March 12, 2017*

Dear Family and Friends, 

What a great week!  We were really busy all week, but that's exactly what we are trying to do :). We had the opportunities to meet with a couple of members which was really fun, and get to know them a little better, and help them set plans for inviting others to learn more.  We also had MLC this week, which is just when different leaders in the mission gather together and discuss the affairs of the mission, what we can work on, and how we can improve things.  That's a once every 6 week meeting.  We had 2 wonderful lessons that really stick out to me in my mind.  One was with with Tamara, she's 18 and is from a different city, but her good family friend who is a member is also from that same city and we've started meeting with her and teaching her.  It's really cool to see what strikes a cord with different people, and for her the Plan of Salvation was something that she really perked up about.  She had lots of good questions, and we are excited to talk about it more with her.  Her progress has been slow, but she's very naturally in tune with things of a spiritual nature and willing to talk about them.  We are excited to see how she will open up some more.  I love being able to ask people to read and pray about it for themselves, and that the questions that she has can truly be answered through study and prayer.  

We also had one of the coolest experiences of my mission. I had a split with Elder Hallstrom this last week.  We had 2 lessons fall through for the my split with Elder Hallstrom during MLC, and we were not really sure what we would do, but the Lord gave us what we needed to do as we prayed humbly, and sought for what he needed to happen. We then got to see one of the biggest miracles of my mission with Edward. For the last month and a half he has not opened the door to us. We knocked and he told us to leave, so we prayed, and Elder Hallstrom and I both the need to stay. He is a drunk who is only capable of not drinking when he doesn't have anymore money to buy alcohol, and he was baptized about 20 years ago.  We felt the need to not leave even though he told us several times to do so, and the need to sing. So we sang outside his door to him and a miracle happened. I really got to see how, as one of the first Presidents of the Church Lorenzo Snow said, "There is no mortal man that is so much interested in the success of an elder when he is preaching the gospel as the Lord that sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord’s children”. 

We also got to go to Pskov this weekend, and I think that there might be more churches in Pskov than in Provo, Utah.  There are so many, and it's truly a beautiful city.  I would love to show the family that city some day :).  The church is very small there, but it was a great sacrament meeting.  I got to speak and I talked about a couple of verses in D&C 93:36-37 "The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth. Light and truth forsake that evil one." In my talk I really talked about how we come to church and read the scriptures not для галочки (for the check mark, can you say that?), but to learn and grow, and understand why what God wants for us is better than what the people in the world might be encouraging us to do.  I know that I receive so much joy and peace in my life being here and serving people, teaching the Gospel.  I love Russia, Russian, and everything to do with it.  I love you all so very much!  

Love, 

Elder Belnap

March 5, 2017*

This week has been a fun one!  We had transfers on Wednesday and I got my new companion Elder DeVol.  His mom is Ukrainian and his Grandpa is Armenian.  Sorry, that's just how he introduces himself to everyone, so I feel like that's the best way to introduce him.  He's really a good Elder, and I'm excited to work with him.  It's really funny, Elder DeVol just served with my trainee Elder Tribe, and when we all changed companions, Elder Tribe just came up and said "Look!  I just train assistants ok!  Elder Coleman, you're next!" 

Well, we had a fair amount of things to get done after that, but we have been able to get to work since then, and we have set plans for who we want to meet and when for this coming week.  We will be in Pskov on both Saturday and Sunday, so that will be exciting.  These last couple of days we have tried to meet with some of members in our ward, just so that both Elder DeVol and I can get to know them better.  We also had Stake Conference this last weekend which was so exciting, everyone gathered together.  There are so many cool, young families in our stake, and our investigator Tamara was so interested by the fact that there are so many young people here who believe all of this, she really enjoyed it.  

This week I studied a bit about the divinity of Christ, and his divine Sonship.  We had a conversation with a man that left me with not the best taste in my mouth.  Anyway, the man was going off about how he believes the scriptures, but does not believe that Christ is the Son of God.  I decided to go through the scriptures and see where someone testifies of Christ's relationship to God, including the testimony of Christ himself.  I really enjoyed the verses in Mark 14:61-62 which read: 61 But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?

62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

I love those verses, and to me, reading them my testimony of Christ being the Son of God was strengthened.  I do not understand everything, but I know that the scriptures are true and that my faith in Christ helps me on a daily basis.  I love the words of Nephi when he said: 10 And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.

 11 And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness.

I know that the scriptures are true because I have prayed about them and studied them trying to understand whether or not they are true.  I love reading them and the comfort and knowledge that I am able to attain from reading them, they truly are the words inspired of God through chosen prophets, and more valuable than any other reading material on this Earth.  

I love you all so very much!  

