Hey well it has been a pretty good week.
Yesterday Kelton received the aaronic priesthood. And I dont know if you remember, but Kelton's family was very opposed to him learning about the church and basically told him that he should have nothing to do with it. But Kelton, he was a great missionary he invited his family to attend yesterday to see him get the priesthood and so his brother, mother, and sister in law attended and for all three hours and they really enjoyed it. But I dont know how you couldnt love the Hampton ward :)
There was a strong spirit at sacrament meeting as a family in the ward talked about service and then sunday school was great and relief society for his sister in law and mom was great for them. Sunday school was a little interesting because Kelton's brother (William) is pretty high up in his seven day adventist church, and the lesson for sunday school was on the organization of the priesthood, and William did not like hearing that a deacon could not give the gift of the holy ghost. He raised his concern and kept challenging what people had to say. It was borderline contentious, lol, because the way we refer to deacons and think of them is much different than other faiths, but Brother S*chorr, our new ward mission leader and the teacher of the class, and other class members handled it really well and it was able to be understood that the term deacon means different things in different churches. Overall, it was wonderful and his family enjoyed it very much. I really like Brother S*horr, he is a great member and he likes basketball and alot of the same things I do. He is pretty young too. He likes to joke around and so we have fun. He has done a good job since Brother S*ly left. Brother S*ly could never be replaced, but Brother S*horr is doing a great job and I really enjoy working with him too.
So I was pretty excited when I heard that Byu was playing gonzaga. Haha. I normally would want Gonzaga to win no matter what but since I thought BYU had a better chance to go all the way I wouldnt mind if they won. And I heard that BYU won pretty well and that Fredette was making many long range shots. So that was fun to hear about. Well we are doing well. Thank you for your prayers. I love you.
Love
Monday, April 4, 2011
14 Mar 2011
Hey,
Well this week was kind of slow for us too. Not a whole lot has happened. I guess the most exciting thing was Elder Jensen from the presidency of the seventy visited the area for the weekend. He spoke on Friday to all military members and since elder phillips is in the military we went to that. It was very cool. Elder Jensen opened the whole time to the audience to ask questions and he gave answers. I love it when general authorities do that. Something cool that he said is when the husband is away from home that the wife or single mother if there is no husband becomes the presiding member of the family. And that means that she has stewardship over the family and has all the rights and authority to revelation etc that the husband has. I dont remember exactly how he said it but basically through the spirit the husband is made up for in those types of situations where he is away or the woman is somehow on her own.
He read Doctrine and Covenants 84:88, which by the way is the scripture that is most commonly used by President Monson, to show the support that the Lord gives. He also said that the spirit makes up for geography, which is something Elder Pieper had said, who is in the seventy and visited not too long ago. So I thought that was kind of cool, it doesnt really apply to me at all except I guess that I can teach it to others, but i thought it was neat. Something he also said at the very end, after all the questions, and after he bore testimony of Christ and of the church and especially the Book of mormon, and then he changed the closing hymn and everyone was getting their hymnals out and getting ready to sing, but then he said he had one more thing he wanted to say. And that was that the Lord is mindful of us. He challenged everyone to find out that night what the word mindful meant by reading the scriptures Alma 26:36-37, where the word mindful appears three times. So I read it and from looking at the footnotes I believe it means that God does everything in his power to help us, speicifically to help us do what is right and reach our greatest potential, and he weeps and wishes he could have done more when we choose wrong. He also said the in his patrarchal blessing he is told that the lord is mindful of him, and my patrarchal blessing says that too! :) So that was the highlight of this week. John C*ox our main investigator right now is still doing well. We didnt get to meet with him this week cause he said he was having a rough week. But it was cool he acknowledged that everytime he focuses on baptism that something bad or trying happens and he recognizes that it is satan trying to stop him and distract him. So we talked to him about that and also answered some more questions. He is doing really well, his testimony is consistenly growing and he is reading and studying daily. Well that is about it for this week. It is getting warm which is so nice and makes me more and more excited that winter is over, and excited for summer and to see you all too. :) Well take care and have a good week.
Love
Elder Larson
Well this week was kind of slow for us too. Not a whole lot has happened. I guess the most exciting thing was Elder Jensen from the presidency of the seventy visited the area for the weekend. He spoke on Friday to all military members and since elder phillips is in the military we went to that. It was very cool. Elder Jensen opened the whole time to the audience to ask questions and he gave answers. I love it when general authorities do that. Something cool that he said is when the husband is away from home that the wife or single mother if there is no husband becomes the presiding member of the family. And that means that she has stewardship over the family and has all the rights and authority to revelation etc that the husband has. I dont remember exactly how he said it but basically through the spirit the husband is made up for in those types of situations where he is away or the woman is somehow on her own.
