It was wonderful to hear our son's voice over the computer(we used skype) Christmas morning.
He's doing fabulous, even though a little home sick during this holiday time.
He was grateful for all that was sent for his Christmas and told me to make sure that I thanked everyone. He enjoyed the homemade gifts, like the conversion stores, and the warm ones and the yummy ones and the useful ones and the fun ones. So thank you one and all.
Here are some interesting things that we learned. Next transfer is in 2 weeks and supposedly he will be getting the box that I sent with thermals in them. I'm hoping. When there is a transfer, all those missionary companionships that are affected metro in to the mission home in Donetsk and do there changes there; unless you are doing a companion switch in Kharkov, you would then pack your stuff and move to one of the other apartments.
Chris says that he is definetely keeping warm with the scarfs, gloves and socks people have gifted him. Thanks to all.
The most spiritual experience he has had to date as been the baptism that was held on Christmas day for a child of record and an African man who was converted.
The only have open House twice a year.
There are l0 different kinds of ketchup in the Ukraine.
Chris really enjoyed the electronic Christmas card that alot of the extended family spoke on and then we sent to him. *(thanks to Auntie Ilana for thinking of such a great idea) He's played it and played it!
I asked him what people do for work. He said that One of the families that seems to do well the wife is a music teacher and the husband works as a sales clerk.
Evidently if you have a car you're doing pretty good. I guess the branch president has a vehicle but Chris didn't know what he did for a living.
One of the member's is a beekeeper and the other is a security guard for the soccer stadium.
I did ask him what we could do to help the missionaries have success in the Ukraine and he said to continue to pay for the Ukraine missionaries that they will have success in contacting individuals and that the Ukrainian people will be receptive to their message.
There are 4 missionaries in their branch. He really enjoys a young man by the name of Sasha who was baptized the first weekend he was in the ukraine.
Since his Companion makes alot of Mexican food, he is getting tired of it.; He was very grateful for the gift of a Christmas dinner out to a restaurant for him and his companion. They had real Ukrainian food.
As of this date, Chris has not eatten at a member's house. The people make so little money, the retail worker in the ward makes $150 a month and his wife, the music teacher makes $350, that there isn't much left to purchase food and feed missionaries. That's okay though because the dollar is strong there and they can buy food from local vendors for $l or so.
Thanks again for all your cards, gifts and prayers on Chris' behalf!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
12/27/2010 Christmas Eve and Translating The Russian is getting better!
Merry Christmas!
This week I had a split with the person who trained my MTC compantion; that was interesting, but I got my first contact, in that he actually talked with me.
I saw someone flying a kite the other day and they had it so high up that you could see the curve in the string.
On Christmas Eve we went caroling which was interesting. It was the grand opening of their equivalent to Christmas in the Park in San Jose only l0 times better. So there were thousands of people there and after the amazing fireworks show everyone came down the street passing by us as we caroled. We had a member talk to those that stopped. We had many people take a picture of us and leave, one man put money in our flyer box, and one may was a recent convert from San Diego and we told him where the church is and he came on Sunday.
yesterday we had one of our investigators and one of the other elders' show up and to the Christmas celebration that night. She saw me talking with our senior missionaries, the Reeds , and she said to them how grateful she is for us and our visits and how we keep coming and teaching her.
Then I translated for the Reeds because no one wanted to and I thought it would be fun. I thought I did terrible but they told me I did an amazing job and "if i can do this now, I'll get better really quickly." Then later, a returned missionary in the ward asked me how I learned Russian so quickly, I replied that I don't know Russian and she said, "Whatever?, You translated today, really good job." So my Russian is coming along.
You asked for this word to practice so here it is in print: ycoBepweHcTBOBaT6C(backwards R).
I almost found down this week in a metro station and these two girls laughed at me from behind but that was taken care of by my companion who happened to be angry at the time and made them a look that made them stop.
Dexter is going to back to America soon; so he's been busy trying to finish some work.
And while on the split, Elder Beck got some new contacts so we should have some new investigators.
Love you all,
Have a fun Christmas
This week I had a split with the person who trained my MTC compantion; that was interesting, but I got my first contact, in that he actually talked with me.
I saw someone flying a kite the other day and they had it so high up that you could see the curve in the string.
On Christmas Eve we went caroling which was interesting. It was the grand opening of their equivalent to Christmas in the Park in San Jose only l0 times better. So there were thousands of people there and after the amazing fireworks show everyone came down the street passing by us as we caroled. We had a member talk to those that stopped. We had many people take a picture of us and leave, one man put money in our flyer box, and one may was a recent convert from San Diego and we told him where the church is and he came on Sunday.
yesterday we had one of our investigators and one of the other elders' show up and to the Christmas celebration that night. She saw me talking with our senior missionaries, the Reeds , and she said to them how grateful she is for us and our visits and how we keep coming and teaching her.
Then I translated for the Reeds because no one wanted to and I thought it would be fun. I thought I did terrible but they told me I did an amazing job and "if i can do this now, I'll get better really quickly." Then later, a returned missionary in the ward asked me how I learned Russian so quickly, I replied that I don't know Russian and she said, "Whatever?, You translated today, really good job." So my Russian is coming along.
You asked for this word to practice so here it is in print: ycoBepweHcTBOBaT6C(backwards R).
I almost found down this week in a metro station and these two girls laughed at me from behind but that was taken care of by my companion who happened to be angry at the time and made them a look that made them stop.
Dexter is going to back to America soon; so he's been busy trying to finish some work.
And while on the split, Elder Beck got some new contacts so we should have some new investigators.
Love you all,
Have a fun Christmas
12/25/2010 Chris and the Christmas Family Phone Call
THE RUSSELLS WERE ABLE TO SPEAK WITH CHRIS FOR AN HOUR ON CHRISTMAS DAY! HOW FUN THAT WAS FOR MOM AND DAD TO HEAR HIS VOICE...
The Christmas phone call was wonderful and we learned a lot more about Christmas in the Ukraine and what goes on in the City of Kharkov.
First of all, the plaza that sits close to the Elders' appartment building, had a huge beautiful tree that was decorated with lights and ornaments to the hilt. It actually could compete with the tree in Times Square, I'm told.
Chris said that one day, a truck pulled up with Logs on it dumped them off at the plaza and then workman came out of nowhere and started making a log house with windows. It was a couple of stories high and at the end of the day there were several slides that extended out of the windows. The people would pay to ride the slides.
Also, A cement mixer showed up one morning and proceeded to pour cement into one of the streets next to the plaza. Later the cement area was used as an ice skating rink. Chris said that it was fun to watch everyone ice skating but he was puzzled as to why you'd cement up a major street.
Also, many carnival rides were brought in aan set up for the festivities. If you've been to the San Benito Fair, there were more rides than what you see there.
Christmas Eve in the plaza was very active with lots of fireworks; just like 4 th of July in the States, Chris said. As the people descended from the viewing of the fireworks, the missionaries were on the edge of the Plaza singing Chrismas Carols. Many individuals stopped and listened and took pictures of them. There were members there to hand out flyers about the church and answer questions. They received many contacts from this unique way of contacting.
Chris said to thank all who had sent things in his Christmas box and for all the dear elders that everyone continues to send.
I asked him what we could do to help the Ukraine Donetsk mission, he said that praying for the Donetsk missionaries to find people to teach is what they need most at this moment in time. They do not have a Stake formed in this mission and it will be a great blessing to have a Stake so that the people can govern themselves. Of course, there have to be a certain amount of members in the area to create a Stake.
So this new year, let's make a point of praying for the Donetsk missionaries to find those spirits who are just waiting to be taught and baptized and enjoy the many blessings that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ has to offer them.
May you and yours be blessed this up-coming new year!
DeLisa
The Christmas phone call was wonderful and we learned a lot more about Christmas in the Ukraine and what goes on in the City of Kharkov.
First of all, the plaza that sits close to the Elders' appartment building, had a huge beautiful tree that was decorated with lights and ornaments to the hilt. It actually could compete with the tree in Times Square, I'm told.
Chris said that one day, a truck pulled up with Logs on it dumped them off at the plaza and then workman came out of nowhere and started making a log house with windows. It was a couple of stories high and at the end of the day there were several slides that extended out of the windows. The people would pay to ride the slides.
Also, A cement mixer showed up one morning and proceeded to pour cement into one of the streets next to the plaza. Later the cement area was used as an ice skating rink. Chris said that it was fun to watch everyone ice skating but he was puzzled as to why you'd cement up a major street.
Also, many carnival rides were brought in aan set up for the festivities. If you've been to the San Benito Fair, there were more rides than what you see there.
Christmas Eve in the plaza was very active with lots of fireworks; just like 4 th of July in the States, Chris said. As the people descended from the viewing of the fireworks, the missionaries were on the edge of the Plaza singing Chrismas Carols. Many individuals stopped and listened and took pictures of them. There were members there to hand out flyers about the church and answer questions. They received many contacts from this unique way of contacting.
Chris said to thank all who had sent things in his Christmas box and for all the dear elders that everyone continues to send.
I asked him what we could do to help the Ukraine Donetsk mission, he said that praying for the Donetsk missionaries to find people to teach is what they need most at this moment in time. They do not have a Stake formed in this mission and it will be a great blessing to have a Stake so that the people can govern themselves. Of course, there have to be a certain amount of members in the area to create a Stake.
So this new year, let's make a point of praying for the Donetsk missionaries to find those spirits who are just waiting to be taught and baptized and enjoy the many blessings that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ has to offer them.
May you and yours be blessed this up-coming new year!
DeLisa
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
12/13/2010 Falling on Ice - Fathers and Sons
Hello family and friends!
So it has been snowing out here which means that there is a nice layer of ice on the ground and in 2 days I have managed to fall more times than either of my Zone leaders have their entire missions! Because of the ice we didn't do sports last week but we did end up bowling. That was pretty fun.
Dexter, our American investigator, called almost every day this week asking for advice with his girl problem. The first time he did it he was very stressed so I told him to read from the Book of Mormon and he called me back after reading 3 Nephi 27, which is pretty much all about baptism, and I told him to be baptized! He quickly changed the subject! Ugh!!!!
We ran into some Budhists who started telling us that reincarnation and resurrection were the same thing.
