I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Have a Happy New Year!

25 Dec 2014
Merry Christmas!!! Christmas Morning we went over to the Rices and we
had a sour doe pancake eating contest and the Record is 30! Elder
Casia got 15, Elder O Brien got 14, and I got 20! I felt like I was
going to Explode! Then went to our ward mission leaders house and
Skyped my Family! Pretty sweet to see everyone! Everyone is getting so
big, Its crazy! After we Skyped we went and saw a few people and then
went to the Filipino Christmas party! That was Crazy! They know how to
have fun and have parties! There was a ton of non members there and we
were able to get there info and we should be stopping by in the
Future!
26 Dec 2014
Elder O Brien went home!!!! :( his mission is over! I miss him to
much! He was an awesome missionary, Worked hard and loved others!
27 Dec 2014
We went and saw a potential Investigator that was at the Filipino
Christmas Party, Her name is Early and she is Filipino! We went over
with the Roy Family and Early was definitely prepared to receive the
Restored Gospel! Everything made sense to her and when we invited her
to be baptized she said "Yes, Because its Christs Church"! She will be
getting baptized on the 17th of January 2015!
28 Dec 2014
We had church and after church right when bishop was leaving he heard
the phone ring in the church and he went in and answered the phone and
it was a lady who lives in California and her niece lives in Kodiak.
She told Bishop that she has been fasting for 2 days for her Niece in
Kodiak to have a chance to receive the missionaries into her home
because the Niece does not like the Mormon church especially the
missionaries! But she told bishop that her nieces daughter that is 20
months old just had 2 seizures yesterday and they just got out of the
ER and are willing to do anything! So the lady that lives in
California called her and asked if she would like the missionaries to
give a blessing to her 20 month old Daughter and she said yes! So
bishop came to us and told us and gave us the Information and we
called her and went over and gave her 20 month old Daughter a blessing
and after the blessing she told us that we can stop by any time and
that she feels a lot better now!

Well that was my awesome week! I hope you all had an awesome
Christmas! Have a happy new year!

Love Elder Russell
Kodiak Island
Alaska Anchorage MIssion

My companions burnt white shirts, ties and pants!!! Elder O Brien is going home.

Beautiful! Kodiak Island Alaska!

Christmas party in Kodiak Island!!!

Kodiak Island! Elder O Brien and Elder Russell In the mirror:)

Christmas party in Kodiak Island!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Skype does a mothers heart good!!!!

First time Fishing in Alaska!!!

Kodiak Island! 

Kodiak Island. BEAUTIFUL!!!

First time Fishing in Alaska!!! Kodiak Island!!!

I'm kind of boring this week haha sorry!

Well this week has been crazy!  We have
a few people that are pretty close to baptism! Elder O Brien is going
home this week! I will tell you more when I see you! I just have like
no energy to type a long thing about my week! Im kind of boring this
week! haha sorry! But That is so sweet that Bishops anniversary was
last week! I will have to be in on it next year! Should be fun!
Fishing was awesome! Congrats to Whitney! Glad that she did not walk
there! Yeah Elder Modlik called me and said hey I just got a couple
packages from your parents that are to you, what should I do with
them? He said that he is going to mail them to me today. The office
might think that I am still in Delta! haha Well I am looking forward
to seeing you guys for christmas!  I have no Idea What I am going to
talk about but it should be fun! So I dont have a time yet but I will
have a member text you the time! Cool? Sweet!

1st P-Day in Kodiak Island!

Kodiak Island 1st p-day!  I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

I need a hair cut!!!

Kodiak is super beautiful!

 Sooooo Kodiak Island.... hmmm well it rains all the time, we only got
a couple hours of sunlight this week which was sweet because we were
able to see the mountains and the Ocean and more ocean and more
mountains, and all the other little islands that surround us! Kodiak
is Super Beautiful! Have not seen a bear yet but every time we see
someone they are like, don't go down that street because a bear was
spotted not to long ago. We get that at least once a day! There is a
ton of Filipino's, They are here because of Fishing (work)! I have to
learn Tagalog.... I can now read Tagalog! I am trying to learn how to
pray now! Filipinos are a little more than half of the Population here
in Kodiak. Pretty much all of them are Catholic. When we are knocking
doors we know who is Filipino and who is not, the Filipinos leave
there shoes out side, and I mean a lot of shoes! The population here
is about 10 Thousand people! There is a Walmart here, but someone told
me that it was the second smallest Walmart in the world. We have a KFC
and we heard that it is 85 bucks for a bucket of chicken. Tons of
Sushi places (Sorry Braxton). We plan on going fishing for sea bass
today! It is 42 degrees here and no wind! Our Apartment is the most
expensive apartment in the mission, We have 5 beds and a weight room,
big living room and kitchen, our fridge is chuck full of fish, oh and
we live right underneath bishop, bishops name is bishop black!  I just
looked out the window and guess what, its still raining! Well that is
a small description of Kodiak! Its Green as can be here and its the
winter time, I cant wait for summer! I love you Guys!

