News from Scratton, PA

Taylor has had an exciting 2 weeks, as he was transfered to Scratton as the new Zone leader. He is feeling a little over whelmed going from managing a district, to managing a Zone! He is the youngest Zone leader, and he said it gets hard telling the Elders what they need to do, to be productive missionaries. President Pugh has high expectations, and as a result, they are working hard and having great sucess. President Pugh gives each new Zone leader one of his personal ties. He had Taylor open it in front of all the Zone leaders at their conference, and it was a very RED tie!!! There was a little bantering over the Utah/BYU football game! (You guesssed it, President Pugh is a big Utah Fan!) They had a little bet on the game, and unfortunately, they didn't get to hear or watch the game and had been in interviews all day. At the end of the day, President Pugh called to inform Taylor of the score, and their little bet! Taylor needs to wear the RED tie for the remainder of this transfer!!! What a blow!!! I told him at least he will be "Festive" for the Christmas holidays!!! That's what he get's for betting!!!

They had a tremendous week with 3 huge highlights!
1. They are woking with the Rae family They are teaching 4 high school age kids, who Taylor just loves. They gave some great lessons, and they all came to church on Sunday and filled the entire Pew! He said it was a great blessing to see this entire family at church, and they are all committed to be baptized on December 20th.
2. He said he felt impressed to tract a street named Mott Street. They were unsucessful to find one investigator on the street. At the end of the day, he saw a woman walking across the street to the Beauty Salon. He ran across the street and began talking to her. She said she was late for work, and couldn't talk, but he persisted! She said.."Are you one of those Mormons?" When he said yes, she said...Come tonight to my home, and I will talk with you. He found out her son lives in Washington State, and is a member and has been sealed in the Washington Temple. She said she talked with her son and he said, he prayed everyday she would find the missionaries and become a memeber. Her husband just passed away, and she has commited to be baptized on Dec. 20th as well ! He said it is going to be a white Christmas!!!! You think????
3. They recieved a call from the Church call center from someone seeking more information about the church. When he called, it was a Baptist misister who was teaching a class of 30 graduating students from the Ministry. They were learning about the Mormons, and asked if they would attend the class and teach theses students about the church? He was really worried, as most often they want to Bible bash, so he called President, and he told them to go. It was an amazing experience. They taught for 2 hours, and then they fed them lunch, and asked them back the next week for another 2 hour discussion. He said it was an amzaing experience, and the question of the day was...Can a Baptist inherit the Celestial Kingdom? He said it was awesome...and they really felt blessed, and learned alot!

This is all in a two week time period...and we are excited to get our update on Monday to see what else is going on. Needless to say...we feel blessed and great ful for the wonderful missionary experiences he is experiencing.

He would love to hear from all of you. Please write him, or drop him a Christmas note. It keeps him going, and we apprecaite all your love and suport.

His address is: Elder Taylor Russell
1234 Main St. apt #3
Peckville, Pa 18452

Or you can e-mail him at trussell@myldsmail.net