A drunk man thought that I was Swedish and started talking to us and then he said I must be Ukrainian and spoke to us in Ukrainian. It was pretty weird.
The sun now come's up at 8 am every day and goes down at 4 pm. It's really strange. Not that we see the sun because of the fog, cloud coverage and pollution.
My companion is cool, he just doesn't speak to me in Russian at all so I'm not sure how helpful this is to my learning Russian. He convinced me to buy some Ukrainian candy, because it is 3 times cheaper than m & ms, so I did and it was really good.
We still have not found the record for our investigator but she's giving us some strange information. For example, on Sunday she said that she saw Jesus Christ at the bedside of her husband. Not that it's impossible, but it's odd.
I'm excited because we should be gettting a French speaking investigator passed to us which should be cool since he doesn't know any Russian and I know French. We are looking forward to meeting this investigator.
Here is something that we saw today on the streets. A Father is pulling his young son on a sled. He runs ahead and when they cross the street, the sidewalk drops off, so the kid jumps a little, then the sidewalk starts back up on the other side. But the Father runs him straight into it and he flies out of it and the sled lands on top of him and he's just laughing hysterically.
Well, Thank you all for your love and support.
Elder Russell
FYI from the missionary mom, I got this off the Mission's Blog:
Sis. & Pres. Fry will be visiting Kharkov this Wednesday and Thursday and they have a special Christmas celebration set up for the missionaries in that area. They are keeping everything a surprise but they are supposed to be doing a special service project, games and a special dinner. I'm looking forward to hearing about it.
Happy Holidays! DeLisa
So it has been snowing out here which means that there is a nice layer of ice on the ground and in 2 days I have managed to fall more times than either of my Zone leaders have their entire missions! Because of the ice we didn't do sports last week but we did end up bowling. That was pretty fun.
Dexter, our American investigator, called almost every day this week asking for advice with his girl problem. The first time he did it he was very stressed so I told him to read from the Book of Mormon and he called me back after reading 3 Nephi 27, which is pretty much all about baptism, and I told him to be baptized! He quickly changed the subject! Ugh!!!!
We ran into some Budhists who started telling us that reincarnation and resurrection were the same thing.
A drunk man thought that I was Swedish and started talking to us and then he said I must be Ukrainian and spoke to us in Ukrainian. It was pretty weird.
The sun now come's up at 8 am every day and goes down at 4 pm. It's really strange. Not that we see the sun because of the fog, cloud coverage and pollution.
My companion is cool, he just doesn't speak to me in Russian at all so I'm not sure how helpful this is to my learning Russian. He convinced me to buy some Ukrainian candy, because it is 3 times cheaper than m & ms, so I did and it was really good.
We still have not found the record for our investigator but she's giving us some strange information. For example, on Sunday she said that she saw Jesus Christ at the bedside of her husband. Not that it's impossible, but it's odd.
I'm excited because we should be gettting a French speaking investigator passed to us which should be cool since he doesn't know any Russian and I know French. We are looking forward to meeting this investigator.
Here is something that we saw today on the streets. A Father is pulling his young son on a sled. He runs ahead and when they cross the street, the sidewalk drops off, so the kid jumps a little, then the sidewalk starts back up on the other side. But the Father runs him straight into it and he flies out of it and the sled lands on top of him and he's just laughing hysterically.
Well, Thank you all for your love and support.
Elder Russell
FYI from the missionary mom, I got this off the Mission's Blog:
Sis. & Pres. Fry will be visiting Kharkov this Wednesday and Thursday and they have a special Christmas celebration set up for the missionaries in that area. They are keeping everything a surprise but they are supposed to be doing a special service project, games and a special dinner. I'm looking forward to hearing about it.
Happy Holidays! DeLisa
12/6/2010 First Snow, 13 celcious,
Hello family & Friends,
I will try to get better at writing a letter for everyone every week. Last Sunday was the first snow that we had in the Ukraine; then on Monday, we played sports in snow, then rain, then hail. And my companion hurt his leg a little but he's fine now. We went to the Barabashova and got some more ties, but our hands were freezing. It got down to 13 celcious here this week which was pretty cold but it means all the mud is gone ony it's replaced by ice.
Our landlady raised the rent, which I guess isn't odd, but we had paid for November and December and she tried to add the extra to those two months too. So we told her there was a mistake and had the office talk with her and everything is fine now.
One day we woke up and the cold water had been shut off completely. That was wierd. I am warm if there are concerns about that, and I'm fairly confident I can survive the winter
To answer Grandma Wises's questions, we have one child in our Branch. He's about 6 years old and he's a fireball!
And if any were curious, this is how Roxlana works: Instead of doing custums in Ukraine (like the regular post) they do customs in America, thereby stopping the Ukrainian post service from taking things out of boxes.
Christmas traditions here aren't terribly different, except that it's in January and it's actually New Years not Christmas. Walking to Church we saw people setting up a Santa's village thing and they have decorated trees everywhere.
Dexter hasn't been reading or coming to church and when he calls us he monologues for 20 minutes about the bad people he meets in the Ukraine. But, our other investigator, Pricup Bknragphka, came to church and stayed for a lesson afterward. The thing is, is that one of the RM sisters in the ward talked with her and apparently she's already been baptized! So we're trying to figure this out because she doesn't remember who did it , when it was, or what branch the baptism was performed in. Our Investigator turned into a less active!
Well, love you all! Thank you for the letters! I have all the dear elders sent before November 21st! Love, Elder Russell
FYI: On extremely cold days, the Elders are instructed not to go out of their apartments!
I will try to get better at writing a letter for everyone every week. Last Sunday was the first snow that we had in the Ukraine; then on Monday, we played sports in snow, then rain, then hail. And my companion hurt his leg a little but he's fine now. We went to the Barabashova and got some more ties, but our hands were freezing. It got down to 13 celcious here this week which was pretty cold but it means all the mud is gone ony it's replaced by ice.
Our landlady raised the rent, which I guess isn't odd, but we had paid for November and December and she tried to add the extra to those two months too. So we told her there was a mistake and had the office talk with her and everything is fine now.
One day we woke up and the cold water had been shut off completely. That was wierd. I am warm if there are concerns about that, and I'm fairly confident I can survive the winter
To answer Grandma Wises's questions, we have one child in our Branch. He's about 6 years old and he's a fireball!
And if any were curious, this is how Roxlana works: Instead of doing custums in Ukraine (like the regular post) they do customs in America, thereby stopping the Ukrainian post service from taking things out of boxes.
Christmas traditions here aren't terribly different, except that it's in January and it's actually New Years not Christmas. Walking to Church we saw people setting up a Santa's village thing and they have decorated trees everywhere.
Dexter hasn't been reading or coming to church and when he calls us he monologues for 20 minutes about the bad people he meets in the Ukraine. But, our other investigator, Pricup Bknragphka, came to church and stayed for a lesson afterward. The thing is, is that one of the RM sisters in the ward talked with her and apparently she's already been baptized! So we're trying to figure this out because she doesn't remember who did it , when it was, or what branch the baptism was performed in. Our Investigator turned into a less active!
Well, love you all! Thank you for the letters! I have all the dear elders sent before November 21st! Love, Elder Russell
FYI: On extremely cold days, the Elders are instructed not to go out of their apartments!
12/13/2010 Falling on Ice - Fathers and Sons
Hello family and friends!
So it has been snowing out here which means that there is a nice layer of ice on the ground and in 2 days I have managed to fall more times than either of my Zone leaders have their entire missions! Because of the ice we didn't do sports last week but we did end up bowling. That was pretty fun.
Dexter, our American investigator, called almost every day this week asking for advice with his girl problem. The first time he did it he was very stressed so I told him to read from the Book of Mormon and he called me back after reading 3 Nephi 27, which is pretty much all about baptism, and I told him to be baptized! He quickly changed the subject! Ugh!!!!
We ran into some Budhists who started telling us that reincarnation and resurrection were the same thing.
A drunk man thought that I was Swedish and started talking to us and then he said I must be Ukrainian and spoke to us in Ukrainian. It was pretty weird.
The sun now come's up at 8 am every day and goes down at 4 pm. It's really strange. Not that we see the sun because of the fog, cloud coverage and pollution.
My companion is cool, he just doesn't speak to me in Russian at all so I'm not sure how helpful this is to my learning Russian. He convinced me to buy some Ukrainian candy, because it is 3 times cheaper than m & ms, so I did and it was really good.
We still have not found the record for our investigator but she's giving us some strange information. For example, on Sunday she said that she saw Jesus Christ at the bedside of her husband. Not that it's impossible, but it's odd.
I'm excited because we should be gettting a French speaking investigator passed to us which should be cool since he doesn't know any Russian and I know French. We are looking forward to meeting this investigator.
Here is something that we saw today on the streets. A Father is pulling his young son on a sled. He runs ahead and when they cross the street, the sidewalk drops off, so the kid jumps a little, then the sidewalk starts back up on the other side. But the Father runs him straight into it and he flies out of it and the sled lands on top of him and he's just laughing hysterically.
Well, Thank you all for your love and support.
Elder Russell
FYI from the missionary mom, I got this off the Mission's Blog:
Sis. & Pres. Fry will be visiting Kharkov this Wednesday and Thursday and they have a special Christmas celebration set up for the missionaries in that area. They are keeping everything a surprise but they are supposed to be doing a special service project, games and a special dinner. I'm looking forward to hearing about it.
Happy Holidays! DeLisa
So it has been snowing out here which means that there is a nice layer of ice on the ground and in 2 days I have managed to fall more times than either of my Zone leaders have their entire missions! Because of the ice we didn't do sports last week but we did end up bowling. That was pretty fun.
Dexter, our American investigator, called almost every day this week asking for advice with his girl problem. The first time he did it he was very stressed so I told him to read from the Book of Mormon and he called me back after reading 3 Nephi 27, which is pretty much all about baptism, and I told him to be baptized! He quickly changed the subject! Ugh!!!!
We ran into some Budhists who started telling us that reincarnation and resurrection were the same thing.
A drunk man thought that I was Swedish and started talking to us and then he said I must be Ukrainian and spoke to us in Ukrainian. It was pretty weird.
The sun now come's up at 8 am every day and goes down at 4 pm. It's really strange. Not that we see the sun because of the fog, cloud coverage and pollution.
