Ola todo mundo!!!
This week has been a blast! Monday When I was writing my email last week I had to end it really fast. Less-active called us and it was very bad. He told us that he was saying his last goodbye and that he was going to the other world. Basically he told us that he was going to kill himself. So we just dropped everything we were doing and called a member and ran as fast as we could to go and try to help him. When we got there we knocked on his door but no one answered but then we heard a person call our names and it was João Carlos the less-active. He was at a café across the street. He told us to come in his house and we talked for a little bit then João Martins (the member) came and we helped him calm down and get things back in shape. He is better now and is really happy. After we talked we had some cake and where joking around. Cake makes everything better haha. Then later that night we where contacting some people and we meet a girl named Rita. We told her who we where and what our message was and she was happy to hear about it. We asked if we could talk another day and she said yes so we marked the next day to talk with her. Tuesday Because we had the problem on Monday we didn’t have time to go shopping for food so this morning we went and did our shopping for the week. During the day we had a lesson with a man named Jeronimo who is fantastic! He has a lot of potential. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and he was understood everything. We even left him something to read in the Book of Mormon and he read it and loved it. We have more lessons with him in the future so we will see. We then had that lesson with the girl from the other night, Rita. She was very nice and has lot of faith in Christ. She works with one of our members at a store called Bolama (a grocery store). Because this member (Juka) works there we had him help us with the lesson. We talked about the Restoration and how our church began. She was understood everything very clearly. She told us that she wants to hear and learn more. We invited her to church but sadly she told us that she works every Sunday at the same time we have church. So we told her that if she really wants to go to church she can pray to God and he can help you with this. It was a very good lesson. Wednesday Today was a very blank day, not much happened. A lot of our lessons fell through and we were knocking on doors a lot and trying to talk with people in the road. We ended up finding a man named Franciso who was very nice. He told us that we could pass again someday and we could talk more about our message. Thursday Today we had our weekly planning because on Friday we have a Zone meeting. We had a lesson today with a man named Antonio. He is hard core Catholic.. We had a member come with us, Brother Andrade. It turns out that they actually already know each other and are good friends. So this was really good! We had a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and Irmão (Brother) Andrade shared his testimony which was very powerful. Then we had another lesson with Linda and Madalena. We talked about the Doctrine & Covenants and what it was for. It was a great lesson and they loved it. Friday Today we had our Zone meeting which was in Porto. It was raining all day so we were covered in rain but it was still super fun to walk to the church. The meeting was so amazing and I learned lots of new things to help me with my investigators. We later returned back to Guimarães and it was pretty late so we only had enough time for one more lesson, so we talked with Linda and Madalena. We talked about the Liahona and how they could receive it every month. Saturday Today was a very weird day. This morning we got a couple messages from a man named Nelo. He was apparently an investigator a very long time ago and he had our number. He was sending us some weird messages so we just blocked him and just continued our day. Portugal can be weird sometimes. Later tonigh we FINALLY had a lesson with José. He was the man that stopped his car at the bus station to talk with us. We had a lesson in the church and it was a great lesson. He said we can talk again and learn more. So we will talk to him again. Sunday Today was a great day in church we had lots of people share their testimonies and the Spirit was there. After church we found out that Madalena was in the hospital because she was having some problems with her bladder or her kidneys. We went to the hospital to go and visit her and see how she is doing, but they wouldn’t let us go and visit her because only her mom and dad could. That night we made some food for them and left it there for them. If you guys could add her to your prayers I would be very grateful. I will inform you guys about her when I get more info. But currently she is doing great and still has a smile. So that was pretty much my last week. I hope you guys enjoy. Remember I love you all so very much and wish you all the best in all that you do. Come muito amor, Elder Rusnell Ola Família e Amigos!!!
