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

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

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

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

Igor is getting baptized!

Hello... Been busy week... and will only get busier! That's a good thing though...

Elder Anthony's first name is Christopher, and he is from Tacoma, Washington. (near Seattle) He came in with Elder Berven's group. (By the way, Elder Berven is AP with Elder Punderson, but Elder Punderson is going home early this transfer, so there will be a new AP this transfer too.)

I will miss Pskov, but it wasn't as hard to leave there because I knew that I would be coming back to Vyborg and Kaliningrad and stuff.  Elder Loskutov is still there with Elder Nielsen, so all should be good down there. I like the city. We have to go to the office often for Zone leader stuff, and it is about an hour away from there, so that can be a pain, but other than that I love my area so far!

Busy week -wow, but it was really good. Since last P-day we have worked a lot with investigators and less active members, and did a lot of traveling. For the less active members we worked with a man named Faik, who used to work for the mafia many years ago before he became a member of the Church. It's some crazy stuff. We also met with a painter (really good by the way) named Myakishev, and a Babushka named Raisa. All really cool members, just need to find a way to help them back to church.

We also met with a branch member, McCartney Mueller, from South Africa. His ancesters are from Germany and he speaks English, Afrikanz, and another African language perfectly. He has lived in Russia 7 years, and will soon be graduating an international school of medicine in order to be a GP. He is a really really smart guy and really friendly. We had a meeting with him about the Sabbath day, as we thought he didn't come because someone offended him, but we talked with him and said, "It's my choice to be offended at something, and I don't choose to be offended" and then pulled out a talk about that he had just read and read it with us. He then came to church on Sunday and was really happy with how the branch loved to see him at church! I really like McCartney.

WE WERE IN VYBORG! Coolest story that has happened to me on my mission. Do you remember me talking about an Igor Shevchenko from Latvia who was living in Vyborg. Well he's getting BAPTIZED on Saturday!! We went up to Vyborg and I was allowed to do the interview with him and he passed with flying colors. He has grown so much since I left and has a great testimony now. Stronger than a lot of peoples. He is the first person I have seen the full process of conversion on my mission. I was there when he was contacted by missionaries, there during his teaching, there during his baptismal interview. Unfortunately I won't be able to be there for his baptism, as we have to go to Kaliningrad. (Which isn't bad at all, only in the aspect that I have to miss Igor's baptism) I really gained a testimony of how missionary work is the Lord's time and plan, not the missionary's. The Lord works through the missionaries though, and He has a plan for every person. Igor testified that to me after the interview. It was great to see that he still called me "Mister Elder Larsen" and remembered our handshake. Ha ha. SO HAPPY IGOR IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!

Got to see a few of the branch members in Vyborg. It was great. While in Vyborg I was on a split with one of the new Elder's who came in this transfer, Elder Tekolvi. (He is American, but he has a Dutch last name and I don't know how to spell it so that is how close I can get at the moment) He is a good missionary already. Even though he doesn't understand the language, he is very brave and tries to talk with EVERYONE. He'll pick the language up pretty fast.

I have a really good district. It has a senior couple, the McArthur's (nice) so district meetings are in English. First time ever for me. Kind of weird to be honest, but I'm not complaining! 

Tell Chris good luck for me if you make it to his farewell. Can you make sure that he knows my mission address here in Russia.

Well, I gotta run. I love you guys a bunch! I hope all is well, that you are healthy, happy, and safe! I hope you feel God's love in your life and try to show that love for everyone else. Thanks for everything. I know the Lord is guiding me and everyone else here on earth. His plans are better than ours, and His plans always work. Follow his instructions for the plan He prepared, given to us in the scriptures and by living prophets, and everything will work our for your good. Talk to you later.

  God be with you til we meet again.

Love,

Blake

Transfer~ Shuvalova Branch With Elder Anthony

Hello from Saint Petersburg! I'm sitting in the Hermitage Museum right now using internet... It's a REALLY COOL Museum and we get in for free as we do service for them all the time. If you haven't guessed yet I got transfered. I am now serving in St. Petersburg in the branch called Shuvalova.

