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