The Miracle of Mack

Everything happens for a REASON. Trials. Good times. & everything in between. No coincidences. Coming to Guam & saying goodbye  to my sweet Pohnpeian family was one of the toughest trials I've ever endured (& still enduring). But the Lord didn't just throw me on this island with no help or no purpose of WHY I am here! Because just like I said, there are NO such thing as coincidences.  

My first night here on guam we met this fun Pohnpeians family! The mom and daughter were being taught by the sisters before me and on this very night their uncle, Mack, decided to come sit in the lesson! & was AMAZED that a white girl from Utah could converse with him in his own language! So we continued to teach and teach and every time we'd go see this family Mack would always sit in on the lessons just to hear a white girl speak pohnpeian to him! & then on Tuesday we had a little miracle. Nohno Etsina & Apaline (the mom and daughter) were gone but Mack was still very open to have a lesson! We moved on with our plan to teach about baptism & receiving the precious gift of the Holy Ghost. As we taught we were both given such a strong prompting to invite him to baptism & as we did we couldn't even finish the question before he asked when! & when inviting him to church his reply simply was "what time do I need to be ready?" what a MIRACLE!

He's aware of us. He's in the details of our lives. Sometimes we just aren't looking hard enough!

& to top everything off, I got to see Elder and Sister Fulton last night! (the senior couple from Pohnpei) it was the BEST. She brought messages and pictures from my sweet members in Sapwalap and it made for a goooood night!

tender mercy after tender mercy after tender mercy this week! God is GOOD.

love. Sister Russell

Police Station Again......

LUCKY ME! I made my way to the police station AGAIN this week but luckily this time I was the "victim" bless up. So here's the story. 

Sister Memmott and I thought it would be fun to go on a hike to see some cliffs right next to the ocean here on Guam! So we parked our car and walked up to the cliffs! We were there for about an hour and when we made our way back to the car we were a little rushed (I cut out a big part of the story but that's a story for another time) and so we just got out of there as quickly as possible! So we then were driving back when Sister Memmott thought she heard the back window open! So she looks back and sees glass EVERYWHERE and my bag (so my wallet and all those important things) and my cute pohnpeian skirt were not there! YIKES. but it's all good! everything is okayyyyy!

but the Lord sure did bless us that night with the cutest new investigator, Chanoreen! Who even accepted a baptismal invitation in the first lesson! She's reading her Book of Mormon everyday and came to church yesterday! So that was a big time tender mercy that we saw after a little bit of a rough and tiring day!

Also we have this investigator, Abby, who we met my first week here and is also getting ready for baptism in December. We asked her to read the first chapter in the Book of Mormon and she read the first 10 chapters instead! & could summarize in detail each chapter. like what? I can't even do that.

it was a gooood week and it's crazy how quickly everything is ending! I sure do LOVE serving the Lord!

LOVE. Sister Russell

PNI>Guam

This week was unlike any other week as I tried to transition to life off the island of Pohnpei and onto the island of Guam! & dang was it rough. but lemme tell ya! Heavenly Father is DANG aware of His children. Tuesday was a hard day. a really really hard day! & we had to make our way to the mission office to meet with my mission President and his wife! President Poston was just a little late & while sitting outside his office in walks NOHNO REDES! I shot out of that chair so dang quick! & then we just hugged & cried& hugged & cried some more! Nohno Redes is a member of the Sapwalap Ward & was in Guam for the translation of the Pwuken Mormon & just happened to need something from the mission office at the exact moment that I was there! I was even able to write a few letters and send them with her back to Pohnpei! What a HUGE tender mercy! 

What else went down this week:

- Said my last pohnpeian goodbye last night to Sister James! I'm dang over goodbyes.

- Found the CUTEST Pohnpeian family this week & started teaching them in their own language. 

- Found the most prepared investigator of all time, Abby Abalosa. Stay tuned on that one.

- Helped a man clean out his house with the elders this week & a from 1-10 of how bad the house was... we found a dead cat. YIKES.

- Was asked to pray in sacrament meeting yesterday and tottttallly forgot that I was supposed to pray in English so I wrecked that pohnpeian prayer and made the 3 pohnpeians in our ward SUPER happy. whoops. 

LOVE. Sister Russell

#sendmebacktopohnpei

Goodbye Pohnpei, Hello Guam....

Sunday morning around 8:30 a.m. I received a heart wrenching phone call from my Zone Leaders informing me that I would need to pack everything, say my goodbyes to my sweet Pohnpeian family, and be to the airport at 11:00 p.m. for my flight that would be departing at 2:00 a.m. for Guam.  

I'm not sure I've lived a day as difficult as the one I lived yesterday. My heart clenched and a whole lot of tears were shed. However, as the plane took flight and I said one last goodbye to the island that changed me my feelings of frustration and anger turned to feelings of overwhelming gratitude to an all-knowing and all-loving Father in Heaven who gave me those 16 incredible months with strangers who became  family in the Sapwalap ward. They taught me how to love unconditionally and how to walk by faith. They taught me where true joy comes from and how to wash my clothes in a river with just a wooden paddle and a rock! I love them. They are humble. they give unselfishly. they are patient and kind and I LOVE them. I know how to give my will and heart to the Lord because I've watched it be done. These sweet Saints mean everything to me. But how blessed I am with this change! a new opportunity to learn and love and serve the people of Guam. 

How incredibly BLESSED am I to have something that was so hard to say goodbye to?

love, Sister Russell