Hey,
Thanks for the email. Sounds like its getting pretty cold up there. Its gotten alot colder here too. This past week it has cooled down alot. We have started seeing frost on the ground for the first time. Im sure its alot colder in Spokane though, but it still feels pretty cold here, especially when you are out in it all day. And I have been told the humidity makes it seem alot colder.
Anyway, we have had a really good week. Obviously the highlight of our week was on Sunday when we baptized Tequila and Mikila! Everything at the baptism went well. It was great. It was Sunday evening so everyone had a chance to go home and break their fast and then come back for the baptism. There were alot of people there which was great. The ward did a good job of supporting them. The talks were also good. They were short and too the point and the Spirit was strong as they spoke. And then we had the baptisms. I baptized Tequila and Elder Pierce baptized Mikila. That went good too, excpet for some reason the water had gotten cold. lol. It was warm when we finished filling the font up but that was about a half hour before the baptism started, so I guess by the time the actual baptism occured the water had cooled down. I was kind of shocked when I stepped in. I was glad we werent in it for too long. But other than that everything went well.
And then they were confirmed and welcomed into the ward. The Young womens president bought a bunch of little gifts for Tequila to welcome her into the Young womens. She bought her a journal and some other small stuff. Like one thing she bought her was a candle which she said was to remind her to always focus on the light of Christ. So it was good. And during church the bishop was able to meet with Tonya and talk to her about a calling. So the ward is doing a great job of fellowshipping them and integrating them into the ward. We are going to try and have a member invite them over for Family Home Evening this Monday to continue to "nourish them with the good word of God."
Our other investigators our doing well too. We had a lesson with James and we taught him the Plan of Salvation. He says he likes and agrees with everything about the church and that it all makes sense but he just doesnt have the spiritual confirmation yet. He told us he really wants to come to church and said he would try really hard to come this week. I think he will be there.
We also taught Marie this week and she still wants to get baptized. Marie is such a great lady. I think she has more faith than anyone I have ever met. She has dialysis three times a week, she can barely see and she can barely walk cause her legs hurt really bad, yet she still manages to come to church every week simply because she knows its true and she acknowledges the Spirit she has felt there. And at one point we found out she drinks tea so we decided to teach her the Word of Wisdom. And once we were done teaching it we asked her to live it and she said, "You know what, Im not supposed to drink tea anyway because of my health, and now that I know its a commandment I wont drink it anymore at all." :) I was impressed. Shes a great investigator to have. We are still aiming to have her baptized on Jan 2nd.
Well everything else is going good. We had interviews with our mission president yesterday. He is pleased with how the work is going. He asked me about a lot of things too, like my health, he asked how my family was doing, if I was happy. I told him everything was going great. He told me to cherish my time as a missionary even if times are hard or its cold. So I will try to do that.
Spencer, good job winning the PE player of the day award. Im sure you are getting really good at PE. Annette good job getting a spot for the concert on Monday. Good luck with it, I will be thinking about you on Monday. And James, good job getting rid of your ticket. lol Kyle, I hope you guys get to go to Oregon. Im sure I would want to go too if i was there. Hopefully you can convince everyone to go.
Well just over two weeks and we'll all be talking on the phone. Times gone by fast. Talk to you later.
Love Elder Larson
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Dec 2nd Letter
Hey,
This has been a good week. First of all on Wednesday evening after P-day ended we were able to set a date for Marie to be baptized. We had to push it back a little ways because she is going to be gone for the Holidays and also because we still have alot to teach her. So we set her date for Jan. 2nd. But that will be a good date because it will give her lots of time to make sure she understands everything and also to build her testimony. And I also think it is a good date because there is a high probability she will be able to keep it and we wont have to push it back any farther. So that will be good.
And then on Thursday we had our turkey bowl. It was lots of fun. I wished I had cleats because of all the mud and sliding around but it was still alot of fun. I got pretty dirty. They're were a few guys that had some good faceplants into the mud which made it pretty entertaining. And then for thanksgiving we had dinner with the Hill family and they were alot of fun as well. They had a pretty big family so there were alot of people there and we played Apples to Apples and another fun game called the Last Word. They were both really fun with alot of people and brought lots of laughter.
And then on Friday we had a good day as well. We taught Tonya's daughters-Taquila and Mikayla, and they both want to get baptized. We asked them if they wanted to and they said yes, and then we asked them if they if they knew of a good day and they said Sunday the 6th. So we have another baptism coming on Sunday! And yesterday we went over the baptismal program with them so they could pick all the speakers and all the other people who would have a part in it and Mikayla wants Elder Pierce to baptize her and Taquila wants me to baptize her so I am alao excited about that. It was pretty fun too they want the opening song to be Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and the closing song to be Joy to the World. Lol. So Sunday is going to be a very good day. Especially since it is fast Sunday, the Spirit is always strong on Fast Sundays.
And then we had a neat lesson on Saturday as well. We met this guy named Calvin Roberts. He was a media referral for a Bible. And so we took him the Bible and usually when we get media referrals we ask them what made want to order whatever item they ordered. So we asked him what made him want to order the Bible and he gave a good answer, he said he wanted to change himself and make things right with God. And so after talking with him for a little while we started to teach him the Restoration. And we just started on the first section which talks about God and who he is and thats what we were teaching him and we taught him about the Godhead. And now that I think about it I am not sure why we were talking about the Holy Ghost and the godhead that in-depthly on the first lesson but for whatever reason thats what we were talking about.
And when we taught him about the Holy Ghost he asked what does the Holy Ghost feel like. And so we read form Galatians 5 about the Holy Ghost and then we moved on with the lesson and taught all the way through Joseph Smith. We really covered alot with him now that I think about it. But at the end we asked him what how he felt about what we had taught him. And he thought about it for a moment and then he replied, I kind of feel the way that scripture says the Holy Ghost feels. :) So what a great answer, he is going to be baptized... I hope. We have a lesson with him tonight and we are going to watch the Restoration Video to help reinforce his knowledge of the Restoration and hopefully help him feel the Spirit again. He should be coming to church on Sunday too.
So thats what is going on in Virginia. We have alot of investigators with alot of potential. Last night we taught an investigator who probably knows more about the church than I do. His name is James Robinson. We called him Monday night to confirm our appointment for yesterday and he told us he had just got done reading the book of Abraham. Lol. And he had some questions about that. And obviously we didnt leave that for him to read but he loves studying religion and so he decided to read Abraham. So we talked about that a little yesterday and taught him the Plan of Salvation. And he is really nice too and is very open to learning, and not contentious at all. He loves missionaries. For some reason though he just doesnt want to come to church yet though but sooner or later he will come and then hopefully he will be able to gain a testimony.
Actually he sounds alot like the guy you talked about Dad who spoke in church. He is a very logical guy and thinks the church makes sense in every way he just doesnt have a testimony of it yet.
Well it sounds like you had a fun Thanksgiving break. So Kyle how did you become friends with Chad? Thats cool. I really liked Chad. You guys are both really smart.
Anyway, Spencer, Annette and everyone, I am excited to talk to you all in a few weeks. Christmas is coming up! I need to go home and eat the chocolate from my calendar. :) Well talk to later.
Love
Elder Larson
This has been a good week. First of all on Wednesday evening after P-day ended we were able to set a date for Marie to be baptized. We had to push it back a little ways because she is going to be gone for the Holidays and also because we still have alot to teach her. So we set her date for Jan. 2nd. But that will be a good date because it will give her lots of time to make sure she understands everything and also to build her testimony. And I also think it is a good date because there is a high probability she will be able to keep it and we wont have to push it back any farther. So that will be good.
And then on Thursday we had our turkey bowl. It was lots of fun. I wished I had cleats because of all the mud and sliding around but it was still alot of fun. I got pretty dirty. They're were a few guys that had some good faceplants into the mud which made it pretty entertaining. And then for thanksgiving we had dinner with the Hill family and they were alot of fun as well. They had a pretty big family so there were alot of people there and we played Apples to Apples and another fun game called the Last Word. They were both really fun with alot of people and brought lots of laughter.
And then on Friday we had a good day as well. We taught Tonya's daughters-Taquila and Mikayla, and they both want to get baptized. We asked them if they wanted to and they said yes, and then we asked them if they if they knew of a good day and they said Sunday the 6th. So we have another baptism coming on Sunday! And yesterday we went over the baptismal program with them so they could pick all the speakers and all the other people who would have a part in it and Mikayla wants Elder Pierce to baptize her and Taquila wants me to baptize her so I am alao excited about that. It was pretty fun too they want the opening song to be Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and the closing song to be Joy to the World. Lol. So Sunday is going to be a very good day. Especially since it is fast Sunday, the Spirit is always strong on Fast Sundays.
And then we had a neat lesson on Saturday as well. We met this guy named Calvin Roberts. He was a media referral for a Bible. And so we took him the Bible and usually when we get media referrals we ask them what made want to order whatever item they ordered. So we asked him what made him want to order the Bible and he gave a good answer, he said he wanted to change himself and make things right with God. And so after talking with him for a little while we started to teach him the Restoration. And we just started on the first section which talks about God and who he is and thats what we were teaching him and we taught him about the Godhead. And now that I think about it I am not sure why we were talking about the Holy Ghost and the godhead that in-depthly on the first lesson but for whatever reason thats what we were talking about.
And when we taught him about the Holy Ghost he asked what does the Holy Ghost feel like. And so we read form Galatians 5 about the Holy Ghost and then we moved on with the lesson and taught all the way through Joseph Smith. We really covered alot with him now that I think about it. But at the end we asked him what how he felt about what we had taught him. And he thought about it for a moment and then he replied, I kind of feel the way that scripture says the Holy Ghost feels. :) So what a great answer, he is going to be baptized... I hope. We have a lesson with him tonight and we are going to watch the Restoration Video to help reinforce his knowledge of the Restoration and hopefully help him feel the Spirit again. He should be coming to church on Sunday too.
So thats what is going on in Virginia. We have alot of investigators with alot of potential. Last night we taught an investigator who probably knows more about the church than I do. His name is James Robinson. We called him Monday night to confirm our appointment for yesterday and he told us he had just got done reading the book of Abraham. Lol. And he had some questions about that. And obviously we didnt leave that for him to read but he loves studying religion and so he decided to read Abraham. So we talked about that a little yesterday and taught him the Plan of Salvation. And he is really nice too and is very open to learning, and not contentious at all. He loves missionaries. For some reason though he just doesnt want to come to church yet though but sooner or later he will come and then hopefully he will be able to gain a testimony.
Actually he sounds alot like the guy you talked about Dad who spoke in church. He is a very logical guy and thinks the church makes sense in every way he just doesnt have a testimony of it yet.
Well it sounds like you had a fun Thanksgiving break. So Kyle how did you become friends with Chad? Thats cool. I really liked Chad. You guys are both really smart.
Anyway, Spencer, Annette and everyone, I am excited to talk to you all in a few weeks. Christmas is coming up! I need to go home and eat the chocolate from my calendar. :) Well talk to later.
Love
Elder Larson
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Nov 25th 2009 Letter
Hey,
This week has been a good week. We did have Tonya's baptism as we had planned. And it all went great. The talks were good, the bishop was there to welcome her to the ward, and the actual baptismal ordinance went well. I was a nervous because I also had to memorize the prayer. I think most baptismal fonts have the sheet down in the font for the person to look at but this one didnt. So I had to memorize it (and I pretty much already had it memorized cause I have heard many times before) but I was still a little nervous that I might mess us up on it or the actual baptism. And then they opened the curtains while we were in the water there were so many people looking down at you watching. So i was little nervous but it all went great. I said the prayer right and got her all the way under and then back up. And now she is confirmed member of the church! So thank you for your thoughts and prayers cause Im sure they helped.
Now we are going to work with her kids to help them be baptized. Once they saw their mom be baptized they both commented on how easy and simple it was. I think before they were a little scared because they had never seen a baptism before but they arent worried about it at all anymore. We are going over there tonite and we are gonig to try and set a date for them to be baptized. And we did have a baptism planned this weekend with Marie but we are going to have to move it back. We still have alot to teach her. So hers will be in December sometime.
So Mt Spokane made it to state in football? Who are their good players?
Is Austin on varsity? Thats really neat. I dont think they ever did well while I was there. Tomorrow though is our ward turkey bowl. I am really excited for it and so is elder Pierce. Our mission president says we can play football tomorrow morning as long as its not tackle. So we are definitely going! And our ward is full of medical and dental students so its lots of young guys who enjoy sports and are pretty competitive. I guess they are planning on having four teams and turning it into a tournament. And someone in the ward has actual flags to play flag football so thats what we will be playing. It should be alot of fun. And then we get the rest of day off tomorrow too. SO its like two pdays in a row with football and lots of food in the middle! We are going over to a family named the Hills for dinner. They have alot of family in town so there will be alot of games and fun and lots of food. Im excited. :)
It is starting to get a little colder here but I have a jacket and gloves so Im fine. I dont think I need anything, but Ill let you know if I do. Thanks
Thanks for Daniels email, I emailed him back. Im glad he is doing well.