Elder Russell & Elder Modlick Delta Juntion

Delta Junction

Breakfast with the Skaleski's 

Dinner ALL YOU CAN EAT! With the Skaleski"s

Transfered to Kodiak Island

Hey mom I am not going to send this huge email to everyone, I am just
going to reply. My journal is packed in my bag and its all the way at
the bottom! Sorry to lazy to get everything out of my bag and then put
it all back, that thing is a puzzle! haha I cant believe sister
Skaleski told you about that.... What else did she say about my
testimony and stuff? What is crazy is Nothing was coming into my mind
before I went up but then when I opened my mouth it was full of words.
I know that the spirit led me to the things that i needed to say, for
dad the family, and for the ward. I AM GOING TO MISS DELTA SOOOOOOO
MUCH! I left this morning to Fairbanks and I am now in Fairbanks
emailing you. I am flying to Anchorage tomorrow at 6:10 AM and then
going to a 2 hour meeting and then right after, i mean right after the
meeting I am getting on a plane and flying to Kodiak! I will be
serving with Elder Obrian who is going home in 4 weeks and with Elder
Casha who is going home in March! I am finally not Senior Companion!
haha I have to learn Tagalog because there is a ton of Philippinos
there and they are there because of the fish! I live Right underneath
the Bishop in the most expensive apartment in the mission. I am most
likely going to be there for 6 months or for the wrest of my mission.
Kodiak Island will be quite the Adventure and I am looking forward to
see what the Lord has for me there! The last week in Delta we put our
investigator on Date to be baptized, she is looking forward to it! I
wont be there but she is making one of the best decisions in her life I
love you MOm!

"Many are COLD and few are FROZEN"

Love, Elder Russell
Kodiak Island
Alaska Anchorage Mission

The Church is true! I love you guys!

 I ate turkey, ham, pie, pie, pie, pie, pie, pie,
and more pie, stuffing, potatoes, green beans ( I love green beans
now). The only thing that I pretty much didn't have was yams. And I
love yams! We had 3 thanksgiving dinners! 3 Thanksgiving dinners + 1
tiny stomach = well you can imagine what it equals to. For the past
couple of days we have been trying to get people into the True
Christmas spirit! We have been showing them the "He is the Gift" video
on Christmas.mormon.org. I have not got your letters yet. Transfer
calls come this Saturday. I think I am staying here for another 1 1/2
months for a total of 6 months in Delta Junction. On Saturday I will
be Done with training! Yesss! haha It was stressful but I sure have
learned a lot! Elder Modlik is a great missionary! He wants to go to
the City and not in the country. He does not like the country. But I
love the country and don't like the city!

Well the Highlight of this week brothers and sister was.....
Thanksgiving! It was my first Thanksgiving on my mission in the 16
months I have been here. How did I not have a Thanksgiving last year?
Well I was in Alaska When Canada had there thanksgiving and then I got
transferred to Canada Before American Thanksgiving. So that's how I
did not have a thanksgiving until this thanksgiving! At 10 a.m. We
went and played at the Football Turkey Bowl! There was a total of 12
People there and guess what it was negative 20 outside! While we were
playing our Eyelashes were freezing together, our hair was ice, and so
was everything else! They had me play quarter back and we won! haha!
We were on Defense and I went to go and dive for this guys legs before
he entered into the Endzone and when I dove I nicked his right foot
and his left boot came up and split my chin, but I could not feel it
because my face was frozen! So it didn't draw  blood until I got into
the Apartment! I put super glue on it and its all good! What I wore to
the Freezing Turkey Bowl was my black Thermals with a hoodie on and a
beanie, with white Shorts and my Wonder woman Socks! Haha it was
awesome! We had 3 Thanksgiving dinners! one at 2, one at 5 and one at
7! We picked up a couple potential investigators! Well that was the
Highlight of the week! Transfer calls come Saturday, and I will be
done training. I am happy but sad at the same time because Elder
Modlik is the bomb!  The Church is true! I love you guys!

Elder Russell
Alaska Anchorage Mission
Delta Junction & Tok Branch

We were flying down the mountain!

