Russell's Email 7-2-09

So I'll start off this with a joke that one of the young women told to open her talk.
Okay, Imagine you are on a boat in the middle of the ocean, you find you are sinking and there is a big hole in the boat (and there is to much water to bail out...) What do you do????

STOP IMAGINING!!!

Anyway, Dad your sense of humor is still very much a part of me. This week has been really good. I think Lund is my favorite place in the state of Nevada. We are still working towards baptism with our investigator there, and we were teach The Gospel of Jesus Christ on Monday and we were teaching her about baptism and the sacrament, how they are connected. Well, turns out she knew the whole time what we were talking about, and it really took me off guard. I asked her how she knew and she said she had read it in her "Converts guide to mormonism" My mind=blown. It was pretty crazy.
A quote that Sister B. (from Cookeville TN) shared this week has really stuck in my mind. "There is not faith or growth in convience, only in sacrafice." Over the past few days, I feel I have grown some and my mission is becoming more joy than sacrafice. I think, what am I giving up? All I am doing is gaining....
Another neat experience is one I want to share. In Lund and Preston (about 500 people between the two towns, seperated by a two lane highway) there are only a few nonmembers. Of course members try to work with most of them, but one member said, "I feel like I need to invite her to something." We challenged her to figure it out and take action, we left her with a book of Mormon, a couple ideas, and told her to pray. This past week we found out that she had given her the Book of Mormon. The Lord is preparing people to hear this message, and it's up to us to act. We can share this message that blesses families for eternity, or we can selfishly be missing in action (as Elder Perry talked about in conference) while others perish without the gospel. Jospeh Smith said, "After all that has been said, the greatst and most important work is to share the Gospel."
I hope everyone will keep their eyes open for missionary opportunities.
I love you all, and good luck this week.

Elder Hitchcock