Thanks alot for the package too. Elder Pierce told me a few times to make sure I tell you thanks for the calendar. He liked it, as did i. And I put the christmas tree and nativity up too. :)
Well my time is up. Have a good week. Talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
This week has been a good week. We did have Tonya's baptism as we had planned. And it all went great. The talks were good, the bishop was there to welcome her to the ward, and the actual baptismal ordinance went well. I was a nervous because I also had to memorize the prayer. I think most baptismal fonts have the sheet down in the font for the person to look at but this one didnt. So I had to memorize it (and I pretty much already had it memorized cause I have heard many times before) but I was still a little nervous that I might mess us up on it or the actual baptism. And then they opened the curtains while we were in the water there were so many people looking down at you watching. So i was little nervous but it all went great. I said the prayer right and got her all the way under and then back up. And now she is confirmed member of the church! So thank you for your thoughts and prayers cause Im sure they helped.
Now we are going to work with her kids to help them be baptized. Once they saw their mom be baptized they both commented on how easy and simple it was. I think before they were a little scared because they had never seen a baptism before but they arent worried about it at all anymore. We are going over there tonite and we are gonig to try and set a date for them to be baptized. And we did have a baptism planned this weekend with Marie but we are going to have to move it back. We still have alot to teach her. So hers will be in December sometime.
So Mt Spokane made it to state in football? Who are their good players?
Is Austin on varsity? Thats really neat. I dont think they ever did well while I was there. Tomorrow though is our ward turkey bowl. I am really excited for it and so is elder Pierce. Our mission president says we can play football tomorrow morning as long as its not tackle. So we are definitely going! And our ward is full of medical and dental students so its lots of young guys who enjoy sports and are pretty competitive. I guess they are planning on having four teams and turning it into a tournament. And someone in the ward has actual flags to play flag football so thats what we will be playing. It should be alot of fun. And then we get the rest of day off tomorrow too. SO its like two pdays in a row with football and lots of food in the middle! We are going over to a family named the Hills for dinner. They have alot of family in town so there will be alot of games and fun and lots of food. Im excited. :)
It is starting to get a little colder here but I have a jacket and gloves so Im fine. I dont think I need anything, but Ill let you know if I do. Thanks
Thanks for Daniels email, I emailed him back. Im glad he is doing well.
Thanks alot for the package too. Elder Pierce told me a few times to make sure I tell you thanks for the calendar. He liked it, as did i. And I put the christmas tree and nativity up too. :)
Well my time is up. Have a good week. Talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Nov18th Letter
Hey,
This week has been a good week. Our bishop has done a really good job of getting the ward into doing missionary work. Last wednesday he had a ward council meeting specifically on doing missionary work. And then this last sunday he had the speakers speak on missionary work again, just like we did last week. So I hope the ward rsponds by doing missionary work. The work is going really well for Elder Pierce and I though. We had transfers last night and we are both staying in Meadowbrook. Thats what I was hoping would happen, and thats what I was kind of thinking would happen. I think Elder Pierce and I work well together and the work is doing great so Im excited to stay and be apart of it. We have Tanya's baptism this Friday. We moved it to Friday instead of Saturday because the building is reserved for the Spanish ward on Saturday night. But we have the building reserved for Friday so it should happen then. We have taught her everything and she understands it and she passed her interview on Monday and so everything is ready for it to happen on Friday. And its pretty cool she wants me to baptize her and Elder Pierce to confirm her. Im excited to do it but I am nervous.
...I hope we can get the baptism right on the first try. Im a little nervous I wont get her all the way under. But im excited to do it and Im sure it will be fine. And her daughters decided that they want to wait to see their mom get baptized before they do it. I think they are a little shy about it. Which is fine, Im sure they will still get baptized soon. We still have alot to teach them because they are often busy with school when we go and teach Tonya. But we also have a baptism this next weekend with this lady named Marie Oke on November 28th. She has come to church like 5 of the past six weeks and she really likes it. She is very in tune with the Spirit. She says she can feel the spirit everytime she comes to church. And actually the way we found her is she saw a commercial for a Book of Mormon on TV and she just said she loved the way she felt when the commericial was being shown so she called for the Book of Mormon. So we delivered it to her and now she is going to be baptized soon! We still have a lot to teach her though so that would be the only thing that would require us to push her baptism back if we do have to. So I guess thats the update for us. We have alot of solid investigators too that we have been able to teach and hopefully we can continue to help them progress as well.
Well it sounds like you have all had a good week, like usual. Elder Pierce says hi back to annette. Oh and I was wondering if you could get Daniel's email address for me? please. Id like to email him on Pdays. I wish I could have seen Cubby jump out of the bike. lol. That sounds like it must have been pretty funny.
For Thanksgiving we are going over to this family's house named the Hills. Accoring to elder Pierce they are a really fun family to hang out with. He said they have good food and we would probably play alot fo games and that it would be alot of fun. So Im excited for that.
And I don think I need a calling card. Other missionaries have said they just go to a members house and use the member's phone. And I know we have lots of nice members that would love to have us over so Im guessing thats what we will be doing. Ill let you know if I need a card though. And as far as historical sites go, there are alot and we probably pass them quite often while we are on our bikes but I havent noticed any. We did go to one last transfer where the Jamestown colony was with John Smith and Pocahontas. That was pretty cool. But other than that we really havent seen any.
Good job being missionaries. I was thinking how growing up I was never really in a nonmember or less active house and I dont think I ever realized how much the Gospel blesses familes and people's homes. So that would be really neat if you could get them to come back to church. Im sure it could really bless their lives.
Thanks alot for the package. I really enjoyed all your turkeys. And I did like how spencers had a scope he was looking through. lol. That was pretty funny.
Well thanks for the email and the prayers. Oh and here's a fun fact I just thought of. I weighed myself yesterday and I weigh like 185.6 pounds. And I only weighed like 172 when I came out on my mission. So somehow I have put on like ten pounds since I came out on my mission. Lol. And I really dont know how because its not like we eat tons everyday. So im not sure how I have gained weight but Id though you might be interested to know that. lol Talk to you next week.
Love
Elder Larson
This week has been a good week. Our bishop has done a really good job of getting the ward into doing missionary work. Last wednesday he had a ward council meeting specifically on doing missionary work. And then this last sunday he had the speakers speak on missionary work again, just like we did last week. So I hope the ward rsponds by doing missionary work. The work is going really well for Elder Pierce and I though. We had transfers last night and we are both staying in Meadowbrook. Thats what I was hoping would happen, and thats what I was kind of thinking would happen. I think Elder Pierce and I work well together and the work is doing great so Im excited to stay and be apart of it. We have Tanya's baptism this Friday. We moved it to Friday instead of Saturday because the building is reserved for the Spanish ward on Saturday night. But we have the building reserved for Friday so it should happen then. We have taught her everything and she understands it and she passed her interview on Monday and so everything is ready for it to happen on Friday. And its pretty cool she wants me to baptize her and Elder Pierce to confirm her. Im excited to do it but I am nervous.
...I hope we can get the baptism right on the first try. Im a little nervous I wont get her all the way under. But im excited to do it and Im sure it will be fine. And her daughters decided that they want to wait to see their mom get baptized before they do it. I think they are a little shy about it. Which is fine, Im sure they will still get baptized soon. We still have alot to teach them because they are often busy with school when we go and teach Tonya. But we also have a baptism this next weekend with this lady named Marie Oke on November 28th. She has come to church like 5 of the past six weeks and she really likes it. She is very in tune with the Spirit. She says she can feel the spirit everytime she comes to church. And actually the way we found her is she saw a commercial for a Book of Mormon on TV and she just said she loved the way she felt when the commericial was being shown so she called for the Book of Mormon. So we delivered it to her and now she is going to be baptized soon! We still have a lot to teach her though so that would be the only thing that would require us to push her baptism back if we do have to. So I guess thats the update for us. We have alot of solid investigators too that we have been able to teach and hopefully we can continue to help them progress as well.
Well it sounds like you have all had a good week, like usual. Elder Pierce says hi back to annette. Oh and I was wondering if you could get Daniel's email address for me? please. Id like to email him on Pdays. I wish I could have seen Cubby jump out of the bike. lol. That sounds like it must have been pretty funny.
For Thanksgiving we are going over to this family's house named the Hills. Accoring to elder Pierce they are a really fun family to hang out with. He said they have good food and we would probably play alot fo games and that it would be alot of fun. So Im excited for that.
And I don think I need a calling card. Other missionaries have said they just go to a members house and use the member's phone. And I know we have lots of nice members that would love to have us over so Im guessing thats what we will be doing. Ill let you know if I need a card though. And as far as historical sites go, there are alot and we probably pass them quite often while we are on our bikes but I havent noticed any. We did go to one last transfer where the Jamestown colony was with John Smith and Pocahontas. That was pretty cool. But other than that we really havent seen any.
Good job being missionaries. I was thinking how growing up I was never really in a nonmember or less active house and I dont think I ever realized how much the Gospel blesses familes and people's homes. So that would be really neat if you could get them to come back to church. Im sure it could really bless their lives.
Thanks alot for the package. I really enjoyed all your turkeys. And I did like how spencers had a scope he was looking through. lol. That was pretty funny.
Well thanks for the email and the prayers. Oh and here's a fun fact I just thought of. I weighed myself yesterday and I weigh like 185.6 pounds. And I only weighed like 172 when I came out on my mission. So somehow I have put on like ten pounds since I came out on my mission. Lol. And I really dont know how because its not like we eat tons everyday. So im not sure how I have gained weight but Id though you might be interested to know that. lol Talk to you next week.
Love
Elder Larson
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Hey
Im glad to hear everyone is doing well. Im glad you enjoyed my pictures. I hoped you would like them. Elder Pierce and I had a really good week last week too. We found alot of new people to teach and we were blessed with lots of referrals from other missionaries. It seemed like everyday there were some missionaries calling us and telling us someone they ran into that was interested and who lived in our area. So that was neat. We got alot of new investiagtors that way. I hope that we can teach them and help them progress. Im trying to work on not taking any credit when it seems like things are going well. I've found as soon as you try and take any credit the work slows and appointments cancel and you dont feel the Spirit as much. So I am hoping that we can humbly teach all these people and help them see the need for the Gospel in their lives. We are still focusing alot on Tanya. We have to push her baptism back to next weekend (like the 21st) because she works this weekend. Its hard to teach someone who works every other weekend. We want to make sure she is committed to coming to church and also that the ward will be able to keep her active if we were to leave. But I think she is ready. She came to all three hours of churhc this past Sunday and so we will hopefully be able to baptize her on the 21st. And we got to speak in sacrament meeting. Elder Pierce and I spoke on Member missionary work. I think it went well. I hope it did. We got alot of compliments so Im assuming it went pretty well. The main thing is I just hope people will act on it. But that about wraps up the week. Things are going well. Next Wednesday I will know if i am staying here or not. Im not really sure but I think i will be. I kind of hope I stay. There is alot of potential and work to be done in this area that I would like to be apart of.
Kyle, Im trying to tink of something for you to get for your birthday but I cant think of anything. Maybe you could ask for some Book of Mormons to give to your friends at school... Ill keep thinking though. Thats too bad it is so cold down there. Its actually been really warm up here still, over seventy degrees in the day. We are still biking in short sleeve shirts. It started to get cold a couple weeks ago but now it has warmed back up. I think it will probably start to cool down again though. Good job getting all A's, im sure thats not too hard for you. What classes are you taking again? I cant remember them.
Spencer,
I am doing awesome. My mission is going great. How are you doing? Im glad school is good for you. PE used to be my favorite thing too. Thanks for making me a turkey.
Annette,
Wow it sounds like your having lots of fun with Emma. Im sure mom would have probably died if she had seen those puppies. lol. Thanks for writing me.
Well, as always, thank you all for writing me and thanks for all the news thats been happening. I always like reading whats going on in the world. Oh and thanks for your notes in that picture book Kalie sent. But I really enjoyed it.
Well Im doing great! Im working hard. I hope you have a good week. Talk to you next wednesday.
