heal people from sicknesses. So basically I think natural laws like gravity, shape, and color have existed forever. God has just overcome them and has power over them. Just like justice and mercy, charity and love are eternal, so are natural laws like gravity and shape and the laws of mathematics. God didn´t create them. He gained power over them and comprehends them.
Jesus overcame the spiritual dimension for us. He gained power over the law of justice through the atonement. He also overcame the physical through the resurrection. We will have the necessary bodies again through Jesus Christ. Through Him, we will eventually gain power over all things. Joseph Smith said that exaltation and salvation is to have put all our enemies under our feet. I think it means also to put all laws, natural and spiritual, under our command. We will comprehend all.
I think it was Amulek that said the atonement must needs be eternal. Jesus Christ hasn´t existed forever. But mercy and justice have. The atonement is eternal, Jesus Christ just subjected Himself to these broken laws when he experienced the Atonement.
I was thinking about how God lived on an earth like this one. That means that probably there were similar animals. God has lungs to breathe air. There was air in His world too. I believe there were birds, and so God didn´t create the image of the bird, or the human, or maybe the fish. So there are some things that God didn´t create. Like music. There are choirs in Heaven. Music is eternal. Clothing is eternal. Family is eternal. It´s amazing to think that the image of man is eternal. No one ever created the system of the human body. It exists in a self existent principle, just like our spirits. The heart, the brain, the fingernail, the lung, the eye, are eternal things.
Also, the ecosystems of the earth, the ¨body¨ of the earth is eternal. As Gods we will comprehend the function of the body, and of the earth, and we will understand eternity. In the book of Psalms I found a scripture that says that by His wisdom God set the foundation of the earth. By His knowledge He created the heavens. I don´t remember what scripture exactly it is. Also, the glory of God is intelligence. I remember after taking a test in Physics or in Calculus, and having understood and comprehended the principles, feeling really good emotionally and spiritually and mentally. I think probably that feeling is the Spirit. I think when we learn and understand with an eye single to the glory of God, we feel the Spirit prompting us to learn more and more and more.
The bodily functions still go on in Heaven. In Moses it says that God cried when He saw the wickedness of His children. God actually had tears come out of His eyes. I´m beginning to understand that the life after this one is not much different that this one.
Sometimes there are so many things that I don´t know that I become overwhelmed. Sometimes I ask myself, ¨Why would God put us in a situation that we can´t understand?¨ ¨Why is everything so complicated?¨ But then you look at the gospel and how simple it is. God is simple, and someday we will understand.
I was also really confused about social influence. Why were some spirits sent to homes where they were inevitably going to digress? Homes where they were raped or tortured, or where they lost brain cells as babies due to the alcohol problems of their parents? We teach so many people that are completely ignorant. They unknowingly are blind and closed. Why? How are thy ever going to learn? Odds are the majority of the people in this world are not going to receive the gospel. For some people this life isn´t a test. It´s just a life where they come and don´t learn anything. They just live and then die. What happens with them? How are people that don´t accept the gospel because of the hardness of their hearts, hardness caused by social influences, going to be judged? Sometimes I think ¨What´s the point of the law existing if the majority of the world doesn´t know the law?¨
I was thinking about the two, really three, greatest laws. To love God, and to love your neighbor as yourself. In this life the most important social relationship is with God. The other with your brothers, your fellowman. And also, Jesus said love others as you love yourself. You have to have a relationship with yourself too. Relationship with God, with others, and with yourself. On these relationships hang all the law and the prophets. What commandment doesn´t help us better our relationships with God, others, or self? Keep on sending me passages out of the book on Henry Eyering! Please don´t be worried about me. I´m fine I just think sometimes I need someone to talk to. Someone that understands what´s going on inside of me, and over e-mail it doesn´t really work.
I love you Dad. Tell everyone I love them too.
Russell

6.1.2009

2009-06-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom and Dad! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! I couldn't write last week, but this week yeah! So how was your birthday? What did you do? Thanks for being a wonderful mother of all mothers!!
How are you all? I am doing well. It's really hot!!
Well really we haven't had too many investigators, and we've been contacting quite a bit and working with members and inactives. But we haven't seen the fruits of our labor quite yet. Me and Elder Lara are working and doing what we can!
The little branch I'm in is so tiny. There's about 40 people on average that assist every Sunday. But out of those 40 there are about 12 adults. It's really cool because the majority of the members are really supportive. A lot of the adults are recent converts of about 5-6 months. So the work here has been a little slow. I don't know about other missions, but here in Mexico there is so much crap that goes on. There are a lot of Elders that don't really try to reach all of the requirements before a baptism, and sometimes baptize people without going to the church at all. A lot of people are baptized into the church without having the desire at all. They just do it, because they are friends with the missionaries and because it seems like something new, but after their baptism they'll go to church about two times and then stop. It's pretty frustrating. I think there's such a pressure for numbers and so many of these elders are immature that they just baptize without the care that they should give to the investigators. It's a little discouraging sometimes.
We had two baptisms on Friday, the 29th of May. The people that were baptized are called Yareli and Yadani. Yareli is a mother of three kids, and is 31. Her husband is less than supportive but she is firm in doing what God wants and wants to be involved in the church. Her daughter, Yadani was baptized too. She is a smart little girl and really likes the young women's program.
Right now we have been trying to find good people that really have the desire to be baptized and change their lives. Mexico is so "burnt over", kind of like New York was in Joseph Smith's time. You've got the catholics, the Jehovah's witnesses, the Mormons, the Atalayas (some crazy new religion here in Mexico), and a whole bunch of others. Yesterday, we found a little guy named Santiago. He lives alone and doesn't work. We taught him the Restoration and he accepted a return visit. He seems like he wants to be closer to God, to have a firm faith. Also we found a little family about a week ago. They had accepted a return visit, but when we went back they weren't there. But, they had left a note, a very rare thing here, that said "We're sorry! We had to leave, but come back the same time Monday!" When we taught them we felt something pretty special, and they left a note telling us sorry! So in about twenty minutes we're gonna go teach them the plan of salvation. They had a little girl pass away in their family a while ago and they seem like they are looking for something.
President Gardner is getting ready to leave! It'll be weird to have a different president!
So, I'm gonna give you a list of the weird things I've eaten since I've been in Mexico.
Here it is:
-LIVE BUGS called humildes
-Chicken foot
-Pig foot
-Cow foot
-A soup called Pancita or Menudo, and the main ingredient is the STOMACH of the cow -And last but certainly not the least weird is IGUANA! I ate a good portion of some ugly lizard the other day. Strangely enough it tastes like chicken.
The really weird thing is, and mom you're probably going to gasp, is that I've liked all of it. There hasn't been a thing that I haven't liked. The cow stomach soup was actually really good.
I'm doing good. How's the Wilbur family? I wish I could be there! I love family reunions! How're Nana and Papa?
Hey Dad, I was thinking about something the other day. Just an interesting thought. God is a man. We as humans are created in the image of Man. God was once like us on an earth, and went through the same process we are going through. So the process is eternal. In 2nd Nehpi it says that the course of the Lord is one eternal round. There was no beginning and there is no end. If God is eternal, and God is man, then this image, the body of man, is eternal, and never was created. It is eternal. It made me have a new respect for the human body and form. Man never began and never will end.
Do you guys need anything from me? I am doing just fine. Just keep praying for the little branch La Mira! I love you all
Russell

5.18.2009

2009-06-27T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hey Dad! How's it going? It was good to talk to you on Sunday! I'm doing fine. I've been transferred to the farthest away area in the mission. It's on the coast in the state of Michoacan. The area is called La Mira. I'm about 10 minutes away from the Pacific ocean in a car. Part of our area has a ton of coast and ocean. We went there the other day and pretty much contacted on the beach. A lot of people there live right on the coast. On the way to the ocean there are a ton of coconut palms and banana trees. They grow a lot of mango's too. There are a ton of mango orchards.
My new companion is Elder Lara, from Tijuana. His trainer just left and I am his second companion. He's a good, short little elder that wants to work and do good things.
It is hot here. The humidity is what makes it worse. I sweat so much, and my pants and backpack have crystallized salt on them from the sweat. IT'S HOT!!! The people here are good. The branch here is tiny. There are probably about less than 20 adults that go to church here, and the majority of them are people that have just been baptized. But they are faithful and want to keep going. The inactivity problem here is HUGE. Sometimes I feel really overwhelmed because there are so many members but none of them go. I don't know what makes the difference. All we can do is invite I guess.
We've got some investigators here that are good and sincere people. One is named Yareli. She's got three kids and wants to be closer to God. The other is Armando. He reminds me so much of John Millet. A big tall guy but pretty quiet and reserved. He's stopped drinking and smoking and loves what we teach him.
How are you Dad? How is your new calling with Elder LeSueur? Has anyone else in the ward gotten their mission calls? Jason Hartman and Butch Bond all them should be getting close. Has Russell Cluff gone to the MTC yet?
How's grandma doing? Is she feeling better? How's Daniel doing? It was crazy to talk to Sterling in Spanish. It'll be fun to talk to him fluently when I get back. You need to learn Dad!
I'm doing good. It always is hard for me to change areas. I feel kind of overwhelmed because everything is different and I don't know anyone. I've always had a fear of change.
Thanks Dad for being a good example and a good father. Tell everyone hi for me! Russell