Well, my gut feeling was right. Remember how I said when I talked to you on Sunday that I think Im going to be ZL? Well I'm now ZL with Elder Anthony in North Zone.  I'm PUMPED about this transfer as that means I get to go back to Kaliningrad and Vyborg on Splits! Also get to go to Petrozavodsk, which I hear is a beautiful city. Means lots of traveling still this transfer, even by airplanes-sorry Mom, but it's worth it. Elder Anthony is a really good friend here in our mission and I've always wanted to serve with him. Our area is really big too, and the branch has about 80 active members, so when we aren't doing splits in other areas, we will have plenty of stuff to do with working with members and finding investigators.

Elder Poulson and Elder McCleary are flying home as I type this, along with Elder Walters, Onyshuk... that is weird to think. Crazy how quick time flew by. I will be back before you know it... Weird. We're really going to miss those guys! ALL REALLY GOOD MISSIONARIES. I know Elder Poulson and McCleary the best, but they are all studs! Elder Poulson trained both me and Elder Anthony. Now the "Poulson offspring" are going forward to conquer the Shuvalova branch and tear it up in North Zone... look out. Excited to serve!

It was great to talk to you guys on Sunday! Too bad the dang company doesn't warn you until you have on 30 seconds left to talk. I didn't really get to say goodbye very well. (Not well at all) Tell Cole, Sorry I didn't get to talk to him. It was crazy to hear everyone's voices. It feels like you haven't heard them for so long, but then when you hear everyone, you remember them as if it was yesterday you heard them.

Mom, I understand about the letter and I'm sorry what I said came out that way. That's not exactly what I meant. I know that you can't just ignore the bad and that you were just telling me the news... I don't know... Just trying to focus on the good is what I was saying. I know things are hard right now. Sorry.
We don't express our appreciation to you enough. THANK YOU, MOM! Even though I don't express it like I should, I want you to know that because you raised me the way you did, I know that God loves me and that He blesses me through other people in my life. Even though I'm a pain in the neck sometimes, you still love me. That's one of the reasons I know that God loves me too!

You really don't have to send me anything... Whenever you ask I don't know what to say. I did however look at my shoes after I called you on Sunday and I think that it might be a good idea to get some new shoes soon.

I realized the other day I am in the single digits for months on my mission ~ less than 9 months now! We are slowly receiving new missionaries and a bunch of old missionaries have been or will be leaving. It is really crazy. If you think about it, time is not as long as we think sometimes.

The weather here is pretty warm now. Don't need to wear a jacket or anything anymore. I got an email from Nate Booth today, telling me about how he's been doing.  It's turning to winter there in Chile... Pass a little information on to him for me, as it takes so long to send letters to each other and I want him to know I'm still alive... Ha ha. I miss Booth and everyone.

Cody tells me that I called my suit a "costume" to you when I spoke with you on Sunday... Did I really say that? That's how you say it in Russian... My English isn't too bad now, is it? I got a letter from Reidhead the other day, and he said that I spelled the word "earnestly" like "urnestley"...

How did Cody get the little faces on the email... that's pretty cool.

Well I gotta go. That's okay though, as I'm just rambling now. I love you guys. Take care of yourselves! Don't forget the Lord is always near. He is always at our side. Just sometimes we forget to look around for Him.

Keep Smiling. Be of Good Cheer!

Love,

Blake

Prayers for Meleea.

Dear Everyone!

I'm doing well and happy to hear from everyone!


It was great to hear about the amazing blessing that Meleea got the other day. I wish I could have been there. I felt really strongly that I needed to pray for Lee a couple days ago, that she would be strong with what she found out about the MRI and I felt better after I prayed. I felt even better when I heard about the blessing Dad gave her. The Priesthood is a wonderful thing, isn't it? Amazing the feelings that we feel and the blessings we receive from a righteous priesthood blessing.

