Letter 1/14/2014

Hey Everyone WHATS UP!!!!

Well first off. I got changed. Yesterday I couldn't write because I was in a bus from 9 am until 6 pm. It was a HORRIBLE RIDE!, but one of the coolest views ever imaginable. I went from 16,000 with snow and rain to almost sea level right smack dab in the middle of a desert. My new area is called Moqegua its a little bit south of Arequipa. Its no longer a little village. BUT Moqegua isn't all that big its like a little city. It's the size of like a little bit less thanNewhall. But anyways my new comp is Elder Astle from Logan Utah. I've known him for a while now. He was in the same zone as me in Arequipa almost a year ago. He's freaking sweet. I'm SOOOOO happy hes my companion.

So the last few days I've been SUPER SUPER scared, me and Elder Astle are Zone Leaders so I have a bunch of new responsibilities and things that I have to do that I,ve NEVER done before and I have to be the leader and example to lots of missionaries. So needless to say I was super super super scared. But anyways when they called me to tell me the change they told me someone else (other than Elder Astle) was going to be my comp, someone who had a reputation as well lets just say it would have been rough being his companion and on top of that all the new things that i would have to get used to do. But before leaving I was thinking a lot and praying and just asking God that he would just help me be happy and that it didn't matter to me where I went or who I was with or what I was doing I just wanted to be happy. And I was thinking a lot about all these things that were about to change. And it just hit me that God is way smarter than me and knows way better than I do what I need. So I just decided it didn't matter how hard it would be with my new comp its what will be best for me. So yesterday I got to Moqegua after like an eternity in the bus and I called for them to pick me up and while I was waiting at the terminal I saw Elder Astle turn the corner and run up to me and hug me. It was awesome he told me he was going to be my comp and that he was super super happy to hear we were going to be together. And then today we had my first Meeting for more than 6 months (since Chivay is alone and without other missionaries to have meetings). I was super super nervous today too. But everything went great. Everyone in the zone is super cool and we all get along great. And I feel like God just guided me all day long today to know what I should say and do.

I said goodbye to everyone in Chivay and it was super sad but I survived it.

Dang it I want to go snowboarding SO BADLY!!!! Did you all snowboard or did someone ski? Mikey told me he skied but I don't know if this was the same trip he was talking about or another trip. We HAVE TO go snowboarding when I get back.

So that was my week. Saying goodbye to everyone to Chivay and saying hello to the desert. Its seriously crazy here. Who in the world even started this city here? There's literally nothing for 2 hours but sand... But I love it though I was kinda tired of the cold of Chivay. Anyways I gotta go love you all a lot CHOU CHOU

Love Elder Russon

P.S. I need new shoes ASAP when are they expected to get here? Oh and also I sent pictures of my old comp and members and Chivay and the New Chapel that we got there a few weeks ago.

View from our new Chapel in Chivay. 

One of our members. 

 Our new Chapel in Chivay (used to be a restaurant)

Our Branch in Chivay 

Letter 12/23/2013

Hey Everyone

Well it sounds like everyone has been pretty busy with Christmas. Dang I´m super excited for Christmas, but at the same time Christmas here is nothing like Christmas at home. Well I got all 3 of the Christmas packages that you all sent me. THEY ROCKED. Oh my gosh to eat some Hot Cheetoh Fries again was SOOO DELICIOUS!!!!! Also you sent me a ton of Oatmeal. Not gonna lie Oatmeal has never tasted soooo good in my entire life. They have oatmeal here but... it´s SO different. I have no idea why the oatmeal here is so different but also they only sell it in like plain oats so I have to make the flavors myself and it´s just nothing close to the oatmeal preflavored you sent me.

Oh yeah sooo on wednesday my time I´ll be calling you guys at 11 am. I´m going to attempt skype because President Cardinas has this USB chip that can grab internet like a cell phone. And it works super good, so I wanna try skype first and if it doesn´t work I´ll just call you all. Hey but I think it´ll be way better to call our home phone because this call is gonna get super expensive if I call a cell phone.

Wow I´m sorry to hear about Mr. Mazzacco. Hope their family is doing okay. Their son Matt played football with me and he´s a great person.

Well yesterday Chivay had a baptism. We ALMOST had a baptism. Shirley an investigator of 1 year went to the baptism the other day and she was SUPER close to saying yes and getting baptized right there. But it´s also super probable that she gets baptized this week.

Also we had our Christmas Devotional this week with the mission and it was SUPER AWESOME! 

We played a ton of football after writing last week and I sent a few pictures of us on the field. It wasn´t nearly as satisfying as I thought it would be though. No one here knows anything about football here so it was just me organizing and doing everything. 

Oh also in the baptism it was crazy getting to the baptismal area. From the rains the river raised like a TON and we had to cross the river with our pants rolled up and shoes in our hands. 

Lol also on the way back from the baptism we passed by a little truck filled with like 25 people. I swear the truck is only meant for like 5 people hahaha.

Our little branch had their Christmas Party.

Well that´s about it for this week. I love you all. I´ll be calling or skyping 9 am your time on Wednesday so be ready and be on time. And have both the skype and the phone ready because I want to try out skype first.

Love Elder Russon

Look I found another Alpaca.

Nice Alpaca!

Bad Alpaca!!!!

Letter 12/9/2013

HEY!!!

WOOOHOOOOOO HART WON CIF!!!!!! That´s awesome. Dang I hope they beat Chaminade.

Oh sooooo I decided to not do the treatment. I called the mission medic and the wife of the Mission Presdent answered and basically told me that NO ONE thinks this is the reason I´m coughing so instead of the treatment we are going to send all the tests I´ve taken to the Missionary Doctors in Salt Lake. I´m going to give them all my tests tomorrow and they´ll send them and we´ll see what they say.