He read Doctrine and Covenants 84:88, which by the way is the scripture that is most commonly used by President Monson, to show the support that the Lord gives. He also said that the spirit makes up for geography, which is something Elder Pieper had said, who is in the seventy and visited not too long ago. So I thought that was kind of cool, it doesnt really apply to me at all except I guess that I can teach it to others, but i thought it was neat. Something he also said at the very end, after all the questions, and after he bore testimony of Christ and of the church and especially the Book of mormon, and then he changed the closing hymn and everyone was getting their hymnals out and getting ready to sing, but then he said he had one more thing he wanted to say. And that was that the Lord is mindful of us. He challenged everyone to find out that night what the word mindful meant by reading the scriptures Alma 26:36-37, where the word mindful appears three times. So I read it and from looking at the footnotes I believe it means that God does everything in his power to help us, speicifically to help us do what is right and reach our greatest potential, and he weeps and wishes he could have done more when we choose wrong. He also said the in his patrarchal blessing he is told that the lord is mindful of him, and my patrarchal blessing says that too! :) So that was the highlight of this week. John C*ox our main investigator right now is still doing well. We didnt get to meet with him this week cause he said he was having a rough week. But it was cool he acknowledged that everytime he focuses on baptism that something bad or trying happens and he recognizes that it is satan trying to stop him and distract him. So we talked to him about that and also answered some more questions. He is doing really well, his testimony is consistenly growing and he is reading and studying daily. Well that is about it for this week. It is getting warm which is so nice and makes me more and more excited that winter is over, and excited for summer and to see you all too. :) Well take care and have a good week.
Love
Elder Larson
7 Mar 2011
Hello,
Well it was good to hear from you. I am glad you enjoyed my last email. I had kind of forgotten what I wrote so I went back and read it again. And yeah it was a pretty good email. Lol. It was definitely an experience that I wont forget, as you mentioned. This week has been pretty good.
One investigator that we have been working with that i have mentioned a few times is John C*ox. I havent been able to talk about him too much because I have had baptisms to talk about, but John is doing great. A couple weeks ago we had a lesson with him and what we wanted to get out of that lesson was for John to see the importance of baptism which would make getting his marriage situation worked out his first priority. And that is exactly what we were able to accomplish and we did it by explaining the priesthood and john told us that he believes and that he would get baptized tomorrow if he could, he just needs to get married. And then this past week Elder P*hillips and I split up cause we had double appointments and I went to go see john with a member.
Whenever we see John I feel like we talk a little bit about everything before the lesson starts, just cause he always has questions and then our answers lead to more questions. And they seem to be on subjects that I do not fully comprehend like zion and the gathering of that, and the lineage of Lehi, and they are all good qeustions and are from a sincere desire to learn, but I think that it was actually good I didnt really know the answers because it allowed us to focus on what we had planned to teach. I showed him where he can read about it in his gospel principles book instead. So our lesson was the Word of Wisdom. Even though we figured John couldn't get baptized yet we wanted to fully prepare for it by teaching him the commandments so he can start living them. So we taught him the word of wisdom, and he agreed to live it. We just read it straight from the word of wisdom pamphlet and he really agreed with it and then i decided that we might as well set a date for baptism. I just thought that if we didnt have a goal, or a deadline getting the marriage situation worked out would never happen. Besides, my time is short. So we talked about his concerns and the only concern he has is getting a divorce from his long past wife so he can marry the woman he has been with for years and calls her his fiancee. He didnt know when it would ever happen because he thinks that it costs around 1500 dollars and he has mentioned money is very tight for them.
So we decided to set a goal for April 22, that date just kind of jumped out at me as I was going through the calendar on the phone and when I said that day he just gave me this wide-eyed look and said there was no way, and I kind of knew he was going to say that and even kind of thought the same thing. But i said it anyway and then in my mind I was thinking I could do some type a fundraiser, or get the ward involved to help him, I was just thinking that I will do something and everything within my power to somehow raise this money and that I would make sure it would happen. And I didnt want to be too pushy cause I didnt want to get involved with his finances or make him feel bad that he didnt have the mony but, we were able to decide to have faith that it would happen and to set the goal and then the lesson ended after that. John calls me his spiritual leader cause I am the first mormon he met. It makes me happy. And then after that I went and met up with Elder P*hillips who was with a member. And when I got there I asked the member to look up how much a divorce would cost. And to put it simply we found a lawyer who will do it for only 250 dollars! How cool is that? John was really happy when he found that out and was like now that is in my price range. So, April 22nd is going to happen.
