Exact Obedience

There is no doubt in my mind that this gospel is true. I Know it deep. It's a simple choice for people to accept it or not. Some are ready, others are not, but the work of the Lord will press on, and every tongue shall hear it. But, once we come to the realization that its true, its up to us to have exact obedience in all of its teachings. The gospel is everything, and we have so much to be grateful for. Life is amazing, and we should enjoy every second of it. If anything, know this, study the scriptures and pray with real intent, having faith, and God will testify to you of the truthfulness. 

This week has been good. We're into the week-to-week rhythm of life at the CCM (MTC). Its a lot of work, and it almost doesn't matter how much sleep I get, Im always tired during the day. Our district of five is pretty good, were all pretty close. Sometimes one of the Elders and one of the hermanas can really get annoying, but its bien. We work together. Our teaching skills are really coming along. We can teach much better, we teach in unison as a trio, and help each other. Theres tons of room to improve, but its coming. My Spanish is pretty good, Ive memorized the 5 good sized things were supposed to in Spanish, like the first vision, etc. Ive learned way more Spanish here, then I did in one year of high school. I can understand and speak what I want to say pretty well, but theres a ton more I need to learn. 

Life is great down here, I spend 24\7 with two Elders, and we're having a lot of fun. The mission is peaceful. Its like putting your life on pause for two years, stress free. The sole focus is to preach the true gospel to everyone and forget yourself. It sets a firm course for the rest of your life. On Sunday, we learned about sincere prayer by president Tenorio (former seventy, general authority who lives here and is the mission president.) I know if you sincerely pray to God, with faith, he will answer your prayers according to his perfect will for us. Too often we pray like we are ordering things from a grocery store, we need to be more sincere. 

I think I said this before, but the more I look around at companionships and districts, the more I realize how our perfect Heavenly Father leads and guides His church. It is impossible for any man to assign these companionships so perfectly. Each companionship matches each other with personalities, looks, and characteristics. Every new district that comes here all look so perfect together, they fit each other. Something cool, Elder Vea, my companion (best friend out here, were tight) put his papers in way back in August, but wasn't ever assigned till late November. So it took three months for his call. We're all needed at certain times and certain places. Just goes to show how God Works. Side note, Elder Vea was actually offered a scholarship to play football for BYU, but lost it to someone else. So he can walk onto Utah state, but he is a super humble guy, and Im glad he's in the trio!

On Tuesday this week, we watched a live broadcast from Elder Dallin H Oaks from the Provo MTC to all MTCs. It was really great. He used a lot of scriptures and we studied PMG a lot. It was about a 45 min talk, but it literally felt like 5 minutes. I wrote a lot down in my study journal. Life at the CCM is great. You get into a routine quickly, and everything is busy, fun, and spirit-driven. Time is moving fast. Also, our teacher showed us a video of one of the other teachers who workds here, in a mormon message. Its like: Im a mormon, recovering addict, (his name is Valentin). You should check it out on youtube. I really like all my teachers. Hermano Guerrero, Ortiz, Hurtado, and three hermana teachers. They are bueno.

If anyone reading these emails has any questions about the gospel in any way, shape, or form, please shoot me an email and aske me, Id love to hear them. But, if you have problems, or are wondering what your purpose here on Earth is, I know the only way to get help is through the gospel. Check out LDS.org.

Spanish: El CCM es magnigico! El espritu es muy fuerte aqui. Tenemos much trabajar a hacer. Mis compañeros y distrito es muy bueno. Yo se que la iglesia es verdad. Yo testifico de la verdadero, y yo se que Dios es real. El libro de mormon es la palabra de Dios. Cosas son bueno, hasta luego!

Thank you everyone for writing me and emailing me, I really appreciate them, dont quit! I love you all!

From,

Elder Russon