President Clark Arrived!

Great to hear from you again as usual! I can't believe how things are going to be different when I get back with all that you explain in the backyard. Also I want to see Cody Ryan! That is really cool to hear about him. 


I haven't been to the office in a while so I don't know if my package has come yet. We will be there tomorrow so if it has arrived, I will have it tomorrow. Yay!

Thursday we went to a famous alley in St. Petersburg that they called the Den of Thieves and now is a famous souvenier shop. Everyone there just attacks the people that come in and tries to sell you something... Very funny actually. They speak broken English, but they don't give up... If they find out you speak Russian, they try even harder. We also stopped by St. Isaac's Cathedral, but the line was too big to get in so we just took some pictures outside. Friday we had a breakfast with all the zone leaders at President Nuenschwander's to talk about some leadership training and some other things that he felt were happening in the mission. He first talked about the principle of delication, and gave the examples of Moses and Jethro. It was good. He and his wife are very nice and friendly and approachable and love the missionaries!

 We had a split with the AP's, and I was with Elder Bervan. It was good to be able to serve with him again! We met with an investigator and talked about prayer. He has some interesting views about prayer... It kind of sounds like he thinks they are like spells or something, but after he understood and it was an okay meeting. We met up at a baptism down in Center Zone to switch back companions on Saturday. We expected an investigator to come to the baptism, but she didn't make it. I love seeing baptisms... The only people that I have really taught that have been baptized are Igor, Ana and Yarislav, all from Vyborg... No wonder I love Vyborg so much! We met again with Vova, but only for a little bit, because we both didn't have much time and talked about how Heavenly Father is literally our spiritual Heavenly Father. Then we had a meeting with an active family, the Lukiyanovs, and got some ideas from them as how we can work better with the members after we had a spiritual thought about unity with them.

Sunday we had a conference with all the Zone, District Leaders and Branch Presidents her in the St. Petersburg district and discussed the Goals we have so we can all be working together on the same page, not as if the missionaries do one thing and the branches do another. President Nuenschwander really helped us understand the importance of working together, even if he was here for a short time. He was a mission president before and he knew what he was doing. Monday I was on a spit in Sesteretsk with Elder Nelson. We met with a less active family and also did a lot of service for them. Cut lots of wood for them... I shoud be a logger now because I'm an expert at chopping wood. Ha ha.

The next day the other Elders came down and we switch back after doing a little more service for them. Elder Anthony and I didn't have an umbrella when we left and it was pouring rain. We were lucky to catch our bus quickly or we would have been soaked. We met with a less active member who just moved here from Armenia. He was super happy to see us! He said he came to Russia a while ago, but did not  know where the church was or who to ask and fell away from the chruch since he did not have contact with them. He really wants to return and repent and he really wants to help us with our Armenian investigators.

Yesterday was the usual Wednesday service at the Hermitage, but that is a good thing. I really like doing service there. So many people from so many countries! Later we had a good meeting with Vova, probably the best one yet. He was really focused and interested. It was a meeting about how we find answers to problems by studying the scriptures, and we applied the scriptures to his personal situation.

Today again we are in the Hermitage. I have never seen past the entrance at service, so we are going to look around with everyone in our district. ~ Elders Nelson, Way, Anthony and me with Sisters Lane and Parker. Tomorrow we have interviews with the new mission president, President Clark!  He will be my 3rd mission president, and only 2 weeks ago I only  had one... ha ha. Not many people can say that. We all wanted President Nuenschwander to stay, but we are sure that President Clark will be great too!

Well that's about it for me this week. I'm really glad to be on my mission!! I can't believe how fast the time has gone, even if it does seems like I have a long time left, because it just keeps getting faster and faster and i will be home before you know it!


  I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. The happiness that the Gospel brings can't be replaced with anything in the world. I will always be grateful what the Lord has done for me and I hope that everyone can understand what He has done for them.

Yikes. Gotta Run.

Love you all. Be of Good Cheer. Keep Smiling!

Love,

Blake

Interim Mission Pres. Arrived ~ President Dennis B. Nuenschwander

Hello! Another week has come and gone... Just keep getting faster and faster...