The last little while I have been really studying the Sermon on the Mount. These teachings from the Savior himself are amazing if you really want to analyze them. "Consider the Lilies."... They are blessed by God everyday, and they grow just as we grow... Through the mercy and blessings that God gives us. I find it interesting that Christ chose to close the Sermon with two principles~ Don't judge unrighteously and go and do the things that He has just taught us. Must be very important if He wanted to end with that and leave that on the minds of the people He taught.

It is already the end of the transfer. That is strange to think. It has been a challenging transfer but also an enjoyable one, and I've learned a lot from it. I really will miss Pskov, if I'm transfered on Monday... We will see though. Ha ha.

We had a fairly successful week too. Since last Thursday, we've been continuing to visit the houses of former investigators, trying to contact them and we've also done a lot of tracting. Thursday we talked with a former investigator at her house about the Book of Mormon. She was kind and listened to us, but didn't want to accept it because it's not the bible. Her name is Olga and we'll continue to try to talk with her.

We met again with Nina, the mom of Elder Kazharskii, and taught her the full first lesson. She listen to us and she answered our questions and asked some good questions of her own, but we feel she still doesn't want to share her feelings very much with us. She appreciates the support we give her while her son is on his mission, though and wants to continue to meet with us.

We had a lesson with Ilya who I have talked about before. We talked about our relationship with God and the importance of establishing one with Him. It was a good lesson. The Spirit was strong and Ilya really started to think about what we were saying.

We had a great meeting with a former investigator family yesterday. They met the missionaries 5 years ago, but then changed phone numbers and missionaries lost contact with them. We stopped by last week and set up a meeting. They accepted everything that we talked about and loved the message. She should be meeting with them again Friday. There names are Aleksay, Galina, and Vitaliy.

Thanks for the photos you sent me by mail. They are great and people love to see photos from hom when we meet with them. They will go in my album to show others. Too bad we can't have hair like Uncle Bob had in the picture you sent me... Ha ha. Kidding. Speaking of hair... Code-ski is going bald?... Do you have a picture? I can't quite imagine it...

Well, I gotta run. Love you all. I know that the Church is true and that the Savior and our Heavenly Father love us very much. I'm VERY happy to be serving Them right now.

Love you. Be of Good Cheer. Keep Smiling!

Blake

PS- Will send more pictures soon hopefully. Computer wouldn't read them today.

Nice Easter

Hello! It was a busy week here in Pskov!

Last P-day when we started to do missionary work, Elder Loskutov felt that we should go and talk with the mom of one of the missionaries from here. We went to their house and found out that she had never talked with the missionaries before. She was a nice lady and we got to know her and talked about her son on his mission in Samara. We testified that we know he was doing the work of the Lord, and she loved our visit.

Sunday was an Easter I will never forget... The talks that were given by Sister Elena and Brother Oleg were really good, but I will not forget it too because it was the first time that I conducted a sacrament meeting... The branch president had to travel somewhere, and I found that if the branch president isn't there, then it is up to the senior companion to conduct sacrament meeting. I will be conducting again on Sunday too, as he will be gone again next week. After sacrament we met with Sister Hilma, a little grandma~babushka that has a hard time getting to church, but treats the missionaries like her own grandchildren. Whenever I call her to see how she is doing she always says, "How is my Larsen doing?" ha ha.

I made banana bread for Nina, (the mom of the missionary) and then Elder Loskutov and Elder Gillete had a meeting with her on Monday again and I was on a split with another elder. It was hard to be on a split with him! He openly admits that he is lazy and doesn't want to work, and I tried to talk with him about it and ask him why he was here then and he didn't want to talk. I know he could be a great missionary if he tried, but he just doesn't try.

Wednesday we did service for Sister Hilma, cleaning out her garden. It hadn't been done in a while. You are all gardening at home, and I am too in Russia. The weather is pretty nice here. It's making me kind of trunky when it comes to sports back home. Perfect weather for running with Millie girl right now! 

Great day yesterday as we met with 2 former investigators. The first was Gennady. He's a photographer. Next is Ivan. He is really religious and at first wanted to Bible bash, but we wouldn't and we just talked with him about his beliefs and explained ours. I think that he was really surprised to talk with us.

