Weekly Email September 26, 2016

I went on exchanges on Wednesday with sister Davies and i told her i really wish Heavenly Father would just give me an answer already and i felt like i didn't know if it was something that i did or didn't do and that's why he wasn't answering. I did my plan and that threw me overboard. i cried. i was stressed and just really couldn't deal with the fact that my plan was telling me to plan out my life but yet i had no idea what i was going to do. 

Thursday- got a priesthood blessing and it was of clarity peace and direction. 

he said that i would continue to be diligent in my missionary efforts

that god trusts me to make decisions

that through my example my siblings would have the desire to serve

that i would be sensitive to the promptings of the spirit

IT WAS A GREAT BLESSING.

Friday- i had lots of clarity as i prayed and i didn't side track and think about something else as i was praying to him. We were on a team up with a member and she goes to gergia state and i just felt the spirit so strongly. I started to cry and told her that i just feel like i belong here. I feel like i can be myself and not have to feel like an outsider. I feel like i am needed here and i just feel such a sweet spirit. 

Saturday- WOMENS CONFERENCE! Utchdorfs talk and how that we shouldn't have to listen harder we need to listen differently.

Sunday- two women got up to bear testimony but specifically one of them said " i don't know why but i feel like i need to share this story, i have a friend who returned from the military and wanted to serve a mission. talked to his stake president and he said no. and then he went to 6 others and they said no. long story short he never went. i think the moral of this story is the fact that each path is different. just because its the path that's for everyone doesn't mean its the path for you. just because its a different one doesn't mean it bad it just means it the one for you. 

TODAY I read this in preach my gospel. 

Elder Dallin H. Oaks:

“[A person may have] a strong desire to be led by the Spirit of the Lord but … unwisely extends that desire to the point of wanting to be led in all things. A desire to be led by the Lord is a strength, but it needs to be accompanied by an understanding that our Heavenly Father leaves many decisions for our personal choices. Personal decision making is one of the sources of the growth we are meant to experience in mortality. Persons who try to shift all decision making to the Lord and plead for revelation in every choice will soon find circumstances in which they pray for guidance and don’t receive it. For example, this is likely to occur in those numerous circumstances in which the choices are trivial or either choice is acceptable.

“We should study things out in our minds, using the reasoning powers our Creator has placed within us. Then we should pray for guidance and act upon it if we receive it. If we do not receive guidance, we should act upon our best judgment. Persons who persist in seeking revelatory guidance on subjects on which the Lord has not chosen to direct us may concoct an answer out of their own fantasy or bias, or they may even receive an answer through the medium of false revelation” (“Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall,” Ensign, Oct. 1994, 13–14).


CONCLUSION: I WANT TO MOVE TO GEORGIA AND GO TO SCHOOL. I BELIEVE IT'S THE RIGHT MOVE FOR ME, IT'S WHERE I FEEL I AM MOST NEEDED. 

I am so grateful that heavenly father has allowed me to draw closer to him by paying attention to the spirit. I testify that heavenly father speaks to us and that if we ask him to teach us how to understand how he speaks to us he will deliver. I am so grateful for the lord and how he helps me strengthen my testimony! I would just invite all of you to watch general conference and have questions  that you want answered. The lord will speak through his servants and through the spirit. I LOVE YOU ALL! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND ALL THE EMAILS! 

Sister Russell

Weekly Email September 19, 2016

Hey Y'ALL!

Okay so this week was super fantastic and hard all wrapped in one!

We had the privilege to go to zone conference and be spiritually STUFFED. It was such a beautiful experience to see all my favorite people missionaries all in one meeting! Also I got to see one of my mission mamas JENNY WOOD! I LOVE HER SO MUCH! It was all on how we can exercise more faith and how we can become more consecrated to the lord. My mom and those who know me really well know that faith is something that is always wavering. I am not proud of it but I have faith in Christ not really faith in others and their agency but I have faith that Christ fixes it all. I am so grateful for the chance sister Harman and I have to be companions in this crazy place.