My companion is cool, he just doesn't speak to me in Russian at all so I'm not sure how helpful this is to my learning Russian. He convinced me to buy some Ukrainian candy, because it is 3 times cheaper than m & ms, so I did and it was really good.
We still have not found the record for our investigator but she's giving us some strange information. For example, on Sunday she said that she saw Jesus Christ at the bedside of her husband. Not that it's impossible, but it's odd.
I'm excited because we should be gettting a French speaking investigator passed to us which should be cool since he doesn't know any Russian and I know French. We are looking forward to meeting this investigator.
Here is something that we saw today on the streets. A Father is pulling his young son on a sled. He runs ahead and when they cross the street, the sidewalk drops off, so the kid jumps a little, then the sidewalk starts back up on the other side. But the Father runs him straight into it and he flies out of it and the sled lands on top of him and he's just laughing hysterically.
Well, Thank you all for your love and support.
Elder Russell
FYI from the missionary mom, I got this off the Mission's Blog:
Sis. & Pres. Fry will be visiting Kharkov this Wednesday and Thursday and they have a special Christmas celebration set up for the missionaries in that area. They are keeping everything a surprise but they are supposed to be doing a special service project, games and a special dinner. I'm looking forward to hearing about it.
Happy Holidays! DeLisa
Thanksgiving in the Ukraine 2010
Chris met with other missionaries and the local, small congregation, at the meeting house for an American Thanksgiving, thanks to his lugging the turkey home on the subway, I have posted a few pictures of the event.
11/28/2010 Fines, Transfers, and Packages
Subject: Hey
Date: Sunday, November 28, 2010, 11:04 PM
So just to be clear: this is a regular transfer, nothing odd happened to cause elder rader to leave. My new companion is elder Beck. He's pretty cool. But I'm learning that I need to pick up the pace on learning the language. English classes have been cancelled due to a 1,000,000 ruble fine in russia and the fact that they asked us to do it a while ago. Poor sister howell will be training in her 3rd transfer (6 weeks from now) which should be interesting. And our weekly feeding of the bums is over now because the place was closed down. But I got my 3 hours of service in this week by helping out the Reeds with their computer and stuff. I got my package on Sunday and I now have all dear elders sent before the 15th of november. The package came on the day of transfers though so you cut it really close. Just saying that you need to send them a bit earlier. Our referral gave me a russian book that is a biography of Douglas Macarthur. Should be fun to read when I get back.
FYI:1. the Russian fine is equivalent to $33,000.
2. Elder Rader is now a district leader in the area Chris is serving in.
3. The mission president's blog is timandjeanniefry.blogspot.com it has a couple of pictures from the November transfer that Chris is in and short biographies on the Mission President and His Wife.
4. The box took exactley 14 days from the time it went from Hollister, to Jersey to Ukraine! Yeah!!
Our family wishes to thank all those who contributed to Chris' Christmas box.
Date: Sunday, November 28, 2010, 11:04 PM
So just to be clear: this is a regular transfer, nothing odd happened to cause elder rader to leave. My new companion is elder Beck. He's pretty cool. But I'm learning that I need to pick up the pace on learning the language. English classes have been cancelled due to a 1,000,000 ruble fine in russia and the fact that they asked us to do it a while ago. Poor sister howell will be training in her 3rd transfer (6 weeks from now) which should be interesting. And our weekly feeding of the bums is over now because the place was closed down. But I got my 3 hours of service in this week by helping out the Reeds with their computer and stuff. I got my package on Sunday and I now have all dear elders sent before the 15th of november. The package came on the day of transfers though so you cut it really close. Just saying that you need to send them a bit earlier. Our referral gave me a russian book that is a biography of Douglas Macarthur. Should be fun to read when I get back.
FYI:1. the Russian fine is equivalent to $33,000.
2. Elder Rader is now a district leader in the area Chris is serving in.
3. The mission president's blog is timandjeanniefry.blogspot.com it has a couple of pictures from the November transfer that Chris is in and short biographies on the Mission President and His Wife.
4. The box took exactley 14 days from the time it went from Hollister, to Jersey to Ukraine! Yeah!!
Our family wishes to thank all those who contributed to Chris' Christmas box.
11/22/2010 Tidbits and Pictures of Chris
The following includes a brief conversation between Chris and his Dad regarding some questions his Dad had. As an explanation a P-Day is a preparation day, it is the one day of the week the missionaries have to do things other than missionary work, laundry, shopping, cleaning, napping, sight seeing etc.
The keyboards have both russian and english symbols on all of the keys. I know of an elder pulsifer, I've met him and he's nice. He's a little frustrated with the language right now though...I think. Well the missionaries do the 25th but the rest of ukraine celebrates it on the 7th of january. But that's really new years for them, not really christmas. It's just the same celebration(tree, lights, presents, alcohol, vodka, beer, and whisky).
On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 5:34 AM, Steve Russell wrote:
Chris,
Here are some quick questions for you:
1) do the internet cafes have US keyboards or a keyboard with US markings or do you just have to guess?
2) We have a spanish speaking elder in Hollister now (elder Quinn) that was called to Guadalajara, but is waiting for his Visa. He says he has a friend in your mission, Elder Pulsifer, from Denver who left in April. Do you know him?
3) When do you celebrate Christmas in the Ukraine? 12/25 (gregorian) or 1/7 (julian)?
Keep up the good work.
-- Dad
The keyboards have both russian and english symbols on all of the keys. I know of an elder pulsifer, I've met him and he's nice. He's a little frustrated with the language right now though...I think. Well the missionaries do the 25th but the rest of ukraine celebrates it on the 7th of january. But that's really new years for them, not really christmas. It's just the same celebration(tree, lights, presents, alcohol, vodka, beer, and whisky).
On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 5:34 AM, Steve Russell wrote:
Chris,
Here are some quick questions for you:
1) do the internet cafes have US keyboards or a keyboard with US markings or do you just have to guess?
2) We have a spanish speaking elder in Hollister now (elder Quinn) that was called to Guadalajara, but is waiting for his Visa. He says he has a friend in your mission, Elder Pulsifer, from Denver who left in April. Do you know him?
3) When do you celebrate Christmas in the Ukraine? 12/25 (gregorian) or 1/7 (julian)?
Keep up the good work.
-- Dad
11/22/2010 Turkeys and Transfers a recap from DeLisa
Elder Russell spent half of his preparation day searching the city of Karhkov for a turkey and then "lugging" the big bird by subway to the zone leaders apartment so it can be cooked for Thanksgiving Day dinner.
This Friday will bring a new companion to Elder Russell and he will not find out who his new comp is until that day. If I'm understanding things correctly, everyone goes to the mission home in Donetsk and new missionary assignments are made when all the missionaries are together. Elder Russell is disappointed that he will have only been Elder Rader's companion for a short 6 weeks. Since there are Native missionaries serving in the area, if Elder Russell were to get a Russian speaking missionary, his Russian would grow by leaps and bounds at a very fast pace.
The work has gone wonderfully well for their companionship this week! They held a 2 day open house and had over 40 people come through and were able to get referral's and a member contact. They have a teaching appointment with the member contact this week and they also were able to teach a discussion during the open house.
Dexter, the American military man, is continuing to make strides, and they are hoping for a baptism soon.
During this Thanksgiving season, we are thankful for Elder Russell's missionary service and the many blessings that it has brought to our family , and the blessings that our yet to come. We're especially grateful for dear family and kind friends who love and support our son! Have the Happiest of Thanksgivings!
The Russell Family
This Friday will bring a new companion to Elder Russell and he will not find out who his new comp is until that day. If I'm understanding things correctly, everyone goes to the mission home in Donetsk and new missionary assignments are made when all the missionaries are together. Elder Russell is disappointed that he will have only been Elder Rader's companion for a short 6 weeks. Since there are Native missionaries serving in the area, if Elder Russell were to get a Russian speaking missionary, his Russian would grow by leaps and bounds at a very fast pace.
The work has gone wonderfully well for their companionship this week! They held a 2 day open house and had over 40 people come through and were able to get referral's and a member contact. They have a teaching appointment with the member contact this week and they also were able to teach a discussion during the open house.
Dexter, the American military man, is continuing to make strides, and they are hoping for a baptism soon.
During this Thanksgiving season, we are thankful for Elder Russell's missionary service and the many blessings that it has brought to our family , and the blessings that our yet to come. We're especially grateful for dear family and kind friends who love and support our son! Have the Happiest of Thanksgivings!
The Russell Family
11/15/2010 DeLisa's recap of Chris' week
This week Elder Russell and his companion have been spending much of their time listening for the directions of the spirit as to where they should do their contacting and who they should contact. They've been able to give out several Book of Mormons and are hoping that some follow up visits will generate new investigators.
Dexter remains their most promising investigator and he is continuing to read the Book of Mormon and pray. He's had a few spiritual experiences since he's begun seeing the elders and he has a testimony of priesthood blessings and the comfort they bring when dealing with life's challenges.
As for Thanksgiving, it sounds like the missionaries in Chris' district will all meet together at the senior couple's apartment and celebrate there. As a mom, I am so grateful for Elder And Sister Reed and for the support that they provide to my missionary and the many kind acts that they perform on the behalf of my missionary and the members of their Ukrainian Branch. I know that they are a wonderful support to the Branch in their area.
Once again, many thanks to all who are interested in our son's mission, and we are especially grateful for all of the prayers that are offered on his behalf.
DeLisa
Dexter remains their most promising investigator and he is continuing to read the Book of Mormon and pray. He's had a few spiritual experiences since he's begun seeing the elders and he has a testimony of priesthood blessings and the comfort they bring when dealing with life's challenges.
As for Thanksgiving, it sounds like the missionaries in Chris' district will all meet together at the senior couple's apartment and celebrate there. As a mom, I am so grateful for Elder And Sister Reed and for the support that they provide to my missionary and the many kind acts that they perform on the behalf of my missionary and the members of their Ukrainian Branch. I know that they are a wonderful support to the Branch in their area.
Once again, many thanks to all who are interested in our son's mission, and we are especially grateful for all of the prayers that are offered on his behalf.
DeLisa
11/9/2010 Note from Mission President Fry and his Wife
A Mission President and his Wife are called to preside over a specific mission for the period of three years. They are responsible for each missionary as well as the teaching of the gospel in that specific mission.
