Beautiful Russia!

Beautiful Russia!


Our great friend, Roma made dinner for us!

Our great friend, Roma made dinner for us!

Elder Rasmussen is very excited to see real food!

Elder Rasmussen is very excited to see real food!


Companion and friend, Elder Jake Rasmussen

Companion and friend, Elder Jake Rasmussen


Trifecta's Last Time In Estonia

Trifecta's Last Time In Estonia

With my wonderful friend, Faik.

With my wonderful friend, Faik.

Sunrise, at One P.M.

Sunrise, at One P.M.

Petrozadovsk District

Petrozadovsk District

Lake at Petrozavodsk

Lake at Petrozavodsk


North Zone Conference Nov. 2011

North Zone Conference Nov. 2011

Thanksgiving Dinner 2011

Thanksgiving Dinner 2011

First Zone Conference with President Clark

First Zone Conference with President Clark

Neva River Fall 2011

Neva River Fall 2011

Visa trip, Oct 1st 2011

Visa trip, Oct 1st 2011

Oh my aching jaw...

Oh my aching jaw...

Hermitage Museum on P-day!

Hermitage Museum on P-day!

Me, Svetlana and Elder Loskutov

Me, Svetlana and Elder Loskutov

Birthday lunch with Kostya

Birthday lunch with Kostya

My friend, Grisha

My friend, Grisha

Service for Babushka

Service for Babushka

MTC Missionaries in Estonia

MTC Missionaries in Estonia

Waiting in Estonia...

Waiting in Estonia...


Visit from Elder Russell M. Nelson

Visit from Elder Russell M. Nelson

Elders Larsen and Anthony

Elders Larsen and Anthony

Our MTC teacher surprise visit!

Our MTC teacher surprise visit!


Podvodov family gave powerful talks!

Podvodov family gave powerful talks!
Pskov, Russia Branch


Vyborg Castle

Vyborg Castle

St Olaf's Castle Where We Do Service Work

St Olaf's Castle Where We Do Service Work

Beautiful Vyborg on the Sea of Finland

Beautiful Vyborg on the Sea of Finland

Vyborg

Vyborg

Misty day in Kaliningrad

Misty day in Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad District May 2010

Kaliningrad District May 2010

Russian MTC Group

Russian MTC Group

Russian MTC Zone at Provo Temple

Russian MTC Zone at Provo Temple

30 July 2010

Email chat with mom in the middle of the night!

Well it's been a long week since I last talked to you due to Estonia, Zone Conference, and Elder Haggard's visa trip. Lot's to say, so I'll try to type fast. I'm talking to you at the same time that I do this! Vyborg is a mini city. It has really cool old buildings and used to be owned by Finland. Old Finnish castles and stuff here. :) We plan to go see some, and I found out we do service at one. :) Estonia was kinda quiet. I'm writing you a letter as we speak about this last week. Elder Haggard is really nice! He is so cool!! What's new at home? KB there? Estonia wasn't as complicated as I thought it was going to be. We pretty much to walked across this bridge next to some old Russian castles, took some pictures in Estonia, and walked back. It was about a 3 hour ride there, spent an hour in Estonia, and walked back. Estonia looks alot like Kaliningrad, more European looking than Russia. We had zone conference on Monday and then stayed until Thursday in St. Pete's because of Elder Haggard's visa trip. I was on a split with Elder Adam McCleary from Seattle and really got along with him as well!! He ran on the same races in track as me and he reminds me alot of Briton Page. I hope I can serve with him sometime. He was Elder Andersen's trainer, and Elder Andersen loved him too. I ate a half a watermelon by myself yesterday. Elder McCleary ate the other half. Ha ha! That was GOOD. :) I hope I get to serve someday in the city. I decided I like the city and metroes and stuff! Elder Haggard laughed that you tried to add him on facebook. he he he! Things to send in the package that I want lately- Mainly stuff to munch on. Dried Mangoes Trail Mix (Elder Pundersen wants "Doritoes Tacoes at Midnight" Chips. He told me to say that Ha ha!!) Big Hunks!!!!! Maybe contact solution if possible. It's kinda hard to find here. Maybe some drink mixes (GAtorade or something?) peanut butter? OH forgot to tell you. I pulled off another 1000 rubles off my account to get a backpack. That is a total of 1500 rubles, or about 50 dollars? Sorry this letter isn't as long, but it was cool that we got to talk while doing this. Love you all so much and miss you alot! Love, Blake

22 July 2010

Hello from VYBORG!