5.4.2009

2009-05-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

Hey Dad! The swine flu really isn´t that bad like everyone is saying. A ton of people here are alarmists. I was kind of worried this last week, on Wednesday. Before lunch I started to feel kind of weird in my head. I couldn´t see very clearly. I felt like my eyes were kind of weird. And then my head started to hurt really bad. I don´t think I´ve ever had such a headache in my life. It hurt! And that made me sick to the stomach. I threw up a couple times, but when I did it was pretty violent. I was kind of worried because I had heard on the radio that one of the symptoms of this flu thing was severe head pain. I was actually at a member´s house when I was throwing up and they were kind of worried too. We decided to call President Gardner just to check with him. When I told him I was sick and mentioned that this flu thing was a problem here, he just laughed. He reassured me that I did NOT have the swine flu. I felt kind of dumb, but it´s better to be safe than sorry! I really think I had a migraine, because my head hurt pretty bad. That´s great Sterl´s working in the MTC. He´ll do great there. So you´re the secretary to an area seventy again? To Elder Dave LeSueur. Have I ever met him before? I don´t remember!
Tell Sister Young sorry for me, and send her my love. How´s she doing now without her husband? Is she gonna have to work extra now to provide?
We had two baptisms yesterday. Benito Vega Coronel was baptized, and also Elia Vazquez Barba. Benito and Elia have decided to split up for a while. They were going to be married, but they´ve decided it would be better to split up. I think a lot of people here get married just to get married and have kids, and have a ¨mujer¨. So I think with their baptism they´ll re-evaluate their lives a little. Some time apart may make them see that they really do love each other, or that it´s just better that they go their own ways. I think in time they´ll do what´s best for them, and what the Lord wants. But now they are baptized and are keeping the commandments. Their baptismal service was simple and good. The leaders here are a little insensitive. They don´t try too hard to make the service calm and spiritual. I think they´ve had so many baptisms that it´s become routine to them. They´ll learn in time I guess.
This week, we are going to have the baptisms of a little boy named Julio, and his mom Yuliana. She wants to change, and wants to be better. She wants to be closer to God, and change her family. She´s a good and faithful person. We haven´t met her husband yet. But we´re going to invite him to the baptism and everything. He´s been abusive physically in the past, but is still vocally abusive. It´s so hard here in Mexico, and I´m sure in every other part of the world. The people here believe in God, but they don´t really believe in what He wants and is. They just believe and ¨try to be a good person.¨ The majority of the people here really don´t exercise their faith. It´s the challenge is getting people to strengthen their faith and have them act on it.
We´re trying to find more people every week. This area is going to grow slowly. It´s already kind of slow, but it´s okay. We´re going to find and teach the people that really want to change and be better.
I didn´t get an e-mail from Mom! I´m not sure why but I have the number that you guys are gonna call on Sunday.
I´m not sure if you need to put some code before the number or you need international cards right? But this is the number IN JOJUTLA that you´re going to call:

So you´re going to call like you did in December right? Did you have cards last time? If we find out that you need something more in the number we´ll e-mail you again during the week sometime, so if you have questions e-mail me before tomorrow. There might be a 01 or something before the number. Okay, so Elder Collins´ family is going to call at 5:00 MEXICO TIME. You guys are going to call at 6:00 MEXICO TIME. I´m not sure if the Arizona schedule coincides with Mexico´s. This number is of a sister in the ward named Norberta. We might e-mail throughout the week if we find out more about the number! Thanks Dad! I love you
Russell

5.4.2009

2009-05-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

Hey Jen!! How are you guys?? How´s life? I can´t believe little Max guy has four teeth already!!! Wow! And you guys are gonna find out what you´re having soon! That´s awesome. How´s Emery doin´? Is everything good in la familia? I´m doing really well. That is great that Sterling is working in the MTC! It is so weird to think he is one of those teachers! He said he was gonna go talk to my teachers that I had in the MTC. That´ll be cool.I´ve heard that the zone that I´m in is kind of a hard one. But we´re working and finding people, little by little it´s going to grow. We had a baptism of a couple yesterday. They´re names are Benito and Elia. Both really sincere kind people.Bringing the gospel to Mexico is like pouring Clorox into a septic tank. It´s so dirty here and there is so much crap that comes from centuries of Catholic tradition and sin and just worldliness. The gospel is simple and clean and a lot of people are hardened spiritually and they don´t recognize that what they´re being taught is better.This next Sunday we have a baptism of a young mother named Yuliana. Her husband has been abusive physically in the past, but isn´t anymore. He´s still vocally abusive, and she doesn´t talk very kindly to her children, but we´re gonna work on that. We haven´t met her husband yet because he works a ton, but eventually hopefully we´ll meet him. Her son, Julio, is going to be baptized also. He´s eight years old. Her kids are so cute. I´m gonna send some more photos sometime.Yep, we´re doin´ good! How´s life for you guys? Thanks for being the best sister ever Jen! Sen my love to all you know! Tell Emery ¨hey¨ for me! And give Maxamillion a hug from Unkie Russ!Russell

4.27.2008

2009-04-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom and Dad!!! This morning was kind of scary!! Not really, but at the same time yeah. Me and Elder Collins went to a member´s house to eat breakfast. We were talking about the epidemic. There are quite a few cases in Mexico City, and one case here in Jojutla. People are starting to wear masks over their mouths. Kinda weird. Also, this morning there was an earthquake in Mexico City. We felt the after-effects in Jojutla. It was weird! I´ve never felt the earth shake! At first I thought I was just dizzy, and then they started saying that the earth was actually shaking. The earth was actually moving up and down. It was weird. I actually started thinking about the power of God, and how he can destroy us if He wants, with epidemics, with earthquakes, with whatever He wants. That´s so great Sterling and Matt are going to BYU. What apartments are they living in, and where? Is Dallin still gonna go to BYU? I´m excited for them to experience BYU. Sterling will flourish there.
I´ve thought about how every person is a child of God. I just can´t understand it. But I believe it. Every single little lady that sells food on the street is literally a beloved and extremely precious child of God. I don´t know if I´m gonna stay here another week or not. I might leave this next week because there are changes. I´m not sure where we could talk on the phone yet, but I´ll look.
The area is doing well. We really haven´t found that many people. But the people we have found are sincere. A woman named Anna was baptized yesterday. She´s had a crazy life, but wants to change. I baptized her yesterday after a really nice baptismal service. I just hope she keeps on going in the church.
Benito and Elia were going to get married this last week, but they ended up feeling pressured and scared, and didn´t. Elia was married before, but only to have some kind of support economically. Her old husband died, and she´s receiving pension. If she´s married to Benito, the pension is going to stop. There are some other little things that prevent them from getting married. She just feels like she can´t get married right now. But both of them want to be baptized, and want to be members of the church. We might challenge them to separate so they can be baptized, and then be married in December. The problem is there´s not much money here and not much housing. So if Benito left the house, it would be difficult. There´s actually another house/room behind the actual house that Benito could live in, but if they still lived close, the chances of falling and breaking the law of chastity are greater. So this is the dilemma with them! What do you think?
A sister in the ward gave us a referral of a young mother of three children. Her name´s Yuliana (Juliana). Her husband is hardly ever there, and before he was abusive with her physically. Now he is only vocally abusive. But he works a lot and isn´t there much. She wants to change herself, and her family. She´s got the cutest little kids. One is named Julio, the other Luís , and Anna María, the baby girl of 5 months. She´s sincere and wants to be happier. Her husband´s given her permission to go to church, and she wants to save her marriage if possible. She´s going to be baptized the 10th of May.
As of now, we are trying to find people that are willing to listen and apply what they listen. I was thinking about it. We as missionaries have the challenge of helping them see that this church is different. SO many people here think that everything that comes from God is good and it doesn´t matter where you go to church. But we have to convince them to think differently.
I had a really good experience with President Gardner this past week. He´s known for ¨planching¨, or severely chastising missionaries, that don´t baptize or aren´t doing enough. I thought for sure I was going to be ¨planched¨, because it´s been hard here. We really haven´t baptized at all for about a month. I was really nervous before the interview with him, because I´m not perfect, but I´ve been trying my best, and I don´t think I could have taken, emotionally, a chastisement. The first thing he told me when I went in the office was ¨Le amo¨, ¨I love you¨. That calmed my fears real fast. Then he just looked me in the eye and asked me how he could help me. We talked and I felt really good. I think Heavenly Father knew that I couldn´t take a chastisement, and told President Gardner that. I love President Gardner. He is really close to the Spirit. He´s not perfect, and he´s kind of intimidating sometimes, but he is a very good man. Richard G. Scott was his mission president, and Elder Christofferson was on the mission the same time as him. Elder Scott and President Gardner are still very good friends. In the mission home, there´s a painting of Elder Scott´s, with his signature and everything. And President Gardner has a book with a message from Elder Scott. I´m pretty sure Elder Scott decided my mission call. I´ve felt a connection with Elder Scott in the mission. I met him in the MTC, and have heard a lot about him on the mission.
This sickness thing is kind of weird. I´ve been told not to shake anyone´s hand or anything like that. Is it really that bad, or are they exaggerating all this?
I´m doing well. How is the family? Where did Daniel go? How´s Jen and little baby? Thanks for all you have ever done! Russell

4.20.2008

2009-04-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom and Dad!!!
That´s so cool Sterling and Matt are gonna go to BYU! Sterling needs to try out for the Men´s Choir, and Matt. Wow I am excited for them to go to college! And Sterling´s gonna be a teacher in the MTC?????? That´s awesome! I will definitely pray for him. The family that we found definitely have turned out to be not so great. They haven´t been there when they told us to go to their house, and we found Cristino drunk again. We´ve spent a lot of time with them, but they eventually decided that they don´t want baptism. We found a couple that definitely wants baptism. More than anything they want understanding and they want to ¨mejorar¨, or improve. Their names are Elia and Benito. We found Benito when we were contacting. He was sitting in his house, shirtless watching TV. He let us in and we taught him about prophets, Jesus, and the restoration. He listened and took the Book of Mormon. He was very nice, and told us he would go with us to church and accepted a visit for the next day. We went the next day with a couple of members in the branch. He wasn´t there, but his wife was. We explained that we are representatives of the Lord, and we help people to be more happy through the message that we bring. She let us in and listened. I´m always kind of worried with bringing members sometimes, because sometimes they´ll go off on some anti-catholic preaching spew and it´ll drive away any peaceful feelings that were there. But I don´t know, both of the members bore humble testimonies and invited her into the gospel. They both acted very Christ-like, which was unusual. Just kidding, they´re great, they just sometimes don´t understand. Elia, the wife of Benito, accepted to go to church with us too. So, we had some members pass by for them on Sunday. They went and thoroughly enjoyed the fast and testimony meeting.
The next day, a Monday night, we went to extend a baptismal date to them. I was kind of scared because it´s so hard sometimes to get people to commit to baptism. I taught as best I could, and eventually they accepted their baptismal date for the 26th of April, Dad´s birthday. That was a miracle in itself. But even more, Benito has a problem with drinking. We taught the Word of Wisdom and he accepted it all. Then we found out they weren´t married, and we taught the law of chastity, and they accepted the commitment to get married. They accepted all of that in less than an hour. So this week, Elder Collins and I are going to get them married. It´s quite a process to get somebody married here. But they´re so cool, and they´ll get married and be happier.
What´s even more awesome is that Benito hardly ever lets missionaries into his house. He doesn´t really know why he let us in that day. Also, he wasn´t really planning on going to church on Sunday. He told Elia, his ¨mujer¨, or woman, that he wasn´t going to go, that she should just go without him. But he felt something pushing him to go. He went and said he felt free and good after church. They´ve both told us that they used to fight quite a bit, but since we´ve been coming it´s been calm. They´ve been together almost 35 years and have six children. They´ve just never been married. Weird how they do things here. So they´re going to get baptized this week.
We´re also teaching una Señorita named Anna. She´s 22 and lives with her family that are also recent converts. She is quiet and has had a crazy life. But she´s expressed a willingness to change and wants to be happier. She left her ¨spouse¨ that she was living with. So we´re teaching her. Pray for her that she opens her heart to us and to God.
Anestacio is good. He is the coolest investigator and person. He is a truly changed man. I love him so much. Little bald guy that we found drunk is my favorite person in the branch. He is the most faithful out of all of them I´d say. He doesn´t say much, but he learns quietly and humbly does his duty. He loves God. I´m doing good and so is Elder Collins. His Spanish is fine. We all eventually learn. Even kids that have a hard time learning can speak and communicate just fine.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON SUNDAY DAD!!! You´re gonna be about 63 years old, right?? I´m just kidding. The only present I´m gonna give is three baptisms on your birthday.
Also give Caralynn the biggest hug you´ve ever given her in your life from me. I miss that little girl. She´s gonna be six years old. I seriously can´t believe that. Tell her I love her and want her to be happy!!!
I love you both and am glad to have you as my parents. Have a wonderful week!
Russell

