Wow what a fantastic week. This week has just be so wonderful!!!
Monday
So today we basically had a stay at home p-day we did our emails and our shopping for the week then we came back cleaned up the house and just relaxed. It was nice.
Tuesday
We didn’t have our district meeting today. This morning we talked with a man named Chico (nick name) he owns a skate shop. We talked with him about to Book of Mormon. We explained how we could receive an answer from God by reading it and studying it. He said he dosent really like to read but he wants to know. We showed him the church´s website how it has the scriptures on it and he can listen to them and the he clicked play and then for about 2 min he just listened to it and it was so cool. He said yep i can do this!!! It was so cool. Then we left him with some scriptures to read/listen to and he said he would do it. He is so cool. Then we passed by a recent convert named Jorge. We gave him a talk to read. He was thankful for it. He said he will read it all. He is really smart and can memorize a lot of stuff. Then we tried passing by Paula because for a long time we couldn’t get a hold of her. So we passed by and she was there but she didn’t answer the door so we went to the other side of the house and there was a door open so we called her. Then we said a prayer for some help and during the prayer Paula closed the door and then opened the other door and left. So we were really confused. This wasn’t like her. She got in a car and then drove off, so we were really confused.
Wednesday
Today we had our District meeting and we had a 3-way skype. It was so cool we had our district and the Zone leaders as well. It was very fun. So we passed by Paula again and she was there. She opened the door and then we talked about what happened the other day. She said she was in a hurry to go to Faro to help plan for her son’s wedding for the next month. She said she missed our lessons and wants to hear the word of god. So we did the pre-interview with her and she had didn’t pass on of the steps so she needed a special interview with either president or one of his assistants, so we marked it for the next day.
Thursday
This morning we had our Zone Conference. It was so great. We had the Branch President and his wife there. I learned so much from this conference. After the conference we went back to our area. But we went back with the Assistants in their car because they were going to do the interview with Paula. When we started to drive we got a message from Paula that said she won’t be there today or for the rest of the week. We were like WHAT?!?!? We all said a prayer and asked that Heavenly Father could help us and that she will still be there when we got there. We continued with faith to do the interview. Then we had such a fun "road trip" back to our area it was awesome. When we were close Paula called me and then I answered the phone. I talked to her and she said that she didn’t need to leave today so I said that we would arrive there soon and then we would pass by (not telling her that we had the assistants with us). She said yes and then we went over there. When she opened the door she was shocked with the 5 of us. Her reaction was pretty funny. Then she had her interview and she PASSED!!!! We are going to have a baptism.
Friday
So this morning we went to the church to make the baptism program for Paula on Sunday. We also called all the people who had something to do in the program. The program looks really good. Then we passed by Jorge and talked to him about the talk we left with him and he really liked it. Then Paula called us because she had a question about the Book of Mormon. She was reading a part and she didn’t understand it and she wanted us to explain it to her, so we did and then she said it makes sense. She loves to read and study. She really does study and it is so awesome.
Saturday
We had our weekly planning and it was great. Then after lunch we got to help some members clean the church and it was so much fun. Then we passed by a less active and shared a little message with her. She said she wanted a picture with us wearing our name tags so we took a picture and it was pretty funny. Then we passed by Paula and taught her about the 10 commandments and a fun game with our hands to help remember them.
Sunday
We had church and it was great. I had the chance to teach the first class and it was the priesthood class. I taught about how the priesthood is a special gift from god. And i talked about a talk from President Monson in the April Liahona 2015. Then Elder taught the next class gospel principles. We trade off every week. Then after church we have lunch. Here at the church on the first Sunday of every month the members feed the missionaries. The food was so good. Then we had the baptism of Paula. I directed the baptism and it went really well. We forgot to start the water right after church so we had to wait a little while for the water to fill up, but it was still great haha. She was so excited to be baptized. Elder Katipunan had the opportunity to baptize her. It was really great. I have a picture of the baptism attached to this email. Then after the baptism we had to help the president with some things like tithing. He is also teaching us how to do this stuff so that if we are called in one of these positions in the future we will already know what to do.
Well that was basically my week and it was a good one. I am so happy here and I love my companion. We are basically brothers. He is so awesome. Well I hope everyone likes this letter and that you all have a good week and smile a lot.
Com muito amor,
Elder Rusnell