Something New From RJ 12/06/2011

Elder Russo is doing really well on his mission, some of the pictures show how hard he is working there...lol.....He really likes his new companion and the new area.He said, finally he is not being chased by little muslin kids, not sure what he meant about that.
The weather is changing and getting very cold. RJ is learning so much about life, people, the Gospel and most of all Heavenly Father and Service.
He doesn't write much, you can tell. We chat for 15 minutes on Mondays....via email.
I will be mailing Elder Russo a package for Christmas Wednesday, December 7th. If you like to write him, please email me teterusso@yahoo.com and I will print it out and include your letter in the box.
Thank you for your support.
Love
Stella Russo

View from RJ's window in Grenoble, France

Some News from our Elder Russo 11/21/2011

Dear Friends
I am so sorry for the Delay. I did not have my computer for a while. For that reason, I did not post much information about our son .
Elder Russo is doing great but very very busy, he just arrived today in Grenoble France, very close to Italy. He has a lot to do tonight, umpacking and meeting his new companion Elder Winslow.
Has has moved twice in the last 3 weeks.
If you are interest to write him, he loves letters.
Address:
Les Missionnaires
Att: Elder Russo
90c cours de la Liberation et du genral de Gaulle
f-38100 Grenoble
France

New Letter from my baby...10/03/2011

Hello Friends,
Well this week was rough! No one talked to us and no one wanted to listen or anything, but on the bright side we had these English speaking couple who didn't want to be converted but wanted to hear our message, they respected us enough to even feed us, which was awesome, I really hope they read the book of Mormon, he doesn't believe in God! Anyways and also general conference was great!! I really think the lord is breaking down on us priesthood holders and for us to fulfill our duties to God,and also I thought the talk about daughters was interesting to me....but I didn't get to watch the Sunday afternoon session because of the time difference here in France so we weren't allowed, but im going to try and watch it today if I can!
we have a baptism coming up on the 29 of October , I am very excited.I fell that one is a yes, but transfers are coming up and it's about time for me to leave, because I've been here for about 3 transfers, four months, and also my six month mark is on this Thursday!! It feels weird, i don't feel like I've been here for that long at all and that I just left a few weeks ago.
I hope all of you are well and do good and stay out of harms way!!
love you all!!
Elder Russo

9/26/2011----doing great...moving soon!!

Hello mom and dad!!
Thank you for the package!!I miss American stuff so bad!!now all you have to do is figure a way to get taco bell here haha , and another thing how was the challenge i gave you all last week??did you do it??fill me in!this week went good nothing too knew some of the members fed us this week which was awesome! and today we are moving into our new apartment!! finally!i cant wait but unfortunately transfer's are in two weeks and i wont get to enjoy it fully, because there is a good chance that i might be leaving!but hey! my new address is
49 Rue Marceau
Perrutel 11000 Carcassonne
France
So yeah! It might change again so I will let you all know.
ha they deliver sushi in France!That's my ham and cheese omelet i made and the other is serge, the one I gave the flag to! hes such an awesome person who has had a very hard life you should of saw how happy he was to get it! on his birthday!!

New Letter from Elder Russo/New Pictures too...9/12/2011

Hey dad!
... and yeah the heat here has broken too and its been around 70 ish maybe lower which makes it so much better here, considering we wear black pants sock shoes a tie and button up shirt so it gets pretty hot here!im waiting for winter patiently!!thank you for the happy birthday, i had a pretty good birthday, we had district meeting that day and went a little farther down south to the city of Perpingnan and the sisters made me a big cake for my birthday and after that we missed our train to stay with the sisters because they cant be alone with an male investigator so when we were coming home (after miissing our orignal train) our train stops in a city called narbone then it continuies to carcassonne but because we missed our original train there wasn't any trains leaving for 2 hours so we got to go contacting around narbon and saw a bunch of sites which i will attach to this email. and the package is in geneva right now i told mom to send it to my apartment address but oh well, so i will get it once the president comes down to the south of France or something or zone conference im not too sure but i will look forward to it!oh and after we got back from narbone an investagator named thierry who is hilarious took me and elder smith to a Chinese restaurant and i ate for free since it was my birthday!and it was a nice one too!!and a buffet!annd i will be sure to check the package to see if it was packed right lol and if its possible can i get a total amount of whats in my account so i can convert it into euros and keep better track??i hope all is well at home i pray for you all as well as you pray for me!oh and just to keep things clear our member logged into facebook for me and liked all my birthday wishes and updated my status so it wasn't me :) I love you dad tell me about your new job?!
Love
Elder Russo!