As you can see from this picture of President and Sister Fry, they are not necessarily elderly, retired couples. Often entire families, children and all, pick up and move to a new location for this three year time frame. It is a huge sacrifice and commitment on their part and we appreciate their willingness of the Fry's to serve the Ukrananian people as well as our missionary.
Date: Tuesday, November 9, 2010, 11:04 AM
Dear Brother and Sister Russell,
We are happy to have your son serving with us in the mission. We just finished a Zone Conference in Kharkov where we saw him and his companion. They are doing very well. We have attached a picture of him with us. If you should ever need to get in touch with us, you can email us at: timfry.fry@gmail.com and please check out our blog at: www.timandjeanniefry.blogspot.com . Thank you for sharing your son with us at this time.
Sincerely,
President and Sister Fry
As you can see from this picture of President and Sister Fry, they are not necessarily elderly, retired couples. Often entire families, children and all, pick up and move to a new location for this three year time frame. It is a huge sacrifice and commitment on their part and we appreciate their willingness of the Fry's to serve the Ukrananian people as well as our missionary.
Date: Tuesday, November 9, 2010, 11:04 AM
Dear Brother and Sister Russell,
We are happy to have your son serving with us in the mission. We just finished a Zone Conference in Kharkov where we saw him and his companion. They are doing very well. We have attached a picture of him with us. If you should ever need to get in touch with us, you can email us at: timfry.fry@gmail.com and please check out our blog at: www.timandjeanniefry.blogspot.com . Thank you for sharing your son with us at this time.
Sincerely,
President and Sister Fry
11/8/2010 Ukranian Apartment and Case Struggles
Hi! This week Elder Russell spent much of his time studying in his apartment because his companion was ill.
I did get some photos of the interior of the apartment and that was somewhat interesting.
The apartment is very nice and the kitchen looks quite new with new appliances(microwave and oven/stove). The 2 unique things in the apartment, a beautiful piano and a really funny looking home gym contraption that is actually bolted into the roof and floor of one the rooms. I'll try to e-mail these out later.
I'm really appreciative of the senior couple who serve in Chris' area. They have sent us the photo that we love and Chris' says that Sis. Reed always hosts district meeting and she cooks a meal for all of the elders that attend.
Investigator Updates: Dexter has made much progress this past week! He stopped drinking coffee came to church, and is currently praying about the Law of Chastity. He is an awesome investigator and Elder Russell sees him being baptized in the near future.
They were also finally able to go out contacting Sunday evening when Elder Rader seemed over his illness and they gave out 3 Book of Mormons which they will follow up on this week.
As far as the language goes, Elder Russell, who never struggles with much of anything, is finding the language verb "cases" somewhat difficult to master. However, my son is tenacious about mastering any subject, and I know that with time he'll be an expert in cases and one day might even right his own Russian Cases Guide.
Thanks to one and all for your prayers, love and support of our missionary.
DeLisa
I did get some photos of the interior of the apartment and that was somewhat interesting.
The apartment is very nice and the kitchen looks quite new with new appliances(microwave and oven/stove). The 2 unique things in the apartment, a beautiful piano and a really funny looking home gym contraption that is actually bolted into the roof and floor of one the rooms. I'll try to e-mail these out later.
I'm really appreciative of the senior couple who serve in Chris' area. They have sent us the photo that we love and Chris' says that Sis. Reed always hosts district meeting and she cooks a meal for all of the elders that attend.
Investigator Updates: Dexter has made much progress this past week! He stopped drinking coffee came to church, and is currently praying about the Law of Chastity. He is an awesome investigator and Elder Russell sees him being baptized in the near future.
They were also finally able to go out contacting Sunday evening when Elder Rader seemed over his illness and they gave out 3 Book of Mormons which they will follow up on this week.
As far as the language goes, Elder Russell, who never struggles with much of anything, is finding the language verb "cases" somewhat difficult to master. However, my son is tenacious about mastering any subject, and I know that with time he'll be an expert in cases and one day might even right his own Russian Cases Guide.
Thanks to one and all for your prayers, love and support of our missionary.
DeLisa
11/1/10 Missionary Mom's Tender Mercy
This week I, the missionary mom, DeLisa, get the opportunity to share Chris' week with you and new Ukrainian lifestyle. This comes about because I found myself online on early this morning, his preparation day, when he logged into the computer at his internet cafe.
I just LOVE modern technology! What a blessing!!! I was able to ask Chris all kinds of questions about life in the Ukraine and his current investigators.
So here are some interesting tidbits.
--Chris & his comp. teach an advanced English class comprised of 30 students one evening a week.
--My son finally realizes how very cold it's going to get there this winter; he asked for me to mail him some thermals.
--Don't expect to get yummy French cheese in the Ukraine,
BUT Do expect to be able to consume large quantities of delicious inexpensive pasteries!
--Even when you spend 2 hours discussing the gospel with Jehovah Witnesses, they still won't enter the chapel doors.
--Ukrainian apartment buildings are "Soviet Plumbed" There are water pipes throughout and in the Winter, Hot water circulates and defintely warms up the apartments and in the Winter, cold water circulates and basically does nothing to cool down the apartments. Fans are a necessity.
--Elders who are computer savvy, ALWAYS do at least one stint in the office.(we're praying for Summer months because the office has AIR CONDITIONING)
--When your comp. is sick, practice your Russian "CASES"(verbs)
--For $l you can get super sized piece of pizza from an outside street vendor
--Ukrainian Twixt candy, is definetely not as tasty as the American version
On a more serious note, there was much concern, on the part of myself and other relations, regarding the "cigarette" experience of last week.
Chris' comp.'s mother and I have become friends on Missionary Moms.com. It seems that her son's gives more details in his letters home and she shared the following which explains in more detail what Chris and his comp. were doing last week.
Elder RAder, "Obedience to God's laws bring blessings. Obedience to the leaders which God has given you, even in counsel, or just taking a challenge, also brings blessings. This week, our Zone Leaders challenged us to throw away 31 cigarette butts. We did it, and then some. The whole day, we had been struggling. No one wanted to talk, and everyone was hurrying here and there, without so much as a kind word for us. The instant we gathered a bunch of these cigaretes and tossed them, a man came up to us. He was in his 50s, and told of how, back in Soviet times, he had had a chance to go to America. When offered the Book of Mormon, at first, he said, "i don't see the point in it." We asked him why not. He responded, "I don't believe in God, I believe in reason." We responded by giving himn a challenge, a scientific experiment, which if found in Moroni, chapter l0, verse 4. He paused, and said, "earlier was th time to travel, and go. But now, it's
about time that I thought about my sould, about God." His name is Anatoly Petrovich. He's a wonderful man, just sincere and kind. This same thing happened throughout the week. of all things, I figured that throwing away cigarette butts would be the last thing to help us build charity and love the people, but we've thrown away l,0l0 cigarettes, and from all of that, we've gained so many opportunities to teach, that it's rather ridiculous. Serving people is a good thing to do."
In addition, Chris and his comp ran into an American who is on break from Military training and is studying pharmacy. He was given apriesthood blessing wherein he felt the spirit and gained a testimony of the Holy Ghost, and is reading the Book of Mormon and he attended church on Sunday. Their goal is to baptize him within the month.
Many thanks from our family to yours for your love and support of our missionary!
Keep the prayers and dear elder letters coming!!
DeLisa
I just LOVE modern technology! What a blessing!!! I was able to ask Chris all kinds of questions about life in the Ukraine and his current investigators.
So here are some interesting tidbits.
--Chris & his comp. teach an advanced English class comprised of 30 students one evening a week.
--My son finally realizes how very cold it's going to get there this winter; he asked for me to mail him some thermals.
--Don't expect to get yummy French cheese in the Ukraine,
BUT Do expect to be able to consume large quantities of delicious inexpensive pasteries!
--Even when you spend 2 hours discussing the gospel with Jehovah Witnesses, they still won't enter the chapel doors.
--Ukrainian apartment buildings are "Soviet Plumbed" There are water pipes throughout and in the Winter, Hot water circulates and defintely warms up the apartments and in the Winter, cold water circulates and basically does nothing to cool down the apartments. Fans are a necessity.
--Elders who are computer savvy, ALWAYS do at least one stint in the office.(we're praying for Summer months because the office has AIR CONDITIONING)
--When your comp. is sick, practice your Russian "CASES"(verbs)
--For $l you can get super sized piece of pizza from an outside street vendor
--Ukrainian Twixt candy, is definetely not as tasty as the American version
On a more serious note, there was much concern, on the part of myself and other relations, regarding the "cigarette" experience of last week.
Chris' comp.'s mother and I have become friends on Missionary Moms.com. It seems that her son's gives more details in his letters home and she shared the following which explains in more detail what Chris and his comp. were doing last week.
Elder RAder, "Obedience to God's laws bring blessings. Obedience to the leaders which God has given you, even in counsel, or just taking a challenge, also brings blessings. This week, our Zone Leaders challenged us to throw away 31 cigarette butts. We did it, and then some. The whole day, we had been struggling. No one wanted to talk, and everyone was hurrying here and there, without so much as a kind word for us. The instant we gathered a bunch of these cigaretes and tossed them, a man came up to us. He was in his 50s, and told of how, back in Soviet times, he had had a chance to go to America. When offered the Book of Mormon, at first, he said, "i don't see the point in it." We asked him why not. He responded, "I don't believe in God, I believe in reason." We responded by giving himn a challenge, a scientific experiment, which if found in Moroni, chapter l0, verse 4. He paused, and said, "earlier was th time to travel, and go. But now, it's
about time that I thought about my sould, about God." His name is Anatoly Petrovich. He's a wonderful man, just sincere and kind. This same thing happened throughout the week. of all things, I figured that throwing away cigarette butts would be the last thing to help us build charity and love the people, but we've thrown away l,0l0 cigarettes, and from all of that, we've gained so many opportunities to teach, that it's rather ridiculous. Serving people is a good thing to do."
In addition, Chris and his comp ran into an American who is on break from Military training and is studying pharmacy. He was given apriesthood blessing wherein he felt the spirit and gained a testimony of the Holy Ghost, and is reading the Book of Mormon and he attended church on Sunday. Their goal is to baptize him within the month.
