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
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
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
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