This week I've been reading from Articles of Faith by James Talmage, Isaiah 36-42, Mormon 6- Ether 3, D and C 50- 56. Lots of reading. Isaiah talks very differently than we do but if I ponder things I found, I learn more than I would think. The biggest lesson I learned from Isaiah was the story of Hezekiah. He was going to die, but prayed tot he Lord and received an extension on his life. Some blessings only come when we ask the Lord for them. Mormon and Moroni testified of Christ to the Lamanites, and they told them that the Book of Mormon will come to them through the Gentiles. Moroni said that if we ask in the name of Christ, listening to the Holy Ghost, we'll receive whatever we ask for. And Jared and his brother in the Book Of Ether cried to the Lord and were not confounded. They also learned how they were to build the ships that they needed. When the brother of Jared didn't pray to the Lord for 4 years, he was chastised for 3 hours by the Lord from a cloud. From my study, you can definitely see the importance of prayer in our lives!

Last Thursday we did not have any meetings after P-day, as the metro closed and so we called the member, saying we were going to be late, and he said that he couldn't wait and so we just ended up contacting.

Friday we met with some members. The first is Anatoliy who is blind and hasn't left his house for 8 years. Really nice guy who still has a strong testimony, but doesn't know how to get to church due to his vision and sicknesses. The other is Raisa, who just started to come back to church as we help her every week. She is in a wheelchair, so she can't come herself. We are trying to find a way to take both Raisa and Anatoliy... We will have to work with the members better. The last is McCartney, an African from Namibia. He is going home this week, so we just wanted to support him and tell him we are here to help any way we can.

Saturday we had our interviews with President Nuenschwander and then I conducted the baptism for Zhana, a girl the sisters found and baptized. We had an investigator come to her baptism and we had a meeting with him afterwards and did the first lesson. He is really nice and already thinks our church is true, but he doesn't have a testimony about prayer or Joseph Smith Yet. The McArthurs were there and even though they didn't understand everything, they said that they could feel that he has a good spirit about him.

Sunday was a day help Raisa to church, and doing weekly planning

Monday we had a good conference from President Nuenschwander, his wife and the branch presidents. (By the way, yes, he is from Centerville/Bountiful. He lives in the same condos that the Salmonds lived in! I had an interview with him, and as I was leaving he said, "It's good to serve with a neighbor I never knew."  I learned a lot about the Atonement and Unity. He also just went over who he was and got to know us better. He took away all the rules that we had with President Podvodov, almost 60 of them, saying, " You guys have the scriptures, the White Handbook, and PMG. Also, you have brains! What more do you need? If you want to serve the Lord, you'll do it. If you don't, adding more rules isn't going to help." Let's just say we are really appreciative of that... and it was kind of ironic that he got rid of all those rules on the 4th of July. ha ha. I can email Cody now! That night we met with our branch president and discussed what we can do to work better together, and we will continue with branch council.

Tuesday I had a visa trip so I was in Estonia all day. It was cool though because we saw the Elders serving in Estonia and actually attended there District Meeting. (They invited us) We also took lots of cool pictures at a castle near the border of Russia and Estonia. I'll have to try to send you some. Maybe the Senior couple in our district, the McArthurs' can do that for me?

And yesterday we did service at the Hermitage and met with McCartney one last time before he leaves. We also met with Anatoliy Myakishev, a less active member who is a great potential Melchizedek Priesthood holder. He loves the missionaries, but feels like he already knows everything at church and doesn't want to come. He is afraid of commitment, I think.

Sorry to hear that your 4th was kind of not so good ... But next year WE will be there for the 4th!! Thanks for the pics of Cole! He does look like Al! ha ha. Made me miss fishing. Also the pic of Nate. He had a BAPTISM! That is fantastic!

Well I don't have much time left, and want to write Code-man. Yay!

Love you all! Be of Good Cheer. As Grandpa C. said-Keep smiling!!

Love, Blake.

Travel, Meetings and Good-Bye's to Podvodov's and Luna's.

Already a week of the transfer is over... This is going to be a fast transfer!

Things are going pretty good for Elder Anthony and I. This last week we had a lot of meetings and we also had a lot of traveling around. Thursday night we met with McCartney, my Namibian friend. He wanted us to come over and give him a blessing. Elder Anthony annointed and I gave the blessing. It was kind of weird to do it in English... All the words that would come to my head when I was giving the blessing were in Russian... He called us the next day after his analysis and said that everything is okay, and thanks for the blessing. McCartney just graduated from a international medical school and he will be going back home soon. Happy for him to go back to his family, but sad that he won't be in our area anymore. Great guy.

Friday: We met with a less active named Anatoli who is blind and hasn't left his house in years... He loves the missionaries, but we had no idea who he was until we were searching the area books and found him. We are hoping that we can find a wheelchair to take him out of his house for his birthday. We also stopped by the house of our investigator, Valeri, and we met his family there, his daughter and his wife. He didn't have time to meet with us, but wanted us to come in and pray with him. He is a really funny guy, very energetic. We think he might be trying to set one of us up with his daughter though, so....yeah. Yikes. Ha ha.

