January 30^th, 2017 – Well I almost made it over the Border

So I got a call from President Craig on Wednesday at 4 and he said Sister we can't send you to Warroad because you are a Canadian but you are leaving Brandon and not going to Warroad. I don't know where you are going or who your companion will be but you will be leaving Brandon. So I got a call a little after 10 that I was going to be going to Winnipeg London Ward whitewashing and my companion is going to be Sister Smith. Yup. That’s right my companion was my trainer and I am with her again.​ It was hard to say goodbye to Brandon, because I met a lot of people that I really grew to Love. Tomorrow marks my 5 months out

January 23^rd, 2017 The Place everyone said I would not go is where I am going...

Well with I am going Warroad Minnesota. Yup I am going to a foreign place.  I did not think I was going to leave Brandon so soon..... I just love Brandon. It feels like home I love the members and this city. They are taking out the sisters in Brandon :( which is really sad.)  Well on a brighter note Sister Osborn and I hit the Standard of excellence this week for member present discussions. 

I hope you are all doing well. Love ya. I'll write again from Warroad

Editor Note: Warroad, Minnesota is 5 miles south of the Canadian border on the US side of "Lake of The Woods" it famous for Hockey, Fishing and Marvin Windows.  The church building is in Swift, Minnesota about 6 miles from Warroad)

January 16, 2016 Milk Shakes on Russell Street.

This week a member gave us some ice cream so we had milk shakes a couple of times.  My favorite being the Oreo Berry flavored milk shake.

We’ve been able to find a couple of new investigators this week which makes the week fun. The one is an older less active man who may be lonely and just wants to talk but that’s okay. We contacted one of our old investigators and after visiting with her a couple of times she has now committed to baptism in February.

We were only able to leave the apartment for a few hours on both Wednesday and Thursday because of the extreme cold.  It does get cold here.  

We taught the young women’s about “ASK” (Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge) We went to seminary sports night and watched the Elders do spiritual Pictionary with the youth.  

January 9, 2016 – My new best friend   

Well it has been a great week! I hope you can watch the video.

Monday: We had a meal appointment with an investigator. She feed us Mac and Cheese and hot dogs. It was good. We also had a family home evening with a couple in our ward name the Jensen's. They are great I just love them. We played the plan of Salvation game my Aunt Vonda sent to me for Christmas. I had a really good night.

Tuesday: I had Zone Training meet. Talking about the Inspired plan for our mission and standard of excellence for our mission this year. The Zone leaders and Sister Training Leaders did a really good job explaining things. And in the video you can hear what happened before we got to the church for the meeting.

Friday: Drove to Winnipeg did tracting and finding there with Sister Kearl the person I was on exchanges with.

Saturday: I did more tracting and finding, stopped by some less active and what not. Drove back to Brandon.

Sunday: We had ward council. It is really cool to see all the different ways ward council is lead and what is brought up. We had a meal appointment with a less active and her husband. I just love them so much. The food was so good. And they have the cutest dog ever. Her name is Shandy and she is a Great Dane. She is so friendly and cute!

Those are the highlights for my week. I hope ya all have a great week.

Love,

Sister Russell

p.s. Feed your missionaries in your ward they really love being fed;)

I saw Justin's blog and I will take snow any day over snakes and gaiters no way.

January 2^nd, 2017- The Black Out year has begun

I hope you had a great new year. It is crazy to think that it is 2017! I am doing well in cold Manitoba. I reached my 4 month mark on New years Eve crazy. It feels like I just got here. I hope ya all can see the video and the pictures. And I hope ya have a great new year. And I hope you have a goal to become closer to the savior this year. 

Love,

Sister Russell

PS: So I made cookie salad to bring to my Christmas dinner and everyone just loved it

Toasting the new year with sparkling water 

Brandon Elders locked out

December 26^th, 2016 - 4 wheel Drive would be nice.