4.13.2008

2009-04-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

Hi Mom and Dad! How are you? We are doing well here. My companion´s name is Elder Collins. He comes from San Diego California. He´s really talented and loves to surf. It was funny because Dad said that his first junior companion was a surfer from California too!
I´m doing well. I really like conference. It was so good to just sit back and listen for a while. It´s nice not to do the talking. Since Elder Collins doesn´t know much Spanish, I´m having to fill in for him! Yeah it´s a little crazy I´m a trainer. I´m doing well though, and trying to do my best. We haven´t been finding very many people lately, but a week ago we found a family of five that accepted a baptism date. The father, Cristino, we found him completely drunk last night. That was discouraging. He didn´t go to church yesterday either. When he´s not drunk he´s a really nice and sincere person. I hope we get things straightened out with him. He has a serious addiction. But if he just stinkin´stops drinking he could change his whole family.
I didn´t even know it was Easter. Here it´s called the Semana Santa, or Holy Week. They reenact the last week of Jesus´life. They have people carry a cross, and people as the Roman soldiers and the Virgen De Guadalupe. Some people actually take whips and hit themselves. And there are other parts where they crucify themselves to a cross. I didn´t see any of that. Well, I saw the Roman soldiers, but that´s about it.
A lot of people are open to listening and all that stuff, but they aren´t really willing to accept. Here people are really open in comparison with the U.S. But I´ve got the feeling that a lot of people are so religionized here that they accept everything as ¨from God¨. That´s why it´s important to share the restoration with the people. I liked what Elder Andersen said in Conference that we aren´t alone in receiving answers to our prayers, or in receiving guidance or finding joy and happiness. But we are the only ones that have prophets and priesthood and the Book of Mormon. You´ve just gotta believe in it and keep going. That´s great Sterling is doing so well, and Matt too. I hope they can be room mates and be married by the time I´m home. Good for them. I love you Mom and Dad! Russell

4.6.2009

2009-04-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

Hey Dad! Thanks for your e-mail. Man, watching conference brought back SO MANY MEMORIES. Memories of feeling the Spirit, of being Spiritually fed, and then physically fed afterwards with an Easter dinner. I really don't think there are better memories than that. I was thinking about it though, and the past few years I haven't felt those feelings. Ive been pretty closed spiritual wise, my heart was hardened through disbelief. I loved the talk on faith given by an Elder in the seventy. I cant remember his name. He said that we choose a life of faith. I already knew that, but it hit me again. I loved his description of the 6 destructive d's. I have fallen into those of Satan's traps many times. I really liked how he said that these 6 destructive d's are habits, and we can change them. It takes discipline and effort to live a faith oriented life. I think in High School and in younger life I was surrounded by people that either had my beliefs, or didn't challenge or try to disprove my beliefs. Once I started reading that book about Joseph Smith, the Rough Stone Rolling, I started to realize that life isn't perfect. There are questions that I, nor anyone else, can answer. And they probably won't be answered. I have learned that there are an endless number of questions and doubts trying to destroy my faith. I have looked around me and seen unbelief and hypocrisy and bad things. There are and have been people who are born into life only to suffer and die. Life is crap for a'lot of people. But I was thinking about the plan of salvation and how this life is a tiny, minuscule part of what we are going to experience after. And, the Savior died to help these kind of people. Basically I came to understand that not everyone knows what I know, and that for some people, God doesn't exist. For some people, Thomas S. Monson is a fraud, not a prophet. I started to look at life from their point of view. What if... I started to wonder if God was only in my mind. Because a person that strongly believes in God can stand next to a person that doesn't believe in God. Both have their beliefs, and in their minds, they are both right. If you don't believe in God, He doesn't exist. God knows that, that's why He's commanded us to have faith. Faith is the great key to unlock blessings from heaven, mainly the Spirit. Some may say Faith is the thing religious leaders use to blind the people. But it is more than just believing. It is a key, a key that God has ordained as the first principle of the everlasting gospel of salvation. In that conference talk, he said that to have faith is more than just recognizing that it is a principle of the gospel. WE HAVE TO CHOOSE. Sometimes I think about people and how some peoples hearts are hardened through bad experiences in life, and I think it unfair that they should reject God because their hearts are hardened because of things they couldn't control. But I also look at Alyssa and Daniel, and Laman and Lemuel. Raised by righteous parents, but have hardened their hearts for one reason or another. We have our agency. We have the power to CHOOSE. It is just as simple as President Monson put it: DOUBT AND FAITH CANNOT EXIST IN THE SAME MIND. Also he said that your future is as bright as your faith. It really is in our mind, in our spirit, in our outlook in life. But only by having faith, and unlocking that spiritual door, can we receive the Spirit of Truth. I was thinking about how liberal God is with the Spirit of Truth. Many nonmembers and people that don't know about Jesus Christ experience what it feels like when they recognize truth. Love, peace, tranquility all testify of truth. When Man serves other Man, he feels good. This is truth. When a man and woman are married and work together, they feel good and love each other. This is truth. God testifies of truth to all of us. Emotion, feelings are tools that the Spirit uses to teach us and help us recognize truth. I remember going to counseling with Floyd a lot, and feeling the same feeling after a session with him that I felt after a sacrament meeting. Emotional healing is truth, and the Spirit helps us recognize truth. If we open our hearts to God, to Christ, we can truly recognize truth in ALL things as Moroni promised. Opening our hearts, having faith, is essential to receiving the spirit of truth. We have to open our hearts in every situation. I remember sitting in conference and thinking in my mind, I literally have the choice to accept this man as a prophet, or as just a good man. When we choose to open our hearts and accept things as they really are, that's when we receive a testimony. I love the quote that testimony is to feel and know, conversion is to do and become. We aren't always going to have those powerful spiritual feelings. That is why we remember and do, and become. And we don't question what we've already felt and recognized as truth. It is a cycle. Basically I've recognized that the Spirit as the tool that God has given us to find truth. To receive it is our choice. It is simple, but difficult at the same time. I really like how the Brethren answer doubts and questions. President Uchtdorf said that the gospel isn't just someone's best guess at the meaning of ancient scriptures, or the meaning of life. It is truth revealed from the Creator of the universe.
I've tried to understand God sometimes in my life. You just can't without the help of the Spirit. The Spirit helps us understand the mysteries, and at the same time quiets doubts that we are going to understand, but not in this life. Humility, faith.
Thanks Dad for everything. You are a wonderful man and a righteous priesthood holder. You have the right to worthily hold a name and standing in the House of the Lord. Thanks for all you do and have ever done. Love Russell

3.30.2009

2009-04-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom! I wasn´t transferred, I´m still here in Jojutla! I´m the older companion now and President Gardner decided to make me a trainer. Elder Collins just arrived last Tuesday. He´s from San Diego, California. He´s a good guy, and is working on his Spanish. It´s kind of difficult now because I am teaching pretty much every lesson, every day because he doesn´t know Spanish. But he is learning.
Truthfully, we really don´t have that many investigators. Please pray that we find people who are truly searching for the gospel, and that we are faithful enough to have the Spirit with us. The last week we helped with a humanitarian project. A bunch of students came from Taylor University in Indiana and helped distribute glasses. A lot of people here have bad eyesight and they don´t have the resources to have glasses. The students brought down a BUNCH of old glasses from Indiana. The missionaries helped to translate in between the students and the Mexicans, helping them have their eyes examined and checked. It was pretty awesome to do that. I really liked working with the people in that way. It was easier to give pass-along cards away , because their hearts were opened after seeing us work with them and giving away free glasses. There were a lot of older ladies, but I had fun with them. Some of them waited 4-5 hours to get glasses, so a lot of the time I just went around and talked to them and made them laugh.
I went to Cuernavaca on Monday night to pick up Elder Collins. We stayed the night there in Cuernavaca, picked up our companions, and then went back to our areas.
How are you Mom? How´s life? Dad said you were sick. I´m sorry to hear that! Anestacio is doing just fine. I´m not worried about him. We went to visit him about three days ago, and he told me ¨I´m going to miss a Sunday¨, and I asked him ¨not this Sunday, right?¨ He told me ¨no, a Sunday in June.¨ It´s March, and if he´s worried about missing a Sunday in June I think he´s good for the rest of his life! He blessed the sacrament, and he told me that he was nervous and felt like he didn´t know what to do, but Heavenly Father helped him. He is having better relations with his son. He told me that before, his son didn´t like to see him because he was always drunk. But now he and his son are spending more time together. He has completely changed. And really we as missionaries didn´t have to do anything. He was just ready.
Mi hijito chiquito está bien. He´s the funniest little guy, and has a thoughtful mind. He was the most attentive one in the Sunday school class that I taught on Sunday. His aunt and uncle just barely were sealed in the temple in Mexico City, and asked me if they could have him sealed to them. I told them probably not, we´re gonna wait til his family joins the church.
Thanks for the quote Mom. Thanks for everything, for bringing me into the world even though it HURT! Thanks for accepting me the way I am. You have an accepting and kind heart. I hope you are feeling better.
So hopefully I understand everything in Conference. Elder Collins is gonna be confused out of his mind trying to understand. Pray Mom that we find people and that we have success, the success that the Lord wants us to have. I love you!
Russell

