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