Hey,
This week has been a good week. We did have Tonya's baptism as we had planned. And it all went great. The talks were good, the bishop was there to welcome her to the ward, and the actual baptismal ordinance went well. I was a nervous because I also had to memorize the prayer. I think most baptismal fonts have the sheet down in the font for the person to look at but this one didnt. So I had to memorize it (and I pretty much already had it memorized cause I have heard many times before) but I was still a little nervous that I might mess us up on it or the actual baptism. And then they opened the curtains while we were in the water there were so many people looking down at you watching. So i was little nervous but it all went great. I said the prayer right and got her all the way under and then back up. And now she is confirmed member of the church! So thank you for your thoughts and prayers cause Im sure they helped.
Now we are going to work with her kids to help them be baptized. Once they saw their mom be baptized they both commented on how easy and simple it was. I think before they were a little scared because they had never seen a baptism before but they arent worried about it at all anymore. We are going over there tonite and we are gonig to try and set a date for them to be baptized. And we did have a baptism planned this weekend with Marie but we are going to have to move it back. We still have alot to teach her. So hers will be in December sometime.
So Mt Spokane made it to state in football? Who are their good players?
Is Austin on varsity? Thats really neat. I dont think they ever did well while I was there. Tomorrow though is our ward turkey bowl. I am really excited for it and so is elder Pierce. Our mission president says we can play football tomorrow morning as long as its not tackle. So we are definitely going! And our ward is full of medical and dental students so its lots of young guys who enjoy sports and are pretty competitive. I guess they are planning on having four teams and turning it into a tournament. And someone in the ward has actual flags to play flag football so thats what we will be playing. It should be alot of fun. And then we get the rest of day off tomorrow too. SO its like two pdays in a row with football and lots of food in the middle! We are going over to a family named the Hills for dinner. They have alot of family in town so there will be alot of games and fun and lots of food. Im excited. :)
It is starting to get a little colder here but I have a jacket and gloves so Im fine. I dont think I need anything, but Ill let you know if I do. Thanks
Thanks for Daniels email, I emailed him back. Im glad he is doing well.
Thanks alot for the package too. Elder Pierce told me a few times to make sure I tell you thanks for the calendar. He liked it, as did i. And I put the christmas tree and nativity up too. :)
Well my time is up. Have a good week. Talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Nov18th Letter
Hey,
This week has been a good week. Our bishop has done a really good job of getting the ward into doing missionary work. Last wednesday he had a ward council meeting specifically on doing missionary work. And then this last sunday he had the speakers speak on missionary work again, just like we did last week. So I hope the ward rsponds by doing missionary work. The work is going really well for Elder Pierce and I though. We had transfers last night and we are both staying in Meadowbrook. Thats what I was hoping would happen, and thats what I was kind of thinking would happen. I think Elder Pierce and I work well together and the work is doing great so Im excited to stay and be apart of it. We have Tanya's baptism this Friday. We moved it to Friday instead of Saturday because the building is reserved for the Spanish ward on Saturday night. But we have the building reserved for Friday so it should happen then. We have taught her everything and she understands it and she passed her interview on Monday and so everything is ready for it to happen on Friday. And its pretty cool she wants me to baptize her and Elder Pierce to confirm her. Im excited to do it but I am nervous.
...I hope we can get the baptism right on the first try. Im a little nervous I wont get her all the way under. But im excited to do it and Im sure it will be fine. And her daughters decided that they want to wait to see their mom get baptized before they do it. I think they are a little shy about it. Which is fine, Im sure they will still get baptized soon. We still have alot to teach them because they are often busy with school when we go and teach Tonya. But we also have a baptism this next weekend with this lady named Marie Oke on November 28th. She has come to church like 5 of the past six weeks and she really likes it. She is very in tune with the Spirit. She says she can feel the spirit everytime she comes to church. And actually the way we found her is she saw a commercial for a Book of Mormon on TV and she just said she loved the way she felt when the commericial was being shown so she called for the Book of Mormon. So we delivered it to her and now she is going to be baptized soon! We still have a lot to teach her though so that would be the only thing that would require us to push her baptism back if we do have to. So I guess thats the update for us. We have alot of solid investigators too that we have been able to teach and hopefully we can continue to help them progress as well.