Hey Dad! How are you doing? I´m fine, just here with Elder Collins my new companion. I am still here in Jojutla, doing well. We really don´t have that many investigators. So I´m asking pretty much everyone I know to pray so that we find some that are sincere and want to change. One of our investigators went to church with us, he´s named Adrián. We found out that after church he had asked two different people for 10 pesos, and they each gave him 10 pesos. 20 pesos is much more than he needs to return home in a taxi. We went to his house, and found him completely high on drugs. He had used that money to buy some kind of drug that you inhale. I was pretty mad and discouraged and sad because he deceived us, and members of the ward. He´s 21 years old, has had a wife and child, and lives with his dad who really doesn´t care about him. He doesn´t eat very much, and he has a living washing cars. But the desire to change is his. If he doesn´t have it, we can´t help him. So we moved his baptismal date back, and we´re gonna see how it goes. We are tracting and contacting a lot, trying to find new people who want to change and listen.
I love you Dad and am glad I was sent to the family I was sent to. Thanks for always being the best you ever could have been. You are exemplary to us all.
It makes me miss Arizona when you talk about yard work and spring. Jojutla is pretty warm already. But the rainy seasons are coming so I think it´ll calm down. Thanks Dad, I love you Russell

3.16.2009

2009-03-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

Hey Dad! How are you doing? I´m glad you got to spend some time with Sterl. I miss working in the yard and all that stuff. Sometimes I get a whiff of cut grass or of an orange blossom and it reminds me of home, and of good memories. Yeah, Anestacio the man who was just baptized, his last name is Ocampo. Maybe they´re related! Who knows! There are a lot of people here that are related. People don´t really move from where they are born here.
That´s awesome Sterl was able to speak in Spanish in the Liahona ward! I still am amazed that I ran into Bishop Ramirez in Cuernavaca, and again in Chilpancingo! What a small world. How are the Young's doing? Tell them both I love them and tell Jesse I´ll pray for him. I hope they´re doing well. It´s good that the ward is serving them!
Have you written my investigators yet? They have already been baptized, but it would be good for you to write them dad in your Spanish! They are awesome people.
So you know who my new Mission President is?!?!? I have no idea who it is! How do you know and I don´t? Well, I think it´s okay for you to tell me if it´s been in the church news or something.
Thanks dad for everything, especially your e-mail about the Holy Ghost. It helped me a lot!
I love you
Russell

Hey Mom!!!!!
Nachooooooo! I love that movie! ¨Sometimes when joo are grown up joo too must wear... estretchy pants.¨ Did Sterling like it? Yeah I´ve gotta say some of the things here are really like that. Just a different culture. But the people are the same!
Anestacio received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday during Elder´s quorum. I remembered yesterday that about two weeks ago I felt good about Anestacio and his progress. I remember envisioning him receiving the priesthood and being baptized. And now he has been baptized. I´ve heard that the Spirit doesn´t lie. I think the Spirit was kind of letting me know that he was gonna make it. He is willing to do anything. He´s humble and is close to God. He´s told me when he prays he feels a ¨pressure¨ in his body, in his chest. Someone in the Presidency told me they want to have him bless the sacrament next week. So I´m gonna tell him to study the prayer. He´s kind of slow sometimes, but he´s willing to learn, and he´s sincere. Those are the requirements for receiving help from Heavenly Father. He´ll be fine. I want to bring him to general conference in April. Yeah I´ve pretty much healed from the fall. I´ve picked off most of the scab, and it´s just pink flesh now. It´s looked pretty gross for a while. Man that hurt. The next day after that I felt so bad. This last week wasn´t too great for my health. I got a little sick, and I was sore from the fall and playing football. But it was a good one. On Saturday we had a baptism of a little thirteen year old. He is living right now with his aunt and uncle here in Jojutla. The family he is living with is so great, one of the stronger families in the branch. I call him my ¨chiquito hijito¨ because he is so tiny. Such a cute little guy. His baptism was simple and good. His mom came to watch, even though she isn´t a member. His uncle baptized him, and it was a sentimental moment for him. His mom was also touched by the service, and will probably take the missionary lessons. I´ve actually been doing quite a bit better with Elder Vargas this week. Just learning to relax and be his friend even when I really don´t feel like it. I am trying to think of everyone as they really are, as children of a God that created the earth! It´s easier to love people when you view them that way. He goes home in June. There are changes this Sunday, so maybe he´s gonna go. I´m not sure. We´re doing good though. I need to be more understanding and patient and EVERYTHING.
I´m not sure what to do to get the members here excited about the work. It´s hard to balance everything sometimes. The people here aren´t poor. It just depends on the part. Some people are poor, and some have pools and stuff. It depends on the part. But you can have a decent house, and then about 5 yards down the road a little shack. It´s pretty humble conditions. It´s amazing to think though that even though some people live humbly, they aren´t humble. The poor can be proud too. But they´re all good and trying to do what´s best. I´ve got a district meeting in about ten minutes, so I´ve got to go!
I love you
Russell

3.09.2009

2009-03-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom! I´m just returning from playing football americano, and volleyball! Another elder and I crashed into each other and fell onto the concrete. The left side of my body hurts! But I´m all good! Just really tired!
Thanks for your concern love for me mom! I can feel it even when I´m a long ways away! There´s a family in the ward here that invited me over to have a geletina, jello, with them for my birthday, for like 5 minutes! How was the temple in Argentina? Was it one of the cookie-cutter ones or different? I want to be with you guys in the temple. When you and Sterling and Dad come to get me, in Mexico City, that´s when we´ll do it! I don´t know if you guys want to come down here. I don´t know how safe it would be to have three gringos walking around in Mexico. How was it in Argentina? Here we will definitely stand out!
Elder Vargas is good. I´m learning that he´s a better companion that a lot of other Elders in the mission. So it´s okay, I´m going to try and love him and just be his friend and help him finish his mission good. He´s a good guy. A lot of Mexican Elders here haven´t had perfect family back-grounds like we have. So I am lucky. I just need more faith and charity. President Gardner came to our branch yesterday. It was kinda crazy yesterday because the assistence broke a new record. 116 people in the chapel! And President Gardner came on the perfect day! He´s a good man and loves the Mexican people! I´m doing well. I´m just tired today, REALLY tired. I took a pretty hard fall! And the sun is pretty strong here, the climate is sort of like Arizona, except there´s a rainy season in May and April. So it kind of cools down in those months. I think I´ll probably be here for the rainy season, I hope so anyway! It would be cool.
Anestacio Ocampo Solano was baptized into the church yesterday, the man who we found and had a drinking and smoking problem. An elder Walker and I found him when we were doing divisions. When we found him, he was kind of drunk. We helped him to sit down, and he told us he wanted to change. We invited him to church and told him we would pass by for him. He came the first week, and we found out he had some good friends in the ward. We returned to teach him and taught him the word of wisdom. He told he was willing to change. He drank about three days later, but for someone that has drunk his whole life he has done really well, and hasn´t drunk for about 3 or four weeks, all with his desire to please God. His family told him that if he was baptized they weren´t going to support him with money. He can´t work because his legs and feet have problems, and he really can´t walk very well. He told us he would rather not have us come back, because he needs the support of his family. Elder Vargas told him to pray and ask God what he should do. A couple of days later we came back, because he had lended us a couple of coats when it was raining one day, and we went to return them. He told us that no matter what his family does, he wants to ¨seguir adelante¨ with his baptism. So yeah, he´s a good man who wants to change and please God through his actions. He´s been reading in the Book of Mormon and we gave him the Liahona that the church distributed in March last year about the Savior. He´s been reading that too. He reminds me of a little Indian man, who´s actually from India. He´s really short, doesn´t have front teeth, and is a calm little man. HE has changed himself with our help. He told me that when he drunk, he was a violent person. But he´s changing, and utilizing the gospel, and the atonement. I like that when we commit people to live the commandments, we are preaching repentance, change, progress. He´s going to be a faithful member, if the ward helps him out. I told him if he needs to receive help from fast donations, he needs to do his part, be a faithful member, magnify his calling. He told me he would do it. We had a little baptism service for him after church, and it was relatively well attended. The members here still don´t understand the significance of a BAPTISM. It´s something sacred. It doesn´t mean we have to be serious, but we´ve got to have reverence, and actually consider what´s happening here so that the Spirit can be with us, and the soon-to-be-member, and testify to us. When we consider the reality of what´s happening and make room in our hearts, the Spirit helps us to see the importance and truth and beauty. But if not, some guy´s just gonna get dunked after someone says a prayer. We sang the song, ¨I like to look for rainbows, right after it has rained¨and all that. The overall, or jumper was way too big, but it´s all we had! Another Elder, named Morales, baptized him. He told me that it was a very spiritual experience for him. I think I can send pictures on this computer.
We are working with others who really aren´t progressing very well. I hope they change. It´s just a hard situation sometimes with Elder Vargas. He´s trying to be better, I can tell. He´s a good guy, and a good Elder.
With Elder Workman, we tracted like crazy! Our area was chiquita! We could walk from border to border in about five minutes. It´s quite different from here! Here we don´t really tract, or contact, that much. And that´s how President wants it. The most effective way to find people is through the members. Something for YOU GUYS TO REMEMBER, EH!!!??? It´s more efficient because the baptismal ¨candidate¨ already has a friend and support group. The members are all really cool and supportive. But just not excited, not taking advantage of what they have. But that´s why we are here. It´s a hard situation sometimes. We were talking with a less active member, and she is the most animated woman in the whole branch! She was telling us we have to animate and excite the people! She actually started telling us ideas of her own. Some people here see that the wards here are kind of dysfunctional and that some of the members are hypocritical, and they become discouraged, even though they have testimonies, and they think it better that they not go. I told her we need her help, and asked her to give a talk in the baptism of Anestacio, to COMMIT her to come to church!!!!! She came but had to leave before the baptism.
I really like the Zone Leader here! They are really awesome, sincere, and good workers and people. In my district there are three gringos, and the rest are natives, including two hermanas. They are good people and missionaries. I have fun playing with ´em.
I´m going to give you the e-mail and street address of some investigators that I had in Chilpancingo, some of the coolest! There are two e-mail addresses:
- santos.ortiz5@gmail.com
- vivi_chiquitin@hotmail.com
Have Sterling or Dad write to ´em. They are a great family, and the husband works for the Mexican FBI, called the AFI, and gave his first talk in church about 2 weeks ago. Write to them your testimonies and send them words of wisdom!
Is this sufficient this time!!!?!?!? I tried to write longer! You can post this one Mom. I love you. How is the fam? Tell dad thanks for sending and telling me about his experience in the temple. You guys should take President and Sister Gardner out for dinner when they go back to Arizona. You will really like Sister Gardner. She is the best.
Thanks Mom, tell all my friends from High School, my family, and the ward that I love them. Love you Russell