Tell me how Meleea's results come back, which I know you will of course. Tell her good luck and to get feeling better. Sounds like KB is still the great helper she always was. ha ha.

I've included some more pictures, but don't have time to explain what they are. Pictures say a thousand words, though and I hope you like them. Sorry that the letter is so short. Gotta run.

Love you all. Keep Smiling. Don't worry, be happy!

Love,

Blake

Enchiladas!

Dear Everyone,

Things are going alright here in Pskov. Can't really complain much, so that is a good thing. This last week was kind of a bummer though, as we did a lot of contacting since investigators didn't show up on meetings, wouldn't answer their phone, or flat our said, "Don't want to meet." We are concentrating on former investigators and potential investigators, as we don't have very many investigators altogether to teach.  We are really excited about a referal we got from Elder Haddock. There is a grandma~Babushka who lives about an hour away from Pskov (yep... have to travel more) who wants to hear the lessons! We are meeting with her Tuesday, so hope that goes well. Alexander and Olga have been traveling a lot for work, as he is a Colonel and so we haven't been able to meet with them for quite a while. He still came to Sacrament between trips, so we were excited for that. Good people. 

Another highlight of the week was I found an enchilada packet in the apartment. Elder Loskutov had never had them before, so I made enchiladas. They were the best thing I've eaten on my mission. I miss Mexican food! Elder Loskutov LOVED them. You know that funny scene in the movie "What About Bob" when he eats the corn on the cob...Yeah, it was like that. Ha ha!

I really liked General Conference. I tried to apply all the talks to a missionary setting right now, and it really helped me. I liked Elder Richard G. Scotts talk, even though it was about marriage, because it helped me understand the importance of SHOWING people you love them. I pondered this with baptism, and I started to better understand that the Lord wants us to SHOW our faith. Not just believe. It's time for people to show the Lord they love Him, including members of the church. Also loved Elder Uchtdorf's talks of course. His talks are always my favorite.

Funny you talked about buying a new cherry tree, because the other day I REALLY WANTED a cherry pie! Pies here in Russia are more like a loaf of bread with a little fruit in the middle... Not what I call pies. They are still pretty good though. My last cherry pie was the one that you sent to me in the MTC.

We were in Novgorod, for District splits and I was with Elder Gillete this time. I decided I'd like to serve there, but that means I might have to be Branch President, like Elder Ilin. Not in any way aspiring to that, but if it works out that way, then I will of course. It is a cool area. 

Sorry that you're sick again, Lee! I will keep you in my prayers to feel better! Just isn't fun at all to be sick.

That's great to hear about Chris!!!! Chile!!! That's were Booth is serving! He'll be on the other side of the world! When does he go in to the MTC?  Joe is going to Orlando? That's were Elder Berven is from. Cool beans! I have no idea who this Kramer fellow is that married Amy.

Elder Loskutov is a good companion. He has some quirks about him that I don't understand, as the culture barrier is still sometimes there. Russians just do things differently than Americans. That isn't a bad thing, just I have to get use to it still. He is a really happy companion though! He has a personality kind of like BP. How is he doing? I haven't heard from him by letter at all on my mission, and don't know if he has gotten my letters... Kelsey said that she has been talking with him in emails a little though. Tell her to tell him Hi and I'm rooting for him from me!

Transfers are in May, so we will talk to you before the transfer ends. Is Mother's Day on the 8th or the 1st? When do you have church now so I can call before you go to church?

Well, I gotta write a letter to President now. Thanks to everyone back home! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! I know the Lord loves you too, more than we can understand.

Be of Good Cheer. Keep Smiling!

Love,

Blake

God loves us and He is always with us.