Well it sounds like you have all had a good week, like usual. Elder Pierce says hi back to annette. Oh and I was wondering if you could get Daniel's email address for me? please. Id like to email him on Pdays. I wish I could have seen Cubby jump out of the bike. lol. That sounds like it must have been pretty funny.
For Thanksgiving we are going over to this family's house named the Hills. Accoring to elder Pierce they are a really fun family to hang out with. He said they have good food and we would probably play alot fo games and that it would be alot of fun. So Im excited for that.
And I don think I need a calling card. Other missionaries have said they just go to a members house and use the member's phone. And I know we have lots of nice members that would love to have us over so Im guessing thats what we will be doing. Ill let you know if I need a card though. And as far as historical sites go, there are alot and we probably pass them quite often while we are on our bikes but I havent noticed any. We did go to one last transfer where the Jamestown colony was with John Smith and Pocahontas. That was pretty cool. But other than that we really havent seen any.
Good job being missionaries. I was thinking how growing up I was never really in a nonmember or less active house and I dont think I ever realized how much the Gospel blesses familes and people's homes. So that would be really neat if you could get them to come back to church. Im sure it could really bless their lives.
Thanks alot for the package. I really enjoyed all your turkeys. And I did like how spencers had a scope he was looking through. lol. That was pretty funny.
Well thanks for the email and the prayers. Oh and here's a fun fact I just thought of. I weighed myself yesterday and I weigh like 185.6 pounds. And I only weighed like 172 when I came out on my mission. So somehow I have put on like ten pounds since I came out on my mission. Lol. And I really dont know how because its not like we eat tons everyday. So im not sure how I have gained weight but Id though you might be interested to know that. lol Talk to you next week.
Love
Elder Larson
This week has been a good week. Our bishop has done a really good job of getting the ward into doing missionary work. Last wednesday he had a ward council meeting specifically on doing missionary work. And then this last sunday he had the speakers speak on missionary work again, just like we did last week. So I hope the ward rsponds by doing missionary work. The work is going really well for Elder Pierce and I though. We had transfers last night and we are both staying in Meadowbrook. Thats what I was hoping would happen, and thats what I was kind of thinking would happen. I think Elder Pierce and I work well together and the work is doing great so Im excited to stay and be apart of it. We have Tanya's baptism this Friday. We moved it to Friday instead of Saturday because the building is reserved for the Spanish ward on Saturday night. But we have the building reserved for Friday so it should happen then. We have taught her everything and she understands it and she passed her interview on Monday and so everything is ready for it to happen on Friday. And its pretty cool she wants me to baptize her and Elder Pierce to confirm her. Im excited to do it but I am nervous.
...I hope we can get the baptism right on the first try. Im a little nervous I wont get her all the way under. But im excited to do it and Im sure it will be fine. And her daughters decided that they want to wait to see their mom get baptized before they do it. I think they are a little shy about it. Which is fine, Im sure they will still get baptized soon. We still have alot to teach them because they are often busy with school when we go and teach Tonya. But we also have a baptism this next weekend with this lady named Marie Oke on November 28th. She has come to church like 5 of the past six weeks and she really likes it. She is very in tune with the Spirit. She says she can feel the spirit everytime she comes to church. And actually the way we found her is she saw a commercial for a Book of Mormon on TV and she just said she loved the way she felt when the commericial was being shown so she called for the Book of Mormon. So we delivered it to her and now she is going to be baptized soon! We still have a lot to teach her though so that would be the only thing that would require us to push her baptism back if we do have to. So I guess thats the update for us. We have alot of solid investigators too that we have been able to teach and hopefully we can continue to help them progress as well.
Well it sounds like you have all had a good week, like usual. Elder Pierce says hi back to annette. Oh and I was wondering if you could get Daniel's email address for me? please. Id like to email him on Pdays. I wish I could have seen Cubby jump out of the bike. lol. That sounds like it must have been pretty funny.
For Thanksgiving we are going over to this family's house named the Hills. Accoring to elder Pierce they are a really fun family to hang out with. He said they have good food and we would probably play alot fo games and that it would be alot of fun. So Im excited for that.
And I don think I need a calling card. Other missionaries have said they just go to a members house and use the member's phone. And I know we have lots of nice members that would love to have us over so Im guessing thats what we will be doing. Ill let you know if I need a card though. And as far as historical sites go, there are alot and we probably pass them quite often while we are on our bikes but I havent noticed any. We did go to one last transfer where the Jamestown colony was with John Smith and Pocahontas. That was pretty cool. But other than that we really havent seen any.