Well I am doing alright! Sister Skaleski told you about us getting
stuck on the mountain right? Well if you didn't then well let me tell
you. We got up to the very top of the mountain and its like 0 degrees
and the wind is blowing like 40 miles per hour. When we got to the top
we opened up our coats and leaned forward about 45 degrees and the
wind was holding us up! We had to clime the mountain on all fours
because it was slick and steep! It was getting late and we decided to
take what we thought a easy path back to the car, so we are hiking
down and then there is a super super steep hill about 200 yards long
and it was all ice! there were bushes all around us so all three of us
said well its getting super dark and we are super late, so we decided
to slide down the icy hill. What we would do is we would lay on our
backs with our legs facing down and we would slide and grab bushes and
then slide and grab bushes! We did this for an hour and you would
slide and miss the bushes sometimes and then you crash into the bushes
and that hurt but we were flying down that mountain! It was super
scary but super fun! We had our missionary Restoration Fireside that
we put on for Delta Junction! We put a lot of work into this thing! We
had nerators and singers and conversion stories and a slide show and
piano playing the whole time! It was super awesome and we had food and
deserts! Lots and Lots and Lots of Non members came because we
challenged everyone to bring someone! and they did! Haha I will have
to tell you the rest of it on Skype on Christmas!
So Elder Mccusker came out with me from the MTC and he is now AP and
He told me that there will be 30 new missionaries coming in next
transfer and only 7 leaving and then the transfer after that we will
be having another 30 new missionaries and only 7 leaving! Where are
they going to go? haha usually only like 5 or 6 would come out! Well
those were two highlights that I thought I should share! A lot more
went on these past couple of weeks but that's for later! I love you So
much!

Pictures from the Skaleski's Delta junction!!!

At the Skaleski's

The Skaleski's home

Elder Russell's new companion!

In the dog yard

Packer fan. WHAT?

MUSHING!!!!!!!!!

My new limo!!! Alaska style!

Mushing!!!!

Learning to do dog mushing!!!

"Faith,Hope,Charity and Love" D&C 4!

Well I am not going to layout Monday through Friday but I will tell
you of a couple of days! This week has just been super busy and the
work is progressing!

Friday- We went and helped Laretta with her pig farm, a couple days
before Friday we went and caught 10 baby pigs and put them in a pen.
We showed up on Friday and they all escaped!!! ugh that was terrible!
So we went and fixed the pen and we should be catching them all again
in the coming week! We also helped her break all the ice out of the
Pigs drinking bowls! The days are getting colder and colder! We then
had Zone Meeting, we of course had to Skype in! The main points was to
Make Exchanges more effective and making sure that our miles don't go
over! ( Its kind of hard when people live forever away from you! haha
but we have actually been doing really really good with our miles! At
night we went over and taught Mary Treybal and we finished the new
member discussions with her! Finally! haha We taught her all of the
Laws and Ordinances. We then had dinner with my dads twin! Dallin
Wrigley and his family! We then went and saw our ward mission leader
brother Taylor. We told him the stuff that needs to be reported and
announced at ward council on Sunday because we wont be there! We will
be in Tok!

Saturday- We woke up and drove to Tok! Which is a 2 hour drive! We
went and saw a ton of Families! It was sweet! We picked up a couple of
referrals and a couple of Potentials, almost got shot, that was fun!
We stayed in the Bergs bed and breakfast cabin! There was a lot more
stuff going on this day but that is for when I get home! :)

Sunday- We did our studies and went and had breakfast with the Berg
Family! We didn't have a working toilet in our cabin so we had to go
use the out house in freezing cold weather! Quite the experience! We
then went to church, not in a church building but in the Branch
Presidents living room! There was a total of 10 people not including
us. I gave a talk in Sacrament along with a high counsel man that was
visiting! I gave a talk on "Faith, Hope, Charity and Love" D&C 4! It
was one of the most spiritual sacrament meetings I have ever had in my
whole life! It is amazing that the Lord is Present in a little home
with 10 members! I am so glad that I was able to experience that! We
then talked to the Branch President and he is a pilot and he has been
talking with President Robinson and they have been talking about Me
and Elder Modlik being flown into the Native Villages throughout the
North! We will be having dinner with the Master Chief in a couple of
weeks! Branch President said that he feels like it is time for
missionaries to start going to the Northern villages!

Well that's part of my amazing week! I love you guys! Stay safe and warm!

Love
Elder Russell
Alaska Anchorage Mission
Delta Junction & Tok

The Lemon family from Alaska!

Sister Lemon and her son Wyatt stopped by from Alaska to share with us the love they have for Elder Russell! Wyatt is going to serve in the Ukraine! Thank you Lemon family!!!

Best teaching week in Delta!

Monday- For P-day we went and did some quilting! woot woot! It was
probably one of my best p-days ever! haha. We had a  super spiritual
lesson with a less active family, the dad wants his kid to be baptized
and he wants to become active again. It is the Carston family!

Tuesday- Today we had transfer meeting, and of course it is in
Anchorage which is 350 miles away so we had to Skype in and watch it!
My trainer is going home, Elder Landon. His time is up. That's crazy
how time flies! Had a lesson with Bill, how he made it through
life was by playing guitar in bars and things like that, and he has
not played in years!!!!! like 30 years was the last time he touched
one. People have been trying to get him to play for so long now, and
guess who got him to play????? The one and only missionaries! haha. We
then went and saw Brother Mcneal who is also less active and we found
out why he has not been coming to church, because someone told him
that the sacrament was only passed on Fast Sunday! He would always
show up to fast Sunday but not any other Sunday. He told us that he
will start coming more now that he knows that! haha goof ball! :) We
finally got in with this family that I have been trying forever and
they loved us!!! We will be seeing them at the Ward Halloween party!
We then went to the Gas Station and we walked in and talked to this
guy that was all tattooed up with gauges in his ears! We had a nice
chat and invited him to the Ward Halloween party and he said he will
go with his family!

