Addresses

Hey jen, do you think that you could do me a favor and find out and send the addresses for some of my friends and their families. That would be great if you could. Just any of the old crowd that we used to hang out with so that I can write them a letter and wish them merry Christmas. If you cant find there actual address, and even if you can, if you can send their families home address also that would be great. Thanks, love youTy

The Best Family Ever

Hey guys, it was great to talk with you all. It was kinda different talking with a bunch of people that actually understood what I was trying to say. I got three of the packages, and the other missionaries were all jealous, because you did such a good job. Thanks for that. I really think that this was one of the best Christmases that I have ever had. Today we have some of the elders from Cape Coast coming over to play football (soccer to all of you obrunies). I'm really excited about that. I'm not very good, but its always fun to play.The last couple of weeks we have done so much service that it makes me want to laugh. Just about every morning this week we have had a big service project, and we have a bunch planed for next week also.Dad thanks for sending me the story. I only got the one about Sam Edwards, but its great. Ive already been asked to read it at district meeting this next week. Maybe for next Christmas a good Idea for packages would be some printed stories, because I just found out that its pretty pricey to print here.Thanks again for all that you have done for me. I miss you and love you. Wish that you could all be here with me. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Ghana!!!Love, Elder Russell

Merry Christmas!

Hey guys,Merry Christmas!!!!!! Ill be calling you no later than 12pm your time, but it will probably be a little early. We can only talk for about a half of an hour so write any questions that you have down so we can make the most of the time. Sorry about the bug comment, I guess that you took that way out of proportion. Everyday we ride bikes, and as we ride, because there are so many bugs around, they fly into your mouth. On top of that there are not too many ways to store food properly here so sometimes the bugs get in. There really are not too many problems, and for the most part it’s just a good source of protein.Mom, thanks for ordering the ring for him. I really don’t care to have one, because Ill just loose it anyways.Christmas in Ghana isn’t so much of a family thing as it is a community thing. Our ward is having a party from 9 in the morning to 7 at night were there will be soccer and food and stories and all kinds of fun things. For our district, we will be buying a bunch of oranges and go around caroling and handing them out. Our mission pres. gave us 5 extra dollars in our substance this last week, so that we can make a really good meal and give it to someone who doesn’t have anything. Everything is just really interesting and exciting.We had a baptism this last Saturday and everything went really well. I still don’t have any clothes, but I think that Ill just buy some here, because they will be a lot cheaper. Ill let you know if I have any problems.Everything is going really good over here, and I’m really excited to talk to you this week. Love you lots and tell everyone that I say merry Christmas.Love Elder Russell

Bugs and Crunches

To start off, I guess Ill have the best looking wife in the world, with wonderfully toned abs, because going out in the rain and eating bugs has become an everyday thing. Sorry I didnt get to write last week, but the internet was out throughout the town, and so we didnt get a chance.I havent got any of the pacages yet, so I cant tell if they have a duty or not, sorry. Thats cool that it snowed, I wish it would get cool over here. Megan, congrats on the graduation. Ive got my new comp. His name is Elder Smith, from Cape Coast Ghana. He is a cool guy and we have had a lot of fun the last couple of weeks. To answer the questions about Christmas, Derek, I have no idea if they stay up late singing songs. What we as a district are doing, is we are buying a bunch of oranges, because they are really cheap, and then we are going to go caroling and hand them out to people in our area. I'm really excited about that. Ill probably be calling some time around 7pm for me which is 12pm for you. Ill let you know for sure next week in my e-mail. This week the whole mission is traveling to cape coast to have a big Christmas mission conference. I'm way excited. They feed us for free and the food is supposed to be really good.thanks for all that you guys do. Ive been having a lot of fun over here, and quite a bit of success. We have another baptism this week, but again, I'm not baptizing, because Elder Smith really wants to this time, so Ill just do it next time. Speaking of Elder Smith, he was wondering mom if you could order him a ctr ring and then ship it over here and he would pay you for it. Ill send you another e-mail about it in a sec. Ill let you all go now. Love you all and have a merry holidays!Love Elder Russellc is we are buying a bunch of oranges, because they are really cheap, and then we are going to go caroling and hand them out to people in our area. I'm really excited about that. Ill probably be calling some time around 7pm for me which is 12pm for yo