Elder Russo Still being spoiled by all the woman around him! Such a ladies men!!LOL

New Companion....9/5/2011

Hey Everyone!
It's been a good week! traveled a lot to Béziers and Toulouse!! also received another companion , Elder Smith, he is an awesome companion and a good person to be around!, nothing to epic this week , just doing the lords work!I'm looking forward to this upcoming week, a lot of members are going to feed me and some investigators are going to take me out to eat for my birthday this week!! which is amazing because no one feeds us here lol , its not like the states when they actually have to schedule them in haha, here once we here mangez-vous we go crazy!! but yeah not too much new or any pictures I'm still here in Carcassonne but once i move to another ville i will send some! love you all passez un bon semaine!!

Elder Russo's New Post......Remember his birthday Sep 08 !!

Hello everyone,
Things in France are good still, I just received the transfer calls and I'mm staying in Carcassonne for another 6 weeks with my new companion Elder Smith, I haven't met him yet but I hear that he is an awesome missionary! I kinda wished that I could transfer out to another place, I've been here too long!but oh well, nothing too new here just doing the same old missionary work, french is still difficult but hopefully it comes soon to me, my birthday is coming up its weird to think that im going to be 20!I want to express how important it is to do member work, and how much the missionaries need help!help!help!help!help!help!help!help!help!help!help!help!help them!Oh and i get to go to Toulouse this Thursday too! i hurt my knee and im getting checked up, so hopefully that will be fun!!Well I hope you all have a good week and nothing too big happens while I'm gone!
love
Elder Russo

New Letter....little more about his mission this time!!! :-)

Hello everyone!!
Things in France are going pretty good! i had my first opportunity to be apart of the baptism for Claudine Velot. Serge baptized her and i was a witness and i helped confirm her a member of the church and blessed her with the holy ghost!! so its been an exciting weekend for me!Pretty soon I'm going to be moving to a new apartment down the street from my old one, my old one was very small and old, now we are going to be moving into one that is brand new and huge!! so I'm looking forward to that, i traveled a lot i went to Montpellier Beziers and Perpignan! all beautiful places! Oh so transfers are in one week i talked to president and i will probably be staying here for another transfer it looks like! So the work in Carcassone goes on, the only thing is nothing exciting happens in Carcassonne just a lot of tourist and hobos honestly but once i get a crazy story i will let everyone know!! well i hope you are all doing wel feel free to write me whenever you want!

Something New, not much...Baptism coming this weekend!!!

Mom,
I love you and miss you all very much, there's a lot of stress that comes with a mission and I'm sorry if i sound aggravated sometimes but you have no idea how hard it is here sometimes i still can't even speak french fluently yet,and I am having a hard time the last couple weeks trying to be happy and productive,but this week is going great we have a baptism this Saturday for a girl named Claudine, I'm looking forward to that, I am very excited, but it's a little hectic because the members in France are so different than the ones at home, they don't support us missionaries the same way.
Today they left us at the church because they didn't have room for us for the activity at the lake,we were both planning on that for our day off, sometimes I just feel like they don't care about us missionaries sometimes. Idk I feel a little depressed right now and no one to talk to without taking it the wrong way, I hope you don't. I miss you all so very much I pray for you everyday in my prayers and I fast for you guys to stay safe and well.I don't know what else to write about sorry im not a good writer.Please send my cord and a full size American flag for me.That would be great. I love you and I will look forward for your letter.
love
RJ

update 08/01/2011

Sorry everyone...It has been hard to communicate with our Son RJ...many people are emailing him on his Elder email address and he has only 15 minutes to read and write emails to his family. So for that reason, he has been writing maybe a line or two to his family, so I don't have anything to share.It would be helpful if you are emailing him to write him paper letters.His address is in his blog.
He is doing well.Working hard on his mission.
Thank you
Love
Stella Russo