Wednesday- We went to the Steak house and talked to this man who is a
Jehovah's witness and he wants us to teach him next week and answer
some questions! Boo Yeah! Had Lunch with this less active guy named
Joe Erickson and he made us Ribs, Mashed Potatoes, and corn! Sooooo
Gooood! haha we finally found out his concern, how? Well we just asked
him! haha easy as that. We then went and helped this lady at her pig
farm.

 Thursday- We went and took a load of wood from sister kirk and gave it
to this lady that is in need. Had dinner with the Lemon family and
there son Wyatt is going on a mission in 4 days to Ukraine, so we had
him act like a missionary for our lesson and we taught the Restoration
to the rest of his family with him teaching as well and boy did the
whole family start crying! haha it was awesome!

Friday- We went and helped the Carston family unload pellets for there
wood burning stove, and then taught them a lesson! Went over to
Skaleskies and sister Skaleskie told us that Zoya and John the people
that we went dog mushing with, they want to take the discussions! Me
and Elder Modlik were jumping up and down! We taught a new member
discussion to Mary Treybal and we are now done with the commandments!
We then had the Halloween party and the Chili cook off! We were the
judges!

Saturday- We went and saw our investigator Richard who is a seventh
day advent and we taught him about he Priesthood and invited him to
church. Dinner with the less active Rhile family and we had a good
lesson, spirit was super strong! We then went to Wyatt Lemons
fairwell. And he introduced us to some of his friends that are not
members and they want to meet with us.

Sunday- We woke up did our studies and then went to church at 10 but
when we showed up there were no cars there, so we were like what the
heck is today not Sunday, did they cancel church because it was to
cold or what, but then it dawned on us.... it was daylight savings!
haha dang it, no one told us! Richard showed up to Church!!!!!!! He
loved it! The Carston family also showed up! Dinner with the krauses
and they brought some friends and we ended up teaching them and picked
them up as new investigators! They want to meet with us again!

Man what a jam packed week! Best teaching week in Delta! The work is
progressing and nothing will get in the way of that! Me and my
companion are striving and doing really good at being Exactly
Obedient! Obedience brings blessings but Exact Obedience brings
Miracles! I love you guys! Stay safe and warm out there!

Elder Chad Russell
Alaska Anchorage Mission
Delta Junction & Tok Branch

Today was my Grandpa Busters Funeral.

Monday- Today was my Grandpa Busters Funeral. We are going to miss him
so much. But he is not going through any more pain. I ponder on the
memories that I had with my good old Grandpa Buster! I love you
Grandpa! We went bowling for our p-day with a less active and an
investigator and a couple of members! Boy I sucked! haha Last place!
YOU SERIOUS!-coach Johnson

Tuesday- Woke up and went and helped the Hornbecks move stuff around
the farm! We then had our last district meeting of the transfer! Me
and Elder Modlik gave a training about Obedience, it was ummmm
Awesome! We played a short game of Simon says and threw in a couple of
scriptures and some experiences! We were prompted to go and see the
Papard family and they were not home, we then were prompted to go and
see Peter and he was not home either! We recognized that every
prompting happens for a reason even if we don't see the reason for it!
It was a test and we past. We know that we will be blessed for
following those promptings! We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to
the Carsten family and we used a mouse trap for faith, a first aid kit
for repentance, hand sanitizer for Baptism, big warm, protective glove
for the Holy Ghost! We did that because they have  a 8 year old kid
that wants to be baptized! We then gave out candy in the end! Gets
them every time!

Wednesday- We had Lunch with our man Joe Erickson, he just had hip
surgery and we asked if we can come over and cook him some lunch every
Wednesday! So we cooked Pancakes, bacon, and eggs! You know, the only
thing that I can cook! haha We then went to mutual and we found this
one 13 year old girl there that wants to take the lessons! OH YEAH!!!!

Thursday- Exchanges with our District leader and his companion, Elder
Nielson (DL) and Elder Tingy! For lunch we had a steak cook off, and
........ I should of won, they cheat! haha Elder Modlik won! Helped
the Hornbencks with moving and stacking a ton of hay! Helped out
Laretta. Right when we pulled in her driveway and we got out of the
car we hear screaming and cusing and Elder Nielson asked, is she
always like that? We replied, yes! haha but there was a reason for her
screaming, the pigs got out and so we all chased them and tackled
them. Next week we get to go and help with the pigs! haha should
be fun. I feel like we should be getting paid for this! haha JK!