3.2.2009

2009-03-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom! Thanks for your response. I think that I complicate things too much, way too much, sometimes. I need to just focus on other people and love them and share what I know and feel. I had a really good Sunday yesterday. I was kind of afraid that in our branch people weren´t gonna bear their testimonies. But there wasn´t an awkward silence throughout the whole thing. So it was good. I play the piano for them every Sunday. I like doing that. It´s good to practice so I don´t forget!
I´m doing well. My companion is only here for probably three more weeks. I just feel out of control of the situation. Because he is the senior companion. We do planning session, sometimes, but it doesn´t really make any difference because he´s got his own little hidden plans in the background. Who knows. When he leaves I´m gonna whip this area into shape and help it be what it´s supposed to be. I hope I get a good companion this next change. Not that he´s all bad, but he´s just a punk sometimes. He´s not willing to take advice. He could care less what I think. I need to be more understanding and try to help him somehow. I feel like I´m dragging a 200 pound weight with me all the time.
So everyone is officially moved into their houses? This is good. Thanks for being so great mom. I told Sterling a little about the investigators with whom we are working. We really don´t have that many, but I´m workin´on it.
Thanks for all you have ever given me!!! You are a great mom. I enjoyed all that you sent me in my package. I went to a Bodega here. It´s kind of like Wal-Mart, and it made me feel like I was home! It was really cool, and a little weird! It reminded me of all the times we´ve gone to Costco and eaten pizza and just been friends. I´m remembering all of the good times I´ve had with my family and my friends in Arizona. What a good life I´ve had. A lot of friends and good memories.
I love you mom, and hope that all is well. I have been doing well, doing my personal best. Just pray that somehow I can deal with Elder Vargas the best I can. Tell everyone I love them! Russell

2.23.2009

2009-03-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom! I´m glad you´re all back safe and sound in Arizona! That´s amazing people can be in Argentina and then in Arizona in a matter of days. So how´s life with all of you? Did you enjoy Argentina? How´s the culture and the people?
Yeah my companion´s doing well. I just need to be his friend, before I do anything. He´s a good guy.
So you got an e-mail from Sydney? That´s awesome, could you send me her address, street not e-mail? I would like to write her sometime. Are you guys gonna go and visit Nana and Papa sometime to let them see Sterl?
Mom, how specifically has the restored gospel (including faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost) blessed your life? I have been thinking about the gift of the Holy Ghost. Many people here aren´t members of the church but have told me they still feel the joy and peace of living a Christ-like life. They aren´t Mormons, they don´t have the gift of the Holy Ghost or the Book of Mormon. I guess I´m just confused because there are happy people in this world without the gospel. How are we different from them? How does the Holy Ghost work differently with us than it does with them? I am glad you are all home safe! Tell Dad and everyone hi. The computer here is being really slow. I hope you all have a great week! Help Sterling to go to BYU! It would be cool if he was up there! I love you, Russell

Oh and I did get my package! All of the Mexican elders like to share, especially when they don´t share anything in return. But it´s okay, they didn´t have food, and I did. It´s kind of the culture here. People just give us food and are really liberal with what they have. I think that´s how they expect us to be! I love you!
Russell

2.1.2009

2009-02-03T11:55:00.000-08:00

Hey Dad! Thanks for you thoughts. That is awesome you got to spend some time with Elder Perry. He´s really tall isn´t he?
I love Jojutla. It´s actually a really beautiful area. It reminds me a lot of Arizona. There are quite a few citrus trees here, and every once in a while I get a whiff of the orange or lemon blossoms. Every time I smell that smell, I don´t know why but my testimony is reinforced that God lives and loves me. I just have such good memories of being at home. And these memories I´ve recognized are so good and sweet because they were times when my life was magnified by the Spirit of the Lord. I can honestly say that every good and wonderful experience that I´ve had have come because I was close to God. The Spirit truly does ¨quicken the inner man¨.
I love that quote or phrase ¨fear of uncertainty, or of the unknown.¨ I think honestly dad you were inspired in sending those words, that quote to me. I have thought about it, and at the center of all of my problems regarding insecurities, weaknesses, and testimony was this fear of the unknown. I almost start to panic when I can´t find an answer that makes sense. But I´ve thought about it, and really there really are questions that we simply can´t answer, because the answers we simply can´t comprehend. How can the human mind understand how God loves every single person that has lived, is living, and will live? How can we understand how the creation happened? We´ve talked about how at BYU I was struggling to feel that God was even there, and if Joseph Smith was really a prophet. Like Korihor in Alma thirty, ¨I always knew there was a God¨, but I can honestly say I let Satan into my mind and heart, to deceive and blind and lead me around aimlessly. And how did I let him in? It was that fear of the unknown. I questioned my testimony of the gospel, because I heard theories of what other people believed, of what other people thought. There are atheists that say there is no God, there are people that believe that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon, but who cares? I know what I know because I have felt the love of God. I have felt the power of the Atonement and of this gospel in my life. I know God lives and loves me. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet. I read a talk by Elder Holland and he made the reference that we should not fear. In Moses, it talks about how when Moses feared, that is when he saw the bitterness of Hell. Elder Holland said that when we fear, we too see the bitterness of Hell, and we allow the power of the Devil to overtake. It is a theme in the scriptures that we fear not, only believe. I had the opportunity to bear my testimony to my branch yesterday, and I bore my testimony that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God without a second thought or backward glance. I just forgot what I already knew, and I let the fear of the unknown overtake and scare me. I think that´s the problem with some of these atheists, is they have to have an answer for everything. Everything has to connect and make sense in the head. But when we come to God humbly seeking for light and knowledge, everything makes sense, but in a different way. It makes sense in a ¨divine¨ sort of way, in the heart. Hay que buscar con el corazon. I was thinking about faith, and how it´s believing without seeing. And you can tell an atheist that God exists, but the only way they´re going to know that God exists is if they first believe. I was thinking it´s sort of like the air. We can´t see it. But we see birds utilizing the air to reach higher than if they didn´t use the air. If we didn´t believe that air has the power to make us fly, if we never tried to experiment with airplanes and all of that, we would never have found out that we really can fly, just like the birds. If we don´t believe in the power of God, we will never be able to use his help to reach the heights that we want to reach . The air is invisible, and so is God, but both have the power to lift us higher.
I was reading in the book of Mormon when it talks about how the bible and the book of Mormon would combine and go forth among the seed of Lehi to confound false doctrine. It´s very true here. People here are so proud of their traditions here. Even a lot of members and missionaries just don´t understand. The people here don´t have the priesthood authority to give them the gift of the Holy Ghost. But when you see how the gospel, and how the Holy Ghost works on people to make them better and pure, truly the Book of Mormon is here to lay the smack down on all of this false doctrine. We truly are the covenant people of the Lord. No other church has the system of covenants that we do. Baptism is just to get clean, and the sacrament is for who knows what in other churches. Joseph Smith restored the power of the covenant. I was thinking about child baptism. It is an ancient false doctrine, according to the book of Mormon. Enoch in moses talks thousands of years ago about how children are clean through the atonement. It must be very important to the Lord that we know that Children are innocent, and he has made it known throughout history that they are our examples. Baptism too is an ancient practice. It never hit me before that the principles of the gospel, faith, repentance, baptism, the reception of the Holy Ghost, and persevering to the end have existed since Adam. And it is amazing to know that we have the same gospel that Adam had. The same gospel that was established by the savior in every dispensation. We have the gift of the Holy Ghost. No one else has this gift. The gift of the Holy Ghost is what gives the covenant people of the Lord it´s strength, it´s power. And the majority of the church don´t utilize this gift.
Well I´ve gotta go. I hope you have a great time in Argentina! Wow, what a cool trip! Take pictures and all that jazz for me! I love you Dad. Tell mom the same. Russell

1.26.2009

2009-01-26T12:47:00.000-08:00

Hey! I actually got transferred this last week, and I´m in Jojutla, Morelos. My companion struggles with obedience, or so I´m told. They told me to watch him and make sure he doesn´t do anything stupid. His name´s Elder Vargas. He´s a little lazy. I think a lot of the Mexican elders here are kinda like that. They stay at members houses FOREVER eating and doing pointless stuff.So I´m kinda on the baby-sitter job right now! He´s really nice and really cool, just a little proud and he´s got a lazy bone.
Jojutla reminds me a lot of Arizona, the trees and climate and everything. I like it a lot. My area is huge! I had kind of a hard week this past week. Just not knowing what was going to happen, switching to a Mexican companion, and moving to a completely different area was kind of scary. I also got sick, and for the past few days I haven´t been able to talk hardly. My throat is a little weird and I´ve got a lot of mucus.
Yeah I´m gonna have to work in this place with obedience. We had a baptism the first couple days I was there, and the man that was baptized had gone to the church once, and had never read in the Book of Mormon. Who knows if he was ever taught all the lessons. That´s the problem here is that there´s so much inactivity, probably because the Mexican elders are just looking for easy ways to baptize people, and don´t do what they´ve been told to do. I don´t know why it´s so hard to just be obedient, no matter who you are. I´m doing good. Tell Alyssa hi and congratulations. I´m glad she´s happy. Give Braeden a big hug and and Caralynn too. I don´t know the other little kids but give them the same. Tell Adam congrats too. Thanks mom and dad, I love you
Russell