Hello from Vyborg!!! Today is my first day in my new area: Vyborg. It is about a 30 min metro ride plus a 2 hour bus ride from St. Pete's. It's a city right next to a big river. Lots of shady parks and green trees. I'm exicted to serve here! The only thing was last night the sun didn't really ever go down that much... Oh well. What can you do? There is sunshine in my soul today! Ha ha. I can't really say much more about it though see that I haven't even been here a day. When I left K-grad, I flew with Elder Anthony. We didn't even know when our flight was until about 2, and we had to fly out at 8:50 at night. The airplane didn't take off on time, so it didn't leave until 9:40. Add in the time zone change that we had when we got to St. Petersburg, and we didn't arrive until about 1:30 in the morning. Fun stuff. :) I've already had to travel after midnight twice on my mission. Seriously, though, we were laughing pretty hard! I'm going to miss K-grad a lot, but i know I'll like it here in Vyborg too. For family home evening the memebers in K-grad bought me and Elder Anthony little keychain amber things, which Kaliningrad is famous for. They played games and invited a bunch of people from the English club and our investigators came!! Elder Poulson is staying there with Elder Anthony's companion, so I can still hear how they are doing during zone conference and stuff. Will miss him & K-grad. Who knows, maybe I'll go back there someday? To be honest, I feel like I'm slowing down a little bit and so I'm trying to give myself that added boost to get going again. The Russian is still pretty hard, and we work alot, so I think that is why I'm tired. My new companion, Elder Haggard seems like a really happy, optimistic, hardworking guy too, so I think that he will pick me up a little bit. Things are hard, but they are getting better. They always do! Just trust in the Lord all that you can and He takes care of the rest. That's one thing that I've definitley learned my strongly here in Russia. In other news, I will be heading back to St. Petersburg today, because tomorrow I have to go to Estonia to renew my visa. Just call me "Elder Blake the World Traveler Larsen." I'm excited as I get to go with Elders Gerard and Andersen!!!!!! I've heard that Estonia is really cool. Next week Elder Haggard (my new companion from California) has his visa trip, and we also have zone conference, so we won't really be spending time in our area for the first week again. We'll still be doing missionary work though. :) My P-day next week might be on a different day than thursday, because of this. Just so you know, so you don't worry if you don't get a letter on Thursday. I have sent home letters, I promise!!! I just barely got letters from Nate and Liz yesterday marked the very begging of June, even the Dear Elders, so it takes a while to get mail no matter what. I actually think the Dear Elders aren't any faster at all then normal letter because I think they print them off somewhere else and send them in a pouch or something. I hear it takes longer to get from Russia to USA than from USA to Russia. I'm printing off some photos today and sending them home so hopefully you'll be getting them in a month or so... ;) I tried to connect my camera to the computer here, but I wouldn't read my camera. Sorry. Sounds like the medical issues of the family are getting taken care of. Tell dad that I will be waiting to hear about his knee and tell him good luck from me. NO I didn't put them up to it. It was totally there decision. The girls like you, mom. What can I say? (They also like your cake too...;)) What did they say to you? How are they doing? I've barely heard from them, and when I do it's old news. ha ha. Old news is a ton better than no news though, so I'm not complaining. Tell Liz, yes I got the Dear Elders, but they still took a long time. That's crazy that you saw Brae's mom! I knew she worked at a Doctor's office, but didn't think we'd ever see her. Tell her to tell Brae hi if you can somehow. ha ha Have you heard more about Ian Stats? I hope he didn't have to go home because of his injury. I always have so much to say, but not enough time to write. I hope I gave you some good stuff for my blog though. Sister Luna tempted me with a peek when I was at the office, but I thought if I looked that I wouldn't be able to stop, so I didn't. ha ha! I'm very curious who and what is on there. Lastly, I just want to tell you all back home, my testimony. I know without a doubt, 110% that this church is true! That Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the World and that only through Him can we receive the joy only Eternal Life and Salvation can bring. I know that life is hard, that we all have trials, that we all make mistakes, but I also know that no matter how big the burden, if you trust in God, he will make the burdens light on you back like he did with the people of Alma. I know that Heavenly Father is polishing us and perfecting us with the roughness of our trials, and the power of the living waters that He has, and that He knocks away the rough edges until we become smoother in His hand. I know that we can be instruments in God's hands and do great things while we are here on this earth, but without the Master, the tool cannot do anything. It just becomes dirty, dull, and stationary. I know that the Lord never forgets us, we only forget Him. Words cannot describe the Joy the Gospel of the Lord, Savior Jesus Christ brings! I don't know where I would be without it. Like it says in my favorite scripture Alma 26:16 ~ "Therefore let us glory yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea we will rejoice, for our Joy is full; yea we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long suffering-towards the children of men? Behold I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." Love you all!! Miss you more than you know, but loving that I'm serving the Lord. Love, Blake