Friday- We got our Transfer calls.... we are both staying in Delta for
6 more weeks! Booo YEAH! I woke up this morning on the floor.... don't
know how I got there. Haha. Got my Halloween package from my family! I
do so good trying to eat healthy and lose weight, but then I get a
package from home. haha we saw pam who is less active and her
husband cheater on her after 30 years of marriage. we did not know
what to say but we told her that the Lord knows how you feel, go to
him and that where you will find comfort!

Saturday- We went and dropped off some lemon bars to Pam and
wrote a little note for her. We contacted a referral today and her
name is Betty , she is 98 years old and the people told us that
she sits by the door with her shot gun and her dog, they said that she
is a very angry lady and sometimes very nice. So we go and try to
contact this lady, we said a prayer and pulled into her driveway and
right when we got out of the car we get shot at! haha just kidding
Mom! We got out of the car and she walked out to go and feed the
birds, and then we tried talking to her asking if she needed any help
and, just looked at us and had a really mean look on her face and went
back inside all mad. So we walk back to the car with our hands on the
handle of the door because we thought that she was grabbing her gun to
shoot us. She came back out side and said come on in. We then looked
at each other and were thinking that she is just going to let us
inside and then shoot us! haha so we got up to the door and she said
come on in, so we go and  she shot me and my companion in the
heart..... with kindness! haha We sat down and talked to her and guess
what her teeth fell out!!! OH and she cant really hear so you have to
SCREAM AT THE TOP OF YOUR LONGS or write down what you wanted to say
on a piece of paper for her to read! She said that we can come back!
Crazy old Lady, we thought she was going to kills us! haha

Sunday- Stake Conference here in Fairbanks! Super sweet! We woke up to
-5 degrees with clear blue skies and with frost covering the trees! We
went back and saw Betty  and she showed us all of her cool
colections! She has a cannon ball! She also had 2 swords and she
handed us them and me and Elder Modlik start playing sword fight and
while we were PLAY fighting, she whips out another sword and she
starts fighting us!!!!! Like full on! Came to find out that she was a
professional sword fighter! She is 98 years old and we got our buts
kicked! haha don't spread that around to to many people! haha OH and
on our way back we almost hit a huge!!!!!!! HUGE!!!!! BULL MOOSE! I
took a Video of it and tried taking pictures!

Well I love you guys! Stay safe and warm!

Elder Chad Russell
Alaska Anchorage Mission
Delta Junction & Tok

Went dog mushing!!!

Went dog mushing!!! Elder Modlik and Elder Russell

When those dogs get going, they get going!!! Delta Junction Alaska

The work is going good here in Delta Junction!

Sorry if my emails are super boring (knowing me I probably spelt that
wrong). Haha well this week went a little better, I am doing good, my
friends are doing good and my family is doing good, and the work is
going good here in Delta Junction. I just first want to start off
thanking my awesome mom for all that she has done for me and for being
so strong in the gospel and letting her light shine and not hiding it
under a bushel, I am glad that I have such a sweet mom that prays for
me each day it has definitely helped! without the faith of my mom, I
would not be here sending this email to you guys! I also want to thank
my dad for the amazing example he has been to me, the family, and my
friends! The things that he has taught me I have applied on my mission
to help others soften there hearts and to come closer to Christ!
Without these two amazing people and the Lord I would be lost, I would
not be the man that I am today if it weren't for them! I also want to
thank all my Friends! For the wonderful support and helping me not
slip into the deep end! You guys have been my crutch through life, For
when I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave
me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed
me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto
me. I have a firm foundation which is centered on Jesus Christ because
of these people! Please if there is anything that you need, let me
know and I will help the best that I can!

Monday- Dog Mushing with the Ididarod racer ZOYA and the Yukon quest
racer JOHN ( he has won the Yukon quest 2)! Man I almost fell off
twice! When those dogs get going, they get going! Ha=Left turn, G=
Right turn, Hike= run faster! It is so crazy how they run and poop at
the same time! I think I felt some hit my face! EWWW Haha!
they have a total of 50 dogs and I had 14 dogs on my team.

Tuesday- Dinner with the Elkins Family and they have lived in Hawaii,
Utah, Turkey, Egypt and now Alaska! They have an autistic daughter
named Mia! She is exactly like my sister Whitney!

Wednesday- Dinner with Sister Skaleski who has been Less active for
over 3 -4 years and is now returning, she fed us Moose and Caribou!
Caribou hunt starts up again on Tuesday the 21. talking about hunting,
Her less active son is taking us hunting for some coyote (Probably
spelt that wrong) next Monday! 2 non member families were suppose to
show up for dinner but canceled at the last minute because of road
conditions!

Thursday: We saw so many people today and that was super awesome
because that like never happens here in Delta Junction! We teach a lot
of lessons but usually not this much! haha

Friday- We chopped some wood for Brother Rhile and his family, they
are going through a hard time right now and we decided to go and just
start chopping wood! His heart was softened so much! He showed up to
church on Sunday! We saw Michael Carston and his family who is a part
member family and the son is 8 who is not baptized but we taught the
Plan of Salvation using a little board game that we made and then we
asked questions and who ever answered them correctly got some gummy
bears! He should be getting baptized in a month in a half, pray for
him!

