Russell's Email 3-12-09

I have had an awesome week this week, and the best is yet to come. On Saturday, at 3 pm we will have a baptism with the U. family. The four of them- T., H., A., and T.,- will be baptized and then confirmed on Sunday. I am so excited for them....
We have been teaching more and the Lord is blessing our efforts. We are teaching some less active people who are progressing so quickly, and we are about to challenge one young man to prepare himself for a mission, which is a huge commitment for this guy. What I love the most, is that through the gospel it's possible!
The past few weeks we have been doing a lot of service. I heard a funny saying, it was "When you are a missionary, you are a full time missionary and a part time moving service." I enjoy doing service, and it's great to help people with stuff that they couldn't do on their own. We offered to help someone move and the guy said, "It's okay, we just hired a crew to help us." I thought, and asked Elder Davis, "Why in the world would you hire a crew to help you move?" He replied, "That's what you have to do when you don't have an Elders Quorum to call." I found it really funny...
We also had a sweet experience with a young man in one of my wards. He is 20, a great guy, but he is handicapped and wasn't going to get to serve a mission. We learned he really wanted to serve, but he seemed hopeless about serving a mission. We heard that the whole mission office was being released in the next few months and talked to the mission president. Elder S. is now going to have the opportunity to serve an 18 month mission serving in the mission office for the Nevada Las Vegas mission. He was so grateful for that opportunity, and I was so happy that we played a part in his chance to serve.
I love seeing the Lord's hand in our lives. He is so aware of each of his children and their needs. What's more amazing, is that he meets the needs of his children. I love it. It's amazing.

Elder Hitchcock

Russell's Email 3-5-09

So this week has been one of the most amazing so far. We had 3 of the U. family set for baptism and we were having trouble with thier 11 year old son. We taught him at his friends house and set him for baptism!!! on the 14th we will baptize the 4 of them! I'm SO excited!
Even more excited, I can't wait to challenge them to go to the temple in a year. I hope they do and that I can accompany them!
We have also had some great opportunities to do service for some of the members. In the past two weeks I have seen the power of the Priesthood and the impact of our calling. I love the support that we have from our Heavenly Father.
We also had a really great experience with a member family. Green Valley is a pretty rich place and so members really are key to the missionary work. We prayed about some families and went to see one of them. We had a special lesson about sharing the gospel and invited them to have a person in their home to teach. The father (who is the head of the Las Vegas Swat team and one of the top five tactic leaders in the nation) said, "We have been really slacking on our member missionary opportunites. As we have talked, a few names have come to mind and we will have them here for a lesosn." I was like, OH WOW! That built my testimony!
I love serving, and the experiences I am having are ones that will be eternal. I cannot wait to have more experiences and I love writing them (I just wish I had more time to write... oh well.)
Thanks for your support, I love you all.

Elder Hitchcock