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