It's weird to think that I'll be home soon

February 12 2018

This week was good for us. We got a great contact because Elder Thomas drank some bad water and was hospitalized. Elder Odimba and Elder Snow contacted her in the clinique he was at. (He is doing better now, but their apartment has problems) Her name is Sr Erique and she came to church!

We also helped an ami who hasn't come for some time to come (Fr Kedric) We still have difficulties seeing FR Boutoto because of his work, but we saw him once. With Fr Ivan, he just needs to read the Book of Mormon and he will progress well.

I had some more.... weird health problems but they are gone now. We went to the beach today as a zone and ate some good food afterwards. It's weird to think that I'll be home soon. But I still have a week!

Spiritual thought: The scriptures, prayer, church and temple are all ways that are meant to bring us unto to Christ and help others do so as well! Even when there are ordonnances (or "ristuals" as some call them) the symbolism and meaning will always point us to Christ.

Je vous aime!

A bientôt!

Elder Russell

I'm in the branch of Pointe Noire now!

February 5 2018,

Well, I'm feeling better. A bacteria called shegella something-or-other was what has been bothering me. The doctor told me to take some anti-biotics that should help with my intestinal tract also so ça va.

I'm in the branch of Pointe Noire now! Lots of changes recently. Elder Muamba, Elder Robin's new companion finally came and the Pointe Noire apartement has the most space so there I am. I'm with Elder Reese from Utah and Elder Kabengele from RDC Kinshasa. They're cool and chill. I've started helping Elder Reese with his pronunciation by reading the Book of Mormon out loud. Other than that not much news sector wise because I'm new here, but I'll get some more to you! We have one ami with a baptismal date: Fr Ivan the son of a member, more should be soon to come.

One of the things I learned about this week is the power of prayer. Often I'm distracted but if I pray I can focus easier. So pray! It helps! Fasting was hard this sunday because of the sickness (it still has me a bit, but the worst is over).

Je vous aime tous!

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!

Elder Russell

This week was kind of a downer...

January 29 2018

Well this week was below average to say the least. I got sick on Tuesday (and it was bad that night. I threw up everything I had eaten and I was going to the bathroom all night. Fortunately, I had the sense to drink a lot of water) and it's still kind of there. The Sorensens think I ate something and that gave parasites or something. I finally got the medication they recommended. Stupid pharmacies were closed a bunch. I did go to the doctors to get some tests but they are still waiting on the last one. So we had two whole days of nothing this week, and the days we did go out I was having a hard time.

Fr Prince was at church, though one ami, Fr Sejean, didn't make it and we weren't able to talk to him this week.

We saw a brawl on the street as we waited for someone... that was interesting. Yeah.

So this week was kind of a downer but at least we were able to do something!

Je vous aime!

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!

Elder Russell

We also helped dig a hole for someone... that made me sweat a lot.

January 22 2018

Our week went well. We've been teaching mostly a daughter of a member and a brother of another member (at least they are progressing the most but we teach others) we are planning to set their baptismal date around the beginning of Febuary. Fr Prince is doing well, though he wasn't at church this week, we'll have to follow up on that. 

We also showed an ami where the church is so we hope he will come too. 

We also helped dig a hole for someone... that made me sweat a lot. 

Also: I finally got those letters! And I forgot to bring the answers to the questions that were given me. I'll do that next week. 

There was this one lesson where I almost totally fell asleep, even when I gave the prayer. I do not know why I was so tired. There was one part where I was supposed to talk and I jerked up, vaguely remembering that we were talking about the Book of Mormon and then I asked "Do you like to read the Book of Mormon" "Yes" "That's good" Then I stopped because my brain was working slowly. 

We had zone conference, which was good. We learned how to improve our study and use scriptures to help people learn.

Spiritual thought: Make goals with a plan that invites the help of Christ. Joni L Kosch said, "Include the Savoir in our new year's resolutions. 'A goal such as: lose 10 Kg' (is useless and does not help to obtain the wanted result) This objective will not attract the powers of heaven to produce a change! But if the goal is: 'I will obey the word of wisdom, by eating correctly, by exercising, and by sleeping enough in order to lose 10 Kg' it is more likely to attain the desired result" (I was translating so it probably isn't exactly the same in english).

Je vous aime tous!

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!

