Nov 29th 2010 Picture explanations

I forgot to write about the pictures again. The first one is with us and Joe before his baptism. The next one was fun one. One of our investogators gave us a turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing and lots of stuff so we could cook our own thankgiving meal. We still have left over turkey from the Sly's, and now we have a whole turkey for ourselves we get to eat. Our turkey turned out pretty good, it was very tender but not very much flavor. It was good though. The next two pictures are of me grabbing Elder Orullians flags and taking him down. The elders from our neighboring ward played in our turkey bowl. And then the last picture is me and Elder Haley.

Nov 29th 2010

Hey,

Well we have had an excellent week. Things have gone really good. I am feeling much better and I got better just in time to play in the turkey bowl and have alot of fun. I had a couple touchdowns and an interception which was fun. We played flag football with socks as the flags. Then we had a great thanksgiving dinner at the Sly's. It was fun. The food was great and we just had a fun time laughing together and we played some games. Then we decided to watch a movie called suits on the loose which is about a couple of prisoners who take over some missionaries and then to hide their identity they pretend to be the missionaries and they go to church and everything and pretend to teach people the gospel by the spirit. It was an alright movie. We had to get permission to watch it though cause it is not an official church movie and so Brother Sly called President Perry and he just started talking about how such great missionaries we are and gave us compliments I didnt feel we deserved at all, but then President Perry said yes we could watch it and he thanked Brother Sly for feeding us.

So that was fun, and thanksgiving definitely went by too fast. We did not really feel at the time like going back to work at all cause it was such a nice little vacation. But we did. So then on Saturday we had Joe's baptismal interview. I was nervous. But he passed! I was so happy for him. It was such a relief and blessing. He was ready to be baptized and he was. The interview was on Saturday and we went to go and visit him Friday night and when we left he said a very heartfelt prayer asking God to let him become a mormon and to become a member of His "true and authentic chruch." His prayer was answered. So he was baptized Saturday by Brother Sly and then confirmed yesterday, and is excited to get a calling.

Then Sunday night we had anxiety attacks. We didnt know what was going to happen for transfers. To our great surprise and happiness which I think is what I said six weeks ago, we are both staying again!! And the sisters are both staying as well. Its crazy. But I am very happy about it. So Happy. I get to be here for Christmas and New Years which is coming very fast. I am very excited to call you all.

Funny story: There is a less active we visit each week and we have become pretty good friends with him and we saw him early in the week last week and as we finished the lesson he was like you guys are coming over for thanksgiving right? We couldnt say no, so we figured we would just go by for a quick visit and then say we had to go somewhere else. This is a very nice man and I like him alot, but his house is not exactly the most sanitary, and I get nervous sometimes when he feeds us. We have helped him clean his kitchen a few times to keep the bacteria and cockraoaches down. Yeah cockroaches.

Anyway, so we go over around lunch time for thanksgiving and there is a nice white turkey sitting on a platter on the table. I hovered my hand over it to see if it was warm and it was. lol. So then we said the blessing and since no one knew how to cut the turkey I volunteered to do it. So I didn't know what i was doing but I just started cutting down the breast and it was not cooked at all. The top half cenimeter or so was white and the rest was untouched, it was red and bloody. I guess he thought it was precooked, (he has trouble reading), so we cut up a raw turkey. We didnt really know what to do so we ate some mashed potatoes and gravy and we just laughed about the turkey and made it funny instead of a dissappointment. Then he realized he had a deep fryer so we threw some pieces into the fryer and had fried turkey. It actually tasted really good. It was a success. And I am still alive to write this email.
I love you all and thank you for your prayers. Talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson

22 Nov 2010

Hey,

Well this has been a pretty good week. It has been kind of bogged down because I have been pretty sick this weekend and before I got sick I got in a wreck. I was due for one I guess. That was on tuesday and the way it happened was Elder Haley and I borrowed some rakes from a member so we could help a lady rake her yard. And so we were riding on our bikes with the rakes across the handlebars and so the rake was sticking out kind of far to the side and mine got caught on a telephone pole and yanked my handlebars around and I fell. The handle bars hit my leg too so I have a nasty bruise on my thigh about the size of a grapefruit. But I am fine, and grateful that nothing worse happened. I also cracked the rake which I kind of felt bad about, but we still raked the yard. And then both me and Elder Haley got kind of sick with just a cold this weekend. I got it alot worse I have just stayed in bed the past couple days and hopefully I will get better soon. But besides that things are going well. I am very excited for Thanksgiving. We are going to the Sly's, which we have alot of fun at. They invite us and the Sisters over alot to correlate and it is probably our favorite place to go. Yesterday they had us over for a goodbye party for Brother Dontje. He is going to Pennsylvania for a job interview and will stay there if he can get the job, but if that doesnt work out he is going to move back to Georgia with family. He looked really hard for a job here because he wanted to stay in Hampton, but he just couldnt get one. I will miss him. We met with him once or twice a week and he is funny, and very smart, and he has a very strong testimony. Yesterday he taught the Elders Quorum class and did a great lesson on Home Teaching and he doesnt even know completely what it is. It was so cool to watch him teach. I loved it. He did so well and and bore a strong testimony. He has so much faith and knows that the Lord is guiding him. I am sure things will work out for him. Joe is doing well. Some very kind members of the ward bought him a white shirt and ties, pants and socks for him to where on Sunday. He looked great, and ready to get the priesthood. We have been meeting with him and this week we went over the baptismal interview questions and he knows them all and is converted to live them. So we are hoping he can pass the probation part of his interview. I dont know enough about probation or abotu the church's stance on it to know how likely it will be. If all goes well, he will be baptized on Saturday! Alison, the lady we met at the bus stop, she is doing pretty well. She got baptized last weekend and confirmed, and she came to church with us yesterday because she moved back into our ward. She is hard though because she is very needy and struggles with alot of depression and from not ever feeling loved her whole life. It makes it very hard for her to trust anyone. But this ward excels at fellowshipping and expressing love so she will be alright as long as she continues ot choose the right as best she can. And we will help her as much as we can too.

Well some other things are President Perry is awesome. He has encouraged missionaries to play in their ward's turkey bowl. I am super excited about that because we have a great elder's quorum. I was worried he was not gonig to let us, but he said go ahead. Hopefully I am over this sickness by then. Also, missionaries are getting texting. I was very surprised to hear that. I really didnt think that would ever happen, but it is part of the church's push to use technology more and more for missionary work. It is just crazy to me to think about missionaries texting each other, but it is going to happen. President Perry is extremely trusting, which I really like but sometimes I wonder if other missionaries take advantage of it. Also Happy Birthday Kyle. Next week we have transfer calls which I am basically dreading. I remember it was kind of hard when I first got here because we opened the area up and didnt know anyone, but now I love this area more than anything and the ward, and I dont want to leave. I just dont want anything to change. I want it all to stay the same for Christmas but change is always so inevitable and never seems to work out quite the way we want it too. But, it is good for us, especially me cause i dont like it, so whatever happens I will just keep working hard, and I will probably end up liking the next situation just as much as I like where I am at now.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving! Tell Aunt Linda and Uncle Dave and Makenna hi. I love you.

Love,
Elder Larson

8 Nov 2010

Hey,

We are doing well. Ethan''s baptism was great Saturday. There was a very strong spirit and many people showed up. I got to give a talk on the Holy Ghost and Elder Haley baptized him. After the baptism a bunch of people bore their testimony while Elder Haley and Ethan were changing which really brought a strong sprit. For the closing song we sang when I am baptized which sealed the deal. Then his family came to church yesteray and he was confirmed. Now we want to start teaching his 14 year old brother. Well Joe and Allison are doing well. Allison actually moved so she is not in our ward anymore she found some family in the live near Hampton that she is staying with. She is still just as excited about the gospel though and made sure we had no plans this Saturdayevening so we could come to her baptism. We told her of course we would be there. We also taught Joe yesterday, we brought a member so he can get to know the ward a little better. We had a good lesson and talked more about the plan of salvation. He is learning well and receiving well and is gaining a testimony more and more as he comes to chruch and listens to us. We are being blessed. Brother Dontje and Andrew White are also doing great. They have both been coming every sunday and they both just got made as teachers in the Elders Quorum which is sweet. Brother Dontje couldnt believe it but he will do great because he knows the Bible really well and has a very strong testimony. There was kind of a funny story during the baptism. I just realized that maybe it was the Lord's hand helping things out but it was funny. Immediatly after Ethan was baptized he and Elder Haley obviously went to change. And he had on an under shirt under his jumpsuit and he was taking it off and Elder Haley said that he dropped it in the toilet. lol. But that wasnt too bad because it was already wet and he had a dry one to change into. So he came out and grabbed the dry one, and then took the dry one into the stall to put it on and then somehow he dropped it into the toilet too. lol. I laughed pretty hard when they told me about it. So he did not get to wear an undershirt after the baptism. But I think it was good because it made them take forever to change and allowed for lots of people to bear their testimony. Even after they got back people were still bearing their testimony. It was a good baptism. So I was wondering if you could pray for Brother Dontje because he is out of work and is running out of time to find a job. There is one member who is going to let him to some jobs for him until he can find a better job, and Brother Dontje has alot of faith so I am sure something will work out. But I think some extra prayers will help. Thanks.
It is definitely getting cooler here. I think I have everything I need though. I have everything I had last year. It is exciting because it makes me excited for the Holidays. Oh and the Sly's did invite us over for Thanksgiving. So we get to go there for that day! Thank you for the email.

