February 26^th, 2018 - Going on exchanges with my old companion

Hello every one!

I wish I had something super fun and exciting to tell you but I don't. My life is not that exciting right now. 

I got to go on exchanges with Sister Patac this week which was so much fun! I love that girl! It was nice being with her again it felt just like old times!  I got to take some pictures with the “I love Winnipeg wall”! That is a place I wanted to get a picture with for a long time so I am happy that I finally got it :) 

Well we had zero investigators at church yesterday so we had to drop the dates so hopefully they come this week, this Sunday so that they can get baptized next week! 

I am still trying to get to know the members it would be easier to get to know them if they fed us.  I went from getting fed 6 days a week to maybe 2 it is sad ;(  But oh well I am still trying to talk to them!

I made it a goal that I would take a picture a day so there should be more pictures next week! 

I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Russell

PS I got to have lunch with someone I’ve been hoping to see

 

February 19^th, - it’s the Final count down

Hello!

I hope you had a fantastic week! 

This week has gone by so quickly because it is already Monday. 

I think the miracle of the week is that we were able to have 6 investigators at sacrament meeting. :) So hopefully we can set days with them to get baptized we have dates with 3 of them :) And we are seeing the 2 families tonight :) 

​We have been able to do a lot of tracting. 

We had zone conference on Wednesday and it was really good. I got to sit beside Sister Patac and Sister Kostiuk two of my former companions so that was really nice. Because it was my last zone conference I was able to bear my testimony and give a talk. It really did not hit me that it was my last zone conference until the closing song and I was hold back the tears. Right now I am typing this on the loaner Smartphone we got them during the zone conference. After having this phone I think I will prefer to have an I Phone when I get home. But it works for now.

I will hopefully have a more exciting email next week and more pictures! 

Love,

Sister Russell ​

--

​Ether 12:4 

 ⚓​ ⚓​ ⚓

 Hope is the anchor of the soul

February 12^th, 2018 -Back to the city life again... it is a lot louder.

 Hello Everyone :)

I am now in Winnipeg serving in the Dalhousie ward. Dalhousie ward meets at the stake center but I really don't know how old the ward is, it just has a lot of newer development at the south end of the city. Our apartment is older but there are 2 bathrooms which is nice so I have my own bathroom! Ya.  No more chopping wood to heat the cabin when I get up.  I got to see Savannah on transfer day which was so nice and because she is YSA I got to see her after church because they cover all of Winnipeg

My new companion is Sister Karr she is from West Valley, Utah. She is pretty cool! 

So the beginning of the week it consisted of me saying good bye to the members in Bergland. I am really going to miss them. It was kinda like my home away from home. It will always have a special place in my heart! 

​Well since being here in Dalhousie we have done a lot of tracting every day. Which is good to be out finding? It is a lot different than being out in the middle of nowhere and there are missionaries everywhere.

I will be getting my rental phone this week on Wednesday at zone conference, that will he weird

Sorry I don't have a lot to report! I hope you see miracles this week. And remember to fed your missionaries :) 

Love,

Sister Russell​

-- 

​Sister Karr and I 

Manitoba sign

sun dog I have been seeing a lot of them,  so, ya it is cold 

And tri-pan together again well at least for a few minutes

February 5, 2018 – Ground Hog Day

Hello!

So I am getting transferred. I am going back to Winnipeg but to the south side of the city (Dalhousie Ward) so that will be new territory for me. I think the Cabela`s store  is in my area so that is cool!  The companion I will be working with is Sister Carr and I will be greenie busting her so that will be fun.  (Greenie Bustin means I will be her second missionary companion)

So as it was the last few days of January and we had 27 people on our visiting teaching list and we had 11 left to do in only those three days but I am happy to say that we got to either see or send letters to 26 of them and we would have got the last one if we had know where the person on the record lived. She lives in Stratton no one in the branch as ever met her and she is in her one hundreds so she might be now living in the spirit world but I was driving through Stratton and we saw a building that kinda looked like an old persons house and we went up to the door and I knocked and the lady who came to the door said that it was not her  She was nice and said she did not know the lady so it was an experience to say the least. But 26 out of 27 was not bad we were going for the 100%and we were so close and who even knows where that lady is. 

The days here have been kinda cold. They cancelled church yesterday which was sad because it wasn't as cold as Saturday. 

So last Monday we went to a sharing circle on the reserve and a lady named Karen was saying that it is “ground hog” day and Sister Silvennoinen said you actually celebrate it? And Karen was like ya and here in Canada everyone dresses up like a ground hog. And I went along with it saying that I wore a brown skirt and a brown shirt and stuff. And we brought it up with others and they were agreeing to that and the whole week we asked people and they all went along with it. And so on Friday Sister Silvennoinen dressed up like a ground hog, I took pictures and I said well this is the time that I tell you we actually don't dress up. It was so funny! Yes I do have pictures ;) She is such a good sport!

