Hello,
Well it was good to hear from yall, thats how they say "you all" in virginia. :) Things are going good here.
Last week I told you about a couple named Robert and Natalie that came to church and they are being helped by a member to get their life back together. Well we had a lesson with them last Wednesday with the member who has been helping them (Brother C#hase). It was a good lesson. It was good because they are happy, humble, they said they felt good at the lesson, and are excited to learn more. They are very grateful for all the help they have been given and they really have a sincere desire to change and become better. I am really impressed at how humble they are and that they only look forward and upward instead of being angry or feeling unfortunate. They have no bitter feelings at all about not having anything materially, they just want to be good people. And even though they have nothing they are still a happy couple and I like them alot. They look up to us but I also look up to them. They are golden.
They have been saying morning and evening family prayer every morning and every night since we met with them which brings me joy to know. We call them every night just to talk and see how their day was and see if they have any questions or anything. It is called daily contact, and in these nightly calls they have told us about their experience praying, and how they have enjoyed it. They ask tons of questions too, about rules missionaries follow which are always fun to tell people because they are confusing to alot of people. And with almost all of the rules we just explain that they are to help us stay focused. They also asked about the sacrament, and the importance of it so we explained it to them and how it represents the promises we make when we are baptized and we went on to tell how it is therefore more siginificant once you are baptized and they said well we are going to be members one day. I think we might be thinking that day is a little sooner than they are thinking, and in our next lesson we are hoping and praying that we can set a date for them to be baptized.
They came to church again yesterday and enjoyed it again. The only thing is the lesson we taught was over their heads because they know absolutely nothing about anything about religion. They really have no concept of what the word God even means. So it is alot harder than it may sound to teach someone something when you are starting with nothing, and espeically when what you are teaching is something you were raised on and learned naturally, but it is difficult. So the learning process will be a slower one but thats ok, because they dont have to know all their is to learn to be baptized, and even if they may not understand it all, they are being converted from feeling the spirit. And in DC 20:37 it lists the qualifications for baptism, and the qualifications really dont say anything about how much you know, but just that you are humble and willing to follow Christ. And by that they are definitely ready, and also once they are baptized they will be given the gift of the Holy Ghost, which will assist them in learning and understanding. So anyway, I love them already and want to see them get baptized.
I do not know my release date. I'll try to remember to ask president p#erry cause we have interviews soon, otherwise i will let you know when i find out. I do know today is 19 months lol. The Napalese are doing good. At church yesterday the one who speaks english couldnt make it. So we watched a movie with them in english with subtitles because they can read english better than hear it. I think it went well, I really have no idea though... I guess i felt the spirit so they hopefully did too. Well Elder P#hillips and i have gotten to know each other better so we are doing good and have gotten more used to each other. So james is going to South Africa! That is awesome. I think thats like everyones dream mission. That or Australia. He is not going to have any trouble staying excited or focused for that day to come, because that sounds like a very cool and exciting place to go. Well I guess I am assuming he is excited for that call, what was his reaction? I am happy i get to see him too. Well, have a good week. Thank you for prayers and your support. I love you
love,
Elder Larson
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
17 Jan 2011
Hey,
Well things are going good in Hampton. As far as the work is concerned, things are going awesome. The lord is blessing us. Things are changing though and I just do not do well with change. It stinks. I miss elder Haley alot. It is the same as when I left Elder Shelley, I missed him, but then became really good friends with Elder Haley, and now I miss him, but I hope I can become good friends with Elder Phillips. And it doesnt help that whenever we go to the Sly's house I see packed up boxes because they are getting ready to leave. The military is moving Brother Sly onto the airforce base here called Langley before they moved to St george at the end of february. But they are moving to Langley in a couple weeks. They will still attend our ward because the airforce base is very close, but they will be out of our area so we will probably see them alot less. The bright side is, before I know it I will be off my mission and then it will be easy to stay in touch. I know I will. I really look up to Brother Sly and he has taught me so much. He is the most loving person I have ever met. They just do so much to help us and they are always calling and asking us if we need anything or if we have dinner plans. They are like family. And they have twice the load because there are sister missionaries too and they treat them the same way. I am definitely going to have to do something for them to tell them thank you.