Its next transfer though so i could be gone. I would definitely come back for it though like Elder H*aley did for Kelton. Or who knows maybe we will move the date even closer. We will see but either way I am happy with it and just want to make sure he gets baptized and confirmed. If you are wondering what his fiancee thinks of the church, I asked John if his financee would be interested in coming church and what she thinks about him meeting with us, and he says that she asks questions and that soon she will come to church. So that made me happy to know that she is not against it at all. We have said hi to her when we see her but she has always been busy with grandkids when we meet with John so we havent really been able to teach her at all. We told the sisters to go over during the day to meet with her and teach her. It is really nice to have sister missionaries to work with cause it makes teaching females much easier.
Well our recent converts are doing great. Robert had a cool story where he didnt like his job and prayed for another one and he got a different that he loves and it pays much better. He called and told us. The nepales males have gotten the priesthood and are doing well. Kelton is doing good too and came to church yesterday. Next week elder jensen is coming to our building from the presidency of the seventy. Sorry this last part is rsuhed my time is up. Love you
Love
Elder Larson
Well it was good to hear from you. I am glad you enjoyed my last email. I had kind of forgotten what I wrote so I went back and read it again. And yeah it was a pretty good email. Lol. It was definitely an experience that I wont forget, as you mentioned. This week has been pretty good.
One investigator that we have been working with that i have mentioned a few times is John C*ox. I havent been able to talk about him too much because I have had baptisms to talk about, but John is doing great. A couple weeks ago we had a lesson with him and what we wanted to get out of that lesson was for John to see the importance of baptism which would make getting his marriage situation worked out his first priority. And that is exactly what we were able to accomplish and we did it by explaining the priesthood and john told us that he believes and that he would get baptized tomorrow if he could, he just needs to get married. And then this past week Elder P*hillips and I split up cause we had double appointments and I went to go see john with a member.
Whenever we see John I feel like we talk a little bit about everything before the lesson starts, just cause he always has questions and then our answers lead to more questions. And they seem to be on subjects that I do not fully comprehend like zion and the gathering of that, and the lineage of Lehi, and they are all good qeustions and are from a sincere desire to learn, but I think that it was actually good I didnt really know the answers because it allowed us to focus on what we had planned to teach. I showed him where he can read about it in his gospel principles book instead. So our lesson was the Word of Wisdom. Even though we figured John couldn't get baptized yet we wanted to fully prepare for it by teaching him the commandments so he can start living them. So we taught him the word of wisdom, and he agreed to live it. We just read it straight from the word of wisdom pamphlet and he really agreed with it and then i decided that we might as well set a date for baptism. I just thought that if we didnt have a goal, or a deadline getting the marriage situation worked out would never happen. Besides, my time is short. So we talked about his concerns and the only concern he has is getting a divorce from his long past wife so he can marry the woman he has been with for years and calls her his fiancee. He didnt know when it would ever happen because he thinks that it costs around 1500 dollars and he has mentioned money is very tight for them.
So we decided to set a goal for April 22, that date just kind of jumped out at me as I was going through the calendar on the phone and when I said that day he just gave me this wide-eyed look and said there was no way, and I kind of knew he was going to say that and even kind of thought the same thing. But i said it anyway and then in my mind I was thinking I could do some type a fundraiser, or get the ward involved to help him, I was just thinking that I will do something and everything within my power to somehow raise this money and that I would make sure it would happen. And I didnt want to be too pushy cause I didnt want to get involved with his finances or make him feel bad that he didnt have the mony but, we were able to decide to have faith that it would happen and to set the goal and then the lesson ended after that. John calls me his spiritual leader cause I am the first mormon he met. It makes me happy. And then after that I went and met up with Elder P*hillips who was with a member. And when I got there I asked the member to look up how much a divorce would cost. And to put it simply we found a lawyer who will do it for only 250 dollars! How cool is that? John was really happy when he found that out and was like now that is in my price range. So, April 22nd is going to happen.
Its next transfer though so i could be gone. I would definitely come back for it though like Elder H*aley did for Kelton. Or who knows maybe we will move the date even closer. We will see but either way I am happy with it and just want to make sure he gets baptized and confirmed. If you are wondering what his fiancee thinks of the church, I asked John if his financee would be interested in coming church and what she thinks about him meeting with us, and he says that she asks questions and that soon she will come to church. So that made me happy to know that she is not against it at all. We have said hi to her when we see her but she has always been busy with grandkids when we meet with John so we havent really been able to teach her at all. We told the sisters to go over during the day to meet with her and teach her. It is really nice to have sister missionaries to work with cause it makes teaching females much easier.
Well our recent converts are doing great. Robert had a cool story where he didnt like his job and prayed for another one and he got a different that he loves and it pays much better. He called and told us. The nepales males have gotten the priesthood and are doing well. Kelton is doing good too and came to church yesterday. Next week elder jensen is coming to our building from the presidency of the seventy. Sorry this last part is rsuhed my time is up. Love you
Love
Elder Larson
Monday, February 28, 2011
28 Feb 2011
Hello,
Well we have had another great weekend. We had three baptisms. Robert and Natalie got baptized, and Kelton was able to get baptized as well. It was another great baptism.
