STAYIN IN SANTA MARIA with elder skovran!!!!!

Hey Family,

so i neglected to mention an important event that occured last week.  we were playing Frolf.... Frisbee Golf, and i was running to get my frisbee and i ran into one of elder skovran's drives, so his frisbee hit me right in the lip... huge fat lip, purple inside red outside, jaw was dislocated on the right side and i couldn't close it.  but then i fixed it and my lip looks normal now and i am much more careful about where i run.  and we continue to play Frolf, but today i'm just righting letters cause i am like 10-ish letters behind.... so yeah, we are having a few changes in our zone, and i'm pretty sure that Elder Durrant is now the new AP...not 100% yet, but i'm like 97%.  so we were in Bakersfield the entire week, it was very hot!  we worked in Elder Skovran's 1st area so i didn't get to see any members that i knew EXCEPT FOR THE QUELS!!!  they came up to visit me one of the evenings, it was soooooo good to see them, they have grown so much since i last left them and they are getting sealed on the 28th!!!!! and i get to go to see it!  i just have to find a ride.... working on that.  but i'm super excited, i've never witnessed a sealing before so i'm anxious.  so during the day, from 9 to about 3:30 we were given training on the new curriculum, which is awesome by the way, and then we went out to work, so elder sckovran and i split up in the evenings and i went with an elder from brasil!  his name is elder mavromatis and he speaks portugese, spanish, and english, pretty cool kid, we saw alot of miricles, we were able to impliment what we had learned in the training and we found an awesome family to teach and set another mom and her son with a date.  soooo many black people in north bakes, i haven't been around that many since i was in San Antonio, it was funny, they are much more nice that white people, but still not incredibly accepting.  anywho, so we had a good time in bakersfield.  hey, what's with BHL, i still don't get his emails.... some one tell me something about him por favor ??????  the drive out to bakersfield is long and boring, we left at like 6 in the morning and got there about 8:30.  anywho, so we had no time to work in our area...... SAD NEWS.....esmeralda, who is the coolest investigator ever..... didn't come to church..... so her field work fired her for being in the hospital in a week so she got a job in a restraunt and they work her (not all days but some) from like 5 in the morning until as late as 2 AM sometimes..... RIDICULOUS@!(*&@(#*$&@  so upseting that they abuse her like that, it's totally not legal, anywho, so she did pass her baptisimal interview, which happened like 10 mins after we got back into santa maria, and her date was set for this weekend, and then her job (which told her she wouldn't have to work sundays) made her work on sunday.... sooo here is out dilema, the branch is just barely regaining trust with the missionaries because the last 2 baptisms went less active almost directly after being baptised, so the ward wanted us to make sure that people are ready before they get baptised...which is totally fine, but because of that, it feels as if the branch doens't trust esmeralda, like she has to go over and beyond to gain it....soooo we didn't want to just go ahead and baptise her this weekend cause then the memebers would lose complete trust in us since she doesn't appear very solid in there eyes, and because of her economical situation some of the members think she is just looking for help from the church.... which IS NOT THE CASE, i doubt that she even knows the church has those type of resources, so that just causes her to lose even more trust AND our branch president thinks that people shouldn't get baptised until they are more finacially stable...... find me a scripture that says anything about that being any where even close to a requirement for baptism.... anywho, so we've had quite a dishing of drama in the 3 days we've been back...oh and our branch president was basically going to interview esmeralda on sunday (if she came) and tell us if we could baptise her or not...... which is completely illegal cause he has absolutely no jurisdiction over investigators/converts until they are confirmed.  anywho, i hope it doesn't sound like i'm fuming, i'm actually handling it all pretty well i think, elder skovran was pretty stressed out though throughout the whole ordeal.  we taught the less active member that gradually gets nicer as the spirit is there yesterday and she has become one of my favorite people here in santa maria, it is so easy for me to tell when the spirit is working on her.... it's kind of weird how easy it is, not saying that i'm good at that kind of thing or anything, i have to remain humble... but me and her just click, like we invited her to church and told her the time and she said that she absolutely couldn't come cause of the schedule.... but as the lesson went on and we testified of the book of mormon (we didn't even mention church) she kind of paused and you could tell that she was pondering, and she said, "so when is church again"?  and we know that even though we may have a long road ahead of us with her, she is having more desires to go to church and come back into activity.  it's cool to teach her.... oh and i don't know if i ever told you about Sixto, but he came to church yesterday!!! and he now has a baptisimal date for the 25th of september! so he is doing good. 

church is true, DON"T EVER GET OFFENDED (we've dealt with sooooo many offended members that are currently inactive recently), and always look at life through heaven's eyes(that's from a song).

Remember that i love you all alot!  because i'm staying here i will most likely be finishing my mission here in Santa Maria, which i am fine with.

