mi querida familia,
what is up mi familia? 1st off thanks for my hoodie and for the cookies and for the kettle corn ... i ate it all and thought about how much mom loves popcorn ... and i'm still enjoying the Cookies, thanks grandma, all the Elders in my apartment are very grateful for your cooking skills haha. and it's good to have the skyview hoodie again, and no i don't need a newer one, this one works just fine, and the stains are kinda small, thanks for washing it so much haha it smells clean. sooooooo the MAC can't handle all the pictures eh? haha just kidding, soooo you're getting a 500GIG in your comp in addition to the 1000 GIG external ... and what happens when you fill those up? haha pictures sure take up alot of room, i was gonna send my card home today but i think you want pics of my Birthday so i'll send it next week, sorry it's been so long since you've had pics from me. and i thought you already had the new OS for MAC? did they make a new one? hahaha and Dad's comp has been saying that it needed space for a few years now, dad you really need to switch over into a new comp or HD or something haha. it's crazy how much i've forgotten about comps ... really crazy. i'm glad that someone went to Brian's Farewell, i hope you took pics and kicked brent for me, brian and me and austin and lorrin will all be able to speak spanish when we get back haha that is going to be cool. and yes i remember Bro Vongermeten ... i don't think he likes us still. Maria Vongermeten is from Guatemala??? that is awesome! i love peeps from there, i remember you saying (when i was younger) how she was always fun and made you laugh and stuff, makes sense cause all the people from Guatamala are like that! We will have to talk when i get home, is she still married to Bro Vongermeten? i remember her daughter ... that is too bad ... not a good idea to leave the church ... we must never give up hope nor give up on anyone, perservierence. i'm glad the surgery went well without any complications, no more finger nail ... how come he sewed it??? make sure and take pics and send them to me cause "a Elder Larsen le encantan las fotos" yeah at the MTC i took some super vitamin thingy of Elder Stewarts one morning and i didnt' know you were supposed to take it with food and soooooo i came about this close [ ] to puking in class ... not a good idea. who won the homecoming game? i remember getting invited to be part of the "Order of the Arrow" buttt i was too lazy. the Utah State fair sounded cool, i don't think i've ever gone to it, a bear show eh? cool. and no i actually dont' have a movie to watch list cause i don't know what movies have come out haha, i don't watch or read the news. i know i have to watch Xmen 4 and Transformers and Harry Potter 5 ... and other than that i dont' know what to watch ... i do know however that i will be very behind when i get home haha. Lagoon sounds fun, tell me about it. when do bishop webb and susan webb leave? it sounds pretty exciting, i'm sure they will do great, learning another language isn't a very easy thing to do, and i'm still set on mom and dad going to Armania. AHHHH you saw Whooly? ahh i miss that guy, i'm glad he's doing good, wow, that was a long time ago i knew him. and i don't remember who Leah Johnson is ... sorry ... but at least they know that death isn't the end of life, really i don't know how people get along with out that knowledge...
i'm using the knee wrap and the magnets everynight, it's my right knee that i think may be behaving badly, we talked the zone into playing soccer instead of basketball today so i'm gonna play and we'll see how it holds up. i'm looking forward to General Conference, and my B-day, two awesome things on the same day! i recieved a package from Rich and Kim and Grandma M last saturday and i have to wait to open it till the 3rd, so says the box. and i always thought i was born on a Wednesday ... figure out and tell me when you write me next ... the internet has some sites that say what day of the week stuff happened.