We weren't sure if Kelton was going to be able to get baptized, cause we didn't know if his wife would give him permission, so we decided to have a special fast for it to happen. Sometimes I feel like fasting is a secret weapon we have. It is such a great tool to recieve answers to prayers. And I know we are not supposed to boast about our fasting, so I am not trying to brag but this is evidence that fasting works.
So up until we fasted Keltons wife had refused to even look at any of the literature and/or dvds that we had given him, but on the day we decided to fast she started asking about the church and they ended up watching three dvds together, and they were Together Forever, Our Heavenly Fathers plan, and The Restoration! And then Kelton called us and told us what had happened and then he told us that she would be willing to sit down and listen to us. It was a miracle! She completely changed her mindset. And so we sat down and talked and she asked us a few questions and then she said if he wanted to get baptized that was fine. It was amazing. I was just like overjoyed and full of gratitude that it could happen so quickly like that and I almost felt like the miracle exceeded the amount of faith that I had had to produce it. But nonetheless it happened. :)
And Kelton is very solid. He is loving church more and more each time and I am confident he will stay active and that soon his wife will recognize that it is true to the point where she will really have to decide to join or not. And I just hope she joins. I think she will. But it was a miracle, and Kelton is doing great and met with Bishop yesterday to get the priesthood and something else that is cool is since Elder Haley had helped teach him Elder Haley was able to get permission to come back and perform the baptism.
I was so happy to see elder Haley again. It was wonderful. We got to talk and he is doing good, and enjoys his new area althoguh he really missed Hampton at first, he told me. but I was just so happy to see him again we were having a correlation meeting with the sister missionaries and Elder Haley walked in and luckily we were about done correlating, when we correlate we just talk about all our investigators and how we can help each other help the investigators, but as soon as elder Haley got there I just could not focus on correlating anymore at all, so luckily we were about done cause I was excited to talk to him.
And then Elder Haley got to baptize kelton and Kelton asked me to confirm him. It was the first time I had done a blessing like that in sacrament meeting and I was a little nervous but it went great. Kelton said he loved it so that made me happy.
Robert and Natalie also are soaring, i feel like, and got confirmed yesterday. The Elders Quorum president put robert on his own home teaching list and the relief society president already has visiting teachers for Natalie so the ward is doing their job well. They were very happy at their baptism and Natalie was crying. I am just very grateful to be able to be apart of the success we are having. I feel like there are missionaries that are just as capable as me and work hard but go through times where it is hard to have baptisms, so I am just grateful that we have been able to get people baptized and that we have a ward who supports us alot. This ward has had 14 baptisms this year already! So things are going good in Hampton.
Something cool is there is a young man in the ward who has been waiting for his mission call. We have become good friends with him and he comes out with us at least twice a week, and he hangs out with us on Pdays. And last week I found out he likes chess so we are going to play some chess today. Anyway his name is K*yle T*urner and we found out this week that he is going to Colorado Springs for his mission. So we were all pretty excited to hear his mission call. He is very excited too. Well we are doing good, we are being blessed, thank you for your prayers as I am sure they have helped out too. I love you.
Love
Elder Larson
Well we have had another great weekend. We had three baptisms. Robert and Natalie got baptized, and Kelton was able to get baptized as well. It was another great baptism.
We weren't sure if Kelton was going to be able to get baptized, cause we didn't know if his wife would give him permission, so we decided to have a special fast for it to happen. Sometimes I feel like fasting is a secret weapon we have. It is such a great tool to recieve answers to prayers. And I know we are not supposed to boast about our fasting, so I am not trying to brag but this is evidence that fasting works.
So up until we fasted Keltons wife had refused to even look at any of the literature and/or dvds that we had given him, but on the day we decided to fast she started asking about the church and they ended up watching three dvds together, and they were Together Forever, Our Heavenly Fathers plan, and The Restoration! And then Kelton called us and told us what had happened and then he told us that she would be willing to sit down and listen to us. It was a miracle! She completely changed her mindset. And so we sat down and talked and she asked us a few questions and then she said if he wanted to get baptized that was fine. It was amazing. I was just like overjoyed and full of gratitude that it could happen so quickly like that and I almost felt like the miracle exceeded the amount of faith that I had had to produce it. But nonetheless it happened. :)
And Kelton is very solid. He is loving church more and more each time and I am confident he will stay active and that soon his wife will recognize that it is true to the point where she will really have to decide to join or not. And I just hope she joins. I think she will. But it was a miracle, and Kelton is doing great and met with Bishop yesterday to get the priesthood and something else that is cool is since Elder Haley had helped teach him Elder Haley was able to get permission to come back and perform the baptism.
