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

27 June 2011

The Lord God offers us everything He hath, if we will follow Him.


Hello! This last transfer was probably one of the fastest transfers ever. Next one should be good too.
Well, it's start of the new transfer, and I'm happy to still be serving still in Shoovalova with Elder Anthony! We are starting to see success with our investigators slowly but surely, and we are finding more investigators to teach.

Elders Haddock, Andersen (small), Hunt and Nielsen went home today. 5 new missionaries came in, and our mission is getting younger and younger every transfer.

We now help a Grandma~Babushka named Raisa in our branch to go to church every week. She is in a wheelchair, so one of the branch members comes to pick her up and we all carry her down 3 flights of stairs, as the elevator is too small... She is a really nice lady. Hard to be mad at her house.

This last week week we met with lots of church members. We've been trying to get two less actives named Myakishev and Faik to come back to church, as they both only have the Aaronic Priesthood. They both are nice guys and know that the church is true, but they have some quirks that are holding them back. Myakishev thinks that he is too old to come to church, but he travels around all the time to paint, so we showed him that that wasn't the case. He said he already knows everything so it is boring to go, and so we felt that we need to talk about the Sacrament with him and talk to him about the importance of it. Even if we do know everything (and nobody does), we still have the opportunity to show the Lord our faith, and also remember our baptismal covenants with the Lord. We can be in a setting with other people who want to feel the Spirit, and we can feel more support in our life from God.

Faik has some problems with his health, as he is sick a lot with stomach problems, and he also has talked about how he is a little afraid of responsibility that comes with the Priesthood. We had a lesson about how we can only receive more blessings if we accept responsibility and the Lord will help us with whatever he asks. Faik was really open with us and he wants to start coming back. We are hoping that his health with get better, as that is a big factor to him not coming to church.

We had a cool meeting with our Buddhist investigator, Galina yesterday. Earlier this week she told us that she knew more than we did and there was nothing that we could teach her, but we met with her, asked her questions about what she believed, and she gave her a basic run down of the Plan of Salvation. We left the meeting not knowing how it would affect her, and she called us later and said that she changed her mind and wants a Book of Mormon and wants us to teach her. Success! We know the Spirit was really helping us out during that lesson.

Our other, new investigator, Valerii is really hard to meet with. We met with him last week, but only succeeded in giving him a restoration DVD. He is a really funny guy, but we are wondering if he really wants the messages, or to talk with us because we are American? That happens way too often.


That's pretty much what is new with Elder Anthony and I. Looking forward to this transfer!

I got your envelope with photos the other day and that was great! Thanks a ton! The only problem with mail that day was they sent back the first letter I sent to mom, even though everything on the letter was written correctly, and the second letter isn't as good as the first one... I'll resend it as soon as I can.

I know that the Church is true and that the Lord is leading us. I've realized that the Lord has a specific purpose for every single person on the Earth, and as long as you are trying your hardest, you are doing what the Lord wants you to do, even if you don't see the results that you think you should. He wants us to all come unto Him, but He wants US to want that. He forgives us so easily of our shortcomings and our sins, and just wants us to listen to Him. I know that I wasn't sent to a place where I will see a lot of baptisms and where faith is still fairly young, but I know that He is happy with us that we are trying. Just like Mormon or Nephi or Job, or especially Jesus Christ, they had hard times, and didn't see the success that they would have liked, but they helped so many others through their work later on because if they hadn't done it, then others wouldn't have continued it. I love this Church.

I love my family and my friends, both back at home and here that I have met in Russia. I had a song that I listened to before my mission stuck in my head today. "If I had a chance for another try, I wouldn't change a thing; It's made me all of who I am inside and if I could thank God that I am here in that I am alive, and everyday I wake, I tell myself a little harmless lie: The whole wide world is mine." 


The Lord God has offered us the world and more, everything He hath, if we will follow Him.

Take care of yourselves! I love you! God be with you! Be of Good Cheer. Keep Smiling! Peace!
Blake

20 June 2011

Elder Russell M. Nelson Visits Mission


Yello! It was another busy week this week, but very fun. Pretty good week to end the transfer with. So here was the week: Last week we finally met with that Vova who already knew Elder Anthony when he served in Sesteretsk, and he is a really cool guy. While he was away, he still attended the Church meetings in his area, and he really has a good relationship with the church. He is hard to meet with as he is working and going to school in Peter, so it takes up almost all of his time.
Elder Russell M. Nelson met with all the missionaries and answered our questions about doctrines and things we could do with better as missionaries. Cool. He also kind of embarrassed his granddaughter. He is SO proud of her. Ha ha. Before anyone really knew that they were related, he just keep trying to hug her and people had no idea what was going on. He was in Russia to open up the first Stake in Russia! It's in Moscow, but he said that he thinks that we could get one pretty soon in St. Petersburg. Talked a lot about temple work and about Spirits who have left this life and how they help the work still on the earth. Made me think of "The River" incident.