soooo cool story of the week, we have an investigator named Ramona, she is an Elderly woman in her 60's and she is like a grandma and always feeds us when we go over there. we had taught her like 3 times and we invited her to be baptized, and she said that she needed to think about it cause she had already been baptized as a child (story of my life) so we had her pray about it and read some chapters in the BOM. soooooo we went on Exchanges on Friday and i went into my zone leader's, Elder Hunter's area and Elder Cortez went with Elder Durrant into my area. they went over to Ramonas and she told them that she didn't want to get baptized cause she didn't want to offend God and commit a sacriligious (thats how they say it....) sooo Elder Cortez and Durrant shared some scriptures with her about the importance of baptizm and the necessity of authority and she decided to pray about it. soooo we went over their yesterday and we had a prayer and the first thing she said was ... i have some news to tell you. we thought she was going to tell us she still didn't want to get baptized. buttttt she said "I'm going to get baptized" needless to say we were a bit taken back. she said that the night before she had been praying to God and promised him that she would get baptized if he would allow her to keep her beliefs and virgin statues and pictures ... and she said that she had this great warm feeling spread throughout her body and she felt good about it. now as far as i was able to understand she just wants to keep the statues and pics because it really has been her life for her entire life. we're pretty sure that she understands that we shouldn't pray or worship these statues and pics ... however we are going to work with her and make sure we teach her clearly and correctly. i have faith that she will get baptized, if not by us then by someone else. so we are very exctied about her ... thennnnn her friend that was there also, who is catholic, went off on the Catholic church and started bashing catholicism and the priests and pretty much everything ... she is about the same age as Ramona, so just imagine a little old lady walking around the house, ranting and raving and throwing her hands up in the air bashing the catholic church ... it was pretty interesting ... she was quite adament.
so we got a senior couple from Logan called Elder and Sister Benson, they are way cool. so i would have a cool scripture for you ... but i've been in the Isaiah chapters of 2nd nephi all week ... and yeah i found some cool ones but my brain is still trying to recover so i can't remember where they are. time is running out, thank you so much for all your love and care, i feel it every time i get a letter or package from you guys. Elder Durrant says thanks, his own family didn't even send him a letter ... he didn't expect one either ... kinda sad, makes me grateful to have a family like you guys! i hope all is well, next time you hear from me i will be 2 decades old! weird huh??? i love you all, and continue to pray and hope for your continued happiness, remember to look for the good in life and to start each day, no matter what, with a smile. we have a reason to be joyful, D&C 29:4-5. We are working on the attribute of Joy this transfer. enjoy general conference, take notes ... i'm gonna do my best. Hasta la proxima semana!
Elder Larsen
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Ya estamos en la tercera semana....ay caray
Hey bestest/beastliest family in the world,
what's up guys? another week come and gone here in Oxnard, i'm doing good minus my knee, started acting up on saturday and i haven't been able to twist my lower leg much, but it's much better today, Elder Jenkins says it's a stress fracture but i don't think so cause it's almost all better. anywho, other than that i'm dandy, loving the weather as it continues to get colder here. that's cool that you're in charge of the yearbook again, they sure picked the right person for the job. i miss rainstorms alot, i can count the number of rainstorms i've had on my mission on one hand ... buuuuttttttt according to Elder Jenkins during the winter season last year it rained for 4 straight days, so we'll see what happens, i plan on staying here for 2 more transfers which would mean i'd leave Oxnard like the 1st week in January. "the Punt pass and Kick" thing sounds fun ... what exactly is it? haha that Old Lawn Mower of grandma's finally died eh? or did dad and BHL fix it back to it's regular crooked state? i remember doing some pretty funny stuff on that lawn mower, haha me and Brent used to race ... crop circles ... wonder how that looks? i remember the salsa you used to make mom, it was good, i've had some pretty spicy stuff since i've been out here, i've got a few recepies for salsa that, if i can make them right, are really really good and fairly spicy ... yum yum. that's too bad that TRL lost by one point, i remember when that happened to us a few times ... like the worst feeling in the world ... but you just have to continue to get better and improve your skills and before you know it you are playing more and winning more and all the hard work pays off. i think the hardest thing about reading the scriptures, regardless of how much or when you read them, is being consistent ... at least for me, i'm not good at being consistent about anything really haha, i've done the math and if i keep fairly consistent with my reading i'll have the BOM done just after 2010 starts. then when i finish that i'm going to start studying the scriptures in spanish instead of english ... honestly the scriptures in spanish are sometimes alot easier to understand ... oh and if you are going to look into getting me a new spanish bible (i actually have to get one regardless cause mission president wants us too, so if you aren't going to get one don't feel bad cause i'll just save up the little $$ that i get and buy it with mission funds, it's only $26) i was kinda thinking the Red one would be cool, cause all the spanish people have red bibles for some reason ... not sure why ... but i want to be like them. i think you can go to ldscatalog.org to look at them ... i think ... sorry if i sound pushy or whiny ... i'm trying really hard not to be ... but sometimes when you try really hard not to be or do something ... you end up making it worse or doing it or being it anyway ...