I love you all
Elder Larson
Im glad to hear everyone is doing well. Im glad you enjoyed my pictures. I hoped you would like them. Elder Pierce and I had a really good week last week too. We found alot of new people to teach and we were blessed with lots of referrals from other missionaries. It seemed like everyday there were some missionaries calling us and telling us someone they ran into that was interested and who lived in our area. So that was neat. We got alot of new investiagtors that way. I hope that we can teach them and help them progress. Im trying to work on not taking any credit when it seems like things are going well. I've found as soon as you try and take any credit the work slows and appointments cancel and you dont feel the Spirit as much. So I am hoping that we can humbly teach all these people and help them see the need for the Gospel in their lives. We are still focusing alot on Tanya. We have to push her baptism back to next weekend (like the 21st) because she works this weekend. Its hard to teach someone who works every other weekend. We want to make sure she is committed to coming to church and also that the ward will be able to keep her active if we were to leave. But I think she is ready. She came to all three hours of churhc this past Sunday and so we will hopefully be able to baptize her on the 21st. And we got to speak in sacrament meeting. Elder Pierce and I spoke on Member missionary work. I think it went well. I hope it did. We got alot of compliments so Im assuming it went pretty well. The main thing is I just hope people will act on it. But that about wraps up the week. Things are going well. Next Wednesday I will know if i am staying here or not. Im not really sure but I think i will be. I kind of hope I stay. There is alot of potential and work to be done in this area that I would like to be apart of.
Kyle, Im trying to tink of something for you to get for your birthday but I cant think of anything. Maybe you could ask for some Book of Mormons to give to your friends at school... Ill keep thinking though. Thats too bad it is so cold down there. Its actually been really warm up here still, over seventy degrees in the day. We are still biking in short sleeve shirts. It started to get cold a couple weeks ago but now it has warmed back up. I think it will probably start to cool down again though. Good job getting all A's, im sure thats not too hard for you. What classes are you taking again? I cant remember them.
Spencer,
I am doing awesome. My mission is going great. How are you doing? Im glad school is good for you. PE used to be my favorite thing too. Thanks for making me a turkey.
Annette,
Wow it sounds like your having lots of fun with Emma. Im sure mom would have probably died if she had seen those puppies. lol. Thanks for writing me.
Well, as always, thank you all for writing me and thanks for all the news thats been happening. I always like reading whats going on in the world. Oh and thanks for your notes in that picture book Kalie sent. But I really enjoyed it.
Well Im doing great! Im working hard. I hope you have a good week. Talk to you next wednesday.
I love you all
Elder Larson
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Hey
Im doing well. My new companion and area are both alot of fun and great. The area we are in is pretty big, and it seems even bigger since we are in the corner of our area. And since the last area we were in was one of the smallest in the mission. So this area is pretty big and there are alot of hills. Its a daily workout. The hills are pretty big too, every time you go around a corner there is the hiil the size of the one we lived on. But its fun. The ward is really nice too. Basically everyone in the ward except the bishopric is young married couples. The apartment complex we live in is like the "place to be" for mormons who are students in medical or dental school. So almost everyone in the ward is in medical or dental school. There are members two doors down from our apartment in both directions. There are tons of members in our apartments which is good. And I think I have only met one couple where one of them wasnt in medical or dental school. So thats the ward, lots of young people going to school. They are all really nice and most of the guys are RMs so they come out with us and teach.
On sunday the bishop called me up during sacrament meeting to introduce myself and bear my testimony, which helped them all get to know me. My companions name is Elder Pierce. He has been out for sixteen months now. He is a good missionary. He's from New Orleans but moved to St george when hurricane katrina hit. He's really nice too and he likes to play sports which is good. And he is real big on eating healthy lol, and hes kind of rubbing off on me. lol. Idk i dont really care but he hates to see me eat something unhealthy. Like one of the members made us cinnamon rolls and gave us some to take home, and we took them home and obviously he didnt want his, so i was eating it. And then when i was eating it he was like "Icing... thats so bad for you. its just saturated fat." lol, its funny. I was just like "Oh well I'll bike it off." Anyway, thats Elder Pierce, we get along well and hes funny. He brought a bread maker too at a garage sale for ten bucks and so we make bread sometimes. But we were making banana bread and it asks for white flour, but he looked at it, and asked "Do you think we should just put in wheat flour instead." Lol, so we put in wheat flour to make it more healthy. It tasted good though.
Teaching is going good. I let you know more about the investigators down here once I know them more. Things are going well though we had 6 investigators show up to church. It was great.
But anyway I feel like I know the lessons in PMG really well. Especially the Restoration, we teach it everyday. I think knowing the material is going well but teaching simply but still clearly is probably something thats still pretty hard. Like if someone tells you they dont have very much time thats when its hard. Cause you got to tell them what you know in a short amount of time so you cant say everything but you need to tell them enough to not make them confused. So I think the best thing missionaries can do is jsut practice teaching the lessons out loud. Its really the only way you can get good at it. It seems like it would almost be good to practice teaching the lessons to a little kid so they can learn how to teach simply and clearly without telling them too much or saying everything they know. I just asked Elder Pierce what he thinks and he says daily scripture study and prayer lol. I guess thats always a good answer. He says he wasnt very good at that before his mission. Oh and he just told me to add cooking.
Wow that is so cool you get to take Elder Bednar to the airport. What is a normal conversation with Elder Bednar going to be like? Im excited to hear about it.Thanks for sharing that story about Spencer. I really enjoyed it. Its cool how the Lord works. That reminds me of the one time Dad and James and I were working on the 4runner and we were trying to get that bolt off the wheel and we we couldnt get it off for a long time. So we were trying to figure out what to do and so we prayed that we would figure out a way and then Dad had one more idea and it worked. The Lord answered our prayer. That car has been a real testimony builder. lol. Well I got to go. My time is up. Thanks for the email. Things are going great. Love you all
Elder Larson
My new address is:
4839 Whetstone RdRichmond, VA 23234
But for future reference, next time I am being transferred, you can send any mail to this next address. This address will always work no matter what because it is the address to the mission office and then the people at the mission office will forward the mail to wherever I am or wherever I am going. This address just takes a day or two extra because the mail has to be forwarded. :
Elder Jordan Larson
Virginia Richmond Mission
9327 Midlothian Tpke Suite 1-b
Richmond Va, 23235
Im doing well. My new companion and area are both alot of fun and great. The area we are in is pretty big, and it seems even bigger since we are in the corner of our area. And since the last area we were in was one of the smallest in the mission. So this area is pretty big and there are alot of hills. Its a daily workout. The hills are pretty big too, every time you go around a corner there is the hiil the size of the one we lived on. But its fun. The ward is really nice too. Basically everyone in the ward except the bishopric is young married couples. The apartment complex we live in is like the "place to be" for mormons who are students in medical or dental school. So almost everyone in the ward is in medical or dental school. There are members two doors down from our apartment in both directions. There are tons of members in our apartments which is good. And I think I have only met one couple where one of them wasnt in medical or dental school. So thats the ward, lots of young people going to school. They are all really nice and most of the guys are RMs so they come out with us and teach.
On sunday the bishop called me up during sacrament meeting to introduce myself and bear my testimony, which helped them all get to know me. My companions name is Elder Pierce. He has been out for sixteen months now. He is a good missionary. He's from New Orleans but moved to St george when hurricane katrina hit. He's really nice too and he likes to play sports which is good. And he is real big on eating healthy lol, and hes kind of rubbing off on me. lol. Idk i dont really care but he hates to see me eat something unhealthy. Like one of the members made us cinnamon rolls and gave us some to take home, and we took them home and obviously he didnt want his, so i was eating it. And then when i was eating it he was like "Icing... thats so bad for you. its just saturated fat." lol, its funny. I was just like "Oh well I'll bike it off." Anyway, thats Elder Pierce, we get along well and hes funny. He brought a bread maker too at a garage sale for ten bucks and so we make bread sometimes. But we were making banana bread and it asks for white flour, but he looked at it, and asked "Do you think we should just put in wheat flour instead." Lol, so we put in wheat flour to make it more healthy. It tasted good though.
Teaching is going good. I let you know more about the investigators down here once I know them more. Things are going well though we had 6 investigators show up to church. It was great.
But anyway I feel like I know the lessons in PMG really well. Especially the Restoration, we teach it everyday. I think knowing the material is going well but teaching simply but still clearly is probably something thats still pretty hard. Like if someone tells you they dont have very much time thats when its hard. Cause you got to tell them what you know in a short amount of time so you cant say everything but you need to tell them enough to not make them confused. So I think the best thing missionaries can do is jsut practice teaching the lessons out loud. Its really the only way you can get good at it. It seems like it would almost be good to practice teaching the lessons to a little kid so they can learn how to teach simply and clearly without telling them too much or saying everything they know. I just asked Elder Pierce what he thinks and he says daily scripture study and prayer lol. I guess thats always a good answer. He says he wasnt very good at that before his mission. Oh and he just told me to add cooking.
Wow that is so cool you get to take Elder Bednar to the airport. What is a normal conversation with Elder Bednar going to be like? Im excited to hear about it.Thanks for sharing that story about Spencer. I really enjoyed it. Its cool how the Lord works. That reminds me of the one time Dad and James and I were working on the 4runner and we were trying to get that bolt off the wheel and we we couldnt get it off for a long time. So we were trying to figure out what to do and so we prayed that we would figure out a way and then Dad had one more idea and it worked. The Lord answered our prayer. That car has been a real testimony builder. lol. Well I got to go. My time is up. Thanks for the email. Things are going great. Love you all
Elder Larson
My new address is:
4839 Whetstone RdRichmond, VA 23234
But for future reference, next time I am being transferred, you can send any mail to this next address. This address will always work no matter what because it is the address to the mission office and then the people at the mission office will forward the mail to wherever I am or wherever I am going. This address just takes a day or two extra because the mail has to be forwarded. :
Elder Jordan Larson
Virginia Richmond Mission
9327 Midlothian Tpke Suite 1-b
Richmond Va, 23235
Friday, October 9, 2009
Oct 7, 2009 Letter
Hey,I am doing good. This week was a good week but nothing really too cool happened. General Conference was really good.
Ok so here is a story. Well, first of all, I dont know if I ever said this but when I first got here to Newport News it was kind of hard to understand people. Cause the people here kind of talk with a funny accent. Like they would say "Howyaalldoon" really fast and mushed together instead of "how are you all doing?" Lol. Anyway, so when I first got here i had to really work to understand people. So on Thursday Elder Comer and the District leader when on exchanges so Elder Conlin (the DL) came to newport news with Elder Beckman and I and Elder comer went up to his area. And Elder Conlin is usually a pretty talkative guy but he has never been in a getto area before. So we warned him that people here can be hard to understand sometimes and he just said ok. But then we get to our first lesson, and Elder Beckman and I are doing all the talking and teaching. And then finally Elder Conlin says something, and the person we were teaching interupted him and asked Elder Conlin something and he just looked at us and didnt say anything back to her...he couldn't understand anything she was saying, and we had to finish his statement for him. Lol, and that one thing he said was all he said the whole lesson. And afterwards he was just like wow, I couldnt understand a word she said. So that was pretty funny. And I guess Im getting better at understanding people cause I was probably like Elder Conlin when I got here.
But actually now I am getting transferred. Yesterday we got our transfer calls and I am going to a place called Meadowbrook which is no the Southside of Richmond. I am going to be in a twosome now too with an Elder named Elder Pearce. So that will be good. Ive heard that its alot like Newport News so it should be fun. Im exctied but Im going to miss the Branch.
Anyway, I really enjoyed general conference too. For some reason it is so much more exciting as a missionary. Lol. I was really excited for it. My favorite talk was President Monson's on service and all the service the people had done. I really enjoyed hearing about that. I like Elder Bednars too and how he rebuked people who share their testimony for the wrong reason. And I liked Elder Andersens on repentance. They were all good though.
Everything else is going good. Pam is getting more and more excited about her baptism on the 24th. She is going to be a good member and i am excited for her. I dont know when Joe and Tammy are going to get baptized though. Its hard because they live in a room of a rooming house w/o a car or a phone and they have to hire a lawyer to get his divorce to take place, so they dont really have the money or transportation or anything. And they are living on Tammy's disability check so they cant really seperate either cause that would cost too much... So we will just have to see. We'll keep praying for them. It really makes you grateful for the blessings we have and the guidance and protection we recieve in life from living the commandments of the church.
Spencer:Thats cool you got new pajamas. You will have to send me a picture. Good job in soccer and school. How do you play "hit and sit?" That sounds like a fun game though. I love you too.
Kyle: Im sorry you got sick. Thats never good. So what are you learning in seminary? You should take notes. I wish I would have. :) But you probably dont want to and I understand. Lol. So who are your firends from the Greenbluff ward? Oh and who is your teacher? Well thanks for writing me. Have a good week. Love, Elder Larson
Annette:Good choices on the songs. Those are good songs. What are you learning about in school? Im glad you liked the prophets talk cause he was my favorite speaker too. Thanks for writing me annette. Love you, Elder Larson
Well thanks for writing me. I am doing great, always happy. :) If you send anything you can send it to my old adress and Elder Comer will forward it to me. I dont know my new address yet but I will let you know what it is next week.
