Flowers, bars, and fashion photographers

Dear family and friends,
 I gotta scurry really soon here, but this week was pretty good. We had a lot of lessons. A bunch with this vietmanese guy, who, after I told him that he has a nice backpack, gave us an extra leather bag that he had hanging around his house. So Soeur jesnsen has a new bag. He speaks french fluently, but he has the funniest accent. All of his sentences end an octave higher than when it started. :) And we taught Joël twice in front of the bar. Its not extremely spiritually condusive ( we are trying to  find a time when we are both free not in front of the bar), but we get a lot of coordonees from his friends who will come up and interupt or join in on the lesson. We also taught José who bought us flowers. He buys a lot of things for everyone. He always has something in hishands that he is about to give someone else. And we taught a new ami who is named Olivier and is so cool. He is a fashion photographer ( intimidating huh?) and he is super beleiving, but he feels like he still hasn't found what he is looking for and is struggling to feel the spirit. He was really excited about the Book of Mormon and is so respectful. He had so many questions and said that he has been praying to know the truth. We are so excited about him. Oh and I gave and prepared a 25 minute talk in French with 2 days in Sacrament Meeting. Somebady pulled out last minute, so I got to do it. :) It was slightly scary, but I loved studying the topic, which was unity. One thing that struck me is that being together is one of the ways God blesses us. I have met so many lonely people during my mission ( for many its self inflicted) and it makes me realize xwhat a blessing it is to have family, friends, the church. We really should treasure that. God truly loves us!
I gotta go storm a castle! (literally)
Avec amour,
Soeur Russell

Forts, grilled pineapple, and another long walk

Dear Family and Friends,
Soeur Jensen and I are staying in Valence for our last Transfer! :) I'm glad because it probably would have been a little strange to go to another ward to leave them after a few weeks. And I love Soeur Jensen a lot and it feels strange to spend just one transfer with companions. It is really strange also to be at this point on the mission. I really don't know what to think about it. I usually try not to think about it.
Anyways, this week, We ate lunch in this gorgeous town named Aoust, right after we taught a really good first lesson. It was so beautiful and right after, we got on a train to got to St Etienne to drop off soeur Jensen for exchanges there and to pick up Soeur Pape, to do exchanges in Valence. I love Soeur Pape so much, she was in Aix at the same time as I was and we had so much fun together. We helped a family move and ate lunch and contacted and made spatzle for dinner and ate an entire mango and then met the other sisters at the gare. The other sisters actually forgot to get off at the right stop, so they had to take a train to come back, poor things. But we did some calls and soem contacting while we waited for them. The next day, We had district meeting in Grenoble and had an island bbq with grilled pineapple ( I love grilled pineapple!!!) And Soeur Jensen and I made a fort using sheets that night, just for fun. :) So that was a good day. Forts and grilled pineapple are great things. The next day we got our transfer calls and played and sang some music for a members and her neighbors. ( we have been doing stuff like that a lot lately) And that night we ate dinner with a member and had this delicious chicken mushroom dish. Saturday, we did some contacting and talked with people from about 7 different countries within a 30 time period and played some more music for some members and last night we walked across two towns to get home because there were no buses and I wasn't even too tired. I'm impressed with my mission walking muscles. Oh and yesterday, the elders gave me a planner they made for my last transfer. its really Cool and really funny. I'll tell you about it more next week beacause I gotta run!
Quickly know that The gospel bring true and lasting happiness! How cool is it to know that!?!
Dieu vous aime! Moi aussi!
Soeur Russell

Rugby, washing walls, and Uno

Dear Family and Friends,
Today we are going to a rugby match with two of the members in our wards playing on opposite teams. Exciting!!!! I actually like watching rugby, its fun. Oh and exciting news!!!!!!! Estelle is back in action! She had been on vacaction in Spain with her family and she even got her parents to pray before meals with her. She also said that she has been reading the Book of Mormon and getting answers to queastions that she has been having and she found a new apartment and is in the middle of moving in. We helped the other day by scrubbing the walls ( during which I told Soeur Jensen about my childhood) and we had a lesson afterwards. During church, Estelle said that she wanted us to help her think of ways to help teach her children the gospel. She is so great!!!!! And we do nothing, it is all self motivation on her part. One can just tell that her personal relationship is so strong and it just keeps growing. She is so great :)
On tuesday we had our Zone conference with Interveiws with president. It was great! We were in Saint Etienne, so I got to see a tiny bit of the city again and I saw a few members I know, so that made me happy. And interveiws also make me happy. And zone conference. There is this one part where all the departing missionaries bear their testimonies. We have some amazing missionaries in our mission. On Wednesday, We palyed Uno for an FHE with members and I not only lost everytime, but I was forced to draw 16 cards at a time at one point. 16 cards! I stink at Uno. French people love Uno. Tuesday, we had one of my best meals in France. It was at this really old and big house out in the country. The walls were covered in gorgeous paintintgs ( I loved that) and guns and wall paper. For Lunch we ate cheesy potatoes, and a special type of chicken, and salad, and cheese and tart. Very french. And delicious. This sunday, we ate giant salads members house. It was probably the first time that we ate just green salad  for a meal in France. It was yummy.
Lately, I've been thinking about light. And how all light comes from the gospel. As missionaries, we have been in a lot of members homes and a lot of non members homes and every home you can think of. The difference between a household that follows the gospel and others is huge. I can feel the difference every day, the spirit there is so noticable and I am so grateful that we have the chance to be homes where the gospel light shines. It is such a relieving feeling.
Je vous aime!!!!! Et dieu vous aime!!!!
Soeur Russell

Rugby, washing walls, and Uno

Dear Family and Friends,
Today we are going to a rugby match with two of the members in our wards playing on opposite teams. Exciting!!!! I actually like watching rugby, its fun. Oh and exciting news!!!!!!! Estelle is back in action! She had been on vacaction in Spain with her family and she even got her parents to pray before meals with her. She also said that she has been reading the Book of Mormon and getting answers to queastions that she has been having and she found a new apartment and is in the middle of moving in. We helped the other day by scrubbing the walls ( during which I told Soeur Jensen about my childhood) and we had a lesson afterwards. During church, Estelle said that she wanted us to help her think of ways to help teach her children the gospel. She is so great!!!!! And we do nothing, it is all self motivation on her part. One can just tell that her personal relationship is so strong and it just keeps growing. She is so great :)
On tuesday we had our Zone conference with Interveiws with president. It was great! We were in Saint Etienne, so I got to see a tiny bit of the city again and I saw a few members I know, so that made me happy. And interveiws also make me happy. And zone conference. There is this one part where all the departing missionaries bear their testimonies. We have some amazing missionaries in our mission. On Wednesday, We palyed Uno for an FHE with members and I not only lost everytime, but I was forced to draw 16 cards at a time at one point. 16 cards! I stink at Uno. French people love Uno. Tuesday, we had one of my best meals in France. It was at this really old and big house out in the country. The walls were covered in gorgeous paintintgs ( I loved that) and guns and wall paper. For Lunch we ate cheesy potatoes, and a special type of chicken, and salad, and cheese and tart. Very french. And delicious. This sunday, we ate giant salads members house. It was probably the first time that we ate just green salad  for a meal in France. It was yummy.
Lately, I've been thinking about light. And how all light comes from the gospel. As missionaries, we have been in a lot of members homes and a lot of non members homes and every home you can think of. The difference between a household that follows the gospel and others is huge. I can feel the difference every day, the spirit there is so noticable and I am so grateful that we have the chance to be homes where the gospel light shines. It is such a relieving feeling.
Je vous aime!!!!! Et dieu vous aime!!!!
Soeur Russell

