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

28 August 2010

Vyborg members fasting for the missionaries!

Hello! Great to hear from you again! First of all just want to say... DON'T worry about me at all. I'm perfectly fine. :) Yes... sometimes I get frustrated, but that's missionary work. Key word WORK. But this work over all brings me happiness. Like Joseph F. Smith said "The spirit that shirks responsibility shirks labor. Idleness and pleasure take the place of industry and strenuous effort... Time will vindicate the laws of God and the truth that individual happiness is found in duty, and not in pleasure and freedom from care." Christ never said that it would be easy, but that it is possible. I've got Him on my side all the time, and I'm happy! Glad that my letters got there for Meleea and Cole. :) I expect to here from them soon... well as soon as I can considering time it takes to get here and then waiting for transfers, zone conference, or splits with the ZL's. Did you receive any of my other letters?... Do Kelsey and Liz just live at our house now?! Ha ha ha. Tell them "Privyet" the next time you see them from Elder Blake :) I'm really sorry about Ben! He was too young to get hurt like that. I hope Kelsey is okay too... Tell her she is in my prayers. Say hi to Amanda Wignall for me when she comes... Still think it's funny how small the world is... ha ha. I about laughed my head off thinking of Millie falling over like a statue... Ha ha ha!! I miss my dog!!! She isn't getting fat is she? So this last week was not such an eventful week as they have been. We met with a lot of members this week because the members are taking turns fasting for the missionary work here in Vyborg. We taught them about what it means to fast and the blessings that come from it. One of the families we visited lives in the next town over called Gavarilava. Where one of the deacons lives. He really likes the missionaries. This town is in the middle of no where and I don't think they have a lot of youth there, so he appriciated me playing chess with him after our lesson with his family about the importance of scripture study. His name is Misha, and I have a feeling that he will make a good missionary some day. They youth are amazing here. The youth here help to bring a lot of happiness to Russia, and they bring a lot of happiness to the missionary. They help us a lot by inviting their friends to family home evening, coming with us to less actives, etc. They really have to step it up being surrounded everywhere you go with drugs, porn, alcohol, and corruption. Yawna, (the girl in the wheelchair) her grandfather died this last week and we had to help move his stuff out of the apartment this week for service. It was a sad day, but we talked to her about the Plan of Salvation, and even though she has some mental disabilities, she said, "I know that." (By the way, I saw Elder Wignall's address in the grandfather's room when we were clearing things out for them.) When we went to the castle this week for service, they didn't have anything for us to do, and we ended up talking with one of the janitors there named Mihail for about an hour. During Soviet times, he was a captain in the army, and he saw a lot of horrible stuff. Now he is a janitor and just wants things to be better, but he turns to alcohol for his support. I felt the Savior's love for him while he was talking and just wanted him so bad to listen to us about why we were here as missionaries. We tried to get him to come to church and meet with us, but he didn't think that it would help and wouldn't agree... I think times like that I feel just a little what the Savior and Heavenly Father feels... So our hot water has been turned off for the past month and I don't even remember what it feels like to take a hot shower... ha ha. I'm starting to like cold showers to be honest... They wake you up in the morning faster than anything else! ha ha! Yesterday we had a huge storm and the roads had rivers of water. I bought a new umbrella because mine broke. (took off 500 more rubles from my card ~ about 18 dollars I think?) We were about ready to build an ark! Elder Haggard and I walked down the street in the rain with our umbrellas singing "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today." Made us laugh! So I got an email from Nate Reidhead's mom giving me his England address. She wants you to email her! Whoops! Look at the time. Gotta run. I love you all alot and miss you tons! Wish I could say more but dont have time. Hope this email is long enough for you! ha ha. "Walk with God" Love, Blake

19 August 2010

Great F.H.E. this week!

