Week 1 done and over with

Hey Family,

how is everyone today?  i'm doing excellent, happy, healthy, red and yeah.  anywho, so my week was good, we taught a bunch of lessons, found some new investigatores and did missionary work, WOOO HOOO!  and i didn't bring dad's letter to the library cause i forgot so i'm sorry if i don't respond to it like i should.  i'm super happy that your job is going well dad, your trip sounded fun and long and probably a bit stressful, but that's ok, it's good for ya haha.  

So we stopped to talk to this guy in an electric wheelchair in this public park and we ended up talking to him for like 20 mins, he was a little bit drunk, so i was struggling a bit with his slurred spanish but i got most of it, and told me that he wanted me to be his friend because i was american and i spoke spanish, he rambled on about a ton of things and told me that i was going to be his savior and that i would take him to heaven, he was drunk but he knew that drinking was bad and told us repetedly that the devil had him stuck with alcohol and that we were perfect people and how much he wanted to be like us, it really was sad, i felt bad for the guy.  BUT so i don't know how we got onto the subject of his health, but we did, and he wanted to show us all his scars . . . so he basically took off all his clothes at one point or another so we could see all his scars and how bad his health really was . . . public park + we couldn't do anything or go anywhere = extremely AWKWARD.  man it was a journal experience. anywho we didn't want to waste the experience so we gave him our number to call us so we could come help him quit drinking so much and he promised me he'd call me . . . hasn't done it yet but i will continue to wait for him.  i don't know why alcohol is such a problem with hispanic people but it really is a serious problem.  yesterday we talked with a  man probably in his mid to late 20's.  him and his wife are here working in the fields, from 4 in the morning to 7 at night . . . count your bucket loads of blessings . . . they get paid minimum wage and send about 200 dollars back to mexico every 15 days, which is most of there check, they keep just enough money to survive here, and they barely make it.  anyway, this guy has two little girls in mexico who live with his wife's parents, and he began to tell me about the situation in mexico, all the children that are starving and how the money he send barely lasts a month over there and how he misses his kids and he was just really sad, so sad in fact that he began to tear up, i've not seen many mexican men cry, like including this i might have seen 3 or 4 my entire mission, women . . . different story . . . but i felt super bad for this guy, among other things he told me that one of the worst things is that all too often the mexican men come over here to work and get caught up with drugs or alcohol and they forget all about their families back in mexico and waste all their money on drugs and alcohol.  this guy's name is Agripino and he had had i'm sure a few beers, maybe that is why he was so open with us, but still everything he said was true and it made me apprieciate my life alot more and all of the wonderful things that i have.  he also mentioned the new law they made in Arizona and how he doesn't like it, pretty much all the mexicans here are super mad at Arizona and whoever is thinking about implying the law . . . i heard Utah was thinking about making a law similar to the one is Arizona.  the law is, if you look mexican you can get pulled over without having done anything wrong, driving wise, and the first thing they ask supposedly is "do you have papers".  now i'm not going to take sides, but the basis of that law sounds pretty racist to me.  at the same time there are alot of mexicans that don't pay taxes and get lots of stuff from the Government . . . sooooooo i dunno, it's just a big mess and everyone asks us what we think about it since we are white but are pretty much mexican . . . meaning we speak mexican, eat mexican, do mexican things, and such.  so yeah all that has been going around in my head the past few days.  

i also read a pretty cool set of scriptures the other day, Mosiah 20:8-11 . . . wow, they truely fought with valor, something we must do cause we are in a battle too and the enemy is getting stronger and stronger and more violent so if we are to survive we must do the same and exceed them in all aspects, just as the men of Limhi did. short little scriptural-ness from Elder Larsen =]  ah and we didn't end up walking around, Elder Finkle gave us a BRAND new FRESH OFF THE LOT 2010 Malibu to drive while ours was getting fixed, it was only for 2 days though, but still it was cool.  AHHH and how could i forget, mom, thanks for the shoes, total surprise, and the Goldfish . . . wow, they hit the spot like 5 times haha.  the shoes work good, my heels are super blistered cause i have still got to get completely used to them but they are doing just fine i might send a bunch of stuff back with my old shoes depending on how $$ it is . . . so i'll work on that today.  well my time has expired, i love you all a ton and am grateful for your support, BHL remember that talk and if i can do anything for you just let me know.  that really goes for any of you by the way.  i hope you all have a wonderful week full of fun, Summer is almost here, endure to the end of the school year!!!