Oh and dad another good scripture for the getto is alma 17:14-15. Lol. But then vs 16 is what we do. Lol. Thanks for the prayers.
Love you
Elder Larson
Ok so here is a story. Well, first of all, I dont know if I ever said this but when I first got here to Newport News it was kind of hard to understand people. Cause the people here kind of talk with a funny accent. Like they would say "Howyaalldoon" really fast and mushed together instead of "how are you all doing?" Lol. Anyway, so when I first got here i had to really work to understand people. So on Thursday Elder Comer and the District leader when on exchanges so Elder Conlin (the DL) came to newport news with Elder Beckman and I and Elder comer went up to his area. And Elder Conlin is usually a pretty talkative guy but he has never been in a getto area before. So we warned him that people here can be hard to understand sometimes and he just said ok. But then we get to our first lesson, and Elder Beckman and I are doing all the talking and teaching. And then finally Elder Conlin says something, and the person we were teaching interupted him and asked Elder Conlin something and he just looked at us and didnt say anything back to her...he couldn't understand anything she was saying, and we had to finish his statement for him. Lol, and that one thing he said was all he said the whole lesson. And afterwards he was just like wow, I couldnt understand a word she said. So that was pretty funny. And I guess Im getting better at understanding people cause I was probably like Elder Conlin when I got here.
But actually now I am getting transferred. Yesterday we got our transfer calls and I am going to a place called Meadowbrook which is no the Southside of Richmond. I am going to be in a twosome now too with an Elder named Elder Pearce. So that will be good. Ive heard that its alot like Newport News so it should be fun. Im exctied but Im going to miss the Branch.
Anyway, I really enjoyed general conference too. For some reason it is so much more exciting as a missionary. Lol. I was really excited for it. My favorite talk was President Monson's on service and all the service the people had done. I really enjoyed hearing about that. I like Elder Bednars too and how he rebuked people who share their testimony for the wrong reason. And I liked Elder Andersens on repentance. They were all good though.
Everything else is going good. Pam is getting more and more excited about her baptism on the 24th. She is going to be a good member and i am excited for her. I dont know when Joe and Tammy are going to get baptized though. Its hard because they live in a room of a rooming house w/o a car or a phone and they have to hire a lawyer to get his divorce to take place, so they dont really have the money or transportation or anything. And they are living on Tammy's disability check so they cant really seperate either cause that would cost too much... So we will just have to see. We'll keep praying for them. It really makes you grateful for the blessings we have and the guidance and protection we recieve in life from living the commandments of the church.
Spencer:Thats cool you got new pajamas. You will have to send me a picture. Good job in soccer and school. How do you play "hit and sit?" That sounds like a fun game though. I love you too.
Kyle: Im sorry you got sick. Thats never good. So what are you learning in seminary? You should take notes. I wish I would have. :) But you probably dont want to and I understand. Lol. So who are your firends from the Greenbluff ward? Oh and who is your teacher? Well thanks for writing me. Have a good week. Love, Elder Larson
Annette:Good choices on the songs. Those are good songs. What are you learning about in school? Im glad you liked the prophets talk cause he was my favorite speaker too. Thanks for writing me annette. Love you, Elder Larson
Well thanks for writing me. I am doing great, always happy. :) If you send anything you can send it to my old adress and Elder Comer will forward it to me. I dont know my new address yet but I will let you know what it is next week.
Oh and dad another good scripture for the getto is alma 17:14-15. Lol. But then vs 16 is what we do. Lol. Thanks for the prayers.
Love you
Elder Larson
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Sept 30th 2009
Hey,
This week was a good week. Last Wednesday after we were done emailing we went bowling as a zone. It was pretty fun and nice to do something fun and relaxing. We have some unforutnate stories though. Last wednesday we went to see Joe and Tammy. And Joe and Tammy live in a one room house so we always teach them outisde. And Joe used to be a construction worker and he loves doing stuff like that so he has a bunch of nice power tools. But we went to go and see them lats wednesday and they told us that they got robbed. All of his power tools were stolen. I could tell he felt horrible. They really have like nothing and his power tools were something he really cared about and now they are gone. I felt really bad for them, especially Joe. But they live in a bad area and now Joe is determined to move so hopefully it will end up working for the better. It was unfortunate but they are still enjoying the church and they enjoy having us come over and teach them. And then one of the days we were teaching a lady on her doorstep and it was around the afternoon when school was getting out. And we were teaching her, and just a few houses down there was a group of like twenty to thirty guys walking home from school. And all of the sudden, a big fight broke out among all the guys. Lol. It was a little distracting. lol. It was a little difficult to teach with a fight going on three houses down. But it only lasted a few mins and then they all left and we continued the lesson. Lol. But anyway, thats the getto for you.
And we got a new mission leader on Sunday. I have to tell you about him cause he is a genius. He has a PHd in some religious field, so he knows a ton about everything that has to do with religion. Like he seriously knows everything. lol. And he is a convert to the church. But when the missionaries found him, he decided to prove the Book of Mormon wrong. So he read it and read it but he could never prove it wrong. And so now he is writing a book on how everyone needs the book of Mormon in their life. Its cool. He knows so much. Its really fun to talk with him. And he spends all of his time just reading religious books and learning more. And on Thursday he invited us over for dinner. He fed us a fish called gar. It is apparently considered a trash fish but he loves it and so he fed us some. I liked it. Its funny though, everything down here is deep fried. So for his fish he just made gar nuggets and fried them and fed them to us. It probably wasnt the most healthy but it tasted good.
But thats about it for this week. We are still teaching Joe and Tammy and Pam. Last night we went out with President Pettaway, the branch president, and he talked to Pam for awhile and got her excited for her baptism. She's excited for it. She has already invited one of her friends to church and to her baptism. :) And I dont know if Joe and Tammy are going to be baptized soon or not. We had them set for baptism on the 10th, but its all going to depend on if he can find his exwife or not. But hopefully it will work out and we are praying for them.
.....Thanks for you emails. Im glad you got a new bike dad. That sounds cool. So when are you seeing Elder Bednar? Or did you see him already? I really like him and Im excited to hear about it.
Im really excited to watch general conference too. Its alot more exciting now. Lol. I think its cause we spend so much of our time telling people how there is one true prophet on the earth and so now its really cool to acutally see him speak. Im excited for it. Well Im out of time. Thanks for the emails and support and love.
Love you all,Elder Larson
This week was a good week. Last Wednesday after we were done emailing we went bowling as a zone. It was pretty fun and nice to do something fun and relaxing. We have some unforutnate stories though. Last wednesday we went to see Joe and Tammy. And Joe and Tammy live in a one room house so we always teach them outisde. And Joe used to be a construction worker and he loves doing stuff like that so he has a bunch of nice power tools. But we went to go and see them lats wednesday and they told us that they got robbed. All of his power tools were stolen. I could tell he felt horrible. They really have like nothing and his power tools were something he really cared about and now they are gone. I felt really bad for them, especially Joe. But they live in a bad area and now Joe is determined to move so hopefully it will end up working for the better. It was unfortunate but they are still enjoying the church and they enjoy having us come over and teach them. And then one of the days we were teaching a lady on her doorstep and it was around the afternoon when school was getting out. And we were teaching her, and just a few houses down there was a group of like twenty to thirty guys walking home from school. And all of the sudden, a big fight broke out among all the guys. Lol. It was a little distracting. lol. It was a little difficult to teach with a fight going on three houses down. But it only lasted a few mins and then they all left and we continued the lesson. Lol. But anyway, thats the getto for you.
And we got a new mission leader on Sunday. I have to tell you about him cause he is a genius. He has a PHd in some religious field, so he knows a ton about everything that has to do with religion. Like he seriously knows everything. lol. And he is a convert to the church. But when the missionaries found him, he decided to prove the Book of Mormon wrong. So he read it and read it but he could never prove it wrong. And so now he is writing a book on how everyone needs the book of Mormon in their life. Its cool. He knows so much. Its really fun to talk with him. And he spends all of his time just reading religious books and learning more. And on Thursday he invited us over for dinner. He fed us a fish called gar. It is apparently considered a trash fish but he loves it and so he fed us some. I liked it. Its funny though, everything down here is deep fried. So for his fish he just made gar nuggets and fried them and fed them to us. It probably wasnt the most healthy but it tasted good.
But thats about it for this week. We are still teaching Joe and Tammy and Pam. Last night we went out with President Pettaway, the branch president, and he talked to Pam for awhile and got her excited for her baptism. She's excited for it. She has already invited one of her friends to church and to her baptism. :) And I dont know if Joe and Tammy are going to be baptized soon or not. We had them set for baptism on the 10th, but its all going to depend on if he can find his exwife or not. But hopefully it will work out and we are praying for them.
.....Thanks for you emails. Im glad you got a new bike dad. That sounds cool. So when are you seeing Elder Bednar? Or did you see him already? I really like him and Im excited to hear about it.
Im really excited to watch general conference too. Its alot more exciting now. Lol. I think its cause we spend so much of our time telling people how there is one true prophet on the earth and so now its really cool to acutally see him speak. Im excited for it. Well Im out of time. Thanks for the emails and support and love.
Love you all,Elder Larson
Friday, September 11, 2009
Hey,
This week has been a great week. Last week after I got done emailing one of the members took us up to Jamestown for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun. We got to watch these people make glass the way it was made back in the 1600's, or whenever. They took sand and melted it in a 2250 degree furnace and then shaped it into a glass bottle and then it hardened. We also got to see where the Jamestown settlement was and the Pocahontas and John Smith statue. It was fun.
Then on Thursday we went and saw Sister Cherry who we just baptized. She is doing really good. The Relief Society all loves her and she is a really good cook, in fact she started the first soup kitchen in Virginia. So she is actually pretty well known in virginia. But when we came over she made us chitlins which is like a ground up pig stomach or something. I tried them but they werent very good. lol. Sister Cherry wanted us to come over and make a list of all of the commandments she has to follow so she doesnt forget any of them. :) So we did that for her. She is a great lady.
Then on Friday we had a lesson with Joe and Tammy at the Smiths house. Bro Smith is the Ward Mission Leader so we spend alot of time with him. So he went and picked Joe and Tammy up and then we had dinner together and watched the Restoration video. It went really well. The spirit was really strong and Joe and Tammy really love the church and have a desire to be baptized. The only thing they have to do first though is get married and the bad thing about that is Joe is still legally married to some other woman and he has no idea where she is or anything. So he has to find her and get divorced or something. I dont really know the details on that but they are working with the Branch President. So thats good.
Then on Saturday we tracted into this guy and talked for two hours about the need for the Book of Mormon. He was a really nice guy and it was a friendly argument lol, but he just didnt understand why the Book of Mormon was needed. We tried everything too, we told him about the apostasy and how the Book of Mormon proves the priesthood was restored and exists only in the Lords church and we told him that everything we were saying hinges on if the book of mormon is true or not and then we read him the moroni promise but he just said that if we need the book of mormon then the bible would be incomplete. Anyway, we discussed our views with him for a couple of hours but that probably wasnt the most effective two hours cause it really went nowhere. But it was fun. lol
Then fast Sunday was great. They always are, especially here. Since the branch is so small everyone knows everyone else really well so people will just start talking about someone else in their testimony. Lol. I dont think its meant to be that way but they always say good things and its usually pretty funny. And then one guy started talking about how he was feeling stressed out and then on sunday he was released from his calling and he would be given two weeks. And then he talked about how the next two weeks are the best time for him to go fishing this season. Lol. And then one guy talked about how he prayed for BYU and Alabama to win in foot ball and then he said, "I dont know if you are supposed to pray for things like that, but I did. And they were both answered." Lol. It was funny but the spirit was still really strong for the whole meeting. It was good for Joe and Tammy and also Pam. They all really enjoyed it and the branch does a really good job of fellowshipping people who we bring to church. Sister Smith is the Relief society president and she is always giving the people we bring hugs and a welcome. And Pam is the lady who we had set for baptism. We are still teaching her but she wants to put off her baptism for awhile. But she is doing good.
That pretty much wraps us last week. Monday and Tuesday have rained all day on us. But for whatever reason I think its really fun to tract in the rain. I enjoy it. Maybe its just cause everyone we see gives a look like we are crazy. Lol. So monday and tuesday were fun. We had appointments too but nothing too interesting. I did go and get a rain jacket though. We went to an army surplus store and I picked a pretty nice one up for twenty bucks. It worked well. So thats taken care of.
As far as the Mike guy, the guy who called us in during the rainstorm. We have called him alot but he always tells us he is busy with work. Which I think he is busy but no one should be too busy for the church. We have tried stopping by his house a few times and we talked to him once but he jsut told us the same thing as he did on the phone...that he is too busy. Its sad, cause he obviously was prompted to invite us in that one day and he was fascinated by the Book of Mormon, but he is choosing to put work first. We will keep trying to contact him though. We are not going to give up.
