The Wisdom of our God

Family!!!!

First things first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!!! The most beautiful woman of my life. Here is a shout- out to you. You deserve more than that. I'm sending you a hug. Catch it if you can. I'll be able to give you a real one in 8 months:) If you want anything else, I'll bring you a souvenier;)

This week has been full of people that seem so prepared for this gospel!!! It's so exciting! Investigators are coming out of nowhere, usually referrals from members, that seem ready. They are wonderful and I just love them. 

One interesting experience we had this week was when a member invited us over for dinner. He said he had an investigator who used to be taught by the elders that would be there, and we could teach him. We had never met this member before, so when we arrived at the address he gave us, we were surprised that it was the Tacloban Highway Patrol Office. The member...was the head chief, or whatever it's called. Hahaha, we walk into this room of about 10 uniformed men sitting in this office with our member, who is their boss, and invited them all to hear a missionary discussion. They mostly spoke Tagalog, so Maybelle, our wonderful Ward Missionary, helped us along the way and we concluded that spiritual discussion with a bang of success. I was scared to death at first, but it was really fun actually! There was such a diversity of religious beliefs in the room, but there we were, talking to them all about the plan Heavenly Father has for them, and this church they don't even really know they are already apart of. For the very fact that they are God's children, they are a part of it, even if not members yet:)

I read this quote this week (below). It is an excerpt from that piece I talked about a couple weeks ago, "The Ricciardi Letter". If anyone is considering a mission, I highly recommend they read this. I believe it with all my heart and love my mission:) Read away!:

"The wisdom of our God is epitomized in the missionary program of our Church. The Church asks young people to have a goal to be worthy to 'serve a mission'. What the outside world sees as brain washing, the Lord sees as striving for something so important that one would shun the vices of the world to not lose the privilege of serving a mission. Think of your life in 10 year increments starting from when you are baptized at 8 years old, from 8 to 18, 18 to 28, 28 to 38, 38 to 48, and on and on. What 10 year segment contains the most life changing events? Answer: 18 to 28. So the Lord understood the value of kicking off that critical time of your life with a mission. What better commitment for such an important period than to forget yourself for 2 years, delay formal education, and focus on God, Jesus, and everyone else but yourself. It is the perfect example of the classic scriptural saying, 'to find yourself, you must lose yourself'. You gain 10 years worth of life experience from a mission. You leave at [18], [19] for sisters, and return with 10 years of life wisdom and experience crammed into 18 to 24 months. In that age segment of 18 to 28, not necessarily in this order, you serve a mission, get an education, marry, choose a profession/occupation, and have children. There is no other 10 year increment with so much hanging in the balance. Wow, what a wise Heavenly Father to place the mission experience as the springboard for such a critical decade of life." - Daniel Humphrey (RM who served in England). 

Love you all! Seding the love always and always. Don't forget the little things in your busy lives - family time, scripture time, prayer time. You can find time;)

Love Sister Russon