I understand the law of the fast now and actually have a small miracle. Carlos has been trying to stop smoking, so we decided to fast for him and we did and he was able to not smoke for 3 whole days ... then he smoked one on sunday ... :/... but he is slowly starting to make progress, we're not quite sure what to do with him because he damaged his brain doing drugs when he was younger so he is mentally not really able to focus or remember things really well, but he is slowly progressing and we are now teaching his sister, so we are hoping she will stay interested and then she will be able to help him keep strong, it seems as if it is a constant tug of war with satan out here, it's really exhausting sometimes but we can't give up because of the consequence that would take place, so we do our best and ask for God's help. Taylor is a priest, Jordan a teacher and soon to be deacon derek ... awesome, pretty soon we'll have one of everything, that will be cool, it's crazy how we're all getting older, i'll be sending my card home soon i think, there are some pretty funny pics on there i think. that's great for dana and judy, i'm sure he's way happy to be able to drive again, what does Judy do at USU? yeah filling out all the paperwork for a mission isn't fun haha, good luck, my prediction for BHL is somewhere in South America cause he's "tough" and healthy. AHHHh that's crazy about Brian, i'm so excited for him, someone needs to kick brent in the butt for me. BHL tell me about the farewell if you went, is brian still the crazy kid he was when i was there? Kenidee, i hope your surgery goes well on Thursday ... or last Thursday i hope it went well. and i don't forget to clip my toe nails don't worry, i take care of my feet ... cause i use them alot! ya know the #1 surgery among missonaries is ingrown toenail surgery??? pretty nasty huh? and for that reason i take care of my feet ....... Homecoming season was fun, i don't know the tongan girl but she sounds cool, it's awesome to do stuff out of the ordinary, hey can you send me my Skyview Hoody if that's possible? i need something to be cozy in. hahah good for taylor haha keep that attitude until you get home from your mission, you'll thank me really. haha but dances aren't bad, you have to come down from the "jock" platform every now and then to be normal taylor haha. =] un dia te vas a ser un ladron de corazones hermano mio.
this week wasn't really all that eventful, we found 6 new investigators this week, some really solid ones too so we're excited. haha, we have zone conference on Wednesday so i'm excited for that, we got a new greeny sister missionary from mexico, she is pretty cool and likes to correct our gringo spanish haha, i've decided that i must slow down my spanish speaking in order to speak clearly and more correctly, i mumble and stutter ... want to know how to say stutter ... it's quite a word to stutter on ... Tartamudiar ... pretty certain that is how it's spelled, quite a mouthful. hey ya know what picture would be cool for the stationary idea, that pic of me and those red glasses haha i think i look like cyclops off of X-men, pretty ridiculous but funny, dunno, just bouncin ideas around .... tryin not to be pushy. forgot to write a scripture to share with you guys down ... it's in 2nd Nephi 9 ... excellent chapter, my most favorite so far in my reading, pretty much the whole plan of salvation packed into an awesome chapter.
i hope you guys have an excellent week, work hard in school and you'll be grateful later in life, although i can't seem to remember anything i learned in high school at the moment ... but i have a firm hope that it will come back to me one day ... i'm really really hoping haha. i love you all a whole bunch and pray for your success in all aspects of life. remember that Christ loves you no matter what, our happiness is based on our obediance, more applied to a missionary life but it works in the real world too, faith is one of the most basic and important principles of the gosple, never give up, there is always a way to conquer the evils and obstacles that satan throws at us. remember someone in Oxnard loves you a bunch! until next week,
Love, Elder Larsen
what's up guys? another week come and gone here in Oxnard, i'm doing good minus my knee, started acting up on saturday and i haven't been able to twist my lower leg much, but it's much better today, Elder Jenkins says it's a stress fracture but i don't think so cause it's almost all better. anywho, other than that i'm dandy, loving the weather as it continues to get colder here. that's cool that you're in charge of the yearbook again, they sure picked the right person for the job. i miss rainstorms alot, i can count the number of rainstorms i've had on my mission on one hand ... buuuuttttttt according to Elder Jenkins during the winter season last year it rained for 4 straight days, so we'll see what happens, i plan on staying here for 2 more transfers which would mean i'd leave Oxnard like the 1st week in January. "the Punt pass and Kick" thing sounds fun ... what exactly is it? haha that Old Lawn Mower of grandma's finally died eh? or did dad and BHL fix it back to it's regular crooked state? i remember doing some pretty funny stuff on that lawn