Many thanks from our family to yours for your love and support of our missionary!
Keep the prayers and dear elder letters coming!!
DeLisa
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Pouch Mail To The Ukraine - ITS FREE !!!
POUCH MAIL VIA dearelder.comTuesday, October 5, 2010 10:59 PM
Chris' last dear elder mails will be delivered to his MTC dear elder address THIS FRIDAY. No dear elder mail will be forwarded to Him in the field. Supposedly, they toss it in the garbage!
You can check out all the information on FREE POUCH MAIL at the dearelder.com website. Go to Pouch mail and click on his mission Doentsk Ukraine. This is a wonderful FREE way to communicate with Chris in the field.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A LETTER WAITING FOR HIM AT THE MISSION HOME UPON HIS ARRIVAL IN DONETSK, WRITE ONE BEFORE FRIDAY 10/8 AT 10AM.
Thanks to all of you for your packages,MTC drop off goodies, prayers and support of our missionary!!! He so appreciates all the love that you show him!! I know that his success up to now has been due to the many prayers that have been offered on his behalf. Keep those prayers coming!!!
missionary mom, DeLisa
Chris' last dear elder mails will be delivered to his MTC dear elder address THIS FRIDAY. No dear elder mail will be forwarded to Him in the field. Supposedly, they toss it in the garbage!
You can check out all the information on FREE POUCH MAIL at the dearelder.com website. Go to Pouch mail and click on his mission Doentsk Ukraine. This is a wonderful FREE way to communicate with Chris in the field.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A LETTER WAITING FOR HIM AT THE MISSION HOME UPON HIS ARRIVAL IN DONETSK, WRITE ONE BEFORE FRIDAY 10/8 AT 10AM.
Thanks to all of you for your packages,MTC drop off goodies, prayers and support of our missionary!!! He so appreciates all the love that you show him!! I know that his success up to now has been due to the many prayers that have been offered on his behalf. Keep those prayers coming!!!
missionary mom, DeLisa
Scattered Tidbits - Getting Ready to Leave
Tue, 10/5/10, Christopher Russell
Subject: Hey Everyone!
Date: Tuesday, October 5, 2010, 11:44 AM
HI! So I'm ridiculously stressed today since I can't seem to find time to do all of the things that need to get done. But For my parents I met someone who knew the May family after they moved from hollister and we talked for a while. Sis Nordstrom's sister sent me bread and it was really really good. I got another package too and the simpsons sent me one. My companion had to get an MRI this week which was exciting, and then we had to spend 2:30 going to a doctor and waiting for him to tell us what to do. He said after a year it'll be fine.
While doing service we were told that two elders had taken trays (like ones from burger king) from the cafeteria and had put them in their room. the supervisor saw this, wrote the reference to the ten commandments on a post-it and stuck it to the trays. They were then returned. My mail has apparently been going to a chandler russell because they sort by first two letters of first name and the last name. so from now on my name is c-hristopher. :) Just write it like that and I think that the issue will go away. When I'm in ukraine I don't think it'll be a problem though....but just in case.
I can't believe that the only hearing of papa having an Ipad is from Ilana. This is big news! Someone will have to tell me the whole story on this. I thought it was really interesting that there was a family choir in General conference. I can't imagine a family being that big!
One of our firesides someone mentioned that the church is like a stone consuming the whole earth. (like it says in the scriptures) And they showed a very dated seminary video which reminded me of katamari damacy.....consuming the world one thing at a time.
Talk with you all later!
Elder Russell
Subject: Hey Everyone!
Date: Tuesday, October 5, 2010, 11:44 AM
HI! So I'm ridiculously stressed today since I can't seem to find time to do all of the things that need to get done. But For my parents I met someone who knew the May family after they moved from hollister and we talked for a while. Sis Nordstrom's sister sent me bread and it was really really good. I got another package too and the simpsons sent me one. My companion had to get an MRI this week which was exciting, and then we had to spend 2:30 going to a doctor and waiting for him to tell us what to do. He said after a year it'll be fine.
While doing service we were told that two elders had taken trays (like ones from burger king) from the cafeteria and had put them in their room. the supervisor saw this, wrote the reference to the ten commandments on a post-it and stuck it to the trays. They were then returned. My mail has apparently been going to a chandler russell because they sort by first two letters of first name and the last name. so from now on my name is c-hristopher. :) Just write it like that and I think that the issue will go away. When I'm in ukraine I don't think it'll be a problem though....but just in case.
I can't believe that the only hearing of papa having an Ipad is from Ilana. This is big news! Someone will have to tell me the whole story on this. I thought it was really interesting that there was a family choir in General conference. I can't imagine a family being that big!
One of our firesides someone mentioned that the church is like a stone consuming the whole earth. (like it says in the scriptures) And they showed a very dated seminary video which reminded me of katamari damacy.....consuming the world one thing at a time.
Talk with you all later!
Elder Russell
Monday, October 4, 2010
Smelly Poop = Courageous Navel & Das Vidaniya
--- On Tue, 9/28/10, Christopher Russell
From: Christopher Russell
Subject: Hey Everyone!
Date: Tuesday, September 28, 2010, 11:28 AM
Hey Everyone!
So I want to thank everyone for the packages that I got. I was thankful to get them after finding out I couldn't do gym. There was a lot of smoke in the air last week and I didn't know why (I assumed that everyone was burning wood in fireplaces because it's cold) so that's cool information to find out. My only news that I get is from you and what I might here in the temple, but that's about it.
Um, I'm told that if I receive dear elders after I'm gone then they just throw them away and they don't forward them, I don't know what happens to actual mail but the same thing might occur. So when it gets closer to my departure time make sure to send me stuff that will arrive before I leave.
We're hosting on wednesday which sounds like a ton of fun and I'm really excited to teach some new elders about the MTC (I am fairly knowledgeable about these things) and say hello to them. We also have an SYL meeting since we are doing SYL until the end of our stay at the MTC. Then Friday we are teaching a native Russian and the next day is conference! YAY! I never thought I would be in the MTC for conference.
One funny thing: smelly poop in russian means courageous naval.
So we now have two progressing investigators: the native russian and a teacher that used to be the progressing investigator. Unfortunately we can meet with them about twice before we leave.
We taught the lesson in Sunday school (district meeting) this week as a companionship. It was an experiment in and of itself to see how it would work out, but afterwards the branch president (who was there for the whole lesson) said,"I have to apologize to these elders" and proceeded to tell us that he wasn't clear on his instructions and it wasn't our fault but he was expecting something different. He said we did a great job though considering the task that we thought we had.I was just laughing.
Shorthill is my companion and I tried to label the pictures but I didn't have a lot of time. sorry. The russians are going to either russia or ukraine or somewhere russian speaking, I don't know where. My whole district except for seitz is going to the Ukraine and most are going to donetsk.
Das vidaniya
Elder Russell
FYI, 1.The smoke Chris is referring to is the smoke that drifted down from the fires that were burning outside of Salt Lake City.
FYI, 2. Dear Elders letters CAN BE SENT TO A NEW ADDRESS WHICH WE WILL GIVE YOU IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE. WHEN HE IS IN THE UKRAINE, the letters will NOT get to him the Same day, but he will get them about the same time as regular Ukrainian mail or faster the closer he lives to the mission home. Please don't waste your money on stamps.
From: Christopher Russell
Subject: Hey Everyone!
Date: Tuesday, September 28, 2010, 11:28 AM
Hey Everyone!
So I want to thank everyone for the packages that I got. I was thankful to get them after finding out I couldn't do gym. There was a lot of smoke in the air last week and I didn't know why (I assumed that everyone was burning wood in fireplaces because it's cold) so that's cool information to find out. My only news that I get is from you and what I might here in the temple, but that's about it.
Um, I'm told that if I receive dear elders after I'm gone then they just throw them away and they don't forward them, I don't know what happens to actual mail but the same thing might occur. So when it gets closer to my departure time make sure to send me stuff that will arrive before I leave.
We're hosting on wednesday which sounds like a ton of fun and I'm really excited to teach some new elders about the MTC (I am fairly knowledgeable about these things) and say hello to them. We also have an SYL meeting since we are doing SYL until the end of our stay at the MTC. Then Friday we are teaching a native Russian and the next day is conference! YAY! I never thought I would be in the MTC for conference.
One funny thing: smelly poop in russian means courageous naval.
So we now have two progressing investigators: the native russian and a teacher that used to be the progressing investigator. Unfortunately we can meet with them about twice before we leave.
We taught the lesson in Sunday school (district meeting) this week as a companionship. It was an experiment in and of itself to see how it would work out, but afterwards the branch president (who was there for the whole lesson) said,"I have to apologize to these elders" and proceeded to tell us that he wasn't clear on his instructions and it wasn't our fault but he was expecting something different. He said we did a great job though considering the task that we thought we had.I was just laughing.
Shorthill is my companion and I tried to label the pictures but I didn't have a lot of time. sorry. The russians are going to either russia or ukraine or somewhere russian speaking, I don't know where. My whole district except for seitz is going to the Ukraine and most are going to donetsk.
Das vidaniya
Elder Russell
FYI, 1.The smoke Chris is referring to is the smoke that drifted down from the fires that were burning outside of Salt Lake City.
FYI, 2. Dear Elders letters CAN BE SENT TO A NEW ADDRESS WHICH WE WILL GIVE YOU IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE. WHEN HE IS IN THE UKRAINE, the letters will NOT get to him the Same day, but he will get them about the same time as regular Ukrainian mail or faster the closer he lives to the mission home. Please don't waste your money on stamps.
Chris' head collides with someone's chin :(
Tue, 9/21/10, Christopher Russell
From: Christopher Russell
Subject: Hey Everyone
Date: Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 11:35 AM
Hey!
So This week was pretty exciting, I saw and talked with Ryan Grow a little in the TRC and then I saw another elder Russell who is going Spanish speaking. That was pretty cool. Everyone seems to be jealous of the fact that my hair doesn't appear to be getting significantly longer at all and I haven't needed a haircut since I got here (which has been really nice since the lines are generally really, really long). We went through another endownment session with the Russian missionaries, I'll try to get a pic with them before I send pictures to you all.