Good job being missionaries. I was thinking how growing up I was never really in a nonmember or less active house and I dont think I ever realized how much the Gospel blesses familes and people's homes. So that would be really neat if you could get them to come back to church. Im sure it could really bless their lives.
Thanks alot for the package. I really enjoyed all your turkeys. And I did like how spencers had a scope he was looking through. lol. That was pretty funny.
Well thanks for the email and the prayers. Oh and here's a fun fact I just thought of. I weighed myself yesterday and I weigh like 185.6 pounds. And I only weighed like 172 when I came out on my mission. So somehow I have put on like ten pounds since I came out on my mission. Lol. And I really dont know how because its not like we eat tons everyday. So im not sure how I have gained weight but Id though you might be interested to know that. lol Talk to you next week.
Love
Elder Larson
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Hey
Im glad to hear everyone is doing well. Im glad you enjoyed my pictures. I hoped you would like them. Elder Pierce and I had a really good week last week too. We found alot of new people to teach and we were blessed with lots of referrals from other missionaries. It seemed like everyday there were some missionaries calling us and telling us someone they ran into that was interested and who lived in our area. So that was neat. We got alot of new investiagtors that way. I hope that we can teach them and help them progress. Im trying to work on not taking any credit when it seems like things are going well. I've found as soon as you try and take any credit the work slows and appointments cancel and you dont feel the Spirit as much. So I am hoping that we can humbly teach all these people and help them see the need for the Gospel in their lives. We are still focusing alot on Tanya. We have to push her baptism back to next weekend (like the 21st) because she works this weekend. Its hard to teach someone who works every other weekend. We want to make sure she is committed to coming to church and also that the ward will be able to keep her active if we were to leave. But I think she is ready. She came to all three hours of churhc this past Sunday and so we will hopefully be able to baptize her on the 21st. And we got to speak in sacrament meeting. Elder Pierce and I spoke on Member missionary work. I think it went well. I hope it did. We got alot of compliments so Im assuming it went pretty well. The main thing is I just hope people will act on it. But that about wraps up the week. Things are going well. Next Wednesday I will know if i am staying here or not. Im not really sure but I think i will be. I kind of hope I stay. There is alot of potential and work to be done in this area that I would like to be apart of.
Kyle, Im trying to tink of something for you to get for your birthday but I cant think of anything. Maybe you could ask for some Book of Mormons to give to your friends at school... Ill keep thinking though. Thats too bad it is so cold down there. Its actually been really warm up here still, over seventy degrees in the day. We are still biking in short sleeve shirts. It started to get cold a couple weeks ago but now it has warmed back up. I think it will probably start to cool down again though. Good job getting all A's, im sure thats not too hard for you. What classes are you taking again? I cant remember them.
Spencer,
I am doing awesome. My mission is going great. How are you doing? Im glad school is good for you. PE used to be my favorite thing too. Thanks for making me a turkey.
Annette,
Wow it sounds like your having lots of fun with Emma. Im sure mom would have probably died if she had seen those puppies. lol. Thanks for writing me.
Well, as always, thank you all for writing me and thanks for all the news thats been happening. I always like reading whats going on in the world. Oh and thanks for your notes in that picture book Kalie sent. But I really enjoyed it.
Well Im doing great! Im working hard. I hope you have a good week. Talk to you next wednesday.
I love you all
Elder Larson
Im glad to hear everyone is doing well. Im glad you enjoyed my pictures. I hoped you would like them. Elder Pierce and I had a really good week last week too. We found alot of new people to teach and we were blessed with lots of referrals from other missionaries. It seemed like everyday there were some missionaries calling us and telling us someone they ran into that was interested and who lived in our area. So that was neat. We got alot of new investiagtors that way. I hope that we can teach them and help them progress. Im trying to work on not taking any credit when it seems like things are going well. I've found as soon as you try and take any credit the work slows and appointments cancel and you dont feel the Spirit as much. So I am hoping that we can humbly teach all these people and help them see the need for the Gospel in their lives. We are still focusing alot on Tanya. We have to push her baptism back to next weekend (like the 21st) because she works this weekend. Its hard to teach someone who works every other weekend. We want to make sure she is committed to coming to church and also that the ward will be able to keep her active if we were to leave. But I think she is ready. She came to all three hours of churhc this past Sunday and so we will hopefully be able to baptize her on the 21st. And we got to speak in sacrament meeting. Elder Pierce and I spoke on Member missionary work. I think it went well. I hope it did. We got alot of compliments so Im assuming it went pretty well. The main thing is I just hope people will act on it. But that about wraps up the week. Things are going well. Next Wednesday I will know if i am staying here or not. Im not really sure but I think i will be. I kind of hope I stay. There is alot of potential and work to be done in this area that I would like to be apart of.