Lots of interesting people were met on the street this week. We met a lot of Americans this week. We were walking down the street and we heard some guys yelling at us and we thought it was just another drunk guy as usual, but then we noticed it was English. It was a group of 4 guys who are from America, but have lived here in Russia for about 3 years or more, teaching English. They knew we probably were American, as no one else wears white shirts and ties. Really nice guys. We might be playing Floorball or Football with them this P-day or next. We also met a band named "Colossus" who are from America. They don't know any Russian and they were surprised when we started speaking English to them. Really nice guys. We found a new investigator at the beginning of the week. She is an older lady, Russian, and Buddhist... That doesn't happen very often. She is interested in the Church, and she speaks some English so we met with her with one of the senior couples, the McArthur's. We kind of have a feeling that she wants to convert us though...

We were in Petrozavodsk on Tuesday. It's a 8 hour train ride, so we had a night train and arrived at 7 in the morning. I found that I sleep really well on trains. They just rock you to sleep. Petro is a really beautiful area. I hope that when I leave St. Petersburg (If I leave St. Petersburg) that I could serve in Petro. It is build around the 3 largest lake in Russia, and has lots of green everywhere. It rivals K-grad. Now I have touch all the corners of my mission.
I was with Elder Freestone on a split there. Elder Andersen is a GREAT cook and made us Chicken Bacon Ranch pizzas. I felt like I was in a restaurant!

Sounds like things are going to look a lot different when I get back home: the house will be improved due to your hard work. Free sod? I want to see pictures. I tried to send pictures, but the only internet place we can find won't let you connect a camera... dumb, I know. No you didn't send me a memory card, but I can buy one here if you want to do it that way. Thanks for the packages. I really appreciate them, but you really don't have to do that for me. I know it costs alot.
That is terrible that Jared died!!... I remember him the best out of all Jake's brothers. Dang.

You didn't get my letter yet, Mom?... Darn. I am sending a postcard today too, so be looking for that letter and also the postcard. I gotta run. Didn't realize the time. 

I love you all! Don't forget that! Tell everyone hi for me. God loves you too!

Love,
Blake

14 June 2011

Will miss President and Sister Podvodov.


Hello from Shoovalova! (North Zone)

Thanks a ton for the pictures of Codeski! He doesn't seem to be going bald to me... Don't know what he is talking about. He hasn't really changed much since he left other than got a little more plump. Ha ha.

Tell Meleea to get better already! I pray for you all everyday, but especially for Meleea's health, mentally, physically and emotionally.

How's Cole doing? Don't hear to much about him. And K.B.? How is she doing?

Jake's brother died!!!!!!!!!????? I had no idea. I wrote a letter to Jake a long time ago, but I've never heard from him while I've been on my mission. I think I will write him another letter when I get a chance to finally, but it might take a while to get to him. If you see him, tell him hi for me and that I'm really sorry about what happened. Dang it...

Well, Elders Punderson and Mower went home, and Elder Gerard is the new AP. (No one is surprised, he'll be great!) It's weird to think that both the AP's right now were my companions...

Next week Elder Anthony will be in Petrozavodsk, which is an 8 hour train ride from St. Petersburg, then we will be there for a day. It takes up about 3 days for this split, but I heard that the branch there is great, and that it is really pretty there, rivaling Vyborg of Kaliningrad. I'm excited to see it. I will be with Elder Freestone, who is on his 2nd transfer in Russia.

Things are going well in North Zone, but to be honest this last week was a little harder than it has been in previous weeks. Petrozavodsk's investigator who is golden and would meet with them often and has a baptismal date wouldn't answer his phone or would just say that he was busy and couldn't talk. I don't know what Elders Andersen and Freestone could have done better, they are very diligently working, especially with this investigator. Vyborg is doing about the same still. They were able to meet with Igor again after his baptism and talk with him about it. He loved his baptism, and they said that he seems to be adjusting well to be a member of the church. The only problem that he has right now is that he lives far away from the branch for his work. Still has a great testimony, but hard for him to always attend church. They are working on finding new investigators, as they don't really have any steady ones. Kaliningrad also is having troubles with investigators, and especially meeting with them. We've asked them to try to use the area books more, and that seems to help, as they usually don't try to talk with us on the phone as much at night, so they can call former investigators. Sesteretsk is doing well, especially for their area. They are working with one good investigator grandma who fits in really well with the branch, but just can't seem to get over the fear of baptism. They are also helping to get less actives back to church since elder Nelson is branch president there. They succeeded in getting a lady to church who hadn't been for 7 years. They are doing well. Sisters are doing well too with investigators. Of course they are, they are Sisters! They are always better than the Elders! Jana, their investigator with the baptismal date, comes every week to sacrament meeting, sometimes bringing her mom. She definitely will be getting baptized, I'm sure.