rugby, fiddling, and Johnny Cash

Dear Family and Friends,
This week, for pday, we went and saw one of our members play rugby. That was fun. Rugby is pretty exciting. We had a music night this week at the church, the church wasnt overflowing, but a bunch of members came and All of them had a wonderful time. Soeur Jensen fiddled and played some classical pieces and the elders did some johnny cash and I sang a little; And we baked about 100 cookies and all of them were eaten. Oh and this week, we learned how to use a turkish toilet. Some sisters in the ward were describing in much detail how to use them. Soeur Jensen and I were trying so hard not to laugh. I actually don't remember too much of what happed this week, but it was a good week I remember that. I really have gotten to love the members here. Transfer calls are coming up this week, so who knows if I will stay or leave. I could either be staying for my last transfer, which is logical, or I could go to some random little place in the middle of nowhere for my last transfer, that sometimes happens for last transfer missionaries in this mission.Its crazy how fast time goes by. I swear I just left for the mtc. We gotta run and help a family move, mais sachez je vous aime si forte que meme une foule des joueurs de rugby peuvent m’empêcher...... (I dont really know what to add at the end, but the sentence is great up until then, maybe being with you for eternity? giving you a hug?) anywho, je vous aime! Dieu vous aime aussi!
Soeur russell

weird food, rain, contacting

Dear family and friends,
This week, Soeur Jensen and I were planning for the week and we realized that we have a lot of men amis, which are hard to teach, because we always have to find female membvers to teach with, who are always really busy, and we talked about how good it would be to have more female amis. That day, we were contacting, and we talked to one lady that just soaked our words up and talked about her struggles and how she wants to meet our prophet personally :) So we are going over some day to talk about Thomas S Monson. Then, the next day, we missed a bus for a mangez-vous and did some contacting while we were waiting for the next one. And we contacted a really cool girl with dreadlocks that said it would awesome to have a prophet today and that she would love to see us again :). In less than two days after saying we needed more women amis, the Lord blessed with two awesome potentials :) I don't really know what I did this week, I can't remember. But today, we went to this fairy tale village and ate a sit down lunch at a cute little restaurant. It was so yummy!!!! And it felt so wierd to be sitting there, eating as a missionary. It still hits me randomly sometimes that we are in France. Tomorrow, we have interveiws with President, I love interveiws! President and his wife are so great! I'm not exagerating when I say they are the best Missionary president couple ever. Just talk to anyone that knows them. They are outstanding. Oh and the other day we were contacting and then it starts to drizzle and then pour and then hail ( at this point we found shelter under a shop sign and then We couldn't see more the two inches in front of us, it was raining so hard and the streets were literally rivers. It lasted 20 minutes and then an hour later it was mostly clear and sunny. Wierd weather.
Je vous aime!
Dieu vous aime!!!
Soeur Russell

Photos from spring and summer

Umbrellas, chocolate, and creepy puppet ladies

Dear Family and friends,

This last week was very cold and then very hot. I liked the cold part. I pulled out my scarves and drank some hot chocolate. It was nice :) yesterday the email place was closed and then we went to eat unlimited amounts of expensive french chocolate, so I didn't write yesterday. But I still love you more than choclate though. Especially right now because even thinking about chocolate makes me feel wierd. ( we ate a lot) This week, soeur jensen fiddled for me, we got to see Fireworks for the 14 th of july ( with permission with president) which was really well done and had this giant puppet creepy lady and a band with a bagpipe. This week we also found some new amis, ate some awesome lasagna and ran around in the rain, trying not to get our shoes wet. Funny story yesterday. Soeur jensen and I walked past a kebab shop ( those places are usually filled with scetchy characters and hungry elders) and I hear a man say, bonjour, excusez moi. I keep walking ( Its become reflex) but soeur jensen is suddenly no longer behind me. So I turn around to she talking to and easing away from this sketchy man that is standing way to closely next to her , asking her where she is from and saying he would like to buy her something and talk. So I speed walk on over holding my umbrella and i put the cloth of the umbrella ( not the pointy parts though, I'm not that mean) at the exact level of his eyes and make him back up a foot, all while acting like it wasn't on purpose and extracting Soeur jensen from his date asking. The look on his face as the umbrella was practically in his eyes was priceless. We had a good laugh about that afterwards. I got to be a knight with shining unbrella. Now we are going to head to mangez vous. I hope it is not chocolate. Maybe I can eat some again in a week. I love you all!!!!! et Dieu vous aime aussi!!!!

Soeur Russel

violin, green stuff and long walks

Dear Family and Friends,

I get to see fireworks tonight and then we get to sleep in tommorrow morning!!! Its a treat from president roney and I'm super excited. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) 

Soeur Jensen, plays the violin. And is super cool. She played the violin for an 95 yearold lady last night who gave us a marriage 101 class ( we get a lot of those). she was just about the sweetest things I have ever met and she blessed us and our families. We got to go to this gorgeous village the other day. We were searching for a less active that lives on Rue du chateau, road of the castle, and we didn't have a map, so we just went in the direction of where we thought there was a castle and found this gorgeous village with a castle and it was filled with flowers and strams and little bridges. Its called Chabyeuil or something like that. We didn't find the less active, so we will be returning, maybe on a pday. :)

Soeur Jensen is super fun and super funny. She is also a really hard worker, so everything is peachy wonderful with working and having fun. 

The other day we helped some people move in the rain and then visited a less active and missed the last bus home. So we walked about two hours ( we got back before 9 so everything was ok) from one village to valence and we actually had a lot of fun laughing and talking and the weather was just perfect. Soeur Jensen says to tell you that she thinks that Soeur russell is awesome and that we walk a ton. 

Its been really pretty this week because it is really cloudy and overcast, so all the greenery is so bright and beautiful. Its kinda cool that I live in france.

Je vous aime!!!!!!!!!!!!!! plus que le chocolat français!!!!

et Dieu vous aime aussi!!!

avec amour,

Soeur Russell

Food, violins and germans

Dear friends and family,
This last week, I ate a lot at members homes. Moday night we ate at our bishops house, thursday we had a BBQ for our district meeting, and tacos for dinner at a members house and squash and chicken for Lunch chez les membres on friday and a 4th of july party for dinner at a members and friday we hyad a ward picnic and then an italian dinner with some italian members. Is it wierd that I define my weeks by food? Thats about the first thought that pops into my head when I think about my weeks. This week, we had an exchange with some sisters from grenoble and I was with a sister that was actually older than me in the mission. It was interesting doing missionary work with someone with more experience than me. That still happens sometimes, but it was cool to see how two experienced missionaries work together.
So we got our transfer calls this week and I am staying in Valence, but now I am with a new companion. Her name is Soeur Jensen, she is from Utah, she has a master's degree in violin and she loves smoothies. I'm in the middle of getting to know her, but she seems great. I'll miss Soeur Röse a lot. She is by far my favorite german. (no offense to other germans)
Update on our amis, all of our african and indian amis are really hard to get a hold of or they are constantly changing or canceling our rendezvous. Alexandre and Sylvia are speeding their way through the Book of Mormon. Estelle is spectacular, she is already sharing what she is learning with other people and asking us for Books of Mormon so that she can give them to others. She is spectacular and keeps a good attitude about it though.
I gotta run!
get excited about missionary work! it is extremely exciting!
Dieu vous aime et vous aidera!
avec amour,
Soeur Russell