I was so happy to see elder Haley again. It was wonderful. We got to talk and he is doing good, and enjoys his new area althoguh he really missed Hampton at first, he told me. but I was just so happy to see him again we were having a correlation meeting with the sister missionaries and Elder Haley walked in and luckily we were about done correlating, when we correlate we just talk about all our investigators and how we can help each other help the investigators, but as soon as elder Haley got there I just could not focus on correlating anymore at all, so luckily we were about done cause I was excited to talk to him.
And then Elder Haley got to baptize kelton and Kelton asked me to confirm him. It was the first time I had done a blessing like that in sacrament meeting and I was a little nervous but it went great. Kelton said he loved it so that made me happy.
Robert and Natalie also are soaring, i feel like, and got confirmed yesterday. The Elders Quorum president put robert on his own home teaching list and the relief society president already has visiting teachers for Natalie so the ward is doing their job well. They were very happy at their baptism and Natalie was crying. I am just very grateful to be able to be apart of the success we are having. I feel like there are missionaries that are just as capable as me and work hard but go through times where it is hard to have baptisms, so I am just grateful that we have been able to get people baptized and that we have a ward who supports us alot. This ward has had 14 baptisms this year already! So things are going good in Hampton.
Something cool is there is a young man in the ward who has been waiting for his mission call. We have become good friends with him and he comes out with us at least twice a week, and he hangs out with us on Pdays. And last week I found out he likes chess so we are going to play some chess today. Anyway his name is K*yle T*urner and we found out this week that he is going to Colorado Springs for his mission. So we were all pretty excited to hear his mission call. He is very excited too. Well we are doing good, we are being blessed, thank you for your prayers as I am sure they have helped out too. I love you.
Love
Elder Larson
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
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
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
Feb 14 2011
Hey,
Time is definitely flying by. I still feel like Elder P*hillips and I just became companions. I geuss compared to how long I had been with Elder H*aley we are still very new together. But it is amazing that the transfer is already almost over, and this coming sunday we find out what is happening for transfers. So I will let you know next week if i will be staying or going. Its also starting to warm up some so it feels like spring, which seems to make time seem like it is moving even more.
Well I have some very exciting news. The napalese investigators that the sisters have been teaching, and we have been able to help work with, are getting baptized this coming saturday. Well not all of them but 8 of them are. Which is a good chunk of them and hopefully will open the door to many more. So we were correlating with the sisters this past week and we were talking about the baptism and who should do it. And then they told us that everytime they pictured the napalese people getting baptized, they pictured me being the one to baptize them. So they asked if I would be willing to do it on Saturday, and I am so excited to do it, to baptize 8 people. It is going to be so cool. They also asked if I would be willing to learn the baptismal prayer in napalese so that I can say the prayer in their language when they get baptized. I said of course, and I think that would make it even cooler. So the sisters are calling salt lake to speak with someone who speaks Napalese so they can write the prayer down and how to pronounce it so i can learn it. I also decided that if this has to be the way I end my time in Hampton, it would be a great way to end. But I still think I want to stay, because there are more people that are going to be baptized soon. So that is the highlight of the week.
But some more cool things have happened. One person that we have been working with is John C**ox, and youll have to read my past emails to catch up with him if you have forgotten about him, but he is so excited about mormonism it is so cool to see. He just talks on and on about how much of a brotherhood it is, and how it has enlightened him about Christ, and all these cool things. And so he was asking us how he can share it with the "younger generation" cause he says that everyone needs to hear about mormonism. :) Well we told him that the best first step would be to get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost to be a companion in his missionary efforts. He wants to be baptized but his only holdup is getting married and the difficulty there is he has a previous wife that he needs to officially divorce, which costs money. But anyway, during our lesson he talked about how he wants to get a group of younger people together and he asked if it was ok for us to come and teach them the things we have taught him. :) We very reluctantly said yes. Just kidding, we said of course. Then he was like ok, and I got one of them who is going to come to church with me this sunday, and some more next sunday! He brought a friend named M*iguel this sunday and it was such a good sacrament meeting, it was fast and testimony meeting and there was such a strong spirit, and the meeting went like ten minutes past, it was just a great meeting for investigators to come to. And M*iguel said he was coming back next week and he is going to come to our next lesson with J*ohn which is tomorrow. So the work of God continues.
R*obert and N*atalie also came to church, and loved it. I dont know how you couldnt have. They are now moved in and so we are going to be seeing them this thursday in their new apartment. We havent been able to see them for a couple weeks from moving and they got sick, but we are now good to go. Also K*elton kind of dissappeared on us this weekened so we are not sure what happened to him. I know during the week he had someone in his family get in a bad car wreck so he was spending time with that person.
