December 15, 2014 (Jantzen's 19th birthday!)

Mom, Dad, and Family,

Thank you so much for all of the birthday wishes.  Y'all are the bomb and I love you loads.  Loads of...Brother Bray's famous ribs....yeah!  Totally though, thanks a bunch.  Birthdays in the mission are different than back home.  Everyone celebrated by making it P-Day.  Actually, it was P-Day anyway.  But seriously, thanks for the love and support.  Things are going well.  It's been a good day.  We had service at 10am this morning (which is right when studies end) so we woke up a half hour early so we could get to service on time.  It was a lot of fun!  Studies were good too, so that's a plus.

This week was a lot of fun!  It was Richard's and Paula's birthday this week, so Friday was hectic running around and celebrating it with them.  We made Richard a cake and put all 55 candles on there.  There wasn't very much candle left by the time we finished singing to him.  But he had a good birthday.  So did Paula.  We gave her a card that had a picture of this cartoon guy who looked beat up and it said "This is Gutnis.  He walked 15,000 miles to wish you a happy birthday.  Gutnis suffered from heat exhaustion, fatigue, thirst, hunger, sprained ankles and a scorpion sting; so please, have a happy birthday...for Gutnis' sake."

We had Zone Meeting this week and that was a lot of fun.  The Sister Missionary in our ward and Elder Mitchell and myself did a musical number.  That was fun.  But the Zone Leaders gave this awesome awesome training on Charity.  Super super good.  There is, without a doubt in my mind, nothing better than the Gospel.  Good times.

I also went on exchanges with another missionary.  We had a lot of fun in his area.  We taught a couple of less-active members and both are doing super good.  We had a lot of fun and it was a really good, spiritual experience.  The missionary is like 21 months out and goes home in March, so he knows what he's doing.

Christmas makes everything better.

We totally had dinner at the Bray's last Monday and they made Chinese food.  Mmm...they know what they're doing.  Good stuff.  They're an awesome family.  We always have a blast when we go over and the Spirit just kinda lives in there home.  Roger's doing well and he came to church on Sunday, even though he was super tired.

We also met with the Chacon family and taught them using the Family Proclamation.  They're so cool!  I love them loads.  Keep them in your prayers, they're really close to coming to church and receiving the Gospel more in their lives.  Especially pray that their hearts will be open and softened to receive revelation and answers to their prayers.

Speaking of prayer.  I was reviewing the things I know and learning more about prayer.  Cool stuff.  I have found that as we make efforts to occasionally pray on our knees and vocally, that we can focus and be guided by the Spirit easier.

Thanks for all you do.  I love and miss you all.  I appreciate your prayers and the love you show me.  Don't forget to rely on the Spirit to know what to pray for.  Don't forget to pray often.  Don't forget to study the scriptures.  Don't forget to share the Gospel.  And don't forget to look Up!

ILYMTLI,

Elder Russell

Dec. 8, 2014

Mom, Dad, and Family,

Thanks for all you do on behalf of the Lord and His servants.  As one of His missionaries, I know He appreciates everything you do.  Thanks so much for all you do for me.  I feel the prayers and help you send my way, both knowingly and unknowingly.  It means a lot and helps hasten the work.

This week was pretty crazy.  I went to my first non-denominational service in the living room of someone's home.  It was on a Thursday in the evening and he first referred to it as a "Bible study," so I didn't feel too bad about going.  Plus, there were people there and we wanted to see if there would be any finding opportunities.  The Church's name (well, it's not really a church.  Church is daunting and scares people, it also requires authority--which not a lot of people claim to have--and inspiration, so instead they call themselves a fellowship) is Fishhook Fellowship.  It's catchy--get it?--huh?  Anyway, we went over the Epistle of Jude, which I thought was completely ironic since it's totally and completely about the apostasy.  But it was cool to see another take on it.  He opened it up for discussion for the first 15minutes or so and then preached his own ideas into the scripture.  It was also interesting to see how everyone had a different translation of Bible.  Even those who had the same translation had different words in each Bible.  So I had a good time listening to different interpretations.