Soeur Rose and Soeur Russell

Ruins, Bars and the World Cup

Dear Family and friends,
Time to write about two weeks worth of crazy mission life. So, two mondays ago, Soeur Röse and I went with the elders to castle Crussol, these ruins on the top of a hill next to Valence. They were huge and really fun. One of the elders went on forever about how much fun it would be to paintball in the castle. I have to admit, I have never been paintballing, but it would be really cool to have a paintball battle in this castle. Then we had an exchange in Lyon with the sister training leaders. I was with Soeur Richardson, who came in at the same time as me and it was interesting looking back on our missions together. I have a lot more to do and learn, but I have already done and learned so much. My testimony has really grown and I know more that God wants us to be happy. It is up to us to choose to be happy and if we put of being happy until we are in the best shape or we have the perfect job or until we are rich or until we are the perfect missionary or until we have thousands of friends, we will never be happy. What is the point of working towards being perfect if we don't allow ourselves to be happy along the way?
The rest of last week, we ate a lot of food ( comme habitude) and went to grenoble for a music night and taught a whole bunch of african men ( and one indian man) and taught one of these african men on chairs in front of the Black City Afro Ethnik bar ( an african bar, our ami de l'eglise works there) ( we got some wierd looks as people walked past and heard us teaching the first vision(most of them were probably wondering why nuns were talking to an african guy in front of a african bar)). We even helped recycle two days worth of beer bottles from the bar ( when I volunteered, I didn't know they were beer bottles). We also taught Alexandre and Sylvia and Estelle. Alexandre and Sylvia are halfway through Alma and We just taught the law of tithing ( that one was a little hard for them), but they love the Book of Mormon. Estelle is fabulous. She lives so far away so we can only see her once a week, but we taught the plan of Salvation last week and Word of Wisdom this week. Both times she said that these came from God and she knows it is true. She will have a hard time quitting smoking, but she is already making plans to do it. She is so intelligent and loving and so open to the spirit.
This last Monday, We had lunch with members and played games and threw rocks by a river. During last week, we got a marriage prep class by one of the members, (she always does that) and, with permission of our mission president, watched the Germany vs America World Cup game at a less actives place. Soeur Röse was very glad that Germany won, but I wasn't too excited about the game, it takes so long for anything to happen. And we also had a barbeque with a tongan rugby player family. ( it was awesome, but they made enough food to feed all of corsica ( exaggeration, but it was a lot, and there are not to many people in Corsica)
Ok, on doit y aller. Mais Sachez que Dieu vous aime et Je vous aime.
Soeur Russell

Conference, miracles and hobos

Hi peoples!!!!!

I feel horrible, because each week, I think that I will write a super long email and then I get distracted by something and then I remember that people want to hear from me. Sometimes I am so excited to hear from people that I forget that I should respond ( You would think it would be the other way around). 

This last week, We had the Elder Andersen conference. It was spiritually mind-blowing. The spirit that was there was simply overwhelming. All of the mission did a really good job preparing for it and making it the most spiritual and sacred event ever. You know how when Christ visits the Americas, there is that part towards the end where the Lord's countenance shone upon them? I think I understand a little bit what that means now after looking at the faces of Elder Andersen, Elder Kearon, President Roney and their wives at the end of the conference. We learned a lot that we have started working on. One of the best parts of the conference was the singing. We sang a special musical number which was a mixture of bring him home from les mis and be still me soul and angels we have heard on high ( trust me, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.) and we sang the Spirit of God/ Hosanah piece that is always sung a temple dedications( we left out a verse that is reserved for the dedication). When we started singing the first line of the song, Elder Kearon had tears running down his cheeks. The spirit was incredible there. 

This week, we taught Estelle, our member's neighbor and she had a really cool miracle this last week. She prayed about her current situation ( she is going through a difficult divorce) and asked God to help her receive the financial help she needs for her children and just a few moments later, she got a call that did just that! And as she was reading the Book of Mormon, she prayed to know if it was true and she got an answer. She knows it is true. She started crying when she was telling us this and the spirit was so strong. 

Fun thing this week: Soeur Röse was talking about Johnny Depp and she said that in real life (and I quote) " he looks like the last hobo from next door". I died when I heard her say that ( I promise that we do not have hobos living next door)

Je vous aime!!!!

Dieu aussi!!!

Soeur Russell

Garlic, Dotty thingies, bapteme

Dear family and friends,

I can't beleive this week is already over, I feel like we just barely got back from Lyon. This week, for some reason, I have felt absurdly tired. I always feel tired, but this week was over the top. If I stay in one position for more than 20 seconds ( doesn't matter if I'm lying down, standing, sitting, streching) I wake up to my companion checking to see if I am awake. Even now, I'm feeling the yawns and tired eyes coming on. So, I don't feel like I was concious for the most part of the week (of course I was but I didn't really remember it) This wednesday, we ate with some mebers, who fed us fish that wasn't really fish and covered it with an aoili that was basically mayo blended with all the garlic that they could find in the grocery store. It was garlic with a little bit of mayo added in. Afterwards we ate this cherry cake thing that I have eaten 6 times ( not kidding) already. But we ate with some other members this week and had a yummy barbeque and salad. That was fun. :) Soeur Röse has been having stomach problems the last few days, so she is on a mostly bread and water diet. (orders from the mission nurse ( Soeur Röse ate the burritos I made late night, don't tell the nurse :)). Change of subject because if not I will probably list off everything I have eaten this last week, and it wasn't too exciting ( except for the olives we bought, they are super). 

I just checked out some of my older emails and I would like to apologize for the huge amounts of grammer mistakes that I've noticed. I promise I don't do them on purpose, it just gets worse the more I speak french. But I'm getting really talented with the two döts thingy on the key board, before I was companions with Soeur Röse, I had no idea how to do the dots. 

Dear daddy, there has only been one place in the mission where I have heard of bikes, but they have changed to a car recently. 

People in DC need to stop opening car doors without looking and almost injuring family members. Who knew that car doors were so dangerous? (Usually only if you are george of the jungle)

So, Alexandre and Sylvia are doing well. Sylvia has completely stopped drinking coffee and is doing a great job with smoking, we are so proud of her. The rest of our amis are taking their time. 

Oh, I don't think I told you, but Jean from Aix is baptized! He is apparently doing great and is introducing the church to his brother too. 

Dieu vous aime!!!!!

Soeur Russell

(Editor's note - both Daniel and Jennifer had car doors opened into them while riding bikes. Jennifer was on her way to work, Daniel was meeting a friend for lunch in DC. They are okay, but this is a good reminder to wear helmets!!)

Cake!!!Salad bar!!!Random meetings!!!

Dear Family and friends,

The reason I didn't write monday is because, monday afternoon, we got a call from the office asking us if we were aware of and had tickets for a random meeting a lyon. No we were not, so we packed really quickly, ran to the gare and caught a train 30 minutes later (I was really impressed with how quickly we did that. So, we went to Lyon ( which was filled with missionaires because it was transfer day ( Soeur Röse and I are staying)) had our random meeting to prepare for Nice in a couple weeks. Went and got pizza with 30 other missionaries ( salad bar included, fancy huh? don't get that everyday) Slept over in Lyon and had another meeting in the morning and came back to Valence after. And when we tried to do emails at the church, there was already a member on the computer yesterday. So I'm writing you on wednesday!