On Saturday me and Elder P*hillips got permission to play on our elders quorum team for church basketball. The Eqp was always asking for people to come play because they never had enough. so we got permission to play with them. We had alot of fun and it felt good to play again and do some running, but we got beat pretty good. the team we played apparently one of the toughest teams in the stake. Our team just had no flunecy and none of the guys were in too good of shape, including me and elder P*hillips. Being in good shape biking just isnt the same as running. But at the end of first half I had scored twenty points and our team was only down six, so i thought we could win but the other team pulled away in the second half. It was alot of fun and I really enjoyed playing again.
Well my bike and my clothes are still holding up. I lost a pair of pants the other day because just from wearing them so much a hole developed on the back side. but it is ok, I still have enough. Thank you very much for the valentines day things. And Happy Valentines day to everyone back in Spokane. I enjoyed the notes and the chocolate you sent me in the package. Sister P*hillipy's card was my favorite. You all seemed to say something to the effect of "see you soon". Lol, I guess my mission really is getting close to being done. I only have three more transfers left after this one, and if they go as fast as this one has I am definitely really close. I am very excited to see everyone too. Well I love you and have a good week. The church is true.
Love
Elder Larson
Time is definitely flying by. I still feel like Elder P*hillips and I just became companions. I geuss compared to how long I had been with Elder H*aley we are still very new together. But it is amazing that the transfer is already almost over, and this coming sunday we find out what is happening for transfers. So I will let you know next week if i will be staying or going. Its also starting to warm up some so it feels like spring, which seems to make time seem like it is moving even more.
Well I have some very exciting news. The napalese investigators that the sisters have been teaching, and we have been able to help work with, are getting baptized this coming saturday. Well not all of them but 8 of them are. Which is a good chunk of them and hopefully will open the door to many more. So we were correlating with the sisters this past week and we were talking about the baptism and who should do it. And then they told us that everytime they pictured the napalese people getting baptized, they pictured me being the one to baptize them. So they asked if I would be willing to do it on Saturday, and I am so excited to do it, to baptize 8 people. It is going to be so cool. They also asked if I would be willing to learn the baptismal prayer in napalese so that I can say the prayer in their language when they get baptized. I said of course, and I think that would make it even cooler. So the sisters are calling salt lake to speak with someone who speaks Napalese so they can write the prayer down and how to pronounce it so i can learn it. I also decided that if this has to be the way I end my time in Hampton, it would be a great way to end. But I still think I want to stay, because there are more people that are going to be baptized soon. So that is the highlight of the week.
But some more cool things have happened. One person that we have been working with is John C**ox, and youll have to read my past emails to catch up with him if you have forgotten about him, but he is so excited about mormonism it is so cool to see. He just talks on and on about how much of a brotherhood it is, and how it has enlightened him about Christ, and all these cool things. And so he was asking us how he can share it with the "younger generation" cause he says that everyone needs to hear about mormonism. :) Well we told him that the best first step would be to get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost to be a companion in his missionary efforts. He wants to be baptized but his only holdup is getting married and the difficulty there is he has a previous wife that he needs to officially divorce, which costs money. But anyway, during our lesson he talked about how he wants to get a group of younger people together and he asked if it was ok for us to come and teach them the things we have taught him. :) We very reluctantly said yes. Just kidding, we said of course. Then he was like ok, and I got one of them who is going to come to church with me this sunday, and some more next sunday! He brought a friend named M*iguel this sunday and it was such a good sacrament meeting, it was fast and testimony meeting and there was such a strong spirit, and the meeting went like ten minutes past, it was just a great meeting for investigators to come to. And M*iguel said he was coming back next week and he is going to come to our next lesson with J*ohn which is tomorrow. So the work of God continues.
R*obert and N*atalie also came to church, and loved it. I dont know how you couldnt have. They are now moved in and so we are going to be seeing them this thursday in their new apartment. We havent been able to see them for a couple weeks from moving and they got sick, but we are now good to go. Also K*elton kind of dissappeared on us this weekened so we are not sure what happened to him. I know during the week he had someone in his family get in a bad car wreck so he was spending time with that person.
On Saturday me and Elder P*hillips got permission to play on our elders quorum team for church basketball. The Eqp was always asking for people to come play because they never had enough. so we got permission to play with them. We had alot of fun and it felt good to play again and do some running, but we got beat pretty good. the team we played apparently one of the toughest teams in the stake. Our team just had no flunecy and none of the guys were in too good of shape, including me and elder P*hillips. Being in good shape biking just isnt the same as running. But at the end of first half I had scored twenty points and our team was only down six, so i thought we could win but the other team pulled away in the second half. It was alot of fun and I really enjoyed playing again.