Kyle, Im trying to tink of something for you to get for your birthday but I cant think of anything. Maybe you could ask for some Book of Mormons to give to your friends at school... Ill keep thinking though. Thats too bad it is so cold down there. Its actually been really warm up here still, over seventy degrees in the day. We are still biking in short sleeve shirts. It started to get cold a couple weeks ago but now it has warmed back up. I think it will probably start to cool down again though. Good job getting all A's, im sure thats not too hard for you. What classes are you taking again? I cant remember them.
Spencer,
I am doing awesome. My mission is going great. How are you doing? Im glad school is good for you. PE used to be my favorite thing too. Thanks for making me a turkey.
Annette,
Wow it sounds like your having lots of fun with Emma. Im sure mom would have probably died if she had seen those puppies. lol. Thanks for writing me.
Well, as always, thank you all for writing me and thanks for all the news thats been happening. I always like reading whats going on in the world. Oh and thanks for your notes in that picture book Kalie sent. But I really enjoyed it.
Well Im doing great! Im working hard. I hope you have a good week. Talk to you next wednesday.
I love you all
Elder Larson
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Hey
Im doing well. My new companion and area are both alot of fun and great. The area we are in is pretty big, and it seems even bigger since we are in the corner of our area. And since the last area we were in was one of the smallest in the mission. So this area is pretty big and there are alot of hills. Its a daily workout. The hills are pretty big too, every time you go around a corner there is the hiil the size of the one we lived on. But its fun. The ward is really nice too. Basically everyone in the ward except the bishopric is young married couples. The apartment complex we live in is like the "place to be" for mormons who are students in medical or dental school. So almost everyone in the ward is in medical or dental school. There are members two doors down from our apartment in both directions. There are tons of members in our apartments which is good. And I think I have only met one couple where one of them wasnt in medical or dental school. So thats the ward, lots of young people going to school. They are all really nice and most of the guys are RMs so they come out with us and teach.
On sunday the bishop called me up during sacrament meeting to introduce myself and bear my testimony, which helped them all get to know me. My companions name is Elder Pierce. He has been out for sixteen months now. He is a good missionary. He's from New Orleans but moved to St george when hurricane katrina hit. He's really nice too and he likes to play sports which is good. And he is real big on eating healthy lol, and hes kind of rubbing off on me. lol. Idk i dont really care but he hates to see me eat something unhealthy. Like one of the members made us cinnamon rolls and gave us some to take home, and we took them home and obviously he didnt want his, so i was eating it. And then when i was eating it he was like "Icing... thats so bad for you. its just saturated fat." lol, its funny. I was just like "Oh well I'll bike it off." Anyway, thats Elder Pierce, we get along well and hes funny. He brought a bread maker too at a garage sale for ten bucks and so we make bread sometimes. But we were making banana bread and it asks for white flour, but he looked at it, and asked "Do you think we should just put in wheat flour instead." Lol, so we put in wheat flour to make it more healthy. It tasted good though.
Teaching is going good. I let you know more about the investigators down here once I know them more. Things are going well though we had 6 investigators show up to church. It was great.
But anyway I feel like I know the lessons in PMG really well. Especially the Restoration, we teach it everyday. I think knowing the material is going well but teaching simply but still clearly is probably something thats still pretty hard. Like if someone tells you they dont have very much time thats when its hard. Cause you got to tell them what you know in a short amount of time so you cant say everything but you need to tell them enough to not make them confused. So I think the best thing missionaries can do is jsut practice teaching the lessons out loud. Its really the only way you can get good at it. It seems like it would almost be good to practice teaching the lessons to a little kid so they can learn how to teach simply and clearly without telling them too much or saying everything they know. I just asked Elder Pierce what he thinks and he says daily scripture study and prayer lol. I guess thats always a good answer. He says he wasnt very good at that before his mission. Oh and he just told me to add cooking.
