Weekly Email March 28, 2016

THIS WEEK WAS INCREDIBLE! 

Lots of awesome miracles... i have been praying to exercise more faith because i need to believe in myself more and in heavenly father! I lost the keys at the gas station and i thought that i put them in the trash so i went dumpster diving and looked everywhere!! we said a prayer after looking all over the car and then we called sister foote and let her know what happened. she said did you check everywhere?!?! so i reached down and i found them in the same place that i looked earlier!! 

I was able to do family history this week for my dads side and ahh! it was such an incredible experience! It was so powerful to be able to see where my relatives were buried and to learn more about them! i cant wait to go back and do more! i LOVE family history!! when i was in snellville i thought 2 hours of family history felt like FOREVER.... But now its wayyy too short! 

This week we were able to go to a members house and the father and dad are deaf and i was able to sign to them a little bit. IT was such a spiritual experience, and i have decided that i want to learn sign language when i get home! 

WE had the oppurtunity to talk to a lot of people this week about the church and about jesus christ and the reason for him coming here. I am so richly blessed to be a missionary at this time! I am so grateful for my savior. HE IS RISEN! He is not dead. He can comfort you and i as we seek for him. I have been reading the war chapters lately and its all about preparation and fortifying ourselves and i just love that we are able to do that! no matter what is going on in the world we can continue to have great hope because of jesus christ!! I am loving rereading the book of mormon, it is such a blessing to see the lord work in their lives and as i do that i can see him in my own. I know god is aware of me. 

This week was really good because i focused on the things i did good at not all the things i didnt do. I am so grateful for the people heavenly father has placed in my life. i know he is aware of each of us. i know that as we strive to do OUR best for that day & continue to improve we'll be alright! i am so grateful for each new day because i love the opportunity i have to improve. I will always strive to do my best, and i know that my best is only achievable when i have the lord on my side. He will help me be the best me i can be as i listen to him and trust him. 

I HOPE YALL HAVE A BLESSED WEEK! 

MOSIAH 2:9 prepare yourself to have a spiritual experience when you watch general conference! open your ears and your heart and your mind. let him teach you the things you need to know and act with faith!!! (: i'd invite yall to pick something you can do each day to prepare yourself for general conference! i am going to commit myself to read a general conference address each day leading up to it and its all going to be about the holy ghost, receiving answers and pondering! 

Love,

Sister Russell

Weekly Email March 21, 2016

FAMILY! FRIENDS! RANDOM PEEPS OF THE INTERNET!

I hope you all are doing well! This week has been all of the above! It was trying and challenging but overall it was worth it! 

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK: 

- we have been finding some solid people to teach and  we are excited for them!

- a cat hit our car....yes you read that right. it jumped out at our car and hit our tire. therefore i have still not yet hit any animals on my mission. 

- we were able to visit some members from dallas ward not a lot...but we saw many people from ensign! 

- sister nau straightened my hair and everyone at church didnt recognize me (HILARIOUS BTW)

- i love my ward mission leaders..brother watson and brother yandow! they are incredible individuals and their spouses are even cooler! sister yandow has already agreed to be a bridesmaid in my wedding (: haha 

- i think i am lactose intolerant....were still going to experiment with it though. 

-we've had some really good spiritual experiences this week and im very grateful for my stellar companion and how she works hard and helps me be better each day!

ZONE CONFERENCE:

Oh my goodness. i am so incredibly grateful for the savior and his atoning sacrifice for me. it is such a blessing to be a missionary during this easter season. I know that because of him i'm able to be reunited with the ones that i love and its all because he rose on the third day! I know that repentance is REAL. I can be forgiven of the things that i have done and continue to fall short of. please reach out to those who have lost a love one this easter season, let them know of the purpose of the savior HELAMAN 14: 15-18! this is the easter video

 ----------> followhim.mormon.org

I TESTIFY THAT HE LIVES AND LOVE YOU! HE IS AWARE OF YOU AND ALL YOUR PROBLEMS, YOUR UPS AND DOWNS. TURN TO HIM! (: 

I am very grateful for all of yall! thanks for your prayers i appreciate it a lot! 

LOVE SISTER RUSSELL

(sorry my weekly post is lame & short...its all my moms fault ;) lol jk love you mom!

Weekly Email March 14, 2016

Hey Y'all! 