But let me tell you about some cool things that have happened. John Cox is solid. We set a date for him to be baptized on Feb 5th. We had a lesson with him last week and it went well and he wants to be baptized. He came to church again this past Sunday and loved it again. Also, Kelton came to church as well and really enjoyed it. I dont think it is possible to not enjyo church here. There is always a strong spirit. But Kelton is also set to be baptized on February 5th so hopefully we can have a double baptism. Also, a previous bishop here started a thing called the needs network. And people donate stuff to it and then he sells it back for super cheap so the poor people can afford things like furniture. He is the one who gave us all our stuff for free when we moved into our Hampton apartment, cause it was a new apartment. Anyway, he has been helping a young couple who have been homeless find what they need and right now he is searching for an apartment for them. Anyway, this couple (named Robert and Natalie) has been so grateful for all the help they received and has asked to learn about the church. Bro Chase, the guy who owns the needs network, had them go to our ward and they loved it. They felt the spirit and afterwards told brother chase how excited they are to come back. So, we are going to go and have dinner and a lesson with this couple and brother chase on Wednesday. It should be good.
Another cool thing, the sister missionaries have been teaching a group of people from napal. That may be a completely wrong spelling but it is some country near india. It is a group of refugees that have come to Virginia and they have been teaching them for awhile but in that culture you really cant change religions without having the grandfather or whoever the head male is doing it first. But they have been open to learning, and there is a language barrier but some of the napals know english so they can translate. Well, they finally decided that they would like to become christian and they started coming to church. So on sundays we have a seperate sunday school class thats taught by us and the sisters just for them so we can teach them slowly and let them translate for each other. Its going good and fun to watch them understand and it has been fun to help teach them. We taught them the plan of salvation this week. The sisters here are really cool and we have fun together. It makes the work alot more fun and the best part is that there is no competition. We are always working together and passing investigators to each other so we can be unified. And Sister sly has gone to work trying to get the Book of Mormon translated into napalese. She has made lots of calls straight to Salt lake lol and the work of translating it is now underway and should be done in July! So the work here is going good.
We didnt have interviews last transfer. Interviews have been changed to once every three months so they are less frequent. They used to be every transfer. I believe we have our next interviews on Feb 3rd. Thanks for the email and keep us in your prayers. I lvoe you and will talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
Well things are going good in Hampton. As far as the work is concerned, things are going awesome. The lord is blessing us. Things are changing though and I just do not do well with change. It stinks. I miss elder Haley alot. It is the same as when I left Elder Shelley, I missed him, but then became really good friends with Elder Haley, and now I miss him, but I hope I can become good friends with Elder Phillips. And it doesnt help that whenever we go to the Sly's house I see packed up boxes because they are getting ready to leave. The military is moving Brother Sly onto the airforce base here called Langley before they moved to St george at the end of february. But they are moving to Langley in a couple weeks. They will still attend our ward because the airforce base is very close, but they will be out of our area so we will probably see them alot less. The bright side is, before I know it I will be off my mission and then it will be easy to stay in touch. I know I will. I really look up to Brother Sly and he has taught me so much. He is the most loving person I have ever met. They just do so much to help us and they are always calling and asking us if we need anything or if we have dinner plans. They are like family. And they have twice the load because there are sister missionaries too and they treat them the same way. I am definitely going to have to do something for them to tell them thank you.