Love,
Elder Larson

15 Nov 2010

Hey,

Well we have had a good week. Yesterday Joe came to church and we asked Bishop if he would interview joe to discuss his probation and according to bishop he is actually not on probation and can be baptized! So that is still set to happen on the 27th. Joe is doing good and has been coming to church weekly. This past week we taught him the Word of Wisdom because we figured it was time for him to start living it to prepare for his baptism. To our surprise and our joy, he has already started living it completely. So he is doing really well, and is getting to know members of the ward as well. It is pretty funny, Joe and the member he has been coming with have absolutely no idea how to read music. And they both sing pretty loud, which is a good thing but not if you are not singing the right notes. So anyway, the song in Priesthood was I Feel my Saviors Love, and they were singing it to a completely different tune. It was a really funny. When I wasnt laughing I was trying to sing them back on course but it didnt work. Some other members heard them and they thought it was funny too. Joe is funny. We have some other investigators that we have had good lessons with that I think are getting closer to baptism. One of them is a lady named Emma. She is very nice and has been learning since we got here. She goes out of town alot to visit her sister who has cancer. But anyway, we have talked to her aot about the Restoration, and right now her concern is that the having the priesthood in only one church is a limit on God, so we are trynig to explain to her somehow that it is not. That is our main concern. This week are going to try and see her with our relief society president who is a convert, and a missionary atom bomb. Some other good news is that Alison got baptized on Saturday! It was kind of crazy, but still really good. She was a bit scared to go into the water and thought it was really cold and then she was really cold afterwards although I dont why. But anyway it was good and she felt the Spirit. She felt the cleanliness that comes with baptism and there was really a strong spirit there the whole time. We found out too that she might be moving back to our ward too. So she moved away just long enough to be baptized by other missionaries. Oh well.

It makes me really happy hearing about Tavia. I brag about how you do missionary work to other missionaries. That is really exciting. I would love to see some pictures of you all. Thank you for your prayers. We are doing really well and are being blessed with the Spirit. Have a great week. I love you.

Love,
Elder Larson

Oct 25th 2010

Hey,

We are doing good in Hampton. It is beginning to cool down a lot which is exciting. I am excited for the Holidays. We have had a pretty good week. The Smiths are doing well. They got sick yesterday so they weren't able to make it to church. Missionary work is always two steps forward and one step back it seems like. But they are doing well, we had a really good lesson with them last week on tithing. I think tithing is one of the easiest things to teach because it seems like everyone has a story on how at some point in their lives they had to choose to pay their tithing over something else important, and then things worked out for them. And we went to their house with some members and they shared their testimony of tithing and it was just a good lesson and the Smiths committed to live it. We pushed their baptismal date back to Nov 6, well Ethan's date, he is the only one getting baptized right now.

We had a cool story though this week. Last year, when I was in the Newport news Branch, my first area, which is right next to Hampton, we were teaching a couple named Joe and Tammy, you may remember them, if not you can check my emails, who weren't married, but they loved the church and the members. Well, a couple weeks ago we got a call from Joe, the missionaries in the branch had given him our phone number, and the reason they gave him our phone number was because he was moving to Hampton. So he called us and we went and met with him this week. He is doing well, he is in a lot better situation then where he was at in the downtown area of Newport News, and he is no longer living with Tammy, who is in Chesepeake with her family. Anyway, to make a long story short, he wants to start coming back to church, he kind of fell through the cracks as the original missionaries who found him got transferred, but he wants to start coming back to church and we talked a lot about the atonement and how he can start over clean and he wants to be baptized. So he is getting baptized on Nov 27! Its awesome, we just keep getting blessed with people that want to be baptized! It really was a miracle that we found him too. First of all I think it was inspiration from the Lord that we stay here because Joe remembers me and I definitely remember him, and am happy to teach him again, and when we went to see him he got hung up with dinner, we had scheduled to see him at 5:30, and we waited until at 5:55 I was a little disappointed and I just kind of said darn and stood to leave, realizing that maybe it was too good to be true, and then just as I stood up he walked out, right at the last second. He was so happy we were still there and told us he was looking forward to seeing us all day, and I am very happy that for whatever reason we sat and waited for twenty five minutes, probably because we were just tired from biking and didn't feel like getting up, but anyway, it was great and for awhile we just talked with him, and he is ready to be baptized. He told us that he was already slowing down on coffee, because he knew we would be getting to that point sooner or later. So we had a great discussion with him and we read him scriptures, one scripture Elder Haley read which he really liked was Moroni 8:25-26. He thought that scripture was very powerful. Thank you for your prayers, we are being very blessed. I love you and have a good week and Halloween!

Love,
Elder Larson

18 Oct 2010

Hey,

We are doing well in Hampton. We are both staying, lol, to our surprise and to our joy. We had interviews last week and President asked us if we were doing well and if there were any conflicts or anything and he asked if we would be fine staying again, and we both said that we loved the area and then he told me he hadnt had any impressions to move us so we would probably stay again. I was happy, but still really nervous last night waiting for a call. If both missionaries are staying, they do not call you, so the night seemed to take forever and I was really wanting time to speed up and the night to get over so we wouldnt get called, eventually the end came and we never got called! So we have at least six more weeks in Hampton! I am happy about it. We know everyone in the ward so well and are good friends with them. Sometimes I just feel like a regular member. This has definitely been my favorite area. And I hope I can stay through Christmas because this area is the closest place to home that I could be. Well, we had a great weekend because Brother Dontje got baptized and confirmed also. It was a great baptism. Something I did for Brother Dontje is I made him a cd with a bunch of mormon tabernacle choir on it from my mp3 player. The first song on the cd is Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, which is my favorite song by the Choir and I wish it was in the hymnbook but it is not, but we listened to some of the cd with him and he really liked that song too, and so for the opening song to his baptism we sang come thou fount of every blessing which was pretty cool. And he already has a calling and home teachers, the ward has done great fellowshipping him, almost everyone knows him. Usually when investigators come to church we always sit with them and really make sure they feel comfortable but we don't have to worry about that with Brother Dontje he just sits wherever he wants and talks to people and the ward has welcomed him in. To continue with the baptism though, it was combined with a baptism the sisters were having for one of their investigators so there were a lot of people there, and the sisters and another elder from another area did a musical number, and then both of them were welcomed into the ward by the elders quorum president and the relief society president, and the Bishop welcomed them. So it went great and there was a strong Spirit. Brother Dontje's daughter was also there who was converted about a year ago and is how Brother Dontje became interested. So I think the night was the most memorable for them because it was really neat for her to see her father be baptized and changed and he was obviously very grateful to her for listening to the missionaries. It was cool.
Also, the Smiths came to church again yesterday. We have only been teaching Ethan and Kaya, but Sister Smith came and Ethan and Kaya brought two of their neighbor friends, and their 14 yr old brother came, although he didnt really like it. We have tried to become friends with him but I dont think he really wants to be religious, but we will keep trying. It was great to see Sister Smith there though, we told the relief society presidency who she was and they did a good job of fellowshipping her. When Sister Smith introduced herself in Gospel principles she said that they want their kids to go to church and that the missionaries have been teaching them and that they want to become active again. It was good to hear, and especially for the ward to hear because when a ward hears something like that they jump on the person, which is good. So it was good and we are being blessed very much.
Mom, thank you very much for your letter, I got it on Thursday and loved reading it. Thank you.

Well thank you for the email and the prayers. Please thank Heavenly Father for blessing Elder Haley and I. We have been blessed a lot. I will talk to you next week. I love you,

Elder Larson

Oct 11th 2010

Hey,


We are doing good in Hampton. We have transfers coming up next week. We find out this Sunday if we are leaving or staying and then thursday after next are when the transfers happen. Like last time, I think that at least one of us will be transferred but anything could happen, and also like last time I really want to stay, but whatever happens happens. We are still doing well.

Brother Dontje is doing great. He had his baptismal interview on Saturday and it was with a member of the mission presidency. He passed! So he is getting baptized this coming Saturday if all goes well at 6pm. I am pretty sure it will happen Brother dontje has a lot of faith and a strong testimony. Right now he is looking for a job and we were talking and he was saying that he knows what is going to happen. He said that right before he gets baptized he is going to get a call for a really great job opportunity and they are going to want him to come at 6 o clock, right when his baptism is. And we laughed and said that yep that probably will happen. But then he said that they would have to wait cause he is not moving his baptism. It was good to hear. We also had him over for dinner at our ward mission leaders home. He and his wife are some of the most friendly nicest people, and we love bringing investigators over to their home. They do a great job of telling stories without realizing it of miracles that have happened in their life because of the church. They are great to solidify (that's the word we use) investigators testimonies. So we did that this week with Brother Dontje and taught him about tithing at their home and he wants to live it so he is doing great. We are definitely being blessed.