Saturday- Had dinner with the Robinson family who live on Fort Greely
and they invited us to go bowling with them and some non members on
Monday! We then went and contacted a referral at the quilting shop
here in town and the lady was from Australia, so Elder Modlik clicked
with her! She is a strong baptist, just like the rest of her family
but she invited us over for dinner!

Sunday- Church we had the Primary program!!!! Ohhh yeahhh! The best! 3
non member families were suppose to show up but didn't! Ugh! Haha stake
conference is next week for the Fairbanks stake!  Went and saw our
investigator Ed Abel and he is sooooo close!!!! So close to know that
it is true!

Some notes! We should be picking up a solid new investigator soon,
probably by Wednesday at mutual! Almost hit a big bull moose in a
blizard. Everyone was fine in the car wreck! Before we came and did
emails we had a mouse trap throwing fight! ouch! Super fun though!
Last week of the transfer! We are doing a fireside on the Restoration,
focusing on the Saviors life on the 23rd of November, we will have
some solos and some testimonies and we will have a slide show,
background piano player, Matt who is less active and a bunch of other
people who are less active are participating in our fireside! We are
planning on doing a ward Service project where we will all gather at
the church and the Relief Society and young women will make and bring
Deserts and Hot Chocolate and the young men and men adults will gather
into groups and go and knock on peoples doors and ask if we can plow
there drive way and with the Deserts that the Relief Society made we
will give to the people that we plowed for and along with a Lamb of
God DVD! We also have planned to do a secret service thing where
families will pick a families name out of a hat and that family has to
do service for them for the month, without them knowing. Then at the
Ward Christmas Party we will all gather in the Chapel/Gym and Me or
Elder Modlik will give a candle stick to every family and the lights
will be off.  the bishop will light his candle and he will go and
light his candle with the family that his family did service for, then
that family that just got lit up goes and lights the families candle
whom they served! haha I love you guys!!!!

Love
Elder Russell
Alaska Anchorage Mission
Delta Junction & Tok

We LOVE you Grandpa Buster!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We Love you!!! March 25, 1951-Oct. 15, 2014

Thank him (GRANDPA BUSTER) for everything that he has done for me.

Hey if he is still there tell him that I love him and that we will see
him again some day. Thank him for everything that he has done for me
and bare your testimony to him about the Savior Jesus Christ for me! I
love you mom! Way to keep your head up!

So this is going to be really short because I will be going dog
sledding today! this week was super stressful and it just keeps on
getting more stressful but i will get over it, it just takes one day
at a time! to sum up the week , I went to fairbanks, the truck
windshield broke, went and got a new windshield put on and then got
our snowtires put on, and then had interviews with the MIssion
President and then watched "Meet the Mormons" Super awesome, then got
in a wreck with the truck and we now have a Jeep. And more keeps on
happening... Well I love you guys! Stay safe and warm.

Love Elder Russell
Alaska Anchorage Mission
Delta Junction & Tok

I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!

Something that I just want to say is that I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!
It went by super fast! Me and Elder Modlik saw a miracle! Me and Elder
Modlik these past couple of weeks have been praying about what we
should share for every individual and we went on about teaching what
we felt impressed to teach those people! This has been going on for a
couple of weeks and when we watched conference we taught every lesson
that was talked about from General Conference! It was awesome! It was
like the Lord wanted us to prepare people for General Conference
without us knowing that we were doing it!

Questions that we should ask ourselves. Do I have a rudder of faith?
If I do, am I going in the right direction? How do I stay on the Old
ship Zion when the world is trying to sink the ship? Do I have enough
Supplies and food to get me to my destination? And last question. Are
you beginning your journey with the End in mind? What is the End in
mind you may ask? It is Eternal Life, Living with your families
forever in Heavenly Father and Christs presence, with everlasting
Peace, Happiness, and Joy, our ship will never get hit again or be
under attacked, We will be able to Rest in the arms of our loving
Heavenly Father!

I Know that this is the Lords Kingdom here on the Earth. and I know
without a doubt that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, The Holy
one of Israel, and we cannot receive salvation but by him only! How
grateful I am and how grateful we all need be for our loving Heavenly
Father, for him sending us down here to earth so that we can gain a
Physical Body of Flesh and Bone and to prove ourselves to God that we
want to be like him and that we want to live with him forever! I know
that our life here on earth is not home, it never was home from the
beginning, It is a school! Home is with our Heavenly Father of whom we
love so dearly! I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared
unto a young 14 year old Farm boy who was searching for truth, and
that through this young boy whose name is Joseph Smith, Restored the
True church back to the Earth so that we can learn by what way we can
be saved! We need to be like the apostles who strait way left there
nets to follow the savior, with no desire to look back! Keep on
fighting the good fight! He that findeth his life shall lose it: and
he that loseth his life for Christs  sake shall find it! I so testify
in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

Love you Guys!
Elder Russell

Alaska Anchorage Temple 2014

Alaska Anchorage Temple Sept. 2014

The Northern lights!