This week, we had a really cool experience with one of our members. Her neighbor came over one day, said that she was drawn toward her and her family for some reason and was looking for a church to go to. So, our awesome member calls us up to have a lunch and a lesson with her neighbor, during which the spirit just filled the room. She started off as a little closed off and as the lesson progressed and all of us, including the member did some testifying and we applied what we learned from district meeting about using the Book of Mormon, at the end she was just bawling from the spirit. She wants so badly to come to church. As we were leaving, we mentioned that we were going to do contacting and she seemed so suprized and said that she would probably never talk to us on the street. I've been thinking about that all week. This woman was so prepared, what with her situation now and her experiences in the past, but even as prepared as she was, she herself said that she wouldn't listen to us if we stopped her in street. And during that lesson, I saw first hand the support that comes from friend who is already a member. It is amazing how many more hearts are touched by a good member example, who is not afraid to give a simple invitation at the right time. I have never seen such an ideal lesson/ ami situation on my mission. If only all of our amis were like that. I have a huge testimony of member missionary work now. Even now, as I'm writing this I can hear President Hinckley's member missionary work quote going through my head. Thinking about myself, (if I was not a member) if two missionaries tried to talk to me on the street, under any circumstances, I would politely not give them the time of day. The only way I could think of me discovering the church would be through a friend. 

Anywho, that was one of the coolest experiences on my mission. 

Another cool thing, this monday, a master pastissier/ recent convert, hand made my birthday cake, with a totally original recipe, with fresh fruit on top from the garden, and flambéd marzipan on top and chocolate writing, after having a picnic at a villa in the country , in the south of France. Our mission is so cool.

And I loved all the pictures and Letters!!!! Thank you so much everyone!!! It's great to see that people still love me after being hidden away in france for so long. 

I gotta run!!! I'll write more about my bday next week!!!

Dieu vous aime!!!

Soeur Russell

:)

Dear family and friends,
First off, I got distracted by many many things, so my email will be short(sorry) but I will make it high quality! Second, I did get my package and now I'm just waiting impatiently and trying to not look at it as it sits on the table until tomorrow. Third, HUGE kisses ( or fat kisses/ grosse bisous as the french say) to grammy and poppa and aunt leslie and eli! ( Eli is huge!!!!!! how did he grow so tall?) I loved the video :).
This week, we found out that Elder Andersen is coming to the mission and everyone is sooooooo excited, we are doing all these really cool things in order to prepare ( but we are not allowed to say what, President Roney doesn't want Elder Andersen to hear about it before it actually happens :)
I don't much more time, but I want to bear my testimony that GOD LOVES YOU!!!! It is true and if you don't know it yet, go ask him because he wants you to know. Even if you know it already, go ask him anyways, he will let you know again how much he loves you. He would never desert is and he will always be are support. He is someone we can ALWAYS trust in.
Je vous aime!!!!
Soeur Russell

May 12, 2014

Dear family and friends,
Wednesday this last week, we taught a few of our amis. Sylia and alexandre are progressing beautifully, we just have to help sylvia to stop smoking. She knows Soeur Röse and I so well, after we comeinto the apartment she always askes Soeur Röse if she needs to use the bathroom (which she always she does :) and she asks me if I want to drink juice ( Which I almost always do) and asks me if I want some of those sweet biscuit things. The last time, we had just eaten, so I said no to the biscuits, but she said she would bring them out anyways and sure enough, I ending up eating a couple. (they were covered in belgian chocolate!) She is so funny how she just knows our habits so well, and she has that little confident smile that mothers always have when they do stuff like that. Her little boy is about 2 and he is one of the most active kids I have ever met, but he is just so cute about it. Whenever he wants his moms attention, he shouts out 'maman d'amour!'  (Mother of love or loving mommy) She just about dies everytime. On thursday we took just about the most beautiful bus ride in the history of the world. Up into green mountains and valleys and rivers and villages and flowers and some snow. The ride was extremely long but I enjoyed it a lot.  that night, we played a game at a less-actives house and I won just about everytime! I was very proud of myself. ( I still feel like I didn't really understand the game) Saturday, we handed out flyers for the groundbreaking ceremony next week and ate lunch with a member in this beautiful garden filled with mousqitoes ( I only got bit once :) And taught a less-active with a shiny painting with a unicorn and a tiger and dolphins and rainbows and a wierd bubbly castle and a elf looking lady. it was just missing wolves and fairies. And it was a man's house. I've always wondered who bought that kind of stuff when I've seen it in stores. And sunday, we ate at a recent converts house and skyped our families. :)So, now for the highlight of the week (besides talking with my family). Friday night, at 2 in the morning, I was having a wierd dream, that I was trying to put this big bubbly sticker thing on a door frame and for somereason I was having problems and my hand would totally miss the frame and shoot past the doorway and there was this loud beeping sound each time and I was really frustrated with myself because it should be easy, but tried it at least 8 times and I still wasnt able to get the bubbly sticker on the doorframe. Finally I wake up and realize the beeps are coming from inside the apartment. I wake up Soeur Röse who starts talking in germain for 30 seconds before I understood anything she said. We then searched the apartment for 5 minutes looking for the beeping. I was hoping it wasn't a murderer ( I don't know or why a murderer would make those beeps, but who knows) We then attacked the smoke alarm and ripped out the batteries, only to find it was actually the carbon monoxide detector. So we called three sleepy people until we got the office elders who drove to the office to find another number to call and ordered us to wait outside. So we pulled on sweatshirts and scarves and we sat on our apartment doorstep, behind the gate, playing uno ( I won!) until and ambulanec with all its lights going off drives us and asks us if we need to go to the hospital and men of all shapes and sizes and in all sorts of emergency clothes start bouncing around and asking us if we need to go to hospital. Then a firetruck came and a police car with all their light going off, even their blinkers. And they did all sorts of fancy tests until they found out that the alarm was just faulty. So they truned of their crazy lights and drove away slowly and we went back to bed. fun adventure huh?
Gotta run
Dieu vous aime!!!!
Avec amour,
Soeur Russell

Cheese, Chocolate, and lots of languages

Dear Family and friends

The reason I'm writing on tuesday and not monday is because we had Zone conference yesterday. So no emergency transfers or anything. On Monday we went to a chocolate factory called Valrhonda, which is apparentlty one of the best chocolate places in the world. We basically walked around a big room going through the process of making chocolate and ate absurd amounts of expensive chocolate with people on videos talking in cool french accents. My favorite chocolate was a Dulci kind. On tuesday, we did a spiritual thought a a recent converts house and played old west american style game in french. I was the first person to "die". That night we started an exchange with two sisters from grenoble. I was with Soeur Camus, who is from Spain. I am always impressed witht these people I meet on the mission who are constantly talking in french and english when it is not their native language ( like Soeur Röse). It must be weird to have three languages constantly running through your head. On Wednesday, we taught Sylvia, one of our amis, who is doing so great. She is definitely someone who is feasting on the scriptures. That night we ate suisse fondue with german bread. So good....... I could kinda feel the cheese running through my veins afterwards. A kinda scary feeling. On jeudi, we had lasanga with an italien family. On Sunday, we passed a few less actives and they were all there, that never happens. :) it was so cool. This sunday is Mother's day right? What would be the best way to skype? Is there a general time that would be best for you?I'm allowed to check my emails again this week, so let me know within a couple days. 

Je vous aime tous!!!!!!

La semaine prochain, je vais écrire de la conférence de Zone que j'ai eu. 

Dieu vous aime, aidez les autres a ressentir ça!!!!!