We are also working with a less active family named the Smiths. The parents are not active and the kids need to be baptized and the parents want the kids to be baptized so we have been teaching them, and the parents are working to become active, but like everyone in the world it seems like they have alot on their plate, which also like almost everything could have been avoided if they had been active in church. But anyway, they are a good family and they have a little boy named Ethan and he is 9 years old and we have fun teaching him. He reminds me of spencer. He loves sports and riding bikes with us and they are just fun little kids. They are really smart too and understand well. And sometimes little kids ask the hardest questions. They also have a little girl named Kaya who is 7 but she turns 8 in January and they want her to be baptized too when she turns 8. So our lessons are with Ethan and Kaya and Ethan is going to be baptized on October 30th. It was funny, yesterday we had a lesson with them. We have taught them how to pray, so we had Ethan say the opening prayer, and he was saying a really good prayer, saying all the things he was gratful for which is what we taught him, and then he paused, and Kaya starting whispering "In the name of Jesus Christ Amen" to him so he would end the prayer, and then Ethan whispered back I still have more to say, and he paused for a little while and then I whispered to him to help him "what are some things you want help with?" and then he said reading, and then Kaya was like, "yeah cause you got an F on it." It was really funny. And then we ended the prayer. It was really funny, and it might sound bad but you could tell they like to argue like all little kids so it was just funny.

Yeah I have been keeping my chain oiled. One thing I have had fun doing throughout my mission is doing little projects on my bike. I have fixed too many flats to count and those really havent been fun, but I have also learned how to replace the chain cause that one time it broke and I also replaced my cables and brakes and have had to many times adjust my derrailuers. I have also fixed something called the bottom bracket which is the piece in between the cranks. It has been fun and each time I had to figure it out on my own but I enjoyed it. Well I have to go but I love you and have a good week.

Love,
Elder Larson

Oct 4th 2010

Hello,

Well it has been a good week. General Conference was good. I liked it alot. There were alot of good talks and I dont think I could pick a favorite. Elder Oak's was good, he always has interesting insights. I also liked Elder Bednar's, and Elder Kearon from the Seventy, he spoke in Priesthood. Something that was pretty cool was Brian Stant, who went on the week long mini mission with us, he is in the MTC right now and he was in the MTC choir that sang during priesthood. Well obviously we and everyone who knew him were looking for him when the choir sang during priesthood, and during the very first song which was hark all ye nations the camera switched to being right on his face and he was basically the only one on the screen. There was a little eruption in the chapel because most people on the stake knew who he was and were excited to see him, and the word had gotten around that he was going to be in the choir so everyone was looking for him. It was pretty cool. General Conference is kind of like a party for missionaries. The stake center is like a half hour away so there is really no point in leaving between sessions, at least for many of us. And all the missionaries are there watching it, and there are senior missionaries that are very nice and cooked us lunch between each of the conferences and dinner before priesthood. So we just get to watch the conference, hang out and eat lunch, and then watch more conference, and that night we stayed at some other missionaries apartment who live closer to the stakecenter so we didnt have to drive all the way home. and some of the sister missionaries who are always very thought ful broguht everyone candy bags to snack on during conference. So it was alot of fun.
Well summer ended very abruptly. It has cooled down alot. Last week it rained all week and I think it is supposed to rain alot of this week too. Today it is in the fifties and two weeks ago it was still in the 90's. It feels really cold now cause the temperature dropped really fast. Also dad, thank you for teaching me that if it is raining, who cares just do it anyway, like going on a father and son campout when it is pouring and no one shows up. Cause this week it rained for about the entire week, and we were always wet, and if I would have thought that I should be inside and that I am not supposed to be out in the rain it would have been a horrible week. But instead we just decided that it was raining but who cares we were going to have fun anyway doing what we are supposed to do despite the rain, and it made it alot of fun and enjoyable. And people think we are crazy.
Well Brother Dontjy is doing well. We had a cool story with him. We weren't able to meet with him last week because we have to meet with him outside and it was raining all the time. But its ok we were still able to stay in contact with him. Anyway, he has been praying that he would be able to get unemployment money so that he can travel to Atlanta Georgia this past weekend, for two reasons, one to see his wife who lives down there and also for a job interview. Well, he was told during the week that his unemployment check had been accepted and that he was going to get the money. We were happy for him, and he told us that he probably wouldn't be able to watch conference while he was gone but he wanted to watch it when he got back. He also told his the company interviewing him that he couldn't do anything until after the 16th which is his baptism. So we were happy and excited for him and then unexpectedly he was told that they changed their mind and he wasnt going to get his unemployment check. He was really depressed about it, but he did have faith it was the lord's will. Well, we had a district meeting on Thursday and we asked everyone to pray for him that he would be able to stay strong and have what he was in need of. Well later that day, brother Dontjy called us and told us that his company was going to pay for his entire trip so that he could come to the interview! How cool is that. He got to go to Georgia and see his wife and today is his interview and we are hoping it goes well but I am sure whatever happens it will be the Lords will. He always has a plan, and thank you very much for your prayers. They work.

Thank you very much for the email. Why are the Lattins in Russia? Thats really cool Brady is going to Brazil, I think that will be awesome for him. Tell him I am excited for him and wish him good luck.

I love you all,
Elder Larson

Sept 27th 2010

Hey,

Well I am happy to hear about Battle of the Bell. What position does Austin play? I am glad Mt spokane is doing so well. We are doing really well also. Andrew or Brother White I should say, just keeps doing everything he should. Everyone talks about how good he is and bishop interviewed him and he is worthy to get the priesthood. We also have another baptism coming up on October 16. I forgot to tell you about this guy last week with the baptism and everything, but we are teaching a guy now named Vince Dontjy. We already called him Brother Dontjy though. He is great, he is very humble, and willing to learn, and is very committed. He has had a hard life, and I would say the lord has humbled him and prepared him to receive the gospel. I feel like he alot different than most people we teach, because his concerns are different. Most people have doctrinal or concerns about a testimony, but his concerns are more with overcoming things from past experiences. So he needs your prayers. One thing he is working on is overcoming coffee. It was cool we reviewed the Word of Wisdom and then we taught about fasting, and how great of a tool fasting can be, and he said alright lets fast tomorrow. Before the lesson Elder Haley and I decided we were going to see if he wanted to fast on Sunday with us, and we were going to fast to help him overcome coffee, but he wanted to fast right away and use that day as the day he quit coffee. So we fasted with him and it worked. He said he felt more peace than he had ever felt, and he didn't drink any coffee, and that it is was an answer to his prayers. He is an awesome guy, and I really like teaching him, although sometimes I feel like I don't have the experience in life that he has so it can be hard to relate, but usually there is a doctrine of the church that comes to my mind or Elder Haley's that helps him. We found him because his daughter was baptized in another area of the mission. He has his whole life been against religion, at least organized religion, but after his daughter got baptized, and after some things he went through, he has a turn around or a change of heart and now he loves the church and the people, and especially that no one gets paid. Its also cool because missionaries just happen to run into his son who lives in Texas, and not his son has been hanging out with missionaries and his son told him that he was seeing missionaries not knowing that he was too and was going to be baptized. So the Lord, as always, has his own timing and plan prepared. He will have a great conversion story.

Also, keep praying for the Liufau's please. They are wonderful and I really want to see them get back to the temple. This week we had a lesson with them and we talked about temples and we invited them to pick a day in the next couple weeks to go and visit the temple as a family. Just walk around it and feel the Spirit. They are such a good family and really liked the idea of visiting the temple and they are going to do it. Sister Liufau said that she is going to not like it because she is going to hate being there and not being able to go inside. I thought that sounded perfect.

Well mom, good job inviting Aunt Linda to the Relief Society broadcast. I heard from everyone that talked about it that is was awesome. Just keep telling Aunt Linda how much you love her, and she will get baptized.

Well thank you for your prayers they are working. The members have really started to like us and are giving us referrals. We should have even more baptisms soon like the one with Andrew. There is one great family that invited a mom and three of her seven kids over for dinner while we were there. The timing didnt work out super well, but we were able to have a lesson and we gave them a book of mormon and they want to come to church and so the member family is inviting them to watch general conference with them, which will be great. Well have a good week. I will talk to you next Monday. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Larson

PS I am too good at math to not realize that I am now in the single digits of months left. :) Time keeps flying by

Sept 20th 2010

Hey,

The baptism was wonderful. It was a really great experience. It was probably the best baptism I have attended. Andrew was awesome. It was definitely one of the highlights of my mission. It started at 6 oclock on Saturday and lots of people showed up. Elder haley and I showed up extra early to fill up the font. and then about and hour before the baptism Andrew and the Wilsons showed up and they got changed and we took pictures. Then the baptism started and it just went great. Elder Haley and I did the talks on Baptism and the Holy Ghost and then he got baptized. While he was changing we had our ward mission leader bare his testimony which was very powerful. Everything just kept adding to the Spirit, I felt like Elder Haley and I did good on our talks and then there was the baptism and then Bro Sly's testimony, and then Bishop did a great job of welcoming Andrew in the ward.

After that Bro Sly felt prompted to ask Andrew if he would like to share some thoughts. Andrew said he would, he hesitated a little bit but said yeah, and Andrew is a very quiet guy, he doesnt talk a whole lot, which is like me and Elder Haley, anyway, he just said that he felt so good, and he thanked everyone for coming. Then he said that he knew that the Book of Mormon was true and he knew Joseph Smith was a prophet, which made me very happy to hear. It was very joyful and then afterwards Andrew came up and thanked me for all that I had done to help. He thanked me for teaching him and helping him. I really didnt feel like I did anything, I dont think he realizes at all how golden of an investigator he was, and I didnt really feel like I should be thanked for feeling such joy, but it was still neat to hear. Andrew is a good guy. Then yesterday he got comfirmed. So that was the highlight of the week definitely.

