Hello everyone!
Well this week I made one year here on the mission. I can hardly believe it has been that long! It has gone by so fast. I only have one more year and then I come back home.
Monday
Today we just had a relaxing p-day. We just relaxed and caught up on some stuff that we needed to do.
Tuesday
We had our district meeting this morning and it was great as always. We decided that we were going to do a division (split with other missionaries) on Wednesday which will be really fun. Later today we passed by some people and had some lessons. One lesson that was really great was with Mikyel. We taught him the 3rd lesson (Plan of Salvation). He loved it and he took it really well. He had a question about baptism and asked if we needed to be baptized to go to heaven. We then read from the Bible in John 3:5 that talks about baptism. We can’t go to heaven without baptism. So he thought about that for a while. We asked him if he would follow the example of Christ and be baptized. He said he would need some time to think about it and then we shared our testimonies about baptism with him. It was a very good lesson.
Wednesday
Today we had our division (missionary splits). We had to take a bus to Sutubal which is a 2hr bus ride. We had to meet there because we don’t have a bus route that goes from Santo André to Évora. So we arrived and then we started our division. I got to take Elder Stevenson back to Santo André. He is 5 weeks in the mission so he is in training. He is from Draper, UT. He is really cool and we got along really well. It was interesting having a new missionary as my companion for a day. This is the 2nd time I have done this with a division. So we got to pass by some people and teach some lessons. We went to a member’s house so we could have a controlled lesson to help Elder Stevenson with his teaching skills. I told him that the member was an investigator to help him more with teaching new people. He did a really good job. After I told him that our ‘investigator’ was a member and he was like WHAT?!?! haha and then we both laughed. He did a great job. Then we passed by Paula and we shared a small message with her. She really liked Elder Stevenson. It was a great lesson with her.
Thursday
Today was the big 1 YEAR mark for me. It was weird. So this morning Elder Stevenson wanted me to cut his hair because he heard how good of a job I did with Elder Katipunan, he wanted me to do it. I cut his hair and he really liked it. He said it was just what he wanted. So I guess I can cut hair really well haha. Then we had tacos for lunch. I made some tacos and they were super good. I then helped him with his studies and then after we got on the bus back to Sutubal to end our division. Coming back home I wasn’t feeling to well, I hate buses now. They make me really sick. Not really sick, but I get so tiered I just had too much time in the bus haha.
Friday
Today we had our weekly planning and it went really well as always. We have so much fun when we do it. Later today we passed by Angela & Antonio. They are an older couple (6o´s). We taught them the first lesson which went great (The Restoration). They had a big question for us. Their question was, “If there is only one God, why do we have so many religions in these days?” We answered there question through the 1st lesson. We asked them if they believed God can do everything and they told us yes and then we explained about the first vision and they said that it makes sense and they want to learn more. They were really cool. We will continue to teach them, and then later baptize them.
Saturday
Today we passed by some less-actives who went less active a year ago. I don’t know why they did but we will help them get back. We had a great lesson. Elder Katipunan shared a scripture with them that talked about how we have joy in this life but we will have an even greater joy after this life. They really liked it and they really like us. The husband was giving us a big hug when we left and told us we can return whenever we wanted to. We had a member, Tatiana whose birthday was today. They invited us to come to their party to help celebrate with them. They went to a pizza place and we had pizza for dinner. It was good for pizza here in Portugal haha. Today was a fun day.
Sunday
Today we had church so Elder Katipunan and I taught the classes today. I taught the New Testament class. We both did really well and it was a lot of fun. So we had a small problem during church when it was time for the sacrament we didn’t have bread for it. Right when we needed him the Branch President arrived here and he had bread with him haha. He and his wife come late because they live far away and also they have to do something for their work in the morning. After church we went back home and ate lunch. We then went out to go work. We passed by some people and then my companion wasn’t feeling too good so we found a place to sit down and rest. We later passed by a member and talked with them for a bit. At the end of the day we passed Duarte, the grandchild of some members. We watched a couple of Mormon Messages with them and talked about them. One of the videos we watched talked about the Book of Mormon and then I decided to give him a copy that I had with me. I told him he could write his name in it and it was his. He got super excited and said that he would read it. We then talked about baptism. We finally got him to say yes to baptism. For the longest time he didn’t want to be baptized but he had a change of heart and wants to follow Christ and be baptized. So next week we will have his baptism. His Grandpa will be the one baptizing him. So we are super excited for him.
That was pretty much my week. It was a really good week. We did a division, I made one year on the mission, celebrated a members birthday, and we marked someone for baptism. So yes it was a really great week and I was smiling the whole time haha. Well hope you all have a great week and enjoy the first week of school if any of you are going to school haha. I love you all and stay happy.