 I was able to see the blue super moon it was super clear out here :)

Love you lots!

Love,

Sister Russell

--

​Ether 12:4 

 Hope is the anchor of the soul

January 29^th, 2018 - The time goes so quickly

Hello!

Transfers are next week.  The time between them goes by so quick. 

This week we got to see 5 people on our visiting teaching list! We only have 11 more before the end of the month and we have already done 16 so we are really close to being done but sadly so is the end of the month.

We were able to do some service for one of the sister`s in the branch we got to help clean her house before the branch activity that was on Friday. It was a musical fireside and then a movie “Love, Kennedy” which apparently was really good. The music part is all we had time to stay for and she gave a great talk about the hymns in our hymn book! 

We were able to help another non member lady clean her house this week as well.

 We had the youth come out to our place on Saturday to stack the wood and then they could go sledding down our slope I quite enjoy our slope it is great exercise :). With the new pile of wood it should last so it will be good for a while :)

Last night our Book of Mormon read was good.  We read Mosiah 19-21 it was very interesting

I hope you have a good week! 

Love,

Sister Russell 

Ether 12:4 

 Hope is the anchor of the soul

Bergland

I spy with my little eye..... a knife ​

January 22^nd , 2018 - We thank thee for a prophet

Hello! 

How was your week! I’m going to report on two weeks this time.
I have had a lot of things that I never have I experienced on my mission this week. I got offered a cigarette ( I did not take it), I got called mommy, I went sledding in front of our house, and I saw a cat get killed in front of my eyes by dogs and I got to hear from our new prophet Russell M. Nelson!

Last week we were able to watch President Monson’s funeral.  That was really touching.  We were also able to watch (via Skype) a baptism from Sister Silvennoinen old area.  Technology is wonderful except when your phone dies.  The rest of the week was just appointments with investigators and dropping by to visit some people who don’t attend church very often.

So this week has been kind of eventful. We went to International Falls for district meeting and after that we had interviews.  It is much nicer to have in person meetings rather than Skype meetings. We really enjoyed the Tuesday news conference and listening to President Nelson.  Yesterday I spoke in church and well I spoke for 20 minutes or more. I spoke on the reason we need a restoration and about the Book of Mormon I even used 3 quotes that Mom sent me in it :)  And today we went sledding ( I asked permission before, we are only allowed if they are small slopes and not to extreme!)  It was a lot of fun. 

Other than that my week has been pretty normal!
Love you! Hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Russell

​Ether 12:4 

 Hope is the anchor of the soul

 District Meeting and in front of our wood stove

January 8^th, 2018  - 496 days on the mission

“Happy first week of 2018! 51 more weeks to go :)

This week has been very crazy but good!
On Monday we drove to Winnipeg for zone conference! And we got to take a picture with the Center of Canada sign which is very cool!

Tuesday we had zone conference which was great! We got to learn about our new baptism goal for our mission 180 convert baptism in 2018! It was very exciting! And we got a lot of training on how to work with members!  and we started out on exchanges.  I went with Sister Jimenez.  And I got to see the Hadfield`s! It was really nice being in an old area even for a day! And I got to see Sister Z who is a less active and I helped with her dishes!

Wednesday I was still in Winnipeg and we also ended the exchange in the evening because everything was closed on Monday we were allowed to do a little bit of shopping so we did that and made it to Warroad at 9 and stayed the night there! It was fun being with the Warroad Sisters.

Thursday we did work in Rainy and we helped Selena take out the carpet in her daughter`s room! It was a lot of fun getting dirty :) 

And then we have been doing some work on the reserves this weekend. And we went to Church it wasn't cancelled so that was nice there were 23 of us there :) 

I hope you all had a great week! 

Love you!

Sister Russell 

January 1^st, 2018 The Blackout year has ended

Hello 2018!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year! P-day is today! Zone Conference is tomorrow. So we are driving to Winnipeg after we get our emails done.

And to start off with there will be a full moon tonight so look up and she its beauty.  The old Famers Almanac calls it a “Full Wolf Moon” as opposed to the “Full Cold Moon” in December.  

I can`t believe that 2017 is done with! It really has been a great year with new places, new people, new things and lots of blessings! 

I have never missed going to church on my mission! Until now because of extreme cold they cancelled church so that is really weird.  Mind you minus 40 is weird too. ....

This week has just been crazy and cold .... I really miss summer... 

​I hope 2018 treats you well and remember to set goals because they help us stay motivated and to work hard!​

Love you!
Sister Russell

--

Ether 12:4 

 Hope is the anchor of the soul