There was one other cool story that we had. There was a guy I think I mentioned a a couple months ago who was a less active and had started coming back to church. We just went to his house once and then he came back to church. We kept visiting him though about once a week to help him keep feeling the spirit and to stay strong. Well this weekend he actually moved to be closer to family and so we went to go see him on Friday before he moved. Well he told us that he had not thought about coming back to church in years but he had just started thinking he should start going back and he said that that was when we showed up. He told us that we came back at the perfect time, and really made a difference for him, and that now he wants to get sealed to his wife in the temple. That is like the best thing you could ever hear as a missionary, and meant alot to me. One time when he came to church I told him I liked his tie and it was a really cool tie and then on Friday he gave it to me to remember him. I feel like saying I felt joy is an understatement, I just cant really describe how it feels to help people find the gospel, but it is the best feeling. It is a testimony to me that the church is true. Well thank you for the email and Congratulations to you too with Eric. That is awesome. Talk to you next week.

Love,
Elder Larson

Sept 13th 2010

Hello and thank you for the email,

We are doing well here in Hampton. Andrews baptism is all set for this Saturday. He is awesome. He has definitely received the Gospel easier than anyone I have ever taught. We had stake conference this past weekend, which was very good, and Andrew gave us rides to both the Adult session and the normal session on Sunday. He really enjyoed both of them and so did we. There was a very strond spirit at especially the adult conference and our stake president had recent converts from other wards bear their testimony which really brought the spirit and they also had many experiences learning with the missionaries that I think helped andrew and were good for him to hear. It was great on Sunday he showed up to our apartment with a white shirt and tie, ready to go to stake conference. He is already looking on the internet to buy a quad so he can have one. He talks about his baptism all the time. This past week we taught him three times to cover all of the commandments, twice in the Wilsons home and once in the Sly's home. He is our ward mission leader. They are such nice people and have strong testimonies so it was a really good experience for all of us. They fed us dinner too. So things with Andrew are going good. Bro Wilson gets to baptize him also so hopefully it will be a motivator to other members of the ward to reach out to their friends. People who are prepared are definitely out there. Another cool story I had was on sunday after stake conference I saw Sister Cherry, or Clara, she was a lady that we got to teach and baptize when I was in newport news last year at this time. That was my first area. So after stake conference I saw her and went to go say hi to her. Well on labor day she got to go to the temple for the first time to take out her endowments. I didnt know she had gotten to go to the temple, but when I said hi to her the first thing she told me was that she got to go to the temple on Monday, and she said "I just still can not get over the spirit that was there. I cant even describe it." Thats what she said. I remember her saying how when she received the Holy Ghost she felt something different than she had ever felt before and then she got to feel that even better at the temple. It made me very happy for her. Well please keep praying for Andrew and the Liufau's, and also we have found this man named Glen who is vey very nice and I hope that he will be able to see the importance of the gospel and that we can teach him and his family. We have taught him a couple of times but he has been really busy with work. We have a lesson with him this week on Thursday and we could use your prayers. Well we have mission conference this Wednesday which I am excited about. I get to see Elder Shelley, which I always look forward to, and there is also a member of the seventy that is going to be there. Well I am out of time but I hope you have a good week. I love you

Elder Larson

Sept 6th 2010

Hello everyone,

This week has been good. I found out last night that Elder Haley and I are staying together again. This will be our fourth transfer together and our fourth transfer in Hampton. We have alot of fun together so I am happy about it. I am more happy about it though because of all the people we are working with, Andrew in particular. He is doing great. He is set to be baptized on September 18, at 6pm, so that is very exciting. We had such a great lesson with him this week. We taught him at the Wilsons house who are the members that initially invited him to start learning and whose house we have been teaching him at. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is lesson 3, and it went very well. There was a strong spirit from the beginning when we began by talking about the need and importance of the atonement. It was just wonderful. We taught it very indepthly, and he understood it all. Then we asked him if he would like to set a date to be baptized and it brought a huge smile to his face and he said that would be awesome. So we set him for the 18th. Which is not this saturday but the next one. We are going to have to teach him alot. We have covered the Restoration and then we decided to skip to the Gospel so we could focus on baptism and set a date. So we still have to teach him all of the Plan of Salvation and all of the Commandments, but it wont be a problem. Also, the Liufaus are great still, and were at church again. We have still been working with them. We saw them on Saturday and they bought us dinner. They are very nice. I am happy for them.

Well, I cant think of anything else really that's going on. There was supposed to be a hurricane this weekend named Earl but it did nothing, which was a little bit disappointing. We were hoping for some excitement. There is a family in the ward named the Sly's and they are very nice. Brother Sly is the ward mission leader and he and especially his wife made sure we were more than prepared. :) We had lots of water and MRE's to eat if we needed them. So we are being taken care of. I do feel like my mission is flying by. Especially since I hit my year mark. These transfers seem like they go by in a couple days. Is it going fast for you? I have also heard a lot about the changes in the conferences. Alot of people have been talking about it. I also heard the University of Utah is in the Pac 10, and that BYU's home games are going to be aired on ESPN, which is really cool and will probably be good for missionary work. Well have a great week and I love you.

Love,
Elder Larson

Aug 30th 2010

Dear Family,

Thank you for the email. Well Elder Haley and I are doing well. We are
still together, but we have transfer calls this Sunday. So this sunday
we will find out if we are leaving or staying. We have had a good week
though. Zone Conference was really good. I like President Perry alot.
He is very good at uplifting you and making you feel very capable of
anything. The mission is being uplifted by him alot because we have
already doubled the number of people that are set for baptism. One
thing the church is utilizing more is mormon.org. The church has
completely redone that website. And it is being tied to facebook. It
allows people (nonmembers) to meet people that are mormon through the
internet. We are told to encourage members to go to mormon.org and
create a profile. So you should all do that and make a profile. There
are alot of interesting things on there. He also told us that the
church is doing an experiment where missionaries in New York spend
there proselyting time on Facebook and teach people through the
internet. So missionary work is moving forward as technology advances.
Also, there were alot of rules that President Millburn had that were
specific to the Virginia Richmond mission and President Perry got rid
of all of them. Which is very nice and I think it makes being a
missionary less stressful, because you are not as worried all the time
about breaking a rule. There were alot of them.

So tha'ts what is happening with president Perry. He said to tell you
hi dad. Our investigators are doing well. I hope i do not get
transferred. I can never remember which ones I have told you about,
but our top investigator is Andrew. He is doing awesome. We didn't even
get to meet with him last week but he comes to church on his own, he
was answering questions in Elders Quorum, and we had the bishop
interview just to get to know him and that went really well. We are
planning on settign a date for him to be baptized on Wednesday which
is the next time we are planning on seeing him. We also are seeing a
guy named Shawn and yesterday we stopped by and talked with him for
awhile. We showed him mormonmessages.org and also mormon.org and he is
really interested. We are going back to his house today.

Thank you very much for the pizza. We got it Wednesday night and it
was a nice surprise. It was very good, and so were the breadsticks and
lava cakes. They are very good and rich. Well we are doing good. My
testimony gets strengthened all the time. Have a wonderful week. I
dont know how emails are going to work because I think the library
might be closed on Monday. We'll see. I love you.

Love,
Elder Larson

Aug 23rd 2010

Hey,

Thank you very much for the birthday presents. They were wonderful. I got both packages, and have been listening to the cds alot. Happy birthday to you too mom. You are 50 now. :) I also really enjoyed seeing the pictures. Kyle and Spencer and Annette you have all grown up so much. I couldn't believe it. I was comparing the pictures you sent me to the one you sent me outside the MTC and I think Kyle and Spencer have each grown at least 6 inches. I really enjoyed seeing you guys and it made me wish alot I could have been there.

Well we have had a pretty good week. We seem to have an ever changing pool of investigators but I really like the ones we have right now. We had another lesson with this man named Glen who is very nice and humble, and he is really funny too and easy to talk too. We read from the book of mormon with him to get him started on it because last week he was out of town so he wasn't able to read. We also had a great family with a guy named Shawn. He is from Trinidad, and he is the one who is Joylyns friend. We taught him the Restoration and he really understood it and asked us to come back. It was also good because at the lesson we brought a member who was able to become friends with him, and talk about how he had joined the church, and he is coming with us again tonight to another lesson with Shawn. We are also teaching a part member family named the Smiths who have kids that are not baptized and the parents are not active. We had a good lesson with them yesterday where we taught the Restoration and Sister Smith also asked us to come back so we could keep teaching her kids, which was really good to hear.

So we have alot of people we are working with, and our most solid investigator is a man named Andrew. He is 22, and he is a friend to a family in the ward named the Wilsons, we have taught him twice and he is coming to church each week and is doing his reading and he is just awesome. He is progressing well. And Ive said before one of the things I like about this ward is they are very good at making people feel welcome and they are not judgmental at all because many of them are converts and are still learning the basic doctrines and how to do ordinances. And it has been very good for Andrew because I know he has felt welcome. Well tomorrow is Zone Conference which i am excited about. I have gotten the feeling that there are alot of changes that President Perry is implementing which I am excited to hear about. They are also always very good spiritual reboosters. Well thank you again very much for the cds. I have already listened to the You are my hands talk by President Uchtdorf twice and as I was listening to it I thought of investigators I want to share it with. I love listening to that talk.

