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