Soeur Russell

Tessie 4/28/14

4/28/14

Dear Family and friends,

I won't share with you what I ate last week, it sufficeth to say that it was an absurd amount of food. Its an off day if we don't eat at a member's apartment. So, monday, we went for a super cool awesome hike up in the mountains(by someplace called Le Vacherie). It was gorgeous and green and covered in wildflowers and mist. A fun thing here in France is they like putting Crosses at the tops of mountains. But the cross that was originally, a really thick iron one, at the top of the mountain, was apparently blown off its base by really strong gusts of wind, so, somehow, they brought a new cross to the top of the mountain, a not pretty concrete one, but they let the iron one just sitting on the top of the summit, so there are two crosses at the summit. That, not the crosses, but the mountain, was definitley one of the highlights on my mission. Monday night, we did an FHE at a member family's house and I brought the easter egg kit that you sent me Mom. They have four little girls, so they were very excited to  paint some eggs. On Tuesday, we had a lesson with a guy that compared life to a game of pacman. He was interesting, we will probably be seeing him again next week. And tuesday night, we went to Lyon. Wednesday, I had an exchange with the sister training leaders. It was probably one of the wierder exchanges I had. The sister I was with got her blood drawn in the morning and almost fainted, we ate lunch with two old ladies, who fed us meat gelatin and yummy chicken ( a wierd combinantion) and we ate american style brownies for dessert, we made them ( they are so good!!!). Then we got a last minute assignment to make food for Zone training so we ran to the store to get ingredients to make enough tacos for 25 people and cooked it all and had one more lesson with an african guy. It was a different exchange. The next day was Zone Training and I saw Soeur Luthi for the first time for about 11 months!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited to see her, we got all caught up. I also got to see a few other missionaries that I knew in other places, so that was just exciting. That night , back in Valence, an old french guy played a never ending accordian song for us ( I like the accordian but 15 minutes is a little long). Friday, I ate bacon and Chevre ( two of my least favorite things) on top of extremely browned bread. And later I had a fish soufflée. On saturday, We planted a garden at a members house, which was really fun and ate BBQ  and ate chicken soaked in butter for dinner. Yesterday, We had a great church meeting ( we had a bunch of people at church)  and later in the day it was raining, but still sunny out. It was really cool, I saw like three rainbows. All in All it was a good week.

Je vous aime!!!! Merci Daddy pour l'email!!! je vais l'imprimer et le garder :)

Soeur Russell

large amounts of food

Dear Family and friends,
 This week, I ate chicken salad and croissants and cream soda and root beer and dr pepper and pizza and cheesecake and bannana splits and pizza and lasagna and panna cotta and a wierd pea meat thing and salad covered in dijon mustard (not a pleasant experience), apple pie, pasta, chips,and hot chocolate. We ate all of this at members houses this week. This place feeds us like crazy! I feel like they are trying to make fois gros soeur russell style. The members here love their missionaries like crazy. Soeur Rose loves the members here so much that she would jump in front of a train for them. As soon as she starts talking about a member, this visible aura of love shines around her. She is really sweet and she plays the recorder and likes to run ( she does 50 laps around the round about next to our apartment everyday). Valence is spectacular and gorgeous. and thankfully it is not snowing here like it is in Ohio.
 I love you all!!!
Dieu vous aime plus!!!
Soeur Russell

Valence!

Dear family and friends,
I'm writing you from Valence! My new companion is Soeur Röse. ( yes the two dots are supposed to be there) She is from Germany and is super sweet and has a really cool accent. :) I haven't seen too much of Valence but it is simply gorgeous! A lot of green and white buildings and flowers.......
I was definitely sad to leave Aix. The poppies were starting to come out and our amis were progressing so well. Saying goodbye to Jacqueline was especially hard. Funny story though, As she was walking us out of her house to say goodbye, her dog kamikazyed off of a  11 foot edge and Jacqueline was only just able to catch him on his leash. And he is one old dog. Soeur Robison was trying really hard not to laugh at her dog almost dying by jumping off a cliff. Soeur Robison is staying in Aix and will definitely take care of our amis there and I will miss her lots as well. She was lots of fun.
I loved hearing about Zachy's Prom and I loved the pictures even more I hope he had fun. :)
I got your easter packeage Mommy and I love the dress! It is extremely cute. :)
I love you all, we don't have much time today!
Have a great easter and help bring the light of christ into the lives of those around you on Sunday. He truley is the source of all happiness!
Dieu vous aime! ( et moi aussi)
Soeur Russell

Aix-en-Provence Photos

I love Conference!

Dear Family and friends,

This last week, we went to Montpellier on monday night and stayed until wednesday morning for an exchange with Soeur Modersitzki and Soeur Roberts. It was a really cool experience to work with Soeur Modersitzki again now that we both actually speak french ( well Soeur Mod kinda did already when we were in St Etienne, but I certainly did not) and we both have experience. We were both amazed at how quickly time has passed. Already we have been out a year. This last bit has really flown by. By the way, next friday is transfer calls, so next week I might be emailing you late and from a different place. We'll see. :)

On monday we taught english class and found out that the word sassy is very difficult to explain in french. This week, We also found out how much more friendlier people are when you are holding cookies or a balloon. On thursday we had district meeting with baguette pizzas (a missionary staple here in france). It was also Soeur Hirschi's birthday, so we had decorations and a couple presents and we sang to her. That was also my one year mark. ( A whole year!) Then friday, We had the soiree en musique at the church, all the missionaries sang beautiful savior together ( I love that song), Soeur Hirschi sang a song her friend wrote ( I love that song as well)  and I sang journey to the past from Anastansia ( the one that has that absurdly long note at the end). And a lot of members played the guitar, drums, sang...... It was lots of fun. On saturday, We went to a sports activity with Jean ( our ami), we played soccer, which is a sport that I am definitely not good at ( most sports I am definitely not good at), especially since some of the people there are on teams or used to be on teams in college  or high school etc. It was a dirt field, so when ever people were going agressively at the ball, a dust cloud would appear. a lot of the time, a huge crowd of people would go for the ball at the same time and a giant dust cloud would just engulf them. Whenever the ball would come towards me and the dust cloud of people would start moving my way, I would close my eyes and stand still and hope the ball wouldn't touch me or that I wouldn't get run over by avid soccer players. It was kinda like the parting of the red sea, everyone just parted around me. The magic of standing stiff and closing your eyes. It does miracles. I beleive there must be a force field that comes up whenever you close your eyes. ( i'm lying, sometimes it just means you get hit in the head more with the ball) Saturday night we watched The women's conference and the first session of general conference and sunday we watched the next two sessions and today we are going to watch the last session, I love general conference. How blessed we are to have a living prophet. All lot of people in the history of the earth didn't have one and many today don't know that we do have one, Go President Monson! i gotta run but I am sending pictures!

Je vous aime!

Soeur Russell

Mutton, Marseille, Bagels and Cheesecake

Dear Family and Friends,

I have a scripture for the plaque. Romans 8:35-39 or if that is too long just verses 38 and 39. I really like that scripture. My address is 3 parc gambetta Avenue Val St André aix-en-provence. Make sure to write les missionnaires by or above or under Soeur Russell. 