mower, haha me and Brent used to race ... crop circles ... wonder how that looks? i remember the salsa you used to make mom, it was good, i've had some pretty spicy stuff since i've been out here, i've got a few recepies for salsa that, if i can make them right, are really really good and fairly spicy ... yum yum. that's too bad that TRL lost by one point, i remember when that happened to us a few times ... like the worst feeling in the world ... but you just have to continue to get better and improve your skills and before you know it you are playing more and winning more and all the hard work pays off. i think the hardest thing about reading the scriptures, regardless of how much or when you read them, is being consistent ... at least for me, i'm not good at being consistent about anything really haha, i've done the math and if i keep fairly consistent with my reading i'll have the BOM done just after 2010 starts. then when i finish that i'm going to start studying the scriptures in spanish instead of english ... honestly the scriptures in spanish are sometimes alot easier to understand ... oh and if you are going to look into getting me a new spanish bible (i actually have to get one regardless cause mission president wants us too, so if you aren't going to get one don't feel bad cause i'll just save up the little $$ that i get and buy it with mission funds, it's only $26) i was kinda thinking the Red one would be cool, cause all the spanish people have red bibles for some reason ... not sure why ... but i want to be like them. i think you can go to ldscatalog.org to look at them ... i think ... sorry if i sound pushy or whiny ... i'm trying really hard not to be ... but sometimes when you try really hard not to be or do something ... you end up making it worse or doing it or being it anyway ...
I understand the law of the fast now and actually have a small miracle. Carlos has been trying to stop smoking, so we decided to fast for him and we did and he was able to not smoke for 3 whole days ... then he smoked one on sunday ... :/... but he is slowly starting to make progress, we're not quite sure what to do with him because he damaged his brain doing drugs when he was younger so he is mentally not really able to focus or remember things really well, but he is slowly progressing and we are now teaching his sister, so we are hoping she will stay interested and then she will be able to help him keep strong, it seems as if it is a constant tug of war with satan out here, it's really exhausting sometimes but we can't give up because of the consequence that would take place, so we do our best and ask for God's help. Taylor is a priest, Jordan a teacher and soon to be deacon derek ... awesome, pretty soon we'll have one of everything, that will be cool, it's crazy how we're all getting older, i'll be sending my card home soon i think, there are some pretty funny pics on there i think. that's great for dana and judy, i'm sure he's way happy to be able to drive again, what does Judy do at USU? yeah filling out all the paperwork for a mission isn't fun haha, good luck, my prediction for BHL is somewhere in South America cause he's "tough" and healthy. AHHHh that's crazy about Brian, i'm so excited for him, someone needs to kick brent in the butt for me. BHL tell me about the farewell if you went, is brian still the crazy kid he was when i was there? Kenidee, i hope your surgery goes well on Thursday ... or last Thursday i hope it went well. and i don't forget to clip my toe nails don't worry, i take care of my feet ... cause i use them alot! ya know the #1 surgery among missonaries is ingrown toenail surgery??? pretty nasty huh? and for that reason i take care of my feet ....... Homecoming season was fun, i don't know the tongan girl but she sounds cool, it's awesome to do stuff out of the ordinary, hey can you send me my Skyview Hoody if that's possible? i need something to be cozy in. hahah good for taylor haha keep that attitude until you get home from your mission, you'll thank me really. haha but dances aren't bad, you have to come down from the "jock" platform every now and then to be normal taylor haha. =] un dia te vas a ser un ladron de corazones hermano mio.
this week wasn't really all that eventful, we found 6 new investigators this week, some really solid ones too so we're excited. haha, we have zone conference on Wednesday so i'm excited for that, we got a new greeny sister missionary from mexico, she is pretty cool and likes to correct our gringo spanish haha, i've decided that i must slow down my spanish speaking in order to speak clearly and more correctly, i mumble and stutter ... want to know how to say stutter ... it's quite a word to stutter on ... Tartamudiar ... pretty certain that is how it's spelled, quite a mouthful. hey ya know what picture would be cool for the stationary idea, that pic of me and those red glasses haha i think i look like cyclops off of X-men, pretty ridiculous but funny, dunno, just bouncin ideas around .... tryin not to be pushy. forgot to write a scripture to share with you guys down ... it's in 2nd Nephi 9 ... excellent chapter, my most favorite so far in my reading, pretty much the whole plan of salvation packed into an awesome chapter.
