Hey,
Thanks for the email. Sounds like its getting pretty cold up there. Its gotten alot colder here too. This past week it has cooled down alot. We have started seeing frost on the ground for the first time. Im sure its alot colder in Spokane though, but it still feels pretty cold here, especially when you are out in it all day. And I have been told the humidity makes it seem alot colder.
Anyway, we have had a really good week. Obviously the highlight of our week was on Sunday when we baptized Tequila and Mikila! Everything at the baptism went well. It was great. It was Sunday evening so everyone had a chance to go home and break their fast and then come back for the baptism. There were alot of people there which was great. The ward did a good job of supporting them. The talks were also good. They were short and too the point and the Spirit was strong as they spoke. And then we had the baptisms. I baptized Tequila and Elder Pierce baptized Mikila. That went good too, excpet for some reason the water had gotten cold. lol. It was warm when we finished filling the font up but that was about a half hour before the baptism started, so I guess by the time the actual baptism occured the water had cooled down. I was kind of shocked when I stepped in. I was glad we werent in it for too long. But other than that everything went well.
And then they were confirmed and welcomed into the ward. The Young womens president bought a bunch of little gifts for Tequila to welcome her into the Young womens. She bought her a journal and some other small stuff. Like one thing she bought her was a candle which she said was to remind her to always focus on the light of Christ. So it was good. And during church the bishop was able to meet with Tonya and talk to her about a calling. So the ward is doing a great job of fellowshipping them and integrating them into the ward. We are going to try and have a member invite them over for Family Home Evening this Monday to continue to "nourish them with the good word of God."
Our other investigators our doing well too. We had a lesson with James and we taught him the Plan of Salvation. He says he likes and agrees with everything about the church and that it all makes sense but he just doesnt have the spiritual confirmation yet. He told us he really wants to come to church and said he would try really hard to come this week. I think he will be there.
We also taught Marie this week and she still wants to get baptized. Marie is such a great lady. I think she has more faith than anyone I have ever met. She has dialysis three times a week, she can barely see and she can barely walk cause her legs hurt really bad, yet she still manages to come to church every week simply because she knows its true and she acknowledges the Spirit she has felt there. And at one point we found out she drinks tea so we decided to teach her the Word of Wisdom. And once we were done teaching it we asked her to live it and she said, "You know what, Im not supposed to drink tea anyway because of my health, and now that I know its a commandment I wont drink it anymore at all." :) I was impressed. Shes a great investigator to have. We are still aiming to have her baptized on Jan 2nd.
Well everything else is going good. We had interviews with our mission president yesterday. He is pleased with how the work is going. He asked me about a lot of things too, like my health, he asked how my family was doing, if I was happy. I told him everything was going great. He told me to cherish my time as a missionary even if times are hard or its cold. So I will try to do that.
Spencer, good job winning the PE player of the day award. Im sure you are getting really good at PE. Annette good job getting a spot for the concert on Monday. Good luck with it, I will be thinking about you on Monday. And James, good job getting rid of your ticket. lol Kyle, I hope you guys get to go to Oregon. Im sure I would want to go too if i was there. Hopefully you can convince everyone to go.
Well just over two weeks and we'll all be talking on the phone. Times gone by fast. Talk to you later.
Love Elder Larson
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Dec 2nd Letter
Hey,
This has been a good week. First of all on Wednesday evening after P-day ended we were able to set a date for Marie to be baptized. We had to push it back a little ways because she is going to be gone for the Holidays and also because we still have alot to teach her. So we set her date for Jan. 2nd. But that will be a good date because it will give her lots of time to make sure she understands everything and also to build her testimony. And I also think it is a good date because there is a high probability she will be able to keep it and we wont have to push it back any farther. So that will be good.
And then on Thursday we had our turkey bowl. It was lots of fun. I wished I had cleats because of all the mud and sliding around but it was still alot of fun. I got pretty dirty. They're were a few guys that had some good faceplants into the mud which made it pretty entertaining. And then for thanksgiving we had dinner with the Hill family and they were alot of fun as well. They had a pretty big family so there were alot of people there and we played Apples to Apples and another fun game called the Last Word. They were both really fun with alot of people and brought lots of laughter.
And then on Friday we had a good day as well. We taught Tonya's daughters-Taquila and Mikayla, and they both want to get baptized. We asked them if they wanted to and they said yes, and then we asked them if they if they knew of a good day and they said Sunday the 6th. So we have another baptism coming on Sunday! And yesterday we went over the baptismal program with them so they could pick all the speakers and all the other people who would have a part in it and Mikayla wants Elder Pierce to baptize her and Taquila wants me to baptize her so I am alao excited about that. It was pretty fun too they want the opening song to be Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and the closing song to be Joy to the World. Lol. So Sunday is going to be a very good day. Especially since it is fast Sunday, the Spirit is always strong on Fast Sundays.
And then we had a neat lesson on Saturday as well. We met this guy named Calvin Roberts. He was a media referral for a Bible. And so we took him the Bible and usually when we get media referrals we ask them what made want to order whatever item they ordered. So we asked him what made him want to order the Bible and he gave a good answer, he said he wanted to change himself and make things right with God. And so after talking with him for a little while we started to teach him the Restoration. And we just started on the first section which talks about God and who he is and thats what we were teaching him and we taught him about the Godhead. And now that I think about it I am not sure why we were talking about the Holy Ghost and the godhead that in-depthly on the first lesson but for whatever reason thats what we were talking about.