1.19.2009

2009-01-19T20:39:00.000-08:00

Hey mom!!
How is everybody? It sounds like you're all doing really well. I am doing really good! Well to answer your questions our apartment is this weird pentagonal shaped room, painted a bright purple color. We have beds and a little fridge, hangers, a little couch and a table with some chairs. It´s not much but it nice for here in Mexico. Chilpancingo is actually a really well off area, for Mexico. It'd probably be a little junky in the U.S. Everything´s going well. The people here are so great! We eat really good here, women love to cook for us and they love it when we compliment them. It´s great! In each house, they have this stone basin type thing that they fill with water. Our house fortunately has a little ¨washing machine¨ sort of. But we use that and then we dry and wash them by hand and then hang ém up. Usually we do it every Monday. And we cook absolutely NOTHING. We don´t eat breakfast or dinner, but we just eat a lot at lunch, around 3:00. Yeah it´s crazy that Kevin is leaving already! It´s weird! Tel Nana and Papa that I love them so much, and I hope they are well. Tell them not to give up their own personal faith. Trust in God in all stages of life. They should be at rest trusting and relying on the knowledge that they´ll live again and see Anne and their parents. Tell them to be happy and to know that they´ve got noting to worry about. God has it all planned out. I hope Nana does okay seeing Papa in his situation. I am glad that you had the chance to wash the feet of the sisters in your ward. When we serve with an eye single to the glory of the Lord, and with an open heart, that's when God let´s us love in His way. We see beauty in EVERY person. I was thinking about that the other day. The world has it´s own standard of beauty. The world has a lot of junk, but there is literally beauty in every human soul, whether they be heavy, old, young, not very smart, handicapped, or whatever. The human soul is beautiful, and we can see that beauty in everyone when we submit ourselves to the will of God and serve Him, and them. I am doing well, and am going to send you a C.D. Hopefully it makes it there. Who knows, or in Spanish ¨¿Quien sabe?¨ I love that phrase in Español. It makes me laugh.
We baptized two people last night. A woman named Doris and little guy named Jorge Alejandro. They are so cool. We really have found people that are so open and the gospel has fit in wit their lifestyle like a piece in a puzzle. We are teaching a woman named Solila. She is a ray of light. She is always happy and so open. She really likes the book of Mormon and is so generous. A lot of people here truly are the chosen of the Lord, those that don´t harden their hearts when they hear His voice. The problem here is that people get really excited and they´re really open, but it´s hard to keep them going to church. We had conference with President and Hermana Gardner today. They´re so great. He´s a little intimidating, but a great leader and very passionate. Sister Gardner is like Sister Allston. A FIREBALL, and just a great person. It was good, and I learned a lot. Tell Alyssa congratulations for me! I hope she is happy and well!
Sounds like Sterling is going crazy! I hope he doesn´t die of exhaustion! I love you! Russell

2009-01-19T20:37:00.000-08:00

Hey Dad!
Thanks for the e-mail. Did you get to meet Elder Bednar? That´s great that he was there to teach you. I really like what he said about teaching. We really shouldn´t do all of the talking. All of these principles that I am learning on the mission, I am kind of re-learning. I had the spirit with me my senior year in high school. I remember really doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God. And when we do that, everything falls into place, and we have the promise of the Spirit. He taught me a lot my senior year, how to love and serve and teach. I really just kind of lost it, and closed my heart at BYU. And there is a scripture that says if we reject light, we´ll lose what we have, but if we have faith and receive light, it´ll grow brighter and brighter until the perfect day. I rejected light, or at least shut my heart and mind to it, and I lost a lot. It´s sad, but it´s what´s happened. And I think this mission will help me return to that childlike state I was in when I was in High School. One thing I´ve thought about and learned is that we must do everything with an eye single to the glory of God. If we don´t, we don´t receive the blessing. All things obey, and they have order. The stars all stay in their place, gravity, the universe all has order. Animals obey and do what their supposed to, plants work perfectly and the earth does what it´s supposed to . The planets circle the sun in harmony and order. And then there´s man. Disorganized, chaotic, without order in many parts. But if we follow the example of everything else in the universe and obey God, with an eye single to his glory, that gives us focus. We find ourselves leveling out and we become who we´re supposed to be. We have a drive and an order, our faith is as constant as the gravity, and we circle and focus ourselves around God and the Savior, just like the planets do around the sun. Order, peace, and harmony are the works of God. The test for man is to harmonize himself with God, and with the eternal nature of things. Faith repentance baptism the gift of the holy Ghost, and persevering to the end all work together to exalt us and make us holy and organized and pure, and eventually perfect. It´s kind of a theme across the world of harmony, the yin-yang, peace, nirvana. It all comes down to submitting ourselves to the will of God. That act of submission can be the hardest thing to do, the thing that will push us to the very limit, and test us and prepare us for life after this. This act of submission pushes the intellectual, unbelieving and ¨rich¨ of the world to their limits.
I have realized more and more that we really are dual beings. But we have to focus on BOTH sides. One proof that we really do have spirits is that we all have ¨spiritual¨ needs. We all have a gorge that only the principles of the gospel fill completely. We all need the companionship of the Holy Ghost.
It´s so true about the open hearts. At BYU I heard the first presidency speak to us, I sang in choirs for them, I read the scriptures, I heard powerful testimonies given, but really, I didn´t feel anything. If the hearts not open, NOTHING is going to happen. I love the quote ¨We should keep our eyes, and our HEARTS, wide open.¨ We need be wise, but humble and willing to receive with our hearts. There is a man named Rufo that we are teaching, and he is just not willing to open his heart wide open, and I can definitely understand. That´s why so many people have to be prepared to receive the gospel. Somethings force the heart to open: death, birth, accidents, and other drastic or traumatic things. One thing I´ve learned also is that music opens the heart. Inspirational music stirs the heart around enough to open it. Sometimes I envision hearts like clams, with varying degrees of openness. The Spirit is constantly ever ready to testify, to comfort, and to enlighten, but WE have to open our hearts first. It´s the only way. Agency is central to ALL. Sometimes the problem here is that the heart is too open, almost squishy, as opposed to hard, and they just accept and say ¨oh yeah that sounds good¨, but their hearts aren´t firm enough to truly understand and apply the principles. They´re a little bit spiritually lazy.
All of these theories that the world has about where we came from and that we all just came from chance I´ve decided to ignore. Since when have the people of God ever listened to the world and what it has to say? And since when has God ever left His people without life, knowledge, and the good and important things of life? So many things are, right now, incomprehensible. But the human mind has the capacity to grow and become like God. I liked a quote by Joseph Smith about the immortality of man. He said that the ¨mind¨ of man is eternal. It was interesting that he said mind. I think that our heart and our mind and our spirits make up our existence, but they are all eternal. Emotion is eternal. Love peace joy, all good things are eternal. If man were animal, He just wouldn´t have all of these things, and the spiritual capacity to grow and progress. Sometimes it all just seems too simple: we are children of God, He loves us, He has a plan for us, but it´s important for us to be like little children and just believe. Thanks Dad I hope all is well. Have a great week I Love you Russell

1.12.2009

2009-01-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

Hey Dad! Thanks for the e-mail! I´m glad you guys are having fun in Pinetop. How´s Nana and Papa? Mom said Papa is having a hard time remembering and just being healthy. I hope everything´s okay.
We had a baptism of a little girl named Karla. She is a special little girl. She is really intelligent and always has that look of wide eyed innocence. I´ve been thinking about the purpose of life a little bit, about us having joy as the ultimate goal. To have this full joy on this earth we need to become like little children, submitting to all that Heavenly Father wants us to, be believing , and just be optimistic. The purpose of life is to return to that childlike state of innocence, purity, optimism, love and joy. That feeling of light-heartedness and happiness. I was reading in the scriptures about how the Spirit "enlightens" the mind. I like that word, because sometimes it feels like light is coming into the mind, but at the same time, our minds are enlightened in the sense that we feel light, as in weight. Our worries don´t seems so heavy.
How´s work? How´s everything going this week? When is Alyssa planning on getting married? I hope she´s happy and doing well. It sounds like Dallin and Sterling are doing well too. I wrote them last week, I´m not sure if they got it or not!
Love you all have a great week!
Russell

1.5.2009

2009-01-05T15:59:00.001-08:00

Hey Dad! That´s a wonderful experience about Sister Pennington and her husband. I am glad you are happy and doing well.
Thank you for the quotes from Henry Eyering´s book. I really like hearing about him and his thoughts. I would really like it if you kept sending me a quote out of his book every week if you could.
I have been wondering about the Spirit the past couple of weeks. People here say they have found peace and direction through Jesus Christ. They´ve found tranquility and peace and other really good feelings through Jesus Christ. Was Jesus making the promise only to his disciples, who had the gift of the Holy Ghost, when He said that He would send the comforter to them? I guess I´m just confused about the difference between the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost. It seems like everyone that truly has a testimony of Jesus Christ can have the direction and comfort that comes from the Holy Ghost. Is that true? One of the difficult things here has been to recognize the Spirit. Sometimes I´m too sensitive and I look for it all the time and when I don´t feel the good feelings or answers I start to doubt and get frustrated. But it´s when I´m sitting down, rested and reading, and opening my mind and heart when I feel the good, warm, peaceful feelings that come from the Comforter. I´ve been thinking about my Senior year in High School. I was so happy. And it´s not the everything´s going well kind of happy. I had confidence and peace, all the time. Even when I was troubled about something, I had an inner peace that made me happy. I believe that is the gift of the Holy Ghost being with me because I was putting into action the principles of the gospel. I was loving others, I didn´t think about myself very much. I loved to talk to people and help them be happy. My joy was full. I think that the Spirit puts us into a different state of mind, a different plane. But, at the same time I ask myself, do people that don´t have the gift of the Holy Ghost not have that inner peace that I had? Look at someone like Cindy Kiraly. She is always happy, doing what´s right. Are there not other sincere and pure hearted people that enjoy the fruits of the Spirit constantly like we do, when we are worthy and doing what we´re supposed to? I guess my question really is, ¨What exactly is the GIFT of the Holy Ghost?¨ Just a question I thought you could help me with! I am still sometimes having doubts, just about everything sometimes. I never let it effect the way I teach or talk to people. I am always happy and smile, even when I don´t feel like being happy. I would never want to hurt someone else´s experience, especially the people here in Mexico. They are so open and kind. But sometimes all of these doubts just come into my heart and head and they´re almost undefeatable. I´ve learned that if I have faith in Christ, and His power to help me, everything will fall into place. I´m reminded of that on Sundays when we have the sacrament. He has the power to change anything He wants, if I´m humble and I give Him the credit. I am making progress and I´m confident I´ll come out just fine, but in the meantime it´s pretty hard sometimes. I just feel sometimes like my heart and mind have been so used to questioning everything that I can´t just simply read and understand something, and get something meaningful out of it. I am learning, poco a poco, right? And sometimes I get really hard on myself because I feel like I shouldn´t be having doubts and questions, but I really can´t just squash them out of my mind. They´re real, and they´re something I genuinely have to deal with, whether I´m on a mission or not. I can´t let myself be too hard on me, right? That´s when I lose the motivation and joy that we´re supposed to have in life.
Thanks for everything Dad. I am confident that everything is going to be fine. I want you to send me a Scripture or something that you´ve been thinking about every week okay? And a quote from Henry Eyering´s book ! I like hearing about him and his experiences. Thanks Dad and tell everyone hi and that I love them! Russell

