Hello from Virginia!
Well this has been a wonderful week. I am getting transferred to Norfolk 2nd. I found that out last night. They are making me a District leader too. I am pretty excited though for a few reasons. First of all, I am in a threesome which is always fun and one of my companions names' is Elder W*olfgramm and he from Tonga and he is awesome. I have served near him a few times and so a few times I have been able to go on exchanges with him a few times for a day and i had great times with Elder W*olfgramm. He is really funny, and has alot of funny stories, and he was also going to play for the Tongan national rugby team but then went on his mission. He is a bulky guy. So i am very excited to be his comapnion again and think we will do awesome together.
And I am on bike, which I prefer over car alot. We were in a car this area and I just dont like getting in and out of the car all the time going from house to house. When you bike you actually get to talk to people on the way and you get a workout toowhich just feels better at the end of the day. I am gonig to a ward called the Norfolk 2nd ward which is near the beach and is in the Virginia Beach stake.
So I will miss Elder Jones, I never stopped laughing while i was with him, he is so funny, but I am happy .........I kind of wanted to go to another area where it would be easier to finish strong and I definitely got that wish cause my area is bike and and I know at least one of my companions is a hard worker. So I am happy to move on.
I really dont know what to do to be a good district leader though. President told me it was my responsibilty to empower and encourage my district. Well, beside my own companionship, (the one I am going to have) our whole district is sister misisonaries! I know one of them which is sister b*rown she was in hampton with me but I dont know any of the other ones and I am kind of nervous to be their leader and have to organize district meetings. Anyway, I guess it will be a good learning experience.
But this is not why we had a good weekend. I told Elder J*ones when I first got here I had a goal in my mind that we baptize two people during our time here. We were starting the area fresh and we didnt have any investigators and I thought we would be together my last two transfer and I thought if we could get two baptisms by the end of those two transfers that would be a good goal. He agreed and helped work toward that goal. Well we got one with Jerome, and then yesterday Jim got baptized! I am pretty sure when I talked to you on the phone I had said that Jim was scheduled to be baptized this week, like tuesday or wednesday which means he still would have before the time that I left cause I leave on thursday, but Jim was leaving town and he ended having to leave monday morning, (this morning) so we did it yesterday and he asked me to baptize him and then Elder J*ones did the confirmation waterside. It was an awesome baptism, the first one this area has had this year (cause jerome counted for hampton lol), so the ward was really excited and bishop made sure alot of people came lol.
So we were blessed, Jim really just fell into our lap and was really prepared it was nothing we did except we went over there everyday last week to teach him and he would barbeque hamburgers. He had three friendly pit bulls that we played with too so it was a great way to end my time here. He was so ready and the friend who told him about the church was less active and is still working to be active again, but this less active decided yesterday and I am sure it was from jims example, but he decided to quit smoking and now he wants to baptize his wife! So it is cool how Jims friend helped him find out about the church and now Jim is hepling him live the commandments. :) At sacrament meeting yesterday the temple president came down for some reason and spoke and he spoke about families where one person gets baptized first and then later the spouse gets baptized and then they can be sealed in the temple. It was perfect for Jim to hear. Well it was a great week, I am excited to start my last transfer and finish strong. The heat and the humidity are just starting to come alive for the summer so biking should be fun in that. It is hot and thick. I love you and talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
Monday, May 16, 2011
2 May 2011
Hello,
Well before I forget, I got permission to skype on mothers day. it will probably be around 3-4 ish on sunday that i skype Elder jones and I are going to a family in hampton named the R*ichards. They are fun and they are where I was on Christmas too when i called. President didnt have any problem with skyping at all and I also got permission to use the internet to sign up for BYU classes and for whatever I have to do with that. So you dont have to worry about doing that for me.
I am thinking I might wait until winter semester to take classes because I want to figure out a plan before I jump into school not knowing for sure what I want to do. It also would like to work and earn some money. Which reminds me, will you ask president w*ells if he is hiring for his construction company? If he is not thats fine but it was just an idea I had that i thought would be a fun job.
Anyway, this week has been good. Jerome is doing really great and he is already planning on going to the temple. He is great. He also asked me to baptize him on Saturday so that made me happy. We also had a good lesson with Jim and Megan. Jim is basically ready to be baptized, he has already quit drinking because he found out about the word of wisom through the member that first invited him. And he is just doing really well he said that he feels really good about all of it. Megan doesn't understand the signifiicance of it yet. She thinks both churches (mormons and catholics) are good and even thoguh we explained the priesthood pretty clearly I dont think she completely understood it. At least it seemed clear to us, but we figured we would focus on Jim first since he is so excited about it and ready and then as he understands more and learns more he will be able to explain the sgnificance of authority to his wife so she will understand better. We are also going to explain temple marriage and cause we are sure they will like knowing they can be married for eternity. So they are going good and we want to set a date for Jim this week.