15 July 2010

Missing my Millie dog.

Hello! Sorry about last week. I wasn't even able to read the email you sent last week until this week. It came while I only had about a minute left, and the way the internet works is I pay for how long I will use and then it shuts down. We usually email pretty early in the morning there. Last week we emailed a little earlier so we could go on a hike to a lake with one of our investigators. Sorry for all the drama. Ha ha. Well, it sounds like things are about the same as they were before. I continue to pray for you all that everything will be good. Everything will be okay. It always does somehow. You should send me Millie! I miss my puppy. There is this dog at the Botanical Gardens where we do service named Lada who is my pal. She follows me around everywhere and reminds me of Millie, even though she is a husky/german shephard mix. Millie would be jealous because I always have to give Lada a good rub behind the ears before I go. I'm going through withdrawals from my dog!! This last week I went on a two day split, one day with Elder Anthony, one day with Elder Tollstikh. Elder Tollstickh doesn't speak very much English, and my Russian is still very bad, but we somehow knew what the other was saying and taught each other alot. I think if I get transfered next week, I want to be with a Russian companion. It would help me alot with the language. I'm getting better slowly and slowly, but I really wish it was faster. Elder Anthony said that I'm better than he was at the 2nd transfer, and he understands everyone pretty good, so I'm not too worried. I'll get it & The Lord will help me. Elder Anthony is a really good guy! His personality is just like my friends were at home, Reidhead, Booth, BP etc... He's the only one out of his friends that is a member in Washington, and he has a really strong testimony. Good example for me! I laughed alot with him. Dang it, I wanted Netherlands to win the World Cup! Spain wins too often. Oh well. :) I bet mom is feeling lots better now. It sounds like she is only improving, so I'm not too worried about things anymore. Stay healthy mom! You can do it! What was wrong with Lee? Did she ever get my letter? I haven't really heard from her since I've come on my mission... I want to hear more about Lee and Cole. What are they doing? How's Kiddo? Tell her Uncle Blakey sends her a big hug! The girls are coming over? That's pretty cool. Ha ha. Are you sure they aren't just coming over to eat the cake, not make it? ;) ha ha! Tell them all hi from me! I've barely heard from any of them, but I understand....it's hard. Well, only have a couple minutes left. Just wanted to tell that I love you and miss you all! Stay close to the Lord. The Lord is with us, who can be against us? Remember when you look back and only see one pair of footsteps, it wasn't that the Lord left you, he carried through your trials. Love you miss you!! Blake