But let me tell you about some cool things that have happened. John Cox is solid. We set a date for him to be baptized on Feb 5th. We had a lesson with him last week and it went well and he wants to be baptized. He came to church again this past Sunday and loved it again. Also, Kelton came to church as well and really enjoyed it. I dont think it is possible to not enjyo church here. There is always a strong spirit. But Kelton is also set to be baptized on February 5th so hopefully we can have a double baptism. Also, a previous bishop here started a thing called the needs network. And people donate stuff to it and then he sells it back for super cheap so the poor people can afford things like furniture. He is the one who gave us all our stuff for free when we moved into our Hampton apartment, cause it was a new apartment. Anyway, he has been helping a young couple who have been homeless find what they need and right now he is searching for an apartment for them. Anyway, this couple (named Robert and Natalie) has been so grateful for all the help they received and has asked to learn about the church. Bro Chase, the guy who owns the needs network, had them go to our ward and they loved it. They felt the spirit and afterwards told brother chase how excited they are to come back. So, we are going to go and have dinner and a lesson with this couple and brother chase on Wednesday. It should be good.
Another cool thing, the sister missionaries have been teaching a group of people from napal. That may be a completely wrong spelling but it is some country near india. It is a group of refugees that have come to Virginia and they have been teaching them for awhile but in that culture you really cant change religions without having the grandfather or whoever the head male is doing it first. But they have been open to learning, and there is a language barrier but some of the napals know english so they can translate. Well, they finally decided that they would like to become christian and they started coming to church. So on sundays we have a seperate sunday school class thats taught by us and the sisters just for them so we can teach them slowly and let them translate for each other. Its going good and fun to watch them understand and it has been fun to help teach them. We taught them the plan of salvation this week. The sisters here are really cool and we have fun together. It makes the work alot more fun and the best part is that there is no competition. We are always working together and passing investigators to each other so we can be unified. And Sister sly has gone to work trying to get the Book of Mormon translated into napalese. She has made lots of calls straight to Salt lake lol and the work of translating it is now underway and should be done in July! So the work here is going good.
We didnt have interviews last transfer. Interviews have been changed to once every three months so they are less frequent. They used to be every transfer. I believe we have our next interviews on Feb 3rd. Thanks for the email and keep us in your prayers. I lvoe you and will talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
Sunday, January 16, 2011
10 Jan 2011
Hey,
thanks for the emails. Im glad you got to talk to Brother Sly last week. He is such a nice guy and they are like family to us. This past week we were near their home and we hadnt eaten lunch and we saw that Brother Sly was home (which is important because it means we can go inside) so we thought why dont we have lunch with the slys. They are so nice and always tell us to come by anytime, and they are always happy to see us. And when we went by they invited us in and sister sly threw a frozen pizza in the oven and made us hamburgers too. It was great. Brother Sly is a very smart and spiritual man, and he was a district president for awhile in Japan, so he always gives us cool insights and has cool stories to tell us. They were in Japan for the military. Unfortunaly he retires soon from the air force and they are moving back to St george in March. So if I am still here at that point I will be sad to see them leave.
Anyway, I dont know why the internet wasnt working but for some reason it was down last week, so we werent able to email. This week has been pretty good. Last night though we found out Elder Haley is leaving. Thats sad. I will miss him. That makes six transfers together and 8.5 months which is a lot of time and memories. He is pretty sad that he is leaving..... This area has become our home and neither one of us want anything to change. He is going to an area called Hopewell which is near Richmond. But Im sure it is where the Lord needs him. My new companion's name is Elder Phillips. I will meet him on Thursday.