i hope you guys have an excellent week, work hard in school and you'll be grateful later in life, although i can't seem to remember anything i learned in high school at the moment ... but i have a firm hope that it will come back to me one day ... i'm really really hoping haha. i love you all a whole bunch and pray for your success in all aspects of life. remember that Christ loves you no matter what, our happiness is based on our obediance, more applied to a missionary life but it works in the real world too, faith is one of the most basic and important principles of the gosple, never give up, there is always a way to conquer the evils and obstacles that satan throws at us. remember someone in Oxnard loves you a bunch! until next week,
Love, Elder Larsen
Monday, September 14, 2009
Que Transita por tus veinas?
Que Transita por tus veinas?
(Ask cody if he recogizes this phrase for "whats up?" he probably won't, but ask anyway)
Que paso mi familia?Hey guys how is it going? i'm still alive and kicking in here in Oxnard, the first week of the transfer is over and done with haha jeezz. anywho, so Elder Pulham (the famous roper) got a new companion called Elder Beck, he is from Toole Utah (spelling?) and is a bit odd, but seems to be a good guy. k so i'll respond to mom's letter and then tell a bit about my week here in paradise. no mom i didn't do anything unusual for 9/9/09, i didn't even realize it was that until like half way through the day haha. i hope everything with Veronica turned out ok, i haven't gotten an Email or letter from her as of yet so i'm hoping everything turned out ok. the wedding looked and sounded cool, Kent and Theresa are going to be busy for a while. Susan and Alan's mission sounds crazy, do they go to the MTC for anything? i miss being in band, being able to watch the band at half time makes football games bearable (haha ;]] ) Kenidee would love marching band, the first two years are the hardest but when you are an upperclassman it is soooo much more fun and better. I hope the Petersons are doing ok, probably quite a shock and adjustment, we must confide in God that all will be ok when stuff happens in life that we don't like. You'll have to send me a copy of one of the TECS class pics so i can see it. ahhhhh shucking corn, haha i kinda miss that ... and at the same time i don't ... although i never really did it alot. but that's great that you got 52 bags, if my math still works, of corn. home grown corn is always the best, now we just have to figure out how Rudy's makes their cream corn and we'll be set for life, all we will need to eat is cream corn! and i don't really eat vegetables anymore ... i don't know how to buy them/cook them. i eat Eggs, Bread, spaghetti, tomato sauce (ohh tomatoes are healthy! Elder Durrant says tomatoes are a fruit though so that doesn't count as a vegetable), mush(oatmeal), and water. basically anything that takes under 2 mins to prepare for breakfast and anything under like 15 mins for lunch ... and at dinner we usually get some kind of cooked meat, tortillas, beans, or a certain kind of soup. HA guess what i ate the other day, cooked cow stomach! it's called Menudo and is a delicacy in Mexico, people usually eat it on Sundays after Mass. i've heard horror stories about it my whole mission but i've never had the opportunity to try it ... it's good, the texture is kinda weird, Elder Durrant explained it like (forgive me) chewing on boogers ... anywho, it's good. tounge meat is good too, i've eated some weird stuff that i didn't know was edible ... some of it probably isn't ... or shouldn't be. i hope everything comes out well with Kenidee's Finger, just cut the finger nail off, that way you don't have to trim it! i hate trimming finger nails cause i always seem to forget to do it. and awesome job kenidee scoring all 4 touchdowns in flag football, you should play tackle football, it's more fun. and yes i don't know anyone who can give a high 4 1/2 so you're pretty special, well you're speacial anyway but you get me ... send jordan to live with me, he'll want to go back to mom in a few hours, white people are so rude here. I'm doing good with my reading, remember all of you, if you don't read you won't get the blessings for it. 2 Nephi 1:21-23 I think ... it says "be Men" and "put on the armour of righteousness" awesome scripture, so alllll my brothers, BE MEN and read your scriptures. i'm glad i get to serve in the great US of A too cause i like mail and packages and stuff like that. that's cool about Megan and Shaeli why was Megan going up to Idaho? just to visit or back to school? glad they seem to be doing alright.