But truly and honestly, it was probably one of the most testimony building experiences for me.  The Spirit was there to help me discern from truth and error.  It was actually a lot of fun.  My favorite line of Pastor Brad's was when we were talking about sinning (born again Christians think you can sin as much as you want, so long as you confess Jesus as Christ and don't cause others to sin), he said "You do have liberty to do that [sin] through Christ's grace.  But don't cause a brother to stumble."  He made reference to Elijah, I believe, when Elijah was asked if someone were lawfully allowed to eat the sacrificial lamb.  Anyway, I raised my hand and asked "So where do you draw the line?  At what point is sinning a stumbling block for others."  He simply said "I don't judge."  He then said "If you ask me if you can get drunk, I can show you in the Bible where it says not to get drunk.  If you want to kill, I can show you where it says not to kill.  But in the gray areas, I don't judge."  So anyway, without going to much into doctrine, we don't believe it works like that.  We believe that no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God.  So we're not supposed to sin.

It was a really interesting experience.  I had a good time.  There were a few other things similar that happened, where others said it was okay to sin.  I'm so thankful for the Spirit, so I don't have to make the decision to stay clean on my own.  Also for its sanctifying and cleansing power that it brings when I repent of sins I have committed.

It rained a lot on Wednesday.  We were rather drenched.  But we had a good time.  We biked the first half of the day.  That was dumb, we got really wet and cold.  And then we helped a less-active member mount his TV on the wall.  Good times.

All the missionaries in Ontario and Upland sang at the Community Nativity Festival that our stake puts on every year.  It was really cool, we sang some cool arrangements.  And we had a great time.

Coolest thing happened while we were helping out with the missionary room there, we met this guy who was introduced to the church just a few months ago and wants to take the lessons.  The person who introduced him to the church met him at a doctor appointment, shared some stuff and then asked him if he wanted to go to lunch with him the next week.  He did and they talked more.  We got this guy's information and we're sending missionaries to his house today.  It was sweet.

Anyway, I'm about out of time.  Thanks so much for all you do!  I love you all.  Don't forget why we have Christmas.  Don't forget to think about what you can give back this year.  And don't forget to look Up!

ILYMTLI,

Elder Russell

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Dec. 1, 2014

Mom, Dad, and Family,

Sounds like Thanksgiving was great for y'all.  It was for me too.  I went to a family in our ward.  One of our investigators was supposed to come with us, but he ended up going to his daughter's instead.  Understandable.  If you didn't get a chance, I would strongly recommend watching the video In The Spirit of Thanksgiving on mormonchannel.org .  It's a good one.  And then make a list of things you're thankful for--or better yet, just say a prayer and give the list to God.  He likes that kind of stuff apparently.  But yeah, this week was good.

Key indicators are the way missionaries report their doings to the Mission President (fun fact, it's also what the church builds most missionary statistics off of).  There are 10 of them.  So every week we send in our numbers through the Zone Leaders on how many lessons we taught, how many investigators we found ect...  So anyway, with this season being the season it is, the church has rolled out a new campaign called He Is The Gift.  You'll never guess; it's about Christmas.  As part of the campaign, they've added on to mormon.org and created a new website called christmas.mormon.org .  Check it out, it's the bomb.  Elder Mitchell and I (we're supposed to study the church websites) spent a goodly amount of time on that site.  It's pretty amazing.  Also there is a new pass along card you can get from your missionaries.  Pass a lot of them out.  This is kind of a really big deal.  Also, this Sunday, visit youtube.com; it's the only advertiser on that website on the 7th.  Pretty intense.  I like it a lot.  So anyway, I'm super pumped.  Go crazy with it.  OH!  And if you share the link on facebook.com, twitter.com ect. and put #heisthegift, it will link you to the church's social media site and then all your friends can see it.  So share it a lot.  So now we report on how many investigators we find through

Also, Elder Mitchell and I made a key indicator up.  It's really cool, we're collecting it from the district every Sunday night before we send the numbers to the Zone Leaders.  It's the number of pies received, and the number of pies eaten.  Pretty awesome.