Love,

Elder Larsen

week 1 and lovin it

hey family,

i am on the weird computer again that is all in spanish with a latin america keyboard, it has portugese and spanish symbols on it, so no capital letters this time either haha.  i hope that your week was good, we had a really good week, we set a kid named rafayel with a date and found a new family that looks pretty promising.  taught 17 lessons i think so we´re doing good.  we got our transfer calls this morning and we´re staying together!  yay, so i´ll be here in santa paula for 1 more transfer most likely.  how did the thing in arkansas go dad?  mission preparations?  it´s getting pretty close now isn't it?  anything exciting or cool happen this week?  we are probably going to get some rain either today or tomorrow so i´m excited for that.  we have to go to ventura today to get our car´s bumper fixed, i forgot to tell you all haha ......... i was backing out of our garage a few weeks ago when i had just barely gotten the malibu and i still hadn´t gotten used to the huge car that it is and i very lightly bumped into a brick wall, sooo i dinged the bumper, it´s not bad at all but they want to fix it.  sooooo we get to walk around for a couple of days until we get our car back .... not excited about that but oh well, i did it in oxnard í´ll just do it again haha.  so wow what happened to may, i thought it just started, we´re already half way through the month.  i´m running out of things to write haha, mind is blank at the moment, we work hard every day, elder bills is getting a little better with his spanish, we try to speak it more, i forget alot.  

hah so this week we all got our own personal copy of the ensign for april, that´s pretty cool since normally we only get one per companionship, and, it´s in color!!!!  super cool format, i like it alot.  so i got a brace last week for my knee and it seems to be doing a little better, i got that medicine stuff mom, it´s quite expensive here actually, if you can get it cheaper over there maybe it´d be better for you to send me some, i dunno. 

so i´m reading in mosiah and i´m thinking it might be my favorite book in the book of mormon now, it´s pretty cool story wise, not to mention how abinadi ownes all of king noah´s priests, then what happens afterward with limhi and his people really is interesting, i´m getting the story part of the book of mormon better engraved in my head.  we had a really good day at church yesterday, we stayed there till like 5:30 though cause we had to help some investigators with food orders and stuff, the church really does alot to help people, it´s really great.  we had a really good talk about not being hypocrits and doing what we say we will do, as well as using our knowledge that we have.  it was a good day to finish off a regular but good week of missionary work.  i hope everything is going well, i´m not really sure what more to write, and i don´t have anything to respond to(it´s ok i know you´re busy) but just know that i love you and appreiciate you alot.  stay strong and don´t let go of that iron rod, cause that way you have a much better life, i´ve seen that recently with a few of our less actives who are going through some really hard times because of letting go of the rod.  let me know how you are all doing remember that if there is anything i can do for you all let me know, sorry for this email being not too full of cool stuff, next week i´ll have some more stuff to write, hopefullly more interesting haha

LOVE YA!!!

i don't know what to type

Hey Family.