Little note from RJ 07/11/2011

Hello Mom,
Glad you are having a good time.This week we went to Beziers in Geneva to attend the Missionaries Conference,and visited the other elders . We went bowling, we visit the Cathedral and hung out. Around 10am we sang the star spangled banner and a french lady cursed us all out for about 10 min straight and wouldn't stop it was hilarious lol.Geneva was awesome!!!!!!!!!! very beautiful place. I could be be a accountant in two weeks , I hope the president picks me cause I will be living there for the next six months right next to lake Geneva!!! so yeah that's all what happened this week for me really. We haven't gotten a hold of Lurent since he dropped us but we still try so hopefully for something to work out! We might be having two families baptized soon I don't know but everything is in great progress right now i'ts so exciting!!Thank you for what you say in your letters, those type of things really make me happy when you tell me those things and you are exactly right everyone just needs love!I bought the contacts sorry I didn't get your email fast enough but I wont buy anymore unless you send them to me or whatever you want to do that's best sorry ...one thing you can do that would be awesome is get dad and conor involved with the missionaries because it so important you have no idea the blessing when there is a member present while the missionaries teach,and make conor invite friends and go to all the sports that the missionaries have it's horrible when Elder Bowen and I look forward to sports and no one shows up, so help the missionaries please!! love you and I hope you are on the computer so we can talk some more! love you!!!

Love
RJ

New Letter From RJ 07/04/2011

Email #1 to mom
Hey mom!!!
How's home? Update me I haven't heard to much lately... How's conor? How's Babi and Ashley??
Things here are good I sent an email to dad about missionary work so
read his it will be easy... We went to a different Internet cafe and
they don't have English key boards so it's difficult to write ... This
morning has been crazy moving washing machines down three flights of
stares and down a block and then we missed our train to Beizzer (idk
if that is how you spell it) to go bowling so yeah rough morning but
hopefully it get's better... This week is going to be awesome!!!!! I
get to go to Geneva Switzerland!! for three days for the new
missionary conference!! I also got a new president..Brother Murdock is his
name and he's pretty cool but he shortened our email time which I
don't think is good at all... But what he says goes so oh well.
Missionary work is going good I should be getting a new companion in
two weeks when transfers come maybe I will get one of my friends from
the MTC or something, who knows!! I miss you all so very much obj and
there is the Brazilian lady in my ward who talks Portuguese and
sounds just like you which upsets me cause it makes me miss you even
more! Have a good fourth of July I will talk to you next week live
you!!
RJ
Letter #2 to daddy
Hi Dad,
It's ok I'm just glad to hear from you! And about the letter, I made
some stupid decisions before but all I can say is that thosethings no
longer pertain to me i feel different I feel the Rj before the mission
was just a blur now I feel like the Rj I was always suppose to be :).
So it's her name is Julie, one of the investigator and her daughter who were supposed to be baptized but
the father said no for the daughter and we can no longer baptize Julie, because she doesn't ever meet with us and also because she is
living with her ex husband which is not ok in the church so it's going
to take a lot of effort to help her change but there's still hope! But
now there's another one, his name is Laurent and he's a good guy a
very bad past homosexuality depression cutting and what not but he
wants to change and I will be the one baptizing him if everything goes
as planned!!
.. I miss america so much lol ,France is awesome but
there's somethings I miss like $ menu at McDonalds or taco bell..American food!! haha
....but I still love it here. About your knee, talk to Travis because the
protein we take helps muscle rebuilding really well I use it all the
time when I work out and when I get sore, so try that out and see how
it works or you can go to the YMCA and workout in the pool with the old
farts haha!! ,
send me a picture of Gabi and the bear please!oh and I love the picture
of you falling asleep next to your iPad haha. And thank you for the
scripture! I feel like a dictionary of scriptures haha I have so many
I'm almost excited to come back and teach the people in our ward. Oh
and speaking of wards we had a ton of people come to church including
4 investigators which was awesome because there isn't many who come to
church unforunately but I was very happy with the numbers
yesterday!!love you dad and miss you very much I hope to here from you
soon... Today has been hectic so we had to do emails early so I can't
message back and froth but next week we can!! Love you dad and if you
ever need help with scriptures you want to share innpriests forum let
me know I have a ton!!happy forth of July!!
Love
RJ

New pics and letter below.