This week has been an amazing week lots of stuff happened this week. Monday - We got a call from the Mission office telling us that Elder Belo needed to go to Lisboa to renew his citizenship card and we needed to leave the next day. Tuesday we had our district meeting in the morning then about 30 min after we went to preach the gospel before we went on the train to Lisboa. It was a really long trip about 6 hours on the train. We first got on the train to Porto and the switched onto another train to Lisboa. After this I was about done with long trips haha. We got there around 9:00 and the office Elders picked us up. We slept the night at the office Elders house. (This wasn't my first time there.) Wednesday- In the morning we went and did his residencia with some other Elders which took about 2 hours. I just sat there reading the Book of Mormon in Português which was really awesome. Then right after that they took us straight to the train station to head back home, which was "fun" haha. I basically just slept the whole way back which was really nice. And that was basically our day Wednesday haha. Thursday- Was just a regular day not much happened this day, but it was a good day. In my studies today I got to the part in the Book of Mormon where it talks about Samuel the Lamanite. I love this story because I feel like I’m doing exactly what he is doing (except I’m not on a wall haha). Friday- We had the interview for Madalena to see if she is able to be baptized or not. We knew she was but we still need to do it though. After the interview our District Leader (who does the interview) told us that she passed with flying colors!!! We were super happy about this. She is a wonderful daughter of God. Saturday- The day we all have been waiting for. We started the morning by going over to the church to go fill the font up with water but when we tried nothing was working so we kind of panicked. But we got it to go on in time. I also had the chance to make Rusnell cookies which was super fun. So about 30 min before the baptism Linda (Madalena´s mom) called us and told us that the baptism can’t be today. When we heard this we were like WHAT!!! WHY NOT!?!? Then she starts laughing and says she is just kidding. Man that jokester she almost gave us a heart attack! So it was time for the baptism and everyone had arrived there. We opened up the meeting with the hymn "I am a child of God". The spirit was so strong there and it was just amazing. After the program we had the baptism. Beforehand Madalena was very nice and picked me to be the one to baptize her. I was honored to be the one to baptize here. When we entered the water it was so quiet and so peaceful. I don’t know why, but when I put her under the water it felt so natural and felt really good. I know that the Holy Ghost had been with me helping her. When we returned to the room I noticed the Linda had cried a little bit and had felt the spirit. She is not a member, but we are working with her as well. I know that she felt the spirit as well and very soon she could be baptized. We then finished the program and had a couple of snacks afterwards. The very first thing that was gone was the Rusnell cookies. Everyone was eating them. They were asking who made them and where they could get the recipe. Everyone really liked them (you hear that dad Portuguese people love our cookies!!!) I was very happy that everyone liked my cookies. Saturday was such a special day and so was Sunday. Sunday- Today during church Madalena received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was so happy and it put a huge smile on my face to see that. Linda, her mother said that she was really cold during church but when Madalena received the Holy Ghost she said she felt really warm and felt really good. I know that she felt the Spirit and that it was telling her that this is the truth and this is the key to happiness. Sunday was a really good day. After church we went to a new area to find some new people to teach. We ended up walking on a highway that didn’t have a sidewalk so I felt like a hitch hiker (haha) it was scary yet fun. This week was just a blast. I am so proud of Madalena and the decision she made to be baptized and follow the example of our older brother Jesus Christ. I’m so grateful to be a missionary and help others come unto Christ. I know that I am doing my job and that makes me feel so happy. This is a great and wonderful work. I hope that you guys can feel the same happiness that I am feeling right now. I love you all so much. Com muito amor, Elder Rusnell Ola amigos e familia!!!