Have a great week!  Pictures as promised!

The one of me looking good and then me making a fat face was on the 6 hour drive to Petrozavodsk, my companion and I decided that all of those lose weight fast ads are just the same person, but in one picture they're trying their best to look good, and in the other they are trying their best to look terrible.  I think I did pretty good one both ends :).  The others are pictures on the lake in Petro, and of the ice sculptures down there.  

February 26, 2017*

Wow, what a fun week.  We have been with President more than usual this week, because it was the week of...transfer calls!  If that makes no sense, the low down is this, every 6 weeks, volunteers can either stay in a city/area, or leave a city/area.  Our mission president is inspired as to where people need to go in order to develop their skills and abilities better, and continue to grow.  So, we got to call people about that this week, and make the final decisions about where people will go.  That was a really cool experience, just seeing how President Childs prays to know where people need to go in order to grow, be happy and serve at maximum effectiveness.  

We also went to the most northern city in our mission this week (well, most northern where there are volunteers), and that was a blast, I'll have to send pictures as soon as I get them sent to me.  It is a beautiful city, and from there you can take a 3 hour boat ride to see Kizhi.  So, if dad really wants to see that place, there's about a day of travel involved to get there.  

This letter is going to be relatively short, because honestly, I am under the weather, and very tired, but I had a really cool experience up in Петрозаводск.  First off, little fun fact.  Петрозаводск was called that because it was a factory (завод) and it was Peter the Great's (Петр) and it was one of the richest sources for iron to be found in Russia.  The location of the city is right on the lake, and through several smaller rivers, a boat can travel directly to St. Petersburg.  I really enjoy being around President Childs, because he knows all these things.  It is like being around dad, but now I have grown up a little bit and I am actually interested in learning all of these things!  I promise dad, we will have some more interesting travels when the opportunity presents itself in the future.  

Anyway, up there we got to meet some of the church members, and it was really fun.  There was one 14 year old girl, who was really nice, the sister volunteers in Petro have been working with her, trying to support her.  Anyway, we got to play a couple of games with her and some other people on Saturday, and then on Sunday we saw her again.  The difference was Sunday she was rather subdued.  It turns out that her grandma had passed away that morning. She burst into tears, and I felt like I should show her the pictures of my grandma who had recently passed away. I was able to show her the pictures of grandma goff, and tell her that I also lost a beloved family member recently.  I was able to testify to her of the plan of salvation, and help her find comfort that she will see her grandma again, if she will obey the commandments and live as God has taught us to live through his prophets.  She was comforted, and I was struck that God knows his children so very well, he knows the intimate experiences of our lives, and he places us where we are needed, when we are needed, to help others, and to lift them up.  

I love serving a mission, each day is a new opportunity to do some good in the world, and help people that are in need.  

I love you all very much, have a great week!  I promise pictures will come next week!

Love, 

Elder Belnap

February 19, 2017*

This week flew by and it will be a very short email.  

So the Childs have been in Turkey for the last week, which means we have been able to do normal volunteer work for a week!  It has been really fun and we have really enjoyed going on exchanges with other volunteers in order to facilitate training and find out what things can be worked on in the mission.  We also had 2 meetings with people whom I met on transport, which was really cool!  As the church has become more familiar with how the law is interpreted in court here in Russia, we have been a little more free to talk to people and meet with those that are interested.  

The meetings went really well with those people, and it was so cool to met a young 19 year old (I at first wrote 189 year old...whoops) who just had one question that was eating at him.  It was "What is my purpose in life?"  It was so incredible for me to see that, this 19 year old kid, who was so sincere, was asking one of the questions that we know the Gospel answers.  When we shared Alma 34:32 with him, he thought about it for a while, and said "That is a far more simple answer than I was expecting, but I guess that truth should be simple."  I am very excited to work with this young man.  I know that the Gospel answers our questions and helps us find answers to some of the deepest questions that we might have, I know this because I have found those answers to mine.  

This email doesn't do justice to everything that happened, but I am honestly pulling a blank.  This coming week is transfers which will be really exciting and this weekend we are going to Petrozavodsk which is the northernmost city where there are volunteers currently.  One day I will make it to Murmansk :).

We also went on a tour of the city this week with a member and an investigator and a couple of other people, which was really, really cool.  I'll send pictures next week when I get them from the person who had the camera :).  This city is full of such a rich history, and learning about it more has really increased my love for the people.  

I love you all, have a great week!

Elder Belnap

February 12, 2017

Well, here I am again, behind the computer, writing family and friends.  The days are still long and distinct, but I never had the understanding before my mission that weeks can go by faster than the days.  It honestly is a little too much for me to wrap my mind around.  