Dang you guys HAVE TO BUY THE HART GAMES FOR ME TO WATCH! I need to see them after the mission. Dang 6500 people that´s crazy. Was in at CoC? Wish Hart the best of luck against Chaminade. Dang I hope Hart takes State.

Well I sent some pictures. This week the rainy season started in Chivay. And OH MY GOSH it´s rained SOOO MUCH and it´s sooooo cold here. Actually it´s not that cold because it´s not snow but it´s still super cold. Well this week the plaza of Chivay was finally finished and now the entire city is getting drunk and playing in bands. Seriously the last time there was a big party in Chivay it was horrible. Drunk people sleeping in the middle of the streets for like 5 days. The city was TRASHED after it too. But this time we have something on our side. THE RAIN AND COLD!!!! That´ll keep a good chunk of them off the streets. But the plaza here just got finshed and it´s AWESOME! I´m gonna take some pictures of it right now and I´ll send them next week. Well other than that nothing happened this week. We were supposed to see he Christmas Devotional yesterday but the internet here couldn´t even receive it yesterday because of all the clouds and rain. Well That´s all I got for this week.

Oh and what do you guys think Skype on a day near Christmas or phone call on Christmas?

Well I love you all a lot. 

Gotta go Thanks a ton for the letters. CHOU CHOU!!!

Love Elder Russon

Letter 12/2/2013

NICE Hart is still in the Playoffs. Hopefully they destroy Valencia like 54 to 0. How did Davey do in the game?

Well this week in Chivay we had like 60 missionaries from the mission come to Chivay with our Mission President too. They all came up and did service all day long. It was awesome. We cleaned the plaza of Chivay and a bunch of streets and painted the plaza and cleaned the Market here. I sent some pictures. Oh and also changes were yesterday and no one from Chivay had changes sooooo I´m gonna be here for Christmas and Thanksgiving. We talked with our Mission President and he might give us permission to go down to Chivay to be able to skype you. But it probably wont be on Christmas day. What do you all think. Skype on a day close to Christmas or a phone call on Christmas day? I´m good with both. Not sure what´s going to happen yet but just so you know.

Oh and you know how in the States usually the animals you find inside of a house are cats and dogs. Well we were buying breakfast this morning and turned a corner and like 10 sheep came bookin it out of the front door of one of our neighbors houses. It was pretty weird to see. Oh and I have some HORRIBLE news. So our mission got soccer taken away again. I´m SOOOO SAD. When I first got here my first like 4 months we didn´t have soccer. Then a few days ago our Mission President told us we lost permission to play soccer again. A whole bunch of missionaries, like 4, have gotten injured pretty badly from soccer and are going home for it. So PDays now are horrible. Once again. Hopefully he is super nice and as a Christmas present gives us socccer back.

Well I gotta go love you all. Thanks for the letters CHOU CHOU

Love Elder Russon

Letter 11/25/2013

Hey Family and Friends,

So I sent a bunch of pictures. Don´t know if they´ll all get to you but I´ll explain them all. One of them is of me eating the cooked head of a guinea pig. It was terrifying to eat. But I did it. My old comp went crazy and ate like a full guinea pig in like 30 seconds. He loved it. 

The next few are of me and some guys from our zone on Pday. We went to Arequipa for Pday and we played soccer on a turf field. It was AWESOME! 

Then the next pic is of a yellow truck full of something. You guys just have to investigate for yourselves to find out what those somethings are. 

Then the next bunch of pictures are from the baptism of Daniel and Ruben. We drove over to the Colca River in the back of a truck then went on a hike until we got to the spot in the river to baptize. Daniel is the one I baptized and Ruben is the boy my comp baptized. Daniel is 13 and he is AWESOME. Ruben is 17 and also AWESOME. Even before we baptized them we went out to eat with Daniel and he started asking us all these questions about being a missionary and told us he wants to be missionary. He´s been a member for one Sunday now and is the most faithful youth. The first (top) picture is the little brother of them. He´s 3. I was his guide back to civilization. We had to hike up a giant hill to leave the river.

So on Friday we traveled back to Arequipa and we got to meet in person and hear him speak. Elder Nelson (Apostle) Elder Godoy (70) Elder Uceda (70) and Elder Rasband (Presidencia of the 70). It was AWESOME!!!!! But this week was super crazy. First we left last last Sunday night to Arequipa for Pday and a doctors appointment. Then we got back Wednesday at like 930. Then Thursday we left at like 2 for Arequipa again to listen to all of them. Then we got back Friday at like 930. Then Saturday in the morning we had the baptism of Daniel and Ruben and then Sunday totally normal. But we literally worked in our area for like 10 hours this whole week. It was super weird.

Oh so also about the Doctors. Well the mission decided to change my doctor to see if a new one would help more. So i got to the doctors appointment and he was completely insane. He was just like WAIT!!! LET ME GUESS!! You´ve taken like 6 months of medications and hasn´t gone away. Then he did this test on my head and squeezed my ears into my head with every muscle he had and of course it hurts like crazy he was trying to crush my head. Then he was like... did it hurt? And of course I said yes and then he was like AHHHHHAAAAA!!!!! Then he whipped out this article he was probably reading that very same morning. And diagnosed me that I have a jaw nerve problem and it is somehow causing my to cough. I didn´t believe any of it. But i´ve had this cough long enough so i´m ready to try anything....hahah. So now I have an appointment with a dentist in a few days for the cough I´ve had for 10 months...

Well that´s it for this week. Oh this next Sunday is changes soooo the next time I write I might not be in Chivay any more. That thought makes me sad....love it here!!! 

Oh and SUPER happy Hart is still in playoffs! 

Well i love you all. Gotta go CHOU CHOU

Elder Russon