Awesome week! I am glad that you were able to spend some time as a
family and with Grandpa as well!

Again this is going to be a short email, sorry about that. but to
start it off, we got chased by a moose, but it was a good thing that
there was a fence to climb and jump. "Elder Modlik you cannot touch
the moose! Elder Modlik get back here! I know that you don't have moose
in New Zealand, but don't touch it!" Haha that was intense! The northern
lights were insane a couple days ago! I will send some pictures of
that! It snowed again today. We have been working really hard up here
in the Interior of Alaska where it gets to Negative 60 to 70! We
picked up a couple new investigators. The Ward is trusting us a lot
now and they are just giving us a bunch of people to go see! Oh and
somebody signed us up to sing at a persons wedding! And we cant get
out of it! It better be MOTAB! Should be interesting! Well I love you
Guys! Sorry that this was a short Email!

Elder Chad Russell
Alaska Anchorage Mission
Delta Junction & Tok

 

I just wanted to send you a quick picture of your incredible sons!

Dear Sisters,
I just wanted to send you a quick picture of your incredible sons! And THANK YOU for sharing them with us here in Alaska.
Elder Modlik and Elder Russell are both very special young men and we love them. I am so happy we could have them in our home last night. They carry the Spirit of our Father and it is wonderful. We wish we could have them every day!
Thank you for raising these worthy, faithful missionaries!
Much love to you both!
Sister Andrea Lemons
Delta Junction, AK

Elder Russell, Elder Modlik and the Davis family!

Elder Russell With his new companion Elder Modlik from New Zealand And the Davis family

What a crazy bunch!!!

hmmmmmmmITS SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!UGH!!!!!!!!haha

Well this one is going to be short. I am starting my email off by
saying. hmmmmmmm ITS SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!! UGH!!!!!!!! haha

So Tuesday was the day that I picked up my boy! Fresh from the MTC! So
I will type what I wrote in my journal this time.

The missionary I am training is Elder Modlik, home for him is far away
in the land of New Zealand! Man I need to get used to his crazy
accent. He is 20 years old and he is super awesome! We just click! Man
its a good thing that we are not in a YSA Ward with this guy because
man, girls dig his accent! Haha! He is so cool! He played Rugby and
Basketball! He is excited to get to work! His older Brother was an
Assistant to the President in Australia for 13 months! Haha he is
already a way good missionary, I fasted for that and hey I got it! We
are staying the night with the Zone Leaders in Wasilla! On our way to
Wasilla we drove by a car accident and guess who it was , it was the
sister missionaries, Sister Whitbe and Sister Torgison, So we pulled
over and stayed with them and waited for help to come! They totaled
the car but they are Okay! The one guy that was the person that was
driving and hit them was a drunk driver, and he tried to hide his
drugs by throwing it under a tree before the cops came, haha good one!
The cop put him in hand cuffs and me and elder Modlik had to Babysit
him the whole time! We then got a call form the Wasilla Zone Leaders
telling us that someone tried breaking into the sisters apartment and
they are changing there lock so they told us that they wont be in
until like 11:30 PM. We said us to! Elder Modlik was like does this
happen all the time? Haha! Fun first day in the field for Elder
Modlik!

We have only been in Delta for 3 days and we have picked up 4
potential investigators and 11 Referrals! We are teaching one of those
Potentials tonight. And guess what she is Russian of course! Haha

Well I love you Guys! Sweet/ cool in New Zealand is called Skux!!!! He
is teaching me some Hakas!

Serving a mission is so Skux!

Elder Russell
Alaska Anchorage Mission
Delta Junction & Tok

3250 Strawberry Rd
Anchorage, AK 99502

The Moon Finally!

1 Million dollars in my hand!

Oh yeah Eric check out my tires!!! HaHa love ya man!

The Moon FINALLY!!!

Just one of the many Glaciers on our drive today!

I'M TRAINING A NEW MISSIONARY!!!

Well this is going to be super short because I left Delta at 7:30 in
the morning and just got into Anchorage. I drove! It is warm up here,
its like 60 degrees! I think I am good about the Hand warmers, but
thanks though. I Love you!

