We ate goat....

July 17 2017

Wow, so cool seeing a picture of you in Peru! And I'm glad you're having a good time. Here, Sunday passed as I had said. Didn't leave the apartement the entire day. Fortunately nothing crazy happened. Things were back to normal today. We ate goat at a combined family home evening where Elder Robin and Elder Malu Malu taught about marriage. It was good. 

Also even though family home evenings are great, this one went overtime so it is a little late and I'm tired and can't remember everything I wanted to say... yeah. I'll try to get you guys more details next week, which is transfer week.

My SD Card isn't working anymore so we'll search for one Wednesday, so make sure you have the pictures I've already sent if you don't already. 

Nous ne craignons pas l'homme!

Je vous aime!

Elder Russell

....but she does speak Portugeuse

July 10 2017

Here there is not a ton going. Sadly Fr Bel didn't come to Church... again. It's really sad because he reads the Book of Mormon and understands the lessons but he has so much stuff going on in his family and it makes it hard for him to get to Church. We keep on praying for him and hope that he comes. We did meet President and Siser Thompson! That was really cool, they're great. President Thompson has pretty good French and is very patient and understanding. Sister Thompson's French is not as great but she does speak Portugeuse. It was interesting because they gave us the missionary guide things about technology (mostly concerning Ipads) and pretty much everyone wondered if we were getting ipads (I think that would be super weird in this mission). We didn't, thank goodness. It was still aplicable to the electronic devices we have so, not all that weird. We also talked with Sr Melvine, who tried to talk to twice before but she was never home. This week we probably won't be at church because of the municipal elections, we'll see.

I am having so many troubles with photos. Now they won't show up on the computer...

Je vous aime pour toujours et à jamais!

Nous ne craignons pas l'homme!

Elder Russell

Have fun in Peru!

Salut tout le monde!

July 3 2017

Salut tout le monde!

So, this week was okay. I got to go on a split with Elder Mutala, the companion of Elder Favero who is the zone leader (Elder Young is  one of the assistants, he was in Bonarberi when I got to Douala). I have not yet met President and Sister Thompson. I'm sure that will be soon. Sadly, our investigator who has a baptism date for the 16th (Fr Bel) did not come to Church this week (again). We'll have to talk to him about that. Also the 16th there will be Municipal elections, so we might not even leave the apartement. Anyways, we have three other investigators with a baptismal date: Fr Gabby and Fr Jovik (sons of a member, part member family) and Fr Romual (pronounced Ro-meh-al, the brother of Fr Bel) though he didn't come either on Sunday. My companion is a good guy and he works well.

I'm so excited for Ryan, and also for Rachael and Tyler! I can imagine that it is a little stressful. Also, I keep reading things about loving people and that that will help us serve them. That must be important if it keeps coming up. I didn't even recognize Stacey (in the pictures) at first glance, nor Calvin! Wow, everything will be so different when I get home.

The usb ports of the computer I chose don't work... dang it.

Je vous aime!

Nous ne craignons pas l'homme!

Elder Russell

Hi Calvin!!!

June 26 2017

Hi Calvin!!!

As for the transfer: I went to Douala (got my passport and yellow card from the Zone leaders first, oh, no debit card found... weird) then we ate with the Calls and went to the airport doing all the paperwork. Then we went, they gave us a nice little lunch on the way, and we landed in Brazzaville, where we did more paperwork. Then a member with a big van took us the the Mission office, dropped off Elder Kincaid and Elder ZoBell, and took me to my apartement. In other news: official last zone conference with President and Sister Monga! :( I'll miss them. President Monga cried at the meal meeting afterwards. We sang, laughed, took pictures... lots of fun. President Thomson will be getting here Friday. As for the sector... it's different. I got to talk with Elder Razafierimanana, Edler Ramanastoa and others again because the Zone Conference was combined, that was cool. Also I got to talk with Elder Young more, which was fun. Haven’t seen him very much because they have had lots of stuff (the assistants) to do with the change of Presidents coming. And that is all I have for now, plus I forgot my journal, again. I'll work on that.

Nous ne craignons pas l'homme!

Je vous aime!

Elder Russell

transferred!

June 19 2017

Hi!!! So, as for the lack of e-mail last week: there was no connection here in the Republic of the Congo. Which brings me to the next big thing: transferred! I am now working in the branch of Tsieme (Chie-may) in the Stake of Brazzaville. My companion is Elder Luteso from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I came here with Elder Kincaid and Elder ZoBell, Elder right got transferred to Douala. We have one investigator who will be baptised soon who is named Fr Bel. He has lots of good questions. Our building is nice, though the road it is on is small. There is also tons of sand here. Tons. Things are slightly more expensive, but they have passion fruit soda and juice here! It's pretty good. Transport is different here, we get in buses instead of taxis (normally) and they have predetermined stops. It will be an interesting battle to know the area. There weren't any problems on the way here, though there were a lot of papers to flll out. Elder Luteso is a good guy, he jokes a lot. We are in an apartment with Elder Robin and Elder Malu Malu. Elder Robin is from Georgia and Elder Malu Malau is also from the DRC.So... that's it for now, I'll see if I can get you some pictures, the connection here is a little slow. Also cool with all the weddings!

arguments used against religion today

June 5 2017

Well, this week was a pretty good week. Let's see, some things that happened: Challenged Fr Bisso to get baptised, still has a hard time giving up his old life (and I think he still thinks that he can only get baptized once). The grand ma of Sr Yvonne moved so might be a little hard to teach her. We met a young friend of one of the young men in the Branch, his name is Fr Aaron. We'll see how that goes. Lots of new amis that we weren't able to visit, sadly. We'll keep trying there. Oh, and Fr Nyom is now Branch President. Wow. That was fast. Fr Obert is progressing little by litte so that is good. Other than that the week was pretty uneventful... I also didn't bring my journal with me so I am missing a lot of information (I'm getting better at writing in it).

One thing I learned this week is that the arguments used against religion today are the same ones used anciently (see the dispute with Korihor and Alma) so is actually nothing new there. That was pretty cool to learn.

I'm not sure what else to put, besides pictures!

Je vous aime tous tellement!

Nous ne craignons pas l'homme!

Elder Russell

Fr Arsene's Baptism in Yaounde performed by Elder Russell