well it was great to talk to you all yesterday, you all sound so different, BHL still has the most "manly" voice however, but JPL is getting close haha, and derek, you're destined to turn out like me, haha i don't know if that is a good thing or not haha.  i hope you all had a ton of fun yesterday, it sounded like it was fun, all the cousins and stuff. so i'm pretty sure that i failed to wish Grandma Larsen a Happy Mother's Day, and i'm super sorry.  i hope that all the moms present had a good fun time.  i'm glad Gma seems to be doing better, she should come down here, i doubt she would ever get sick, it's nice weather here all the time.  so mom i went and looked at that glucosamine MSM stuff and there were like 50 different brands, ok like 3 or 4 and they all said something different, so i just got one that was $10 cause the others were like $25 and $30, and i take 3 pills a day, we'll see if it does anything.  i also may be getting a brace....it's like $20(RRRRIDDICULLOUUSS PRICCESSSS HEERREE), i'm just gonna get one for now for my right knee and if it does anything i'll get another one for the left one.  uhgg so annoying.  anywho, so we are doing good since yesterday, we are going to attempt to make Hawaiian Haystacks on Wednesday for a Lunch after District Meeting, in honor of one of the elders who is going home next tuesday, cause he is from Hawaii, his name is Elder Ray, pretty cool elder, hard worker.  so we had this really cool Cinco de Mayo Fiesta thingy on Saturday night, it was super fun, the branch hired some professional Folk Dancers from Mexico and we got to see them do some really cool traditional dancing.  so what are everyones summer plans?  anything exciting planned?  we had a ton of fun last monday, i don't remember if i told you, but we had a Zone Activity in Ventura and we played some Ultimate Frisbee/Football.  it was fun to run around and get exhausted physically, it was a good feeling.  so i deep cleaned the apartment this morning, it felt good to do some cleaning, it had gotten quite dirty.  so i used some of those skills that i learned when mom took me and BHL to Don Aslets cleaning place haha, she should take all you there to get a formal education in the area of cleaning stuff ;] sooo are there any cool people in the ward?  i didn't know anyone in the first ward that i left so i probably know less people now in the ward.  oh, so was Mr. Mac going to do anything about my cracked shoes or can they not do anything?  it's cool if they can't, my shoes are fine as long as it doesn't rain.  well i have run out of things to tell you all,  we work hard every day, i try to improve my pronuciation everyday, it basically i just need to slow down and pronunciate, i just speak too fast, i'm stuttering now more, it's kind of annoying.  anyone know of anything that i can do to stop stuttering other than just trying to slow down my speech?  and dad, the "horse whinny" thing doesn't really work haha, do you remember when you told me to try that?  haha.  alright family, well know that i love you alot, the restored gosple is true, my testimony of that has been stregnthed these past weeks as i have been working on a list of references of scriptures on different gosple topics, some would call it a "Bash List" but i don't use it for that, i use it for being bold and backing myself up with scripture, maybe when i'm done i'll send you a copy.  3-2-1, Pray 3 times a day at least, Read at least 2 Pages of the BOM a day, and Go to church at least 1 time a week(preferrably sunday), simple things that make all the difference.  i know im a missionary, that probably sounds all lame to you haha, but it's what people don't do, so we get to help them figure out the importance of it.  wanna read an awesome chapter, Romans 8, super "make you feel good inside" chapter.  LOVE YOU ALL!!!! TILL NEXT WEEK!!!!

Elder Larsen

Familia Que Pasa???

Hi family!!!

 

how are all you doing this week?  my week went by super fast, it feels like i was just here writing you yesterday.  soooo 1 very important thing, i need someone to tell me when you will be available to recieve a phone call next sunday, when do you get home from church.  i get back to santa paula at like 4-ish PM California time, so let me know in a letter that gets to me before sunday when to make the call, what number do you want me to call?  also, president murri gave me permision to talk to BHL for a little bit since i won't be seeing him for a long time . . . so be there BHL or you're a square!  thank you lots for the pictures of the 1st presidency haha that is funny that you noticed our out dated pictures.  we'll probably put both of them up cause i love Pres Hinckley.  Derek thanks for the letter, very faithful writer =]]]  and kenidee i hope you forgive me for being late with your b-day card, if you ever serve a mission you'll know what i'm talking about when i say i have no time to do anything!  