Elder Larsen

aloha

Howdy family,

well we had a pretty awesome week, lots of lessons and very busy, AND i didn't forget about anyone's birthdays.. i jut didn't get the cards out in time cause of my busy-ness..... know that i did think about you and your birthdays and everything, i should be getting cards out today.  so we had a successfull week, we worked hard and i am learning the area a little bit better finally!  i'm getting to know the members more and i'm starting to get settled in.  transfers are next week but i highly doubt anything will happen to me, i'll let you know in a week haha.  so i don't get emails from brandon at all... maybe he doesn't add me to his list of people to email, i haven't gotten an email from him in like 2 or 3 weeks, well that's not entirely true, we write a few sentances when we have time but it never is much, could you please begin to forward me his emails?  

so our zone went wayyyyyyy over on miles this transfer and i'm kinda scared to see how elder finkle reacts..... we only went 50 over but there were 2 comanionships that went well over 100 over and one of them went like 300+ over..... soooo the next few days should be interesting to say the least.  so we met another crazy this week, his name is ricardo, we went by to find his mom and she wasn't there but he invited us in.  he had the restoration pamphlet in his hand and when we went back to his room he had the scriptures out and a book of mormon and all.  so we were kind of excited thinking, "what an awesome miricle".  soooo we started by answering some of his questions and talking/discussing/teaching about different parts of the lesson of the restoration.  anywho, so he brought up that he didn't think it was right to eat meat... so we were like "ok a bit weird but we can work with that, you don't have to eat meat to be a member" and then he went into this whole dialoge on how meat was bad and how God never said we could eat meat in the bible (which isn't true) and all this random stuff, then he said, "i want to  show you know what i do".  and he told us this story of this lady in mexico who had an angel named analizo come to her and this big huge weird story of this angel who is God i think, and he talkes to us through her, and when he talkes through her, her voice changes into a mans voice..... it's super weird, cause then he was like, let me show you, and he turned off all the lights, shut the blinds and turned on this recording of him and we were supposed to meditate so we closed our eyes for like 10 mins listening to this crazy lady/god talk to us in this man voice..... then my compa sneezed and totally disrupted my meditation hahaha anywho, so we said we had to go and we left..... oh also supposedly there are some monks in tibet that have scripture of what happened between when christ went to egypt and when he came back..... super weird..... CALIFORNIA!!!!! hahah anywho, so that was our weirdo for this week.  

Esmeralda went to the hospital on monday cause her 7 month old baby got pnemonia and she was there and the nurses didn't speak spanish so they kind of took advantage of that, well either that or they just had absolutely no commen sense cause they gave her no food, no diapers for her baby and no bedding for her to sleep for almost 2 days! we went and brought her food when we found out and she hadn't slept hardly at all for like 3 days cause her she had to watch her bably whenever he was awake so that he didn't pull out his tubes and stuff... also some catholic clergy man came to teach her and she said she was a mormon and he slammed the door and got all mad a walked away.  soooooo our member and probably esmeralda's closest friend now, hermana calderon, came to visit her and when she found out about all the mistreatment she was recieving she about hit the roof... she chewed those nurses out and sent in a complaint about the cergyman saying that we aren't in a war and we need to respect everyone, she basically reamed them and whipped them into shape.  so the next 3-ish days weren't so bad cause they actually took care of her.  then to add onto her problems, the people that she lives with (who are anti-mormon and verbally abusive to her) called her and told her that she couldn't come back to live there cause they didn't want to get infected from the baby.... so she lost her home, so she wasn't too happy about that but she was strong and we had a shelter all set up for her if she couldn't find a home before she left, but her doctor found out and ended up calling the owner of the house and chewed her out saying that she couldn't kick her out until she had a place to stay and that the baby wasn't contangious at all so there were no worries, anywho, so she was let back in, and i think that she is looking for a new place to stay, which is for the best cause the place where she is now isn't a good one.  anywho, those were the 2 big events of this week.  we are going to bakersfield tomorrow at like 5 in the morning and we will be there all week long and will be back in our area friday at like 6 PM.  so it should be a crazy week, i'll let you know what happened next week.  sorry this was a story email, i'll try to do better next week, i just wanted to tell these two crazy stories.  i love you all and think about you alot, i hope to hear from you soon.  mom i'm sending the camera card home today i promise, cross my heart!  church is true, too many "cooincidences" happen daily for it not to be

Love you all!

