My Last Letter as a Missionary - See you Saturday!!!!

Well it´s been a crazy two years. Since I´m finishing the mission I just thought I would tell you all my thoughts and feelings after this great experience I´ve had. I honestly can´t even begin to explain how great these last two years have been. First off I want to explain how hard the mission was but how worth it, it has been.

I have definitely had the hardest days of my entire life in the mission. I hope that doesn´t discourage anyone planning on serving a mission, but it´s the truth. I have never struggled so much in my entire life. There were days when I felt completely alone and just completely lost, as I was learning the language and learning to be a missionary. There were days when I honestly thought I was going to die because I was so sick. There were days where I felt like a complete failure sitting at church waiting for investigators who never came or even worse waiting by the side of full baptisimal fonts. There were days when just eating lunch made me want to give up. There were days when we had absolutely no one to teach and spent the entire day walking around our area just trying to find someone to listen to us. There were days when I wanted to strangle my companion. There were days when I would get home at 930 and spend the night bandaging my blistered covered feet.

The mission has been hard. I know for some missionaries it´s hasn´t been nearly as hard as it was for me and for others it´s been even harder. But as hard as it was for me I would not give it up for anything. The hardships were nothing compared to the blessings I received here.

I experienced things here that have changed my life forever. I have learned and grown sooooo much while being here. I have experienced things that simply don´t and can´t happen without the Lord´s hand in it. I can say now that I know without a doubt that this work is real that God really does exist that Christ really did come here and pay for our sins and overcome the world. I know our prayers are heard and answered. I know God has a plan for us and for me. I know there is more out there than what we can see and what we can comprehend. I have never had happier days in my entire life than the days I´ve had here in the mission. I´ve been able to help people literally change their lives. I´ve seen people that were lost and desperate for hope find it in the gospel. I´ve seen their lives go from the worst it has EVER been to the BEST it´s ever been. I am stronger and happier than I was two years ago. I understand why I am here. I understand what I need to do.

I wish I could explain all the blessings I have received from being the Lord´s servant for these last two years, but I honestly can´t. All I can say is that this experience was more than worth every hardship I have had.

The mission has been the best two years of my life. Without a doubt.

Love Elder Russon

See you all Saturday!

Letter 7/21/2014

Well sorry about not getting the letter to you guys earlier. The power in our city went out and we had to stop writing and I never got to send this letter.

Well this last week was my birthday. It was an awesome week not gonna lie. Had lots of fun. So last Monday after writing you all we watched How to Train your Dragon and Tangled as a zone and made Completos which are basically just Chilean Hot Dogs. They were pretty delicious and it was a fun pday. Also I sent pictures of me messing around on a statue, me with this kid that lives in our house that we call Aladin, my birthday lunch, my birthday party and all that happened there (they have a tradition in Peru on your birthday you take a bite of the cake before cutting it and they all push your head into the cake, usually you just get it on your nose but they went nuts and suffocated me with the cake), another pic of me running away outside and then getting pelted with hard eggs (theyre crazy on birthdays here), then a funny drunk dude we found, the end of our area and the world, me on the Tacna sign, oh and we climbed this giant hill in our area that overlooks all of Tacna and we were accompanied by a dog (dogs seem to be everywhere, even church), also we made pancakes (delicious), and then today we went to the beach with 2 other zones in Tacna.

So yeah those are all the pictures. My brithday was awesome. We basically just worked until about 6 and then the party started and my comp bought me a milkshake in a nice desert place and then we went to my bday party and we had a food fight with cake and eggs and flour. It was insane but a ton of fun. A very good bday. And my last in the mission. Today was a ton of fun too. We went to the beach and had lots of fun. We played volleyball together and soccer and we tossed the football. It was a blast too. Got back freezing cold. But basically we had a stinking awesome week.

Well that's all I got for you guys right now. I love you all thanks for writing me. Seeya CHOU CHOU

Love Elder Russon