So I just finished the Book of Mormon again and I think it's a pretty good book.  Being a missionary, I notice a lot more things pertaining missionary work and gospel ministry.  Most recently, Moroni 8 and Alma 42 have stuck out to me.  Both are words from fathers to their sons.  The last few verses of Alma 42 are super awesome to read as a missionary.  Because missionaries mess up a lot.  And it's cool to have repentance to overcome that obstacle.  So when you read Alma 42, the entire chapter is spent on justice and mercy and sin and punishment and kinda makes the sinner feel super low.  By verse 25, I feel pretty bummed out for sinning.  Rather remorseful.  But the last few verses are so hopeful.  Alma doesn't actually exact a punishment, declare Corianton's doom or give him a penalty for his sins.  Rather, he simply tells him something very similar to what Christ said to the woman taken in adultery.  When the woman was found guilty, Jesus didn't give her forgiveness per say, but he also didn't sentence her to any sort of disfellowshipment in the church.  Instead, he directs her to "Go, and sin no more."  Alma also says to Corianton "...my son, go thy way..."  The very word "go" I think is very freeing.  It means that there isn't anything set in stone yet in terms of his salvation.  The is time to repent.  There is still time to prepare to meet God (Alma 34:32).

The other chapter you're probably thinking "That's about baptizing infants."  Well you're right.  But verses two and three are so comforting.  How cool is it to hear those words from a prophet.  Moroni's doing the missionary thing and his father writes him and only tells him how proud of Moroni he is.  Pretty cool stuff.  So there's always hope, if you're where Corianton was as, you can always make it to where Moroni was.  There is always hope for repentance and forgiveness.  Anyway, just some thoughts I had on that.

I gotta get going.  But I love you all to death.  Haha, that's a joke.  I love you all to life! (Don't die.)  Take care.  Thank you for your love and support.  Thank you for your prayers.  I can feel them every day.  Don't forget to read your scriptures.  Don't forget to check out He Is The Gift!  Don't forget that God forgives.  And don't forget to look Up!

ILYMTLI,

Elder Russell

 

November 24, 2014

Mom, Dad, and Family,

There will be no turkey bowls for me this Thursday.  It was really funny in Elders quorum because they discussed the turkey bowl and set it up before the lesson.  They then invited the missionaries.  We told them that our Mission President was not a fan and would prefer we wouldn't.  The room got fairly loud with excuses, which I found rather humorous because President Hobbs wasn't even near the room. :P  But anyway, I will not be playing football on Thursday so Dad and Taylor must.  Or else.

Thanks for all your emails and love and support.  I feel it out here on the mission.  It means a lot to be able to email people and have them email back.  Thank you.

Starting this week, the church just released a new initiative that I am SO stoked for called "He Is The Gift"  is starts Friday the day after Thanksgiving and goes all the way through January 1st.  If you remember back in Easter they released the video "Because of Him" it's very similar.  But it's bigger and awesomer.

This past week was awesome and Elder Mitchell and I had a lot of fun.  We had a lesson with the Chacons and they were super open about their concerns.  Missionaries love that kind of stuff because then we have something to work.  But they committed to read from the Book of Mormon and pray about it.  The are an awesome family.  We love them a lot.

The Gomez and Roger are not doing so good on progressing though.  Please pray for them.  They're awesome and we love them a ton, but please pray for them.

I was reading in Mormon today and Mormon 9 is such a great chapter on the Plan of Salvation.  It's cool to have so many good chapters on the Plan of Salvation in the Book of Mormon but I had never really noticed Mormon 9.  Great chapter.  It makes total sense of the Three Kingdom.

Anyway, I gots to get goin'.  Thanks so much for all you do.  Don't forget to read your scriptures.  Don't forget to say your prayers.  And don't forget to look Up!

ILYMTLI,

Elder Russell

November 17, 2014

Mom, Dad, and Family,

I was at the Bray's last night as they were over there.  Go figure.  They're super cool huh?  Brother Bray's mom came up to me in church yesterday and said so excitedly "Doug and Elaine went through the temple with your parents yesterday and they wanted me to tell you!"  Well that was kind of cool to hear!  I was expecting maybe just a pop in and drop off the package, say hi, joke around and what not.  But I think your way was cooler.  I have a lot of fun over at their place.  I don't think I ever leave their house in a bad mood.  AND!  They cook pretty much amazing food.  So that's pretty awesome.  But no, their house is one of mine and Elder Mitchell's favorite houses to visit.  We always feel the Spirit there.  Taralee was telling me last night that you and Sister Bray are like twins.  It made sense to me but I just thought it was funny that she mentioned it.  Haha, good times.