I had a wonderful time this week lots of exciting things happened. Monday- We had our p-day and we got to see the Paços dos dukes which is basically a palace. It was really big and had lots of old age thing in it. It was really cool to visit. We also cleaned the house, because I like living in a clean house. That was about all that happened on Monday. Tuesday- We didn’t have our district meeting today because we had our Zone Conference on Wednesday. Today was pretty cool. We had a lesson with the referral we had received. His name is Luis Cardoso. He is a very interesting fella. So we ended up talking with him about what he knows so far about our church. He knew about the basics which was pretty good. He was taught by Sisters Missionaries before us so he was asking why we weren’t sisters and where he could talk with sisters. We didn’t know why he was talking about that but ya. It ended up that he just had a huge crush on one of the sisters that were teaching him and when he found out that we were going to teach him he lost interest and started going on about all this weird stuff. Ya he wasn’t all there in the head. But we tried our best with him. We ended up having a lesson but it took forever. So we will see how it will go next time we talk with him. We also had some really good lessons this day as well, with Madalena, and then João Carlos. Wednesday- Today we had our Zone conference which was fantastic! Not because it was a great conference but because I got to see my awesome friend Elder Jenson FINALLY!!!! It took about half a year to see him hear in Portugal. He is doing great and looking great as well (I have a picture of us attached to this email). It was so good to see him; it was also weird to talk to him in a different language as well. Just think when we both have returned from our missions we can speak Portuguese to each other. Hopefully one day we can be companions that would be wonderful. Thursday- So today was a really good day. We got to have a lesson with Madalena (the one who is marked for baptism) and it went fantastic! We were getting info for her baptism paper. We also asked who she wants to baptize her and she picked me. I was super excited when she picked me. I’m glad that I can be a part of this special experience for her. Friday- Today we had our weekly planning like we do every Friday. Elder Belo doesn’t like to do weekly planning (not in a bad way) it takes about 3 hours and it can get kind of boring at times, but really fun at the same time. We always have fun doing it. Today we had a lesson with a less active named Paulo Morais. He believes in the Bok of Mormon and that this Church is true but he didn’t yet believe much in Joseph smith. So we had a lesson about that. It turns out he thought that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon so we explained that he translated it by the power of God. After that was a big, “Ohhhhhhhh, ok I get it now, I believe in Joseph Smith now”. Wow just a bit of incorrect info and he was lost and confused. This just shows how important it is to teach this message clearly. Saturday- Not too much happened today it was kind of a weak day but it was still good. So I’ll just leave it at that. Sunday- Today we had Madalena in church and she loved it. She is so ready for her baptism on the 18th and I am too. She is going to make such a wonderful member and an even better example to her family. This week has been such an amazing week. I love it here and I’m loving this work. I also love each and every one of you. Hope you guys have a wonderful week alright :) Com muito amor, Elder Rusnell Ola família e amigos!!!
This week has been such a week full of adventure and excitement and Conference! So the beginning of this week on Monday we were able to go and visit the castle of Guimarães which was pretty awesome I really enjoyed that. Tuesday we had our District meeting which we have every Tuesday. But after our meeting we got a call from Sister Crossman (A member who works for the church) she called us and she said that she had a referral for us, she said that there is a man (Luis) who has been taught by other missionary’s but lives in Guimarães who wants to be baptized. So, when we received that we were super happy. We also had another little miracle. When we were waiting for our bus back to Guimarães a man pulled to the side of the bus stop in his car and pointed at me, he said he wanted to talk to me. Well we went up to the man (José) and it turned out that he had a feeling that he had to talk to us because he said that he felt like we had a special message. So with that we told him who we were and that we had a special message about our savior Jesus Christ. He was super friendly and so willing to learn more about what we had to tell him. He even offered us a ride in his car back to Guimarães so we could continue to talk, but sadly he didn’t have enough room in his car and about 2 min later our bus came. So we traded information so that we could talk another day. Wow what a