It has been really tough this week trying to help people realize that we are Christians and the message we share is worth their time. I am so grateful for the elders this week, they brought me a lemon-berry slush because they owed me for bringing them toilet paper when they were sick. It was so awesome because they brought it to us at the end of the day and it was AWESOME. It was exactly what I needed.

This Sunday I was so looking forward to partaking of the sacrament. I made a goal to have the savior sit right next to me at church and boy did I feel him. I opened my scriptures and read in Isaiah 43 and I just have been really focused on being fully converted to my savior Jesus Christ. I have had how firm a foundation stuck in my head all week especially " i'll never no never, i'll never no never, i'll never no never, no never forsake!" I have been telling heavenly father that I am going to fight and going to stay on his side. I don't want to go home and then completely forget the lord. I am also a little apprehensive about coming home...I'm not sure if that's the right word but I'm hesitant. I have never come home from a mission, im not sure how I will feel, but as I read these verses tears filled my eyes and its as if there was a loving brotherly arm stretched around me in sacrament.

"But now thus saith the Lord‍ that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee‍ by thy name; thou art‍ mine.

 When thou passest through the waters, I will be‍ with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned;neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."

Isaiah 43: 1-2 He is my savior, he is my friend. I will follow him until the very end. I wont give up and I wont back down. I love my savior!

The atonement is real. I know that it has helped me become who I want to be. I testify that god lives, he sent his son and that he wants us to come to him. don't waste another moment suffering on your own because that's not how he intended it to be.  HE LOVES YOU! Its your choice whether you want to see it or not.

Love,

Sister Russell

Weekly Email September 12, 2016

HEY Y'ALL!
It was a pretty long week. I felt like everything was out to get us this past week. My allergies were up the fritz! It was pretty horrible... i was like a zombie all week but i was still diligent!

 I am really excited that Labor Day was my last holiday as a missionary. I really despise holidays... no one wants to talk to us and i haven't had any good opportunities to talk to a lot of people.  It was a long day but it ended well, we went to empty nesters. FHE for people who don't have children. I had fried catfish and it was delicious. That sentence was not a typo mom, i like seafood i guess. I was shocked too!

Pday we went to the Crazy Fun Millsapp sisters house and cross stitched and they ordered us pizza! I love them so much! They are related to the Wood family in Ensign that i absolute adored!!!! I love the millsapp and wood family! They said i can be apart of the family officially! YES!

We had our first district meeting and it was awesome! we are really working on helping members with their missionary work and so forth! I love my district leader...........*drum roll please*................ ELDER PLATT!

I served with Elder Platt and Nelson in Snellville and Elder Solomon from good ol az is in the district too! It is going to be a great transfer, it is a great transfer!

We have been blessed to meet some really sweet people and they are kind but really have no intentions of ever meeting with us. It has been a really good experience working with members and finding new people. It gets exhausting only when you don't allow the spirit to guide and direct you!

I was privileged to go to the temple this past Thursday with the Snellville ward and it was like coming home. I loved seeing everyone there that i loved so dearly! The spirit i felt there was so strong. I loved seeing sister Christopherson there she was just GLOWING! I got to see my favorites!

After i left the celestial room, a lady came up to me in the dressing room before i had put back on my clothes & badge and she said " I KNEW YOU WERE A SISTER MISSIONARY EVEN WITHOUT THE BADGE" That was the BEST compliment ever! i had been recognized as a representative of Jesus Christ in the temple when we are all dressed in white. That made my week. i seriously was so happy because that means all my hard work trying to acquire Christlike attributes is really showing!!! :)))

Overall i am loving this work, it is a beautiful thing to be in his service! I love that i have the opportunity to help others draw closer to Christ! KEEP BEING GOOD EXAMPLES TO EVERYONE!

Love,

Sister Russell