New Letter from Elder Russo 06/13/2011

Hey mom! i hope you are on your email!so France is awesome right now im serving in Carcasssonne right now and its beautiful!! i took lots of pictures and im going to send it to you and everything!! Soooooo guess what? it's only been a week and Elder Bowen and I already have two set baptism dates!! Julie and Margero mother and daughter!! contacting is fun cause we get to go around the city but we cant really tract at all cause there are all apartments!today we went to this like which was awesome you have no idea but it sucked cause i didn't get to swim or anything or take my shirt off but it was still fun, I've also decided that i want to live here in france and you all should come too!! its wayyyyyy better than Missouri and its alllways warm!!!!!i love it. Elder Bowin is awesome coolest companion hes a hard worker unlike Elder Cheel in the mtc!his french is amazing and my stinks i cant communicate with anyone they speak so fast its crazy!!everything is going good , oh there is like 40 members total in the whole city here, no one comes to church, oh and you know how dads the first councilor of young mens?well i think i don't remember that well, well anyways dad dress up in his best suit and does his calling to his best the president of the young men come to church in jeans a pink button up with no tie and sandals, its weird, the elders are afraid no one will come to church if they crack down on that but i think its wrong, just cause they are french doesn't mean anything they should show the utmost respect for the lord but they don't which is a little aggravating cause its disrespectful! all is well here feel free to send American snacks and raman!! i miss it already, the food here is also awesome when elder Bowen and i aren't making it lol but when we go out its amazing, and we only go out once a week cause of the budget but yeah i love you and miss you and dad im going to send a ton a pictures save all of them on a hard drive for me and stuff!!love you !!

Letter from Mission President Carter-Toulouse France

Dear Parents of Elder Russo,

We are happy to report that Elder Russo arrived in Toulouse
yesterday! He was happy to be here, and
we were delighted to welcome him in the France Toulouse Mission, soon
to become the France Lyon Mission. This picture was taken moments
before he left with his new colleague to serve in Carcassonne.

We already love him, and we recognize all the sacrifices that you and
he have made so he could be here to serve His Savior. We will do all
we can while we're here, and we know President and Sister Murdock who
will take over the France Lyon Mission at the end of the month will
also do all that is possible to make Elder Russo's mission a
wonderful, uplifting and spiritual experience he will cherish for the
rest of his life.

May the Lord bless you as he faithfully serves here.

With brotherly love,

President Carter

06/07/2011-Elder Russo Arrived France

Our Son Elder Russo arrived France today, he is doing well and trying to get settle in his new home.
I always said...he is a true Prince Charming...he is now residing in Carcassonne France near by a Beautiful Castle.
Thank you for all the Prayers!!
Love,
Elder Russo proud mom

News 06/06/2011

Our Son Elder Russo is now in route to France, he will arrive tomorrow.
We all got to speak with him for a long time today, he is doing great! He asked me to tell everyone" THANK YOU" for all the letters and support these last few months.
His French is cute at this time, but he speaks well....I am so proud of him.
Elder Russo is traveling with a sister Missionary, that way he can protect her.Nice to travel with someone.
Well, thank you everyone, I hope you continue to write our son.Letters are great to keep the focus going and encouragement in this time of need. Learning a new language, new culture and making new friends it is the hardest thing anyone can do, but he also needs to learn the gospel in another language and teacher others, that will be really hard.
I had to do that myself at the age of 18, after 23 yrs, I still miss home, my country, my language and most of all my family and friend.
I will keep his Journey updated.See you again soon!!
Love
Elder Russo's proud mom

New Letter from RJ-05/31/2011

Hey everyone!
You probably haven't heard from me in a while but I've been crazy busy!!! I leave for France in 5 days!! I'm so excited, my french is ok I'll survive but it will get better I know it will for God gave man weakness that he will make them strengths unto them so I'm not too worried! How's everyone doing?? Now that I'm gone letters will take a long time for me to get them so yeah use dear elder as much as you can!fill me in on everything and everyone I would love to know! there isn't much new here considering it's the same thing everyday but yeah love you all write me!
I miss home so much I'm so pumped for france you have no idea it's so crazy, I love my mission so much and I'm not even out there yet and I just figured out that my mission president has been a president for 10 years!! How crazy is that! I miss you mom so much, email me fast!! Loveyou!
my new address is in france!!