blessing that was. It just goes to show that the Lord really does have people prepared to hear the gospel. Wednesday Elder Belo and I tried a new area in Guimarães called Mesão Frio. We have never been in this area before but we had some less-actives who lived in that area. So it’s kind of far away so we took the city bus up to the area. Well when we got there we had no clue where we were. So we tried talking to a lot of people to ask where the roads where. When we tried a lot of people told us they don’t have time or I’m in a hurry, but all we wanted was some information. So when that didn’t work we decided to go and find some new investigators to teach. We went door knocking and they were really nice homes, lots of rich people. But they all told us that they didn’t want the message or that it wasn’t worth it. This made me really sad because I know that this message IS important and that I can change their lives for the better. Elder Belo and I kept our cool and just kept trying. Well it happened to be April 1st that day too so the world could have been playing a little joke on us as well because of April fool’s day haha. Thursday we had our Zone meeting in Porto. We had to wake up early to get a train that would go to Porto. But, when we got there the trains weren’t working because I guess they were having a strike? So lots of the train’s weren’t working. But luckily the train that we needed worked. So we went to our meeting. After our meeting we found out that we had no train to go back to Guimarães so we were stuck at the train station. But all of a sudden a man walked up to me with a smile and shook my hand and said that he was a member and said that it looked like we needed some help. So we told him our story and then he told us that he knew how to get us back. There is a Bus that goes to Guimarães at a bus station so he took us to that which was very nice of him. But before that he wanted to get a snack from and American store in a mall. It had lots of products from America that where super expensive. After he got his treat we went to the station and we had about a 2 1/2 hour wait till the bus got there. So we thanked him for helping us. After the waiting we got on the bus and made it home safely. Friday not much happed on this day but we did mark Madelana for baptism which was really cool. She is the 13 year old who loves the church, but her mom is the one that still needs some help. Saturday we had conference which was awesome. We even got to watch them live on the computer. Because we watched them live the times where different. We watched conference at 5:00PM and then at 9:00PM. It was fantastic I loved all the talks they were so uplifting and had so much power to them. Sunday at 10:00AM we had the priesthood session, then at 5:00PM first session on Sunday then at 9:00PM second session. I loved hearing all the talks about our savior Jesus Christ and all the wonderful examples they used to apply to the Atonement. I can’t remember what session or who it was but the they talked about a girl on an airplane and it ended up crashing and she was the only one that survived, she choose to and tried to find help and when she saw that light she knew she found help but when she could not see it she still went on knowing that it was there. That example is just like faith. We need to do our part to find the light of Christ in our life. Yes at times we may not see it but that is when we use our faith to keep going on the same path to later on see the light. I really like that talk. There was so many great talks this conference, and I learned so many great things from them. I hope that all of you got to enjoy conference and I hope you all will apply the teachings in to your own lives and the lives of others. I hope you all had a happy Easter and had lots of goodies and a visit from the Easter Bunny haha Love you all so much and I ask that the Lord may bless you in all that you do. Com muito amor, Elder Rusnell OLA!!!! and yet another wonderful P-day!
So my new companion’s name is Elder Belo and he is from Ontario, Canada. He has about 1 year and 4 months in the mission. His last area was in Madeira which is an island 1hr away from Portugal. Elder Belo is so cool we are basically best friends already!!! He is actually half Portuguese; his Dad is from Madeira, Portugal how cool is that!! When I first meet Elder Belo he had no emotion and I thought that he was a robot, (just kidding). But Elder Belo is not a robot and he and I are best friends. So one thing that Elder Belo and I decided is that we will only speak Portuguese in the house and outside of the house. So we will be speaking Portuguese for 24/7!!! It’s really funny everything I think in my head now is first in Portuguese and then it’s in English. I still have a long way to go to be a master of Portuguese but I’m getting there step by step. Elder Belo and I are the only Elders here in Guimarães. It’s a really big city and we have lots of work so at times it can get pretty stressful. But