Wow that is so cool you get to take Elder Bednar to the airport. What is a normal conversation with Elder Bednar going to be like? Im excited to hear about it.Thanks for sharing that story about Spencer. I really enjoyed it. Its cool how the Lord works. That reminds me of the one time Dad and James and I were working on the 4runner and we were trying to get that bolt off the wheel and we we couldnt get it off for a long time. So we were trying to figure out what to do and so we prayed that we would figure out a way and then Dad had one more idea and it worked. The Lord answered our prayer. That car has been a real testimony builder. lol. Well I got to go. My time is up. Thanks for the email. Things are going great. Love you all
Elder Larson
My new address is:
4839 Whetstone RdRichmond, VA 23234
But for future reference, next time I am being transferred, you can send any mail to this next address. This address will always work no matter what because it is the address to the mission office and then the people at the mission office will forward the mail to wherever I am or wherever I am going. This address just takes a day or two extra because the mail has to be forwarded. :
Elder Jordan Larson
Virginia Richmond Mission
9327 Midlothian Tpke Suite 1-b
Richmond Va, 23235
Im doing well. My new companion and area are both alot of fun and great. The area we are in is pretty big, and it seems even bigger since we are in the corner of our area. And since the last area we were in was one of the smallest in the mission. So this area is pretty big and there are alot of hills. Its a daily workout. The hills are pretty big too, every time you go around a corner there is the hiil the size of the one we lived on. But its fun. The ward is really nice too. Basically everyone in the ward except the bishopric is young married couples. The apartment complex we live in is like the "place to be" for mormons who are students in medical or dental school. So almost everyone in the ward is in medical or dental school. There are members two doors down from our apartment in both directions. There are tons of members in our apartments which is good. And I think I have only met one couple where one of them wasnt in medical or dental school. So thats the ward, lots of young people going to school. They are all really nice and most of the guys are RMs so they come out with us and teach.
On sunday the bishop called me up during sacrament meeting to introduce myself and bear my testimony, which helped them all get to know me. My companions name is Elder Pierce. He has been out for sixteen months now. He is a good missionary. He's from New Orleans but moved to St george when hurricane katrina hit. He's really nice too and he likes to play sports which is good. And he is real big on eating healthy lol, and hes kind of rubbing off on me. lol. Idk i dont really care but he hates to see me eat something unhealthy. Like one of the members made us cinnamon rolls and gave us some to take home, and we took them home and obviously he didnt want his, so i was eating it. And then when i was eating it he was like "Icing... thats so bad for you. its just saturated fat." lol, its funny. I was just like "Oh well I'll bike it off." Anyway, thats Elder Pierce, we get along well and hes funny. He brought a bread maker too at a garage sale for ten bucks and so we make bread sometimes. But we were making banana bread and it asks for white flour, but he looked at it, and asked "Do you think we should just put in wheat flour instead." Lol, so we put in wheat flour to make it more healthy. It tasted good though.
Teaching is going good. I let you know more about the investigators down here once I know them more. Things are going well though we had 6 investigators show up to church. It was great.
But anyway I feel like I know the lessons in PMG really well. Especially the Restoration, we teach it everyday. I think knowing the material is going well but teaching simply but still clearly is probably something thats still pretty hard. Like if someone tells you they dont have very much time thats when its hard. Cause you got to tell them what you know in a short amount of time so you cant say everything but you need to tell them enough to not make them confused. So I think the best thing missionaries can do is jsut practice teaching the lessons out loud. Its really the only way you can get good at it. It seems like it would almost be good to practice teaching the lessons to a little kid so they can learn how to teach simply and clearly without telling them too much or saying everything they know. I just asked Elder Pierce what he thinks and he says daily scripture study and prayer lol. I guess thats always a good answer. He says he wasnt very good at that before his mission. Oh and he just told me to add cooking.
Wow that is so cool you get to take Elder Bednar to the airport. What is a normal conversation with Elder Bednar going to be like? Im excited to hear about it.Thanks for sharing that story about Spencer. I really enjoyed it. Its cool how the Lord works. That reminds me of the one time Dad and James and I were working on the 4runner and we were trying to get that bolt off the wheel and we we couldnt get it off for a long time. So we were trying to figure out what to do and so we prayed that we would figure out a way and then Dad had one more idea and it worked. The Lord answered our prayer. That car has been a real testimony builder. lol. Well I got to go. My time is up. Thanks for the email. Things are going great. Love you all
Elder Larson
My new address is:
4839 Whetstone RdRichmond, VA 23234
But for future reference, next time I am being transferred, you can send any mail to this next address. This address will always work no matter what because it is the address to the mission office and then the people at the mission office will forward the mail to wherever I am or wherever I am going. This address just takes a day or two extra because the mail has to be forwarded. :
Elder Jordan Larson
Virginia Richmond Mission
9327 Midlothian Tpke Suite 1-b
Richmond Va, 23235
Friday, October 9, 2009
Oct 7, 2009 Letter
Hey,I am doing good. This week was a good week but nothing really too cool happened. General Conference was really good.