The work is going pretty well though. We had a little miracle a couple weeks ago. A man named John C. met missionaries about a year ago and talked to them a little about the Book of Mormon and they gave him a copy. He i guess lost contact with them and in the process lost track of the Book of Mormon and kind of forgot about it. Well time passed and then recently he felt like things werent right with him, and so he prayed that God would show him a sign of where he should go in life, and what he should do. Very soon after that prayer the Book of Mormon appeared and he recognized it as a sign from God. So he opened it and inside it was a pass-along card for a Finding Faith in Christ DVD. So he called the number on the card so he could get ahold of missionaries and we went and saw him. He is a great man and very sincere, and he came to church a week before last sunday and really enjoyed it. And it was fast and testimony meeting which in some wards can be a little nervous bringing investigators to (cause you never know what types of testimonies will be bourne) but in this ward they are my favorite to bring investigators to. One thing this ward is very good at and makes a big difference in missionary work is the testimonies and talks are always centerred around Christ. So it was a great sunday and John enjoyed it. He wanted to come again this past week but he had to work. Last week we were teaching a man named Kelton and we had watched the Restoration DVD with him. He liked it alot and told us to bring by another DVD. So we brought Finding Faith in Christ the next time we saw him. Well the DVD was completely new, not even opened, and when we opened it and put it in his DVD player the player would not read the DVD. It was crazy there were no scratches or anything, but it wouldnt work. Then we tried the Restoration DVd again just to see if that would work and it did, but the Finding Faith in Christ still wouldnt. So we gave up on that idea and we decided to talk again about the Restoration again and discuss why it was so important. Kelton admitted that he felt the Spirit as we watched the Restoration DVD last time and as we were talking to him again about it, and so we set a date for him to be baptized. We set a date for February 5th. He seems excited about it and wants to come to church, although he was out of town this past week. So I believe that was another little miracle that the Lord had something planned other than watching the DVD. So thats whats been happening here.
Thats cool Sister Massey wrote you a letter. The masseys are another wonderful family that make this place feel like home. Brother Massey always takes us places when we need rides and that is usually around lunch time, so he always takes us out to lunch too. It was hard though because they did just lose their son..... Brother Massey also loves basketball. I am very blessed to be in such a great area where people care about us and help us out. We counted that eleven families bought us christmas presents. That is awesome How could the church not be true where so much love and goodness is promoted and it creates so much happiness and joy. It must be true. Well have a good week and I love you. Im sorry you have been kind of sick I hope you get well soon.
Love,
Elder Larson
thanks for the emails. Im glad you got to talk to Brother Sly last week. He is such a nice guy and they are like family to us. This past week we were near their home and we hadnt eaten lunch and we saw that Brother Sly was home (which is important because it means we can go inside) so we thought why dont we have lunch with the slys. They are so nice and always tell us to come by anytime, and they are always happy to see us. And when we went by they invited us in and sister sly threw a frozen pizza in the oven and made us hamburgers too. It was great. Brother Sly is a very smart and spiritual man, and he was a district president for awhile in Japan, so he always gives us cool insights and has cool stories to tell us. They were in Japan for the military. Unfortunaly he retires soon from the air force and they are moving back to St george in March. So if I am still here at that point I will be sad to see them leave.
Anyway, I dont know why the internet wasnt working but for some reason it was down last week, so we werent able to email. This week has been pretty good. Last night though we found out Elder Haley is leaving. Thats sad. I will miss him. That makes six transfers together and 8.5 months which is a lot of time and memories. He is pretty sad that he is leaving..... This area has become our home and neither one of us want anything to change. He is going to an area called Hopewell which is near Richmond. But Im sure it is where the Lord needs him. My new companion's name is Elder Phillips. I will meet him on Thursday.