Tyler's last letter with his address

---

Hey guys,
1st off, Happy Birthday to dad and Riley. If I forget to wish Josh a happy birthday latter this month please forgive me. Jen, Delilah is only molstly wrong. There are the seven traditional names that most of the Ghana folks have. In fact, mine is Kowfie, but they also receive like five other names that they will use before that one. My companion is leaving in about an hour, so I don’t have very much time to write you guys. To answer Ry’s questions, Elder Whaikawa is way cool and not trunky at all. I havent had much time with Pres. Saybey, but I like what Ive seen and heard a lot. The appartment that we live in is the biggest and nicest in the mission, and we only share it with one other companionship. I have written in my journal a lot, and for our free time we mosly just either sit around and talk, because we all like each other or we just study. For p-days all that we really have time for is a short game of soccer, and then we go shopping and wash our clothes (that takes a couple of hours, because we have to do it by hand. There are no washing machines here). There really isnt so much devision between the Africans and the white people. In fact most of the time the white people forget that they are white! All of the elders are way cool, and there really isnt any segregation.
Good luck with finals everyone, and I hope that you all had a great thanksgiving. It sounded like fun. Sorry that Shell hurt her foot.
Mom, we can pick up our phone card here, so you don’t need to worry about it. In case anyone whants to send a big package, or even a small one, or even a letter, the address that you send it to is Elder Tyler Russell, Ghana Cape Coast mission, PMB 1385, Cape Coast, GHANA. The reason that I asked for stamps was so that I can send mail by pouch. They actually mail it from the U.S. when they do it that way, and for some reason they will not mail it if you use Ghana stamps.
We had a way cool baptism yesterday. I was supposed to be doing the dunking, but unfortuanatly they did not have a baptisimal soot big enough for me. I need to buy my own. Anyways Elder Whaikawa baptized three people. It was really neat. We did it right after church, and the whole ward stayed and watched so there was a big turnout. Ive been so busy here that I even kinda forgot about Thanksgiving. We had a big feest last night as a going away party for Elder Whaikawa, that he and I put together. I took lots of pictures. It was a lot of fun.
I will be going with the other elders in the apartment until I get my new companion later this week. I will find out who he is either tonight or tomarrow morning. Im kinda excited about that.
Mom, if you could send me an e-mail telling me how much money I have in my bank acount that would be great. I really sont whant to look at that kind of important stuff on the computers here, so if you could do that for me that would be great. There are some cool things here that I would like to have some small- small money (that’s how they say it here. I just realized that I even write like Im from Ghana)to get if I can find a good deal. Well, Ive got to go, I hope that Ive answered most of you questions. I love you all and hope that you are having as much fun as I am.
Love Elder RussellP.S.: Sorry that you had to sleep in the garadge Derek. I hope it wasn’t to cold or smelly.

And the most recent:

Hey guys, I dont have much time, because the ccomputers here are terrible. Ive just spent all of my time making a cd of all of my pictures, only to find out that you cant save to cds on this computer, and its too slow to e-mail, so sorry, you dont get a cd, or letters until i can figure something else out. Again, I need stamps so that I can send pouch mail.Again, I need stamps so that I can send pouch mail.Again, I need stamps so that I can send pouch mail. Do you get the message?
mom, to answer your questions, most of the things that we buy are from street stands, because they dont have grocery stores here. I have been sick twice since Ive been here, but nothing that was too bad, I still went out prosylyting all day, so im fine. You can buy anything you want in Ghana (as long as you have money, which I dont). Mostly we eat rice, noodles, bread and eggs. i havent seen any really big farms yet, just mainly small family gardens, but we havent been out to the real farms so I couldnt tell you on that one. im doing great, and loving it over here. Its really hot and humid, and I dont think that Ill  ever adjust to the temp. I put on sun screan, but I just sweat it off in about 30 seconds. Needless to say I look like a big red tomato. THE CANDY IS NOT FOR THE KIDS, ITS FOR ME!!!! sorry, but if I give anything to the kids, they will keep following me and asking for things for the rest of the time im on my mission. that is not a joke either. probably dont send chocolate, it will melt. for Chris and Cam, I havent seen any snakes, but there was and alagator at the mtc that the guard killed in the parking lot and took home for dinner, and I got to hold it and take a picture. it was really neat. Ive got to go, love you all.
Love Elder Russell
P.S. thats really cool about allen emch, tell him I said congrats.