so this week was short, on Saturday we, as a ward, went to the homeless shelter and gave out lunch. there was a ton of food, i mean a ton, we probably fed 500+ people. we had meat with carrots, corn, celery, green beans and something orange in it, mexican style beans, rice, bread, and lemonade. alll the sisters in the ward cooked a big like 2 1/2 feet x 1 1/2 feet tin pan of food ... mexicans know how to cook in large quantities. it was fun serving the needy, we organized everything and served the food to everyone, the food was really really good, better than i eat cause it had colorful things in it. and i got out of translating for bishop and made Elder Durrant do it haha it was funny cause Bishop didn't say a sentence then stop and have Elder Durrant translate, he said about 5 or 6 sentences and then asked Elder Durrant to translate ... so i'm glad i didn't do that. we also had stake conference for the stake of Camarillo yesterday, it was good, lots of good things said for the part i was able to watch. you see the translated session was at 9 and so the 2 spanish wards and we got some investigators to go all went at 9. But the stake has these ancient transmitter thingys with a range of about 5 feet ... so we were trying to get the translation ready for about 45 mins ... finally ended up taking the old antenna off and putting a much larger one on and it worked good enough for the people to understand what the translator was saying. but it was good and our investigators liked it. we also had a miracle on sunday. the whole week we had been trying to find new investigators, but had been meeting a lot of resistance, our days always seemed to get messed up somehow, we would have to play chauffeur for the bike elders or someone needed help, or so and so decided to talk for 2 hours durring a lesson, so we were not going to meet our goal for new investigators, so we decided to fast on sunday, which we did, and our day still got messed up ... but we were able to find sufficient investigators to meet our goal and we got 5 lessons in to meet the goal of 20 lessons. so FASTING WORKS when you do it right, accompanied with prayer, fasting is a very powerful helpmeet that we have as children of a loving father in heaven. did you know that a fast is supposed to be 24 hours and two meals??? i had no idea until i came out here ... we start saturday night after dinner and end with dinner on sunday. i thought it was, wake up, start fast, don't eat breakfast or lunch and then eat dinner ... at like 3 or 4 ... and sometimes i didn't even do that ... basically not really a sacrifice at all ... and we are out walking all day long haha you should have seen us yesterday we had no energy whatsoever all the afternoon haha. anywho, fasting is healthy and powerful and a good thing to do, it can produce miracles.
ok family i have to go, no more time on the computer. i love you all and am grearful for your letters and love, Elder Triana wrote me and says thanks for your letters, he really liked getting to know you all a bit better, he is a ZONE LEADER now! isn't that cool!? the church is true, do what you're told and everything will turn out good! love you!!
Elder Larsen
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Week 1 otravez
Hey family!
i'm still here in Oxnard, nothing happened with Elder Durrant or me, Elder Williams left for a little town called Oji, and Elder Pulham's follow-up trainer is called Elder Beck. he seems cool. so the comp is slow today i hope everything works well ... it already kicked me out once ... i bout punched it. ok so i will first respond to the questions mom asked me cause i think they are important, dad's letter and all the kids letters i will write respond to tonight and mail tomorrow. mom didn't recieve your letter yet, we had to leave before mail came so if their are any questions in it i will respond to them with the letter i write tonight. Elder Durrant is from Meza Arizona, and likes to remind me often haha. my apartment is alot better than when i first got here, our doornob works so we are all safe now (i guess some old investigator broke in one night a while back) but yeah, Oxnard is very nice now, last week it was a bit humid and muggy and nasty, nothing in heat compared with bakersfield and nothing in humidity compared with San Antonio but still a bit too hot and humid for my likings. but it has cooled back down to 70-ish with an oceanly breeze and it is beautiful weather here in Oxnard.