Well happy Boxing day! Sister Osborn and I tried to get to drive our car to day.... lets just say we did not get out of the parking lot. So we just walked more than 8 blocks to use a computer.... It was cold but I endure a trail of Manitoba blizzards. Oh so on Wednesday we forgot that we plugged in our car.... Well lets just say it ended bad... the plug completely came off. That was pretty eventful I hope you all had a great Christmas. I had a great Christmas I got to Skype my family and it was really nice to talk and see them. Oakley sang to me Blue Christmas! I got to sleep in till 9am because it was Christmas which felt amazing! I hope you all had a great time doing #light the world! I am really enjoying Brandon! I hope you all will have a great holiday!

Love,

Sister M. Russell

Attempting to fix the block heater cord and the drift around our car

On our way to church

December 19^th, 2016 – Out with the old and in with the Cold

Manitoba is cold!!!! I had to stay in on Saturday because we are not allowed to leave our apartment if it is below -40 with a wind chill so I had to stay in on Saturday. 

I am liking Brandon so far. It has a lot of hills not like Regina. The church is smaller... half the ward only speaks Spanish. I really which I could understand them....maybe I will learn Spanish while I am here? 

My companion name is Sister Osborn she is from Rexburg Idaho. She is amazing!! I love her already!! She has been out for 15 months. She loves Disney and she has worked at Disney World was well. She is great. I am excited for this transfer and the miracles that are in store here in Brandon.

I hope ya`ll will have a great Christmas!!!

I am in the Winnipeg Stake. The ward is a little smaller than the Park Lake ward. Manitoba is freezing. I could not even go out on Saturday because it was -42 degrees with a wind-chill.  I am hoping Sister Osborn and I will be companions next transfer as well

Love,

Sister Russell 

December 12, 2016

Well... today was transfer calls I am going to Brandon, Manitoba. I will be leaving Regina on Thursday morning. I am excited and sad all at the same time. 

This week has been very eventful. I had to move apartments. The new apartment is really nice. So I have been pretty busy moving and packing. I also got to go to the Regina temple! I am glad I had the privilege of going because there are some missionary who never get to go if they don't serve in Regina. So I am happy I got to go. It is a big blessing that I can. 

I hope you are having a great Christmas season.

Love,

Sister Russell

I got to see Spears's as well

December 5^th, 2016

Hello,

This week has  been very adventitious. Tuesday I got to go out of the city and head to some small towns tracking and going by members houses that live out there. Wednesday we had interviews with my mission president. It was really nice to talk to him. Thursday I had to leave my apartment 6:30 in the morning to head up to Saskatoon for our Christmas Zone Conference. I just loved every minute of it! We learned so much. After supper there we got our Christmas packages and mail and what not and got to watch a movie! We watched "Cokeville Miracle" something like that. It was so amazing it just shows how powerful prayer really is!  If you have not seen it go watch it! I didn`t get home till midnight. So late night early morning. Friday I wake up at 6:30 like normal other then I only had 5 hours of sleep. We helped at the Bishop`s storehouse which I love helping at. We also attended a Philippine party... they know how to party. Saturday our ward had it`s Christmas party. Sunday we had church and the Christmas devotional which was really good. That was my pass week in a nutshell. I hope you are doing the #lighttheworld. I hope you will enjoy this Christmas season.

Love,

Sister Russell

Kenzie met Tammy Tanner while in Saskatoon

November 28^th, 2016

# Light the World In 25 Ways. Over 25 Days. I hope the missionaries or your wards have talked a little about this and I hope you are going to do it! I am getting so excited just type it! I really do think we will make a difference if we do this and it will bless our life.

You maybe wondering why I did not do a group email last week... well I was part of an emergency exchange. So I have a new companion (It was not because of Sister Smith and I we got along really well but because she is a sister training leader she had to step in and what not so now I have a different companion). My new companions name is Sister Tilby. She is from Utah. 