So this week was transfers...Monday we thought that sister barron and sister hansen would be transferred only but everyone except me got transferred! We spent our last pday packing and i made a planner. we got coldstone ice cream and that was TASTY! We taught our investigators and it went really well! the woman is reading a lot! she has gotten to jacob and she apologized for not reading more! i got my glasses and they are cool...they hurt my face sometimes but i'll live through it. (: WE had district meeting & i brought pig lips and i told everyone to guess what they were. one of the elders had previously opened it ( we had no idea he did) and he forgot to close the lid all the way and when another elder came up he tipped it upside down and it spilled everywhere!! IT was hilarious! I did some indexing and that was good! Then we visited lots of members and it was fun!  I love the kelly family! I have adopted them as forever family! There one of those families my family will visit in the future!

TRANSFERS!!!

SISTER JONES WENT TO PEACHTREE 

SISTER BARRON IS IN A TRIO

SISTER HANSEN IS IN CENTERVILLE IN MY LAST DISTRICT

SISTER RUSSELL HAS SISTER NAU AND IS COVERING TWO WARDS! 

*SCREAMS BECAUSE EXCITED*

this week we did service for a lady...we thought we were moving boxes but we ended up folding underwear...RIGHTEOUS! WE are teaching an 11 year old and she is so cute! Her name is Emily and shes precious! Were excited for her! her family and her are praying for a day she can be baptized! We visited THE dugan seawell and sister seawell. I love them so much! We have been really just trying to add everyones contact info into the gps and the phones. we are excited to hit the ground running this week! (: I really love how the lord is really helping me become who i need to be with all the people i am around and companions i have. 

I'm sorry this week there aren't many details...i seriously just fell asleep at the library so...yeah. #prayforrussell 

but really if y'all could pray for the following:

Sister Nalder

Sister Samuel

Leah Ellsworth

Elder Dimanche

President and sis Foote 

HAVE A BLESSED WEEK Y'ALL!

Sister Russell 

Weekly Email March 7, 2016

This week was a good one! the rain always messes up with the work, but its okay.

i went on exchanges with my lovely STL sister jones! it was super fun! we found the lovely beautiful joyce! it was such a fun incident! we were walking in the neighborhood and this group of girls complimented us on our outfits and hair and asked us what we were doing. we explained to them we were missionaries and that we go to the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints! we invited them to mutual and then we said a prayer with them. then we asked if they knew anyone that could use a prayer and the one girl said "yes my gma!" so she walked us over to her gmas house and there we sat on her adorable porch swing & taught her about the book of mormon. she recognized that she felt warm feeling inside as we were talking to her & we helped her identify that as the spirit. 

I discovered two delicious mexican restaurants in my area and i am so incredibly excited! MY companion is being transferred this week and i am excited to see who is coming! We were able to go to a lot of members homes this week and that was really good because i still feel like i don't quite know that ward fully yet but i love em. the women in this ward are crazy strong...like the things they go through and despite that can still care for the next person is unreal! I love their strength! MY ward mission leader is the coolest. i am claiming it. he is the best...well one of the best because grandpa marc you probably are killing it! (:  I am doing family history every Tuesday and i am just doing indexing right now but i am really looking forward to doing it! (: I am sorry that i don't have much for you...its been crazy busy and i didn't write in my journal... *tisk tisk* 

CONCLUSION:This week was really good. I enjoyed the hard times that helped me grow closer to him. I have realized that there was a lot of inconvenient things that happened to the savior and he was just trying to do whats right...and i too am in the same boat. there are times when i dont understand why something happens when i am just trying to do the right thing and i too call on heavenly father confused and ask if there is another way. But i learned from my last companion that we must pray for our perspective and attitude to change rather than our circumstances.i am learning to love the people more. Its really incredible how i am starting to truly care for and love them as if they were my own family! i know the lord is aware of me and i am grateful for those that we were able to teach this week. the work is going well, i am being obedient and i find the utmost joy in that. i love striving to do what is right and i love to draw closer to him as i read the scriptures. i will fight each day of my life to return back to my father in heaven and my eternal family, i will only do that by living the gospel and setting aside the sins that easily beset me! 

FUN THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK:

• i met a lady who has a pet chicken named fluffy and she goes through the doggy door. 
• i sat on a juice box at a members house and didnt realize it until i got up 
• i held an anaconda 
• i milked a cow & my thanks goes out to the phx az zoo for having that plastic ghetto cow to practice on. #milkingskillzlikenoother
• sister barron braided my hair and i looked CRAZY.
• my district leader made a reference to The Office 

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/brent-w-webb_repentance-mighty-change-heart/

I LOVE THIS TALK. ITS A MUST READ!

Love Sister Russell