Well thanks for the emails and the letters. I enjoy reading them. Everything is going well here. Elder Beckman and Elder Comer and I have alot of fun together. Actually I kind of got out of the habit of writing in my journal for a couple of days because we have alot of fun just talking at night and tellling stories. And we practice bashing each other on scriptures. Lol. One of us will just pretend to be an investigator and then we have an argument. Since we cant bash with real investigators we do it among ourselves. Lol. Its alot of fun. So I'm doing good and I'm glad everything is going well back home. Im glad school is going well for everyone.
Oh and can you find out something for me real fast. Just out of curiousity, did the Folsoms ever get the letters I wrote them while I was at the MTC? They sent me letters and I wrote them back but I never heard back from them (which is completely fine) so I jsut wanted to know if they got my letters. And also, can you get me their address at BYU? Thanks
Oh and I just remembered something else kind of cool. That Sister missionary that the Grimes know, Sister Brewer, well she is coming from the same stake that Elder Comer is from. Cause Elder Comer told me a couple of weeks ago that a Sister Missionary from his stake is coming here and her name was Sister Brewer so I am assuming its the same one the Grimes are related to. Anyway, just thought I'd tell you that.
Well I got to go. Everythings is going well. :) Im happy all the time.
Love,Elder Larson
This week has been a great week. Last week after I got done emailing one of the members took us up to Jamestown for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun. We got to watch these people make glass the way it was made back in the 1600's, or whenever. They took sand and melted it in a 2250 degree furnace and then shaped it into a glass bottle and then it hardened. We also got to see where the Jamestown settlement was and the Pocahontas and John Smith statue. It was fun.
Then on Thursday we went and saw Sister Cherry who we just baptized. She is doing really good. The Relief Society all loves her and she is a really good cook, in fact she started the first soup kitchen in Virginia. So she is actually pretty well known in virginia. But when we came over she made us chitlins which is like a ground up pig stomach or something. I tried them but they werent very good. lol. Sister Cherry wanted us to come over and make a list of all of the commandments she has to follow so she doesnt forget any of them. :) So we did that for her. She is a great lady.
Then on Friday we had a lesson with Joe and Tammy at the Smiths house. Bro Smith is the Ward Mission Leader so we spend alot of time with him. So he went and picked Joe and Tammy up and then we had dinner together and watched the Restoration video. It went really well. The spirit was really strong and Joe and Tammy really love the church and have a desire to be baptized. The only thing they have to do first though is get married and the bad thing about that is Joe is still legally married to some other woman and he has no idea where she is or anything. So he has to find her and get divorced or something. I dont really know the details on that but they are working with the Branch President. So thats good.
Then on Saturday we tracted into this guy and talked for two hours about the need for the Book of Mormon. He was a really nice guy and it was a friendly argument lol, but he just didnt understand why the Book of Mormon was needed. We tried everything too, we told him about the apostasy and how the Book of Mormon proves the priesthood was restored and exists only in the Lords church and we told him that everything we were saying hinges on if the book of mormon is true or not and then we read him the moroni promise but he just said that if we need the book of mormon then the bible would be incomplete. Anyway, we discussed our views with him for a couple of hours but that probably wasnt the most effective two hours cause it really went nowhere. But it was fun. lol
Then fast Sunday was great. They always are, especially here. Since the branch is so small everyone knows everyone else really well so people will just start talking about someone else in their testimony. Lol. I dont think its meant to be that way but they always say good things and its usually pretty funny. And then one guy started talking about how he was feeling stressed out and then on sunday he was released from his calling and he would be given two weeks. And then he talked about how the next two weeks are the best time for him to go fishing this season. Lol. And then one guy talked about how he prayed for BYU and Alabama to win in foot ball and then he said, "I dont know if you are supposed to pray for things like that, but I did. And they were both answered." Lol. It was funny but the spirit was still really strong for the whole meeting. It was good for Joe and Tammy and also Pam. They all really enjoyed it and the branch does a really good job of fellowshipping people who we bring to church. Sister Smith is the Relief society president and she is always giving the people we bring hugs and a welcome. And Pam is the lady who we had set for baptism. We are still teaching her but she wants to put off her baptism for awhile. But she is doing good.
That pretty much wraps us last week. Monday and Tuesday have rained all day on us. But for whatever reason I think its really fun to tract in the rain. I enjoy it. Maybe its just cause everyone we see gives a look like we are crazy. Lol. So monday and tuesday were fun. We had appointments too but nothing too interesting. I did go and get a rain jacket though. We went to an army surplus store and I picked a pretty nice one up for twenty bucks. It worked well. So thats taken care of.
As far as the Mike guy, the guy who called us in during the rainstorm. We have called him alot but he always tells us he is busy with work. Which I think he is busy but no one should be too busy for the church. We have tried stopping by his house a few times and we talked to him once but he jsut told us the same thing as he did on the phone...that he is too busy. Its sad, cause he obviously was prompted to invite us in that one day and he was fascinated by the Book of Mormon, but he is choosing to put work first. We will keep trying to contact him though. We are not going to give up.
Well thanks for the emails and the letters. I enjoy reading them. Everything is going well here. Elder Beckman and Elder Comer and I have alot of fun together. Actually I kind of got out of the habit of writing in my journal for a couple of days because we have alot of fun just talking at night and tellling stories. And we practice bashing each other on scriptures. Lol. One of us will just pretend to be an investigator and then we have an argument. Since we cant bash with real investigators we do it among ourselves. Lol. Its alot of fun. So I'm doing good and I'm glad everything is going well back home. Im glad school is going well for everyone.
Oh and can you find out something for me real fast. Just out of curiousity, did the Folsoms ever get the letters I wrote them while I was at the MTC? They sent me letters and I wrote them back but I never heard back from them (which is completely fine) so I jsut wanted to know if they got my letters. And also, can you get me their address at BYU? Thanks
Oh and I just remembered something else kind of cool. That Sister missionary that the Grimes know, Sister Brewer, well she is coming from the same stake that Elder Comer is from. Cause Elder Comer told me a couple of weeks ago that a Sister Missionary from his stake is coming here and her name was Sister Brewer so I am assuming its the same one the Grimes are related to. Anyway, just thought I'd tell you that.
Well I got to go. Everythings is going well. :) Im happy all the time.
Love,Elder Larson
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Sept 2 2009 letter
Hey,I am doing well.
Last week was transfers so we got our new missionary. His name is Elder Beckman. He actually came out the same time that I did but he was in a different district so I didn't know him. But its cool to be companions with someone who is new to the mission like I am. And Elder Comer came out in February so we are a pretty young companionship. Its fun.
Then on Friday there was a branch activity. There are lots of branch activities here, like at least one every two weeks. I think its because a lot of the branch is elderly singles so having branch activities is good for them to get out of the house and do something. So we had a potluck and it was good. Its always nice to get free food.
Then on Saturday we did a lot of tracting in the morning. We talked to some Jehovah Witnesses for a like an hour once. They are pretty stubborn with their beliefs. But we talked to them for awhile and just discussed our religions with them.
Man, I feel like I don't have as many cool stories this week as I do last week. But we did have a couple of investigators come to church with us. Their names are Joe and Tammy. They were a media referral who ordered a bible so we got to drop that off to them and teach them. They really like the church and they want to change so hopefully by next week they will be set for baptism. They loved coming to church and they participated in the discussions.
And ok, here's a funny story, its actually kind of sad. Joe was introducing himself, and he was talking about himself and how he wants to find a different church. And then he looked at Tammy and he was like "I chose her for her interior beauty, not her exterior beauty." And then Tammy nodded her head and was like "yep." I felt bad but they are happy together and they are really nice and stuff so I didnt worry about it. lol
Then Monday and Tuesday we have just been teaching people as usual. Nothing really outstanding as happened yet. We are still teaching Pam, who we set for baptism on October 3rd. Hopefully that will still work out. It might be hard since that weekend is general conference but we could probably do her baptism in the morning. Its weird the first session of conference doesn't start til noon over here. So we would have time to do it in the morning.
There really haven't been any storms. I heard about a couple of hurricanes...like Hurricane Bill and i think there was one called Claudia. I don't know if you heard anything about them but they really didn't affect us at all. We usually have a big rain storm like once a week but that's it.
That's really neat that you are getting to talk to Pete and invite him over for dinner. You should ask him how he came to know the church was true and what made him decide to go on a mission. I think those are really good questions to ask people who are less active because it helps them remember how they felt and helps them feel the Spirit. I hope it goes well.
Please tell Grandma and Grandpa thank you for the birthday card. I really liked it and the song in it and my companions listened to it too. :)
Thanks for the email. I enjoyed reading it. I'm glad everything is going well and good luck to James and Kyle and Annette and Spencer with school. You'll do great. And to Kyle welcome to high school and seminary. It will come early. lol. And to Spencer good luck with Soccer and I hope your team does well. I like the name Blue Crushers. :) Thats a cool name.
I love you all,Elder Larson
Last week was transfers so we got our new missionary. His name is Elder Beckman. He actually came out the same time that I did but he was in a different district so I didn't know him. But its cool to be companions with someone who is new to the mission like I am. And Elder Comer came out in February so we are a pretty young companionship. Its fun.
Then on Friday there was a branch activity. There are lots of branch activities here, like at least one every two weeks. I think its because a lot of the branch is elderly singles so having branch activities is good for them to get out of the house and do something. So we had a potluck and it was good. Its always nice to get free food.
Then on Saturday we did a lot of tracting in the morning. We talked to some Jehovah Witnesses for a like an hour once. They are pretty stubborn with their beliefs. But we talked to them for awhile and just discussed our religions with them.
Man, I feel like I don't have as many cool stories this week as I do last week. But we did have a couple of investigators come to church with us. Their names are Joe and Tammy. They were a media referral who ordered a bible so we got to drop that off to them and teach them. They really like the church and they want to change so hopefully by next week they will be set for baptism. They loved coming to church and they participated in the discussions.
And ok, here's a funny story, its actually kind of sad. Joe was introducing himself, and he was talking about himself and how he wants to find a different church. And then he looked at Tammy and he was like "I chose her for her interior beauty, not her exterior beauty." And then Tammy nodded her head and was like "yep." I felt bad but they are happy together and they are really nice and stuff so I didnt worry about it. lol
Then Monday and Tuesday we have just been teaching people as usual. Nothing really outstanding as happened yet. We are still teaching Pam, who we set for baptism on October 3rd. Hopefully that will still work out. It might be hard since that weekend is general conference but we could probably do her baptism in the morning. Its weird the first session of conference doesn't start til noon over here. So we would have time to do it in the morning.
There really haven't been any storms. I heard about a couple of hurricanes...like Hurricane Bill and i think there was one called Claudia. I don't know if you heard anything about them but they really didn't affect us at all. We usually have a big rain storm like once a week but that's it.
That's really neat that you are getting to talk to Pete and invite him over for dinner. You should ask him how he came to know the church was true and what made him decide to go on a mission. I think those are really good questions to ask people who are less active because it helps them remember how they felt and helps them feel the Spirit. I hope it goes well.
Please tell Grandma and Grandpa thank you for the birthday card. I really liked it and the song in it and my companions listened to it too. :)
Thanks for the email. I enjoyed reading it. I'm glad everything is going well and good luck to James and Kyle and Annette and Spencer with school. You'll do great. And to Kyle welcome to high school and seminary. It will come early. lol. And to Spencer good luck with Soccer and I hope your team does well. I like the name Blue Crushers. :) Thats a cool name.
I love you all,Elder Larson
Friday, August 28, 2009
Aug 25 2009 letter
Hey,
Thanks for the email. I enjoyed reading it. I had a great birthday. We kind of celebrated it on Monday because yesterday we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. One of the zone leaders came down here for the day and Elder Comer went with them for the day. So we celebrated my birthday on Monday so we could all be together. We went to dinner with this lady named Sister Whitley. She's like 80 years old and she loves being with us and we enjoy spending time with her because she is pretty funny. But anyway we went to dinner with her at a Mexican place called rey-azteca and when the employees found out it was my birthday they all sang to me, and made me where this really big hat (a chombrero) and they gave me free ice cream. It was fun, and made me happy.