And another

Hey guys, I don’t have very much time to write. Thanks for all of the e-mails, its really nice to know that you are alive. I spent the last couple of nights writing you a letter that I was going to send with a cd of pictures home, but I left it on the table at the apartment. I guess that Ill just have to send the cd today and the rest next week. To answer some of the questions, The people here are very poor. There have been many interesting experiences so far. Ill just make a short list of things that I’ve seen since ive been here that you wouldn’t see in the u.s. 
1: Everybody carries everything on their head. you can see stuff from a notebook to a big basket of food. 
2: Everybody here uses a machete for everything, from cutting grass, to cutting pineapple to cutting people...jk not people 
3:WE were teaching this lesson on the side of the trail in between peoples houses and all of the sudden we here this loud noise. I look over and there is this chicken beating the (poop) out of this dog. The chicken chased the dog though our feet and down the road, and we just kept on teaching the lesson like nothing happened.
4: I woke up on morning, and looked out the window. It was really peaceful, with chickens eating on the side of the house and everything. All of a sudden, this hawk swoops down and eats this chicken right in front of me and then fly’s away. ( this last week I saw a cartoon drawing of the same thing in a children’s school book, so it must be an everyday occurrence. )
5:The people here wear very “traditional” clothes sometimes which, as one of the elders in my apartments says, “this just proves that they didn’t come from Adam and Eve, because the obviously haven’t partaken of the fruit and seen their nakedness”
6: We will be teaching lessons to ladies and their babies will start to cry. They will just start to breast feed them, without covering up in front of us. As you night guess its very hard to teach when this happens, but I’ve gotten more used to it.
7: they have “KEEP GHANA CLEAN” signs all over, but for some reasons these seem to be the places that collect the most trash.
8: All of the gas trucks have big letters on the back that state “highly inflammable” I still haven’t figured out if that makes sense or not .
9:It is very common for the gas stations to be out of gas.
10: One of the elders in the apartment just told me this story. Ill try to make it sound as good as he did. There are a lot of bums on the streets here that follow some of the missionaries around. He and his companion found this bum that he knew in the ditch on the side of the road one night, with this big chunk taken out of his leg. He was dead. They whent and told the town chief who was a member, and he told them that he would take care of it and for them not to get involved, because it might make the church look bad. The next day they were climbing into a tro-tro to got to town, and another one of the elders started to scream that the dead bum (who was still in the ditch) was moving. Come to find out he had just been sleeping in the ditch and they just thought that he was dead.
It is soooooooooo cool here. Its just one big adventure. There haven’t been to many animals, besides bug. There was this big iguana that the security guard at the mtc killed in our parking lot though. That was cool. I’ve started to get used to the food, but because the people here are so pour, members will actually run away when we come around, because they think that they have to feed us. Pres. Sabey has come out with a rule that we are not allowed to have any free meals unless there is an investigator present, and now the people don’t run away from us, because they know we don’t want food. This means that I don’t have to eat their food, but cook my own. That is both good and bad. My times up Ive got to go, love you lots
                Elder Russell

New letters

What a slacker of a sister I am-- don't tell Elder Russell. We just moved in to a new apartment that doesn't have internet, so I'm slow putting the most recent letters up. Here they are!! Enjoy!! :

Hey guys,
So before I forget happy birthday to both Nate and Carly. Sorry that I was not able to write to you sooner.  I need lots of mail so that I can be happy. The happier that I am the more effective I am as a missionary. So the choice is yours, either you can choose eternal life for the people of Ghana through me, or eternal damnation. (2Nephi 2:27) Anyways, Africa is great, Ive been out in my area for about a week and a half now. I tried writing you an email, but I guess it never whent through. My companions name is Elder Whaikawa. He is from New Zealand, and is amazing. This is his last transfer though, so he only has a bout a month left befor he goes home. Im serving in the Mpintsin area, which consits of two tinny villages that are about a 30 min walk from our appartment. The people here are very humble, and so far we have had quite a lot of suckess with the work. The main food here is called fufu, which is like taking casava, or potatoes and pounding it with a long stick until it becomes a dough, then you add in some mashed plantain and then mash it some more. You eat it raw with a soup that usually has some kind of fish in it. You eat it and the soup with your hands. They say that the first few times that you eat it you hate it and then you love it and you always whant it. Ive had it three times and still don’t really like it. Ghana is most deffinatly the jungle, and very hot. It is also very dirty and there is a lot of garbage here. One of the missionaries was telling me that Ghana is the second most dirty country in Africa, and I would believe it if they told me it was the second most dirty in the world. I love the people here though. They are all so nice and frienly.  Everyone that I pass yells out to me and my comapnion,  “Abrooni, how are you?” Which means, white guy, how are you? Its really kinda funny. Some of the kids  in the ward asked were I was from and I told them the moon, and their eyes just got big. It was really funny.Well Im out of time. Please remember to write.Love Elder Russell
P.S. I don’t know Jons, or grandma and grandpa skousons e-mail address, and Im not sure if grandma russells is right.