Favorite thing about Oxnard ... i don't know, probably the weather, yeah the weather. and there are very few homeless people where i am serving, but yes there are a few. we continue to teach 20 to 23 lessons a week, it was a bit hard last week cause Elder WIlliams was sick and we had to help them cover their area so Elder Pulham went out with us into his area and we helped them out. but we still got over 20 lessons. right now we are only teaching 1 full family, i can't remember their last name cause it's weird but they are Marilu, Jose, Calvin, and 2 other little kids. they were doing great but recently they have been very difficult to find at home. we are teaching a guy named Carlos and his sister who are in their late 20's, he is trying to stop smoking and we are trying to help him. they are good. we are also teaching another Carlos, he is a music recorder in LA so he's super hard to find, but he supposedly stopped working yesterday so it should be easier to find him now, he's great. and there are a bunch more but those are the ones that are progressing the most.
so yeah, this week has been good, we worked hard, now we have 6 more weeks together so i can get ready to be senior ... very scary, i'm kind of hoping that i don't get called senior in 6 weeks cause i don't think i'm ready, but i'm gonna do my best to prepare myself just in case. Elder Durrants birthday is the 26th, you guys should send him a card, he would like that. i hope that school is still going good for you guys. so i finished 1 Nephi a few days ago, probably wayyyy behind mom and whoever else is reading, but i have found and recorded some wayyy cool scriptures that i will hopefully be able to use in lessons if not for talks and whenever i need something from the scriptures. one that i found today is in 2 Nephi 1:near the end. Lehi is exorting Laman and Lemuel to quit being stubborn and so hard hearted and he says "arise from the dust my sons and be men" or something to that extent, and really all the verses around that one are really great, we have a great example of how a parent should teach their children from Lehi, which is good for spanish work because the family is something really important to the hispanic people as well as one of the most important things in the church.
a fellow missionary wrote me a letter the other week and he explained something very cool that i would like to share with you. he was reading a verse in 3rd Nephi and it struck him that in 4 or 5 pages (can't remember exactly) the Nephites went from being in complete peace to a wicked and perverse nation. then he thought about how laman and lemuel always whined and murmured. and he didn't understand how someone could be so forgetful, and then he realized that laman and lemuel, whenever asked to do anything or whenever taught something, always, in some form or another, asked "why?" why should i do this, why should i believe that. that rebelious streak in them led to their downfall, that is why in 2 Nephi 1 lehi exorts them with all the "feelings of a tender parent" (something like that) to repent and to not be so stiff necked and hard hearted. we can take counsel from this, that's what the scriptures are for ya know. many times in the mission i've been faced with a rule or something that maybe was a bit hard for me to follow, or some advice given to me or something, and if i asked why and was a bit rebelious, i never really grasped the rule or recieved the blessings from following the rule, i halted myself in my progression. and it's like that with all of us from time to time, we ask why and want to be a bit difficult for the lord, we(I) need to have sufficient faith to follow whatever, through our leaders, the Lord tells us. we shouldn't follow blindly but we should have the faith to accept what is being told to us and to follow it. it is true that we may not always understand why we are being asked to do it, but i don't think we're ever going to understand certain things in this life. i don't think Nephi understood exaclty at the time why he was commanded to write and basically tell the same story that his father wrote in the book of lehi. nephi himself said "I know not why i do this save the lord commanded me" (that's quoted really bad but you get what i'm saying) not until today do we know that that was very important because the book of Lehi was lost. anywho, sorry i just thought that that was really cool, so i'm trying to not ask "why?" so much if i don't understand it and just do it, with good judgement involved of course.
ok that's all the time i have for today, i hope you are all doing well in school and that you are all healthy and having fun in life. remember that i love you and apprieciate very much your letters and support that you give me. until next week!
Elder Larsen
PS: my new Zone Leader is Elder Cortez from our stake in San Antonio, supposedly his little sister knows me but i think she probably just knows Brandon and therefore knows who i am.
i'm still here in Oxnard, nothing happened with Elder Durrant or me, Elder Williams left for a little town called Oji, and Elder Pulham's follow-up trainer is called Elder Beck. he seems cool. so the comp is slow today i hope everything works well ... it already kicked me out once ... i bout punched it. ok so i will first respond to the questions mom asked me cause i think they are important, dad's letter and all the kids letters i will write respond to tonight and mail tomorrow. mom didn't recieve your letter yet, we had to leave before mail came so if their are any questions in it i will respond to them with the letter i write tonight. Elder Durrant is from Meza Arizona, and likes to remind me often haha. my apartment is alot better than when i first got here, our doornob works so we are all safe now (i guess some old investigator broke in one night a while back) but yeah, Oxnard is very nice now, last week it was a bit humid and muggy and nasty, nothing in heat compared with bakersfield and nothing in humidity compared with San Antonio but still a bit too hot and humid for my likings. but it has cooled back down to 70-ish with an oceanly breeze and it is beautiful weather here in Oxnard.