Ok so here is a story. Well, first of all, I dont know if I ever said this but when I first got here to Newport News it was kind of hard to understand people. Cause the people here kind of talk with a funny accent. Like they would say "Howyaalldoon" really fast and mushed together instead of "how are you all doing?" Lol. Anyway, so when I first got here i had to really work to understand people. So on Thursday Elder Comer and the District leader when on exchanges so Elder Conlin (the DL) came to newport news with Elder Beckman and I and Elder comer went up to his area. And Elder Conlin is usually a pretty talkative guy but he has never been in a getto area before. So we warned him that people here can be hard to understand sometimes and he just said ok. But then we get to our first lesson, and Elder Beckman and I are doing all the talking and teaching. And then finally Elder Conlin says something, and the person we were teaching interupted him and asked Elder Conlin something and he just looked at us and didnt say anything back to her...he couldn't understand anything she was saying, and we had to finish his statement for him. Lol, and that one thing he said was all he said the whole lesson. And afterwards he was just like wow, I couldnt understand a word she said. So that was pretty funny. And I guess Im getting better at understanding people cause I was probably like Elder Conlin when I got here.
But actually now I am getting transferred. Yesterday we got our transfer calls and I am going to a place called Meadowbrook which is no the Southside of Richmond. I am going to be in a twosome now too with an Elder named Elder Pearce. So that will be good. Ive heard that its alot like Newport News so it should be fun. Im exctied but Im going to miss the Branch.
Anyway, I really enjoyed general conference too. For some reason it is so much more exciting as a missionary. Lol. I was really excited for it. My favorite talk was President Monson's on service and all the service the people had done. I really enjoyed hearing about that. I like Elder Bednars too and how he rebuked people who share their testimony for the wrong reason. And I liked Elder Andersens on repentance. They were all good though.
Everything else is going good. Pam is getting more and more excited about her baptism on the 24th. She is going to be a good member and i am excited for her. I dont know when Joe and Tammy are going to get baptized though. Its hard because they live in a room of a rooming house w/o a car or a phone and they have to hire a lawyer to get his divorce to take place, so they dont really have the money or transportation or anything. And they are living on Tammy's disability check so they cant really seperate either cause that would cost too much... So we will just have to see. We'll keep praying for them. It really makes you grateful for the blessings we have and the guidance and protection we recieve in life from living the commandments of the church.
Spencer:Thats cool you got new pajamas. You will have to send me a picture. Good job in soccer and school. How do you play "hit and sit?" That sounds like a fun game though. I love you too.
Kyle: Im sorry you got sick. Thats never good. So what are you learning in seminary? You should take notes. I wish I would have. :) But you probably dont want to and I understand. Lol. So who are your firends from the Greenbluff ward? Oh and who is your teacher? Well thanks for writing me. Have a good week. Love, Elder Larson
Annette:Good choices on the songs. Those are good songs. What are you learning about in school? Im glad you liked the prophets talk cause he was my favorite speaker too. Thanks for writing me annette. Love you, Elder Larson
Well thanks for writing me. I am doing great, always happy. :) If you send anything you can send it to my old adress and Elder Comer will forward it to me. I dont know my new address yet but I will let you know what it is next week.
Oh and dad another good scripture for the getto is alma 17:14-15. Lol. But then vs 16 is what we do. Lol. Thanks for the prayers.