Hello! Well today is P-day, but there is not a lot to annouce this week, as about half of it was in a car or bus... Last P-day we left for Peter about 5 and got there at 10:30, had to get up at 3:45 so we could all take showers and be on the street by 4:30 to go to Estonia. 3 hours to Estonia, then we were there for 8 hours just walking around and talking with people, eating at a strudel store (which was really good by the way) and a Turkish restaurant were we had Kebabs. The cool part of the day was we met someone who knows the missionaries and is investigating the church there in Estonia and talked with him for a long time. Saturday we traveled back to Pskov, had time to clean the church and have a meeting with some members. Zone leaders came down Monday night and are very jealous of our apartment. Ha ha. They liked it a lot.

Tuesday I was on a split with Elder Beck until District Meeting where I taught about the importance of baptism as a Covenant with God, to serve Him because we love Him. We then had a quick lunch, contacted a bit, and left for Peter. Wednesday was Zone Conference, were we talked a lot about helping people understand that God is our loving Heavenly Father, and also what it means to Endure to the End. Elder Luna and Sister Luna gave good testimonies and I really felt the Spirit. This is their last Zone Conference. Sad and kind of weird... We then ran and caught a bus to Pskov and got home at about 11:30 last night... Whew! That was our week!

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Dad! I knew you would. One day when I was praying about that, I felt really calm and knew that you would! Prayer works. :)

Thank you very, very much for the package! I did get it and it was great! Especially the pictures and the book that you did from Shutterfly. I love it! That's exactly what I wanted.

Yes, Dad I think that I got the second wind again, and last transfer was probably the wall, which is why you and Mom thought I was down. I was just climbing the wall. I like what you said in your email:  "Rely on Heavenly Father, he has not sent you to Russia to fail." as I read today in Alma 56 about the Sons of Helaman and how they said ,"...behold, our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth..." when they were asked if they would be willing to fight the Lamanites to help their brethren. And they fought with the Strength of God and none were lost. That's amazing! And we all have that potential. We are Sons and Daughters of God.

Well I gotta run. I want to write some words of encouragement to Cody. He said that he just got my letter I sent him a few weeks ago, but I want to tell him a bit more.

Talk to you later! Remember God loves you and that He is always with us.

Love,

Blake

Busy!

Ba-oo! (That's how you say hi in Eboo, that crazy cool African language I was talking about)

Well it's been a busy week and is just getting busier. Alexander and Olga have been really busy too, but they said they will be at Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. We still continue to pray for them and will help them anyway we can. They are really nice people! We did service for a little grandma here in the ward by fixing her cabinets in her apartment. She is the smallest Babushka that I have ever seen and she is always very happy. Her name is Sister Nadyezhda, which means Hope in Russian.

We watched the Saturday sessions on Sunday here in Russia, and next Sunday will be the rest of General Conference.  I really like the talk by Elder Oaks about desires and how our desires can lead to faith. It was really good. We also laughed a bit during President Monson's talk because President Podvodov told President Aleksay that he should think about getting married soon... and me and my companion have been teasing him about that. Ha ha.  I also liked General Conference because I was able to watch it in English. President Aleksay wanted to watch it in English, so I went on a split with him while Elder Loskutov was with Brother Oleg. Monday was another long day traveling to Novgorod and back for District meeting.

Today we are leaving to go to St. Petersburg, as I will be in Estonia tomorrow.  Means 5 hours to St. Petersburg, 3 hours to Estonia, and then 3 hours back. We will be traveling back to Pskov on Saturday. The Zone Leaders will be down in Pskov on Monday for splits, we will leave again with them on Tuesday, as Wednesday is Zone Conference, and then we will probably be coming back to Pskov on Thursday. (So don't be surprised if P-day next week is on Friday) It will be good to see Elder Andersen and Gerard and Sister Lane from the MTC group. I can see how Elder Andersen is feeling now. Better I hope! It's hard to find out as I'm far away from everyone.  With all this traveling I decided I never want to be a business man who travels all over the world like some do. It's too much traveling to do for a job...