Elder Russell

back to Mont Kamba...showering in the front yard....Fr Prince got baptized

January 15 2018

Yep, that was an unexpected transfer. And the shortest I've ever had. Elder Robin's companion has visa troubles (all of the congelese from the DRC do actually) so I got sent back to Mont Kamba Wednesday night. But Elder Nkosi is a chill guy and the amis that we talked to were cool. 

One of the interesting things I experienced was showering in the front yard because the apartement has weird water problems (the apartment is enclosed so no one except maybe the other missionaries saw me). I got some pictures of the apartement that I'll send. 

Fr Prince got baptized on saturday! We had to go to Loandjili's building because we don't have any water at Mont Kamba. Hopefully that will be fixed soon. We have Elder Mukengela with us now in the apartement. Is from Lumbumbashi and knows a lot of other missionaries from there, like Elder Kisimba! He's cool too.

Spiritual thought: I was reading the Liahona that talks a lot about temples and I was impressed by the talks that tell us how to come closer to Christ especially by studying his words (the scriptures!à) So I started doing what one of the General authorities did and study all the scriptures that are in the topical guide about Jesus Christ. So far it has been good. I'll tell you what else changes in the following weeks!

Je vous aime!

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!

Elder Russell​

Elder Russell, Elder Robin and Frère Prince

Would you rather shower here......

.......or here?

"BONNE ÂNÉE!"

January 8 2018

On new years eve (meaning midnight) a bunch of drunk people started screaming "BONNE ÂNÉE!" on the streets. Fortunately the rain came in and let us get a bit of sleep. I'm transferred to Mpaka 2, still in Pointe-Noire, with Elder Nkosi. I was surprised but hey, that's life. So I've been packing my bags, then I will pack them again soon. Weird. I'm excited to see everyone. Yeah, I'm not sure what else to say... oh, Fr Prince will get baptized on the 13. That's cool.

Pictures next week!

Spiritual thought: It is by Christ that we can find lasting peace in our lives, even during times of great trouble. He said that he will give us peace but not as the world does. I hope we all do a little more each day to dray closer to him.

Je vous aime!

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!

Eldr Russell

When he read about the Word of Wisdom he threw all of his coffee away.

December 18 2017

Well, still not really sure what is going on with calling. Apparently we might be calling by telephone... not the most effective manner... If I can find a cyber café where I can use Google Hangouts I think that would be good, but I'll have to look around a bit. If I do find one then I'll try to call around 3 on the 25th from , either that or you'll get a telephone call from a +242 number. Unless we do end up skyping... it's a bit complicated this year.

The sector is going well! One of our amis who progressed is Fr Prince (though we have three Fr Prince's). When he read about the Word of Wisdom he threw all of his coffee away. So yeah, it looks good with him. We still teach Fr Leonel's wife and we try to see Fr Leonel too but not much luck there. They are very interested though. 

We are having a zone conference on Friday and we are doing a skit of the ten lepers and the denying of Peter, then we will sing. I've personally been seeing a lot about how we have to give everything (or at least be willing to do it) to God. I'm also reading Doctrine and Covenants backwards. It is interesting. Oh! We also have our building now! I hope more people will come to Church. It's far from the apartement though. ça va aller.

Elder Russell

Also almost no one comes to church when it rains...

December 11 2017

Hello! There isn't too much to say this week. Things are going slowly here at Mont Kamba. When the rain comes it is like Douala. Little lakes everywhere. Also almost no one comes to church when it rains... And we need to find more people to teach and we need to plan better because the area is so big we often spend 30 minutes to an hour going from one rendez vous to another... not very effective. I haven't really taken any pictures either. But I'm still learning every day! And that is a good thing. I hope that I'll have more news for you concerning the skype call, I think we will do that either with the couple or the zone. We'll see.

Je vous aime!

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!

Elder Russell

and then a car hit Elder Robin with a nice amount of mud

December 4 2017

So Mont Kamba is a very new branch... very new. We have a lot of work to do. Hopefully things will progress faster when the new branch building is finished because for now the branch is far for everyone in our branch (and this time yes, it is actually far) There was one day when we walked an hour to get to a rendez-vous. Needless to say, I was tired that day (it is also hotter here, though not quite as hot as Douala). Elder Robin is from Atlanta, the Atlanta stake, Sandy Springs ward. Fruit is cheaper here, so that makes me happy. The first day in area I bought three Mangos. They were delicious (they are also actually ripe here, there were no rip Mangos in Brazzaville) Our Branch President married a Korean lady and they have cute kids. He did take us out to eat. That was nice. Our Church starts at 12:30 for now, so that's a bit weird.