Official Letter from Ghana

Dear Family,

  I made it here. I’m sick of airplanes. My comp’s name is Elder Agbonavbabe which sounds like a-bon-a-var-ay. He’s from Nigeria, and serving in Nigeria, He’s really really cool but very hard to understand, The food here is great, I love it all. It is all kind of salty, kind of spicy with a flavor like ramen noodles. The fruit is amazing too. I’m only in the MTC for three weeks so by the time this gets to you, and you respond I will get mail in my mission. The address on the front of this letter is good for all pouch mail for the rest of my mission.

       They are not officially teaching us any languages here, but I have been learning both French and Twi. Twi sounds like tree. There are 53 missionaries in the MTC, 11 from America, 2 from France, and the rest from all over Africa. All of the Americans and some of the Africans are going to Cape Coast, and the rest are going all over Africa. The Africans kind of sound like Jamaicans, but they don’t say “man” a lot.

       All of the missionaries are really nice and I think they like me almost as much as I like them. I’m the biggest one here, and just about every time I see them, they either say, “hey big man” or “you are very fat” or something like that, which is meant to be a compliment. It’s really funny, and I love them all. They made me district leader of one of the MTC districts, which is cool, but hard. Well I love you all and miss you.

Love Elder Russell. 

His Address:

Elder Tyler Russell           

Ghana Cape coast mission

Po box 30150

SLC Utah,  84130-0150 

He says that when you mail him letters: Do not use an envelope-- it's too heavy for pouch mail!! Instead, just take a regular sheet of lined paper, tri-fold it, tape it closed, and write the address on it like you would on an envelope... weird, huh? But... =) I guess it will have to do. Thanks everyone!!! 

Safe and sound in GHANA!!!

Hello everyone!! Tyler made it safely to Ghana (I know... probably a little late to be making that announcement) :o). His mission president's wife sent the following email:

Dear Parents,

 

We're happy to report that your son has arrived and is adjusting well at the Ghana MTC.  He will be finished with MTC training on October 21 and will be contacting you by e-mail shortly thereafter. 

 

We're grateful for the wonderful missionaries in this group--they are prepared to have spiritual experiences and an accelerated learning of the gospel.  We know the Lord will bless them individually according to their needs.  We also dedicate ourselves to their comfort and well-being.

 

Feel free to contact us at this address if you have concerns or questions.

 

Sincerely,

President and Sister Harmon

Ghana MTC

We also received a letter from Elder Russell that I'm waiting to receive from my parents so I can post it on the blog. Essentially, he said he's doing well. He's only in the Ghana MTC for 3 weeks!! So by the time that we send him and mail, he will have already left the MTC. His address is yet to come (sorry... I still need it from my mom) but it is a pouch address, so plan on it taking a few weeks for him to receive.

He also said that he's the biggest missionary in the MTC, and that they refer to him as such. He said the people of Africa calling him fat is supposedly a compliment, so he's OK with it-- what a self-esteem boost, huh? He loves his companion, and is learning French and some other language that I can't remember off the top of my head... again... yet to come in the letter.  He is having a difficult time understanding the other missionaries (the majority of them are from Nigeria or other parts of Africa) and he says that they sound a whole lot like Jamaicans to him, minus the "yah, man" and such (see Cool Runnings for further examples...). 

Over all, he sounded really well. He's such a great missionary, as we all knew he would be. It was a short and sweet letter and hopefully there will be more to come soon!! I'll post his letter and new address as soon as I receive it (insert friendly reminder to Mom to send it...). 

We love you guys, and truly appreciate all the love and support you show our family and especially Elder Russell. 

LEAVING THURSDAY MORNING!!

Dear friends and family, 

The glorious day is almost here. The shots have been given, the passport and visa safely stored for easy access, the goodbye's to friends, and the bags packed (with the exceptions of essential deodorant, toothpaste, and scriptures). Yuuup... we're kicking Tyler out the door and sending him to Ghana. The grocery bill will be significantly less, and with the exception of Mom-- we can't wait. I say "we" as if I still live at home, but let's be honest.... one less person for those of us that live abroad have to call.

All joking aside-- I think Tyler's more excited to go than anyone. He's been anticipating this coming Thursday ever since he could sing... or... somewhat chant... "I hope they call me on a mission", and let's face it-- we all know Tyler will be one of the best missionaries Ghana has ever seen. 

Being the favorite sister, Ty has asked me to keep a blog of letters and pictures so that friends and family can see his updates. If you have something you'd like us to include in family letters, as well-- just post comments and we'll add 'em on in, or you can write him at:

Elder Tyler Russell

Ghana Missionary Training Center 

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Community 10 Hospital Road

Pema, Ghana, West Africa

Well, Ty-- I think everyone agrees with me when I say I love you, and I'm so proud of you. I'm going to miss you so much, but I know you'll be one killer missionary and Ghana is lucky to have you. Go convert Africa!!