May 13th 2010

Hey,

Well we have had a good week so far here in Hampton. We are teaching Victor, our investigator who came to church, tomorrow. He is doing well and is excited for us to come over. He wants to feed us lunch too, so I think he likes us. He calls Elder Haley and his brothers. We have had some success finding too. We have been doing alot of contacting people that have been taught by missionaries in the past, and also contacting referrals from the Gladys Knight fireside. Most of them have already been contacted, but we are still revisiting and seeing what they thoguht of the package Gladys Knight gave everyone that came, which includes a Book of mormon. After we contact these people ew try to find around them. So far, we have had success.

On monday we found 3 people that we were able to set up return appointments with and we found another person yesterday. The people here are all very nice and mostly receptive, but we will see if they can keep their return appointment. So on Friday I told you how we were able to get a free lunch. Well part of the story was one of the guys there who was eating came and started talking to us, and he told us places that we can get free lunch for every day of the week. :) So on Monday the place was a big baptist church. And we went there for lunch, and I was really nervous to walk inside. Everyone was baptist and we are clearly mormon missionaries, and I thought it would be awkward to have everone look at us but we kind of just figured oh well, we'll see what happens, kind of like we did on Friday when we parked in fornt of that other pastor. anyway, as we were walking up to the one of the guys there yelled out to us, hey we are having free lunch, come and join us. So we did, and everyone there was very nice and welcoming. And its good because we get to talk to lots of people. We are not allowed to proselyte on church grounds, but its still good because we get to make ourselves known and talk to people. And all the baptists who were serving lunch were very nice and friendly and welcoming. It was cool. So these lunches have been our little miracle workers lately.

And I have another story. On Saturday, we had a meeting with the bishop in the morning. And the meeting went a little longer than we expected, and so we weren't able to go to our source of free lunch. So we decided to eat out somewhere, and we picked the cheapest place that we knew of, which is Taco bell. So we ate there, and then as we were about to leave, this lady came up to us and told us she is a member, and her mom is also a member, and that her mom was going through a hard time and needed some missionaries. So this lady, her name was bianca, gave us the phone number to her mom for us to call her. So I called her, not really knowing what to say at all, but I just told her we were missionaries and we ran into her daughter bianca, and then she got super excited and she told me that she had been wanting to call the missionaries for a long time because she wants to have us come over. She also wants to start coming to church again and her daughter, who i cant remember how old she is, wants to take the "baptism lessons."
so the daughter must be a little older than 8 and wants to be baptized. And her husband is also not a member, but is open to learning. So we are going over to their house tomorrow for dinner and a lesson. Her name is Sis. Keaton. I am really excited for them. The Lord is definitely putting miracles in our path, so it would be good if you could pray that we will have a good lesson with the Keatons tomorrow, please.

Well thats pretty much it. Oh our lesson Sunday night went alright. The people were very nice but they were pretty strong baptist. We invited them to read from the Book of Mormon and they said they might. They were very kind and friendly and gave us cookies but they didnt really see things the same way. And we were only able to make it to one lesson so we rescheduled the other one for this coming Sunday. I think the family this Sunday will be a little more open, so i am excited for them.

I did miss Kempsville alot- the area and elder shelley and elder white. I wasnt expecting it at all. I havent gotten homesick my whole time in Virginia. But for some reason I did the first few days I was here. But I know the best way to get over it is to stay busy amd keep working and thats what we have been doing. And its worked, I am not homesick at all anymore. And talking to you all on the phone helped alot too. I think the Lord planned it so I would be able to talk to you when I did. We have already seen so many little miracles or tender mercies that its clear this is where I am supposed to be and that he is watching over us.

Oh and I was just thinking, can you include the thumbdrive next time you send me something. That way I can send it back with more pictures for you.
Well thank you all for the phone call and the emails. It was great talking to you all. I was really impressed with Spencer, beacuse his speech has improved a lot since I talked to you all on Christmas. Well, I love you.

Love,
Elder Larson