And I got your letter and box on Monday as well. Thank you. I enjoyed opening the box and I needed some new socks. And I always enjoy candy too. But I had a really good birthday yesterday too. We were on exchanges with one of the zone leaders. We had fun together and we invited a lady named Pam to be baptized. We weren't really planning on it beforehand but then she started telling us how she wanted to change and be made clean from all her sins so we taught her about repentance and baptism and then invited her to be baptized. She said that she would and so we set a date for October 3. She hasn't been able to make it to church though because she is busy with school. So you could pray for her that she can find the time and be able to come to church each Sunday because you have to come to church 4 times before you can be baptized. But its wonderful that she is willing to get baptized and it made us all very happy. And that definitely made the day go really good. :)
And then later in the day we were going to an appointment and a guy standing on the corner of the street yelled out to us. He was a pretty funny guy. He told us if we fed him spiritually he would rap to us. lol. So we shared some scriptures with him, one of them was mosiah 4:30, and then he rapped to us and he was actually a pretty good singer. lol. It was funny, and enjoyable. We took pictures with him which i will send pretty soon. It was funny. He was a cool guy. His name was Rodney but his nickname is "Iron" because he said his lyrics are hard like iron. lol. It was sweet.
But backing up, for Thursday and Friday and Saturday of last week we were in Richmond with the training assistants. There names were Elder Petersen and Elder Craig. On the Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Petersen and I went with him to all of his appointments. And then on friday Elder Carter and I were with Elder Craig and we went on exchanges with him. It was a lot of fun. The purpose of it was for them to tell us what we need to work on and where we are doing good at but we had alot of fun together. They were fun to hang out with. They gave us some good advice. They taught us how to use the area book (which is a book that contains all the people missionaries have taught and contacted before in the area) more in our planning each night. And then on Saturday we came back to Newport News.
We had interviews with the Mission President which went well. They were really short and he basically just asked how we were doing and what we were working on. Then Saturday night was sister Cherry's baptism. Overall, the baptism went really well, and the Spirit was really strong, but there were some things that could have been better. lol. First of all, it takes like two hours to fill up the font, and we are in charge of doing that. So we got there around 4 to clean it out and to start filling it. And while it was filling we would just check it every few mins. There isnt really too much to do while its filling because we have to stay at the church while it is filling. But anyway, somehow we kind of lost track of time, and we walk in to the font, and it had flooded all over the carpet. There was like an inch of water on the carpet. lol. And the baptism started in like twenty minutes. It was pretty bad, somehow the drains on the side of the font (which are there to drain the water so it doesn't overflow) were clogged and the water got everywhere. So we immediately started mopping it up and drying it with paper towels. And then people started showing up which didnt help. But we called the branch president and he knew someone with a wet/dry vacuum and so we were able to use that to vacuum most of the water. So it really wasn't that bad but it was a good story for the journal. lol. And then the baptism took like an hour and a half and they are only supposed to be 30-40 mins. People kept getting up to say stuff. And one guy started talking about how science is discovering other universes and how soon people will be able to be invisible and how that relates to the fact that science is catching up to religion. lol. I was confused. But I'm not complaining cause the baptism was great. There were just some funny memorable stories that happened. And like i said the spirit was really strong and afterwards sister cherry said that she "had never felt like this in her whole life" and she said that she felt like she "had been looking for this feeling her whole life." It was cool to hear. And then on Sunday we confirmed her. The branch president (President Pettaway) did the confirmation but we were all standing it and right after it Sister cherry gathered us three missionaries all in and hugged us. So Saturday and Sunday were pretty neat days that I will remember. And I'm looking forward to having more highlights throughout my mission too.
Well I think that's about it. It was a good week. Oh and I did not get transferred. Elder Carter is heading to a city called Poquoson. But Elder Comer and I are staying and we are getting a new missionary named Elder Beckman. We should see him tomorrow. So that'll be good. And one transfer is already done. :)
Thanks again for the letters and emails. I enjoy them. I'm glad you had a good birthday mom and you all had a fun weekend. Thanks for the prayers. I love you.
Elder Larson
Thanks for the email. I enjoyed reading it. I had a great birthday. We kind of celebrated it on Monday because yesterday we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. One of the zone leaders came down here for the day and Elder Comer went with them for the day. So we celebrated my birthday on Monday so we could all be together. We went to dinner with this lady named Sister Whitley. She's like 80 years old and she loves being with us and we enjoy spending time with her because she is pretty funny. But anyway we went to dinner with her at a Mexican place called rey-azteca and when the employees found out it was my birthday they all sang to me, and made me where this really big hat (a chombrero) and they gave me free ice cream. It was fun, and made me happy.
And I got your letter and box on Monday as well. Thank you. I enjoyed opening the box and I needed some new socks. And I always enjoy candy too. But I had a really good birthday yesterday too. We were on exchanges with one of the zone leaders. We had fun together and we invited a lady named Pam to be baptized. We weren't really planning on it beforehand but then she started telling us how she wanted to change and be made clean from all her sins so we taught her about repentance and baptism and then invited her to be baptized. She said that she would and so we set a date for October 3. She hasn't been able to make it to church though because she is busy with school. So you could pray for her that she can find the time and be able to come to church each Sunday because you have to come to church 4 times before you can be baptized. But its wonderful that she is willing to get baptized and it made us all very happy. And that definitely made the day go really good. :)
And then later in the day we were going to an appointment and a guy standing on the corner of the street yelled out to us. He was a pretty funny guy. He told us if we fed him spiritually he would rap to us. lol. So we shared some scriptures with him, one of them was mosiah 4:30, and then he rapped to us and he was actually a pretty good singer. lol. It was funny, and enjoyable. We took pictures with him which i will send pretty soon. It was funny. He was a cool guy. His name was Rodney but his nickname is "Iron" because he said his lyrics are hard like iron. lol. It was sweet.
But backing up, for Thursday and Friday and Saturday of last week we were in Richmond with the training assistants. There names were Elder Petersen and Elder Craig. On the Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Petersen and I went with him to all of his appointments. And then on friday Elder Carter and I were with Elder Craig and we went on exchanges with him. It was a lot of fun. The purpose of it was for them to tell us what we need to work on and where we are doing good at but we had alot of fun together. They were fun to hang out with. They gave us some good advice. They taught us how to use the area book (which is a book that contains all the people missionaries have taught and contacted before in the area) more in our planning each night. And then on Saturday we came back to Newport News.
We had interviews with the Mission President which went well. They were really short and he basically just asked how we were doing and what we were working on. Then Saturday night was sister Cherry's baptism. Overall, the baptism went really well, and the Spirit was really strong, but there were some things that could have been better. lol. First of all, it takes like two hours to fill up the font, and we are in charge of doing that. So we got there around 4 to clean it out and to start filling it. And while it was filling we would just check it every few mins. There isnt really too much to do while its filling because we have to stay at the church while it is filling. But anyway, somehow we kind of lost track of time, and we walk in to the font, and it had flooded all over the carpet. There was like an inch of water on the carpet. lol. And the baptism started in like twenty minutes. It was pretty bad, somehow the drains on the side of the font (which are there to drain the water so it doesn't overflow) were clogged and the water got everywhere. So we immediately started mopping it up and drying it with paper towels. And then people started showing up which didnt help. But we called the branch president and he knew someone with a wet/dry vacuum and so we were able to use that to vacuum most of the water. So it really wasn't that bad but it was a good story for the journal. lol. And then the baptism took like an hour and a half and they are only supposed to be 30-40 mins. People kept getting up to say stuff. And one guy started talking about how science is discovering other universes and how soon people will be able to be invisible and how that relates to the fact that science is catching up to religion. lol. I was confused. But I'm not complaining cause the baptism was great. There were just some funny memorable stories that happened. And like i said the spirit was really strong and afterwards sister cherry said that she "had never felt like this in her whole life" and she said that she felt like she "had been looking for this feeling her whole life." It was cool to hear. And then on Sunday we confirmed her. The branch president (President Pettaway) did the confirmation but we were all standing it and right after it Sister cherry gathered us three missionaries all in and hugged us. So Saturday and Sunday were pretty neat days that I will remember. And I'm looking forward to having more highlights throughout my mission too.
Well I think that's about it. It was a good week. Oh and I did not get transferred. Elder Carter is heading to a city called Poquoson. But Elder Comer and I are staying and we are getting a new missionary named Elder Beckman. We should see him tomorrow. So that'll be good. And one transfer is already done. :)
Thanks again for the letters and emails. I enjoy them. I'm glad you had a good birthday mom and you all had a fun weekend. Thanks for the prayers. I love you.
Elder Larson
Friday, August 14, 2009
Aug 12 Letter
Hey mom and dad,
I am doing great! Yeah, we do have a very small branch. I counted once all the people in sacrament meeting and it was like 30. Which sounds alot bigger than it really is. But everyone is really nice and they all love the missionaries. And the we are in charge of teaching the gospel doctrine class, and sometimes the priesthood lesson. So yeah we do get to do our share of work. And when I taught the gospel doctrine class there were like 5 people in the class. lol.
Thats really neat you get to meet with all the general authorities. I agree, it is so cool to be in the presence of a general authority. They always have a strong presence about them. I'm sorry about sister campbell and your bike. Thats too bad. I don't need a lock for mine, it came with one. Thanks though. But one thing I've noticed is you can never have enough ties or socks here.
Everything is going well here though. The work is going well. There are a couple of baptisms happening this weekend in our district that we are plannig on attending. And we are still set to have one on the 22nd. Hopefully we will have more set up soon. And transfers are coming up pretty quick too. Next week is our last full week. I hope I stay where I am at though, I really like it here and my companions. I'm sure something will change though. And lets see, last Wednesday after we were done emailing I went and got my Virginia's driver license. Everything went smoothly with that. But right now I am only riding bikes. Oh and yesterday it was so hot. It was like 115 with the heat index. I was so sweaty lol. And every appointment we would go to people would give us water bottles and you drink the water bottles like they are small galsses of water, just a nice little drink, cause you sweat so much.
Last Wednesday night we had like an hour left and we didnt have an appointment so were about to start knocking doors. And we had jsut got done with an appointment and a storm had started moving in. And there was lots of lightning but it was really raining too much. So we weren't sure what to do, cause a little rain is nothing but we didn't want to be dumb and be in the middle of a lightning storm, cause you could see the lighting hitting the ground a mile or two away. So anyway, we weren't sure what to do, but we decided to start knocking until it got worse, but right as we started a guy came outside his house, and yelled to us. And he said, "Hey do you guys want to come inside?" So obviously we were said yeah :) and we went inside. We started talking to him and he asked us what we do and we told him and then he told us that he never lets people in his house but he had a feeling he should invite us in. :) So we gave him a book of mormon and we read from it and taught him the Restoration. It was a good lesson and he was really interested. :) But we haven't gotten to see him since cause he works a ton. But it was a really neat story how we found him and I know the Lord was rewarding us for being diligent. :)
Then Thursday we had a zone conference with the mission president and the zone. It went well. He told us we need to wake up, step up, toughen up, grow up, and measure up. So he wants us to work hard. :) And our companionship got to do a role play in fornt of the zone. We role played teaching a member the principle of obedience. I used the scriptures Helaman 10:4-5 and used the example of Nephi. It went really well. I was happy about it.
And that night we had dinner with President Pettaway, the branch president. It was a great dinner and he makes amzing shrimp. lol. It really was so good. Apparently once he ate shrimp so much trying to perfect his recipe he lost his gall bladder. lol. But he is a really nice guy and I like him alot. He visited Clara with us (the lady set for baptism on the 22nd) and she is really excited to be baptized. She has to make it to church this Sunday to be baptized on the 22nd but she said no matter what, if she misses church, she is going to be baptized at some time. :) And she has some health concerns so its somewhat likely she could miss church.
And sundays are the best. All while I was growing up I thought Sundays were the worst day of the week but now they are my favorite cause you get to come home from church feeling great. We call them spiritual boost days. Well, Im doing great. Thanks for the emails and the letters. I always like reading your response to my emails. :) Well have a great day and week. All of you are in my prayers everyday. I love you.
Elder Larson
I am doing great! Yeah, we do have a very small branch. I counted once all the people in sacrament meeting and it was like 30. Which sounds alot bigger than it really is. But everyone is really nice and they all love the missionaries. And the we are in charge of teaching the gospel doctrine class, and sometimes the priesthood lesson. So yeah we do get to do our share of work. And when I taught the gospel doctrine class there were like 5 people in the class. lol.
Thats really neat you get to meet with all the general authorities. I agree, it is so cool to be in the presence of a general authority. They always have a strong presence about them. I'm sorry about sister campbell and your bike. Thats too bad. I don't need a lock for mine, it came with one. Thanks though. But one thing I've noticed is you can never have enough ties or socks here.
Everything is going well here though. The work is going well. There are a couple of baptisms happening this weekend in our district that we are plannig on attending. And we are still set to have one on the 22nd. Hopefully we will have more set up soon. And transfers are coming up pretty quick too. Next week is our last full week. I hope I stay where I am at though, I really like it here and my companions. I'm sure something will change though. And lets see, last Wednesday after we were done emailing I went and got my Virginia's driver license. Everything went smoothly with that. But right now I am only riding bikes. Oh and yesterday it was so hot. It was like 115 with the heat index. I was so sweaty lol. And every appointment we would go to people would give us water bottles and you drink the water bottles like they are small galsses of water, just a nice little drink, cause you sweat so much.