It was exciting to hear about that baptism in Daniel and Jennifer's ward. I love hearing about baptisms, especially of families and couples. Right now in the mission we are really focusing on finding families. Right now in aix, we are only teaching single people, but we are working really hard and findinf a family to bless the gospel with. So I have two weeks to go over since I wasn't able to write anything last week. So last week, highlights were district meeting, we ate sandwiches, a couple lessons with Jacqueline, Nihat, Jean ( a really cool guy from Iran who speaks english, he used to be muslim but now he is christian) And then we had church. We also had to make an emergency trip to Lyon for a sister going home because she was sick. We had to escort her, because she couldn't be alone. There are lot of sisters going home because of sickness lately. We stayed the night there at another sisters apartment. They had 8 bunkbeds that had 3 beds each ( for sisters that come in for confernces and such. So they had 24 beds. 24 beds in one apartment. Thats cool. Then on this last monday, We went to Marseille to visite Notre Dame de la Garde. That is an extremely beautiful chapel. Its on a hill and extremely tall, so it really sticks out from the rest of the city. The word Garde actually means watch, like the Chapel is watching over the city. After that we went and got bagels and cheesecake at this one place with the senior couple there. We were running around for the rest of the day trying to get ready for Zone conference the next day. On tuesday, the Roneys and the Lunds ( he is in one of the quorums of the seventy) came to Zone conference. We learned a lot. :) I also got to see Soeur Modersitzki and Soeur Bowman and S Bouennenotte ( I know I spelt that wrong) and S Roberts. So I was very happy. Soeur Bowman and Soeur BN actually sang a musical number too. We also ate sandwiches. This last week, We also started teaching a new ami named Esther, ( she has been taught before and is visiting her for 4 weeks about) I did an exchange with Soeur Grunke ( a german sister who is super funny)  and I ate octupus and mollusks to break our fast on sunday. And I ate about four mutton steaks last night. Nihat just stuffs us with different cuts or BBQed meat each time we eat over. Good thing we are not Vegetarien.

I love you all lots and I will be sure to send pictures next week!

Dieu vous aime!!!!

Vous etes ses enfants!

avec amour 

Soeur Russell

A Baptismal Date :)

Dear family and friends,

Jacqueline has a baptismal date! We are so excited for her. :) We still need to meet her children and she hasn't told them yet that she is getting baptized, but we are excited that she is planning on getting baptized the 19 of April. She is doing well, but we have a lot to teach her before then.  This sunday, Bishop Caussé was here along with other leaders of the church and the ward members were extremely excited about it. They talked a lot about missionary work and I remember that one of the leaders (who is, if I remember correctly, in charge of temporal affaires for most of Europe) told the members to start preparing to receive new converts, and baptisms will be increasing because the work here is hastening. What an amazing experience we have to be here. And now in Aix we have a teaching pool that is increasing bit by bit. It is also positively hot here. I'm working up a sweat sometimes. 

Oh, also this week, we were teaching Nihat, when he asked an awesome question about staying worthy and whether or not God punishes us. He was very concerned about repentance and mistakes that we make. So, Soeur Robison thinks for a second and says, I actually have a scripture that talks about that. So we open up to 2 Nephi 28:23 Please open up to that scripture. And please read that scriptrure. Feel free to laugh. I'm still laughing. I especially like how it repeats the first part twice and adds on the devil at the end. I also love that, not only is it extremely terrifying, but it even applied to the question he asked. At the end we were all laughing, but I think he was a little freaked out at first. But he did say he would stop drinking :) (don't worry, we explained what we meant to say) 

Quickly, I got a lovely package from the RS. Tell them thank you!!!!!

Je vous aime!!! Et Dieu vous aime!!

Vraiment!!!

Soeur Russell

Chateau d'If, bowing men with turbans, and unneeded pizza charity

Dear family and friends,
Yesterday, I didn't write because we changed our pday to tuesday (just this week) to go to Marseille. :) We took a bus there this morning and we went with the senior couple there and some other missionaries to visit Chateau d'If ( Yes, the one from Counte de Monte Cristo, cool huh :)) and a couple other islands nearby and we got gelato. It was really cool. The gelato was delicous, the islands were gorgeous and covered with wildflowers, the sun was out and it was warm/tshirt weather ( sorry usa, I know you haven't had you fair share of weather lately) and the Chateau was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. I still can't beleive that I'm in france sometimes. All in all, today was great. :)
That is so cool that Zach will be working at the zoo, just like I did. I'll have to write Zachy a letter of what I learned from there, handy advice, fun facts. First piece of advice, take advantage of your breaks. You'll be working at a zoo ( which is super cool) during breaks you can mosey over to the polar bears or elephants and hang out there. I really miss being able to wander around the zoo.
So highlight of this week besides today. We learned that Bishop Caussé will be coming to Aix-en-Provence this Sunday, along with a few other church leaders. We are really excited about that. This week, also, I was making a phone call while my companion contacted someone, when an arabian guy suddenly appeared in front of me, with a turban and beard and everything ( he was just missing the cool shoes), smiled, turned to me and gave me a very formal bow, stayed in that position for 3 seconds, then turned and left, all while I was talking to someone in french on the phone at the side of the road. Still trying to decide what that means. ( Maybe he's a genie? Or Arabian prince who bows at all the redheaded people he sees? Or maybe we met before and I am not remembering this trunbaned man who bows to people?) Also, we passed one man, holding a piece of pizza and soeur Robison said bon apetit and next thing we know this man is trying to give us his pizza in this very determined act of service and is showing us his new shoes and asking us if we can work for his wifes cleaning service. That was interesting.
I gotta run for reals!
JE VOUS AIME!!!!!!
Soeur Russell

Bonjour!!!

Dear family and friends,

This week, I 'm trying to remember what happened and literally almost nothing is coming up, besides doing an exchange in Carcassonne and a Baptism in the ward. At the begining of the week, we took a long train to Carcassonne ( I got to see Soeur Bounnanotte(I think I spelt that wrong) who is there) and we did a short exchange there. It was strange to be in my blue ville. On the cabinet door, there is a log thing of missionaries who have been in Carcassonne and I can remember clearly writing my name on it and now there are like 11 sisters names below it. Has it really been so long? Today actually is the 11 month mark of my mission. I don't feel like I have been out for that long.  Craziness. But while I was there, I was walking down streets that I walked down dozens of times, but now I can actually speak french. What a wierd feeling that is. 

So later this week, we had the baptism of the other sisters' ami who is named Michel. We got to teach him once and all of the missionaries here have kinda adopted him. He is an absurdly kind middleaged man who gives the missionaries the best chocolate cake I have ever had. The night before his baptism, he invited all the missionaries for a BBQ at his house. He is a scout, so he has the coolest house ever. He has literally 70 knives on the walls, and a whole lot of paintings and wood and coral and stones and antelers and scout type stuff( the elders were in love with his house). Michel is super cool and his baptism was extremely touching. he asked me to sing at his baptism, so I sang I know that my Reedemer lives for the second time on my mission. I really do like that song. Oh and we got transfer calls and I am staying in Aix another transfer with Soeur Robison. That is good because I love Aix and Soeur Robison. At the end of this transfer, I will have been here in aix for a third of my mission and as much time as all my other villes combined. I gotta run!!!!

I love you all! Vraiment!

et, comme toujours, Dieu vous aime!