So i was reading first nephi 11 yesterday for my studies and one part that really stood out to me were verses 22-23 about how the love of God is the most desirable thing that we can have and it is the most joyous to the soul. For some reason I just really enjoyed reading and it really stuck out to me that it is the love of God that is the most important thing and is really what the church is all about. There are alot of deep doctrines, alot of imperfect people in the church, but we dont need to worry about that we just need to focus on studying the scritpures and doing what is right so we can feel Gods love, which are blessings of the atonement because the Atonement is the greatest manifestation of God's love. And since we have the fulness of the gospel, we have the greatest access to the atonement and God's love. So anyway, somehow reading that scripture just kind of tied some things everything together to me in my mind in that the most important thing is Gods love and the atonement and that is what the church is all about, and that is what we should focus on, and as we feel Gods love we know what we are doing is right. Well. have an excellent week and I cant wait to talk to you on Sunday! Happy Mothers Day. I love you,
Love,
Elder Larson
Well before I forget, I got permission to skype on mothers day. it will probably be around 3-4 ish on sunday that i skype Elder jones and I are going to a family in hampton named the R*ichards. They are fun and they are where I was on Christmas too when i called. President didnt have any problem with skyping at all and I also got permission to use the internet to sign up for BYU classes and for whatever I have to do with that. So you dont have to worry about doing that for me.
I am thinking I might wait until winter semester to take classes because I want to figure out a plan before I jump into school not knowing for sure what I want to do. It also would like to work and earn some money. Which reminds me, will you ask president w*ells if he is hiring for his construction company? If he is not thats fine but it was just an idea I had that i thought would be a fun job.
Anyway, this week has been good. Jerome is doing really great and he is already planning on going to the temple. He is great. He also asked me to baptize him on Saturday so that made me happy. We also had a good lesson with Jim and Megan. Jim is basically ready to be baptized, he has already quit drinking because he found out about the word of wisom through the member that first invited him. And he is just doing really well he said that he feels really good about all of it. Megan doesn't understand the signifiicance of it yet. She thinks both churches (mormons and catholics) are good and even thoguh we explained the priesthood pretty clearly I dont think she completely understood it. At least it seemed clear to us, but we figured we would focus on Jim first since he is so excited about it and ready and then as he understands more and learns more he will be able to explain the sgnificance of authority to his wife so she will understand better. We are also going to explain temple marriage and cause we are sure they will like knowing they can be married for eternity. So they are going good and we want to set a date for Jim this week.
So i was reading first nephi 11 yesterday for my studies and one part that really stood out to me were verses 22-23 about how the love of God is the most desirable thing that we can have and it is the most joyous to the soul. For some reason I just really enjoyed reading and it really stuck out to me that it is the love of God that is the most important thing and is really what the church is all about. There are alot of deep doctrines, alot of imperfect people in the church, but we dont need to worry about that we just need to focus on studying the scritpures and doing what is right so we can feel Gods love, which are blessings of the atonement because the Atonement is the greatest manifestation of God's love. And since we have the fulness of the gospel, we have the greatest access to the atonement and God's love. So anyway, somehow reading that scripture just kind of tied some things everything together to me in my mind in that the most important thing is Gods love and the atonement and that is what the church is all about, and that is what we should focus on, and as we feel Gods love we know what we are doing is right. Well. have an excellent week and I cant wait to talk to you on Sunday! Happy Mothers Day. I love you,
Love,
Elder Larson
25 April 2011
Hello from Virginia!
Things are going good it has beena great week. First I will update you on Jerome. He is doing really well. We were not sure what to do about his baptism. Jerome decided that he wanted to go to the Hampton ward. Or stay there is the better way to say it. So we thought that would probably be fine but we called President Perry to see what he would say. He agreed with us and said that he should get baptized where he is comfortable and then later he will learn more and realize he should switch wards. So that worked for us and we told Bishop M*annis here and he siad that was fine and then I called Bro S*horr, our ward mission leader in Hampton. It was fun to talk to him againa nd I explained what had happened and so the baptism is planned to happen May 7 in the Hampton ward!! YAY. I am really happy for Jerome.
I feel kind of like part of the reason I came here was to help Jerome. He is so ready, and has a strong testimony, I might have said this last time but he is starting his fourth round of the book of mormon. He just didnt quite understand the requirements for baptism and now that he does it has brought him alot of hope, and it is really going to open the doors for him to continue to progress in the gospel. But if I hadnt been in Hampton and seen how prepared Jerome was for baptism before I got here I dont think it would have happened. So, I guess its not me but the Lord who is using me to do his purpose in helping Jerome and I feel very grateful that I can help him and that I was sent to the area that he lived in so we could go visit him.