Je vous aime!

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!

Elder Russell

Yeah, there was this one day when it was POURING and then a car hit Elder Robin with a nice amount of mud. My pants were muddy too because there were ponds in the middle of the road. Crazy.

I'm companions with... Elder Robin!

November 27 2017

Well, my week is crazy. I'm leaving Mikalou and I'm going to Pointe-Noire to the area of Mont Kamba and I'm companions with... Elder Robin! I didn't see that coming. We met Fr Vieclaire's family this week and that was cool. Oh! And Elder Kisimba is working with my old companion, Elder Tukumbane! Crazy, right? We also had a good time at the family home evening last week, I hope it will help Fr and Sr Edivantali be closer. We are going to Fr Ngakosso's house tonight for our FHE, we are going to give him an invitation to sacrament because he always come to things with invitations but not to sacrament meeting. We'll see if that works. The zone conference was great, we learned about pure testimony and that we don't have to change a testimony into a travelogue or a talk (and shouldn't). Elder Constant is also working with Elder Stephens at Massa (he finally gets a companion!) Which also means that the Talangai apartement is going to get even crazier. Sadly I won't be there, but I still know it will be crazy. On sunday tons of people took pictures, which slightly interrupted the baptismal service that Nkombo was holding in our building, I had to keep telling everyone to keep quiet, then I tried to sneak off, but it didn't work. I'll send what pictures I have.

So that is about it! Not sure what else to say, mostly because I can still hardly believe I'm working with Elder Robin. I'll be flying out Wednesday at 2 PM.

Je vous aime!

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!

Elder Russell

....which I will later enumerate

November 20 2017

Well, I don't have much time to write today, I'll try to sum up. Fr Archange has a date fixed for his baptism but he has a hard time coming to Church, other than that he is doing great. We had a multi stake conference for all of the area of south-east africa and it was filled with spiritual messages which I will later enumerate. We have a family home evening tonight (first one in Brazzaville!) and we will have zone conference this week. I did not know Joseph got his mission call (or I forgot) but that is awesome! Church meetings follow exactly the same format (before the sacrement was at the end but they changed that a while ago).

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!

Je vous aime!

Elder Russell

This week I budgeted really bad (my companion too)

November 13 2017

Yeah, you definitely learn a lot when you trust in the Lord, especially on a mission! Fr Archange is now firm in his desicion to be baptized, which is awesome. Unfortunately he was sick so I think that is why we didn't see him at church. One new investigator, Fr Stavel, is going on a trip so we left him the Book of Mormon. We continue to meet new amis, the only problem we have is seeing them all, like I said. Lots of work is better than none. The week was interesting because we had lots of meetings and had to go to the mission office so that took a chunk out of our proselyting hours. 

This week I budgeted really bad (my companion too) so we challenged each other to do better. Seeing the new missionaries adapt does remind me of training. I was fortunate because Elder Izere already spoke English pretty well, lots of these new American missionaries (most of whom don't know French) are with companions that only speak French. Luckily I can interpret when cultural differences and language barriers pop up. Fr Max and Sr Josia were baptized this Sunday! I'll send pictures (I brought my SD Card and Elder Kisimba has an adapter). So many things will have changed when I'll be home! So many people are getting married. Elder Kisimba is also encouraging me to work out more, so that is good too. In fact, Elder Kisimba is awesome, If we leave each other this transfer I'll miss him. C'est la vie.

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!
Je vous aime!
Elder Russell

Elder Kisimba is a hard worker and also a jokester

November 6 2017

Yep, things are busy here. Not all of the 20 amis are progressing but a good amount are. Fr Archange is awesome. He just needs to recognize that a confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true means that the Church is the Church of God. The recent converts are just going at it too. The Young Single Men here are so excited and motivated to share the Gospel. SR Shekina is starting to progress too, I think it's because she started working on "My Personal Progress" We'll have Zone Conference the 23rd so that should be interesting. As for my companion, he's great! Elder Kisimba is a hard worker and also a jokester. The new missionaries are having an interesting time adapting to a new language and culture, it is especially hard for some of them because their companion doesn't know English. ça va aller.