4 Rue Alaric II
Compans Caffarelli
31000 toulouse France

New small note from Elder Russo 05/24/2011

Mom,
I wrote a huge letter on here and this computer is all messed up and deleted everything I wrote, I'm so mad right now cause now all I have is 5 min left to write you, I love you so much I wanted to talk about you blessing in this email but i don't have time so I will write a letter for you, I love you and dad so much and miss you so much tell everyone to write me on dear elder!!!i leave in 12 days!! I will send home a video of me bearing my testimony and stuff in french for you guys! love you write me back as fast as you can love you!
ohh well it seems like i haven't been getting any letters from anyone so it gets lonely over here especially when I really did get kicked out of the email cause it deleted my email for you, I'll print it out and send it to you in a email!ok thanks for the package!Oh... yeah I understand but I'm at the MTC we do the same thing every week there isn't any change really till I leave which is in 12 days!
Things here are going good I love it here ...my french is getting really good surprisingly I am sorry if my letters are short, I'm still in the MTC so there's not much new stuff to share cause it's the same day every day here lol but I still love you ! I love you so much mom i cant wait for your package AGAIN.

Elder Russo

New Letter....feeling better this week....05/03/11

Hey Everyone!
I've been hearing that my mom and family have been doing a great job with the blog and I hope everyone stays in touch with me, everyone who is reading this pass it along and tell them to write me or send letter thru DearElder.com until June 06/11!
I just started my fifth week at the MTC, it's going great, French is coming more fluently to me as the days goes by.And I can't testify enough the power of fasting and how it works amazingly, I'm fasting again today and I can't wait for the outcome of it, one of the most touched on topics here is prayer, and the importance of it! If any one has answers problems needs or anything let him ask of god! One of my favorite scriptures right now is Mosiah 10:3-5, I hope that's right ... it's hard to remember them sometimes here lol . Je sais que L'évangile et veritè, and i hope everyone else does as well! I love you all so much keep in touch with me,cause once I go to France the letters will be more expensive to mail it.
Love you all
Elder Russo

New Letter 04/26- Hard Times

HI MOM!!miss you so much! i wish you were here these last few days it's been pretty rough here, I m not getting along with the other elders too well, I m so used to having a best friend like, Mark, Travis, Jackson, Tre and more that these guys are so different and very judgmental :( but today has been good I went and did endowments this morning which was awesome!!Always invites the spirit!We had an apostle come and teach us!Richard G Scott, God sent him for me I know it, his whole topic was about treating your companion with love and not judging and stuff like that which I think was a blessing cause they have been giving me a rough time so them hearing that talk changed the atmosphere. We got some new zone leaders who act like Conor's age, it's seriously a joke that they were called to be leaders of the servants of God, but oh well., my favorite scripture is
MORONI 10:3-5
3"Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things....
Probably one of the most powerful scriptures I have read that applies to all!I love you and miss you so much you guys have no idea .I m sending a ton of letters today.
Love you!

New Letter From Elder Russo...this is my favorite picture of RJ........taken by Gabi..his little sis.

Hello everyone!
This week has been great, we got our "pass-a-longs" this week and I got the ugly tie box for having the coolest tie(the rainbow looking one) I got two nerf guns for being most united with my companion which was suppose to go to the ones who fight the most lol. We also got this ugly watch cause Elder Cheel and I are always late, and some other ones I'll share only if you write me oh and I'm in a one piece pajama right now cause I was the most loving too...I'll be sure to send pictures also!
The older missionaries are leaving, which is sad cause I really grew to love them and looked up to them since they are so spiritually grown! Now four square will be no fun anymore cause no one in my district will play, so now it's me vs the Mexicans and Chineese Teams! Oh and one of my pass a longs was that Im chief judge in foursquare also!Keep sending dear elders and letters lover you guys!!
Elder Russo

New Photos of Elder Russo Arrived.