On Friday I ran into a parked car while riding my bike. We were riding down the middle of the road because it was a back road and my pants got caught in the chain and they ripped a little bit, and as I was looking at them i guess i started drifting to the right. Apparently I did because the next thing I knew I smacked into the back of a car parked on the street. I rolled up onto the trunk and then back onto my bike. lol. i didnt get hurt at all though and as far as I could see the car was not dented. Its a funny story now. :)
Thank you for the email. I want you each to know that I love each one of you-James, Kyle, Annette, Spencer, Mom and Dad. I love you all and I am happy you are my family.

Love,
Elder Larson

Hey,


Well we have had a good week here in Hampton. We still have a few weeks until transfers. So on Thursday I got to go on exchanges with an elder from Tonga. He came here to Hampton and Elder Haley went down to Newport News to take his spot. His name was Elder Wolfgramm. He is very interesting and fun to talk to. He has alot of cool stories from growing up in Tonga. He came here straight from Tonga and learned English in the MTC. And he is very good at it. He also has alot of funny stories from the MTC. One funny story he told me is that when he was at the MTC he broke some rules that he didn't know about, lol. Him and his companion used an MTC phone to call a taxi to take them shopping at night. So they left the MTc to go shopping and then they didn't have a way to get back, so they saw someone with a BYU shirt on and asked them if they could get a ride back and the member gave them a ride. The next day they were talking about it and the teacher got mad at them. lol, it was really funny to hear him tell it. I couldnt believe he had done that. But we had a great exchange together.

We were able to teach a new investigator named Glen that we found and ask him to read and pray about the book of mormon which he said he wanted to do. And we also were able to have another lesson with the Liufaus, which is the less active family that is coming back to church. And the lesson with the Liufaus was kind of interesting because Elder Wolfgramm got lost during the lesson, so when it was his turn to talk he had no idea of what to say, so he just decided to talk about hope, lol, but he said some pretty good stuff and then brother liufau started talking and it wasn't bad at all. We were laughing alot about it after-wards though. I was supposed to talk about charity and then he was going to tie it into sharing the gospel with people, but instead he just started talking about hope. It was still a good lesson though and perhaps it is what they neeeded to hear. I really enjoy their family, and they came to church again this sunday which was great to see. Sister Liufau cuts hair so she is going to give us haircuts this week next time we go over. They are wonderful. And the ward is doing a great job of pulling them in. Brother Liufau already has a calling. And in another lesson the person we were teaching was telling us a long story, and I was waiting for it to end so we could start a lesson. Well Elder Wolfgramm was lost during the story, because he still has a little bit of trouble understanding english and certain words he still doesn't know, and so he really didn't know what the member was saying, and then during the story the member telling it paused, and Elder Wolfgramm thought he was done with the story so he just jumped in and said we have a message to share is it alright if we start. It was funny, and the member didn't get offended at all, which i was a bit worried he might. I explained what happened afterwards to Elder Wolfgramm and he thought it was pretty funny. Anyway, it was a good day. On Saturday we had a Luau, it was our ward and the Newport news Branch, which was my first area. So it was nice to see some of the people from down there again. The Liufaus came to the Luau too, which just made me very happy to see.
Lorraine is doing pretty good, she is still sad obviously. We are seeing her on Wednesday and we are definitely going to be doing alot of praying to know what and how to teach her. We officially dropped Joylyn yesterday, which means we are going to stop visiting her, at least for the next few weeks. But everything we have taught her is on a record so future missionaries can pick up where we left off. She just hasnt really progressed or kept commitments. It was hard because i really liked her but we dont think it is an effective use of time. Its funny though we are going to teach her neighbor friend who is from Trinidad, whcih is right next to Grenada which is the island Joylyn is from. We are still trying to teach Nicole but she has still been out of town alot. Well that is what is happening here in Hampton. Thanks for the email and your prayers. Talk to you next week.

Love,
Elder Larson

Aug 9th 2010

Hey,

Well we have had a pretty good week. We had a really good lesson with Lorraine, we went over with Bishop Hare. It was cool because we had planned to teach the Restoration, and we said the opening prayer, but as we were praying I felt like we needed to spend more time just getting to know her and building a relationship, so we asked her some questions and told her about ourselves and then we ended up just talking with her for a long time and she expressed that she was going through a hard time with her marriage, and so we talked about how the church is like a family and would really be able to help her. She was very grateful for our discussion and said for sure that she would be able to make it to church. It was great to have bishop there too, he added some really good insights. But then Sunday she wasn't able to make it because she had a death in the family. So she is going through an even rougher time now and could use your prayers.

We had a pretty cool experience this week with a less active family. They are the ones a couple weeks ago that we asked to give us a ride but he ended up calling someone else. Well we were talking about prayer, and it was a good lesson because she felt like she didn't receive answers to her prayers. So we talked about what we have to do on our end to get answers. And then a thought came to me that I should tell them a great place to receive answers to prayers is by coming to church and feeling the spirit. So i told her, and then she agreed and she said that she wanted to come but that she didn't like coming without her husband. She said that one time she was in the temple by herself and it like really sunk in that she was alone, and she felt like she was leaving her husband behind, so now she doesn't want to come to church or go to the temple without him, and as she was telling us this she started crying, which, is definitely the most awkward and uncomfortable thing about missionary work, and it freezes me up better than anything else, but it is good because it means they are sincere and often that they are feeling the spirit. So I felt frozen, and really bad for her that her husband wasn't being supportive. But then words just came to me, and I asked the husband what was holding him back, and he gave me his reason and then I asked him if that was more important than his family. The spirit was helping me be bold and know what to say, the words were just coming out of my mouth. Well then Sunday rolled around and we went to the chapel to drop off our bags and it was about fifteen minutes before sacrament meeting started and I was so happy because when we walked into the chapel there whole family was already there sitting along one of the back rows, and they stayed all three hours. And it was a very spiritual sacrament meeting and priesthood was good too, so I am hoping they will keep coming. And I don't want to take any credit, but it was really cool that we were able to help them come to church together. Its cool how when you are working with people you start to really care about them so much, I guess love them, and you want more than anything for them to accept the joy that comes from living the gospel. So seeing them together as a family at church was the best feeling. Well, I love you and thanks for the email as always. Yes I remember doing swim lessons. I liked seeing the Grimes while we did them but not swimming.

Elder Larson

Aug 2nd 2010

Hey,
Well it has been a good week in Hampton. We have gotten to talk to alot of people. Alot of appointments we had last week got pushed back to this week and even next week so we are looking forward to those. Its weird how on a mission if an appointment gets pushed back a week it seems like it is a huge amount of time but really a week is not that long. I guess when you only have at least 6 weeks to be somewhere and you lose a week of time of being able to teach someone it seems like alot. Happy Birthday Annette. Sounds like you had a fun birthday party. Have a good day tomorrow too on your official birthday. It has definitely cooled down here the past couple days. It has been fun. On thursday we got blasted with a rain storm. The water was very deep everywhere. It was raining super hard for like two hours, and there were cars that were stranded on raods because it got so deep they couldnt go anywhere. It was almost up to our knees in the deep spots of the road where the drains are. We stayed inside for most of it but afterwards we went out and rode in it. our feet were under the water while we were pedaling. It was fun. And I guess there was a tornado warning which added to the excitement but I dont think there was one.

Ok so I actually made a list of ideas for my birthday. Please dont think you should get all of them or even any of them, they are just ideas.
-There is a mormon tabernacle Choir cd called Come thou fount of every blessing that I really like.
-I could use some dark blue and some dark brown pants. The cheapest pairs you can find, Walmart has some for like 10 dollars, and my size is 34X34 or 34x36.
-And also the church puts out a set of cds for each general conference that has all of the talks on them, I would really to get the set for this last conference. I like listening to them and they are great teaching tools also. They come in a case and usually it is like 10 cds total for all the talks.
Thank you very much

My address is:
Apt #110 on Litchfield Close
Hampton, VA, 23669

Well I feel like this email is very short but I dont have anymore time. I spent time emailing Adam. I love you and have a good week. Thank you for your prayers.

Love,
Elder Larson

July 26th 2010

Hello,

Well it has been an interesting week. It has been fun. It has been so hot. On Saturday we got torched, it was like 106, and humid, and we were outside biking it for about the whole day. We figured out how much water we drank too and it was right around two gallons. Oh and we had salt lines that went down our pants from sweating so much. It was a good week though. We found 8 new investigators this past week. We have just been stopping and talking to everyone, trying to be very diligent. On Saturday, I got a flat tire and we were out of patches, so we called a member to give us a a ride so we could go get more patches, and we were waiting inside a Mcdonalds, but then we decided we should probably go out and find to be more effective. So we did, and we found a new investigator named Jimmy on the last house that we knocked on. He seemed interested and looked like he could use the gospel in his life. We are also really excited for Lorraine, she is the lady we found a couple sundays ago when my bike broke, and she wants us to come by this week and teach her and her husband. Which is going to be great. Last night we called them because we wanted to invite them to a baptism today, and before I could even explain what we were calling for she made sure we were still good to come by this week on Thursday. Her husband is excited for us to come by too. And then we did invite her to the baptism and she is going to try her best she said to make it. So we are hoping that will happen. Last night we were biking home, it was really hot yesterday too, and a guy in his car stopped us and knew about mormons, had friends that were mormons, and he was super excited that he had found us. He was asking when we could come by and teach him. He also told us he has been baptized but we arent sure if he meant specifically into the mormon church. So anyway, we have seen alot of little miracles, and I'm really excited about whats coming up. We didn't stop by Joylyn or James at all last week, but we probably will this coming week. Also, last night was transfer calls, and Elder Haley and I are staying together here in Hampton again. So this is the longest I have been in one area and the longest I have been with one companion, it is our third transfer together. I am happy about that decision.

