Well hello my marvelous parents and my little kiwis!
Just another week here in the Philippines and boy have I learned a lot!
To start off, this week has been extremely hard at some points, and
really easy at others. First of all, just about every single possible
thing that can happen to a person's body has happened to me. Monday, I
started to feel my throat swell up, which wasn't a big deal except
each day it got worse until finally I spiked a huge fever on friday
and we had to stay home the whole day. My companion had to convince me
at first because I really didn't want to, but it was
for the best. I could hardly function. So I slept all the day long.
Tuesday, I stepped on this bridge wrong and broke through it and
almost fell all the way through, scraping up my whole leg in the
process. Most American missionaries supposedly break the bridge
hahaha. Tiny Filipino people. Luckily though, I'm the first one who
didn't fall in the water. Today my awful cough and sore throat are
finally seeming like they're going away. Since I haven't felt very good
Just another week here in the Philippines and boy have I learned a lot!
To start off, this week has been extremely hard at some points, and
really easy at others. First of all, just about every single possible
thing that can happen to a person's body has happened to me. Monday, I
started to feel my throat swell up, which wasn't a big deal except
each day it got worse until finally I spiked a huge fever on friday
and we had to stay home the whole day. My companion had to convince me
at first because I really didn't want to, but it was
for the best. I could hardly function. So I slept all the day long.
Tuesday, I stepped on this bridge wrong and broke through it and
almost fell all the way through, scraping up my whole leg in the
process. Most American missionaries supposedly break the bridge
hahaha. Tiny Filipino people. Luckily though, I'm the first one who
didn't fall in the water. Today my awful cough and sore throat are
finally seeming like they're going away. Since I haven't felt very good
I'm hardly eating anything each day because I'm just not hungry.
Oh and also, my entire body is covered in one of the worst rashes
I've ever had. But that's not something I'm too worried about. I'm the
rash queen.
So those are all of the things that are wrong with my body:) It's
slowly getting better though. At the beginning of this week, we were
also struggling with the work. Sister Mortensen said other than the
language, this is one of her hardest areas as far as people being
receptive to the message. Part of it's probably because there are a
lot of smoking and drug problems here among the youth, and we're both
American, so a lot of people are too shy to talk to us.
These past couple weeks, I've been constantly thinking about what a
mental struggle a mission is. Constantly thinking about missing family
and America in general and then trying to remind myself of why I'm
here and what my purpose is. It's exhausting. Well, I had a spiritual
insight these last couple of days when I read the Fourth Missionary.
It's a talk that one of the Elders in the MTC gave me. Haha, I'm not
entirely sure how, but I have felt a lot happier since reading it. It
talks about the difference between the third and fourth missionaries.
The Third missionary is obedient and does what he/she is supposed to,
but doesn't want to. The life of the Third missionary is still based
on the will of the missionary instead of the will of the Lord like the
Fourth missionary. Basically, it says the way of the Fourth missionary
is actually easier, because the mission isn't such a mental and
emotional struggle. Sure, each missionary will have struggles, but
choosing the way of the Fourth missionary is what he calls the
"Intelligent" choice, because with that way, you personally benefit
from you mission more because you allow the Lord to mold you and make
you the person he wants you to become.
Heavenly Father can make a lot more out of you than you can make of yourself.
So reading that, somehow, struck me a little and helped a lot!
Other than that, the week hasn't been super eventful! The language is
coming a little better. Comparing myself to my Spanish from 5 years,
it's amazing what I've learned in a couple weeks, but comparing myself
to the natives here, I've got a long way to go:)
Happy Thanksgiving this week! I'm thankful for all of you!!!!
There isn't very many food options here so today we're going exploring
because I will make as close to a Thanksgiving dinner as I can...even
if we don't have an oven...and even if our Philippino roommates are
going to absolutely freak out because there's no rice involved. Hehehe
Tomorrow we have another zone meeting so that's something exciting to
look forward to! Darn, I was hoping I'd get the package tommorrow but
it'll probably be at our next zone meeting then which I think is
December 16th? I don't know, we'll see. It's okay:)
If you ever think of a good quote to send me, especially movie quotes,
send em! I love them! Dad sent me that one from the Hobbit and I loved
it and put it in my quote book. Yes I brought that with me.
Say hi to all the family for me and tell them I love them and miss
them and am thankful for all of them!
Thanks for keeping me updated on everything that's going on! Don't
forget to keep doing that:)
Also, tell Kacie to send me dance pictures and boy stories:) Lexie too:)
Love you all! Miss you! See you soon,
Love Sister Russon
So those are all of the things that are wrong with my body:) It's
slowly getting better though. At the beginning of this week, we were
also struggling with the work. Sister Mortensen said other than the
language, this is one of her hardest areas as far as people being
receptive to the message. Part of it's probably because there are a
lot of smoking and drug problems here among the youth, and we're both
American, so a lot of people are too shy to talk to us.
These past couple weeks, I've been constantly thinking about what a
mental struggle a mission is. Constantly thinking about missing family
and America in general and then trying to remind myself of why I'm
here and what my purpose is. It's exhausting. Well, I had a spiritual
insight these last couple of days when I read the Fourth Missionary.
It's a talk that one of the Elders in the MTC gave me. Haha, I'm not
entirely sure how, but I have felt a lot happier since reading it. It
talks about the difference between the third and fourth missionaries.
The Third missionary is obedient and does what he/she is supposed to,
but doesn't want to. The life of the Third missionary is still based
on the will of the missionary instead of the will of the Lord like the
Fourth missionary. Basically, it says the way of the Fourth missionary
is actually easier, because the mission isn't such a mental and
emotional struggle. Sure, each missionary will have struggles, but
choosing the way of the Fourth missionary is what he calls the
"Intelligent" choice, because with that way, you personally benefit
from you mission more because you allow the Lord to mold you and make
you the person he wants you to become.
Heavenly Father can make a lot more out of you than you can make of yourself.
So reading that, somehow, struck me a little and helped a lot!
Other than that, the week hasn't been super eventful! The language is
coming a little better. Comparing myself to my Spanish from 5 years,
it's amazing what I've learned in a couple weeks, but comparing myself
to the natives here, I've got a long way to go:)
Happy Thanksgiving this week! I'm thankful for all of you!!!!
There isn't very many food options here so today we're going exploring
because I will make as close to a Thanksgiving dinner as I can...even
if we don't have an oven...and even if our Philippino roommates are
going to absolutely freak out because there's no rice involved. Hehehe
Tomorrow we have another zone meeting so that's something exciting to
look forward to! Darn, I was hoping I'd get the package tommorrow but
it'll probably be at our next zone meeting then which I think is
December 16th? I don't know, we'll see. It's okay:)
If you ever think of a good quote to send me, especially movie quotes,
send em! I love them! Dad sent me that one from the Hobbit and I loved
it and put it in my quote book. Yes I brought that with me.
Say hi to all the family for me and tell them I love them and miss
them and am thankful for all of them!
Thanks for keeping me updated on everything that's going on! Don't
forget to keep doing that:)
Also, tell Kacie to send me dance pictures and boy stories:) Lexie too:)
Love you all! Miss you! See you soon,
Love Sister Russon
UPDATE from Shelly: I emailed Makenna's Mission President to check on her for me to make sure she is healthy. Their home is 8 hours away from where she is serving. I found out that he and his wife were going to her area the very next day. He sent me an email back saying "I am sitting 3 people from your daughter right now, She is happy, glowing and confident". After their meeting they talked to her and she said she is doing much better and everything is fine... and they sent me this picture... So thankful for them and knowing they are taking care of these missionaries :)
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