Favorite thing about Oxnard ... i don't know, probably the weather, yeah the weather. and there are very few homeless people where i am serving, but yes there are a few. we continue to teach 20 to 23 lessons a week, it was a bit hard last week cause Elder WIlliams was sick and we had to help them cover their area so Elder Pulham went out with us into his area and we helped them out. but we still got over 20 lessons. right now we are only teaching 1 full family, i can't remember their last name cause it's weird but they are Marilu, Jose, Calvin, and 2 other little kids. they were doing great but recently they have been very difficult to find at home. we are teaching a guy named Carlos and his sister who are in their late 20's, he is trying to stop smoking and we are trying to help him. they are good. we are also teaching another Carlos, he is a music recorder in LA so he's super hard to find, but he supposedly stopped working yesterday so it should be easier to find him now, he's great. and there are a bunch more but those are the ones that are progressing the most.
so yeah, this week has been good, we worked hard, now we have 6 more weeks together so i can get ready to be senior ... very scary, i'm kind of hoping that i don't get called senior in 6 weeks cause i don't think i'm ready, but i'm gonna do my best to prepare myself just in case. Elder Durrants birthday is the 26th, you guys should send him a card, he would like that. i hope that school is still going good for you guys. so i finished 1 Nephi a few days ago, probably wayyyy behind mom and whoever else is reading, but i have found and recorded some wayyy cool scriptures that i will hopefully be able to use in lessons if not for talks and whenever i need something from the scriptures. one that i found today is in 2 Nephi 1:near the end. Lehi is exorting Laman and Lemuel to quit being stubborn and so hard hearted and he says "arise from the dust my sons and be men" or something to that extent, and really all the verses around that one are really great, we have a great example of how a parent should teach their children from Lehi, which is good for spanish work because the family is something really important to the hispanic people as well as one of the most important things in the church.
a fellow missionary wrote me a letter the other week and he explained something very cool that i would like to share with you. he was reading a verse in 3rd Nephi and it struck him that in 4 or 5 pages (can't remember exactly) the Nephites went from being in complete peace to a wicked and perverse nation. then he thought about how laman and lemuel always whined and murmured. and he didn't understand how someone could be so forgetful, and then he realized that laman and lemuel, whenever asked to do anything or whenever taught something, always, in some form or another, asked "why?" why should i do this, why should i believe that. that rebelious streak in them led to their downfall, that is why in 2 Nephi 1 lehi exorts them with all the "feelings of a tender parent" (something like that) to repent and to not be so stiff necked and hard hearted. we can take counsel from this, that's what the scriptures are for ya know. many times in the mission i've been faced with a rule or something that maybe was a bit hard for me to follow, or some advice given to me or something, and if i asked why and was a bit rebelious, i never really grasped the rule or recieved the blessings from following the rule, i halted myself in my progression. and it's like that with all of us from time to time, we ask why and want to be a bit difficult for the lord, we(I) need to have sufficient faith to follow whatever, through our leaders, the Lord tells us. we shouldn't follow blindly but we should have the faith to accept what is being told to us and to follow it. it is true that we may not always understand why we are being asked to do it, but i don't think we're ever going to understand certain things in this life. i don't think Nephi understood exaclty at the time why he was commanded to write and basically tell the same story that his father wrote in the book of lehi. nephi himself said "I know not why i do this save the lord commanded me" (that's quoted really bad but you get what i'm saying) not until today do we know that that was very important because the book of Lehi was lost. anywho, sorry i just thought that that was really cool, so i'm trying to not ask "why?" so much if i don't understand it and just do it, with good judgement involved of course.
ok that's all the time i have for today, i hope you are all doing well in school and that you are all healthy and having fun in life. remember that i love you and apprieciate very much your letters and support that you give me. until next week!
Elder Larsen
PS: my new Zone Leader is Elder Cortez from our stake in San Antonio, supposedly his little sister knows me but i think she probably just knows Brandon and therefore knows who i am.
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