The patient efforts of the faithful of Annunciation Mission finally were rewarded, for in the summer of 1991, Father Lawrence Russell, along with Matushka Cheryl and their two children, Stephen and Michelle, arrived to begin service as full-time priest of the community. Father Lawrence began holding weekly Bible studies at various residences within the community, and these studies proved to be a welcome event in the life of the parish. With Father’s persistent efforts, the parish gradually began to grow in stature as a fully-functioning Orthodox community.

Several events served as turning points in the community’s life since the arrival of Father Lawrence in 1991. The first of these was the arrival from St. Barbara’s Monastery (Santa Barbara) in 1993 of a portion of the relics of St. Elizabeth, the Grand Duchess of Russia, martyred during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1918 and glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1992. A solemn procession of the icon of St. Elizabeth containing the enshrined relic was made, and a Molieben was celebrated the community’s first opportunity to implore the intercessions of the saint. The arrival of the relic marked the first time the parish had received the relics of a martyr. Since the arrival of her relic, St. Elizabeth has occupied a special place in the life of the community’s members, with one child receiving the middle name of Elizabeth at her baptism in 1998.