Last Wednesday night we had like an hour left and we didnt have an appointment so were about to start knocking doors. And we had jsut got done with an appointment and a storm had started moving in. And there was lots of lightning but it was really raining too much. So we weren't sure what to do, cause a little rain is nothing but we didn't want to be dumb and be in the middle of a lightning storm, cause you could see the lighting hitting the ground a mile or two away. So anyway, we weren't sure what to do, but we decided to start knocking until it got worse, but right as we started a guy came outside his house, and yelled to us. And he said, "Hey do you guys want to come inside?" So obviously we were said yeah :) and we went inside. We started talking to him and he asked us what we do and we told him and then he told us that he never lets people in his house but he had a feeling he should invite us in. :) So we gave him a book of mormon and we read from it and taught him the Restoration. It was a good lesson and he was really interested. :) But we haven't gotten to see him since cause he works a ton. But it was a really neat story how we found him and I know the Lord was rewarding us for being diligent. :)
Then Thursday we had a zone conference with the mission president and the zone. It went well. He told us we need to wake up, step up, toughen up, grow up, and measure up. So he wants us to work hard. :) And our companionship got to do a role play in fornt of the zone. We role played teaching a member the principle of obedience. I used the scriptures Helaman 10:4-5 and used the example of Nephi. It went really well. I was happy about it.
And that night we had dinner with President Pettaway, the branch president. It was a great dinner and he makes amzing shrimp. lol. It really was so good. Apparently once he ate shrimp so much trying to perfect his recipe he lost his gall bladder. lol. But he is a really nice guy and I like him alot. He visited Clara with us (the lady set for baptism on the 22nd) and she is really excited to be baptized. She has to make it to church this Sunday to be baptized on the 22nd but she said no matter what, if she misses church, she is going to be baptized at some time. :) And she has some health concerns so its somewhat likely she could miss church.
And sundays are the best. All while I was growing up I thought Sundays were the worst day of the week but now they are my favorite cause you get to come home from church feeling great. We call them spiritual boost days. Well, Im doing great. Thanks for the emails and the letters. I always like reading your response to my emails. :) Well have a great day and week. All of you are in my prayers everyday. I love you.
Elder Larson
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
5 Aug 2009
Hey,
First I'll reply to your email so I don't forget to do that. That's exciting to hear about Kyle Baird. He's going to love it. And Ill keep an eye out for those sister missionaries. President Millburn said the Virginia mission is increasing in size so its cool to see so many people being sent here. They'll love it. :) My bike came with two extra tubes and tools for all the bolts and stuff but it doesn't have a repair kit. But I can get one for cheap at walmart though so I don't think you need to worry about it.
Yeah we are still in a 3some. transfers are near the end of August so things could change then. We'll see. And yeah they are great companions. They are both really good at teaching and talking to people. And they are nice and fun to be with. WE are good friends. So things are going well. We don't have any real cool stories this week though.
Oh but here's a funny story. Yesterday we knocked on this lady's door. We tell her who we are and stuff and we ask her we can teach her. And she says, "Well actually I'm kind of busy right now." So we are like ok, when is a better time? And she is like, "Well actually... I'm atheist." And we laughed and were like oh ok, well just out of curiosity, why are you atheist? And then she was like, "Well actually I just don't want to be Mormon." lol. We were laughing, and we were like, next time, just tell us your not interested. lol. It was funny.
oh and Elder Carter is from Colorada and elder Comer is from Utah.
I'm sorry church is stressful. But I'm sure you can handle it. :) I guess my only advice is to remember the Lord gave us a brain so we can think for our selves and he is not going to give us the answer to every question.
I'm glad you had fun camping. That sounded fun.
Well things are going well here. I'm trying to think of whats been going on. We found this one guy named Vernon. Whenever we get media referrals (when someone orders a dvd or BOM or something) we tract around the area because often times we are sent to an area and not a specific person. So we were tracting around the house and we ran into this guy named Vernon. He is an ex-marine who just got out of jail for the last 6 yrs. Idk what for though. But he also used to be a pastor but he wants to find a different church. So we have been teaching him and having him read out of the BOM and he really likes it. He also reads alot more than we ask him too. :) He wants to come to church too but hasn't yet because his wife had to work and he wants to go with her. So he is a pretty solid investigator so far. :)
And on the 3rd it was Elder Carters birthday as well as Annette's and Presidents Grimes. Happy Birthday by the way. :) So on the 3rd there was a birthday party (well we had cake and ice cream and then taught a lesson) for Elder Carter and me so that was fun. They had a cake with both of our names on it and wrote us each a card. So that made me really happy. :)
Well I have to go. I'm sending a memory card with pictures on it in the mail today. So you should get those soon. :) Thanks for the mail and emails.
Love Elder Larson
First I'll reply to your email so I don't forget to do that. That's exciting to hear about Kyle Baird. He's going to love it. And Ill keep an eye out for those sister missionaries. President Millburn said the Virginia mission is increasing in size so its cool to see so many people being sent here. They'll love it. :) My bike came with two extra tubes and tools for all the bolts and stuff but it doesn't have a repair kit. But I can get one for cheap at walmart though so I don't think you need to worry about it.
Yeah we are still in a 3some. transfers are near the end of August so things could change then. We'll see. And yeah they are great companions. They are both really good at teaching and talking to people. And they are nice and fun to be with. WE are good friends. So things are going well. We don't have any real cool stories this week though.
Oh but here's a funny story. Yesterday we knocked on this lady's door. We tell her who we are and stuff and we ask her we can teach her. And she says, "Well actually I'm kind of busy right now." So we are like ok, when is a better time? And she is like, "Well actually... I'm atheist." And we laughed and were like oh ok, well just out of curiosity, why are you atheist? And then she was like, "Well actually I just don't want to be Mormon." lol. We were laughing, and we were like, next time, just tell us your not interested. lol. It was funny.
oh and Elder Carter is from Colorada and elder Comer is from Utah.
I'm sorry church is stressful. But I'm sure you can handle it. :) I guess my only advice is to remember the Lord gave us a brain so we can think for our selves and he is not going to give us the answer to every question.
I'm glad you had fun camping. That sounded fun.
Well things are going well here. I'm trying to think of whats been going on. We found this one guy named Vernon. Whenever we get media referrals (when someone orders a dvd or BOM or something) we tract around the area because often times we are sent to an area and not a specific person. So we were tracting around the house and we ran into this guy named Vernon. He is an ex-marine who just got out of jail for the last 6 yrs. Idk what for though. But he also used to be a pastor but he wants to find a different church. So we have been teaching him and having him read out of the BOM and he really likes it. He also reads alot more than we ask him too. :) He wants to come to church too but hasn't yet because his wife had to work and he wants to go with her. So he is a pretty solid investigator so far. :)
And on the 3rd it was Elder Carters birthday as well as Annette's and Presidents Grimes. Happy Birthday by the way. :) So on the 3rd there was a birthday party (well we had cake and ice cream and then taught a lesson) for Elder Carter and me so that was fun. They had a cake with both of our names on it and wrote us each a card. So that made me really happy. :)
Well I have to go. I'm sending a memory card with pictures on it in the mail today. So you should get those soon. :) Thanks for the mail and emails.
Love Elder Larson
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Hey,
Well its my pday so I get to write emails again. :) I'm doing great. On Friday we had a zone conference thing where we met as a Zone and talked about some things. Nothing really too interesting. As always, we get told to be obedient and to not get discouraged, etc. But it was a good meeting.
Then on Saturday we got to have the baptism. It went great and the Spirit was really strong. And there were investigators there too that got to see it. One of the investigators that we are teaching was there and after the baptism there was a cookout, and he told us at the cookout that he wanted to get baptized. But there are a few things he needs to clear up beforehand but it was great to see him decide to change. And it was neat to see how happy george was. The water in the font was pretty hot and after the baptism he bore his testimony, and he said, "When I first got in the water, the water was hot, an I felt like a lobster, but then...it was cool and I didnt feel any pain. I just felt good." I wish you could hear him say because it was pretty funny the way he said but but it was neat to hear too. And then he also talked about how before the missionaries came he never smiled, and then after the first time he said his smile got a little bigger and he pointed on his face to show how big it was, and then he said now his smile is big all the time and he pointed to the top of his face and said its up to here. Lol. And then on Sunday we had church and George was confirmed.
I also got to give a talk. I gave a fifteen minute talk on the Atonement. It went good. Then after church we visited this lady Clara. We have taught her the first two lessons and she is like 85 years old. So this time we asked her to be baptized and she said she wanted to be. And she loves the Book of Mormon. She reads it all the time. So we are planning on baptizing her on the 22nd of August. So its been a pretty neat couple of weeks that I've been here so far.
Yesterday I got to go on exchanges for the day with another set of companions. So I slept at there apt monday night and spent the day with them on tuesday. It was fine. It was basically just the same as normal except I didn't know any of the people we taught.
Yes it is always really hot here. Its in the nineties here too. Yesterday was like 94. You get used to being drenched in sweat and having your clothes just stick to you. Lol.
.......
I got my new bike on monday. As expensive as it was, I have to say it is a super nice bike. I really like it. It rides so smooth, and it shifts so smoothly too. And it maintains its speed alot better too. So I really like it and so do Elder Carter and Elder Comer.
Well I can't think of anything else to write. I hope as always you guys are doing well and that Moses Lake was fun. I'm working on getting pictures. Ill for sure send some by next wednesday. Thanks for the emails and the letters. I love getting them.
LoveElder Larson
Well its my pday so I get to write emails again. :) I'm doing great. On Friday we had a zone conference thing where we met as a Zone and talked about some things. Nothing really too interesting. As always, we get told to be obedient and to not get discouraged, etc. But it was a good meeting.
Then on Saturday we got to have the baptism. It went great and the Spirit was really strong. And there were investigators there too that got to see it. One of the investigators that we are teaching was there and after the baptism there was a cookout, and he told us at the cookout that he wanted to get baptized. But there are a few things he needs to clear up beforehand but it was great to see him decide to change. And it was neat to see how happy george was. The water in the font was pretty hot and after the baptism he bore his testimony, and he said, "When I first got in the water, the water was hot, an I felt like a lobster, but then...it was cool and I didnt feel any pain. I just felt good." I wish you could hear him say because it was pretty funny the way he said but but it was neat to hear too. And then he also talked about how before the missionaries came he never smiled, and then after the first time he said his smile got a little bigger and he pointed on his face to show how big it was, and then he said now his smile is big all the time and he pointed to the top of his face and said its up to here. Lol. And then on Sunday we had church and George was confirmed.
I also got to give a talk. I gave a fifteen minute talk on the Atonement. It went good. Then after church we visited this lady Clara. We have taught her the first two lessons and she is like 85 years old. So this time we asked her to be baptized and she said she wanted to be. And she loves the Book of Mormon. She reads it all the time. So we are planning on baptizing her on the 22nd of August. So its been a pretty neat couple of weeks that I've been here so far.
Yesterday I got to go on exchanges for the day with another set of companions. So I slept at there apt monday night and spent the day with them on tuesday. It was fine. It was basically just the same as normal except I didn't know any of the people we taught.
Yes it is always really hot here. Its in the nineties here too. Yesterday was like 94. You get used to being drenched in sweat and having your clothes just stick to you. Lol.
.......
I got my new bike on monday. As expensive as it was, I have to say it is a super nice bike. I really like it. It rides so smooth, and it shifts so smoothly too. And it maintains its speed alot better too. So I really like it and so do Elder Carter and Elder Comer.
Well I can't think of anything else to write. I hope as always you guys are doing well and that Moses Lake was fun. I'm working on getting pictures. Ill for sure send some by next wednesday. Thanks for the emails and the letters. I love getting them.
LoveElder Larson
Thursday, July 23, 2009
July 22, 2009
Hey
I hope everything is going well back in Spokane. I feel like it has been forever since I last emailed. My last week MTC was good. To be honest it feels like a really long time ago and my whole stay there just seems like one big blur. But I do remember that we did some more practice teaching on thursday. We taught the Plan of Salvation to a volunteer investigator and it went well. Then on Sunday our District sang in sacrament meeting because we were departing that week. We sang hymn 264 Hark all ye nations. And every Sunday night is movie night so they show a bunch of movies in different rooms. Elder Shelley and I watched the Joseph Smith Movie. I really like that movie.