And when we taught him about the Holy Ghost he asked what does the Holy Ghost feel like. And so we read form Galatians 5 about the Holy Ghost and then we moved on with the lesson and taught all the way through Joseph Smith. We really covered alot with him now that I think about it. But at the end we asked him what how he felt about what we had taught him. And he thought about it for a moment and then he replied, I kind of feel the way that scripture says the Holy Ghost feels. :) So what a great answer, he is going to be baptized... I hope. We have a lesson with him tonight and we are going to watch the Restoration Video to help reinforce his knowledge of the Restoration and hopefully help him feel the Spirit again. He should be coming to church on Sunday too.
So thats what is going on in Virginia. We have alot of investigators with alot of potential. Last night we taught an investigator who probably knows more about the church than I do. His name is James Robinson. We called him Monday night to confirm our appointment for yesterday and he told us he had just got done reading the book of Abraham. Lol. And he had some questions about that. And obviously we didnt leave that for him to read but he loves studying religion and so he decided to read Abraham. So we talked about that a little yesterday and taught him the Plan of Salvation. And he is really nice too and is very open to learning, and not contentious at all. He loves missionaries. For some reason though he just doesnt want to come to church yet though but sooner or later he will come and then hopefully he will be able to gain a testimony.
Actually he sounds alot like the guy you talked about Dad who spoke in church. He is a very logical guy and thinks the church makes sense in every way he just doesnt have a testimony of it yet.
Well it sounds like you had a fun Thanksgiving break. So Kyle how did you become friends with Chad? Thats cool. I really liked Chad. You guys are both really smart.
Anyway, Spencer, Annette and everyone, I am excited to talk to you all in a few weeks. Christmas is coming up! I need to go home and eat the chocolate from my calendar. :) Well talk to later.
Love
Elder Larson
This has been a good week. First of all on Wednesday evening after P-day ended we were able to set a date for Marie to be baptized. We had to push it back a little ways because she is going to be gone for the Holidays and also because we still have alot to teach her. So we set her date for Jan. 2nd. But that will be a good date because it will give her lots of time to make sure she understands everything and also to build her testimony. And I also think it is a good date because there is a high probability she will be able to keep it and we wont have to push it back any farther. So that will be good.
And then on Thursday we had our turkey bowl. It was lots of fun. I wished I had cleats because of all the mud and sliding around but it was still alot of fun. I got pretty dirty. They're were a few guys that had some good faceplants into the mud which made it pretty entertaining. And then for thanksgiving we had dinner with the Hill family and they were alot of fun as well. They had a pretty big family so there were alot of people there and we played Apples to Apples and another fun game called the Last Word. They were both really fun with alot of people and brought lots of laughter.
And then on Friday we had a good day as well. We taught Tonya's daughters-Taquila and Mikayla, and they both want to get baptized. We asked them if they wanted to and they said yes, and then we asked them if they if they knew of a good day and they said Sunday the 6th. So we have another baptism coming on Sunday! And yesterday we went over the baptismal program with them so they could pick all the speakers and all the other people who would have a part in it and Mikayla wants Elder Pierce to baptize her and Taquila wants me to baptize her so I am alao excited about that. It was pretty fun too they want the opening song to be Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and the closing song to be Joy to the World. Lol. So Sunday is going to be a very good day. Especially since it is fast Sunday, the Spirit is always strong on Fast Sundays.
And then we had a neat lesson on Saturday as well. We met this guy named Calvin Roberts. He was a media referral for a Bible. And so we took him the Bible and usually when we get media referrals we ask them what made want to order whatever item they ordered. So we asked him what made him want to order the Bible and he gave a good answer, he said he wanted to change himself and make things right with God. And so after talking with him for a little while we started to teach him the Restoration. And we just started on the first section which talks about God and who he is and thats what we were teaching him and we taught him about the Godhead. And now that I think about it I am not sure why we were talking about the Holy Ghost and the godhead that in-depthly on the first lesson but for whatever reason thats what we were talking about.
And when we taught him about the Holy Ghost he asked what does the Holy Ghost feel like. And so we read form Galatians 5 about the Holy Ghost and then we moved on with the lesson and taught all the way through Joseph Smith. We really covered alot with him now that I think about it. But at the end we asked him what how he felt about what we had taught him. And he thought about it for a moment and then he replied, I kind of feel the way that scripture says the Holy Ghost feels. :) So what a great answer, he is going to be baptized... I hope. We have a lesson with him tonight and we are going to watch the Restoration Video to help reinforce his knowledge of the Restoration and hopefully help him feel the Spirit again. He should be coming to church on Sunday too.
So thats what is going on in Virginia. We have alot of investigators with alot of potential. Last night we taught an investigator who probably knows more about the church than I do. His name is James Robinson. We called him Monday night to confirm our appointment for yesterday and he told us he had just got done reading the book of Abraham. Lol. And he had some questions about that. And obviously we didnt leave that for him to read but he loves studying religion and so he decided to read Abraham. So we talked about that a little yesterday and taught him the Plan of Salvation. And he is really nice too and is very open to learning, and not contentious at all. He loves missionaries. For some reason though he just doesnt want to come to church yet though but sooner or later he will come and then hopefully he will be able to gain a testimony.
Actually he sounds alot like the guy you talked about Dad who spoke in church. He is a very logical guy and thinks the church makes sense in every way he just doesnt have a testimony of it yet.
Well it sounds like you had a fun Thanksgiving break. So Kyle how did you become friends with Chad? Thats cool. I really liked Chad. You guys are both really smart.
Anyway, Spencer, Annette and everyone, I am excited to talk to you all in a few weeks. Christmas is coming up! I need to go home and eat the chocolate from my calendar. :) Well talk to later.
Love
Elder Larson
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Nov 25th 2009 Letter
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
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
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
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