Letter 8/12/2013

So this week in the Branch we only had 16 members attend, 2 investigators and a few dogs. But we are finding a ton of investigators so we will have success very soon and a lot of it. 

Also this week we started running in the mornings. We actually ran up to the point where I took one of the pictures. And OH MY GOSH it is really really hard to run here at 12,500ft. We ran for like 3 minutes before we had to stop. It´s crazy just walking up slopes here gets me tired. I do not like it at all but when I get back to normal altitude I will be running for like an hour without stopping. 

We have traveled to Arequipa 2 times this week. Right now I´m actually in Arequipa for our pday. We should be doing something awesome I hope. Oh and also I want to tell you all about an investigator we had at church. He is our neighbor named Alejandro. He is 96 years old barely speaks Spanish and is pretty much 99% blind and 99% deaf. But he has been a member of a different church for a while but we teach him with pictures and lots of yelling.  He came to church and oh man was it funny. He walked in when I was giving a talk and the first thing he does is walk over to the chair yell at me GOOD MORNING then starting bowing down and praying while yelling. 

Well I gotta go. Love you all sorry I can´t write more today. CHOU CHOU

Love Elder Russon

Letter 8/5/2013

Well my new comp is Elder James Self from Arizona. He´s a cool guy and has a month more than me in the mission. He wrestled and played football. It´s awesome being with another white guy though. We speak lots of English which probably isn´t great for our spanish but we are having tons of success. When it´s two white guys walking around in a foreign country pretty much everyone wants to talk to you unless that country hates the USA. 

My new area is called Chivay it´s a little north of Arequipa. It´s just a little village of a few thousand people which sounds like a lot but isn´t big at all. I´m sending pictures but I don´t think they will get there in time. But one is of me and my comp and my old comp from the MTC in Peru in between us. He is leaving Chivay. Another is of me in a ditch and I don´t remember the last one but I think its the picture of where we had a baptism this Saturday. It was the other companionship that had the baptism so I didn´t take any pictures of it but we do the baptisms in the river which WILL BE SOOO COOL the first time I get to do one.... I hope I get to do one before I leave here or I while be very sad. 

Something cool is that right next to us we have the Deepest Canyon in the WORLD. It´s called Colca Canyon i think. 

Oh so I gotta tell you how my first Sunday here was. So yesterday we had a GRAND total of 4 missionaries attend church 2 investigators 16 members and 3 dogs. Oh and by the time sacrament ended there was only 8 members left. So it was very very very unusual for me to experience in Church.... OH and also I´m the first counselor in the branch so I sat up front the entire sacrament meeting which also was weird. And I also do tithing which is also very weird. But I love this place a lot. What else could I talk about. Oh I also have a bunch of pictures of a herd of sheep surrounding me and herds of cows and bulls and sheep walk down our street daily. 

 I am doing very good. Don´t have anything more to tell you all for now and my time is up but I love you all and thanks for all the letters. Gotta go CHOU!!!!!

Love Elder Russon

Letter 7/30/2013

HEY EVERYONE!!!

Well sorry i didn´t write yesterday. I got changed from my awesome area and my awesome comp.

So first off I still don´t have my packages and it will still may be another week or two because the place i got moved to is far away and crazy.

So first I´ll tell you about my first part of the week. When I was dead sick. So on Tuesday we went to the hospital because my comp had a operation where they put a camera down his stomach and he was super out of it from all the medications. It reminded me of when I got my teeth yanked. On Monday was pday so we did almost nothing except 2 1/2 hours of work then Tuesday was that and we only worked for like an hour. When my comp wasn´t drunk anymore then the next day me and my comp woke up and we were basically half dead. We both had fevers the entire day and I couldn´t even walk. Something we picked up from the hospital I´m guessing. So that day we did a few interviews and slept in our room all day then the next day we starting working normal. But it was crazy because I was sooo sick I couldn´t even get up to walk and I didn´t eat for like a day and a half.

After that my comp was going to baptize and investigator in one of the wards where there are sister missionaries so we went there Saturday night. She was super excited to get baptized and the baptism was set up and tons of members. They get in the water to do the ordinance and she tells him she can´t. So we close off the baptism and us and the sisters and a few members all go to the baptismal room to baptize her. But she just would not do it, so we have her do it on her knees and she refused to dunk her head in the water (she has a fear of putting her face in water). So I jump in the font also. So me and my comp are both in there trying to baptize her ( I´m just in my work clothes, pants, belt, regular white shirt and tie and everything). But long story short we were in there for like an hour and a half and she just couldn´t do it. She wanted to get baptized but just couldn´t put her head in the water. So at like 830 we finally leave the font to go change in the bathroom and then I realized I have nothing to put on and we are really far from our house. So I put on one of the baptism jump suits and we had to go all the way back to our house with me looking like a complete clown (I sent you a picture of me when I got back to our room). It was funny.