Well hearing about the trek brought back good memories for me. Im sure it was probably just as hot for you as it was for me this past weekend. The trek for the stake out here was also this past weekend and during sacrament meeting the bishop asked alot of the youth if they would come up and bear their testimony about it. Most of them went up and told how hard it was but they all talked about the spirit they felt and there was a strong spirit in sacrament meeting.

Thank you for the addresses, I plan on writing Jason and Aunt Linda and her family soon. The other elders in our district like basketball so we have been playing a lot of basketball on Pdays, which i love and is a lot of fun. But I will get around to writing letters sometime. I liked your dark cloud theory dad, I enjoy hearing what types of things you deal with as a stake president. I think we all have dark clouds sometimes and that they are required for us to feel so we are forced to re humble ourselves and re-experience what being led by the spirit feels like.

Well thank you for the email. Good luck in Drivers ed Kyle and good job on the trek James. Talk to you all next week.

Love,
Elder Larson

July 19th 2010

Hey,

Well things are going good here in Hampton. I feel like we are kind of in a rut with our investigators though, especially Joylyn. We have been seeing her alot and she just hasnt really been progressing the way we would like her to, so we are kind changing our focus to working alot with the people we are teaching to spending more time finding. We feel like there are people out there that are more prepared and ready to receive the gospel. Obviously we will keep seeing joylyn, but not as much. We are also going to try working more with members to seek for referrals......

Interviews with president perry were great. I like him alot. He mostly talked to me during the interview, telling me about the things the brethren are doing. Like one thing is to help us teach the 5 preach my gospel lessons the brethren came up with 8 simplified lessons that we are going to be teaching instead, and we are still strongly encouraged to study and apply preach my gospel, but these 8 simplified lessons will help us teach the 5 lessons in preach my gospel better. I dont really know much about them, cause I havent seen them yet. I just know of them.

President Perry also told me that he knew what is like to have children of a stake president and told me that he wouldnt have any prejudgments about me, which made me feel good. Oh and I did ask him about Joylyn, and he told me that Satan cant do any more than tempt. It was a pretty simple answer, but he said it in an encouraging way. But since then Joylyn has been talking alot to this baptist friend of hers that doesnt believe what we believe, so that hasnt helped her out at all, which is a little bit frustrating.

The work with the other lass actives has been good. We have been trying everything. We brought bishop out last week to see one guy who had been offended. And so bishop got to know him and he knows the guy who offended him, and couldnt believe that that had happened, and he knew he could get him to apologize, so we reminded bishop of that task yesterday, and he is planning on seeing him. Also, there is one great family in the ward that got sealed in the temple but recently went less active. And they are wonderful, and they always feed us and make us feel very comfortable in their home, and they are close to coming back, they know they should. So we had them agree to pick us up for church, we told them we needed a ride, and so they agreed to do that, but then yesterday morning when we went outside, there was another member in the parking lot waiting to pick us up, that the less active had called. So he snuck out of that one. I just feel like if we can just get them to come back to church once, they will feel the spirit and the ward is very good about fellowshipping and not judging, and so if they can receive that then it will be so easy for them to become active again.

Well it sounds like you had a fun week on the high adventure. There is a trek that is about to happen down here too, so alot of people have been talking about it. It seems like it wasnt very long ago I was going on the Trek. I am sure it will be a great experience. Well thank you for email and support. I got both of the emails. I will talk to you next week.

Love,
Elder Larson

July 12th 2010

Hello,

Well I am glad you got to see the pictures. I look forward to seeing the ones you send me. I cant believe Spencer is already doing cub scout day camp. I remember when I was doing that, and it doesnt seem too long ago. Time sure goes by fast. And Happy Birthday to James. Well, not too much has happened since I last wrote on Wednesday. Its kind of strange having Pday on Monday, but I am sure I will get used to it soon. I have a few stories though. First of all, on Wednesday Elder Haley and I went on splits with the Elders Quorum presidency. I went with the Elders Quorum president, and we went to go see some less actives we are working with. It went really well. We have a great president, he is very down to earth and very good at connecting with people. And we wanted to take him to some of the less actives that we think are close to coming back, so we went out with the presidency, and I went with Brother Fell, the president, and both of the people we went we had great discussions with. We were able to have a good discussion with one member and then we went and saw another less active and he told us that he has decided to come back to church. He went less active after his mission and now he is like 30, but he knows he should be at church and always has known that and now he has finally doing it. :) He has come to church the past four weeks now and stayed all three hours. And its alot different over here, almost all of the members of the ward here are converts, i think there are only 3 elders in our quorum that grew up in the church, and so there are alot of things that the members here dont know, like how to do home teaching. So anyway, this elder that has started coming back will be a great help to the ward beacuse he is raised in the church, served a mission, and knows alot.
Also yesterday we had a cool story. We are instructed to tract every Sunday, because people are usually home on Sunday. And tracting is not the funnest or most exciting part about missionary work. But, we put it in our plans to do it, and then yesterday we were kind of behind schedule, and so we had the option to skip tracting because we still had enough plans that would take the remaining time. Well we decided that since we are told to tract we would. So we biked to the street we had picked out, and locked up our bikes, and we saw a lady sitting outside. Well we did what we are supposed to do, we went and talked to her and she knew who we were and she had mormon friends back in Georgia, who she had lost contact with. So we talked with her for awhile and then she asked if we had any literature that she could have. So we gave her a book of mormon and asked if we could come back and talk to her more about it. She said yeah and so we are going back on sunday. I feel like we were led right to her, because she was the first person we talked to and we never would have gone to the street except we picked it out to tract on. Then we were about to leave and another person came outside, so we talked to him too, and he had been to Salt lake and seen the Mormon tabernacle choir. And he also asked for literature, and commented on how we seem like really great people. We gave him a restoration pamphlet, and he wanted us to come back on Sunday too. So after we talked to him we needed to go, and as soon as we started biking, like on my first couple of pedals, my chain broke, and its amazing how much people watch us, because as soon as the realized we needed help, people came outside and starting asking if we neeeded any help. Well they werent really able to help because they didnt have tools to fix a chain, but it was still neat to see how much people watch us and respect us and wanted to help us, and we were very grateful for them. So we called a member with a truck and he picked us up and fed us dinner and then took us home and then today he bought me a new chain. And I have no idea how my chain broke, but if it had broken any earlier, we definitely would have had to cancel our plans for tracting. But the Lord let us get to where we needed to be, and he put us around nice people who were willing to help. He is watching out for us, and hopefully we will be able to have good lessons with these people next sunday.
Well our investigators are slowly but surely progressing also. Joylyn kind of had a funny story, well more like weird. We told her that Satan doesnt want her to come to church and will try to stop her. And she told us that she wouldnt let that happen, and that she would be there for sure, well then she didnt come yesterday, so we went to go see her and ask what happened, and she told us that she woke up in time to come but she couldnt move, and she watned to get up so she could come but she couldnt move. So we didnt really know what to say, or even what to think. Im sure she wasnt lying and that she really did want to come, but I wonder how bad it really was. But we get to have interviews tomorrow with President Perry, and i am excited about that, so I figured I would ask him what he thinks.

Well I am doing great in Hampton, I look forward to seeing all your pictures. Ill talk to you next week.

July 7th 2010

Dear Family,

Well it sound like you had a wonderful reunion. I wish i could have been there. I liked hearing about Spencer's baptism, that sounds like a neat experience. We had a good weekend too. I got to meet president perry. I like him alot, and he likes you alot dad. He told me to tell you he loves you. We had a really good mission conference and he spoke. I am really excited to have him as our president because I think he is going to do great. He is very smart, and also has a strong testimony. You probably know he is a first generation convert, but I thought that was very cool, and it obviously makes him very passionate about missionary work. He spoke alot about the importance of unity. He spoke on alot of things but his main focus was unity, and that if we are unified people will be able to recognize that we are sent by the Father. He seems to know quite abit about missionary work and how to be a good missionary. So a couple of changes that have come from the apostles are that pdays are going to switch to mondays, so i will email you again in 5 days! Also interviews are no longer every transfer, but every quarter.
Did you get my pictures? I hope so.
Anyway, we had a cool story on sunday. It was testimony meeting, and there is this old lady that I am guessing is in her 90's, but she is also a convert and has an amazing strong testimony. She has been sick, and so it is hard for her to make it to church. But on sunday she was there, which she usually is even though it is hard for her, and during the testimony meeting she was sitting on the back row. During the meeting though, after one of the testimonies, she stood up from the back row and said "excuse me, its hard for me to walk up there, but I told Sister peteresen if I had a pulse she could pick me up for church." and then she continued to bear her testimony from the back row. It was sweet.
Well our investigators are doing well but they were all out of town for the 4th of July. But we taught Joylyn the Word of Wisdom and she told us she would live it. It was a great lesson. Nicole has been out of town all week, and when we were going to see her she got in an accident, so it didnt happen. She is fine though, and we should be seeing her soon. She is still doing really well though and is reading from the book of mormon. James was also are waiting on because he told us he would call us. And Im not worried about it at all and I am sure he will call us, but I think he might be one of those people that takes some time. So we will see.
Oh I have another neat story. On Monday we went on exchanges with the Elders down in the Newport news branch, which was my very first area. It was probably still my favorite area. And I got to go there and one of there elders came up here. It was realy fun to be in my old area. I got to see most of my favorite people, particularly sister whitley who was a member that always fed us and gave us rides, and sister cherry who I got to help teach and who we baptized. Well sister cherry is an angel. We saw her and shared a lesson with her around one o clock, and from the time we left to about 4 oclock she spent all her time cooking food. She was cooking all this food for a cookout during dinner, and we asked her who was coming, and she said that she had not invited anyone, but she was cooking for anyone that passed by her house that evening. And by the way, she cooks incredible food. And its neat because the area she lives in is pretty poor, and there are alot of people down there without jobs or money, and so many of them spend there time walking around. There are so many just outside down in the ghetto, and its easy to judge them as people who maybe dont deserve much because they don't really do anything, but Sister Cherry didn't judge them at all but instead cooked dinner for them. She said loves making food for people. Anyway, I was really impressed when I saw what she was doing, and how charitable she is. Well I am out of time so I have to go. Talk to you on Monday.