Brother Wilson told me (we have almost weekly interviews with our teachers) that my comprehension on the russian language is really good and that I understand the structure really well. And I told him I just need to work on vocab, which is true.
I appreciate Shelly saying that if I don't get mail everyday it's the post-office's fault.....I'm sure that all those letters will be snatched up and I'll never see them again.
This past sunday they finally played the Testaments in the big gym so we could all see it (after the fireside of course) and it was amazing! I had something interesting happen to me this week, I was telling a story to my companion (about Skip the horse) and I mentioned that he was "ornery" and I said it or-ner-ee and he had no clue what I was saying and he said "you mean 'on-ree'" and I said no. Anyway we thought it was interesting the way that I say certain words from the rest of the people here.
Oh, When I was playing soccer I wass running after the ball and someone in my district ran into me and their chin ran into my head. It hurt. He was fine and I'm fine now.
Thank you for all of the letters that I got over the weekend! I had 8 dear elders a letter and a box, which was nice since my head hurt.
Not a lot happens here but I'm going to try to send pictures in a pouch thing so hopefully they'll get to everyone somehow.
I love you all!
Elder Russell
From: Christopher Russell
Subject: Hey Everyone
Date: Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 11:35 AM
Hey!
So This week was pretty exciting, I saw and talked with Ryan Grow a little in the TRC and then I saw another elder Russell who is going Spanish speaking. That was pretty cool. Everyone seems to be jealous of the fact that my hair doesn't appear to be getting significantly longer at all and I haven't needed a haircut since I got here (which has been really nice since the lines are generally really, really long). We went through another endownment session with the Russian missionaries, I'll try to get a pic with them before I send pictures to you all.
Brother Wilson told me (we have almost weekly interviews with our teachers) that my comprehension on the russian language is really good and that I understand the structure really well. And I told him I just need to work on vocab, which is true.
I appreciate Shelly saying that if I don't get mail everyday it's the post-office's fault.....I'm sure that all those letters will be snatched up and I'll never see them again.
This past sunday they finally played the Testaments in the big gym so we could all see it (after the fireside of course) and it was amazing! I had something interesting happen to me this week, I was telling a story to my companion (about Skip the horse) and I mentioned that he was "ornery" and I said it or-ner-ee and he had no clue what I was saying and he said "you mean 'on-ree'" and I said no. Anyway we thought it was interesting the way that I say certain words from the rest of the people here.
Oh, When I was playing soccer I wass running after the ball and someone in my district ran into me and their chin ran into my head. It hurt. He was fine and I'm fine now.
Thank you for all of the letters that I got over the weekend! I had 8 dear elders a letter and a box, which was nice since my head hurt.
Not a lot happens here but I'm going to try to send pictures in a pouch thing so hopefully they'll get to everyone somehow.
I love you all!
Elder Russell
Naps on P Day - Who Knew?
Tue, 9/14/10, Christopher Russell
From: Christopher Russell
Subject: Hey Everyone
Date: Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 11:21 AM
HI!
So we got our new district this week which is pretty exciting, of course 1/2 of them pretty much know about as much as we do with russian so it should be interesting. Last week the email thing was terrible and I had a hard time doing anything.....I'll be much happier when this timer is gone and I can fix problems. Last wednesday we taught as a 3some in the TRC which went better than I thought it would've. I apparently have connections with others in the district that I didn't know about. I taught the lesson on Sunday which went really well and I think that I helped people so that's good. We found out that we can take naps on P-day....not that we have much time to do that, but it's good to know. Someone in my district said that if you put pictures of christ on packages that you send to Ukraine that they will arrive fine because people think they'll be cursed for tampering with them. My companion was sick this week which inevitably led to me being sick, which I still am, and it means I'm not thinking straight, I'm irritable, and I'm tired. I slept for 4 extra hours this morning because I didn't feel up to the temple, which I hope doesn't enrage my companion...but he seems to be poking fun at me more lately since I'm overly irritable.......
Brian Leaves Wednesday so I got to talk to him on Sunday which was pretty cool, and he gave me his email address so we can talk when we're in the field. The GYM is under construction still, which means that I will be able to use it for about 3 weeks before I set out....ironic. And on saturday there were extra russians in the TRC so we were able to teach them the 2nd lesson before we actually needed to! It was great and I think that it really helped us and boosted confidence. My companion is now the senior companion as well as the district leader, he's been pretty careful to make sure the rules are kept since the new district doesn't know what the rules are and such. But our zone seems to be pretty immature lately.
Hopefully you will get pictures soon!
Love you all!
Elder Russell
From: Christopher Russell
Subject: Hey Everyone
Date: Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 11:21 AM
HI!
So we got our new district this week which is pretty exciting, of course 1/2 of them pretty much know about as much as we do with russian so it should be interesting. Last week the email thing was terrible and I had a hard time doing anything.....I'll be much happier when this timer is gone and I can fix problems. Last wednesday we taught as a 3some in the TRC which went better than I thought it would've. I apparently have connections with others in the district that I didn't know about. I taught the lesson on Sunday which went really well and I think that I helped people so that's good. We found out that we can take naps on P-day....not that we have much time to do that, but it's good to know. Someone in my district said that if you put pictures of christ on packages that you send to Ukraine that they will arrive fine because people think they'll be cursed for tampering with them. My companion was sick this week which inevitably led to me being sick, which I still am, and it means I'm not thinking straight, I'm irritable, and I'm tired. I slept for 4 extra hours this morning because I didn't feel up to the temple, which I hope doesn't enrage my companion...but he seems to be poking fun at me more lately since I'm overly irritable.......
Brian Leaves Wednesday so I got to talk to him on Sunday which was pretty cool, and he gave me his email address so we can talk when we're in the field. The GYM is under construction still, which means that I will be able to use it for about 3 weeks before I set out....ironic. And on saturday there were extra russians in the TRC so we were able to teach them the 2nd lesson before we actually needed to! It was great and I think that it really helped us and boosted confidence. My companion is now the senior companion as well as the district leader, he's been pretty careful to make sure the rules are kept since the new district doesn't know what the rules are and such. But our zone seems to be pretty immature lately.
Hopefully you will get pictures soon!
Love you all!
Elder Russell
Rhino Charging....
From: Christopher Russell
Subject: Hey Everyone
To: "Steve Russell"
Date: Tuesday, September 7, 2010, 11:51 AM
Hey everyone back home!
Happy birthday to My Grandma Russell and to Krista Parker!!!!! :)
So this week our russian teacher had to figure out how to put our names in cyrillic and he found a name for everyone but me because there is no "u" sound like there is in russell. So I took him into the other room where the name of Russell M. Nelson was on the wall in cyrillic and we got it figured out....I'm special!!! Yay!
So for gym I've been known as the rhino because I play defender and I can sprint at about 15-17 mph and I'm 200 pounds. So people fear me charging :). I've also started playing volleyball, which is not as much fun at 7:30 in the morning as one would think it is....can't feel feet. So I'm playing that in the afternoon now. Our TRC task went a lot better than I thought it would, I apparently know more russian than I think I do. We had two SYL days this week and in order to keep it going we have a pink beanie baby seahorse that we give to the last person that spoke in english. I never got it which made me happy. My companion is having a lot of trouble with the language since until a week ago he didn't really know how to study it...I'm just really grateful for the mind I've been blessed with that helps me to understand these concepts, and my french knowledge has helped a lot. I've been talking with some elders recently about how long they're here for and they say "oh I'm leaving in a couple of days and I went crazy after the first two weeks here, but now it's the third week and I'm out of here" to which I say "I've been here six weeks with six more to go" they then stare at me like I'm crazy and apologize for my suffering. I then think that we are all called to different missions because of what we're able to handle, both in language and the training and the field, cool!
We get five new missionaries today from germany, japan, and somewhere else. And this wed we get some more american missionaries as well. Used gloves today and they are amazing! It's getting a bit chilly here since the fall is coming. Taught a native russian teacher with my companion yesterday and she speaks really really fast! Russians apparently onlyy use backpacks through elementary school so I'll have to figure out how to deal with that issue. Having a little trouble figuring out what to study since I can pretty much say what I'm trying to say by using other words to get around it. Teaching the first lesson on Wed againn so that should go better than the one that we did last week.
Oh, so I have a ridiculously low voice and one day we were singing onward christian soliders in russian and I was doing the bass part of the chorus but there's a point where there's only bass singing and nobody was singing with me (they did for the first two verses) so I belt out a super low note and I'm the only onee singing so everyone started laughing, it was pretty funny.
Have to go!
Elder Russell
Subject: Hey Everyone
To: "Steve Russell"
Date: Tuesday, September 7, 2010, 11:51 AM
Hey everyone back home!
Happy birthday to My Grandma Russell and to Krista Parker!!!!! :)
So this week our russian teacher had to figure out how to put our names in cyrillic and he found a name for everyone but me because there is no "u" sound like there is in russell. So I took him into the other room where the name of Russell M. Nelson was on the wall in cyrillic and we got it figured out....I'm special!!! Yay!
So for gym I've been known as the rhino because I play defender and I can sprint at about 15-17 mph and I'm 200 pounds. So people fear me charging :). I've also started playing volleyball, which is not as much fun at 7:30 in the morning as one would think it is....can't feel feet. So I'm playing that in the afternoon now. Our TRC task went a lot better than I thought it would, I apparently know more russian than I think I do. We had two SYL days this week and in order to keep it going we have a pink beanie baby seahorse that we give to the last person that spoke in english. I never got it which made me happy. My companion is having a lot of trouble with the language since until a week ago he didn't really know how to study it...I'm just really grateful for the mind I've been blessed with that helps me to understand these concepts, and my french knowledge has helped a lot. I've been talking with some elders recently about how long they're here for and they say "oh I'm leaving in a couple of days and I went crazy after the first two weeks here, but now it's the third week and I'm out of here" to which I say "I've been here six weeks with six more to go" they then stare at me like I'm crazy and apologize for my suffering. I then think that we are all called to different missions because of what we're able to handle, both in language and the training and the field, cool!
We get five new missionaries today from germany, japan, and somewhere else. And this wed we get some more american missionaries as well. Used gloves today and they are amazing! It's getting a bit chilly here since the fall is coming. Taught a native russian teacher with my companion yesterday and she speaks really really fast! Russians apparently onlyy use backpacks through elementary school so I'll have to figure out how to deal with that issue. Having a little trouble figuring out what to study since I can pretty much say what I'm trying to say by using other words to get around it. Teaching the first lesson on Wed againn so that should go better than the one that we did last week.