Love you
Elder Larson
Ok so here is a story. Well, first of all, I dont know if I ever said this but when I first got here to Newport News it was kind of hard to understand people. Cause the people here kind of talk with a funny accent. Like they would say "Howyaalldoon" really fast and mushed together instead of "how are you all doing?" Lol. Anyway, so when I first got here i had to really work to understand people. So on Thursday Elder Comer and the District leader when on exchanges so Elder Conlin (the DL) came to newport news with Elder Beckman and I and Elder comer went up to his area. And Elder Conlin is usually a pretty talkative guy but he has never been in a getto area before. So we warned him that people here can be hard to understand sometimes and he just said ok. But then we get to our first lesson, and Elder Beckman and I are doing all the talking and teaching. And then finally Elder Conlin says something, and the person we were teaching interupted him and asked Elder Conlin something and he just looked at us and didnt say anything back to her...he couldn't understand anything she was saying, and we had to finish his statement for him. Lol, and that one thing he said was all he said the whole lesson. And afterwards he was just like wow, I couldnt understand a word she said. So that was pretty funny. And I guess Im getting better at understanding people cause I was probably like Elder Conlin when I got here.
But actually now I am getting transferred. Yesterday we got our transfer calls and I am going to a place called Meadowbrook which is no the Southside of Richmond. I am going to be in a twosome now too with an Elder named Elder Pearce. So that will be good. Ive heard that its alot like Newport News so it should be fun. Im exctied but Im going to miss the Branch.
Anyway, I really enjoyed general conference too. For some reason it is so much more exciting as a missionary. Lol. I was really excited for it. My favorite talk was President Monson's on service and all the service the people had done. I really enjoyed hearing about that. I like Elder Bednars too and how he rebuked people who share their testimony for the wrong reason. And I liked Elder Andersens on repentance. They were all good though.
Everything else is going good. Pam is getting more and more excited about her baptism on the 24th. She is going to be a good member and i am excited for her. I dont know when Joe and Tammy are going to get baptized though. Its hard because they live in a room of a rooming house w/o a car or a phone and they have to hire a lawyer to get his divorce to take place, so they dont really have the money or transportation or anything. And they are living on Tammy's disability check so they cant really seperate either cause that would cost too much... So we will just have to see. We'll keep praying for them. It really makes you grateful for the blessings we have and the guidance and protection we recieve in life from living the commandments of the church.
Spencer:Thats cool you got new pajamas. You will have to send me a picture. Good job in soccer and school. How do you play "hit and sit?" That sounds like a fun game though. I love you too.
Kyle: Im sorry you got sick. Thats never good. So what are you learning in seminary? You should take notes. I wish I would have. :) But you probably dont want to and I understand. Lol. So who are your firends from the Greenbluff ward? Oh and who is your teacher? Well thanks for writing me. Have a good week. Love, Elder Larson
Annette:Good choices on the songs. Those are good songs. What are you learning about in school? Im glad you liked the prophets talk cause he was my favorite speaker too. Thanks for writing me annette. Love you, Elder Larson
Well thanks for writing me. I am doing great, always happy. :) If you send anything you can send it to my old adress and Elder Comer will forward it to me. I dont know my new address yet but I will let you know what it is next week.
Oh and dad another good scripture for the getto is alma 17:14-15. Lol. But then vs 16 is what we do. Lol. Thanks for the prayers.
Love you
Elder Larson
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Sept 30th 2009
Hey,
This week was a good week. Last Wednesday after we were done emailing we went bowling as a zone. It was pretty fun and nice to do something fun and relaxing. We have some unforutnate stories though. Last wednesday we went to see Joe and Tammy. And Joe and Tammy live in a one room house so we always teach them outisde. And Joe used to be a construction worker and he loves doing stuff like that so he has a bunch of nice power tools. But we went to go and see them lats wednesday and they told us that they got robbed. All of his power tools were stolen. I could tell he felt horrible. They really have like nothing and his power tools were something he really cared about and now they are gone. I felt really bad for them, especially Joe. But they live in a bad area and now Joe is determined to move so hopefully it will end up working for the better. It was unfortunate but they are still enjoying the church and they enjoy having us come over and teach them. And then one of the days we were teaching a lady on her doorstep and it was around the afternoon when school was getting out. And we were teaching her, and just a few houses down there was a group of like twenty to thirty guys walking home from school. And all of the sudden, a big fight broke out among all the guys. Lol. It was a little distracting. lol. It was a little difficult to teach with a fight going on three houses down. But it only lasted a few mins and then they all left and we continued the lesson. Lol. But anyway, thats the getto for you.