As for me and Elder Anthony, our focus this week has been getting investigators and less actives to take on the commitments of reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it, and also to come and hear Elder Nelson, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he comes this Sunday. I'm looking forward to meet with him with just the missionaries on Saturday! Surprise!! I heard somewhere that one of the sister missionaries in our mission is the granddaughter of Elder Nelson... That would be weird to see you grandfather on your mission, but maybe it won't be weird for her as her grandfather is an apostle...


Zone Council was good, but also sad to think that it is our President's last Zone Council, as it was my first. It will be interesting though to see a new mission president. I learned a lot from President Podvodov, and I know that he was called of God just like all the missionaries here. He literally received revelation from the Lord as to what we need to be doing in our mission. Will miss them!

I have a feeling that Elder Anthony will be Z.L. somewhere else next transfer, because of the lack of missionaries that will be here in the mission at present. I've really enjoyed this transfer with Elder Anthony! Probably the hardest working companion that I have had.

Today for P-day, we are playing football with McCartney, our Namibian friend (I said that he was from South Africa, but I was mistaken. That is were he served his mission), his room-mates, and a bunch of missionaries who are going to be going home at the end of the transfer. It will be fun! McCartney is the man. He has been teaching me a little bit of Afrikaans, and it sounds a lot like German.

I suggest to people to read the book Articles of Faith, by James Talmage. That is a really good book. Not as good as Jesus the Christ, but still...wow.

Well, I've got to run. Time just doesn't suffice to write all the stuff we want and bear your testimony. I want everyone to know I KNOW that God restored His Gospel on the earth and offers it to EVERYONE who wants it and will follow Him. He loves us, and the better we understand this love, the better our lives will be... but we can only understand His love if we try to follow him and keep His commandments.

Love you all! Keep smiling! Be of Good Cheer!
Blake


02 June 2011

Going to miss some missionaries heading home!


Hello again! Already 4th P-day of the Transfer! That is crazy! Time is just flying by.

Last Thursday I was on a split with Elder Haddock as Elder Anthony had a Visa trip. We met with a new convert, Aleksander and talked to him about missionary work. We actually had the area book with us and showed him people that he could help us with and he got really excited and told us to call him whenever and if he isn't working he will go on splits. Saturday we had a good meeting with our Erjo, the dad of the Armenian family that we are teaching and talked about God's plan and Lehi's vision. He has troubles believing in the scriptures, but he said he would read and pray about them. After that me and Elder Anthony had a meeting with investigators who are Jehovah's Witnesses and they pulled out an anti-Mormon list of questions and started asking us them. The list was a bunch of scriptures from the Book of Mormon, horribly twisted to say something about our beliefs that are totally not true! I won't go into detail about what the list said, but all one has to do is read the scripture in context and they see that that is not the case. Sunday we met with our new mission leader, Brother Mayorev and he is great. He looks like he is 80 or something, but he has a lot of energy and is ready to get started. He works a lot to, but he made sure that we have a schedule when we can call and meet with him, and he is trying to organize a way for the members to go on splits more often with us. Monday we met with 2 investigators and a less active. One investigator was a new investigator, Andrey, and we did the first lesson with him. He told us to come to an address, which we found out was a really posh hotel, called Grand Hotel Europe, and he took us back to a fancy restaurant. We didn't order anything of course. Just talked with him about the Gospel. He was very interested in our message and had lots of questions. He is very rich, and doesn't want to change his party lifestyle, but he says he believes in God and thinks we should all be good people to each other. The other investigator was a former investigator who the missionaries stopped meeting with about 5 years ago. Out of the blue, Elder Anthony and I called him up and he said, "Of course I want to meet. I don't know why missionaries stopped meeting with me." He could only meet for a little while, so we talked about the basic parts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he was so excited to meet again. His name is Vitalii and he is about 60 years old, but looks a lot younger and is very active. Then last night, an investigator that Elder Anthony had in Sesteretsk called our phone and wanted to meet. He was his investigator about a year ago, but then had to leave to the Rostov mission and started to attend church there, and he really liked it. He is coming back, but this time will live in our area in St. Petersburg, so he found out the number and called and just by accident Elder Anthony and him knew each other already. We are seeing some really good success in the last little while.  Those are the highlights of the week.

Tomorrow I will be on a split with Elder Punderson for the AP/ZL splits, and this is the last time Elder Punderson will do a split, as he goes home on Monday with Elder Mower! That is crazy. I hate to see these guys go! I've served my whole mission already with them, but they've served the Lord well and it is time for them to do the next thing that the Lord has in store for them. I will really miss them.

Yes, I really like serving with Elder Anthony. He's on the list of the best companions that I've had so far. No problems whatsoever with him. Can you do me a favor? Is there a way to send honey butter in the package? Elder Anthony loves honey butter. I don't know if there is some special way to make it?