The work is going pretty well though. We had a little miracle a couple weeks ago. A man named John C. met missionaries about a year ago and talked to them a little about the Book of Mormon and they gave him a copy. He i guess lost contact with them and in the process lost track of the Book of Mormon and kind of forgot about it. Well time passed and then recently he felt like things werent right with him, and so he prayed that God would show him a sign of where he should go in life, and what he should do. Very soon after that prayer the Book of Mormon appeared and he recognized it as a sign from God. So he opened it and inside it was a pass-along card for a Finding Faith in Christ DVD. So he called the number on the card so he could get ahold of missionaries and we went and saw him. He is a great man and very sincere, and he came to church a week before last sunday and really enjoyed it. And it was fast and testimony meeting which in some wards can be a little nervous bringing investigators to (cause you never know what types of testimonies will be bourne) but in this ward they are my favorite to bring investigators to. One thing this ward is very good at and makes a big difference in missionary work is the testimonies and talks are always centerred around Christ. So it was a great sunday and John enjoyed it. He wanted to come again this past week but he had to work. Last week we were teaching a man named Kelton and we had watched the Restoration DVD with him. He liked it alot and told us to bring by another DVD. So we brought Finding Faith in Christ the next time we saw him. Well the DVD was completely new, not even opened, and when we opened it and put it in his DVD player the player would not read the DVD. It was crazy there were no scratches or anything, but it wouldnt work. Then we tried the Restoration DVd again just to see if that would work and it did, but the Finding Faith in Christ still wouldnt. So we gave up on that idea and we decided to talk again about the Restoration again and discuss why it was so important. Kelton admitted that he felt the Spirit as we watched the Restoration DVD last time and as we were talking to him again about it, and so we set a date for him to be baptized. We set a date for February 5th. He seems excited about it and wants to come to church, although he was out of town this past week. So I believe that was another little miracle that the Lord had something planned other than watching the DVD. So thats whats been happening here.
Thats cool Sister Massey wrote you a letter. The masseys are another wonderful family that make this place feel like home. Brother Massey always takes us places when we need rides and that is usually around lunch time, so he always takes us out to lunch too. It was hard though because they did just lose their son..... Brother Massey also loves basketball. I am very blessed to be in such a great area where people care about us and help us out. We counted that eleven families bought us christmas presents. That is awesome How could the church not be true where so much love and goodness is promoted and it creates so much happiness and joy. It must be true. Well have a good week and I love you. Im sorry you have been kind of sick I hope you get well soon.
Love,
Elder Larson
27 Dec 2010
Hey,
Merry Christmas again. It was good to talk to you on the phone. That night after the phone call we got hit with alot of snow that shut everything down for the next two days. We got around 9 inches. We didnt have church and obivously we werent able to email yesterday either. The libraries were closed. So Elder Haley and I just stayed in the apartment all day both days. It got kind of boring. Some members brought us some board games which were pretty fun but with only two people you can only think of so many ways to change the game to make it interesting. But it was relaxing and warm. And actually I am kind of surprised they let us go out today because there is still alot of ice on the roads, but I guess they feel it is ok. Well have a good and safe new years and I dont have alot to report either. I love you.
Love,
Elder Larson
Merry Christmas again. It was good to talk to you on the phone. That night after the phone call we got hit with alot of snow that shut everything down for the next two days. We got around 9 inches. We didnt have church and obivously we werent able to email yesterday either. The libraries were closed. So Elder Haley and I just stayed in the apartment all day both days. It got kind of boring. Some members brought us some board games which were pretty fun but with only two people you can only think of so many ways to change the game to make it interesting. But it was relaxing and warm. And actually I am kind of surprised they let us go out today because there is still alot of ice on the roads, but I guess they feel it is ok. Well have a good and safe new years and I dont have alot to report either. I love you.
Love,
Elder Larson
13 Dec 2010
Hey,
Well I am sorry to hear about your church bag. That is kind of dumb. It is hard to beleive people can steal something from inside a church. Maybe they needed Christmas money. Elder Haley and I are doing good in Hampton. It is snowing right now. Biking through it and having it hit my face reminds me of skiing, and it is pretty cold here too. At least today. Well my email is going to be kind of short too. There is a missionary that just left from Hampton who is having a hard time so I emailed him to hopefully encourage him. But Elder Haley and I are doing well. We found some new investigators last week that we are pretty excited about. Next week our ward is doing a Christmas service for church. It is just going to be an extended sacrament meeting combined with the neighboring branch and we have a goal to get three hundred people at church. Lots of people are excited abotu it and many ward members are inviting their friends. It is going to be a great Sunday and it is a great tool to help ward members invite others to church. It is alot easier to invite people to church when it is a special Christmas devotional. Elder Haley are singing Away in a Manger with the rest of the Elders Quorum so that is exciting. It also helps us invite people to church because lots of people will come to see us sing. We can tell them all day about the spirit they will feel and get them to say maybe but when they hear that we are singing its crazy how willing some investigators are to come then. So hopefully they will get a good dose of the Spirit and of the fellowship in the ward when they come and will keep coming. After the sacrament meeting we are having a linger longer so that should be fun. There will be food afterwards and time to talk with people. It will be great for nonmembers. Well have a good week. I love you each. Talk to you in twelve days!!! We get 45 minutes I found out.