I remember reading about the seagull miracle in the history of the church someone had left at Yaounde, it was a good book, and an amazing miracle.

I didnt take any pictures this week, sorry!

Je vous aime tous!

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!

Elder Russell

SO MUCH TO DO

October 30 2017

So, to start off, we got 20 new amis thanks to the Stake Conference. SO MUCH TO DO. Fr Ebibas, SR Phaelle and Sr Princilla were confirmed this week and SR Fegie and Fr Enock were baptized. But yeah, things are going well. I'm glad Aaron has work again, that is a good thing. I'm also glad that we are all still learning many things that will help us all (I know I am) I keep finding things on how to become more like Jesus and also about studying the scriptures. We have an ami named Fr Archange who is pretty much already ready he just needs to realize that if he knows the book of Mormon is true then that means it is all true. Once he understands that he will be totally ready. We have several amis who seem like they are not really interested and a couple who seem on the fence. I guess as we progress we will know. Aside from that the week was just like any other.

Je vous aime tous!

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!

Elder Russell

Fr Ebibis,Sr Phaelle, Sr Princilla

Sr Fegie, Fr Enock

Brother Jacques Van-something....(he's not French by the way, despite the name)

October 23 2017

Cool! what a fun little week. For us this week was okay. We had interesting time trying to juggle rendez-vous in the morning and studying at night. We just have to adapt. Our amis are progressing well. We contacted Fr Gabriel again. His phone finally works. Fr Van had some troubles with the Book of Mormon because he didn't understand how it was laid out, but we read with him and he is starting to understand. 

We had stake conference this week  which was good. Brother Jacques Van-something (I forgot my notes) spoke (he's not French by the way, despite the name) and it was cool. He talked about how Satan lies to us. O.N.E.

O-Only do it once (It's never only once)

N-Nobody will know (you will know, Heavenly Father will know, Jesus Christ will know, The Holy Ghost will know)

E-Everyone is doing it (no)

So yeah. That was great. I forgot my camera AGAIN. I reallyl need to bring that to the cyber café. Sr Fegie wil be baptized this week. That's all I have for now.

Je vous aime!

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!

Elder Russell

(small mountain)...forty minutes to get to the top, give or take ten

October 16 2017

Yep, this week was good. Fr Ebibas, SR Phaelle and Sr Princillia were baptized! (I left my camera at the apartement, sorry.) The mountain (small mountain) is in our sector and it takes about forty minutes to get to the top, give or take ten minutes. My legs are getting so much excersize. With the transfers almost everyone is training. Some sectors are empty due to a lack of missionaries. Elder ZoBell will be by himself with a missionary from Benin. Elder Muyala is training and Elder Robin is going to Pointe Noire in a new sector. Literally all the missionaries in Cameroon are training. Only the missionairies in Gabon, Elder Robin, Elder Bilolo, the zone leaders in Pointe Noire and some sister missionaries aren't training. Kind of crazy. We haven't be able to see fr Hervald yet. Like you said, kind of hard to see people.

So, that was our week! Elder Robin will be gone by Thursday and we will recieve elder Cottom from Utah, I think. Next transfer we are getting a missionary from England!

Je vous aime tous!

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!

Elder Russell

up the mountain almost everyday

October 9 2017

Well, this week was slower in comparison. School has started up again and that makes it very, very hard to see people, as most study in the afternoon and we are the busiest in the morning with study. We'll see what we can do. But conference was awesome. What I got from it the most is that I need to make my study of the Book of Mormon more sincere. We got to see Fr Hervald again and we gave him the Book of Mormon and I promised him that if he studied in addition to studying his school material he would get good grades. Fr Ebibas, SR Phaelle and Sr Princillia will be baptized this week because it was this weekend that we watched conference. Yeah, it was a slow week. We did go up the mountain almost everyday because we had stuff to do there. It was crazy and my legs hurt, but it was worth it.

So that is pretty much it! Next week tons of people are going home and we are receiving tons of new missionaries.

Nous ne craignons aucun homme!

Je vous aime tous!

Elder Russell