Elder Belo and I always know how to turn it around and make it fun. Elder Belo loves to eat vegetables so now our fridge is full of fruits and vegetables and we are eating super healthy now! So next week is Conference and I am super excited to watch it! We get to watch it in our church here in Guimarães. I can’t wait to hear the wonderful talks and learn lots of new things. Speaking of church this Sunday (yesterday) we had 2 investigators in church. We had José & Madelena. José is the one who we invited to church in the street. This is his 2nd time coming to church and he LOVES it. He always has a huge smile on his face when he comes here. We also invited him to be baptized and he said YES! We invited him to be baptized on April 11th. That’s in about 2 weeks. We still have to teach him some more lessons and also help him to stop drinking alcohol. I know that God put him in our path so that we could talk to him. We also had Madelena in church; she is a 13 year old girl who loves this church with all her heart!!! She reads the Book of Mormon EVERYDAY!!!! She has a strong testimony about this church and she knows that this is the true church. The only reason why she isn’t baptized yet is because we want her to be baptized with her mom. Her mom is having a rough time with repenting so it’s taking a while with them but we are getting close! Madelena is a really good example to her mother. I love all the people that i am working with and they all have a special place in my heart. There is no greater joy then helping these people come closer to our savior Jesus Christ. I’m so grateful for this church and all the wonderful blessings that I have received because of it. I hope you all have a wonderful week and to remember to keep on smiling. Com muito amor, Elder Rusnell Well this transfer went really fast!! I can’t believe that I have already been in Guimarães for 6 weeks. So, a few things have changed this transfer. I am staying here in Guimarães, but Elder Hansen has been transferred to................BEJA!!! Yes that’s right Beja, my very first area. When we found out that he got transferred there we both freaked out haha. I can’t believe that he is going to Beja I mean I was just there 6 weeks ago. This morning I sent him off to Beja with the 8hr bus ride. It was weird after that because for about an hour I was alone in the city. I had to wait for an hour for the bus to go to Braga to be with the other Elders. My new companion’s name is Elder Bellow, at least I think that is how he spells his name. He won’t come to Guimarães till later tonight at 8:00 so I will stay in Braga the whole day and then later return to pick him up. I think he said he was from Canada but I’m not exactly sure. I will find out later tonight.
I’m super excited for Elder Hansen; I was telling him all about Beja and all the cool people there. He is super excited to go now. This week has been really interesting. During this week we had a funeral for the husband of one of our members. Her husband had cancer and he ended up dying from it. So we were invited to go to that. We had it in our chapel and there where members there but more non-members. We had some people come up to us and ask about our church so that was pretty cool. There were lots of talks about the Plan of Salvation and our life after this one. One day we were contacting people in the road and we talked to this one old man in the road and we invited him to go to church with us on Sunday and gave him our info and other stuff. WELL...... he actually came to church!!! Most people we invite to go to church never come but he came and he loved it!! After church we talked with him and he was telling us about all the different churches and all the different things that they do. But he told us that he felt something special in our church and that he wants to come again. We also set up a lesson with him for this week so we are really excited about this. One thing that I learned from this is that invites to church WORK!!! If you keep trying and keep inviting someone will come and their lives will be blessed. I am super excited for this new transfer and for all the new adventures that we are going to have. I don’t have my camera with me but I will send pictures next week. Okay, I will answer some of your questions now. The mission split: We won’t know what will happen, that info will come when that transfer comes. The new Mission Presidents will make the decision. Yes, we will be able to watch General Conference and I am super excited to watch it. I can’t wait to learn lots from all the wonderful talks. Easter is such a wonderful time of the year. It’s full of lots of candy and lots of bright colors. But the most important part of it is that it reminds us about Christ and all that he has done for us. So this Easter season try to keep Christ in your lives and remember all that he has done for us. I love you all so much. Have a great week and can’t wait till next week!!!! Come muito amor, Elder Rusnell Ola família e amigos!!!