08 July 2010

Split w/Zone Leaders- Elders Punderson and Zoobcove

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday!!! Da da da da da da! Today's your birthday! *Dancing Hamster* Da da da da da da! It's my birthday too, yeah! Wishing you the best on your birthday, Mum! I was going to send you a card, but I never got the time and they are all in Russian here anyways, and by the time you would get it, it would be too late. What are you doing for your birthday? Anything fun? You better do something fun! You deserve it. World's best mom! You brought me up so I could be where I am today here in Russia serving a mission. Because you and Dad have taught me the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I know who I am, where I'm going, why I'm here and where I can turn for help. I feel the Joy that comes from the Spirit that so many on this Earth have forgotten since they left the wonderful presence of our Heavenly Father, to be tested and become like Him. Thanks, Mum. Again, Happy birthday!!!!! Well, things are slowing down here in Kaliningrad. Our investigators aren't really meeting with us because they are never home in the summer. It's hard, but we're trying and the Lord will make up the rest. The language is still tough, and just when I think I'm getting comfortable in the language, I'll have a really hard day when I just don't understand anything... Elder Anthony has been a good help for me with the language though, and he says it usually picks up after your 3 or 4 transfer. And the Lord is and will bless me as long as I trust in Him. I didn't know learning a language took so long to do. Last Saturday the branch had an activity at the beach where they had a spiritual thought and spent all day at the beach. We invited a bunch of potential investigators that actually came, and it seemed to go pretty well with them. Hopefully something might come out of that. I'm pretty tan right now... Well a farmer's tan of course. This Monday and Tuesday zone leaders were here and we went on splits with Elder Zoobcove (that's how you would say it in english) one day and Elder Punderson the next. They both are really good missionaries. This is Elder Zoobcove's last transfer, so he pretty experienced. ha ha. It was good to be with a Russian companion because they speak the language perfectly and I know enough Russian to have them explain things to me simply. I hope I have a Russian companion. I think it will really help me to learn the language. I was senior companion when I was with Elder Punderson, and we got lost...almost. ha ha. We went down the wrong road home and we didn't know where we were. Lucklily I saw a bus with a street name that I recognized so we got home. That was funny though! We walked for almost 45 minutes not knowing where we were! We contacted a few people though, so it wasn't a waste of time. ha ha I got your letter Dad from the zone leaders when they came here, and your card Mum. Thanks a bunch. i really, really, really love to get letters! They give you an extra boost. So far I still haven't really seen any letters here. Do you know if Cody sent one? I've sent him 2 or 3 since I've come to Russia but haven't heard from him yet... How come I didn't get an email this week?... everything okay? I hope so. I miss knowing what's going on. Tell me things that are going on. They may sound dumb to you, but it's what I want to hear, just like you want to here from me everything. How's Cole, Kallie, Meleea, the Dogs? What have they been up to? How's Karl? He only has Megan at home now, so I bet he's pretty lonely. Love you all. Miss you tons, and hope that when you receive this everything will be okay with you. Wish I could see you right now, but I'm doing the right thing. God be with you, and always keep Him in mind and in heart. Love Blake