And we got a new mission leader on Sunday. I have to tell you about him cause he is a genius. He has a PHd in some religious field, so he knows a ton about everything that has to do with religion. Like he seriously knows everything. lol. And he is a convert to the church. But when the missionaries found him, he decided to prove the Book of Mormon wrong. So he read it and read it but he could never prove it wrong. And so now he is writing a book on how everyone needs the book of Mormon in their life. Its cool. He knows so much. Its really fun to talk with him. And he spends all of his time just reading religious books and learning more. And on Thursday he invited us over for dinner. He fed us a fish called gar. It is apparently considered a trash fish but he loves it and so he fed us some. I liked it. Its funny though, everything down here is deep fried. So for his fish he just made gar nuggets and fried them and fed them to us. It probably wasnt the most healthy but it tasted good.
But thats about it for this week. We are still teaching Joe and Tammy and Pam. Last night we went out with President Pettaway, the branch president, and he talked to Pam for awhile and got her excited for her baptism. She's excited for it. She has already invited one of her friends to church and to her baptism. :) And I dont know if Joe and Tammy are going to be baptized soon or not. We had them set for baptism on the 10th, but its all going to depend on if he can find his exwife or not. But hopefully it will work out and we are praying for them.
.....Thanks for you emails. Im glad you got a new bike dad. That sounds cool. So when are you seeing Elder Bednar? Or did you see him already? I really like him and Im excited to hear about it.
Im really excited to watch general conference too. Its alot more exciting now. Lol. I think its cause we spend so much of our time telling people how there is one true prophet on the earth and so now its really cool to acutally see him speak. Im excited for it. Well Im out of time. Thanks for the emails and support and love.
Love you all,Elder Larson
This week was a good week. Last Wednesday after we were done emailing we went bowling as a zone. It was pretty fun and nice to do something fun and relaxing. We have some unforutnate stories though. Last wednesday we went to see Joe and Tammy. And Joe and Tammy live in a one room house so we always teach them outisde. And Joe used to be a construction worker and he loves doing stuff like that so he has a bunch of nice power tools. But we went to go and see them lats wednesday and they told us that they got robbed. All of his power tools were stolen. I could tell he felt horrible. They really have like nothing and his power tools were something he really cared about and now they are gone. I felt really bad for them, especially Joe. But they live in a bad area and now Joe is determined to move so hopefully it will end up working for the better. It was unfortunate but they are still enjoying the church and they enjoy having us come over and teach them. And then one of the days we were teaching a lady on her doorstep and it was around the afternoon when school was getting out. And we were teaching her, and just a few houses down there was a group of like twenty to thirty guys walking home from school. And all of the sudden, a big fight broke out among all the guys. Lol. It was a little distracting. lol. It was a little difficult to teach with a fight going on three houses down. But it only lasted a few mins and then they all left and we continued the lesson. Lol. But anyway, thats the getto for you.
And we got a new mission leader on Sunday. I have to tell you about him cause he is a genius. He has a PHd in some religious field, so he knows a ton about everything that has to do with religion. Like he seriously knows everything. lol. And he is a convert to the church. But when the missionaries found him, he decided to prove the Book of Mormon wrong. So he read it and read it but he could never prove it wrong. And so now he is writing a book on how everyone needs the book of Mormon in their life. Its cool. He knows so much. Its really fun to talk with him. And he spends all of his time just reading religious books and learning more. And on Thursday he invited us over for dinner. He fed us a fish called gar. It is apparently considered a trash fish but he loves it and so he fed us some. I liked it. Its funny though, everything down here is deep fried. So for his fish he just made gar nuggets and fried them and fed them to us. It probably wasnt the most healthy but it tasted good.
But thats about it for this week. We are still teaching Joe and Tammy and Pam. Last night we went out with President Pettaway, the branch president, and he talked to Pam for awhile and got her excited for her baptism. She's excited for it. She has already invited one of her friends to church and to her baptism. :) And I dont know if Joe and Tammy are going to be baptized soon or not. We had them set for baptism on the 10th, but its all going to depend on if he can find his exwife or not. But hopefully it will work out and we are praying for them.
.....Thanks for you emails. Im glad you got a new bike dad. That sounds cool. So when are you seeing Elder Bednar? Or did you see him already? I really like him and Im excited to hear about it.
Im really excited to watch general conference too. Its alot more exciting now. Lol. I think its cause we spend so much of our time telling people how there is one true prophet on the earth and so now its really cool to acutally see him speak. Im excited for it. Well Im out of time. Thanks for the emails and support and love.
Love you all,Elder Larson
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