Speaking of that visit though, did you get the package?  The main reason I sent it was because I wanted you to have that CD in there by Hyrum Smith (he's not THE Hyrum Smith but he's A Hyrum Smith---not that his first name starts with A, I was just capitalizing it for emphasis).  But I thought it would be super lame to just send home one CD.  So Elder Mitchell and I raided the apartment to see if there was anything we could send home.  So most of that stuff was there before I got to the area and was stuff that other missionaries had left behind that we ended up not being allowed to have.  So we put that stuff in there.  You don't have to keep any of it, but I figured since I was throwing it away, I might as well give it away first.  Do keep the talk though.  That's a good idea.

I did get the brownies.  In fact, I ate another one this morning (as part of the diet I'm on, I have to eat a brownie with every breakfast....just kidding, I'm not on a diet.  But I did eat the brownie).

This week was a pretty powerful week though.  There was a lot that the Lord did for Elder Mitchell and myself.  I feel super humbled to be serving the Lord out here on the mission.  He does so much for me everyday as I try and fulfill my calling.  Everything out here would be totally impossible without our Savior.  But with Him, everything becomes clearer and the path becomes easier to walk.  One of the sections in Preach My Gospel that I found interesting was the last section in Chapter 4 titled A Word of Caution.  The third paragraph reads "Revelation and spiritual experiences are sacred.  They should be kept private and discussed only in appropriate situations.  As a missionary, you may be more aware  of spiritual experiences than you have been earlier in your life.  Resist the temptation to talk freely about these experiences."  I think it's important to keep sacred things sacred.  Like with the temple.  I have found that on my mission, I have been privileged to have many experiences where I've been able to "remember how merciful the Lord hath been" (Moroni 10:3)  in blessing me with things I don't deserve.  I feel humbled to be able to communicate with my Father in Heaven, even though in reality there's nothing I've done, or could do, to earn the right to speak with Him.  And yet, we have experiences all the time that we don't deserve.  I think it's important to only share them when moved upon by the Spirit, lest we become familiar and casual with blessings.

Okay but I will say this.  Pray like hard core for the Gomez family, the Chacon family, and for Justin, and for Richard, and for Roger.  Like, a lot for them.

So anyway, transfer calls are in and I am GOING!...to be staying.  Haha here's to one more transfer in Upland with Elder Mitchell.  In fact the other companionship in our ward (Sisters Christensen and Stagg) are also staying.  Woot!  They're the bomb.  We've already planned to go Christmas caroling, because we all sing.  This transfer will be ridiculous.  But super super fun!  I am so excited.

We had one Sister in our district get transferred.  And a few other changes in the Zone, but mostly, things are staying the same for now.  Upland Zone is probably the youngest Zone in the mission.  About a half of the missionaries have been out for 6mo or less.  WHA?!  Crazy huh?

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.  I love you all and for all that you do!  Don't have too much fun!---Oh wait, I need to tell you about Elder Golden.  We were visited by Elder Golden of the Seventy.  He is so crazy genius.  He talked about goal setting and eternal perspective and our purpose for the whole meeting.  He knows so much.  The doctrine he talked about was super deep, but it was all applicable.  So my mind exploded.  But it gets better.  The meeting was supposed to be for 5hrs.  We ended up being there for 7hrs.  It was intense.  I almost died.  But it was awesome.

Anyway, thanks for all you do.  Remember to read and pray (a lot...like a ton) and to do the right thing.  Don't forget to remember how merciful the Lord hath been.  And don't forget to look Up!

ILYMTLI,

Elder Russell

November 10, 2014

Mom, Dad, and Family,

Thank you so much for your support and prayers.  They mean a lot to me and I can see them at work.  Thank you for studying in Preach My Gospel and in True to the Faith.  They are awesome resources to find answers and confound false doctrine.  Especially the way True to the Faith is written.  I love those books and cherish them.

This week took a lot of patience, and combined with previous, it has been one of the lowest teaching times of my mission thus far.  But patience is required to see fruit, whereas faith alone can grow it (Alma 32).  We didn't teach, with exception of dinner appointments with members, till Thursday.  Appointment after appointment fell through.  I didn't really ever look at it as a testing period, but I think in a lot of ways it was.  President Monson reminds us in Preach My Gospel Chapter 6 that often times, to combat the world, the heavenly virtue of patience is required.  Most of the time we think that we have to DO something to keep the adversary at bay (for example, when a week isn't going well we evaluate and find our prayers have been lacking in faith or spirituality, and we should then make a course correction).  But sometimes the Lord sees fit to try and chasten His people, and that cannot change with any amount of faith or action.  And so sometimes we have to wait.