So this week has been such an amazing week for us. We had our Zone meeting this week and also with that we had interviews with the Mission President, which went very well. I always love having interviews because it helps me to find out what I need to work on and what I can improve on. And also I just love our mission president he is such an amazing guy. He is a great example to us all. This week we also marked someone for baptism on the 14th which is amazing! His name is José João and he loves the church. He is currently catholic but loves what we are teaching him and wants to be baptized. He is really poor and has a couple of problems but nothing we can’t help him with. He smokes which everyone does here in Portugal. But one problem that we really need to work on with him is that he is living with his girlfriend. So he either has to marry her or not sleep in the same house, because this is breaking the Law of Chasity. Thing is he doesn’t even really like her which is weird, so we will see what happens with that. He also LOVES to talk which is good, but it makes it hard for us sometimes to teach a lesson. So he is an amazing guy that just has a few problems. We also have another person who we are trying to mark for baptism. Her name is Adriana and she is the daughter of a less active who is starting to become active again which is fantastic. She is 12 and wants to be baptized, but we want her father to baptize her. There is one small problem. Her dad smokes and is currently not worthy to baptize her because he smokes. He knows that he needs to stop smoking so that he can baptize his daughter so we are helping him with that. They are really cool people that just got a little lost and now we are helping them come back. We also have two more people who we could baptize in like the next week. In fact next week we are going to mark them for baptism and have them baptized on the 7th hopefully. Their names are Linda (mom 42) and Madalena (Daughter 13). They have been taught in the past by other missionaries and they believe in everything and wanted to be baptized as well, but something happened with one of the missionaries. And so because of this they had to drop them. So we came in and stared to teach them again and they are so ready for baptism. They read the Book of Mormon every day and even watch the videos the elders left them. So we are trying to really focus on these people so we can have some baptisms here in Guimarães. Guimarães has not had a baptism in about a year. I know that I was called to Guimarães for a reason. I’m so glad to be here in Portugal in Guimarães. I’m so glad to be a missionary. Yes, at times it is rough and I fall down but I always come back and when I do I come back with a smile and better than before. We all have our days and for some people they are harder than others. But we need to remember that through the power of the atonement we can be comforted. My dad emailed me and talked a little bit about the atonement and I would just like to talk about it as well. We are so very lucky to have a Heavenly Father that was willing to give up his ONLY son to atone for our sins so that we can return to the presents of God again. By knowing more about the Atonement we come to realize that we are never alone that we will always have someone by our side who has felt the same pains, stress, emotions, and everything that you have gone through he has felt it as well. I’m so grateful for the Savior in my life and everything that he has done for me in my life. I love you guys so much and hope you guys know that Christ is always with us when we need it. With all my love, Elder Rusnell Hello family and friends!
Sorry that my email is a day late. We had a District P-day on Monday so we didn’t have much time to do our email so we are doing it today (Tuesday). This week has been a life changing week for me! I have found probably my favorite talk in existence! The talk is called The Fourth Missionary. It is by Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge. (You can find this talk here) https://www.freelists.org/archives/ourlunchgroup/11-2013/pdfdQPoSP5qZl.pdf He talks about 4 different types of missionaries and what we need to do in order to be the fourth missionary. As I have read this talk it has got me thinking about what I can do to be a better fourth missionary. I have noticed as I have applied this in my life I have become happier, more obedient, and much closer to my Heavenly Father. As I have continued this journey to become the fourth missionary I have gained a desire to learn more about this gospel. I get more out of reading the Book of Mormon and The Bible. When I started my mission I began reading The Book of Mormon from the beginning. I have already read it through once and now I want to read it again along with The Bible. These books are so important in our lives. I think sometimes we don’t know how SACRED and IMPORTANT these books really are. They are not just another book that sits on the shelf collecting dust. They should be used every day, multiple times a day. I would just like to share my testimony about the Book of Mormon. I know that this book is true and that we are given this book to know more about our Savior and how we can prepare to live with God again. I know that when we read, study, and pray about the Book of Mormon we will gain a strong testimony of everything that is in it. My companion Elder Hansen doesn’t know how to cook so I usually have to make everything, but I’m fine with that. I love cooking. Every day we will mix it up a bit. Every day we will usually have some steamed broccoli with an orange or apple. Something’s that I have made are hamburgers, chicken Alfred, tacos, pizza, mac & cheese, chicken salad wrap, and lots more. I have a cook book with lots of good ideas so we eat healthy here. Every morning we exercise for 30 min. Elder Hansen likes to train so he gives me some good tips on how to work out different types of muscles. We have not had a zone meeting yet but we will this week. We go to Porto for our zone meetings. So Elder Cameron Jensen (a Kaysville neighbor) lives 45 miles from where I am so I think he might be in my same zone but I don’t know. I will find out soon enough. Yesterday I had the opportunity to have a district P-day. We went to Bom Jesus do Monte (Good Jesus of the Mounthttp://www.estanciadobomjesus.com) which is a really huge, but beautiful church. It was awesome. I took lots of pictures so I hope you enjoy them on my blog. I love you guys all so much I hope you have a WONDERFUL week!!!!!! With all my love, Elder Rusnell Hello family and Friends!!