So this email will be short because well I just had a 7 and a half
hour drive from Delta to Anchorage! Why am I in Anchorage? hmmmm well
I got my transfer call on Wednesday and President Robinson said, Elder
Russell the Lord wants you to stay and he wants you to train a brand
new missionary from the MTC, you will be driving down to Anchorage
Monday morning and you will need to be at the mission home at 9:20 in
the morning so that you can receive your trainer training, and then
you will find out who you are training and then you will go to
transfer meeting and then to the temple! You will drive up to Wasilla
right after that and stay the night with the Zone Leaders There and
then the next morning you will drive from Wasilla to Fairbanks and
stay the night in Fairbanks and then the next day you will be getting
a training from Elder Evens from the 70 and it will start at 10:30 in
the morning and go until 4, then you can drive back to Delta! And So
here I am in Anchorage! haha oh and last week I held a 5 pound Gold
Nugget that is worth 1 million dollars, I cant believe that they
trusted me holding it! haha RUNNNNN!!!! Well I will talk to yall next
week! Love you guys!!!!

Elder Chad Russell
Alaska Anchorage Mission
Delta Junction & Tok
Training a new missionary

MOOSE!!!

EWWW AHHH

We are going to TOK baby!

 So guess what we are doing today!? We are going to Tok Baby!!!!!! We
will be staying in a Bed and Breakfast that  a Members owns and the
Branch President has been setting up appointments for us! The Branch
Presidents name is Presidents Goulsbee! He has a beard! haha only in
Alaska! We will be there Monday night, all of Tuesday, and head back
Wednesday! The Branch President will be flying and going trapping in
the Yukon on Tuesday and Wednesday so we will only see him today!

Tuesday- We had an awesome district meeting, and it was Elder Perkins
and Elder Wilsons Birthday, they had a cake and guess who didn't get
some, Delta Junction (us) and Healy. Why because we are both 100 miles
or more away from each other, so we Skype in to district meeting.

Wednesday- Exchanges with the Zone Leaders, both of the Zone Leaders
came to our area because of the drive. So my Zone Leaders are Elder
Brown and Elder Mccusker. I came out with both of those guys to the
mission field. Elder Brown went with Me and Elder Mccusker went with
Elder Menlove. In the morning we had biskets and gravy and spruce tip
jam at this one members home and we went and helped her stack her
wood, feed her alpacas and goats and cows, filled in some holes around
the house with dirt, loaded and unloaded some hay, and the last thing
that we did for her was help her with her bees! We had to go and face
the bees and she smoked them and used the shot-vac to suck them all
out so that we can get the honey. I had pants and my BYU hoodie on and
I pulled my strings tight on my hoodie and it made a really small hole
for me to see out of, and so I would run in there and bees would be
all over me and I would grab the honey and run out of there, I was
safe for the first couple of times but then the bees just got super
mad at me and guess what they did, a swarm of bees went inside of that
little hole of my hoodie. I got stung on my face so many times, I ran
away and ripped off my hoodie! Man that sucked! haha. But sticking my
finger into that honey and then into my mouth was totally worth it!
We then helped Laretta with her pigs, we went and caught 5 more pigs!
Haha. She has an electric fence that keeps the pigs in and guess what
I did when I was running away from mama pig, I tripped over the
electric fence and got shocked like crazy! haha I think if you were to
touch me right now you would get shocked! haha

Thursday- We helped the Wrigley Family Chink (feel in all of the
cracks of the log cabin so they can stay warm for the winter) there
Log cabin. Guess who was at the Wrigleys? My assistant Ward Mission
Leader from my last area! Man we talked for days! hehe.

Friday- We went and helped the Rhile family (LA) chop some wood so
that they will be ready for the winter, we will be helping him next
week to put tar on there roof so that it will stop leaking.

Saturday- We helped Sister Bundy move her food storage from outside to
the inside of her cabin. So sister Bundy has the evil evil beastly dog
that just wants to kill you. Missionaries in the past have tried to
pet him but he bit there hands. A missionary has not yet succeeded in
petting this devil dog. So what did I do, haha well I went in there
and showed that dog who is boss! I walked towards him and I made sure
that I did not show fear, and I went and put my hand right on the dogs
head and just started to pet it and then he jumped up on me and we
started to wrestle! Man that dog is strong but I pinned him! Hurrah
for Israel! Haha now that dog loves me! Elder Menlove went to pet him
and guess what happened he growled and barked at him and when he stook
his hand out that dog leaped at him trying to rip his hand off, but
good thing that that dog has a chain on to stop him! haha I then go
back in there and that dog stilled loved me! haha so funny! I pretty
much had to pick up Sister Bundys jaw from the ground! she was so
shocked! She told me that I am the first missionary ever to touch that
dog! Booya!

Sunday- At church today we had 2 less active families show up, one of
them being the Mcneal family and the other, the Rhile family! Brother
Rhile went up and Bore his testimony! Booya again! Mom and Dad I will
write a letter to you about an experienced that happened this day!

Well I know that my entries are boring, but I love you guys!

Elder Russell
Alaska Anchorage Mission
Delta Junction and Tok!

Pictures!!!!

TATONKA

Elder Russell at Dana Lake

Elder Russell and Elder Menlove

Look at that view!

Roasting marshmallows on our P-day 

Alaska!!!!

OHH YEAH!!!!

I just cant stop taking pictures of myself! haha