1.5.2009

2009-01-05T15:55:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom! How´s life. I´m glad everything´s going well with at home. I couldn´t help but smile as I read about Jen and Emery´s new house. I´m glad they´re happy! Everything is going well here! It´s not hot, really. During the day if there´s no wind, it´s kinda hot, but it´s actually really nice! I like the weather here. There are always really nice sunsets here against the mountains!
That´s cool that you spent some time with Ashlee. Elder Workman does remember her. Yeah they were in the same ward! That is so awesome she´s going to China! Yeah I´ve thought about the sacrament a lot lately and how really sacred of an ordinance that it is. It´s really a time when you can just think, and be instructed and fed by the Spirit of the Lord. Sometimes it´s hard to imagine that every single person in the world can experience the same peaceful and joyful feeling that comes from feeling the comforter, or Holy Ghost. But when you think that God created the worlds and the plants and the animals, that a sparrow doesn´t fall without God knowing about it, and that the hairs of our head are numbered, it´s not that hard to imagine. No matter where you are in the world, the Savior can reach you and give you comfort and peace. The way I understand the Spirit is that it´s role is to testify of what is true, but also to fill our spiritual needs. We all have needs that can only be filled by the Spirit of God. I have been happy , I´ve had confidence and all that but when you have the spirit with you, you feel completely at peace with yourself and your situation. You just feel good, and loving others comes much more naturally. When I feel the Spirit talking with mine, I recognize that every good memory, every intense and wonderful feeling I´ve ever had have come from the Spirit of the Lord. I´m just so dang weak I let myself think too deeply, and I search for things that I can´t understand sometimes. I look beyond the mark.
I have thought before that the Spirit is only a confidence that comes from trusting God, but it goes much deeper than that. Jesus said in the bible to fear not. It´s hard to have the Spirit with us when we¨let our hearts be troubled¨ and doubt.
Thanks for being so awesome mom. I´m excited for you and Dad to come down so you can try the food and meet the people. The ice cream here is surprisingly REALLY good. Oh man it´s the best.
The language is good. I can carry on a conversation pretty well and I can get around. There are still sometimes when I just get lost and I don´t know what´s going on. Sometimes it´s kind of frustrating not being able to communicate yourself in the way you want to! I love you Mom. I am glad I was sent to the family I was sent to. I have had so many good memories and good experiences at home. Sometimes I really miss you all, A LOT! It´s natural I guess! I hope you´re doing well. How are you doing with your goals? Are you goin´to the Y? And the other one was that you wanted to help someone receive the gospel right? How´s that comin´? Thanks for everything Mom, I love you Russell

12.29.2008

2009-01-05T14:56:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad! How´s life? How was Randall´s wedding ? I hope all went well and that he is happy! Man, Dallin was probably a little mad that he got married right before he got home right? That´s funny. That´s so great that Sterling and Dallin get to be companions! How strange that they are in the same mission at the same time! That´s great. How fun it would be to be with your cousin! Yeah I don´t really know what to talk about! There´s so much to tell, and it´s not the same over e-mail! But I do have a couple of questions for you guys. Just about the Spirit. What is the difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost? How has the gift of the Holy Ghost blessed your life?
There is another Elder here in my zone, named Elder Olson. He´s my zone leader and really a good guy. He´s deferred a scholarship from Stanford and is a pretty intelligent person. I had divisions with him the other day, and he asked me just about stuff that I thought I could improve. I told him one of the things I've had a problem with is ¨putting things on the shelf¨, in Dad´s words. It was incredible because he and I seem to think in the exact same way, and he has had the same doubts and concerns that I have had, and we were able to talk about it. It just makes me feel good that I´m not the only one that has doubts, but is trying to do the right thing. What are the chances of that happening? I think there are a lot of things that have happened that have probably influenced by the Lord in helping me resolve my issues and doubts. I was even able to help him with some of his doubts and problems. It was good just to talk to someone that understands how my brain works. It never stops making comparisons, and never stops asking questions. I am prone to ¨lean unto my own understanding¨, and not ask God. That´s one thing I´ve learned here is that God will answer every question you have, in righteousness, in His own way and time. It just seems like when we´re humble and willing to learn, you find answers that are satisfiable, even to the questioning and stubborn mind like mine. But it only happens when we trust in God enough to understand that He knows more than us. I have been thinking about the purpose of life. I´ve started at the beginning. I´ve looked at my body, the plants around us, the food we eat, our senses and everything. The human body is perfect. I´ve thought about just how none of this could be a mistake. God could´ve used evolution and the creation story still be true. How life could have started by chance is a little fishy to me. How a body could have developed (with a brain to command, teeth to chew, toes to keep balance and intestines to break down the food we eat) out of nothing I don´t know, and I think it´s pretty improbable. Even scientists that believe in evolution have to believe that there is something guiding this process. Read the creation account in Abraham with evolution in mind. A lot of words like ¨formed¨, and ¨organized¨ are used. God ¨formed¨ man out of the dust of the ground. There is one verse that says that the God´s ¨watched¨ until they were obeyed. There´s a lot about ¨preparing¨ the waters to bring forth life. I think there was something much more complicated than just the creation story. And how would God have told us any other way? It´s the most simple way He can do it. I think that seeing this organization and perfection of our bodies is a great testimony that there is a greater power at hand here. There just happened to be enough food and water and everything for us to live here. It´s a perfect little testing ground for all of us.
I´ve been thinking about how our minds and our bodies are programmed to believe in God. We have emotions and our minds and spirits are designed to grow. Only through believing in Christ can we really reach our maximum. Only through faith in Christ can we feel the maximum amount of joy, peace, love, and purpose. When we follow the principles of the Gospel we can reach our full potential. I think I became frustrated with God because I thought that God made Himself manifest to you first, and then you follow the plan that He´s given you. But it´s in doing what He wants you to do that you come to know God. When you believe God loves you, you come to know that God loves you. And I think that´s why the restored Gospel is so important. All of these principles work together to bring us closest to God. All of the other religions help others to become close to God, but only this one brings us where He wants us to be. Like you said in your letter to me dad we are the stewards of the bedrock principles of life. The principles that bring us to life and bring us to what we are supposed to be. I read a quote by Joseph Smith that Mormonism is synonymous with truth. We believe in truth, and embrace any truth, and eventually all truth will be round up into one place. I think I became frustrated with Joseph Smith and some of the things he did. I think that he was extremely intelligent, but that he could have only done the things he did with faith in Christ and a real knowledge that he was bringing forth the truth. I have felt in my life the quickening power of the Spirit. As I´ve read some of his words, I believe he was quickened by the Spirit, and he learned a lot. I believe we can all reach that same maximum and learn a lot if we study, and ask God like he did.
Don´t think I´m wasting all my time thinking about all this stuff. I have to think about it. If I don´t, I´ll never understand. We´re doing good. We had two more baptisms this past Sunday. They were two jovenes of fifteen and twelve years old. They are so awesome. Their family is so great. Every time we go over there they tell us they´ve been waiting for us and give us food and everything. They are so great.
All is well. I am learning, and I believe I am making progress. Slowly but surely, I am making progress, and helping other people along the way to make progress too. So don´t worry about anything. I ´m doing good. I love you all Russell

12.23.2008

2009-01-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

Hey mom! I need to send you the number of my Bishop´s house so you can call it on Thursday/Christmas. Okay, you need to find out the time zones and stuff because I don´t know them, but if you could call his house at 5:00 CHILPANCINGO MEXICO time, I will be there and you can talk to me. The number is 01- 7474712122. Do you need a card or something to call Mexico? I told my bishop that you´d be the one paying for the call, so I hope that´s okay!
I´m sorry to hear that Uncle Kim died. It´s so weird to think where we will be after this life.
Guess who I saw at the bus station, going home to Chilpancingo!?!? None other than Bishop Ramirez going on the same exact bus as me. He´s from Chilpancingo! His mom is in my stake! I was waiting there with some other elders, and all of a sudden he comes out of nowhere and says "Elder West! Do you remember me?" and gave me a hug. It was so random!!! Thanks mom, I´ll write more on Monday Russell

12.14.2008

2009-01-05T14:49:00.000-08:00

Hey dad! It´s good tohear from you! I´m in Cuernavaca right now. We´re having a Christmas program, and I was invited to sing and play the piano. I haven´t had that much time to practice, so it´s kind of bad, but it´s okay. It´s the effort that counts! Everything´s goin good! I´m learning a lot about myself and about the gospel. I´m learning how to be humble and to trust. I am having a good time here.
I baptized two people yesterday. They are young and have a family. They are so great. The husband´s name is Miguel Angel Ortiz Bernal. He works for AFI, the equivalent of FBI here in Mexico. He´s so cool. He could probably kill me with his bare hands, but is very humble, wise, and kind. His wife is great. Her name is Angeles Viviana Esquivel Armendariz. They´re both really awesome. Miguel has taken a lot of interest in the church. Every time we go to his house, he shows us stuff he has found on the Internet about Joseph Smith, and he looks up temples and shows us pictures of them. He´s so great! The people here are always so nice and accepting. But when it comes down to it , everyone is the same. There are the same personality streaks and the same flaws here, as there are in the U.S., and I´m sure in any culture.
Mexico has a weird eating schedule. They ¨almorzar¨ at about 10:00, and then have a comida at 3:00. And dinner is really small. The comida in between is the biggest meal.
What have you been studying in the scriptures? I would like to know.
I wrote mom a letter, so if I didnt say something in this letter it´s in hers. I love you Dad. Thank you for always being so great and a good role model. I look up to you am glad I was sent to the family I was sent to. Love Russell

