21 Feb 2011

Hey,

Well we had a wonderful weekend. I am staying in Hampton. I am happy about that but like last transfer, a little sad to see other people go. Last time it was Elder H*aley, and this time it is the S*ly's as they are now officially gone, and Sister B*rown one of the sisters is leaving. She has been here since June and she is a great missionary and has been lots of fun to work with and has been here a long time. So I am going to miss them but we have great things happening that I am looking forward too.

First of all, last weekend was wonderful. It was awesome. I forgot to bring my camera or I would send you pictures, but there were three generations of Napalese people baptized. The grandparents, their two sons and each of their wives, and then each of them had a child that was baptized. The grandparents are Mongall and Gonga, their two sons are Ball and Prem, and Ball's wifes name is Mon, and they have a little boy named Ajaya. Prem is married to a lady also named Gonga, and they have a daughter named Balika. We did the baptism in the chapel and it filled up the chapel. Lots of people came, even people from the mission office came. And there was an amazing spirit of love that everyone felt. Somehow you could just feel that everyone who came had a love and acceptance for these people, and the Nepalese accepted that love and showed it back.

One thing that was cool is in Nepal they do not give hugs, they shake hands and bow to show affection, but after the grandma was baptized and after the baptism she was giving everyone hugs, and you could just tell they felt love, and the grandparents speak no english at all, so it is very new for them. The baptisms were a little crazy though. I did them all on the first try though, which was a relief. But the water was not super warm, probably like a swimming pool temperature, you defnitely needed time to get used to it. So being immersed I dont think felt too comfortable, and some of them panicked on the way down im guessing just from the cold, but they all went under the first time, which i am so grateful i was able to get them under, cause i would not have wanted to have to explain to them that we are going to have to do it again, cause they wouldnt have been able to understand what i was saying, nor would they want to. I also got to memorize their names, and then saturday morning before the baptism I found out they each had middle names, of which I had not been told yet, so I quickly learned them and was practicing them in my head before going to the font. I remembered them all though and the Lord was definitely helping out. I didnt get to say the prayer in the Nepalese language, I guess the process of translating it has to come after the book of mormon is in that language.

But it was a very fun experience. One thing funny was when I was walking through the bathroom to get to the font, I went in and Ahjaya kind of ran ahead, and by the time I got to the font he was already out of his jumpsuit and about to put his normal clothes back on lol. He thought he was done. So I helped him with that and then I went down in the font and they all started following me into the water. So I was like no no stay up there one at a time. Ahjaya was so excited to get baptized when it was finally his turn he got so excited he couldnt hold it in and he started cheering, so i had to kind of silence him but then i baptized him and he came up and he cheered some more. :) He was so small he was basically swimming in the font. But they were all very happy when they came up, and felt the spirit. I really wish somehow you could have been there to see it. On Sunday we did the confirmations which also all went well. One of them after he was confirmed said thank you and that now he begins a new life. They dont speak very good english, but they did understand what was happening and the decision that they were each making, and it brought them all joy. I enjoy just being around these people. They are always my first pick to sit with at church. They are just so humble and loving, I was sitting with them and we started singing a hymn, and it was a hymn I already knew so I didnt grab a book, but Mon was who i was sitting by and she grabbed a book and handed it to me and I knew she wanted me to turn to the page we were singing, so I did and held it for her and I pointed to the words for her so she could follow along as we sang.

Well I have more good news. We also had a good lesson with R*obert and N*atalie this past week which resulted in us setting a date for them to get baptized this Saturday, and I am so excited for them and feel they are ready. We were talking to them and they had been talking about baptism and that they would like to do it at the end of the month. So we are preparing for them to be baptized this Saturday. We had a lesson where the spirit was strong and we focused on who we are as children of god, and tied that to the plan of salvation and as we were teaching about the celestial kingdom we talked about the steps to get there and they want to get baptized. And Robert was really worried I was going to get transferred. I was not trying to worry him, I had just mentioned what transfers were and that there was a possibility one of us might leave, and he didnt want either of us to go. So he asked who he needed to call to get us to stay. So I explained that about the mission president and what he does and that he prays about it, and he makes the decision, and I told him that usually once he decides it doesnt get changed. Well he really wanted to call so we gave him the number for the office, and he talked to President Perry and I think it made his week. We ended up seeing President the next day at a zone conference and he was so happy that an investigator would call to tell him good thnigs about the missionaries. And President told R*obert that the call came at the perfect time because he was just about to have a meeting to decide on transfers, and he told robert to not worry, so we were pretty sure I was staying. On Sunday night we were at R*obert and N*atalies apartment for a lesson and the transfer call came while we were there, we were all pretty nervous even after what President said, but I did get told that we were staying the same again. So yay for that. Well I am out of time. Things are going good though K*elton B*ooth is doing awesome as well and wants to get baptized. He is prepared to do it this saturday too with R*obert and N*atalie and the only thing we need is permission from his wife. So pray that he can receive it. He came to church though on sunday and came also to the Nepalese baptism on saturday which was a neat experience for him, as it was all of us. I love you and I am grateful for having the gospel in my life. I could never tell how much of a blessing it is to me.

Love,
Elder Larson