02 July 2010

New Investigator

Wow. I got a lot of emails from you this week. At first I was a little worried... Ha ha. First of all, I wanted to tell you that I sent off another letter last week home. It will be there hopefully next week. And Second of all, I wanted to say that I guarantee that if our mission gave out awards for who laughed the most, it would go to me and Elder Poulson. I decided early on that I would just laugh at all the mistakes I make and work on them, especially in the language... and guess what... I laugh all day! :) ( Is that a good thing or a bad thing?) Ha ha! The Lord gives us weakness that we may be humble, so that he can work through us. The Lord is definitely doing the work here. Not me. I'm just merely an instrument, who He is sharpening and refining. But the instrument is nothing without the Master. Sounds like things are pretty busy at home. Tell dad good luck for me and he has nothing to worry about. He can take anything they give him! Ha ha, and he sounds like an EXCELLENT doctor so you don't have anything to worry about. You could just come to a hospital here and have them saw it off?... Sounds like mom's doing well too. And not surprised that Lee won tickets. Not at all, miss I-have-the-contest's-number-set-on-speed-dial. Ha ha! Aubrie had her baby? That's awesome! I want to see him! Send some pictures from home with some of him if you can soon to Russia, pretty please with Skooshonka on top. (Skooshonka is sweetened condensed milk. They drink it like it is water here) So Yuri has a baptismal date!!! July 26th. It's right after the transfer, so if I leave I won't get to see it, but that's not important. Its important that he wants to get baptized. We're working with him so that he understands what this means and preparing him for it now. Today we went with 2 members (Kristina and Jenya (a he) and some twins from English club (Pasha and Allyeg) to The Spit. That's were all those twisty, dancing trees are near the sand dunes and the beach. Pasha and Allyeg are identical and they are both really funny guys. They are only a little bit interested in the church, but we are befriending them and teaching them and they are slowly becoming interested. It was really cool. That's how the work goes here in Russia. Slowly but surely. We met a bunch of Germans who rode here on a bus and speak a little english. That was cool. We have a new investigator. His name is Allyeg. Sorry about all the spelling when it comes to names! Just sound them out like the letter is usually said and that's how you say it in Russian. He lived in Colorado with a Mormon family on a foreign exchange program so he is familiar with the church and wants to learn more. He is really interested. Surprisingly because usually most people don't show that much interest. We are excited for him. He said "I really want to find truth. I've been looking for truth, have found some truths, but I'm still looking for more truths." We are really excited to teach him! Package? Won't that be kinda expensive? Don't spend too much money on me, okay? If you could send me another shirt or two (maybe a long sleeve) and a jacket that would be good. If you want, you could just send me that black zip up jacket I had before my mission. That would work. Sometimes we just want a light jacket when we are doing service work. It should still be in my room. Well, if you haven't changed it. What did you do with that room? Now I'm curious. Ha ha! Do not worry about me one single tiny bit. I'm being blessed more than I thought I could be. As the scriptures say: Angels are on my right side and my left. God has gone before me and is behind me. I'm filled with His love and His spirit. What else more do I need? Love you all! Miss you! Blake

God painted a picture for me.

Hello! Sorry about last week. The internet cut out on me. This last week was a busy week. We had to fly to St. Pete's again, for Zone Conference. It was good. They talked about Virtue and what it means to be virtuous. I didn't know all the Russian words so it took me a little bit to figure out what things were being said, but it was good! Back in Kaliningrad now. It's been rainy this last week, but at night last night it was the coolest sky I've ever seen! I couldn't sleep and was just looking out the window about 11:00 and there was a rainbow over the building across from me and the sky was red and purple and orange and blue. God painted a picture for Me. :) Since we moved apartments we are working with the old missionaries' investigator, and trying to help him work out some faith issues so he can be baptized. He's soooo close. His name is Yuri and he's in his 50's or 60's. Very nice guy. He's having a hard time because he can't find a job right now, and this is bringing down his faith. We'll try the best we can to help them. I sent a letter to you today again. I got your letter in St. Petes on Tuesday. According to the dates on it it only took 2 weeks to get here. Thank you very much. First handwritten letter for me here in Russia! I used my card and yes it works now. I took out 500 rubles to see if it works. That's about 15 dollars, but you might want to check exactly. I've heard some mom's use coinmill.com to figure out money conversions. That's terrible what happened to Ian!!! Oh no! I'll keep him in my prayers. Could you maybe get his address in Ghana for me. I'd like to write him a letter. There is one member in the ward that I decided reminds me of Cody! He's just a nice happy guy who is funny even when he isn't trying to be. He's kind to everyone and everyone loves him, even though sometimes he can be a little shy. He makes me feel at home sometimes if that makes sense? Miss you, Code! So I don't know what really to tell you for this week. It was basically lots of traveling and meetings. Whew! It was good to see Elder Andersen at Zone Conference! I hope I'm companions with him again, not just for that week in the MTC. He's a great guy and trys so hard. He reminds me a lot of Nate Booth. Ha ha! Alrighty. Sorry this week's email isn't as long. Don't really know what's new to tell you. I'll just close with a quick testimony. I know that this church is true and that the work here is hard only because satan doesn't want these great people in Russia to become on the Lord's side so he's working hard on them. I know that thorugh the Lord's help we can do anything, and that he works through our weakness and makes up the rest that we can't do as long as we try our best. I know that God loves me and loves us all. He's allowed us free agency, one of the greatest gifts of all because it lets us particpate in our own creation. I know that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, we can return to be with Him again. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Love, Blake