I should have some letters, but they are in Novgorod as Elder Gillette grabbed them for me at transfers, but then forgot to bring them to District meeting... I guess I will just have to wait to read them... Seems like forever since I've gotten a letter. My package is in Peter though, so I can get that when I go there today. The snow is finally almost melted, and the every-other-day snow storm here has turned into a constant shower of rain. Everything is muddy here in Pskov, and I've heard it's the same in Peter... That means soon it will be summer. I never thought I'd say this but I'm sick of the snow! Yay for summer!

I hope that Meleea gets doing better soon! Thanks for the pics of K.B. She is getting big!

I'll send a quick note to Code-ski to see how he's doing.

I better jet. Love you all! Thanks for the support and love! I enjoy hearing from you and I know that I have been blessed at home with a loving family and great friends! I've realized this more since I've come on my mission. I've also realized that God loves EVERY SINGLE SOLITARY PERSON and wants us to love each other as He loves us. That is the essence of Godliness. I know that pains in life are hard but no matter what the pain, whether it's the pain of the cold Russian winters or the pain of rejection, or even sin, all our pains can melt away with the Son. We just have to look for His light and follow it.

Keep Smiling. Be of Good Cheer. Christ has overcome the world.
Love,
Blake

Grateful for Elder and Sister Luna.

Hello! Howdy! 'Sup? Hi! ETC!

First of all I just want to say that I AM HAPPY! Truly.  I won't lie, there are moments when things are really hard too.  Missions are a mix of emotions, but overall it is one of joy. It's like the people of Mosiah when they received the record of Ether. They were filled with joy to know more of the will of God, but sorrow for their brothers. On my mission, I feel happy to be able to serve God and see the Gospel in the lives of others, but also sad when I see that people don't want to accept it. I feel kind of like Alma, when he prayed to the Lord when he was serving amongst the Zoramites. He said unto the Lord "Behold... their souls are precious..." but he knew that the Lord would strenghten him and his brothers as they served amongst them. My scripture right now is Alma 26:37 "Now my brothern, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen"

I will admit though... I have been focusing on the negative in my emails lately. I just read them and I'm sorry. I'll focus more on the good. I read a good talk by President Uchtdorf about focusing on the good in last months Liahona. You should read it. Elder Luna called me last week after you sent him an email saying that I wasn't as happy as usual and he was really worried. I told him I'm just fine, just sometimes there are disappointments on the mission. He was glad to hear it and told me that if I ever want to talk, I can call him anytime. I'm going to miss the Luna's when they leave. They are my parents here in Russia! Elder Luna is so humble and Sister Luna is so fun and bubbly. They both have great testimonies and so much love for the missionaries!

Well transfers came and left, and I am still serving with Elder Loskutov in Pskov, which I'm glad. The branch is really small, but the 5 active members of the branch have a lot of faith and I really enjoy serving with them. President Aleksay is a really young branch president, but he does a good job. The only thing that changed in our district was Elder Nielsen left Novgorod, Elder Gillete is now serving in Novgorod with Elder Ilin... Elder Nielsen was the district leader... and now President Podvodov made Me district leader... Which means if people have questions they ask me and if I don't know, I ask the zl's. Also means I'm in charge of training in the District. Zone leaders for us are Elder Beck and Elder Berven. I was really excited to hear that Elder Berven was the ZL. He is a really good missionary, companion, and it was a fun transfer to serve with him.

The email is smaller than normal, as I put in some pictures. Pictures say a thousand words, right? Pictures include district meeting last transfer with the ZL's, the branch here in Pskov when President came to give a talk, me at a monument here in Pskov for Alexander Nevskiy, me in Petergof with Brother Silva from Cuba his dog, and his daughter, Our district when I served with Elder Berven, and me with Elder Hill jumping in the air while we were in Estonia.

Keep praying for Alexander and Olga. They are really close to gaining testimonies, I can feel it. They are great people and I'm really glad to know them. They love everything we teach them, just need some help to exercise the faith to find out for themselves that it is really true.

Well I gotta run. Putting pictures on took a while. I love you all. I hope you are happy at home. I hope you feel God's love in your life, and I hope you feel this for other people.

Be of Good Cheer. Keep Smiling!

With Love,

Blake