Wow. This week has been crazy... the other elders had a baptism which
was awesome! Baptisms out here are EXTREMELY uncommon! Our zone goal
for the month of march is 10 baptisms between all 16 sets of
missionaries. But my companion and I are gonna break that on our own!
Well... almost... we're getting 7 this month :) That family with 6
kids :) we set a baptismal date for them for March 29 :D AWESOME! And
Lisa (the smoker who's quitting smoking and coffee) is getting dunked
this week! :D She is amazing! She's making a drastic difference in the
lives of all those around her.
Oh. My. Goodness. Why can't we watch movies out here :( "The
Corruptor" (haha) REALLY wanted us to watch Thor 2 with him :P it was
so funny! He was practically begging us because the kids were going to
be sleeping over somewhere else and he was pretty much gonna have the
house to himself. haha he makes me laugh :) it actually was really
tempting... but I would hate myself if I did watch it.
Spiritual Thought:
So... my sister Hermana Russell has shared countless times the
importance of being obedient. Might I just add my testimony to that:
In this corrupt and chaotic world we cannot afford to deny ourselves
the added blessings we receive from being obedient. "And when we
obtain any blessing from God, it is upon obedience to that law upon
which it is predicated."
Draw two images in your mind if you will. The one resembling a simple
diamond shaped kite, the other resembling an hourglass. Draw a line at
the bottom of the diamond one and slowly raise that line to the top.
As time goes on it seems to open up but it is then reversed and turns
out to restrict and even halt movement. Now observe the same procedure
when performed on the hourglass. It begins to constrict more and more
and at the last second it finally begins to open up and continually
opens up further..... assuming you don't have one of those weird
hourglasses that just rounds off at the top... ... ... anyway...
Compare this with the two routes we can take in life. We can observe
with exactness to keep the commandments of God - or we cannot. There
really is no other ground. The only variant is the degree to which we
are not keeping the commandments. If we are not keeping the
commandments it may feel freeing in a sense and perhaps you even get
happier when you do that, but it will ALWAYS be followed with our own
bondage and restriction. However, when we do everything in our power
to keep the commandments we may initially feel restricted, yes, but we
can look forward with the assurance that things will get better! They
will. I can testify that as we do everything we can to be the best
people we can that Christ will take us the rest of the way. There will
be no end to our progression and our happiness nor will there be an
end to the blessings we shall receive.
I would invite each and every one of you reading this to follow the
example of Aaron and Muleki as they preached the gospel to the
Lamanites. They were in bondage and suffered all manner of afflictions
but "they did bear with patience their sufferings." EVERY TIME they
went through some great trial and EVERY TIME they bore it with
patience. EVERY TIME they were delivered and EVERY TIME they received
outstanding blessings following the trial. Thousands were brought to a
knowledge of the truth and the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's came about because of
the patience of two young men who just wanted to help their fellow
man. THOUSANDS of lives were changed forever because they "observed to
keep the commandments of God."
I can testify that as we do our best to keep ALL the commandments of
God we will be blessed. There are times when I have justified not
doing some little things like praying before we go out on our bicycles
or not opening my personal study with a prayer and I have noticed a
difference. The sun was not made black, so to speak, but gradually
there came cloud cover that limited the light that was coming into my
life and after just a few days it began to make an incredible
difference. Things that were once easy became stressful. Then as I
began to change things I almost wanted to sing "here comes the sun!"
Thank you for all the prayers, the support, and the letters/emails ;)
haha I really appreciate it and just in case anyone can't write me
letters I CAN read all your emails now :) this iPad makes things
rather easy on P-Day. Anyway, my week hasn't been too monumental...
but the good news is I went to an Urgent Care place and they said my
wrist wasn't broken, although the mission doctor told me those doctors
aren't exactly very good so I should still treat it as if it were
broken. The images are being sent to a radiologist so I'll let y'all
know what they say.
Sending my love,
Elder Aaron Russell
Sent from my iPad
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| RAWR!! Behold the might REPTAUR!!! hahaha! We got a lizard and put him in the sister's car as we were getting our groceries. He jumped all over the place and then jumped off the dashboard and we thought he had fallen to his doom only to behold this epic sight. |
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