Soeur Russell

Raccoons, steaks and nuts, and cake the size of a workout mat

Dear Family and friends,
This week, We started out by going to Montpeiller for en exchange, which was lots of fun, where I ate lunch in an old manor filled with old paintings and statues and chickens in the back yard ( It looked like it came from a period movie) and later, ate nuts with a french couple that lived right next to the beach. Not a bad exchange.
Then, we came back to aix, made cookies with an asian member and a muslim potential, got an awesome valentine's day banner from my mom, had district meeting, where we ate burgers, taught Jacqueline ( she says she will be baptized, she wants to talk about it with her kids first before she chooses a date) and our new ami Nihat.
 Nihat is really cool. He has been praying for the first time ever this week, and he says that he feels a huge sense of peace and relief in his life. He also has had huge miracles falling out of the sky this week for him ( more chances to work, a loan offered for him to start building his own house) and he says that everything he has read in the Book of Mormon seems to be truth. He is sooooooo cool. It is a little hard teaching him though, because we have to be extremely simple and he has a really hard time understanding our accents ( and we have a hard time understanding his), but already his life is changing so much because of the gospel. later, We gave cookies to about 7 people, did a lot of member visits. We visited one recent convert who lives out ville. We went to her place and she was showing us pictures in some of her nature/ traveling books. In one of hte pictures, there was a fuzzy little racoon, bouncing through some leaves. I have never seen a racoon here in france, and most french people don't see racoons either. So our member, Suzanne, is looking at the sweet little racoon, when soeur Robison leans over and exclaimes, " Il est une mechant!" ( she probably meant to say they(racoons) are evil, but instead what she said meant He is a villian) Suzanne and I looked at the cute little fuzzy racoon/ the villian and started laughing so hard. Especially Suzanne, who probably isn't too used to wild racoons. ( I kinda understood ( they can be evil) but villians were the last thing on my mind) Ever since, Suzanne has been texting us random Racoon facts and threatening to buy a racoon pet. :) Later, we had a baptism for member in the ward who just turned eight. There was a cake the width of a large table and a mini crepe maker, as well as twenty other desserts and hot chocolate. That I what I call a french baptism. Then we taught Nihat again 5 he gives us nuts and fanta every time we go over). Then we had church on sunday, where I sang a song and started it accidentally in english ( that is the second time I have done that on my mission), after we had a geneology activity and then we taught jacqueline ( we showed her the church website, she was soooooo excited about it and started watching like 20 videos right there), and after, went to Nihats and ate dinner. He made like 50 steaks ( ok only 12, but there were four of us) and Luckily, we had to run out ( to meet some other missionaries to grab our keys) after only eating 3. ( 3 steaks! Big ones!) And we were running late, so we stared running ( with 3 steaks in my stomach!) It was not a pleasant feeling.
Je vous aime comme tout!!!
et dieu vous aime plus!
Soeur Russell

Snow and Burnt Cookies and Flying Squirrels

Dear family and friends,

This email might be a little short, because I am exhausted. This morning, we climbed up to the top of the Sainte Victoire with most of our zone. I think one of the only reasons that I got up to the top at the same time as everyone else is because halfway up, we started walking through snow and ice and that slowed everyone down, so I got a chance to rest. It was so beautiful. The reason that we did it is because President Roney told us to bless the ville (kinda rededicate it). So this was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. The way down was covered with ice, so at one point, I just sat down and slide for like 5 minutes straight. At point, I slipped and started tumbling down part of the way down, but I caught myself quickly and I just have a couple small bruises. Because of that, I now have the nickname flying squirrel. ( it doesn't really make sense to me either) And we have just come from that, so I feel very drained. Otherwise this week has been good. We taught Jacqueline twice. Before one of our lessons with her, we tried to make cookies for her, but bothe times we put a tray of cookies in the oven, we forgot about them and they got burnt. We told jacqueline that we burned our cookies that we made for her twice and she laughed and laughed.She then lectured us on how to use the stove and was saying " put it on a lower tempature and then get a chair and sit in front of the stove with a book of mormon to read" I love her so much and she has progressed a lot since we met her. I'm gonna reposer for a moment, but I love you all. Je sais que l'evangile est retabli et je sais que Dieu parle avec ses enfants toujours. Je vous aime!!!!

Soeur Russell

fingers, blind dates, and turkish people

Dear Family and friends,

This week we got another new ami and we got to do a lot of finding activities. Our entire zone got together on doing a game sort of thing and we got to see some really cool experiences because of it. We contacted almost 300 people in one day and The other sisters contacted 1000 people in one day. I didn't even know that was possible. Soeur Robison has a pretty good wardrobe now, so everything is good there. We've been finding lots of potentials ( Soeur Robison is amazing at that) and we are working on helping them become amis. Funny story, Soeur Robison contacted a guy who just so happened to be waiting for a blind date. Of course he thinks the girl coming up to talk to him is his date and starts greeting her as his date with an almost biz. Thankfully she was able to avoid it and even , after explaining that we were missionaries and what we do and that she is not his date, got his cordonees and ended the contact right before his real date showed up. We laughed a lot about that one. :) Our new ami is named Nihat. He is from Turkey and he has really hard time understanding our accents. He is so nice though. He has a muslim backround, but he has never been practicing and he says that he beleives in Christ. He might not understand truely why Christ is important, but that is so huge that he beleives in him. We are going to have to teach very very very simply for him, because he doesn't speak or understand too well and he doesn't have a christian backround. But I'm excited to see how he progresses. 

This week I also lost my planner, thankfully all the numbers I took down were written down elsewhere too, but I have been feeling so lost without my old planner. I've just started a new one. Its kinda funny thinking about how before my mission, I never wanted a planner, and now on my mission I feel lost without one. 

Tonight, we are taking a train to Montpellier to do an exchange with the Sister training leaders. So I'll get to see Soeur Modersitzki ( I still have trouble spelling that) and I always like visiting other places in the mission. 

Oh and this week, I sprained my finger. The missionaries have a saturday sport activity (samedi sportif) that they do every week to invite potentials and amis and members to and we played basketball ( the first time I have played basketball in about a year). And of course I sprained my finger. :) it doesn't hurt when it is bandaged up though. and it looks really wierd and for some reason it amuses me to see how wierd looking it is ( as long as it is temporary) 

Yeah, that's it for this week, mais à la semaine prochain!!!

Je vous aime et Dieu vous aime!!!!!

Avec amour,

Soeur Russell

Hickory, Chocolate Cake and Crazy Amounts of Food

Dear family and friends,
the SLC story was really cool! The Lord really is creating missionary oppurtunities for our family left and right.
This week, on tuesday, we did geneology with one of the sisters in our ward and that was really fun. after that we had a lesson with an old man named Antoin who was very nice, but he certainly likes talking and discussing. We're thinking he will need a much more structured and focused Lesson this week. The next day we saw another member named Soeur Tennoun and had hot chocolate and a spiritual thought with her. On thursday we had a language study with another member, where she gave us a wierd drink ( it was like hickory something or other). it made us nice and warm, but it tasted unpleasant. On Saturday, we had an awesome zone conference. The members came and prepared food for all the missionaries and just about stuffed us to death. right after the conference, we did a lesson for the other sister's ami, Michel, and he brought some small gateaux. It is about the best cake I have ever tasted. It was chocolate and smooth and crunchy too and with chocolate mousse. So good!!! The lesson went well. We taught with a sister in the ward who is about our age( we started with her because our original member was late), an older sister in the ward( the original member who was late), and the Au pair of the Roney kids ( she randomly  jumped in at some point). So it was 5 women and this one really kind old man. It was kinda a funny picture. after that we taught a recent convert, who is amazing. And then we had church on sunday and afterwards wome members forced us to eat the left overs of the conference meal. It was very yummy. But one elder, our zone leader, who is as skinny as a twig, ate four plates of salad and tuna, three plates of chicken currey and rice, another plate of ham and rice, three cookies and a big chocolate cake drowning in vanilla sauce and an entire baguette.Unbeleivable. one of the members there is from tahiti and she said she has only seen islanders eat that much. I can't imagine that. And today is Soeur Robison's birthday!!!! But we are celebrating it next week, because that will be easier.
Well my times up, but I hope you all know I love you! and I know that God loves you and He always will!
Je vous aime!!!
Soeur Russell

Soeur Russell and Soeur Bowman

9 Months

Dear Family and Friends,

Last pday was a little wierd which is why I'm writing on a wednesday instead of a monday. Nothing bad or too strange happened so no worries, just a lot of busy stuff and then we had an exchange right after that in Nice.