Com muito amor,
Elder Rusnell
Well this week I made one year here on the mission. I can hardly believe it has been that long! It has gone by so fast. I only have one more year and then I come back home.
Monday
Today we just had a relaxing p-day. We just relaxed and caught up on some stuff that we needed to do.
Tuesday
We had our district meeting this morning and it was great as always. We decided that we were going to do a division (split with other missionaries) on Wednesday which will be really fun. Later today we passed by some people and had some lessons. One lesson that was really great was with Mikyel. We taught him the 3rd lesson (Plan of Salvation). He loved it and he took it really well. He had a question about baptism and asked if we needed to be baptized to go to heaven. We then read from the Bible in John 3:5 that talks about baptism. We can’t go to heaven without baptism. So he thought about that for a while. We asked him if he would follow the example of Christ and be baptized. He said he would need some time to think about it and then we shared our testimonies about baptism with him. It was a very good lesson.
Wednesday
Today we had our division (missionary splits). We had to take a bus to Sutubal which is a 2hr bus ride. We had to meet there because we don’t have a bus route that goes from Santo André to Évora. So we arrived and then we started our division. I got to take Elder Stevenson back to Santo André. He is 5 weeks in the mission so he is in training. He is from Draper, UT. He is really cool and we got along really well. It was interesting having a new missionary as my companion for a day. This is the 2nd time I have done this with a division. So we got to pass by some people and teach some lessons. We went to a member’s house so we could have a controlled lesson to help Elder Stevenson with his teaching skills. I told him that the member was an investigator to help him more with teaching new people. He did a really good job. After I told him that our ‘investigator’ was a member and he was like WHAT?!?! haha and then we both laughed. He did a great job. Then we passed by Paula and we shared a small message with her. She really liked Elder Stevenson. It was a great lesson with her.
Thursday
Today was the big 1 YEAR mark for me. It was weird. So this morning Elder Stevenson wanted me to cut his hair because he heard how good of a job I did with Elder Katipunan, he wanted me to do it. I cut his hair and he really liked it. He said it was just what he wanted. So I guess I can cut hair really well haha. Then we had tacos for lunch. I made some tacos and they were super good. I then helped him with his studies and then after we got on the bus back to Sutubal to end our division. Coming back home I wasn’t feeling to well, I hate buses now. They make me really sick. Not really sick, but I get so tiered I just had too much time in the bus haha.
Friday
Today we had our weekly planning and it went really well as always. We have so much fun when we do it. Later today we passed by Angela & Antonio. They are an older couple (6o´s). We taught them the first lesson which went great (The Restoration). They had a big question for us. Their question was, “If there is only one God, why do we have so many religions in these days?” We answered there question through the 1st lesson. We asked them if they believed God can do everything and they told us yes and then we explained about the first vision and they said that it makes sense and they want to learn more. They were really cool. We will continue to teach them, and then later baptize them.
Saturday
Today we passed by some less-actives who went less active a year ago. I don’t know why they did but we will help them get back. We had a great lesson. Elder Katipunan shared a scripture with them that talked about how we have joy in this life but we will have an even greater joy after this life. They really liked it and they really like us. The husband was giving us a big hug when we left and told us we can return whenever we wanted to. We had a member, Tatiana whose birthday was today. They invited us to come to their party to help celebrate with them. They went to a pizza place and we had pizza for dinner. It was good for pizza here in Portugal haha. Today was a fun day.
Sunday
Today we had church so Elder Katipunan and I taught the classes today. I taught the New Testament class. We both did really well and it was a lot of fun. So we had a small problem during church when it was time for the sacrament we didn’t have bread for it. Right when we needed him the Branch President arrived here and he had bread with him haha. He and his wife come late because they live far away and also they have to do something for their work in the morning. After church we went back home and ate lunch. We then went out to go work. We passed by some people and then my companion wasn’t feeling too good so we found a place to sit down and rest. We later passed by a member and talked with them for a bit. At the end of the day we passed Duarte, the grandchild of some members. We watched a couple of Mormon Messages with them and talked about them. One of the videos we watched talked about the Book of Mormon and then I decided to give him a copy that I had with me. I told him he could write his name in it and it was his. He got super excited and said that he would read it. We then talked about baptism. We finally got him to say yes to baptism. For the longest time he didn’t want to be baptized but he had a change of heart and wants to follow Christ and be baptized. So next week we will have his baptism. His Grandpa will be the one baptizing him. So we are super excited for him.
That was pretty much my week. It was a really good week. We did a division, I made one year on the mission, celebrated a members birthday, and we marked someone for baptism. So yes it was a really great week and I was smiling the whole time haha. Well hope you all have a great week and enjoy the first week of school if any of you are going to school haha. I love you all and stay happy.
Com muito amor,
Elder Rusnell