Delayed email

Hello! Sorry this didn't send last week. It was put in my drafts instead of sending. Sorry. This is for last week Wow. Sounds like you are pretty busy at home! You met Elder Broadheads mom! That's great! I love Elder Broadhead. He's a fantastic missionary. Always very happy. And that would be great if you could meet Elder Andersen's mom! Elder Andersen and Elder Gerard are two of my favorite people in the world. I made friends with them so fast in the mtc and it was so great to see them at conference, along with Sisters Brishtel and Lane. So much to tell you this week! Dont know if I will get it all in. So I love St. Petes!! The city has so much to see and so many people. It's like Russia's New York, the melting pot. In the week I was there, we met with Foo, a boy who was baptized by Elder Poulson last August from China. He took us to a Chinese restaurant for P-day, where they had excellent chinese food. I even tried pig ears. (tastes like rubber by the way) We also met with Timothy, a guy from Sierra Lione who speaks 6 languages: Russian, English, French, and 3 different tribal languages. He's going to Saudi Arabia next month to study, so he might pick up some Arabic. He was way cool. We met with Elder Beck and Melnicks neighbor who Elder Poulson knew before, who's name is Yuri. He looks EXACTLY like Sylvester Stallone. He's huge! One of the nicest people I've ever met. He bought us Russian pies. My favorite was the peach of course. He's not too interested in the gospel though. On Saturday we had a great meeting with just the missionaries and Elder L. Tom Perry where he talked about missionary work of course and we all got to shake his hand and talk with him a little bit. He's about as tall as I am! Bigger than you'd think. He also talked to everyone in the mission, members included on Sunday. Very cool experience!! I talked with Elder and Sister Luna while I was in Petes. Elder Luna gave me a big hug and said that it was from you. Thank you! I really like those two. They are always smiling!! :) So Elder Poulson and I were out in the middle of the tourist part of St. Petes at 12:30 at night. Got to experience the "white nights." ha ha. Before you flip, we had to be out that late. We called for a taxi to take us to the airport the next morning at 5:30, but the bridges go up at night and the taxi wouldn't be able to get to us where we were staying (on the island in St. Pete's) We had to take a metro at 11:00 at night to another elder's apartment who lived on the opposite side of St. Petes. That was an experience that made me laugh. Not a lot of missionaries can say they have done that!! So our investigator I told you about who was crying because she couldn't meet with us anymore, talked to her husband about it and he's changed his mind! Yippee! He still doesn't want her to go to church, but at least she can meet with us now. :) Today for P-day we went with her, her friend, and a male member of the branch here that's she's made friends with (so it was okay) to Yantarny, a beach community were you can find lots of Amber. I will send some in a letter home I found. Very cool! Sorry to tell you but I've fallen in love. Her name is Russian crepes with caramel and apples. It's delicious!! We have to go back to St. Petersburg on Monday for zone conference... ugh, I'm sick of traveling for now. I'm really glad to stay with Elder Poulson. He's a great guy!! He is a great missionary who knows how to be happy! Thanks for the muffin recipe. I just take a picture of it with my camera and write it down later. It works surprisingly well. There is a little girl in the branch here who looks so much like Kallie. She has a longer face and brown hair, but she still reminds me enough about Kallie to make me miss her!! Give Kiddo a big hug for me and tell her Uncle Blakey loves her! How's my Millie girl? Still skinny? Still crazy? Still remembers me? This week is Fathers Day. Sorry I don't have anything to give ya dad, except my thanks and love from 5,000 miles away! Thanks for bringing me up so I could be on my mission serving! Love ya!! Got to go! Love, Blake