12.7.2008

2008-12-09T13:14:00.000-08:00

Hey! I´m doing well. I just got back from Cuernavaca. A bunch of us wentdown there to sing and practice for a mission christmas program. I am playing the piano for a few songs there. I´m not used to playing the piano so it was rough. It was cool to be in Cuernavaca. The weather here is so great. I can´t believe Elder Wirthlin passed away. I thought all of them were just going to keep living! Did he pass away yesterday, or what? Yeah, sundays are crazy! Yesterday we had 8 investigators come to church, and we had to find them all rides pretty much. It was a little crazy. The food here is really good. I am glad to hear everything is good at home. Give Max, Caralynn, and Braeden big kisses and hugs for me and tell everyone I love them and miss them. Thanks for being such a great family. Tell Uncle Kim I love him even though he probably doesn´t know who I am! I love you, Russell

12.1.2008 First Letter from Mexico

2008-12-04T18:03:00.001-08:00

Hey dad! Thanks for your letter. That is so awesome that you are spending so much time with Elder Andersen. I´ll bet President Gardner knows him. President Gardner told me that if there is anyone that he respects and admires in this world, it is you. He spoke very highly of you Dad. He just walked by me and asked me if I was Steve West´s son. He says we look quite a bit alike.
The first day in Mexico was a little crazy. Mexico City is huge and insane. It was fun to be with my district and walk around the airport, none of us knowing English! Now I´m in Chilpancingo. It is really nice here. Mexico is pretty much what I expected it to be. I like it alot. Americans need to be more Mexican. Seriously the people here are the nicest people I have ever met. We taught a family lesson three in Preach my Gospel about the gospel and they were really receptive and great but in the end they decided to stay with their catholic religion. They all stopped what they were doing for fifteen minutes and just listened to us. They were so awesome. Even though they didn´t want to listen, they gave us fruit and took us out back and cooked us breakfast. I think alot of families here live together, as in Grandparents, parents and children. There was this old lady in the lesson that we taught to the family that couldn´t hear at all. In the middle of the lesson she would start talking really loud, and even though I couldn´t understand what she was saying, I knew it wasn´t about the Gospel. It was hilarious. Truly humor, smiles and laughter are the same in any language. She also wanted to dance with us! She was the quinticential example of a Mexican true heritage woman! Alot of people here have very little. We ate at a member´s home that was pretty poor. They are all really short. Anyways, her house was very small was made of wood, had dirt floors, a tin roof, she just did not have much. She is so awesome though! There is a lady in our ward named Hermana Laura. She already is my hero. She is such a wonderful lady. She´s confined to a wheelchair and is the relief society president. What a good example of being turning lemons into lemonade. She is so great and is a strong member of the church.
I love our ward. It´s pretty small but it´s so good. I played the piano during church. I have the feeling I´m going to be doing that alot! My bishop is a strong member and such a great person.
Everyone here believes in God and Jesus Christ. EVERYONE. I think that is why they are all so kind and positive and full of love. They live life the simple way. I think I have a few lessons to learn here about learning how to hang loose and love life.
The weather is perfect. It´s a little warm in the afternoon, but in the evening and morning it´s great. The people here drive like crazymen. They have little VW bugs that they use as ¨taxis¨. They drive so fast and definitely do not follow traffic rules. Actually I don´t know if they exist. It´s kind of a lawless land! It´s funny. The food here is really good. They use tortillas in every meal. There are always little shops on the corners where you can buy tortillas and fruit and other stuff. They have alot of ¨refrescas¨ or soda. It was good to go to church and feel the spirit of the ward. I really enjoyed Sunday.
We live above members of our ward. There are about three other small apartments on the same floor as us, and we all share 2 bathrooms and 2 showers. It´s not that bad, some elders here have to use a bucket and water. Chilpancingo has some very nice houses here, and we have everything we need!
We are teaching a family of four right now. They are really interested and love the message of the Gospel. Her name is Viviana, and her husband´s name is Miguel. Both really nice and very receptive and teachable. Viviana is going to be baptized on Sunday this week. It is insane how fast everything goes here. Pretty much we challenge the people to be baptized here in the first fifteen minutes, and the amazing thing is that people actually accept the invitation to be baptized! So different from America!
Another person we are teaching is Francisco. He is a nice man who is pretty mentally slow. But I think he understand s what´s going on. He lives alone and doesn´t really change is clothes or bathe very often!
It hasn´t taken that long for me to get used to Mexico! Some parts actually remind me of Arizona! The music, some of the same smells. And hey, the Mexicans in Arizona... Don´t judge them. It´s just the way they live. Americans actually have alot of lessons they can learn from the Mexican people. They are so open and extremely friendly. So, no more dissin´on them.
So how are the plans for Argentina going? Sometime Sterling will have to take me there and show me around!
Oh I forgot, my companion and I had an interesting experience the other night. We had made an appointment to teach a woman and were coming to do so. Her husband came out and was just a touch drunk. Actually he was wasted, and told us he was going to shoot us and to go away. He started screaming and I think I heard the word ¨pistola¨. Elder Workman and I sprinted away. I was laughing but it was kinda scary! I just had this vision of this drunk mexican guy screaming in a little VW car coming after us with his ¨pistola¨! It made me laugh! There are tons of dogs here, many of them pregnant. It´s kind of sad, but it´s just kinda the way things go here!
Yeah Elder Workman is from Farmington Utah. He´s a great guy and a good example. We´re both pretty tall and we probably look like gigantes to the people in Mexico!
My testimony is definitely a process. This week was tough just getting used to a new country sights and smells, but I think I´ve got the hang of it. I just need to humble myself and have faith like a child. I have learned so much that I have the power to be happy, and I have power over my mind and my emotions. All we have to do sometimes when we are down or feeling bad is change our thought process and think of something else. Sometimes we have to force our minds to think certain ways, but it´s just the way it goes. There´s always something that you can do to bring yourself out of emotional or mental funks. I love the fruit they have here. Here alot of people take any fruit and just juice it. I have tried Strawberry juice, guava juice, pineapple juice, and I´m sure there are others. Guavas are really good. If they have any in Arizona you should get some. The Mexicans have figured out how to make something really good out of simple ingredients. I learned today that Chilpancingo is not that far from the sea. It´s about thirty minutes from Acapulco. I didn´t realze I was down that far.
Really life is good. I think sometimes, actually all the time, Satan doesn´t want us to have the full picture, the full perspective. Sometimes our heads hang down and we just look at our feet, figuratively speaking. I think that´s why it says in the Scriptures to ¨lift up your heads and recieve the pleasing word of God¨. We have to be the ones to lift up our heads and recieve it. Well, what a crazy place! You will like it so much if you decide to come get me. It´s a little insane, but fun at the same time. Life is always just a ´buzzin´along here.
Thanks for everything. I am extremely lucky to have parents as wonderful as you are. I love you both so much.
I think I can get a CD made of pictures so it´ll be good.
Love you
Russell

10.6.2008

2008-10-06T22:53:00.000-07:00

Hey I just barely set up my account on myldsmail.net. I got your post card and Dad's Italy card. Isn't it cool there's going to be a temple in Rome?! President Monson looked really excited when he announced the new temples.We'll have to go to Italy when I get back ok? Well the MTC is a crazy place. It's a good place though. Alot of really good people who are willing to bend over backwards for you. I am doing my laundry right now! It's kind of crazy in here. Well how did you like conference? My favorite session was the first. I loved Neil A. Anderson's talk, and also President Uchtdorf's on hope. I really felt as if those two talks were a direct answer to my prayers. I actually wrote a note to myself in my notes saying that if these talks weren't an answer to prayer, then nothing is. They were so perfect for some of the troubles that I've had the past while and here. The Espanol is coming along pretty well. It's really not that bad. It is true though that you learn more in the first three days than you ever do in High School or Junior High. I have learned to testify, ask questions about family and interests, past-tense, future tense, and someother crazy stuff. I need to study that stuff more. Being able to sing in Priesthood was so cool! The choir place really isn't that big! It looks huge on T.V. but I thought it was relatively small. Wow, that organ is LOUD. I could barely hear myself sing! It was coold to have Clay Christannsen play for us. That is definitely the closest I have ever been to the general authorities! I wasn't able to meet any of them, but they waved at us. Elder Scott came by and spoke to us for a little bit and just said hi. It is so funny to see them up close and see that they are real people. The first that I saw was Elder Holland. But by the end I had seen all of them pretty close. They were all talking and lauging and acting normal, as if it was a sacrament meeting. I hope you guys someday get the chance to sing in there with that organ! I touched the organ! That's myclaim to fame! Well, how's Sterling doing? I got a package from him, and from Jen. Thanks! It will be thoroughly enjoyed! Well, keep in touch! I hope youare all doing well, give all the little kids a hug for me and tell them I love them! Russell

The Dork Dot

2008-09-30T22:48:00.000-07:00

Farewell Elder West!

2008-09-14T22:33:00.000-07:00

Russell spoke today in Church. He did a beautiful job, and bore a strong and faithful testimony.

We are so proud of you Russell!

I made 'missionary tags' for Caralynn, Braeden, and Max

today that stated:

He's SO ready...

2008-09-04T15:51:00.000-07:00

Russell's Pre-Mission temple trip...

2008-05-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

Detroit
Dad and Russ at the Sacred Grove View from the window towards Sacred GroveNiagra Falls from the boat
Niagra Falls
The Evil Black-Hearted Squirell

Dear Elder West...

2008-05-02T09:50:00.000-07:00

"You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Cuernavaca Mexico Mission."

He's going to Mexico!!!

Russell will report to the MTC on September 17th 2008.

We love you Russell!!!