Photo Elder Russo and Elder Mattei Provo Temple
Photo of Elder Russo and other Missionaries at MTC
Click on each photo to see them larger.
Write Elder Russo !!

New Email from Elder Russo 04/15

Bonjour toute le monde! I finally have a little bit of time to write on my blog and tell everyone how im doing! The MTC is Wonderful i love it here, the spirit is here always and with everyone 24/7 its amazing. French is going good we are on a pilot program so the second day we were all here we started teaching lessons in french for 30 min a day!One of the hardest things here but as the days go on it gets better, i got to talk to my "investigator" who is now our teacher and he said Elder Cheel and I taught great lessons that improved his testimony so much, even though he is a member and knows the Gospel. I re injured my foot again from shin hockey at marks he said that the bones are bruised and the mussels are all strained so no gym for me for a few weeks but i can still walk just fine so nop worries there!Send me lots of letters i love reading them at night and keep up to date with my friends and family! i have the coolest companion , he does the most craziest things and tells funny jokes all the time! he kisses our zone leaders on the cheek when the don't expect it and they freak out and stuff its hilarious. so i only had 10 min left and somehow it gave me 27 min again so i have tmore time to type! but my hands are getting sore because this keyboard sucks. Anyways i got to go to San Francisco the other day and it was pretty cool!i handed out two book of mormons out and it was the spiritual experiences i have had here but i also got shut down by a baptist that was pretty funny but he was pretty cool we talked about how the new mustang gt350 is the fastest mustang ever!!even faster than the supersnake baby!!and if you didn't know the supersnake has 750 hp and the gt350 has 525....crazy right! but anyways everyone write me,love you all!

Little Note From Elder Russo 04/14-Picture below, Tre Barns left botton, RJ, Mark ...back top left Jackson.....Missionaries now ! Amazing leaders!.

Hello Friends,
.....Elder Russo has been sending many paper letters to me It will be too hard for me to type all of them in to his blog, so until next Monday....here a little note from him.Translating ..he is still writing in text mode.
I miss you all so much , it was so hard to say goodby. I love it here so much, it is amazing that in just a couple days, I am prepared to teach a investigator about our church in French for 30minutes.Yeah...unbelievable...learning very quickly.I love my companion , he is awesome, one of a kind, that's for sure.I will write tomorrow again. It is late...I am preparing for my next lesson tomorrow.
Love you Always
Elder Russo.

Ps:Please ask everyone to write me. I need letters.

Elder Russo's First Letter 04/08/2011

Hello everyone,
I have officially completed my first week at the MTC!It's awesome here the spirit is so strong here tears come to my eyes almost every time i talk or listen to anyone talk its that strong. The MTC pushes me and ym companion very fast I've already had to teach an investigator in french for 30 min already it was so hard and now i have to teach again today! my companion is awesome his name is Elder Cheel i have lots of pictures and videos for you guys hopefully my mom and dad post them up for you guys.For an example he puts on lipstick and "french kisses" his letters home haha. but my time is scarce on here but be sure to write me!i just got your dear elder letter cause my district leader forgot to get it yesterday but i know the spirit is sooo strong over here i feel it everywhere i go even during lunch and stuff... haven't got any letters from anyone except from you so I'm loving your letter and appreciating it even more since its like my third one since Ive been here and Ive written like 20 already for everyone..I love you guys so much I'm trying my best to learn french my companion is hilarious have some videos and pictures for you guys whenever you send me a replacement memory card and what bank info do you need??send this in a letter so i can get it soon instead of waiting a week for my letter.. and since i don't have enough time i will write a letter for my blog plus you guys probably don't have it set up since its only been a few days.. Ive taught one lesson in french which went horrible it was nerve wrecking cause i didn't know that much french but today i have another one so hopefully i do a lot better than i did yesterday!i love gym here its pure fun!! everyone's love for each other is amazing i wish the world was like the MTC then we would all be blessed with joy and constant love everyday.... i see mark almost every day and also Jackson.., me and mark enjoy seeing each other and talk for like the whole lunch. Gotta goooo!!love you guys soooo much!!
Elder Randolph Russo
MTC Box 116-0412
France Toulouse Mission 0607
2005 North 900 East
Provo, Utah 84604