Love,
Elder Larson
Well I am sorry to hear about your church bag. That is kind of dumb. It is hard to beleive people can steal something from inside a church. Maybe they needed Christmas money. Elder Haley and I are doing good in Hampton. It is snowing right now. Biking through it and having it hit my face reminds me of skiing, and it is pretty cold here too. At least today. Well my email is going to be kind of short too. There is a missionary that just left from Hampton who is having a hard time so I emailed him to hopefully encourage him. But Elder Haley and I are doing well. We found some new investigators last week that we are pretty excited about. Next week our ward is doing a Christmas service for church. It is just going to be an extended sacrament meeting combined with the neighboring branch and we have a goal to get three hundred people at church. Lots of people are excited abotu it and many ward members are inviting their friends. It is going to be a great Sunday and it is a great tool to help ward members invite others to church. It is alot easier to invite people to church when it is a special Christmas devotional. Elder Haley are singing Away in a Manger with the rest of the Elders Quorum so that is exciting. It also helps us invite people to church because lots of people will come to see us sing. We can tell them all day about the spirit they will feel and get them to say maybe but when they hear that we are singing its crazy how willing some investigators are to come then. So hopefully they will get a good dose of the Spirit and of the fellowship in the ward when they come and will keep coming. After the sacrament meeting we are having a linger longer so that should be fun. There will be food afterwards and time to talk with people. It will be great for nonmembers. Well have a good week. I love you each. Talk to you in twelve days!!! We get 45 minutes I found out.
Love,
Elder Larson
20 Dec 2010
Hey,
Thank you for the email. Before I forget, on christmas I will call you and it will be the phone number 757-344-1803, which is our cell phone. And I was thinking I will probably call around like 7 my time. I know that is kind of late but I would like to save it for the end of the day. Last year i called in the early afternoon and then for the rest of the day there was nothing to look forward to. So i think this time I will wait til later so it will probably be around 7 which is 4 your time. If that is not a good time I guess you could write me a quick letter and let me know when would be better for you.
Well we have a had a good week. We have found some investigators that seem pretty promising. One of them is named Reggie. He is a cool guy and he lives with his wife and one of kids. We discussed the Restoration and the Book of mormon early last week and he wanted to know why people dont like the Book of mormon if it testifies of Christ. So we explained the need for the authority and what it means if the Book is true and then he asked how can we know that we have the authority. So we used that question as a lead for our next lesson and we set up a time to meet with him yesterday, which we did and we had a great lesson with him. We brought a young man who is great and he is getting ready to go on a mission. He gives us lots of rides and sometimes comes to appointments with us. And he came and him and Reggie talked alot and this guy we brought, named Bubba who is a convert, talked about how he was searching to know which church to go to, and he felt like the baptist church left an emptiness inside of him but when he tried the mormon church that emptiness was filled. It was a great story and testimony and we taught the Restoration a little more fully to explain the authority and after the lesson reggie said he had a very warm feeling while we were there. We are going back this thursday and we are bringing bubba again.
We also have a guy who came to church and said he wants to be baptized. So we are hoping to baptize him the tuesday after Christmas. He has a very strong belief in God and knows the book of Mormon is true. He has had some crazy experiences though and believes he has actually died physically and been reborn in Christ which i guess is good but teaching the Plan of Salvation was a little weird because when we discussed what happens after we die he thought he had already been through it all. He was like yeah I have been resurrected and judged. Ive been there. So we are trying to help him understand the difference between what he has gone through and what the Plan of Slavation and acknowledge that he probably has had a very spiritual experience but that doesnt mean he is finished having spiritual experiences. He is a cool guy though and we are doing our best to help him. His name is Wesley. This ward is great too and they never judge. Wesley doesnt have church clothes so a ward member gave him one of his old suits and got his clothing sizes so he can get him a white shirt and shoes and stuff. The ward always helps us out alot, which is a wonderful blessing, cause not all wards do.