Love,
Elder Larson

June 30, 2010

Hello,

Well things are going good in Hampton. I dont have much time because I just went through all the pictures. I got caught up with looking at all of them and laughing at some of them. I hope you enjoy them. I will send them to you today.

I have one story to tell you about though. First of all, all of our investigators are still doing well. They are slowly but surely progressing! But for our story: this week we contacted an SUV referral from the Gladys knight fireside. It took us awhile because James, the referral, sent the referral form to Salt Lake. So Salt lake had to figure out what to do with it and who to send it to you. So it took a little longer than the other referral cards. But we got it a couple weeks ago, and it was for this man named James. And we were able to see him last week and share the Restoration with him and it went wonderful. It was also very good because we were with our Ward Mission Leader, who was able to become good friends with James and share his testimony with him. It was a wonderful lesson.

Our ward mission leader, Bro. Sly, told us that he has never met someone who was so prepared to receive the Gospel. James understood all of what we said, agreed with it, and had great questions. It really just went perfect. And James found out about the Gladys Knight fireside through my last bishop in Kempsville, who he works with, who is very strong minded and a great person for James to be around while he learns the gospel. And I think my favorite part of the lesson was his the closing prayer. We asked James to say it and in his prayer he said that he set up this appointment not knowing what to expect but it turned out to be a beautiful experience and he thanked god that we were able to come over. The spirit was present there. It was neat.

Well it sounds like you had a great weekend. I am excited for Adam. I will say hi to President Perry. Have a good week.

Love,
Elder Larson

June 23, 2010

Hello,

Thank you for the email. We have had a pretty crazy week this week. I don't know if I told you before, but we actually don't live in our area. We live in a city called Yorktown and we serve in a city called Hampton. And every day we had to use a car to drive into our area and use a bike rack to carry in our bikes. Anyway, that wasn't a big deal at all, but on Thursday at about 1 o clock the office called us and told us they needed our car at about 4 o'clock that day and that we would be moving the next morning, which was Friday morning. So they didn't give us much notice at all, and we had to make time to pack all of our stuff among all of our appointments. We had to cancel some of them. And then Thursday evening after we dropped off the car we had to find rides for our evening appointments. So we found members that would be able to drive us into our area and then drive us to our appointments for that evening. And luckily there is a very nice member who has a truck and he was able to help us move on Friday. He came and picked up all of our stuff and then we went to our new apartment.

But the new apartment didn't have anything in it at all. No beds, desks, or any type of furniture. So we spent the day Friday using his truck to pick up beds and also kitchen stuff for the apartment. And wow, there are a lot of small items that you don't realize how much you take for granted because they are already inside an apartment when you get there. Like a vacuum, shower curtain, pillows, garbage cans, pans, plates, a spatula, seasonings for food, and there was no microwave. But we have been blessed. There was a member who had an extra microwave and he gave it to us, our ward mission leader bought us a vacuum and a lot of other small things, and there is a place called the needs network which is ran by a member of the church and they have tons of furniture and other house items that people donate and then the needs network gives it to those in need. They told us we could take anything we wanted. So we got our beds and desks from them. We also got a table and chairs from them too. We have been taken care of well.

Well our investigators are still doing good, but there is not a whole lot of news. No one came to church, which was a bummer but it was mostly because they were doing something for father's day, so it was a decent excuse. We also haven't been able to see them for a real good lesson because we have been so busy with moving. We are seeing Joylyn tomorrow though with our ward mission leader and that should be a good lesson. We are going to have him invite her over to his home for a lesson. Nicole has been out of town but we talked to her yesterday and she is doing well, and we set up a lesson with her for this coming Tuesday. We are also working with this investigator named Emma who went to the SUV fireside and she wants to come to church. We also finally got in contact with the Keaton's agains and we have a lesson with them tomorrow. So we have alot of good lessons coming up.
I have been careful on my bike and did not get into any crashes. Thats really cool that Spencer is going to be baptized in a river. I wish i could be there for it. That is going to be a lot of fun.

Oh and our new address now is 110 Litchfield close, Hampton, Va, 23669
Well thank you for the prayers and I am excited to meet President Perry. I think he gets here on the 28th. Take care and I will talk to you next week.

Love,
Elder Larson

June 16th 2010

Hello Family,

Well things are going well in Hampton. We had a really good mission conference. It started at 10 oclock and went until 4. The Spirit was very strong there. We had the opportunity to hear the testimony of a recent convert, and also President Millburn read us notes and impressions from his study journal that he gathered throughout his time as a mission president and that he had selected to share. So those were fun to write down. And then at the end there was a testimony meeting which lasted longer than it was planned to go. But it was really good, and of course everyone was crying. Well, I wasnt, but lots of people were. President Millburn bore his testimony at the end, and then we sang God be with you til we meet again, and then when that song ended all you could hear were sniffs from people crying. Lol. i guess it was a good bittersweet moment. I think one of the biggest lessons a mission teaches is how to get used to change. I was also very joyed to see Elder Shelley and Elder White again. They are doing good, and it was fun to talk to them. Also, we did have transfer calls last night and Elder Haley and I are staying, which I am happy about.

Well Joylyn and Nicole are both doing great still. Joylyn came to church with her kids, and she liked it again and wants to keep coming. She really likes us and the church alot but I dont think she quite has a testimony yet. It is hard for her when she comes to church because she has three kids that are pretty roudy. She has a 5 month old baby, a 5 year old, and a 9 year old and the two younger ones dont sit still. I tried to really help her out with the kids though, luckily I have some practice doing that. :) She sat with us, so I felt like I was back at home being the one in charge to keep the kids busy and quiet. I gave them papers from our area book to draw on and also gave them my planner to draw on and to look at and to beat up to try to keep them occupied. It worked, but Joylyn still has a handful with her little baby. I wish I could help out with the baby but we arent allowed to hold kids, so I cant do much. It was funny I wanted them to come to sacrament meeting so much but then I just wanted it to end so the kids could be taken to primary, which they really enjoy. So I think it is hard for her to focus and enjoy the Spirit as much as she could. But she is still doing really well, and we had another lesson with her yesterday where we were able to take over a member and have them meet each other. Nicole is also doing wonderful. she is out of town this week but she remembered that there were transfers so she wants us to call her and tell her whats happening. But we had a really good lesson with her last week. We actually taught her the Law of Chastity. It was kind of a skip ahead and Elder Haley and I were pretty nervous to teach it but it was what we felt she needed and what we thought would help her out the most. So we taught it. And it went so good. I said a couple silent prayers as we were getting ready to teach it, I dont know why I was so nervous, but my heart was pounding, but then we taught it and it basically went perfect. She accepted all of it, and was so happy we taught it to her. She started thanking us for teaching it to her because she realizes it will help her become better. So I guess thats our little miracle for the week. And we were also with Brian who was doing the mini mission with us and Im pretty sure he didnt say a word the whole lesson. So Nicole is just wonderful, she hasnt come to church yet but she definitely has the light of Christ in her because she recognizes what is right and wrong. We are fortunate to be able to teach her. And thank you for your prayers because I am sure they helped.

Dad, happy birthday. Im trying to picture you with an Ipod touch. :) I cant believe there is an app for a stake. Thats pretty neat. I guess there really is an app for everything. And what kind of car did you get?

Well thank you for the email and support and prayers. We are doing really well in Hampton and are excited for another transfer here.

Love,
Elder Larson

June 9th, 2010

Hey,

This week has been great so far. Everyone is doing awesome. Although no one came to church on sunday, but thats ok, because everyone is doing great. Last week on Thursday we had great lessons with Nicole and Joylyn. Nicole told us she knows the Book of Mormon was true, and we asked her what that meant to her, and she told us that it means this is where she needs to be. And before we asked her that we reviewed the Restoration, and we were very clear about the apostasy of the Priesthood and how it has been restored and exists only in the church of Jesus Christ, and she agreed. She is golden. I think she wants to come to church and she definitely knows we want her to, but hasnt been able to because of something with her family. I dont really know. We also taught Joylyn and she is wonderful. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and drew out the three kingdoms with sidewalk chalk, cause we teach her on her porch. And she understood well, and she told us she wants to go to the celestial kingdom. She is a really fun investigator too. We visit her alot and she likes talking to us. She gives us a hard time about our wrecks, and she has a strong accent so sometimes we dont understand her, and she makes fun of us for not being able to understand her. And in resonse we gave her a hard time about not coming to church, so she is going to come this week. She is fun, and she is from Grenadia, which is an island somewhere. And its been great being able to take members over there and to go on exchanges with them. Because they get to become involved with the missionary work and then they always ask us about the people we are teaching on sunday, which is good.

