March 24th 2010

Hey,

Well I have some fun news. First of all I am being transferred to a zone called Virginia Beach.

The Gladys knight fireside events were wonderful and very successful. We had a couple of investigators in Powhatan come to the fireside and they all enjoyed it. We got a couple thousand referrals for the entire mission. And each referral is a person who actually filled out a card so that the missionaries could come by and give them a gift that Gladys knight offers for free. It is wonderful. There are so many people that have accepted the invitation to be taught. Every single person that signed a referral card receives a Book of Mormon, a restoration dvd, an article called Miracle of the Bible by Elder Ballard, and a cd by Gladys Knight. The gospel is being spread. And the specific ward I am in now got 77 referrals which is like the 2nd highest in the mission. I am very grateful that I get to be a part of contacting and meeting and teaching all these people.

And the best part is, I am companions now with Elder Shelley again, my MTC companion. :) That made me very happy, and still does. It was so great to see him again. We had become really good friends at the MTC and had worked together well and I was always hoping I would run into him sometime. And now we are companions again. We became companions nine months ago at the MTC and now we are companions again. It is great. I am going to miss Powhatan though. I was really starting to like the ward and we were starting to teach quite a few people. I really enjoyed my time there. They moved Elder Terry out of there as well. Bishop wasnt too happy and neither was the ward mission leader, to get two new missionaries again. They really liked us, and Bro. Leonard our ward mission leader told us we were the most trustworthy missionaries he had ever worked with. So I am not quite sure President Millburn put new ones in again, but Im sure it was for a good reason. The new missionaries have some really great potential in that area.

So I have to tell you more about the fireside by Gladys Knight. It was pretty cool. I think her main goal was to try and integrate the black culture and white culture within the church. All of her songs were sung in a very modern, rock, type of way. The aim for the fireside was to bring african americans to it so that they could feel comfortable within a mormon setting. It was almost to the point that Gladys knight gave them a false idea of what church is like in our church. But it was really good, and the Spirit was strong. Before the fireside our mission president had told us that this would be one occasion where clapping and activity from the crowd would be allowed within the chapel. So it was pretty fun. All of the blacks were getting into it. They absolutely loved it, and it was fun for me just to watch them enjoy it. During her songs they would raise their hands and wave them back and forth. This one lady even stood up among everyone and just started dancing in her place and waving her arms back and forth. It was wonderful, and made me laugh to myself. And black people always talk back to the speaker, which is funny. If the speaker says something they agree with the black people always nodd their head and say something like "oh yeah!" or "amen!" or 'hallejuiah!" I like the black culture. And Gladys Knight was just perfect for entertaining them. She knew exactly what to say to get them to laugh and enjoy themselves. She does a wonderful job and is a great resource to the church, and to the Lord I should say.

As for me I am doing good. My dog bite is completely fine, it is basically healed now. It is starting to warm up alot here too. It is over 70 degrees almost everyday, which is good. Another thing I am happy about is we are back to a biking area. I really like riding bikes and being able to just be outside and enjoy the sun and get some exercise while doing the work. I heard about Gonzaga, that is unfortunate they lost. It seems like they used to have the ability to somehow upset the top seeds, but not anymore. Oh well. I heard BYU lost too.

Well last week I wrote ??? and ???. I told them how I was doing and asked how they were doing. I told them to go on a mission. I sure hope they do.

My new address is:
6478 Chartwell Dr.
Virginia Beach, VA, 23464

I love you,
Elder Larson