Then Sunday we had changes and now I´m in Chivay a little north of Arequipa. It´s sooooo crazy though. It´s basically like a little village. There are 4 missionaries here. It´s sooo cool though. It´s not nearly as modern as Arequipa it actually reminds me a lot of the village in the grand canyon called Havasupai that me and Davey (idk if Mikey went can´t remember) went to before I left. It´s crazy though here its only a branch of like 30 people and my comp is the branch president. We also have to wash our own clothes by hand on top of our roof and the wind here is freezing cold because we live at 12000+ feet. Oh and yesterday the internet like didn´t work in the village so we had to write today.

Well that´s all I got for this week. Oh and also my new comp Is Elder Self from Arizona. First gringo companion. Should be interesting. Well I gotta go love you all a lot!!!! Oh the pictures are of me the night in the clown suit, me my last day with my pensionista (the lady that cooks for us and we live in her house... basically my mom in the mission, but don´t worry mom you´re still my real mom and I could never replace you), and then me with some of the members in the village and the other missionaries. The guy in the red shirt is my companion. Well that´s all Love you all a lot can´t wait for my package. CHOU!!!!!

Love Elder Russon

Letter 7/22/2013

So I don´t have a ton of time to write today so sorry if this is short lots of people wrote me for my Bday!

Awesome to hear the missionaries came over for dinner. How are they? Are they cool? Where are they from? Can´t believe all the people that are out on missions right now it´s awesome.

SO my BdaY this week was pretty cool. I sent some pictures of some of the things the members gave me. Then a picture of me hanging out with some guys in our zone. So for Tuesday we ate like CRAZY. We ate sooooo much food it was actually painful and had stomach problems for like 2 days after that. We started off with french toast in the morning and a cake, then at about 11 we ate a bunch of cake as a zone, then came back and had a huge lunch (rice and potatoes), then we left to a members house at like 3 and ate Aji de Gallina which is like a bunch of rice and potatoes and spicy chicken, then we went to another members house right after and drank a ton of soda and a bunch of crackers, then we went to another members house and ate a really good cake and some fruit juice that doesn´t exist in america, then we finished off the day going to the bishops house to eat pizza and drink Coke. I was ready to die at the end of the day I was soo full.

I haven´t gotten my packages yet but I did get a racquetball from the pension (family that i live with) and I got a bunch of candy toffees from a family who I baptized, and a bunch of happy birthday letters and a few board games.

What else happened this week. I wanted to write you guys about something, but I don´t remember what....

Oh wait I remember so we have this crazy investigator that is TOTALLY ready to get baptized but doesn´t want to and I have no idea why we visit him every day but he never tells us why. Oh by the way this guy is completely insane. I was with a few different companions this week and all 3 that went with me to his house told me they feared for their lives while in there. So as we were saying goodbye I shook his hand and.... he wouldn´t let go of it soo... I just acted normal like it was normal that he was doing that, then he squeezed really hard then looked in my eyes and said "you´re an angel... you have two things right on your head... two horns... and you have a tail.... and you have a pitchfork..." He basically told me I was Satan. He´s crazy though but sooo smart but soo crazy.

Well I gotta go love you all CHOU!!!!!!!!!!! 

Thanks for all the bday wishes and the letters.

Love Elder Russon

Letter 7/15/2013

LOL there is no way I want any week here to drag on longer than it should be, not gonna lie... but tomorrow I am planning on having a ton of fun and planning on eating a ton of american food for my birthday (20yrs). 

WOOO thanks for the packages!!!

I'm glad Ryker is happy with his mission. It wouldn´t bother me at all if I was serving in USA. 

LOL....grandma is grilling everyone to write letters!!! Good, I want more hand written letters!!! But don´t worry I love these too.

Dang Steven is going to Brazil,l awesome!!!! He´s gonna be chillin in the jungle.

Oh so this week I ate something really weird. COW UTTERS..... I had no idea what it was until after I finished it but WHY IN THE WORLD would they eat that... It wasn´t bad but just gross thinking about it. Oh also I need to know the day that CoC starts and BYU. Por Favor... 

OHHH so this week we baptized someone named Samuel this guy is freaking SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!! He was really afraid to get baptized because he really wanted to get an answer from god to do it before he did it. But we read him Ether 12:6 and I told him "look I don´t know when you are going to get your answer or your testimony but you won´t receive anything until the trial of your faith... and I know that the baptism is the trail of your faith" so he got baptized this Saturday and confirmed Sunday and boom by the time the church ended He was like "DUDE you were right!!!" So he talked to the Stake President about receiving the Aaronic priesthood next week and the Stake Pres told us "That guy has a really strong testimony... HOW?" It was awesome love this guy a lot. So glad we got to help him. He´s gonna be great some day.