Saturday: We met with our investigator, Galina, who belongs to a religion that is a lot like Hindu and other Indian religions. She is very religious, but she doesn't have much of a Christian background and it seems like she is trying to convert us more than listen to our message. She said she wants to hear our thoughts and she wants to read the Book of Mormon, so we are slowly teaching her, one step at a time. She just has very different understandings of God, so it takes a long time to talk to her. Very nice lady though!!!!

Sunday: We helped Sister Raisa come to church, and the Podvodovs and the Lunas spoke, kind of a farewell from the mission if you might say.  They were really good talks. I was impressed with Sister Luna's testimony in Russian. She did a good job! After we took Sister Raisa back home, we had a meeting with our JW friends, and after that meeting, we decided that we are not going to meet with them anymore.  Something changed during this meeting, and they pretty much were attacking us and the Book of Mormon.  They didn't want to try to read the Book of Mormon, and they pulled out a bunch of anti-Mormon pages and began to read them to us. They had taken verses from the Book of Mormon and read them out of context so they sounded like it was made up. Even though these guys prepared this whole thing, and they have a mastery of the Russian language over me and Elder Anthony, we somehow were able to show them that these papers that their Church had printed about us were false and construed, and we testified that the only way that one can know if the Book of Mormon is true is by reading the Book of Mormon, not reading some paper that someone wrote about the Book of Mormon. They wouldn't even touch it, they acted like they would burst in flames if they did. Would not even try to consider it. They said they only read the Bible, but couldn't give a reason why the Bible should be the only book of scripture.  I respect others rights to worship how they want, but you can't tell me that it isn't true if you haven't studied it and prayed about it and received that answer from God. I can honestly say that I tried to listen to them and see what they said is true, but I cannot deny the testimony that I have gained through the knowledge that our Heavenly Father has given us through the Book of Mormon. One saint in the days of Joseph Smith said,"Satan could not have written this book (The Book of Mormon). It surely is from God."

Monday we had a special family night to say good-bye to President, but Elder Anthony and I could only stay for about 5 minutes, as we had to get to another appointment that we had scheduled with a family two weeks ago. It was weird to think that that was the last time that I will see President and Sister Podvodov and also the Luna's on the mission... But we'll see each other again!  We had a good meeting with this family that invited us over for Family Night, were the husband invited his non-member friends. She just had a normal family night with them, with a lesson from Brother Pyecheski's son, but we got to know his friends really well, and they want to meet with us! They even invited us to come on a trip with them. Ha ha. I felt the difference it makes when members get involved and help the missionaries with the work. It works SO much better.

Tuesday and Wednesday we were on a split in Vyborg with Elders Balabonov and Tekulve. I was with Balabonov and we got to meet with Igor, my friend who just got baptized, and we saw Sister Balkova on the street, after we went to the branch family night. I love Vyborg!!! I feel like if I moved back to Russia for some reason and had to live somewhere, I could live in Vyborg and everyone would already know me. The branch remembers who you are and genuinely loves you.  Tuesday we came back and had enough time to meet with Vova, who had lots of questions about prayer. He is nice and wanted us to pray so a girl would fall in love with him. Ha ha. We had a lesson about prayer, about Heavenly Father's love, and about free agency.

I did wish Dad a Happy Father's Day, but it was in a letter and seems to have not gotten to you yet, so Happy Father's Day (BELATED) I hope my letters are getting to you? I still haven't had a chance to send off that letter that was sent back to me, Mom. Sorry! As soon as I can, I will.

Yeah... It' weird that my family hangs out with my friends... But it is a good weird. Hope that the concert was good, Lee!!! Tell Kallie that if I had time, I would write her a million and one letters. But Heavenly Father has a different message for me to bring to other brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews, so I will just tell her lots of stories when I get home, and I will write her a letter especially for her soon. Tell Cody that I'm not ignoring his emails, but my mission president wants us to only email parents... Don't know why that rule came out? Sorry, Codes. Miss you!

ARGH! Just not enough time to write... I've got lots more to say, but I've got to run! Love you all a ton! Thanks to everyone back home for the love, the examples, the prayers, the good memories, and most of all, for sharing the Gospel with me in my life. That's the number one important thing, and if we apply the Gospel in our lives, we will be happy and feel the love of God, no matter who we are or were we live. The Gospel in and of itself is the Love of God.

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

Blake

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.