So this week was a great one.
On monday we did the usual P-day stuff and then after we helped with a
service project--tying ribbons on tree's for the fireman who died
(last week there was a fire in a hotel and most of the hotel burned
down and 5 fireman died in there). The city's giving a lot of support
to the families, it's pretty cool. On tuesday we went to a Vietnamese
sandwich place for a district lunch, it was pretty good. Nothing too
unusual in the sandwich. On Wednesday we were able to give a blessing
to a young man who got in an accident of some sort and was unconcious
in the hospital, his mom was there and wanted us to give him the
blessing, she didn't speak any english but she knew who we were and
she was very nice. Later we taught a lesson to our friend Erik (who
moved to another state for college), he was so awesome, it was sad we
won't be able to teach him anymore. We had an awesome lesson on the
Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Spirit was so strong. I loved talking
with him and teaching him, he's very educated and loves the
scriptures. He is an amazing debator, he helps at competitions a lot
and did it all throughout high school so when he reads he really can
dissect what he's reading. We got to talk a little about apocrypha and
psuedopigrypha (I think that's how you spell it). He really loves the
Book of Mormon and I introduced him to the Doctrine and Covenants and
the Pearl of Great Price and he loves them too. Since that was our
last lesson we gave him quite a few scriptures to read and he gave us
a cool "space-pen" that can write under water. On Thursday we got to
help a lady and her husband in the ward with a service project by a
school putting edging into a garden, it was pretty fun. We spent a lot
of time with a friend we have from south sudan. We randomly went by to
see how he was doing and found out that his mother-in-law had died and
so this last week was kind of like an open-house and he had family
from all over Africa and South Sudan come over. We met so many new
people and we taught a little lesson about the plan of salvation. We
went over a couple more times throughout the week and one night we
came over and visited with his family and they told us stories about
south sudan and life in Africa. We ate something called "kisuda" which
is flat bread that you dip into a type of meat or intestine. It was
actually really good but there were a lot of random things in the meat
that had different textures. We had a really good time and after when
we were leaving the Man who we were visiting walked out with us and
told us he was so glad we came over and so happy that we ate with
them. He expessed how much it meant to him and his people that we
accepted them as friends and ate their food (I was thinking "I'd come
over anytime for this food"). But he said he wanted us to come back
and to teach him and his wife again (this is someone who had before
been very heard-hearted and tried to argue a lot when we taught him).
The thing that got him interested in us more was the love that we
showed. Love is an amazing thing. God said that the greatest
commandment was to love Him and to Love our neighbors (or everyone).
By increasing our love for everyone, we will become more like Heavenly
Father than by doing anything else. That's why it's the greatest
commandment. Every other obedience to a commandment or thing we do is
an appendage to that princible of love. It is God's #1 motive in
making this plan helping us progress to become like Him. Well sorry
this email's kind of long. Thanks for the packages, Those frosting
balls were pretty good haha. And thanks for all the letters, I loved
getting them and reading them. It's so good to hear from everyone.
Have a good week and enjoy summer!
-Love Elder Russell