Anyway, week 1 for the millionth time is an appropriate title, because every week is entirely and completely it's own.  I always feel like I'm starting anew because there are so many things that I learn each and every week, and situations that we get ourselves into that aren't bad, but just different from anything I've before experienced.  For example, I'm in the ward young men's presidency, and so we work with the young men.  Young people talk very differently from old people aka they use so much slang.  So I've been working on my understanding them, and I've learned a lot about how youth speak/how I don't want to speak Russian.  It's really fun, and I just love falling into places that I've never been before because you learn so much that way.  My favorite word of the week that I learned was спеться which means "to click/to hit it off" but it literally means "to sing well together".  Anyway, it's been really fun being here as an assistant, because we get thrown into different situations a lot.  For example, being at the cemetery carrying a basket of flowers and listening to a loudspeaker recite the story of what happened here was far different from anything I've ever come across.

In terms of the work things are going great!  We had a kid randomly show up to church last week, and we still don't know how he found the church, he's not a member and is originally from Germany.  He's just studying here for a couple of years.  Anyway, he's 17 and has really hit it off with the other youth, came to church this last Sunday in a suit and tie, and we're excited to start working with him.  The other youth in the ward have really taken him under their wing, and have been inviting him to events.  It's been really cool to see them step up in a big way.  

We've also been working with one member named Erik, who's Russian but his roots are from somewhere else.  Anyway, he came to church on Sunday after we had a really powerful and good meeting with him at the Childs on Tuesday.  (Side note: the Childs take very good care of us, we were in the car the other day, and we had to all run from one meeting to the car to make it to a district meeting in a nearby city, and Sister Childs had thought ahead and realized we'd have no time for lunch, so she packed lunch ahead of time, it's like I'm in elementary school again and mom is packing me lunches, haha). He's really funny and speaks great English, so we just ask him any questions that he has, and he does the same for us.  Working with him though has shown me just how addictive being on your phone can be.  He's literally, ALWAYS on it, on Sunday I told him that it's like I have to be his parole officer and check up every few seconds if he's on his scriptures app or instagram.  He liked learning the word parole officer, and more often than not he was on instagram haha.  Anyway, I confess again mom, that you were right regarding phones being things that suck you in.  That doesn't mean I'm going to go Amish, but I'll be more aware of it ;) (for everyone that doesn't understand that, growing up we always teased mom that she just wanted to go Amish and completely unplug all the devices).  We've been working with several people, but those are the names that come to mind right now.   

I also got the package!  УРА!  Again, long story that I'm not going to get into.  But, we taught a lesson to our now investigator taxi driver on the way which was классно (cool)!  I put the dictaphone to good use and recorded the talk I gave on Sunday.  

I'll just wrap up with a couple of the thoughts I shared yesterday during my talk.  I was asked to chose my own topic and after thinking about it for a while, I decided that I just needed to read something, and I read a talk by Elder Boyd K. Packer entitled, "The Unwritten Order of Things".  At the end of the talk he shares a part of D&C 84:85 where it says "treasure up in your minds continually the words of life".  I read that and felt that that was what I should speak on.  I love that idea of treasuring up in our mind.  It reminds me of what Christ said, when he said: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  When we really do all we can to not just read words on a page, but truly study the scriptures, our heart starts to change and we start to become people that are less focused on the hustle and bustle of this world, but more focused on what God would have us do, and I know that he would have us do only that, which will bring ourselves and other people benefit.  

I love you all so much, and I hope you have a great week!

Love, 

Elder Belnap

Pics from my favorite place to eat out in Novgorod

February 5, 2017*

This week was highlighted by Zone Conferences.  3 days of 6 hour conferences was long, I can only imagine what it's like to be Dad now, at one point on the 2nd day I was getting so tired (we had to translate for the Бабсковы) that I stood up and I клевал носом (nodding off, lit. pecking by means of my nose).  I guess some things will never change.  Anyway, the conferences were really good, a lot of good participation and thoughts shared.  We have a really good mission, and we had some changes in missionary procedure this last week, and so we had to spend a lot of time this week just implementing those changes and spending time on the computer typing up new documents.  It's fun to see the more administrative side of missionary work, but I can't tell you how glad I am that this week we just have meetings lined up and the only things that are extra this week are our staff meeting, our meeting with President, and a little 30 minute meeting with геннадий, one of the office workers in charge of visa trips, and hopefully it'll be short because we have no visa trips this week.  Anyway, we have a lot of meetings set up and we're just really excited to get things moving forward.  

We also had our second to last visa trip this week, and that was really fun, we were able to see a lot of how we had changed, we talked about goals for the next few months as well as goals that we want to set for after our missions in order to really stay strong.  We used to spend all our time just talking on these trips, and we did a fair amount of that, but we also had a scripture study together.  It was just really fun to hear their thoughts, listen to what helps them, and thereby we all helped one another grow and become better.  