Well my bike and my clothes are still holding up. I lost a pair of pants the other day because just from wearing them so much a hole developed on the back side. but it is ok, I still have enough. Thank you very much for the valentines day things. And Happy Valentines day to everyone back in Spokane. I enjoyed the notes and the chocolate you sent me in the package. Sister P*hillipy's card was my favorite. You all seemed to say something to the effect of "see you soon". Lol, I guess my mission really is getting close to being done. I only have three more transfers left after this one, and if they go as fast as this one has I am definitely really close. I am very excited to see everyone too. Well I love you and have a good week. The church is true.
Love
Elder Larson
Sunday, February 13, 2011
7 Feb 2011
Hello,
Well it has been a pretty good week. On thursday we had interviews with president p.... They were good. I love being in his presence. I asked him alot of questions. First before I forget I asked him about my release date and it is june 28th, and he said in like march or somewhere around there that letters would be sent home to parents to inform them of everything. I talked to him about Elder H..., and the Slys, and I how I have missed them both. I was hoping for some spectacular advice on how to look forward and not back but i didnt get any, he just asked me what he could do to help me. And I just laughed and smiled and said I didnt really know. I also told him I wasnt sure what I wanted to do after my mission and was hoping for some revelation on that too but I didnt get much. He gave me a good answer though he said to take classes in different fields to see which ones I like, it just wasnt anything I hadnt already heard.
He told me about Elder H... though and that he also misses Hampton. But he told me that he definitely felt like I was the one that was supposed to stay in Hampton and he said that so far he hasnt gotten any impressions to move me at the next transfer. So I hope I can stay here again.
Well our investigators are doing well. K..elton is doing really well, partly just because he is holding up strong against his family. His wife has been getting brainwashed by her extended family by them telling her negative things about the church and that we dont believe in Christ. So she thinks that we are crazy. We left a movie with K..elton to watch with his wife called Together Forever, its an awesome movie about being together happily as a family forever (you should watch it sometime :) ), but she refused to watch it with him. But, K..elton is solid and dumbfounded that people think we dont believe in Jesus Christ because from us teaching him and him going to church he sees how false that is. So he is doing good and we are going to keep working with him. I think the best route is to keep helping him become more and more converted and then his wife will begin to see changes in him that are good and hopefully that will open her mind to it more. That may take awhile for her but K..elton is doing well and Presdient P... is pretty lenient on requirements for baptism, which he has talked about alot and is something we also talked about specifically in our interview. Our last mission president required two weeks of living the word of wisdom before baptism but president p... doesnt have any time requirement, but just that they are committed. So he told me that cause we were talking about k..elton in our interview, and then I said that inpreach my gospel it says in the baptismal requirements that they must be living the word of wisdom as opposed to tithing preach my gospel says they just have to commit to do it once they are baptized. So i asked him what the difference was (cause to me president p... almost made it seem like the requirement was the same for each commandment) and he said as long as they have chosen to live the word of wisdom and its been a couple days they are ready as far as that commandment goes. So anyway, that will make it alot easier to baptize K..elton, whcih makes me happy. He said that everyone makes mistakes after they are baptized and that is what the sacrament is for.
My favorite couple R..obert and N..atalie are doing great. We called them last night and they have found a place to live and are moving in on wednesday! So we are going to help thme with that. They dont ahve alot so our help and brother chase's truck will be enough help for them to move. What is also neat is this past weekend was stake conference and Elder Paul Piper from the seventy was there. And R..obert came and got to hear him speak. It was one of the best stake conferences I think I had ever been to, although I am alot more attentive as a missionary than I was back home. But anyway, R..obert really enjoyed it and Natalie was sick or she would have come too. There is just such an incredible spirit and assurance that general authorites carry and it was so present at the conference and everyone that came felt it. One thing that I presonally noticed is that general authorities make so many comments on things the Lord does. They say the Lord does this or that or the Lord often lets us do something and they just seem to know God on a different level than everyone else and much more personally, I feel. I feel that way about the apostles and firstpresidency as well. It is cool. And there really is just such a real, tangible, spirit that comes with there calling, and it was so present at the conference. I just keep on thinking about it. Well off my little tangent R..obert and Natalie are doing great and in there book of mormon reading they are well into second nephi already, and they have continued to say their prayers. At the conference though there were some great talks about missionary work, and that definitely seemed to be the main topic, to serve a mission. The conference echoed President Monsons call to men to serve missions. But there were a couple things that were said that I wrote down Ithought I would share with you. First the stake president said that Jesus Christ came to the world to save us, not judge us. Also a youth bore his testimony and he said their family has a saying that goes "if your scriptures are falling apart, chances are your life is staying together." And then also Elder Piper said that the Priesthood is not limited to time, space, or geography, which is a little bit more applicable here because there are so many military husbands here that are frequently gone, but I still thought it was cool. And that everyday priesthood holders should ask themselves how can I use the priesthood to bless my family today? Well thats about it. The church is true. I love you. And thank you for your prayers. Have a good week.