So this week has also been fun. There is a young man named Brian Stant in the ward about to go on a mission, and he is going on a mini mission with us for a week. For this week he is basically a third companion. He is with us all day, but stays at his own house at night. It is a very good experience for him to see what missionaries do all day, and to be involved with teaching people and seeing them understand and progress in the gospel and it has also been great for us having him with us. It was our Ward Mission Leader's idea, and he told us about how when he was on a mission he did that with some of the young men he was serving around, and he told us that during those mini missions it seemed like everything went really well and they had alot of success. Well so far that has been true this week. We have found new investigators, and we have tried to see people that we found earlier that said they were interested but we kind of lost contact with them just because they were never home when we went back, well we have gone and seen those people with Brian and we have been seeing lots of people.

We have two great new investigators, which we taught the Restoration to, and they told us they want us to come back before we even asked and they want to come to church sometime soon. And all of our scheduled appointments this week have held, which is not common in missionary work. So Brian has really been a boost to us, and when things are going well thats when missionary work is the funnest, so it has been alot fo fun for all three of us.

I still have both of my suits I am just down a pair of pants for each of them. And its unlucky because back when I was in Newport News I bought a cheap walmart pair of black and blue pants that I could where while biking. That way I could just save my suit pants for days when we have meetings or church etc. Well that has worked out well except this wreck and my dog bite just happened to be on days that I was wearing my suit pants, so those are the pants that got ruined. But I still have another pair for the green and black as well as my two cheap pairs so I am fine.

Yes the pavement comes very fast. This time I didnt even have time to think or to try and fall in way that might do less damage to my body. All I remember thinking while i was falling was a simple "no, not again."

I enjoyed reading Spencers story about repentance. Everytime we teach repentance I start off the lesson by saying ok today we are going to teach one of the greatest ways we can feel joy. It usually gets them interested. I am excited to see your baptism pictures.

Another thing I am excited about is tomorrow is Mission Conference. It is President Millburn's last transfer so we are having a mission conference. I am really excited for it, mostly because I get to see Elder Shelley and Elder White, and talk to them and ask them how everyone is doing in Kempsville. And then next tuesday is transfers, which is crazy because this transfer has flown by, but I am pretty sure I am staying here, which is what I am very much hoping for. I really like it here and we have found alot of people who are ready for the Gospel.

Another interesting item is my lifelong pursuit of trying to figure out how to throw a curveball has been fulfilled. Elder Haley was a high school baseball player so he taught me how. And it was funny he brought his glove and baseball hoping that there would be other missionaries for him to play catch with, but no one brought a baseball glove except him. Well he wanted to play catch really bad, and he asked me if he bought another glove if I would play with him. So I said yeah cause I really like playing catch, and so he bought himself a glove so he can play catch with whoever his companion is. So anyway, we were playing catch a few p-days ago and he taught me the curveball. It was fun, I was throwing it to the right of him and then watching it curve back to being in front if him! Its really easy too, and it all depends on how you rotate your wrist.

Well thank you for your prayers. They are working. Please keep them up, as I know you always do. We are doing great here in Hampton.

Love,
Elder Larson

May 26th 2010

Hey,

Well I am glad you are all doing well. It sounds like everyone is busy. We have had a pretty good week too. We another good lesson with Nicole, and she basically knows the book of mormon is true. She told us she was feeling very worried and stressed (i dont know why) and then she thought that she should read the Book of mormon, so she did. And then she said it all went away and she felt much better. It was cool to hear her tell us that. We didnt even ask her about it either she just brought it up to us because she was excited to tell us about it. She wants to come to church too and she is a firefighter, and but right now she doesnt have a job but she wants to get one, and she was asking us if it is ok if she had to come to church in her work clothes in case she didnt have time to change after work once she gets a job. We told her of course. :) So she is doing well. The Keatons are still sick. The parasite thing apparently has gotten worse, and we havent even talked to Sis keaton this past week, because when we went over there on friday she was actually in the hospital, I think just to make sure they had gotten rid of the parasite. But when we went over there the husband was home and he told us they still want us to come over. I think sister keaton forgot we were coming over, but thats ok. So we are giving them a little time right now. The Whisler family is doing pretty good. We talked to them about church and they are going to try and come this Sunday. So we will see if they do.

For lunch we been having to eat out at fast food places, which stinks. We got in kind of a pickle. Our baptist friends are not serving their food anymore and so we were going to pack peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but then we ran out of jam, and we really didnt have any other food that we could pack, so we have had to eat out. Its weird as a missionary you almost feel like you are getting jipped when you have to pay for your own food. You get so used to people feeding you that having to spend money seems like a ripoff. I guess thats probably an attitude I should change. Anyway, after today though we will be able to pack lunches.

Well dad, I am glad you are getting some opposition to your changes. If you didnt it wouldnt have been the right decision.

Well I am happy here in Hampton and Elder Haley and I are working hard. The Lord has continued to lead us to new investigators and I am excited to teach them. Thank you for your faith and your prayers.

Love,
Elder Larson

May 19th 2010

Hey,

Well it has been another good week in Hampton. We have had some good and bad things happen. I guess I will start with the good. We have continued to see small little miracles where it is evident the lord has placed us in a spot where he needed us at that moment. On friday, we picked out some part member familes to go and see. And so far it hadnt been a super good day. Nobody had really been home and it just seemed like it we were as successful as some days. So we were going to see this part member family that we had picked out the night before, and we went to the street that she was supposed to be on. And we went up and down the street but her address didnt exist. So we decided that we were here, and that we should do some finding around this area. I even said maybe this is a divine place for us to be. I was just joking. Well, the second door we knocked on we found this girl named nichole. She is a very nice girl and she was very receptive. We taught her the Restoration and she liked everything we taught. Then after our lesson we were jsut talking and as we were talking she told us that the night before she could not sleep because she was uncomfortable with where she was in life and she didnt really know what to do. And then the next day we showed up. :) She was so grateful that we came by, and on Monday we taught her the Plan of Salvation and she liked all of that as well. She has read the first 8 chapters of the Book of Mormon, too, and right now she believes it could be true. But she has been prepared, and the Lord lead us right to her. Our next lesson with her is on Friday. Then that night, we were riding home, and a less active stopped us on the side of the road. He told us he wants us to come over, and have lessons with his family. So we went over there and taught them the Restoration. It was a good lesson, and we rescheduled with them to go over there again on Sunday, so hopefully then we can talk to them about church and see if they want to come back, and resolve whatever concerns they may have. But it was another little experience where the Lord put us right where he needed us at the time. We didnt do anything. That family's name is the Whistlers. Sister Keaton, Bianca 's mom, is a great lady. We got to meet her on Thursday and she talks alot. We werent actually able to have dinner with them though, or a lesson. On the day we were supposed to go over for dinner, her kids got sick, and it was some 48 hr parasite that is super contagious, basically a perfect ploy by satan to keep us away. But thats ok because when we went over there we got to meet and talk to Sis keaton alot, and become friends with her, and we also got to reschedule for this Friday. And on Thursday she did make us dinner though to take home with us, because she felt bad we couldnt come over, so that was nice of her. And it was good food.
And also Victor, he is not doing so well. On Saturday we had a lesson scheduled with him but he called us and told us that he couldnt meet with us that day or the next week. He told us that his neighbor "shared some scriptures" with him and now he wants to try his neighbors church before ours. I was not happy at all. So we gave him a couple days and then on Monday we went over there. I asked him if his neighbor told him he should not visit with us and he said no, that he still wants to meet with us but he is too busy right now. So its not quite as bad as I thought at first, but its not going the way it was initially. I really dont think he is too busy to meet with us, especially because his he is without a car right now, but I will keep my hopes and faith up.
So thats the update on Hampton. We have still been eating out at the Baptist churches, and its continued to be delicious. Yesterday was definitely the most awkward one, the farthest out of my comfort zone. So yesterday we went to this baptist church. and it was the same as before, we just felt awkward, its like being on enemy territory, except they just look at you. And so we were still outside and we were wondering if we should even go inside, A because it is awkward and B because the lunches are more for poorer people anyway. Well finally this guy walked outside and said to us go in there and eat, dont be shy. So we followed his advice and we went in. And then the leader came over to talk to us and he asked, are you guys here for food? and I just kind of hesitated and then said yeah, and I didnt say anything else because honestly there wasnt any other reason that we were there. But then he said ok and told us where to go. And it was delicious, and then once they saw we were just there to eat and not convert them all they started talking to us and they were very nice to us and one lady even told us that she admires us so much because of the work we do and she said that there is a godliness to us that she see in us. It was a very nice compliment and made us happy. I thought to myself thats called the Holy Ghost. And as usual I was really glad we went.
But unfortunately those lunches are not served over the Summer, so that was our last meal from the baptists. So I am not sure what we will do in the future, probably eat out or pack a lunch. Well figure it out.

Thank you very much for the package. It has been great. I really enjoy the snacks and I liked the program from Stake Conference. I enjoyed seeing that. And thank you for your prayers because I believe they are working. Keep them up.

Love
Elder Larson