Oh, so I have a ridiculously low voice and one day we were singing onward christian soliders in russian and I was doing the bass part of the chorus but there's a point where there's only bass singing and nobody was singing with me (they did for the first two verses) so I belt out a super low note and I'm the only onee singing so everyone started laughing, it was pretty funny.
Have to go!
Elder Russell
Friday, September 3, 2010
Ukraine Tidbits
Here are a few things I have learned about the Ukraine in the last few weeks...
Did you know that 40% of the energy consumption in Ukraine is nuclear? In fact the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is located in Ukraine.
Did you know that between 1991 and 2009, when the church was introduced to the Ukraine, there have been 10,722 baptisms, thats 1.6 baptisms a day - and Chris isn't even there yet!
Did you know the Easter Egg tradition, pysanky, has long roots in Ukraine? These eggs were drawn on with wax to create a pattern; then, the dye was applied to give the eggs their pleasant colours, the dye did not affect the previously wax-coated parts of the egg. After the entire egg was dyed, the wax was removed leaving only the colourful pattern. This tradition is thousands of years old, and precedes the arrival of Christianity to Ukraine.
More to come...
Did you know that 40% of the energy consumption in Ukraine is nuclear? In fact the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is located in Ukraine.
Did you know that between 1991 and 2009, when the church was introduced to the Ukraine, there have been 10,722 baptisms, thats 1.6 baptisms a day - and Chris isn't even there yet!
Did you know the Easter Egg tradition, pysanky, has long roots in Ukraine? These eggs were drawn on with wax to create a pattern; then, the dye was applied to give the eggs their pleasant colours, the dye did not affect the previously wax-coated parts of the egg. After the entire egg was dyed, the wax was removed leaving only the colourful pattern. This tradition is thousands of years old, and precedes the arrival of Christianity to Ukraine.
More to come...
Conversing in Russian already!
--- On Tue, 8/31/10, Christopher Russell wrote:
Subject: Hey
To: "Steve Russell"
Date: Tuesday, August 31, 2010, 11:44 AM
Hey Everyone!
So last tuesday we were able to go to a devotional where Jeffery R holland spoke and it was amazing. He told us how much we are all loved and needed by God and the church leaders......it was cool.
I'm going to try to send some pictures but I'm fairly confident that I won't get any out until after I'm in the field. These computers have a ridiculous amount of workaround protection so that I can't do anything close to doing something wrong...reminds me of when the people put the extra laws on the law of moses so that there was no possible way that they could sin......
My companion is now the district leader and half of our zone is gone, we get new people in 8 days so it should be really neat to get new people and be the older zone. I have pictures of my entire zone and district but if I can't send them to you I don't know when you'll see them.
On wednesday we're teaching the first lesson in russian at 6:30 so I would love it if you would all pray for me:) .We got a new teacher (this is number 11 so hopefully we don't lose him too) and because of that our schedule changed again (second time already) and we now have 6 hours of MDT (studying) on Monday....gift/curse since we need to be productive for all of that time and it's really hard.
My pen ran out of ink so I got several felt tip ones that were really nice (I know I have other pens) because I really wanted them and I have extra money on my card that I need to use before I leave. I can actually carry on a conversation in Russian now which is pretty amazing to me, my companion seems to be struggling with it and I'm just trying to help out but he seems to be on edge lately. Our TRC task went well last week and I was able to use circumlocution to talk to the person in Russian. Progressive investigators are gone because school started again so won't see him anymore.
Jealous of Brian since he's already thinking in Spanish and I'm still trying to practice reading Russian...but I'll be fine :). I want to point out that I was devastated to hear that I somehow managed to forget the email addresses of my siblings in about 3 weeks here at the MTC and then found out that they didn't even bother to check their emails.....silly siblings. If I send mail to you can you send a dear elder to at least let me know that you got it please, it would really help me out.
I think I can have pictures sent to me by mail alyssa if you want to send a picture of or copy of your artwork. Other people have cats on their walls.
Love you all!
Elder Russell
Subject: Hey
To: "Steve Russell"
Date: Tuesday, August 31, 2010, 11:44 AM
Hey Everyone!
So last tuesday we were able to go to a devotional where Jeffery R holland spoke and it was amazing. He told us how much we are all loved and needed by God and the church leaders......it was cool.
I'm going to try to send some pictures but I'm fairly confident that I won't get any out until after I'm in the field. These computers have a ridiculous amount of workaround protection so that I can't do anything close to doing something wrong...reminds me of when the people put the extra laws on the law of moses so that there was no possible way that they could sin......
My companion is now the district leader and half of our zone is gone, we get new people in 8 days so it should be really neat to get new people and be the older zone. I have pictures of my entire zone and district but if I can't send them to you I don't know when you'll see them.
On wednesday we're teaching the first lesson in russian at 6:30 so I would love it if you would all pray for me:) .We got a new teacher (this is number 11 so hopefully we don't lose him too) and because of that our schedule changed again (second time already) and we now have 6 hours of MDT (studying) on Monday....gift/curse since we need to be productive for all of that time and it's really hard.
My pen ran out of ink so I got several felt tip ones that were really nice (I know I have other pens) because I really wanted them and I have extra money on my card that I need to use before I leave. I can actually carry on a conversation in Russian now which is pretty amazing to me, my companion seems to be struggling with it and I'm just trying to help out but he seems to be on edge lately. Our TRC task went well last week and I was able to use circumlocution to talk to the person in Russian. Progressive investigators are gone because school started again so won't see him anymore.
Jealous of Brian since he's already thinking in Spanish and I'm still trying to practice reading Russian...but I'll be fine :). I want to point out that I was devastated to hear that I somehow managed to forget the email addresses of my siblings in about 3 weeks here at the MTC and then found out that they didn't even bother to check their emails.....silly siblings. If I send mail to you can you send a dear elder to at least let me know that you got it please, it would really help me out.
I think I can have pictures sent to me by mail alyssa if you want to send a picture of or copy of your artwork. Other people have cats on their walls.
Love you all!
Elder Russell
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
I really enjoy getting stuff almost every day!
From: Christopher Russell
Date: Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 11:30 AM
Hey Everyone!
So I want to make sure that mom knows that I got my gloves(they fit snugly), her box, and the wises box on Thursday. It was very exciting and I'm very grateful for everything that I received. I fixed my watch and got all of the pictures that were sent to me.
Not much happened this week, other than getting 3 pckages on the same day. Our progressive investigator was out of town so we couldn't teach him. Our Wed TRC task we taught one of our teachers the plan of salvation (it was our first time) and he said that we did great (apparently better than the teachers quorum) and that we really worked well together and properly addressed his concerns. Then yesterday we were teaching the three sisters in our district ( I hope that I've mentioned them before) and they told us that we'll be awesome missionaries, we have great unity, and we know what we're talking about and have testimonies of it. That was pretty cool to hear, but I'm just glad that I can get along and study together well enough with my companion to be able to bring the spirit as we teach the lessons.
I guess that I should mention that there is a lot of construction going on here, kind of annoying considering that this is the MTC and sounds of construction equip/smells of welding aren't condusive to a spiritual environment.
Thank you for all of the letters and Packages! I really enjoy getting stuff almost every day!
Elder Paccel
Date: Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 11:30 AM
Hey Everyone!
So I want to make sure that mom knows that I got my gloves(they fit snugly), her box, and the wises box on Thursday. It was very exciting and I'm very grateful for everything that I received. I fixed my watch and got all of the pictures that were sent to me.
Not much happened this week, other than getting 3 pckages on the same day. Our progressive investigator was out of town so we couldn't teach him. Our Wed TRC task we taught one of our teachers the plan of salvation (it was our first time) and he said that we did great (apparently better than the teachers quorum) and that we really worked well together and properly addressed his concerns. Then yesterday we were teaching the three sisters in our district ( I hope that I've mentioned them before) and they told us that we'll be awesome missionaries, we have great unity, and we know what we're talking about and have testimonies of it. That was pretty cool to hear, but I'm just glad that I can get along and study together well enough with my companion to be able to bring the spirit as we teach the lessons.
I guess that I should mention that there is a lot of construction going on here, kind of annoying considering that this is the MTC and sounds of construction equip/smells of welding aren't condusive to a spiritual environment.
Thank you for all of the letters and Packages! I really enjoy getting stuff almost every day!
Elder Paccel
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The Secret Life of a Russian Speaking Missionary
From: Christopher Russell
Date: Tuesday, August 17, 2010, 1:29 PM
Hello everyone!
So I guess this week I'll disclose the secret life of a russian speaking missionary. We are learning the Russian lessons (so far we can teach how the gospel blesses families and that god loves you) but so far we have only taught in english. We do our approaches, bear testimony, and pray in russian too. And we do SYL during lunch.
On an average day we have 7 hrs of class time and close to 4 hrs of MDT(missionary directed time) as well as 50 min of gym time. I can't really describe Sundays but there's 8 hrs of study time then there's: sacrament, priesthood, fireside, and then a film. P-Day we have 3.5 hours of studying and 2 hrs of Devotional/devotional review time. The only time that I have to write letters is during a three hour slot where we need to do laundry as well. Temple is every tuesday morning.
The food is about the same as at BYU but the lines are insanely worse since they schedule 1/3 of all the missionaries for the same time zone and we happen to be the time where the cafeteria opens so we can't show up early to beat the lines. For learning Russian we read, memorize phrases, and practice different cases (french doesn't have cases so it's weird).
My companion is from Vernal,Utah he's a bit of a germophobe and likes sci-fi shows (just like me) so it's fun. He takes a while to get ready in the morning and needs to wash his hands fairly often...but it's fine, I'm patient. His grandparents were in the MTC for a few weeks so I got to meet them and we sat down and had meals together. They're gone now to Nauvoo.
Every week that we are here we get $6 added to our card that we can use for things like extra food, candy, and supplies. I can get an oil vial here with that money.