Thursday we had 4 appointments fall through.  Splits were late.  And we only had a few scattered back of plans.  4 days of waiting is a long time.  But starting Thursday night, the storm was over.  We taught a less-active part-member family and the non-member husband wants his kids to be there for the next teaching appointment.  God then blessed us with other appointments and lessons that all went so well.  Had it not been for patience, I pretty sure it wouldn't have happened.

We had two investigators at church on Sunday, and two less-active members.  Things are picking up and the Lord is watching out for us.  Thanks for your faithful prayers that also brought the blessings we received.

Thanks for all you do.  This week was awesome and I love being here.  Thanks for your love and support.  I miss you all.  Don't forget to read your scriptures, don't forget to pray, and don't forget to look Up.

ILYMTLI,

Elder Russell

November 3, 2014

Mom, Dad, and Family,

Not a single person came to our door for trick-or-treating! ...I'm actually not all that offended because we didn't really have much candy to give them anyway.  But we had a lot of Mormon.org cards!  Pump the kids full of propaganda!  No it wasn't a big deal.  We had a curfew of 6pm on Halloween, which is understandable, the pagans wake up and move about at 5pm, so that's about when proselyting got ineffective.  But along with the 6pm curfew deal, if we had a ward activity that was indoors, we could go to that before we went home.  So we didn't get back until about 8pm (the pagans were all over the place at that time.  I had to fight a couple off with a stick.)

So...is Robyn alive?  You kind of didn't give very many details...  You kind of just said "Robyn was carving a pumpkin and stabbed herself.  We took her to the ER.  Made for an exciting day."  I assume she is alive.  Just kidding, I know she's fine.  It just kind of scared me to read.

Sounds like everybody had a good week (aside from the stabbing...)  I did too!  We found a new investigator.  Well, okay.  We didn't find him, he kind just showed up.  He's from Saint Luscia in the Caribbean, and he's here trying to get his citizenship and work.  Well fortunately he's staying with the Bray family who met him on vacation in Saint Luscia a few years ago.  They run a daycare and take all their daycare kids to church on Sundays, so they're into the whole missionary thing.  He's super nice and we had our first lesson with him at the Bray home (after an awesome rib dinner.  The Brays...they know where it's at.)  And he committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.

We also had a lesson with Richard.  He's doing so awesome.  Elder Mitchell and I feel super humbled to teach him.  He works a lot of hours and his health isn't so good.  His work is super hard on his body too.  I remember one lesson Elder Depew and I had with him, he had just gotten done working 8 days in a row.  He was tired and exhausted and frankly, pretty beat up.  We found out this week about how he made it to church.  He had the day off anyway, but it kind of threw off his schedule.  That Sunday off was the first day in 9 that he didn't have work.  He was talking to his manager to see about getting his normal days off again and she said "I've got a way I can do it.  You won't have to work the 9 days in a row, but you'll have to work the weekend."  He turned to her and said "No.  I promised I would go to church.  I'll work the 9 days."  I don't know how it happened, but when we met with him, he told us that he ended up having 5 days off in a row.  He wasn't tired.  He wasn't worn out.  And he was happier.  One of the days off he got ended up actually being paid too.  So we looked at his schedule to see if there was a Sunday in the near future he could come to church again.  There wasn't.  He turned to us and said "Maybe I could switch one of the younger guys at work on a Sunday, and I could take their Monday so they could go to school or something like that."  We looked at his schedule and he paused a little bit and then said "It would mean I'd have to work 9 days in a row again."  But then he smiled and said "But it'd be worth it don't you think?"  Mom, I don't know how he's going to make it, or how he's doing physically, but he's so much stronger spiritually.  Please keep him in your prayers.

There have been some downhills this week too.  We haven't been able to get in touch with Robert or Paula all week long and we're pretty worried about them.  Wayne, Nancy, and Marie, officially dropped us.  And we've talked to but haven't been able to meet with Justin in over a week.  Please pray for the people in Upland and for the Spirit to be with them.  I've been thinking a lot about prayer.  If you get the chance, read the prayer section in true to the faith.

I love you all.  Please take care.  Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement.  I love the Spirit I feel when I read all of your letters.  Don't forget to read your scriptures.  Don't forget to pray.  Don't forget to rely on the Lord.  And don't forget to look Up.

ILYMTLI,

Elder Russell