Well those who know my Regina address well, I am moving to a different place so please just send letters to the mission home. I don't know my new address and because transfer calls are in 2 weeks today so I don’t know where I will be. 

I hope ya'll are doing well and are enjoying this Christmas season.

Love,

Sister Russell

Sister Tilby and me

November 14^th, 2016 – Well nothing like an explosion

Who new light bulbs could explode.... Well now I know they can. I am impressed

I did not have a heart attack. So my companion and I bought a light bulb for the bathroom last Monday.  And on Tuesday it exploded. So my week started with a bang.

I had a really great and busy week. The hours feel like weeks and weeks feel like days. This transfer it is my goal to write down a miracle I see a day. It is amazing to see all the miracles that we have daily and life gets busy and we stop noticing or seeing the miracles heavenly father has given us.

So my challenge is to write down a miracle you see today. I hope all of ya will have a great miracle filled week.

Love,

Sister M. Russell

November 7^th, 2016

Well..... it is another miracle full week. We were headed back to our car it was 845 so we were going to head home to make it home at 9. We were street contacting and we saw him and we asked him if we could ask him a question. and he told us we already had. He told us do you remember me you talked to me at the park a couple of weeks ago and that we changed his life. " you may not know the affects that you have on people but you had an effect on me." So it is really nice to see how we can change people’s life. 

This week I challenge you to pray to know who`s life you can help change!

Love,

Sister Russell

p.s. Saskatchewan sunsets are beautiful! 

October 31^st

Happy Halloween,

I am staying in Regina with Sister Smith another transfer!!! I am doing great. It is weird to think that tomorrow is Halloween!

I thought because I was in Canada I would not have to eat weird foods, well I was wrong. On Oct 29 I went over to a members house and had Balut it was 13 weeks developed. I have picture of it on my spoon. Yes I did eat it. 

On Oct 28 I went to a village called Craven. It is super cutie. And the people there are super friendly. Well each of their fire-hydrant in this village was painted. There were more we just ran out of time to see them all. I have all the pictures of the ones we saw. I hope you like them as much as I do!! 

I hope you are doing well.

Love,

Sister Russell

In Craven Saskatchewan and enjoying some "Balut"

More from Craven, Saskatchewan

October 17, 2016

Hello!

What a week it has been. It was here and gone before I know it. All and all it was a really good week!

Some questions people have been asking me which I should have told you. My companion's name is Sister Smith she is from Idaho she is super cheerful and funny. We get along great. I get feed by a member 2 times a week... Amanda is in my ward. And I am doing great! 

At my zone training meeting we got introduced to 84 days Atonement study it takes roughly 15 minutes a day and I am attaching it so you can do it with me!!! 

As many of you have noticed I am on Face Book. I share the gospel on it. Please feel free to commit on my post but I cannot message anyone from the messages other than members in my proselyting area and investigators in my area.

I hope all of you have a fabulous week! :)

A Saskatchewan Sunset

October 10, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving,

It is snowing right now... it snowed last week a couple of days... it is to early for snow. 

So my companion is a sister training leader and her companion for leadership is already also training. So they had a leadership training meeting on Friday so the other Sister that has been out for a little more than two weeks was my companion. It was a lot of fun to go tracting and looking at each other to see who was going to take the lead because are companions normally do or tell us what to do and what not so it was really weird in a good way it totally got me out of my comfort zone. We also tried to give J.W. a card they refused but that’s okay it was cool talking to them anyway. 

Sunday I got to teach youth Sunday school. I just loved it so much. The topic "How to help others become more Christ" or something like that. It was a perfect topic for me because that is one of my goals on my mission is to bring others to Christ. Sister Smith and I went on splits so I could teach and she could go with investigators to gospel essential. 

That pretty much it for this week, well at least what I can remember of it anyways.

