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

03 January 2012

Surprise Christmas Call To My Twin Brother On His Mission!










It was great to hear from all of you on Christmas Day! Weird to think that I will be talking to you in person soon and not have to do it over a phone or through email. Sorry to wake you up on Christmas, ha ha. Bummer I couldn't talk with KB- Doo. 







My call to Cody was awesome! He answered the phone and said "Missionaries, this is Elder Larsen," and I started speaking to him in Russian. He didn't understand of course and was really confused and then I couldn't keep back the laugh anymore and then he recognized it was me and yelled in the phone "BLAAKE?!!!" Ha ha ha! It was funny! Just talked a little bit until the phone card ran out, which was only 5 minutes. That's probably what I talked with all of you, right?

Christmas Eve the Clark's invited us over with the AP's and the office elders and we had roast, mashed potatoes, salad, rolls, yams, and ice cream with cookies. It has been sooooo long since I've had a meal like that and Sister Clark is an amazing cook. It was all so appreciated! We sang some Christmas Hymns in Russian and read from Luke in the Bible in Russian about Christ's birth. Then we left to go caroling on Nevskiy Prospekt, the busiest street in St. Petersburg and had a lot of success and talked with many people... and had fun doing it! Couldn't have had a better Christmas to end my mission. 

Early this week I was on a split with the Zone Leaders and I was with Elder Sherman. We met Grisha and he showed me pictures of his new little girl and bought us dinner! So nice of him! Grisha is a great guy and baby Yevgeniya is a cutie. We also met with a new investigator who was really interested in the Book of Mormon. He really understood the importance of it after he asked why it wasn't already included in the Bible, and exclaimed," YOU NEED TO TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS!" We laughed and said,"That's what we are doing." 

The v.t. this time was more uneventful than usual as this time, instead of having to wait for our papers we already had them. So we just had to cross the border, get our passports stamped, and came back. We talked a little in the car among everyone, but also took the time to study scriptures and had a large companionship study. Ha ha. It was cool! I told President Clark that Steve C. says hi and he was surprised and happy to hear it. He says that they were best friends growing up in Salt Lake, and would hop the fence to each others house all the time to hang out. 
It's a small world. 

I was on speaker phone when talking with you, but I was on the other side of the apartment. Everyone else was in the kitchen, and they were all talking amongst themselves so I don't think they even heard you. Even if they did, 
they are really good elders.  

I finally got a letter this week that Kelsey sent...
for my birthday. I think the Post office here hates me. Ha ha. It takes so long to hear from anyone, and a lot of them get lost on the way here and I never get my mail. Lee will be moving into in the office? That's surprising. Its the smallest room in the house... she is going to have to get rid of a lot of stuff to fit in there! Ha ha. Kidding! 

Gotta run! Keep Smiling!
 Love, Blake 



Note from Tammy~ After many efforts, this post would not fix, so it is what it is. 

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