Last friday was the halfway mark of my mission. It doesn't make sense in my brain, but its true. 9 months have passed. Time flies and it goes slowly at the same time. (I'm sure everyone can understand that feeling) 

So this last week was pretty cool in that way. there was new years and my 9 month mark. 

On tuesday, we spent a large part of the day helping members prepare for the new years eve party that night. We cut a lot of stuff, rolled a lot of stuff, spread a lot of stuff, taped a lot stuff, set some tables, cleaned, etc..... And the arty ended up being a huge hit, everyone, including Jacqueline(who came too) had so much fun. We left right after dinner(which was yummy) but the rest of the members danced, played games, dressed up in costumes, and covered the entire church in confetti. We visited jacqueline the next day at her house and in the stairwell of her apartment building, there is confetti everywhere leading right up to her door. So all her neighbors know exactly who was the one who made the halls so messy and festive. She is doing great though. She has really progressed in the past week and we have found a very good way of teaching her. That day we also had lunch with a member who has the most gorgeous veiw of the Saint Victoire (a mountain) from her window. It was almost distracting, it was so beautiful. Its very unique from most mountains I've seen. These past two weeks, I have eaten an absurd amount of fois gras. Its not bad, especially when you get the really high quality kind ( the Atoine's had fois gras that their friend made personally which was the best one I have ever eaten), but eating it almost every other day for two weeks is a little scary.  We also got to eat Gallette des Rois twice  last week, which was really yummy. It has a almond tasting center and a flaky outside. And the tradition is that there is little figurine baked in the cake and everyone gets a slice and whoever gets the slice of cake with the figurine in it is the King for a day. The second time we ate it, I got the figurine, so I have a fun little plastic crown in our apartment now :) 

We also had district meeting with only 6 missionaries ( I have never had a district meeting so small before)  and sandwhiches. And, because of our curfew, we weren't able to eat dessert at the new years eve party, but they promised to save some. And later we found an entire giant bowl of millefueilles sitting in the church fridge. We weren't sure if they were ours, so we didn't eat them then. We talked to a member later who said that they were meant for us. We returned to the church to find them gone. I will admit I was very heart broken. So we did some investigating with the other missionaries to find out where they had gone to. But We really had no idea who would do that. Then on sunday we were sitting in Relief Society, when a sister starts talking about some charity that she got to do during the week by giving out food that she had found in the church to homeless people. Our mystery was solved then. Me and Soeur Bowman looked at each other and almost started laughing. Our millefueilles were stolen for charity. That's a good cause.

And then after church, all the missionaries went to a members house for lunch. It is about the coolest house ever. It is almost completely made of glass ( it literally like a glass box) and all the walls open up and close) and we had lots of food and laughed and talked. That was lots of fun. The member couple are both so cool. Funny, nice. And both of them speak english, so it was all easy to understand. Then an FHE at a members house, where we had to hide from her cat ( long story and I dont have time sorry) and the exchange in sunny warm Nice.

I gotta run, but I love you all!!!!!!

à la prochain!!!!

Soeur Russell

Christmas

Dear Family and Friends,
What a great week! But of course its always great at christmas time. All worries seem so distant and small when we focus on the life of christ. For Noel, we spent christmas eve at our bishop's house with one whole side of his family. The entire family is awesome so they made us feel right at home. We played games, ate a lot of food ( caviar, cheese, chicken, potatoes, fois gras, shrimp, salmon, a buche de noel , rasberry mousse, date paste, salade, sparkling grape and apple juice, more drinks,etc) and watched Home Alone (with president's permission of course). We got to sleep in a little christmas morning and then we opened presents. That was lots of fun and thank you to all the family and friends that sent me something. Our ami jacqueline also gave us presents, (I got a bag and an expresso tea set with cats all over it :)) Later we went caroling to homeless people with Soeur Zassor (a member)  and handed our little sachets of food for them. And then we ate Lunch at her apartment and afterwards, went back to the bishop's house to skype our families. It's so amazing how we can just open our computers these days and see our families faces and talk with them. It was great to see them, and I miss them lots. As well as all my other friends and family. :) But I'm so happy I have the chance to be here working for the Lord.
On friday, we had zone Training, and after we ate domino's pizza and Cookies ( a very american meal) and later that day, we met up with a potential ami named YunLin. She is really cute. She says she is not interested in religion, but she still asks us lots of questions about the missionaries and the church, so we are hoping that will change soon. She is really darling and just a fun person.  After church on Sunday, we taught  Jacqueline, who is doing well, but I can tell she is not always grasping the significance of what we tell her. But she is progressing and reading the Book of Mormon, so she is doing great. :)
Today, we got to do service for some members and ate way to many french desserts.( the member bought us croissants and pain au chocolates and beignets and the elders brought a gallette des rois to our RCM meeting). This time of year is not good if one is trying to be healthy. But it is good for everything else. :)
How blessed we are to have the gospel in our lives. To know that we have a savior who has made everything possible for us creates such hope. The gospel is such a comfort and a blessing.
Je vous aime tous!!!! Beaucoup!!!!!!
à la semaine prochain,
Soeur Russell

Merry Christmas!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas!!!!!! This week, we had a great lesson with Jacqueline and she even got présents for us! She is so sweet. She loves us so much and we met like a few weeks ago. We are hoping to set a baptismal date with her soon. This week, we also sang in sacrament meeting, Sœur Bowman and I were in the choir and at the end I was supposed to sing a solo. During the choir part though, I was feeling a little Dizzy. I hadn't eaten well for breakfast and it was absurdly hot in the room and We were standing and blowing out large amounts of oxygen. At one point I just started mouthing the words and praying that I could at least get through my solo without fainting. And I have no idea how I sounded because I was trying so hard to not fall flat on my face or worse falling back and hitting my head and causing the entire Sacrament meeting to stop and make a big scene  and ruin the Christmas program and maybe go to the ER. But I didn't faint! yea! So I hope it sounded ok. Nobody has told I was bad so that's good. Aix is so gorgeous during Christmas, they had lights all over in centreville and Christmas markets and people selling little trinkets and candy and nuts and dried fruit. We are still walking and taking buses everywhere so we get to see all the pretty sights a lot. They have an entire market devoted to nativity sets (I think of you Mommy whenever I see it) rides for all the kids and all sorts of fun stuff. We saw Kéjain on sunday and he is doing great. We actually passed Kéjain to the elders to teach because it is a little easier to do it that way but he is so great and wants to learn so much. We also found a lot of cool potentials this week like a guy that we contacted that the night before he had a dream he should stop smoking and come to Christ and a lady who let us in while porting and told us to come back whenever. Sœur Bowman is doing great as well, she is so funny and Darling. She is really shy and this a really dry sense of humor that you wouldn't expect from her at first. We also had exchanges with the sister training leaders this week, one of which is Sœur Mod. Yeah, she is a sister training leader already, that is how awesome she is. I haven't seen her for awhile and I was so happy to see her. She is doing a great job and I loved working with her for a full day, we both have grown so much from that transfer together. For one, I can actually understand French now. :) We also had An amazing Zone conference where I got a whole lot of packages (thank you everyone!!!!!!!!) This week, we will be eating Christmas dinner at the bishop's house and doing calls Christmas day at the bishop's house again. And We are allowed to Watch Disney movies too, so I am excited for that :) I will be calling at 7 (French time) in the evening on Christmas day. Expect a Skype call then! I gotta go! But I love you lots! Keep the Savoir in your hearts this Christmas season! He is truly the source of all happiness. He was born for us and He lives still!

Merry Christmas!!!! Joyeux Noel!!!!

Je vous aime!

Sœur Russell