Ward members make such a big difference.

Familia,

This week was great!! Conference was amazing. I love it! The only bad thing is that my head gets full about half-way through the conference. I sure am glad that they put the talks in the Ensign and make them into Cd's! I absolutely loved Jeffrey R. Holland's talk. Very bold and clear. He did so good. His testimony was also very very powerful. I also liked Boyd K. Packer's talk a lot. It seemed equally powerful, especially his testimony. He, like Elder Holland, is truly a witness of Jesus Christ. I recently read a scripture in 2 Peter 1:21 saying, "the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." As our prophets today speak as they're moved upon by the Holy Ghost we can know that they are as we pray and feel the Holy Ghost. I Know that the testimonies that were given at conference were true. I really felt the Spirit. Also, D. Todd Christofferson taught a very good subject. I love the resurrection. What a great principle! Oh and Dallin H. Oaks just was speaking pure truth! I loved his talk. Priesthood keys! He did a great job at presenting that. ...I can't wait to read over those talks!

Anyway, 

so this week on saturday we got to give service and help out at a local 5k. I wanted to jump in the race so bad. It was so cool to be at though! In Houston there aren't really a lot of 'runners' as I knew them before the mission (at least not out in the open very often). There were a few really fast people at the race.

One thing I was thinking about this week is just this family that we recently baptized. They are progressing so well. For now it's just the kids who were baptized but the parents will sometime in the future; they just have a few hang-ups. But I was thinking about why the kids were doing so good and have grown so much--they recently went and did baptisms at the temple and they come to church by themselves every week, they go to Young mens and Young womens...--as I was thinking about it, it's totally because of the support they've had from the ward. The young men leaders and young women leaders, the ward council, everyone has played such a big part on them. It's so cool to see. Us alone as missionaries couldn't have done half of what was needed for them to become what they have. Ward members make such a big difference. 

Another random story:

This is kind of a funny one. The other day it was raining and Elder Baird and I were riding our bikes to this person who we were going to try and see and we were (or at least I was) a little hyper at the time for some reason. When we sped to the house and realized it was the right number on the house, I saw the wet road covered in leaves in front of me and yelled out on impulse, "Hey Elder Baird! 360 right here watch!" then I slammed on the back brakes and drifted in a circle (not anything impressive) and then I heard some loud laugh from across the street. I recognized that we probably looked kind of funny. Missionaries are unique. Missionary life is something that no one can understand unless you're in it. I love it! It's the best. 

Well, I love y'all! have a salubrious week!

-Elder Russell