I've been talking with my companion and thinking about revelation this week.  I love the verses in 2 Nephi 28:30 and D&C 59:4.  They talk about receiving line upon line and precept upon precept, as well as receiving our own personal revelation.  Elder Jensen and I were talking a lot about this, because over these last several months we have learned A LOT.  And we still have a lot to learn, but every time we see something that isn't quite right, our first impulse is to correct it, because we've learned it.  The trick is also realizing that other people have to learn line upon line and precept upon precept.  All in all, it's really strengthened our testimonies that God is loving, and oh so patient in relationship to us.  He wants the best for us, but he'll give us as we're ready, line upon line.  

I love you all so much!  Also look at me on the Russian Mormon Newsroom!  #IMadeItBig http://www.mormonnews.ru/article/%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%8B-%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%87%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BC%D1%8F%D1%82%D1%8C-%D0%B6%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%82%D0%B2-%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B4%D1%8B-%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B0

Have a great week!

Love, 

Elder Belnap

January 29, 2017*

I'm sorry that I'm giving you such a title, but that I don't have pictures for you, just as a forewarning, I might have them next week as I gather some from other people. I was really touched mom by what you wrote about Grandma and the days leading to her passing, as well as the days following.  I'm glad that things seemed to go very smoothly, and that it was a very spiritual and family filled moment.  I miss her very much, as I'm sure you do, but I'm glad that her passing went well.  

In other news, this week absolutely flew by.  It was so much fun, and so busy.  On Monday we met with an American guy who has lived in Russia since about 6 months before the fall of the Soviet Union, and that was really fun.  He's a good man, who served a mission and has a strong testimony, but has stopped doing some of the basics.  He invited his friend over to participate in one a discussion, and it went really well.  We also got to give a very spirit filled blessing to Scott's (the American) mom, who is a wonderful lady who has stage 4 kidney failure and said she's somehow just plugging along.  She reminded me a lot of Grandma about 7 years ago or so, or whenever she had recovered from her first stroke, but before the second one.  

We also got to represent the church with stake leaders and President and Sister Childs this week at a memorial for the end of the Siege of Ленинград which was a very special experience.  We got to learn more about just the suffering these people experienced during 3 years of being completely shut off by the Nazis.  There was one way that they were able to get supplies, but it was very limited and it was done by driving trucks across in the dead of winter when the lakes had frozen over into a part of Finland not under Nazi control in order to get supplies.  The truck drivers would drive with the truck doors open just so that if the ice started to crack, they could jump on out and have a chance of surviving.  We carried a big bouquet of flowers through the cemetery, and there were all these huge mass graves from the time, and it was just sorted out by year.  It was a very touching experience.  

I also got to go back to Новгород this weekend!  We went with President Childs, and I absolutely love that city and being around the Childs.  Just getting to ask them questions and hear about their experiences.  I asked a question on the ride down about really pondering the scriptures and how they've tried to really think about things deeply and check for their own understanding, and really think about what they're reading, because sometimes I feel that I'm just surface level thinking about things.  Anyway, President Childs told us about a time where he really wanted to understand Isaiah better, and so he would write a 5 sentence synopsis of every chapter, and what it was actually about, and he said he had to do a lot of thinking in order to put it in his own words and have it really make sense, as well as a lot of background study.  It also just worked out that the family from the little city a few hours away was up visiting for that weekend, and so I got to see the 10 kids, as well as translate, say hello to денис for whose baptism I was serving in новгород.  It just reminded me how hard it will be to say goodbye, I love the people here in Russia, and don't ever want to say goodbye.  That's why I like the Russian saying, "Мы не будем прощаться, мы скажем до свидания."  It means "We won't say farewell, we'll say until we meet."  Anyway, it was such a tender mercy, and oh so fun.  I got to meet with my investigator саша who's doing really well, and translate for President Child's talk, everyone was shocked at my Russian speaking now, I guess that's what happens when you serve in a place for your second area and you come back almost 8 months later.  

Anyway, I love you all, sorry that it was a bit of a travelogue this week.  To wrap things up I'll send you a verse that I really liked from my scripture study.  It's Matthew 10:42 and it reads:

And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

I was thinking about that verse a lot, and for me it meant that whosoever will serve those in the name of Christ, not for his own lot or sake, will in no wise lose the reward of eternal life.  I know that as we try to mourn with those that mourn, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, that we are blessed and happy, knowing that we are doing the will of God.  I've experienced that feeling many a time, and it always brings me great peace.  I love you all so very much!

Have a great week!

Elder Belnap