Working hard!

Hello! Things are going well with me and Elder Loskutov! He says my Russian got way better in 2 transfers, and so did his English, so we don't really have problems understanding each other at all now! Ha ha. 

I know that Elder Andersen extended his mission. He's trying to get me to, but I already told him that I probably won't... To be honest, this morning I was thinking maybe about taking the early date... I'm just getting kind of tired again. I'm happy! Probably the happiest I have been on my mission... But I'm tired. Ha ha. At least I know I'm working hard then, right? 
 Still haven't had a chance to buy shoes. We had a busy week with a Zone Leader Council with President, and also a split with Elder Nelson and Elder John Sherman (a new missionary) and we tried to get a lot of meeting and help as many people as possible during the split. I was with Elder Sherman. He's a quiet guy, but he is really nice and he is tall like me,  about my height. Big kid. People look up to both of us... ha ha.

 Had fun helping Grisha at his Dacha. Afterwards he made us shashliki. Yum! Made me miss BBQ's at home. We already ate all the candy and granola bars you sent between me, Elders Anthony, Loskutov, Nelson, Way, and Tekulve. Made Enchiladas during the split and had a triple "What About Bob" moment from all Elders there. Ha ha! It was great. Today for P-day we are going to play soccer and help Elder Tekulve and his new comp elder Pace buy some Russian bibles since they don't know the city. We have to go to Vyborg next Tuesday for a Baptismal interview, so I'm excited about that. We'll do our split there, and I love Vyborg! Wish I could serve there again.

Can you send me my Priesthood line of Authority? It would be much appreciated.

We are slowly making progress with Erjo, our many investigator. He doesn't trust people very much ,and said he doesn't even trust God, but he now is praying and reading the Bible on his own. :) This week we went to many less active members houses and hlep them know that we haven't forgotten about them and that we want them to come back to church to learn about God more and help them. Right now I am studying planning and also the book of Jeremiah. That book is a classic example of how prophets MANY TIMES give us warning about what is to come and chances to repent, but people reject them and receive the consequences of their actions.

I sent your letter off today, along with a small one for KB that I  wrote a while ago. Sorry... It was a long time. I love you and miss you all! Gotta run. God lives! He loves us all. He is leading his church on the earth through is Prophets! Anyone who wants to know this for themselves can do what Christ said, and apply the teachings in their own life, and they will find out if they are from God.

Be of Good Cheer. Keep Smiling!

Love,

Blake

White Nights are still here, but fall is coming to St Petersburg.

Well, I'm still in Shoovolovo, yes with Elder Loskutov. I liked to serve with him as he is a really good companion. I just didn't like that last area as much as others. People just were so rude there... I'm excited to be serving with Elder Loskutov in Shoovolovo! He is a hard worker and really happy, plus he speaks Russian perfectly. :) That's always a plus when serving with a Russian companion.

 I did put holes in my shoes, yes.  No, I still have the other pair that I didn't wear quite as much that will last me...maybe, since in the winter we usually just were our big boots anyway. Yes, I can also buy those cushions for the new shoes. Thank you for the help! I appreciate it!

Elder Anthony went to go train in Petergof with a new Elder Pierce. He seems like a really nice guy. Will miss Elder Anthony though. He is a good friend! I would like to go to Petergof soon and see that city in the summer. All the cool stuff was covered with snow when I was there.

White Nights are still here, but they are changing really fast, along with the weather. Last week it was pretty warm, but this week it has cooled down a lot already.  Elder Anthony and I noticed that a few trees are already changing colors. Fall might be coming early this year in St. Petersburg.

I have had a letter letter for K. B. for a couple weeks now, but still haven't had time to send it. I will today, along with the letter that was sent back to me. Sorry. I just keep forgetting to go to the post office...

Speaking of post offices, I received your package...finally! Thanks for the Easter candy and all the enchilada mixes. I think it is funny that you sent so many right as soon as I'm serving with Elder Loskutov again. Maybe there will be another "What about Bob" incident. Ha ha. And Cherry Craisins~ I think are some form of manna or something! They are a lot better tasting than I remember. Thanks a bunch! Really!

A Dacha is a little piece of land that people have outside of the city with maybe a little hut or small cottage on it, and a large garden where they grow lots of vegetables. We'll probably help Gregory with some weeding and he said that he'll make us "shashliki" (shishkabobs) MMMMMM!

Elder Shirbeana from Ukraine was the one who got punched last week, Mom. Elder Loskutov got punched multiple times last transfer, and an Elder from Oklahoma, Elder Brisolera got his finger kicked and broken a couple weeks ago. I got punched in the chest once in Pskov. Stuff like that happens a lot, but no one ever gets seriously hurt. The Lord protects His missionaries!