Well I gotta go. Love you all a lot. Thanks for everything. 

BIG 20 TOMORROW!!!!!!!

Elder Ryan Russon

Letter 7/8/2013

HEY TODOS!!!!!!!

Tell Grandma Nancy and Grandma Graf happy birthday and that I love them a lot.

Ohhh and tell Grandma my favorite scripture is Ether 12:6 because it´s the reason we have a baptism this Saturday...

So first off we got a new president. I don´t think I told you guys but we got a new prezzy who is from Las Vegas and doesn´t speak very much spanish but he is sooooo much different from our last president. Our last president was like a drill instructor but our new president is sooo awesome. He tells us we are doing a good job he tells us he loves us and everything... it´s soo awesome and different.

Oh also last week I went to the mall and bought a suit. I sent you guys a picture of it. So the suit is like this pinstriped grey suit and it is CRAZY FLY! It´s a really really really nice suit and guess what that entire suit, pants the whole deal cost me $50.... seriously that´s it $50 and then I bought this awesome new tie and belt and in total it cost $70 for the whole thing. CRAZY right. This place rocks for prices.

So we were going to have a baptism this last Saturday but our investigator lost his mind and went on vacation the morning of without telling us. When he gets baptized i`ll tell you about him. This guy is sooo crazy but sooo smart and sooo cool.

Also, I went to the mall last monday and OH MY GOSH I literally thought I was in America for like a whole hour. It is literally EXACTLY the same. I felt sooooo good just being in there. It was awesome.

Oh so for 4th of July we did nothing.... but all the gringos (white people from USA) we were all extra crazy that day. A few times the other missionaries had to tell us to shut up. (We had a meeting that day in the morning).

Well Not much has happened this week. We do have a baptism set up for this Saturday and I don´t think this guy will drop out on us... I hope. Well I love you all a lot. Sorry that I don´t have too much to send you all. Oh and send me something AWESOME for my birthday because I want something awesome and I am yet to receive a package Well gotta go CHOU!!!!

Love Elder Russon

Letter 7/1/2013

Well Hey everyone!!! What´s up!

SO ATTENTION! I just found out that padded envelopes go right through the customs thing for letters and packages. So i can receive a padded envelope without having to set up my letter of authority thing to someone in our office. But that is not an excuse to send me less things!!!! I still want a package that looks like that DELICIOUS package you sent me the went back home.

Holy cow it was 127 in Death Valley is that even possible.

Why is it soooooo hot right now in Cali???

LOL mom got to work a Beyonce concert!!! That´s awesome!!

Yeah I´m very happy for our convert Donald he just received the Aaronic priesthood this week too it´s awesome. He goes to church in a suit and everything! 

Davey. Hey you guys need to like record his games for when I come back. I want to see him play SOOOOO BADLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey so send me an awesome package. I AM SOOOOO sad that I still don´t have a package. EVERY KID in the mission has recieved a package but me because of our turd office haven´t received one! I am not counting anything I received in the MTC because here in the field is when it counts and when you actually need a package!

Well I´m doing great out here. I´ve been fasting a ton lately the last few months and finally we are starting to find some AWESOME people like Donald who I will NEVER forget! We should be having a baptism this week on Saturday maybe 2 and probably another one the next week. Well I love you guys a lot. Thanks everyone for all the letters and stuff. They mean a TON to me. Well I gotta go. Later!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and we met this guy Saturday he´s a friend of a member. So we went to his house and this guy is INSANE but sooo AWESOME!!! So we were talking to him and this guy just loves to talk. So we literally said like 30 words and he talked for like an hour straight. So he asked me a question and I told him I didn´t understand this word he was using. So for the next 1/2 hour I was listening to him talk every single sentence in Spanish and then translated to English. I understood EVERYTHING!! But because I didn´t understand this one word he translated EVERYTHING to English. But so yesterday he went to church and after church ended we were walking with him and I was like hey I want to show you something. So we showed him the baptismal font and he walked up to it and it was full. So he asked is someone getting baptized right now? And I said no, but you´ll be getting baptized this Saturday right here. He was like " ohhhh.... WAIT SERIOUSLY" I was like yeah this next Saturday. So he was like "Yeah okay let´s do it! So yeah now he is going to get baptized this Saturday.

Well that is all. Love you all thanks for the letters and everything gotta go. Later

Love Elder Russon