Love,
Elder Larson
Well it has been a pretty good week. On thursday we had interviews with president p.... They were good. I love being in his presence. I asked him alot of questions. First before I forget I asked him about my release date and it is june 28th, and he said in like march or somewhere around there that letters would be sent home to parents to inform them of everything. I talked to him about Elder H..., and the Slys, and I how I have missed them both. I was hoping for some spectacular advice on how to look forward and not back but i didnt get any, he just asked me what he could do to help me. And I just laughed and smiled and said I didnt really know. I also told him I wasnt sure what I wanted to do after my mission and was hoping for some revelation on that too but I didnt get much. He gave me a good answer though he said to take classes in different fields to see which ones I like, it just wasnt anything I hadnt already heard.
He told me about Elder H... though and that he also misses Hampton. But he told me that he definitely felt like I was the one that was supposed to stay in Hampton and he said that so far he hasnt gotten any impressions to move me at the next transfer. So I hope I can stay here again.
Well our investigators are doing well. K..elton is doing really well, partly just because he is holding up strong against his family. His wife has been getting brainwashed by her extended family by them telling her negative things about the church and that we dont believe in Christ. So she thinks that we are crazy. We left a movie with K..elton to watch with his wife called Together Forever, its an awesome movie about being together happily as a family forever (you should watch it sometime :) ), but she refused to watch it with him. But, K..elton is solid and dumbfounded that people think we dont believe in Jesus Christ because from us teaching him and him going to church he sees how false that is. So he is doing good and we are going to keep working with him. I think the best route is to keep helping him become more and more converted and then his wife will begin to see changes in him that are good and hopefully that will open her mind to it more. That may take awhile for her but K..elton is doing well and Presdient P... is pretty lenient on requirements for baptism, which he has talked about alot and is something we also talked about specifically in our interview. Our last mission president required two weeks of living the word of wisdom before baptism but president p... doesnt have any time requirement, but just that they are committed. So he told me that cause we were talking about k..elton in our interview, and then I said that inpreach my gospel it says in the baptismal requirements that they must be living the word of wisdom as opposed to tithing preach my gospel says they just have to commit to do it once they are baptized. So i asked him what the difference was (cause to me president p... almost made it seem like the requirement was the same for each commandment) and he said as long as they have chosen to live the word of wisdom and its been a couple days they are ready as far as that commandment goes. So anyway, that will make it alot easier to baptize K..elton, whcih makes me happy. He said that everyone makes mistakes after they are baptized and that is what the sacrament is for.
My favorite couple R..obert and N..atalie are doing great. We called them last night and they have found a place to live and are moving in on wednesday! So we are going to help thme with that. They dont ahve alot so our help and brother chase's truck will be enough help for them to move. What is also neat is this past weekend was stake conference and Elder Paul Piper from the seventy was there. And R..obert came and got to hear him speak. It was one of the best stake conferences I think I had ever been to, although I am alot more attentive as a missionary than I was back home. But anyway, R..obert really enjoyed it and Natalie was sick or she would have come too. There is just such an incredible spirit and assurance that general authorites carry and it was so present at the conference and everyone that came felt it. One thing that I presonally noticed is that general authorities make so many comments on things the Lord does. They say the Lord does this or that or the Lord often lets us do something and they just seem to know God on a different level than everyone else and much more personally, I feel. I feel that way about the apostles and firstpresidency as well. It is cool. And there really is just such a real, tangible, spirit that comes with there calling, and it was so present at the conference. I just keep on thinking about it. Well off my little tangent R..obert and Natalie are doing great and in there book of mormon reading they are well into second nephi already, and they have continued to say their prayers. At the conference though there were some great talks about missionary work, and that definitely seemed to be the main topic, to serve a mission. The conference echoed President Monsons call to men to serve missions. But there were a couple things that were said that I wrote down Ithought I would share with you. First the stake president said that Jesus Christ came to the world to save us, not judge us. Also a youth bore his testimony and he said their family has a saying that goes "if your scriptures are falling apart, chances are your life is staying together." And then also Elder Piper said that the Priesthood is not limited to time, space, or geography, which is a little bit more applicable here because there are so many military husbands here that are frequently gone, but I still thought it was cool. And that everyday priesthood holders should ask themselves how can I use the priesthood to bless my family today? Well thats about it. The church is true. I love you. And thank you for your prayers. Have a good week.
Love,
Elder Larson
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