And then on Tuesday 6 of the ten Elders in our district left for the field. They are going to Everett Washington actually. So Tuesday was kind of a long, nastalgic day because there were only four of us and it was jsut weird to be the only ones. But then Wednesday morning we got up at 3am to start heading to the airport. It kind of stunk I felt a little sick and didnt really sleep that night and it mad the airplane rides kind of miserable. But I'm fine and I'm not sick at all anymore. But when we got off the plane our mission president was waiting for us along with all the AP's. He took us to the Mission Home and we spent the night here. And yeah it is really humid here but I think I am already pretty used to it because I really dont feel it anymore. But I did when i first got here. It felt like going into a sauna. And there are so many trees here. There main roads remind me of driving to Zions camp or something because it always feels like you are in the middle of a forest. There are just so many trees and it sounds like being in a forest too.
And then the next morning we went to the transfer meeting. I met my new companiions. They actually put us in a threesome. There are alot of groups of three because there are not a whole lot of members down here and there is a rule that we can only teach a female once and then any time after that you would have to bring another melchizidek priesthood holder. Well with 3 of us we kind of bypass that rule because we always have an extra person. My companions names are Elder Carter and Elder Comer. They are really nice, and they have not been out too long either. Elder Carter is starting his 3rd transfer and Elder Comer is on his 4th. So we are all pretty new, well me especially, but they are good missionaries and i feel like I am learning alot from them.
Our area is called the Newport News. Its according to them, the most ghetto area of the mission. So you see alot of small and poor houses but everyone here is really nice. And pretty much everyone is black. And they always sit out on their porch, probably a third of the houses we pass have someone sitting on the porch. Its different than in Spokane. And we are in a biking area so we always pass people sitting out there and get to talk to them. We actually have one investigator who is planning on being baptized this Saturday. His name is George Weeks. He is so excited and he loves seeing us and talking to us. Its cool.
So the second day I was here, Thursday, there was a huge rain storm. It rained so much really fast. So we started to head back to our apartment but by the time we got there the rain on the street was too deep to ride our bikes. At one point it was up to my knees. So that was a cool little adventure. Luckily I had extra shoes and pants and everything though. On sunday we had church. We got four investigators to come to church which was exciting. We were hoping and planning for up to 7 though. And its jsut a branch here. There were only about 30 members in the whole chapel. Which is tiny. And its funny, starting on time here as about as important as ending on time is in Spokane. We started like ten mins late. Sacrament was good though and then Elder Carter and I taught Gospel Doctrine. Our lesson was on how God answers prayers and we asked if anyone had examples to share of how God answers prayers and everyone did. Even the investigators. They did so good. We ended up just spending the whole lesson time sharing examples of God answering prayers. It was a good lesson and the Spirit was there. And then priesthood was good. The entire priesthood (all ages) its like twelve people and so we have priesthood on the stands behind the pulpit in the chapel. We talked about charity from the Joseph Smith book.
And everything else has been good. We have taught alot of lessons that have went well. We have done alot of tracting too. To be honest I don't see why everyone thinks tracting is so bad. I think its exciting because you never know what type of person you are going to run in too. But maybe that just because I am new. We haven't really gotten any doors slammed on us lol, but we have seen some rude people. I just think its funny when people do that too us though. This one lady saw us approaching the door and we scared her half to death. She yelled a bad word really loud too. it was funny.
Well my time is pretty much up. I think I've shared everything thats been happening. If not I'll send it in a letter later today.... Well tell everyone I am doing good. I hope you guys are all doing good too. I love you.
LoveElder Larson
I hope everything is going well back in Spokane. I feel like it has been forever since I last emailed. My last week MTC was good. To be honest it feels like a really long time ago and my whole stay there just seems like one big blur. But I do remember that we did some more practice teaching on thursday. We taught the Plan of Salvation to a volunteer investigator and it went well. Then on Sunday our District sang in sacrament meeting because we were departing that week. We sang hymn 264 Hark all ye nations. And every Sunday night is movie night so they show a bunch of movies in different rooms. Elder Shelley and I watched the Joseph Smith Movie. I really like that movie.
And then on Tuesday 6 of the ten Elders in our district left for the field. They are going to Everett Washington actually. So Tuesday was kind of a long, nastalgic day because there were only four of us and it was jsut weird to be the only ones. But then Wednesday morning we got up at 3am to start heading to the airport. It kind of stunk I felt a little sick and didnt really sleep that night and it mad the airplane rides kind of miserable. But I'm fine and I'm not sick at all anymore. But when we got off the plane our mission president was waiting for us along with all the AP's. He took us to the Mission Home and we spent the night here. And yeah it is really humid here but I think I am already pretty used to it because I really dont feel it anymore. But I did when i first got here. It felt like going into a sauna. And there are so many trees here. There main roads remind me of driving to Zions camp or something because it always feels like you are in the middle of a forest. There are just so many trees and it sounds like being in a forest too.
And then the next morning we went to the transfer meeting. I met my new companiions. They actually put us in a threesome. There are alot of groups of three because there are not a whole lot of members down here and there is a rule that we can only teach a female once and then any time after that you would have to bring another melchizidek priesthood holder. Well with 3 of us we kind of bypass that rule because we always have an extra person. My companions names are Elder Carter and Elder Comer. They are really nice, and they have not been out too long either. Elder Carter is starting his 3rd transfer and Elder Comer is on his 4th. So we are all pretty new, well me especially, but they are good missionaries and i feel like I am learning alot from them.
Our area is called the Newport News. Its according to them, the most ghetto area of the mission. So you see alot of small and poor houses but everyone here is really nice. And pretty much everyone is black. And they always sit out on their porch, probably a third of the houses we pass have someone sitting on the porch. Its different than in Spokane. And we are in a biking area so we always pass people sitting out there and get to talk to them. We actually have one investigator who is planning on being baptized this Saturday. His name is George Weeks. He is so excited and he loves seeing us and talking to us. Its cool.
So the second day I was here, Thursday, there was a huge rain storm. It rained so much really fast. So we started to head back to our apartment but by the time we got there the rain on the street was too deep to ride our bikes. At one point it was up to my knees. So that was a cool little adventure. Luckily I had extra shoes and pants and everything though. On sunday we had church. We got four investigators to come to church which was exciting. We were hoping and planning for up to 7 though. And its jsut a branch here. There were only about 30 members in the whole chapel. Which is tiny. And its funny, starting on time here as about as important as ending on time is in Spokane. We started like ten mins late. Sacrament was good though and then Elder Carter and I taught Gospel Doctrine. Our lesson was on how God answers prayers and we asked if anyone had examples to share of how God answers prayers and everyone did. Even the investigators. They did so good. We ended up just spending the whole lesson time sharing examples of God answering prayers. It was a good lesson and the Spirit was there. And then priesthood was good. The entire priesthood (all ages) its like twelve people and so we have priesthood on the stands behind the pulpit in the chapel. We talked about charity from the Joseph Smith book.
And everything else has been good. We have taught alot of lessons that have went well. We have done alot of tracting too. To be honest I don't see why everyone thinks tracting is so bad. I think its exciting because you never know what type of person you are going to run in too. But maybe that just because I am new. We haven't really gotten any doors slammed on us lol, but we have seen some rude people. I just think its funny when people do that too us though. This one lady saw us approaching the door and we scared her half to death. She yelled a bad word really loud too. it was funny.
Well my time is pretty much up. I think I've shared everything thats been happening. If not I'll send it in a letter later today.... Well tell everyone I am doing good. I hope you guys are all doing good too. I love you.
LoveElder Larson
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Jordan's Latest Letter
Hey,
I have another Preparation day so I can email again. We just got back from the temple. It was great, as always. Tell James congratulations on his eagle court of honor and tell him happy Birthday. I just got the invitiation for the Eagle Court of honor today. They look good. Tell Spencer happy birthday too please, and that I wish I could have been there to see it.
Well dad, you were right. You do do alot of teaching here. Every Monday and Thursday we teach members who volunteer at whats called the TRC to be an investigator for us to practice teaching on. And those investigators really know how to ask good questions. To be honest there were a couple of times where Elder Shelley and I were stumped and really didn't know what to say. But, it has helped us learn what we need to learn and it has helped us learn how to teach. It has also really helped us learn to rely on our testimonies. I don't know how you could possibly teach someone the Gospel without a testimony. Well I guess thats cause you can't. But we have gotten alot better at our teaching and our teacher said that we are doing a good job and that we are being good about being bold. So that made me happy. And on the days that we are not teaching someone at the TRC we are usually practicing on other missionary companionships. So we have done lots of teaching. We have also been singing in the choir, LOL. Mostly so we dont have to wait in line for the devotionals, and we can get guaranteed good seats. So thats worked out nice. I'm glad you guys had a fun fourth of July. I'm sure the Pugh's cabin was fun. We got to watch fireworks but to be honest watching them just made me miss home a little bit. But I was fine. Actually I'm liking it here more and more everyday. I'm not sure I want to leave. The Spirit is so strong here everyday and as much as I feel like i have gotten better at teaching, I am still a little nervous about teaching real investigators. But I know I will do great. It's cool there are ten missionaries in my district, and 6 of them are going to Everett Washington. The rest of us are going to Virginia. And I said hi to a new missionary who came in today and asked him where he was going and he said Spokane washington. But I didnt get his name. so there are alot of missionaries coming to Washington. We leave for Virginia on Wednesday at like 7 in the morning. Oh and when we leave I will get a new address which is:Elder Jordan Rex LarsonVirginia Richmond Mission9327 Midlothian Tpke Ste 1-bRichmond, Virginia, 23235-4944
I also got my second Hepatitis shot today. It cost 56 dollars. I paid for it, but I should be able to be reimbursed by the insurance. They are going to get me a sheet that I can send home to give to the insurance. I have to get my third Hep B shot in the Field around October. Also, if its not too late, please deposit my check from the County into my Money Market account because it makes better interest. But its not that big of deal cause the interest is so low. Well I hope everything is going well for you guys. Sounds like the High Adventure was fun. Thanks for all the letters you send. Getting letters really is great when you are a missionary. Tell everyone that asks about me that I am doing great, and thanks for thinking about me. Well my time is up. I love you all. Thanks again for the letters and everything. Have a good day week and enjoy this email. Bye
Love,Elder Larson
I have another Preparation day so I can email again. We just got back from the temple. It was great, as always. Tell James congratulations on his eagle court of honor and tell him happy Birthday. I just got the invitiation for the Eagle Court of honor today. They look good. Tell Spencer happy birthday too please, and that I wish I could have been there to see it.
Well dad, you were right. You do do alot of teaching here. Every Monday and Thursday we teach members who volunteer at whats called the TRC to be an investigator for us to practice teaching on. And those investigators really know how to ask good questions. To be honest there were a couple of times where Elder Shelley and I were stumped and really didn't know what to say. But, it has helped us learn what we need to learn and it has helped us learn how to teach. It has also really helped us learn to rely on our testimonies. I don't know how you could possibly teach someone the Gospel without a testimony. Well I guess thats cause you can't. But we have gotten alot better at our teaching and our teacher said that we are doing a good job and that we are being good about being bold. So that made me happy. And on the days that we are not teaching someone at the TRC we are usually practicing on other missionary companionships. So we have done lots of teaching. We have also been singing in the choir, LOL. Mostly so we dont have to wait in line for the devotionals, and we can get guaranteed good seats. So thats worked out nice. I'm glad you guys had a fun fourth of July. I'm sure the Pugh's cabin was fun. We got to watch fireworks but to be honest watching them just made me miss home a little bit. But I was fine. Actually I'm liking it here more and more everyday. I'm not sure I want to leave. The Spirit is so strong here everyday and as much as I feel like i have gotten better at teaching, I am still a little nervous about teaching real investigators. But I know I will do great. It's cool there are ten missionaries in my district, and 6 of them are going to Everett Washington. The rest of us are going to Virginia. And I said hi to a new missionary who came in today and asked him where he was going and he said Spokane washington. But I didnt get his name. so there are alot of missionaries coming to Washington. We leave for Virginia on Wednesday at like 7 in the morning. Oh and when we leave I will get a new address which is:Elder Jordan Rex LarsonVirginia Richmond Mission9327 Midlothian Tpke Ste 1-bRichmond, Virginia, 23235-4944
I also got my second Hepatitis shot today. It cost 56 dollars. I paid for it, but I should be able to be reimbursed by the insurance. They are going to get me a sheet that I can send home to give to the insurance. I have to get my third Hep B shot in the Field around October. Also, if its not too late, please deposit my check from the County into my Money Market account because it makes better interest. But its not that big of deal cause the interest is so low. Well I hope everything is going well for you guys. Sounds like the High Adventure was fun. Thanks for all the letters you send. Getting letters really is great when you are a missionary. Tell everyone that asks about me that I am doing great, and thanks for thinking about me. Well my time is up. I love you all. Thanks again for the letters and everything. Have a good day week and enjoy this email. Bye
Love,Elder Larson
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