Elder and Sister Luna are leaving soon too. I'm really going to miss them as well! They are a good example of the essence of serving the Lord. We've been spoiled with the Luna's!

Wish I could have been there for Chris' talk, but I'm sure that it was a good one. His grandma is really nice. We went there a couple times to deliver something to her, and once on Halloween we brought something to her and she invited us in and gave us lots of candy and talked with us for a while. This was when I had my call and she talked to us about missions and stuff. So yes, I know who she is, but not very well.

That would be a great experience that Cody had confirming that man! I can't even imagine. Yay, Codes!

Well, I've got to run. My fingers can only move so fast and it is time to go. 
Love you all! Say hi to everyone for me and know that I love and miss you. God is real and He loves you all too.

Love,
Blake

Serving with all our might in the Zone.


Hello! Things are going pretty good here in Shoovalovo area of St. Pete's.
 
Things are going well in our Zone. Elder Anthony and I are proud of the Zone, as they are all working hard, improving the quantity quality of their lessons, and they are serving with all their might. Can't really complain about our Zone very much. Great missionaries!

The Petrozavodsk elders are doing great and trying to set a lot of baptismal dates. They are having great success. They just set a baptismal date yesterday! (Elder Andersen and Elder Freestone)

Kaliningrad elders are working very hard, but they seem to have a hard time finding meetings, despite the fact that they have 5 area books full of investigators. We'll pray for the area of Kaliningrad. Elder Byington is frustrated with the language, but he'll get it and other than that, they work well together there in K-grad. (Byington and Uliyanov)

Vyborg is doing great too. Elder Tekolvi is doing well, and is excelling in the language very quickly. I'm impressed that this is only his first transfer! Elder Hunt isn't trunky at all yet, and he seems like he will serve hard until the end, even if this is his last transfer.

Sestroretsk elders and the sisters are working well with less actives and active members, trying to find more oppertunities to find new investigators. Elder Haddock says that Elder Nelson is a great branch president, and is the man for the job.

Elder Anthony and I have been busy traveling this week to K-grad, and we've met with less active members a lot. We asked them to prepare to teach us the Gospel, so they can see the joy of missionary work and maybe also help them to return to church. It was great to be back in Kaliningrad this last week. Everything is so nice and green there, and I got to see a few of the members! They were surprised when I could actually talk with them in Russian, as they only remembered me as "the greenie" who didn't know Russian. The flight back wasn't very fun, as we had to deal with some very drunk man on the plane who wouldn't shut up and couldn't barely walk. Get this... He was a police officer. That is messed up. Both him and his partner were drunker than who knows what. 
 
Well, I finished my letter to you Mom, so be expecting one soon. I'll write again before your birthday. Hope you understand this letter I sent. Ha ha.
 
About the belt, while I was in Vyborg, Elder Hunt gave me some that fit me. Really good ones too. He doesn't need them anymore. Elder Hunt is a champ.
 
Today for P-day, Elder Anthony and I are going to go to a park and throw around a baseball with Foo, our Chinese member and friend here. Foo is hilarious. I'd send you a picture, but we are in the Hermitage and there isn't a place to plug in.
 
Service in the Hermitage is really fun. We stand at the main entrance and ask people to take off their coats and put them in the wardrobe, and we answer questions that they have. We just assume they are Russian, so we talk to everyone in Russian and when we see they don't understand us, we try in English and it usually works. A lot of people from England or America ask us were we learned English and we laugh and tell them we are from America. We get some good contacts this way.
 
Right now we have some cool investigators. First is a family from Armania. They have a hard time understanding the Plan of Salvation and the concept of sin, but they are the nicest family in the world. They always want to feed us and help us with whatever. We also have an investigator from Greece named Gary who speaks 4 languages including English and Russian. Its hard to meet with our investigators as we are doing splits or they are working alot, but they are still awesome people.
 
This next week luckily we will be here in St. Petersburg for splits with Sestraretsk, so we should be getting some stuff done this week in our own area. Ha ha.
 
Sounds like things back home are about the same. It's weird to think that Mom hangs out with my friends more than I have this last year, but it's understandable why. Ha ha. I'll be ready for those fruit trees when I get home!!!! Believe me. ha ha. Fruit here in kind of expensive.
 
Tell Lee to get feeling better from me. I pray for her! That is pretty bad if she missed church. She must have been really sick. Did she get my letter yet?
 
Well, I really got to run. My hands just flew trying to type this. Scratch the dogs behind the ears for me and give KB a hug. I love you all back there! Tell everyone hi! Hope all is well and that you are working hard because from work comes blessings.
 
I know that God loves you and that He is in control. Be of Good Cheer. Keep Smiling!
 
Love,
Blake