This week has been full of adventures haha. This week I have been getting to know the area of Guimarães a lot more. Every day we walk in different parts of the city. We try to talk with everyone on the street so we can find new people to teach. Pretty much most of the time we get rejected, but that’s alright because that only leads us closer to the one who will accept our message. Here in Guimarães we have a Branch. A Branch is one step smaller than a Ward. Our Branch President is really awesome. He has only been a member for 3 years and he has spent 2 of those years as the Branch President. He has such a strong spirit with him and he is an amazing man. Our Branch Mission Leader is 28 years old and he is such a stud. He knows everything about this gospel and I think he could be an Apostle one day. He speaks perfect English and Portuguese. Actually a lot of people in our Branch speak English. Our Branch is a little smaller than the one in Beja but that’s ok we will help it grow. So this week we had a lesson with a less active that has been less active for about 5 months. His whole family is members except his little daughter. When we talked with him he was cool and loves talking with the missionaries. We don’t really know why he went inactive but we are now starting to work with him and his family to start coming back to church and soon to baptize his daughter. This week we also had the opportunity to go over to another less actives house and give him a blessing. The reason that he is considered less active is because he hasn’t been to church in a long time. The reason why is because he has been having some medical problems with his legs. He told us that when he was working one day he somehow fell over on his side while he was holding something heavy and it landed on him and temporarily paralyzed his legs so he can’t do much. He is still trying to recover from his accident. He asked President Bruno if the missionaries could come over and give him a blessing. After President told us this we went over to go and give him a blessing. When we got there his Granddaughter answered the door. She then shouted out “THE MISSIONARIES ARE HERE!” We then entered the house and saw the old man on the couch with a huge smile on his face. We then talked about his life and what he did in the past for the church and what happened to his legs. After we had our conversation we then gave him a blessing. Elder Hansen had the honor of doing this and he gave a BEAUTIFUL blessing. Right after the blessing the old man stared to cry tears of joy. He then grabbed our hands one at a time and thanked us so much and kissed our hands. He told us that he needed to hear that. In the blessing Elder Hansen told him that he needs to remember to read the Book of Mormon and pray to God. He told us that he hasn’t been doing that and that he knew that he should be. His family started to cry as well and then we almost started to cry. I know that the Spirit was present during the visit and that it touched their lives and they will always remember that moment. It was such a blessing that we were able to be there and give him that blessing. I love the feeling that we as missionaries give other people through service and to see their lives just fill up with joy and happiness. It makes me feel like I’m doing my job right and that this is why I am here, to bring others closer to Christ and help them feel joy in their lives. This Sunday I gave a talk in church. Now in our Branch we have sacrament first and then we have our classes. Anyway, if you guys think it’s hard giving a talk in church try giving a talk in church in a different language, that’s even harder!!! But I was willing a excited. My topic was on how missionaries and members can work together to bring more people unto Christ. Some scriptures I used in my talk where in D&C 24:12 12. And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men. I love this scripture, It tells us that we need to open our mouths and share this gospel. But some people don’t do this and that is where D&C 60:2-3 comes in: 2 But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man. Wo unto such, for mine angeris kindled against them.3. And it shall come to pass, if they are not more faithful unto me, it shall be taken away, even that which they have. God has given us talents and we need to use those talents to share this gospel and happiness with everyone on this earth. If we are not doing this then we need to go to God in prayer and REPENT! We need to remember that through Christ our sins can be forgiven. In D&C 60:7 it talks about this. 7. And in this place let them lift up their voice and declare my word with loud voices, without wrath or doubting, lifting up holy hands upon them. For I am able to make you holy, and your sins are forgiven you. I’m so grateful for this gospel and for everything it has done for me in my life. I know that through God ANYTHING is possible. We are his children and he loves us so very much. I love you all and wish that you will always go to God in prayer and thank him for all the many blessing that he has given to you in your lives. With all my love, Elder Rusnell |
Elder Tyler RusnellServing a full-time church mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Lisbon, Portugal. Archives
March 2016
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