Love,

Sister M. Russell

October 3^rd, 2016 – I really don’t Remember

Hello,

I made it another week! The weather this week was really good. Didn`t you just love General Conference! It was amazing!!! I just loved all the talks so much. If I had to choose one my favorite would be Russell M. Nelson`s on Joy. I am sharing the message of Joy of the gospel and what a blessing it is in my life. Just for being out for over a month I can see myself change and know how much love and joy is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know this with all my heart. Even though some days are better than others I just got to keep remembering why I am doing this and who I am doing this for. I am so grateful for the support and the prayers. Know that I love you all!

Love,

Sister M. Russell

I almost forgot. This week I did a fast. Our whole mission came together and fasted and it has never happen for years to have this kind of fast. I know because of that fast the Lord will bless us even with more miracles. This is the Mission of Miracles. Our mission is the Canada Winnipeg MISSON

this week has been a lot better. General Conference was amazing. Do me a favor be a ward missionary. See if you if the missionaries need you to go to a lesson. Sister Smith is great she is funny, and she talks a lot there is never a dull moment. There are 6 sets of missions in Regina. So today we had a p-day activity so we played volleyball. And because Sister Smith`s year mark and my month mark was at the end of the week i made a brought skor bar cake and we had it after volleyball. The missionaries here are really nice. I emailed last week at the church and i am emailing today at the library. I am glad you are taking grandma to her eye appointment. Is there any new classes at the church? How is Oakley? How is

Sister Smith and I

September 15^th, 2-016

Hey,

Wow this week has gone by so quick. I have hear and been in the same room as three 12 apostles in 8 days. I heard from D. Todd Christofferson as many as you last Tuesday. Then on Sunday I hear from Russell M. Ballard (it is rare to hear from an apostle on a Sunday). I heard from Quentin L. Cook on Tuesday. It was amazing!!! I wrote notes but I don`t have my notebook with me and I don`t have the time. I have joined the MTC choir. Love it so much. We have choir every Sunday (except fast Sunday) and every Tuesday because those are the days we have the devotionals. So at Christofferson`s we sang Sweet hour of Pray look at the words of the song and the story about it, it is amazing. Our choir director is funny and he tells the background of the songs which makes us try to do our best. So on Sunday we just had practice we did not sing at Ballard but because I am in choir I get a good seat in the room with the Apostle. At Cooks we sang Nearer my god to thee. Again look at the story of that song. My companion and sings suprano and that song is really high... They tape our Devotionals to play at other MTC`s around the world, which is cool that I can see it live.

I fly to Winnipeg on the 21st. I leave Provo at 230 morning. I have a 30 minute layover in Minnesota. 

I Love you all!!!

Love,

Sister M. Russell

My MTC District

September 8^th, 2016

Well when (Wednesday) I got to the MTC the room I got was 2nd floor of 17M (main floor). Thursday all the sister missionaries got call to the gym for something important. Apparently there are bats in are building. I repeat bats. (Someone on the 3rd or 4th floor had a bat on her neck when she wake up). So the meeting was telling us that the sisters on the 3rd and forth floor were moving buildings. So I was like sweet more showers! So on Friday I finally started unpacking everything was great. Saturday morning we had class on stress management and dealing with stress and all that. Our sister training leaders came to our class and told us that we were moving building too. Good thing I had that stress management class right. What are the odds. I love my new room a lot more so that is a blessing and there are only 4 beds in it which is nice because it is all my sisters in my district. Sister Hilton(companion), Sister Gold, and Sister Jenkins. I just love them so much. Sister Hilton is going on the same mission as me and Sister Gold and Sister Jenkins are going to Boston. Out of my whole district (there are 12 of us) I am the only one is not an American so i get a lot of questions because half is going on my mission and the other half is going to Boston. I love those dear elder letters and the other letter. I have the record for the most letters (not including our dear Elders).

 I grateful the support and prayers and think you so much for them.

From this experience my testimony of my Savior has grown. 

I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister M. Russell

p.s. sorry for bad spelling and grammer this email account does not have spell check.