Elder Jones and I have also found a couple named Jim and Megan, and they are married! It is always good when they are married. SO Jim has been talking to a member of the church who lives in a ward called the Jamestown ward. And he has been talking to him for a few years. Both Jim and Megan grew up Catholic but neither of them really believe, especially him. And they are very humble and open and were asking us questions. We saw them for the first time on Saturday, and they very so grateful we stopped by and apologized tthat they didnt have more questions ready for us. They were very nice and so we set up a time ot see them this coming week. Its on Thursday at 730! Jim has come to church the past three weeks and Megan came this past week. Each of those weeks though they went to a different ward because they werent able to come to ours yesterday and the past two weeks before that Jim didnt know any better. But that is fine he has loved and they both enjoyed yesterday so we are very hopeful for them.
We were talking to Jim yesterday and he is going to massachusetts for this coming weekend but he has already found the nearest church through mormon.org for where he will be staying. So they are "golden." And it is all because a member was willing to share the gospel. Members do so much to help prepare people to receive misssionaries. So maybe you can share that in your stake conference because so so so many people are searching for answers but almost always it is members that have the key to getting them to listen and have interest. So i am grateful we have been able to find Jim and Megan and fo the member that has helped us.
We had a great Easter. Bishop M*annis is really a great man even if he doesn't have the exact same feelings about Jerome. He invited us to his hous for dinner along with a member who just got stationed here away from his family for some military training. So that is what we did for Easter. It was fun and then after dinner we watched a movie called reflections of Christ which I enjoyed.
Our church here is from 11-2 so I will probably call on Mothers Day after church around 3ish my time. Ill let you know for sure next week. We have interviews with president this week so I can ask him about skype. Well things are going good here. I am doing my best and it is fun but I am aware of the little amount of time remaining. I am excited to see you all. I love you and I will talk to you in a couple weeks!
Love,
Elder Larson
Things are going good it has beena great week. First I will update you on Jerome. He is doing really well. We were not sure what to do about his baptism. Jerome decided that he wanted to go to the Hampton ward. Or stay there is the better way to say it. So we thought that would probably be fine but we called President Perry to see what he would say. He agreed with us and said that he should get baptized where he is comfortable and then later he will learn more and realize he should switch wards. So that worked for us and we told Bishop M*annis here and he siad that was fine and then I called Bro S*horr, our ward mission leader in Hampton. It was fun to talk to him againa nd I explained what had happened and so the baptism is planned to happen May 7 in the Hampton ward!! YAY. I am really happy for Jerome.
I feel kind of like part of the reason I came here was to help Jerome. He is so ready, and has a strong testimony, I might have said this last time but he is starting his fourth round of the book of mormon. He just didnt quite understand the requirements for baptism and now that he does it has brought him alot of hope, and it is really going to open the doors for him to continue to progress in the gospel. But if I hadnt been in Hampton and seen how prepared Jerome was for baptism before I got here I dont think it would have happened. So, I guess its not me but the Lord who is using me to do his purpose in helping Jerome and I feel very grateful that I can help him and that I was sent to the area that he lived in so we could go visit him.
Elder Jones and I have also found a couple named Jim and Megan, and they are married! It is always good when they are married. SO Jim has been talking to a member of the church who lives in a ward called the Jamestown ward. And he has been talking to him for a few years. Both Jim and Megan grew up Catholic but neither of them really believe, especially him. And they are very humble and open and were asking us questions. We saw them for the first time on Saturday, and they very so grateful we stopped by and apologized tthat they didnt have more questions ready for us. They were very nice and so we set up a time ot see them this coming week. Its on Thursday at 730! Jim has come to church the past three weeks and Megan came this past week. Each of those weeks though they went to a different ward because they werent able to come to ours yesterday and the past two weeks before that Jim didnt know any better. But that is fine he has loved and they both enjoyed yesterday so we are very hopeful for them.
We were talking to Jim yesterday and he is going to massachusetts for this coming weekend but he has already found the nearest church through mormon.org for where he will be staying. So they are "golden." And it is all because a member was willing to share the gospel. Members do so much to help prepare people to receive misssionaries. So maybe you can share that in your stake conference because so so so many people are searching for answers but almost always it is members that have the key to getting them to listen and have interest. So i am grateful we have been able to find Jim and Megan and fo the member that has helped us.
We had a great Easter. Bishop M*annis is really a great man even if he doesn't have the exact same feelings about Jerome. He invited us to his hous for dinner along with a member who just got stationed here away from his family for some military training. So that is what we did for Easter. It was fun and then after dinner we watched a movie called reflections of Christ which I enjoyed.
Our church here is from 11-2 so I will probably call on Mothers Day after church around 3ish my time. Ill let you know for sure next week. We have interviews with president this week so I can ask him about skype. Well things are going good here. I am doing my best and it is fun but I am aware of the little amount of time remaining. I am excited to see you all. I love you and I will talk to you in a couple weeks!
Love,
Elder Larson
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