Hello!!! Sounds like a party back home... Ha ha ha! What did Kelsey and Liz do when they tried the bread... Ha ha ha. That's kind of weird to think my friends have been at my house more than I have the last 6 months... You've only gotten two letters?... That's weird. I've sent the same amount of letters to all three of you... Must have gotten lost in the mail... Bleen. Well crazy week this last week. On Saturday we were at the church with one of the families of the church here when it started raining really hard and two people came running in. One of them was an older man named Boris that had investigated the church years ago and just remembered how nice the church was, so he came running in. The other was a lady that was completely drunk off wine and was crazy. She said she wanted help to quit drinking, then she said she wanted to kiss Elder Haggard... Then she tried to bow down to us and grab our hands. She was the most drunk lady I've ever seen! Needless to say we had Brother Dmitriov call a Taxi while we lead her out of the church with the help of Boris. We started talking to him and invited him to family home evening. He is a really nice guy and came to it the next day! The youth and ward mission leader really helped to fellowship him, and the youth all brought friends to FHE! It was amazing to see the branch here help out so much. That is rare for Russia... We pet a camel!!! The circus is in town here in Vyborg, and a teenager was leading a camel around! I got a picture. Ha ha. Never thought that I would see that in Russia. This last week we had splits with the Zone Leaders, Elders McCleary and Nielson. They are great guys. I think I already told you about them... They brought letters!!! I heard from Grandma and Grandpa, Cody, Nate Booth, Steph, and Richmond!!! They were all dated a month or longer ago... But still great to get them. Something about a handwritten letter is better than one on the computer. I want to know how it took just as long to get a letter from Chiloe, Chile, where Booth is right now, than it took to get a letter from New York... Oh well. I"m not going to complain. ha ha! Cool that you heard from Melanie Gerard and Igor! Igor is a really nice, funny guy! His son just went to the MTC. I gave that Called to Serve CD to Elder Hasbiullian in the MTC... Sorry! Thanks for sending me the CD's though. Elder Andersen has a cord that connects his camera to the computer... Or maybe he sent home his memory card? He's already sent home a bunch of stuff... Haha. I expect to hear from Kallie Brooke soon :) I don't think I need any dress shirts or things like that. Clothes are expensive here. I don't know why... Jeans that you could buy in America for 15 or so are like 60 dollars here... Well, my time is about up. Tell a big thank you to everyone back home!!! I never realized how great I had it back home with my wonderful friends and family until I was taken away from them. Phillippians 1:2-5 is how I would describe you all back home! I'm meeting so many people here and making some great friends... I swear I knew some of the people I meet here before this life. I truly am working among my friends right now. Oops, gotta jet. Lates! Blake

13 August 2010

Disclaimer!

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Proverbs 25:25

It's P-day again in Vyborg! Great to hear the bad pain is so much better, Dad!!! See, I told you that you had nothing to worry about. :) I wish I could have watched... You know me. ha ha! Did you tell the anesthesiologist that you just have a healthy heart and not to worry? ha ha. What did Millie girl do to the deer? I could see her just going outside and trying to make friends with it or something. What about Forest? I miss my dogs! I show pictures of Millie and Forest to people here and they all love them! Labs aren't common here, but German shephards are everywhere, along with those dogs that looks like there face is flat... not my favorite dog... The girl in the wheel chair that i told you about has a dog that comes with us. it looks like a mop without the handle. ha ha. His name is Simion and he is always REALLY excited to see the missionaries! Still cannot imagine the backyard with grass!! Steph is engaged?... Wow. I called it! I told her I give it a year after she started school and she'd be married! Ha ha. I hope she is still the same happy and nice Steph that I know! I haven't heard from her at all...... Tell her congrats for me! We've been pretty busy. Since I last sent home an email, we met with the Branch President and organized a Branch mission plan to help members participate in missionary work. We then had a day of just contacting, because all 4 of our meetings we had set up fell through... That's Russia for you... ha ha. On Monday one of the ward member's family friends went missing! She is a lady with alzheimers and she went walking through this little woods on the outside of the city. Elder Haggard and I joined the search party for a couple hours while we didn't have a meeting set up. We had a prayer and a brief lesson with everyone that God knows where she is and he will help us. We helped search through the woods while we could (which is alot like Ephraim, Dad, but more pine trees and ferns and stuff and not on a mountain.. Russia has some beautiful wildlife) and we found out later that night that they found her safe and well. The family are members, but they really appreciated the help and it helped us to show people that we are here to help. For service this week we helped hang paintings at the castle for a photo/art show they are having about the castle. It took a long time, so didn't get to see the armour, but that is okay. I'm here to serve, not to try on armour. ha ha Someone might try to scare me from inside it anyways!! ;) Yesterday we had English club were only two people showed up. Elder Haggard worked with one and I worked with the other. the person I was working with didn't speak a lick of english, so it was hard to teach him. It was really good practice for my Russian though. The Russian is coming. I know it is. I can see the improvement, no matter how slow. I just thought it would be quicker! We have investigators, but they don't really meet with us much. They always are working or something whenever we call... But there are a couple who have been away from Vyborg for the summer too that would meet with us if they were here. Summer is a hard time to do missionary work in Russia because everyone goes to there little shack they have out in the country called a "dacha." They garden and get away from the city during the summer. It is not allowed for us to go to dacha's due to how far away they are and also due to the fires! So our mission has a theme song! ha ha. I want you guys to listen to the song "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay. Someone translated just the words for President Podvodov, and he liked it! I knew that song and when I started thinking about the words it made me laugh. I thought of something that you could send me. With my cd's in the left closet of what was my room (if you haven't moved them yet) is a stack of cd's that I got from Seagull book while I worked there. Could you send them to me? I rely on whatever my compaion has for music and want some of my own. I'm so glad to be on my mission! Things get hard... Sometimes frustrating. Sometimes you wonder if you are really good enough to do this work for the Lord? Sometimes you wonder if anyone wants to listen to you!! Sometimes you wonder why it is so hard and why we are rejected on the streets so much? But I've realized that Christ was rejected more than he was accepted... That He never said it would be easy, but that it would be worth it. He said that is would be possible. He promises the miracles come after the trial of your faith, and that through weaknesses, He works. I'm learning so much about myself and about my Lord. I have to agree with my friend, Ryan Smith who just so happened to serve in my same mission when he was 19. "I never said that it was the best two years of my life, but it was the best two years for my life." I've already started to learn that. Well, my time is about over. Need to end really quick. Love you all!! Miss you lots!! Remember what it says in Proverbs 25:25~ "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." Love, Blake