Thanks for everything that you guys do for me! I wouldn't be the same kind of person I am now without your examples and your support in my life. The Lord has a plan for who he wants us to be and sets us up in situations that we can learn the most in. If we make the right choices, we can learn and grow and become closer to Him. I want to just say thanks for being part of that environment were I could learn and grow and make correct choices. I love you all VERY MUCH!

Have fun and be safe!

Keep Smiling, Be of Good Cheer!
Love,
Blake

Love to see people wanting to follow the Lord.

Wow. It was a really busy week this week, but that is a good thing. It was really fun.

Last week for P-day we went bowling with Aleksander, a new convert, and Vova, one of the investigators here. It was really fun, as I love bowling, and it was funny to see both of them bowl a little bit because they both had only been once or twice. Aleksander was actually pretty good though. It was the last time I will probably see Vova on my mission, too as he moved to Rostov this week for school... It always seems that the good investigators leave or I have to leave their area... But the Lord has a plan for them and for me, and I know that, so everything will work out for the better.

Friday we were in Kaliningrad, and I was on a split with Elder Ul'yanov from Samara, Russia. He's a funny Elder... he's got a strong testimony and has really good people skills. Its also fun to serve with him because he knows a lot of Russian slang and he uses it, so it helps us better understand what people are saying to us on the street.


While in Kaliningrad, I did a baptismal interview for a girl who has been investigating for the last 3 months and really wants to be baptized. She never has drank or smoked or anything of the sort, and she lives a very righteous lifestyle. She said that she always felt that was the right way to live, and she is glad that she found the church, were there are others who have her same values. That's my favorite thing to see on my mission~ people wanting to follow the Lord! It was a very spiritual experience for me. 
Elder Ul'yanov had another interview that night, so the only thing that we did on our split were interviews and contacting, but that's a lot of success in and of itself.

Saturday we had an early flight home, but our flight was late and we got back to our apartment finally at 4 or so, so we didn't really have much time to find meetings.  While in the airport, we met a guy who needed help with Russian. He was a business man from Germany, and spoke perfect English. Really nice guy. So far everyone that I've met from Germany is really nice. When we got home,  We ended up doing service for one of the members in our branch. We helped to install some carpet in his house... I've noticed that a lot of the service I've done on my mission requires something for building a house...

Sunday we actually had a meal at someone's house!!! That rarely happens! It's only happened with me one other time on my mission that I can think of, especially because for a long time we had a no eating with anyone rule. We ate at the house of one of the councilors in the District Presidency, the Leostrins. Really fun family with 3 little kids and they know the Gospel really well. They are helping us any way they can. I felt very comfortable with them. 

Monday we had a split with Sesteretsk after district meeting and I was with Elder Way again. We met with some less actives that we've been meeting with and had some pretty good meetings. Oh and I have an accomplishment. I can say that I made up my own recipe for a cake! Orange Cake. :)

Tuesday we switched back to normal companions and jumped on a train to Petrozavodsk at night, so we arrived in Petro on Wednesday morning. I was on a split there with Elder Gillet, who is going home next week. That's weird... He was in my first district when I came to Russia! He is still working strong though, good missionary.  We had a meeting with an investigator and a family with a daughter preparing to go on a mission. That night, we had a train ride back to Petro so Elder Anthony and I left and got on a bus at about 10:30... Then we had one of the most shocking experiences ever. There were 2 girls on the bus who heard us speaking English, and lets just say that they tried to get us to do some bad stuff with them. Now we see why missionaries have a curfew! We had to be out at that time of night to catch our train, but now I know what they mean by "The Holy Ghost goes to bed at 10:30"  We just ignored them of course!

Today for P-day we are going back to The Hermitage with a bunch of Elders, so I'll be able to see a little more there... That place probably takes a week to see everything! So cool! I haven't gotten my package yet if it has come, because we haven't had any time to go into the office. Transfers are next week though, so I'll have to at least be there for Zone Training Meeting. I think that I'll stay, but Elder Anthony will have to leave and go train some new Elder. We have 8 new ones coming in. We now will get transfer calls Saturday, so I'll know in a couple days.

Thanks for the pictures of K.B. and My Millie girl! They made me a little trunky to be honest. BP sent me some pictures and he got really skinny! Holy cow. I'll send you the pictures.

Can't wait to see the back yard want I get home and tell dad that I'll be ready for the hunt with him! ha ha

Well, as usual, I ran out of time. I need to go.

Love ya and miss ya back home! Take care of yourselves!!

Love, Blake

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