SOOOOO we finally switched cars this week, the Mazda is gone!!  decommisioned, and about time haha, we got a 2008 chevy mailibu, the same car i had when i started my mission, it's rather nice and quiet and not all loud and stuff haha it's great, i just have to fix the remote to the car cause it doesn't work. haha compared to the little mazda i feel like i'm driving a boat . . . a nice quiet boat that doesn't vibrate and shake.  we also set griselda with a baptisimal date!! she is awesome, she investigated the church a while back but when i got here we lost contact with her and had to drop her, but now she is back on tract, she is super open and way smart, she understands everything that she reads from the scriptures and is really nice, she's probably in her late 20's early 30's.  

Elder Bills is doing good too, he is still learning spanish and how to be a missionary, we get along really good, i've been blessed to have all good companions, no bad ones.  so how is life, how is the job dad?  school?  BHL preparations?  that lady only spent $128 of her own money on her mission?!?!?!  that makes me sick . . . california is ridiculous . . . no more comments.  so we did alot of walking this week and it got really really dry and my knees started acting up pretty bad, sooooo sister benson might call you to see if i'm on insurance still from home cause she wants me to get physical therapy . . . butttttt i think i'll just tell her that i'm better cause that would take too much time out of my day . . . buttt mom, i remember that the doctor said something about how you could just look some excersises up on the internet and that maybe those could help.  the doctor said that i had "sore knee cap syndrome" or something like that, i remember that it had a more official super long name though.  but i'd bet if you googled it you might could get something on it, if there are any excersises could you maybe send them to me?  i have a big excersise rubber band thing that the MTC gave me so if it requires one of those i got one.   anywho, enough of that.  and yes mom my shoes are at least comfortable, and they still look pretty good, if you don't look at the souls hehehe.   

so Hermana Rodriguez is doing better, she is out of the ICU and in the DOB or something like that, it's the next step up from the ICU, she still has alot left, she's still super sick, but she is improving slowly.  thank you for your prayers, i'm sure they are helping.  i'll try and write some stuff to BHL, it would help if he asked questions, but no worries.  we seem to be having a sudden outburst of Drama from our branch members, we have 2 families that now want a divorce, both for good reasons, but we're still trying to patch things up . . . i'm 20 and i'm trying to patch couples up . . . ridiculous, no idea what i am doing, all i do is try and help them see how living the gospel, as simple as that is, can fix pretty much any problem.  and trying to help them figure out what the "root problem"  is, and not just try to fix the "products" of the "root problem"  There is a really good set of scriptures in the beginning of Moroni 7,  says something like "bad fountain = bad water, good fountain = good water" pretty simple huh?  so if we base our lifes in the gospel, if we get a good solid root deep down inside our souls, then we won't have all the bad products or effects that come from having a bad root.  simple yet it brings deep and lasting results.  anywho, so we're doing our best we can with that, also Davawn is going through some super hard times and decisions, but we are meeting with her more regularly and she seems to be doing a little bit better.  Ah and mom i'm off the sleeping drugs, i was starting to not be able to wake up at all in the mornings, like i was all "hung over" for lack of a better phrase, sooooo i realized that i don't really need them and after about 2 nights i was back to normal sleeping pattern.   

pretty cool thing that happened this week to finish my email off.  i went on exchanges with elder Llil, pronounced Jill, he is from florida and has parents from the dominican republic, he's black and awesome, so the morning of the exchange i was thinking and praying for a baptisimal date for griselda, and i felt good about june 5th, so we're in our lesson and i hadn't really told elder Llil about my date that i felt good about, i was planning on setting her witha date but he just went ahead and did it, which was good, the lesson flowed better that way, anywho he said basically "will you prepare to be baptised a month from tomorrow?" which just so happened to be june 5th, the lord works in mysterious ways, and is in the small details of our lives if we allow him, there are no cooincidences, only tender mercies.  and she said the closing prayer, and she prayed for strength to be ready for her baptisim date.  pretty cool eh?  alright family, well i gotta get going cause we are having ZONE ULTIMATE FRISBY AND FOOTBALL so we gotta go get ready.  i love you all a ton, let me know how you all are.  remember that Christ should be the reason for which we do what we do and act how we act!

 

Love,

 

Elder Larsen