07 August 2010

Humbling week in Vyborg.

Well, it's been a busy week here in Vyborg. Since last P-day we've done lots of stuff. A member's grandmother died, and he asked us to go to the morgue with him to help him put the body in the back of the "hearse" (van) for the funeral, because they didn't have anyone else to do it. It was a humbling experience. They had a little Orthodox ceremony there for the rest of his family who aren't members. We told the people there that talked to us that we were there for them if they need it, and we know that they can see her again someday. We then took a girl named Yawna for a walk. Yawna lives on the 5th floor of an old apartment building. She was born without feet and some mental problems. Her parents are divorced, and her mom is a huge alcoholic and was plastered when we got there. No elevator so we have to carry her chair up and down 5 flights of stairs. She is a really cool girl. She is happy and knows that God loves her! She doesn't have to be baptized due to her mental disabilites, and she is a good example to me. Lately when I think that I have it hard learning this language or trying to talk to people, I just think that other people like Yawna have more problems then me. We took her for a short walk, then brought her to a family friend until her mom was sober... I really don't get why drinking is Russia's favorite pastime... We did some service work at the Vyborg Castle, which is where you find St. Olaf's Tower. We helped move some displays and did some raking for them. They then let us go to the top of St. Olaf's Tower and look around before we left. From there you can see Finland! I took a picture of Finland of course. Next week they said I can put on a suit of armor. :) It's a really cool tower and they've done a good job restoring it and turning it into a museum. I'll figure out a way to send pictures. I then learned how to use a sythe this week. There is a man here named John who moved here from America because his wife is Russian. His wife speaks English, but John has only been here 10 months and doesn't speak much Russian yet. Their kids speak both Russian and English, and to be honest, I was a bit jealous of that. Ha ha. They dont really use lawnmowers here in Russia, they just use weed wackers or if you can't afford that, a sythe. I learned how to use a sythe and "mowed" their backyard for them. Yesterday we went contacting and had my first experience running away from a mad dog. We turned around the corner and there was this mean, wild dog that started snarling and snapping as us. I wasn't as surprised with that as I was when Elder Haggard pushed me and knocked me down because he was so frantic to get away from the dog!! I was laughing for quite a while to be honest. He was TERRRIFIED!!! Ha ha ha!!! Trying not to crack up right now while I'm typing! He, he, he! The member who translates for the Prophet lives in our branch here, and we met with him this week. He said that even though I don't know alot of Russian yet, I speak well and almost without an accent. That made me feel better because somedays I just don't think I understand any of this language!!! He is a really smart guy. He is a doctor (but even they don't make a lot in Russia) and he knows both English and Russian fluently and he's translated pretty much everything the church has in Russian. Now is is working on translating the book "Jesus the Christ." As far as investigators are concerned, we have quite a few who are meeting with us, but this last week they all ditched us. It's perfectly normal in Russia to not show up to a meeting or come an hour late... gotta love it... Oh well. We try and the Lord helps us each day, even if it is helping us to laugh! :) Last night was a flash storm. I loved it. :) Some green Grass? I want to see the backyard now!!!! That is soooo cool! Send a picture when you can! Tell the "tough Norwegian" aka dad, that he has nothing to worry about with the surgery. :) Ha ha. He'll be fine, I know he will. Actually lots of people as me when we are on the street and they are nice enough to talk to us and ask us our names, if I am from Norway. I say no, from America, but my ancestors were. How did the transformer catch on fire? Are Richmond and Christina okay? Who is the new family in the ward? Has the ward changed a lot since I left? How's everyone at home? Things going better with work, etc? Heard from Code lately? What's new with him? Having fun teaching the crazies? Have you heard from any of my friends? It feels like I haven't been home in a long time... I wonder why... I want to hear ALL about home. I'm a stranger to home now. Love you all!! Miss you tons!!! Working hard. Learning alot. Be of Good Cheer!!! BLAKE