On thursday we got a couple inches of snow and the city shut down. The whole state did actually. The entire mission got told to stay inside all day, which was pretty nice and relaxing and kind of boring. And then a member called us and invited us over for dinner and told us they would pick us up in their 4wheel drive truck and we said yeah sure. It sounded great. And then we figured we should probably ask for permission since we were told to stay inside and when we asked they said it was really bad outside and it was not a good idea. We were a little bit frustrated and regretted asking, and it is a lttle bit hard when you grew up in spokane where you get lots of snow and we didnt have a truck and then being told that even a truck is unsafe, but anyway I didnt say anything and I understand that they really want to be careful to make sure we are safe. So we called the member back and told him we werent able to leave the apt at all and then he said well how about I drop you off some pizza. :) So it worked out better in the end. :)
Well we are doing good. This Thursday is mission conference which I am excited about. I dont think I will see Elder Shelley or Elder Comer though, who are my favorites. Elder Comer goes home after Christmas though which is pretty crazy. He was my first companion.
Well Merry Christmas. I cant wait to talk to you. Have a good week. I love you.
Love,
Elder Larson
Thank you for the email. Before I forget, on christmas I will call you and it will be the phone number 757-344-1803, which is our cell phone. And I was thinking I will probably call around like 7 my time. I know that is kind of late but I would like to save it for the end of the day. Last year i called in the early afternoon and then for the rest of the day there was nothing to look forward to. So i think this time I will wait til later so it will probably be around 7 which is 4 your time. If that is not a good time I guess you could write me a quick letter and let me know when would be better for you.
Well we have a had a good week. We have found some investigators that seem pretty promising. One of them is named Reggie. He is a cool guy and he lives with his wife and one of kids. We discussed the Restoration and the Book of mormon early last week and he wanted to know why people dont like the Book of mormon if it testifies of Christ. So we explained the need for the authority and what it means if the Book is true and then he asked how can we know that we have the authority. So we used that question as a lead for our next lesson and we set up a time to meet with him yesterday, which we did and we had a great lesson with him. We brought a young man who is great and he is getting ready to go on a mission. He gives us lots of rides and sometimes comes to appointments with us. And he came and him and Reggie talked alot and this guy we brought, named Bubba who is a convert, talked about how he was searching to know which church to go to, and he felt like the baptist church left an emptiness inside of him but when he tried the mormon church that emptiness was filled. It was a great story and testimony and we taught the Restoration a little more fully to explain the authority and after the lesson reggie said he had a very warm feeling while we were there. We are going back this thursday and we are bringing bubba again.
We also have a guy who came to church and said he wants to be baptized. So we are hoping to baptize him the tuesday after Christmas. He has a very strong belief in God and knows the book of Mormon is true. He has had some crazy experiences though and believes he has actually died physically and been reborn in Christ which i guess is good but teaching the Plan of Salvation was a little weird because when we discussed what happens after we die he thought he had already been through it all. He was like yeah I have been resurrected and judged. Ive been there. So we are trying to help him understand the difference between what he has gone through and what the Plan of Slavation and acknowledge that he probably has had a very spiritual experience but that doesnt mean he is finished having spiritual experiences. He is a cool guy though and we are doing our best to help him. His name is Wesley. This ward is great too and they never judge. Wesley doesnt have church clothes so a ward member gave him one of his old suits and got his clothing sizes so he can get him a white shirt and shoes and stuff. The ward always helps us out alot, which is a wonderful blessing, cause not all wards do.