This week we taught our progressive investigator again and he didn't pray about the Book of Mormon because he didn't see why he needed to. Needless to say he asked other questions as well (too many to write) and we were stumped. But the coolest thing happened, 30 minutes before we were going to teach him we decided to scrap the original lesson and focus on his commitment, which meant we were prepared a little bit for it. Tomorrow we teach the plan of salvation to a random volunteer for the first time so it should be really good.
I got the package from the Rixners on Friday (Thank you!!!!!) and I'm glad to see that California weather is back to normal.
Love you all!
Elder Pyccл
Date: Tuesday, August 17, 2010, 1:29 PM
Hello everyone!
So I guess this week I'll disclose the secret life of a russian speaking missionary. We are learning the Russian lessons (so far we can teach how the gospel blesses families and that god loves you) but so far we have only taught in english. We do our approaches, bear testimony, and pray in russian too. And we do SYL during lunch.
On an average day we have 7 hrs of class time and close to 4 hrs of MDT(missionary directed time) as well as 50 min of gym time. I can't really describe Sundays but there's 8 hrs of study time then there's: sacrament, priesthood, fireside, and then a film. P-Day we have 3.5 hours of studying and 2 hrs of Devotional/devotional review time. The only time that I have to write letters is during a three hour slot where we need to do laundry as well. Temple is every tuesday morning.
The food is about the same as at BYU but the lines are insanely worse since they schedule 1/3 of all the missionaries for the same time zone and we happen to be the time where the cafeteria opens so we can't show up early to beat the lines. For learning Russian we read, memorize phrases, and practice different cases (french doesn't have cases so it's weird).
My companion is from Vernal,Utah he's a bit of a germophobe and likes sci-fi shows (just like me) so it's fun. He takes a while to get ready in the morning and needs to wash his hands fairly often...but it's fine, I'm patient. His grandparents were in the MTC for a few weeks so I got to meet them and we sat down and had meals together. They're gone now to Nauvoo.
Every week that we are here we get $6 added to our card that we can use for things like extra food, candy, and supplies. I can get an oil vial here with that money.
This week we taught our progressive investigator again and he didn't pray about the Book of Mormon because he didn't see why he needed to. Needless to say he asked other questions as well (too many to write) and we were stumped. But the coolest thing happened, 30 minutes before we were going to teach him we decided to scrap the original lesson and focus on his commitment, which meant we were prepared a little bit for it. Tomorrow we teach the plan of salvation to a random volunteer for the first time so it should be really good.
I got the package from the Rixners on Friday (Thank you!!!!!) and I'm glad to see that California weather is back to normal.
Love you all!
Elder Pyccл
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Chris to all - keep writing! August 10, 2010
From: Christopher Russell
Subject: Hey Everyone!
Date: Tuesday, August 10, 2010, 1:31 PM
Hey Everyone!
First things first: Alyssa's letter arrived on the 7th, Rixners on the 5th, and Wises on the 9th.
Thank you for writing! I really liked the letters from the munchkins and Lucy and Max. Make sure the Simpsons get a copy of these letters since it sounds like they don't. Today we went to the temple with the Russian natives which was cool since there is a temple worker who speaks russian and did it for them! Most had never been to the temple before so it was cool.
We are put into companionships with new elders when we arrive and switch off who is senior companion every six weeks. Keep same companion for duration of MTC. I'm fine with having a blog just make sure that everyone knows where it is. Every Sunday night after the fireside we can go see a movie and this week we saw the restoration which really testified to me, probably because I know now more than ever how true the gospel is. Just shows you how much the spirit is here since that movie hasn't affected me before.
We're currently teaching a progressive investigator (teachers who pretend and keep commitments). We've taught 2 lessons so far and we go back on Saturday to teach another lesson. Hope that that goes well. My russian is coming along as well as it can be. Every Wednesday we go to the TRC where we teach volunteers the lessons. This week we're teaching the first lesson again, I'm not worried since through practice and listening to the holy ghost we are able to switch off who's speaking fairly easily.
MTC food isn't getting any better and my zone leader said his friend's stomach lining was eaten away by it! I survived BYU food so I should be fine. I'm running low on Candy and found out that we can't chew gum , listen to music at the MTC (at all), or wear sunglasses.
Love you all! Hope everyone's having fun the last weeks of summer!
Elder Russell
Subject: Hey Everyone!
Date: Tuesday, August 10, 2010, 1:31 PM
Hey Everyone!
First things first: Alyssa's letter arrived on the 7th, Rixners on the 5th, and Wises on the 9th.
Thank you for writing! I really liked the letters from the munchkins and Lucy and Max. Make sure the Simpsons get a copy of these letters since it sounds like they don't. Today we went to the temple with the Russian natives which was cool since there is a temple worker who speaks russian and did it for them! Most had never been to the temple before so it was cool.
We are put into companionships with new elders when we arrive and switch off who is senior companion every six weeks. Keep same companion for duration of MTC. I'm fine with having a blog just make sure that everyone knows where it is. Every Sunday night after the fireside we can go see a movie and this week we saw the restoration which really testified to me, probably because I know now more than ever how true the gospel is. Just shows you how much the spirit is here since that movie hasn't affected me before.
We're currently teaching a progressive investigator (teachers who pretend and keep commitments). We've taught 2 lessons so far and we go back on Saturday to teach another lesson. Hope that that goes well. My russian is coming along as well as it can be. Every Wednesday we go to the TRC where we teach volunteers the lessons. This week we're teaching the first lesson again, I'm not worried since through practice and listening to the holy ghost we are able to switch off who's speaking fairly easily.
MTC food isn't getting any better and my zone leader said his friend's stomach lining was eaten away by it! I survived BYU food so I should be fine. I'm running low on Candy and found out that we can't chew gum , listen to music at the MTC (at all), or wear sunglasses.
Love you all! Hope everyone's having fun the last weeks of summer!
Elder Russell
First Letter Home (Note his signature) August 3, 2010
From: Christopher Russell
Subject: Hi Everyone
Date: Tuesday, August 3, 2010, 1:30 PM
Hello everyone
So I literally get just a 30 min time slot every week to punch out these emails so I'll try my best to get them in.
My P-Days are on Tuesdays so you won't get any mail from me until then, I've been told that I'm "not allowed" to write directly to friends from my email account and that I'm not supposed to read emails from friends. So if Blake wants to talk to me he should do it through Dear elder. That rule about email only applies while I'm here at the Mtc so once I'm in the field things are different.
So far the dear elder thing works great. I am told that it even works while I'm in the field since it's basically pouch mail. The reimbursement check is in the mail and Dad's shoes aren't in my suitcase. My official day for departure is Oct 13.
I love my companion, we are very much alike and we seem to work very well together. Right now I'm the senior companion. We started learning Russian and it's really really hard. I think it's a bit funny that I keep reverting to french when I can't think of russian words. Apparently I need to learn how to roll my r's which Dad said was genetic and my companion says is practice. We'll see. We taught a lesson on Saturday and I thought that we did pretty well for our first time. And then Monday we taught another one which didn't go so well, mostly because we were thrown into a situation with little background instead of starting out fresh.
I'm writing this on P-Day which is very confusing in the MTC. Lots of clothes changing, but we get to go to the temple.
I talked with Brian and things seem to be going great for him too. We cought up and everyone is right about the timing since everything seems to be going really slowly and quickly at the same time.
Oh! The seal on my watch wasn't put back properly and my watch died several times......I told you Dad.....They don't sell watch screwdrivers so if you could send one it would be great. There's an elder that looks like Carson nichols and my companion looks like Steven Shattuck. I like my nametag's looks.
I need the appropriate ties that I left behind if you could get them in a box and send them up. I forget them.
The MTC is great and I can't believe it's been a week already. I've been told that I probably won't be able to got to the kiev temple but other than that I've heard good things. Apparently though they have the "tu" and "vous" thing like in french and if you do the wrong one they will either laugh at you, punch you in the face, or start beating you with the closest object(usually a broom).
Good things happen in the MTC. I'm glad everyone is doing well: plants are growing, babies teething, cousins busy, and siblings camping. Thank you for all of the letters and please keep writing them! I'll keep in touch!
Старейшина Russell
Subject: Hi Everyone
Date: Tuesday, August 3, 2010, 1:30 PM
Hello everyone
So I literally get just a 30 min time slot every week to punch out these emails so I'll try my best to get them in.
My P-Days are on Tuesdays so you won't get any mail from me until then, I've been told that I'm "not allowed" to write directly to friends from my email account and that I'm not supposed to read emails from friends. So if Blake wants to talk to me he should do it through Dear elder. That rule about email only applies while I'm here at the Mtc so once I'm in the field things are different.
So far the dear elder thing works great. I am told that it even works while I'm in the field since it's basically pouch mail. The reimbursement check is in the mail and Dad's shoes aren't in my suitcase. My official day for departure is Oct 13.
I love my companion, we are very much alike and we seem to work very well together. Right now I'm the senior companion. We started learning Russian and it's really really hard. I think it's a bit funny that I keep reverting to french when I can't think of russian words. Apparently I need to learn how to roll my r's which Dad said was genetic and my companion says is practice. We'll see. We taught a lesson on Saturday and I thought that we did pretty well for our first time. And then Monday we taught another one which didn't go so well, mostly because we were thrown into a situation with little background instead of starting out fresh.
I'm writing this on P-Day which is very confusing in the MTC. Lots of clothes changing, but we get to go to the temple.
I talked with Brian and things seem to be going great for him too. We cought up and everyone is right about the timing since everything seems to be going really slowly and quickly at the same time.
Oh! The seal on my watch wasn't put back properly and my watch died several times......I told you Dad.....They don't sell watch screwdrivers so if you could send one it would be great. There's an elder that looks like Carson nichols and my companion looks like Steven Shattuck. I like my nametag's looks.
I need the appropriate ties that I left behind if you could get them in a box and send them up. I forget them.
The MTC is great and I can't believe it's been a week already. I've been told that I probably won't be able to got to the kiev temple but other than that I've heard good things. Apparently though they have the "tu" and "vous" thing like in french and if you do the wrong one they will either laugh at you, punch you in the face, or start beating you with the closest object(usually a broom).
Good things happen in the MTC. I'm glad everyone is doing well: plants are growing, babies teething, cousins busy, and siblings camping. Thank you for all of the letters and please keep writing them! I'll keep in touch!
Старейшина Russell
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