On thursday we got a couple inches of snow and the city shut down. The whole state did actually. The entire mission got told to stay inside all day, which was pretty nice and relaxing and kind of boring. And then a member called us and invited us over for dinner and told us they would pick us up in their 4wheel drive truck and we said yeah sure. It sounded great. And then we figured we should probably ask for permission since we were told to stay inside and when we asked they said it was really bad outside and it was not a good idea. We were a little bit frustrated and regretted asking, and it is a lttle bit hard when you grew up in spokane where you get lots of snow and we didnt have a truck and then being told that even a truck is unsafe, but anyway I didnt say anything and I understand that they really want to be careful to make sure we are safe. So we called the member back and told him we werent able to leave the apt at all and then he said well how about I drop you off some pizza. :) So it worked out better in the end. :)
Well we are doing good. This Thursday is mission conference which I am excited about. I dont think I will see Elder Shelley or Elder Comer though, who are my favorites. Elder Comer goes home after Christmas though which is pretty crazy. He was my first companion.
Well Merry Christmas. I cant wait to talk to you. Have a good week. I love you.
Love,
Elder Larson
6 Dec 2010
Hey,
Well this week has been pretty good. It has gotten really cold. Probably not as cold as Spokane, and we dont have any snow, but it sure feels cold biking and from what I hear the humidity makes it feel colder than it really is. But we are staying warm by just bundling up really good. We have a problem that all of the really solid people we have been teaching are baptized now, which I guess is a good problem, but we are back in the finding mode. There are alot of people who like us and are willing to listen to us but we are trying to focus down on the ones that are actually ready to be baptized, and really right now we only have one lady that we could see getting baptized soon and her name is Emma. She is the one that gave us the turkey and she is really nice, but just very busy. So we are using more time to find people people who are ready to be baptized and are focusing less on those who are not ready yet. We have been spending alot of time stopping by people such as former investigators and part member families and families with unbaptized children, trying to find people ready to be baptized. Well I enjoyed all of your emails. And thank you for the picture. Pictures are fun to see. I cant believe Jeremy Wells and Sara Fullmer are getting married. Well I guess I can, I just didnt see it coming. Thats funny your bus got stuck. You must have alot of snow.
Well thank yo ufor the email and I am sorry mine is kind of short, I dont have alot to report. We are doing well though and are happy here in Hampton. I am very excited to talk to you all on Christmas. So far President Perry hasnt set a time limit on the phone call and I am kind of hoping he forgets to do that cause than we could talk for alot longer. :) But chances are he will remember.
Have a good week. I love you.
Love,
Elder Larson
Well this week has been pretty good. It has gotten really cold. Probably not as cold as Spokane, and we dont have any snow, but it sure feels cold biking and from what I hear the humidity makes it feel colder than it really is. But we are staying warm by just bundling up really good. We have a problem that all of the really solid people we have been teaching are baptized now, which I guess is a good problem, but we are back in the finding mode. There are alot of people who like us and are willing to listen to us but we are trying to focus down on the ones that are actually ready to be baptized, and really right now we only have one lady that we could see getting baptized soon and her name is Emma. She is the one that gave us the turkey and she is really nice, but just very busy. So we are using more time to find people people who are ready to be baptized and are focusing less on those who are not ready yet. We have been spending alot of time stopping by people such as former investigators and part member families and families with unbaptized children, trying to find people ready to be baptized. Well I enjoyed all of your emails. And thank you for the picture. Pictures are fun to see. I cant believe Jeremy Wells and Sara Fullmer are getting married. Well I guess I can, I just didnt see it coming. Thats funny your bus got stuck. You must have alot of snow.
Well thank yo ufor the email and I am sorry mine is kind of short, I dont have alot to report. We are doing well though and are happy here in Hampton. I am very excited to talk to you all on Christmas. So far President Perry hasnt set a time limit on the phone call and I am kind of hoping he forgets to do that cause than we could talk for alot longer. :) But chances are he will remember.
Have a good week. I love you.
Love,
Elder Larson
29 Nov 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 didnt 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
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 didnt 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
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