Elder Larsen

week 5

Hey family, how are you all this week?

i hope you are all still alive and well, i'm guessing that mom and the kids are getting home tomorrow?  i hope that everyone had fun and learned alot.  i only have a few memories of when we went on the last BIG church history trip cause i was kinda young i think.  well we had a great week, super busy, we taught a ton of lessons and recieved alot of success from the lord.  we were blessed with 2 new investigators and alot of opportunities to improve.  we have witnessed many miricles in my short time here, one of the more prominate ones being that of the grumpy less active that slowly got more happier the longer we stayed, and by the time we left she was super happy to have had us over and smiling and stuff, so we taught this less active yesterday and we didn't know what to expect as we approached the door, whether she would be mad and scary looking at the beginning and then start to soften up at the end or whether she would be happy right from the get go.... well thankfully it was the latter, she was super happy, a completely changed person, she has, in a short period of 3 visits, become one of my favorite people, she is smiling and happy and participates, she still has a long way to go but she is well on the path toward reactivating.  we were also able to teach our less active guatamalan family for really the 1st time this past week!  they were found tracting, they were baptised in guatemala and moved to the states like 15 or more years ago and since they moved here they haven't gone to church once.... sooooo needless to say we had no record of them, but we found them and they are awesome, I LOVE GUATEMALANS!!!!  all are super funny and way fun to be around.  we had a lesson on prayer and the dad was like "how would you put prayer into a modern term?" and he was asking super good questions about prayer, we went into this huge analogy about how prayer is making a phone call to God and so then he asked, "what is God's number?" haha it was funny, we told him that in order to reach him we have to dial "or pray right" so we taught him the steps of prayer and at the end of the lesson he prayed, it was excellent!!  

Esmeralda is also progressing very rapidly, she is all gung-ho about everything, her date is the 14th of August and she is doing good, except for she was sick yesterday so she wasn't able to go to church, but she is still awesome.  Sixto is being a bit of a bum, he isn't keeping commitments and we think he may just be telling us what we want to hear, we'll see what happens with him this week.  OH also, got a big surprise last week.  we got news that we will be going to bakersfield next week from tuesday to friday for one of the new leadership training meetings..... we aren't going back to my area, we're going to North bakersfield zone, we're going back to Elder Skovran's 1st area, i'm soooo jealious, hopefully we can go back to south bakes next time we have this meeting cause i really miss the Quels, SPEAKING OF WHICH, they are getting sealed at the end of AUGUST!!!!! and i might get to go!!!!  i'm super excited and i hope everything works out ok, i sent them a letter asking for the exact date and time so i can ask president.  anywho, so we're not going to be in our area for the entire week 6 almost, soooo our area is going to die.... we get back one day before Esmeralda's scheduled baptisimal interview, so we have to prepare her well cause we won't have much time to teach her before her date during week 6.  ahhh we also met a crazy this week, his name is jose and he is crazy, he thinks that he is reincarnated and that Heavenly Father has rejected christ for a reason i won't tell you and that he has chosen him (jose) as his new "only begotten" he also talkes to god quite frequently, which is good, except the sensation he says he feels and the way that he talkes to God sounds very much like some very hard core drugs to me.... oh, and heavenly Father apparently lives in a castle made out of crystal... could be.... i don't know..... the 1st thing that came to my mind was "so God lives on Krypton...." ANYWHO, he was quite interesting.  well my time is up, we are having a Zone Activity now so i gotta get running, i love you all and hope and pray for your continued safty and getting blessings and stuff ;]

Love,

Elder Larsen

week 4

Dear Family,

well, i'm probably on the nicest computer of my entire mission today, flat High Def screen, nice keyboard, and fast internet....it's quite nice.  so we had an excellent week, very successful.  we invited one of our investigators to baptism and he accepted, we're not 100% sure how commited he is, but we're working with him on it.  we met most of our goals and have a ton of potential with alot of our investigators.  we worked hard and had alot of success.  so your trip sounds super fun mom, i;m kinda jealous, but thats ok cause you and i got our own mini church history/temple hopping trip so i will survive haha.  you probably saw sister hanson or her parents at the hill cumorah pagent cause they are in charge of it.  pretty nifty eh?  

so we had Zone Conference on Friday down in Solvang, this little dutch town, it seriously looks like a small dutch village, it's super cool looking, when we come back to visit we have to go there.  anywho, so Brother Heaton and Brother Jarman came to instruct us a little about the new changes that are being made in all of the missions.  it was super cool, we talked about how important prayer really is and how important it is for them to pray in that first visit.  so we did alot of role plays and really focused on getting them to kneel and say the closing prayer and ask specifically if what we had just taught them was true or not.  we applied it with 3 of our invistigators that same day and saw amazing success, the spirit, that feeling of peace was definatly there and plus now they are more likely to pray on their own, cause alot of people say they pray, but most have never prayed the correct way before, so that is why it is so crucial that they pray in this first visit so that we can see and evaluate their prayer, it was pure awesome-ness.  the 2nd thing that was taught to us is how to use the book of mormon effectivly in our teaching as well as how to introduce it.  i learned a little but me and elder skovran were already doing like 95% of what they taught us... not to say we're "that good" or anything, but we did learn and practice how to read with them in the scriptures, cause, just like prayer, if we read with them and help them to understand the scriptures when we are with them, they are more likely to read and understand them on their own, which is crucial to be able to receive revelation through the BOM.  it was a very very different Zone Conference but it was very benificial and  a good use of time as well, i liked it alot..... and because of the changes in mission schedule, i only have one more zone conference left.... so i'm kinda sad... no i'm really sad that i don't get to see this new program take affect, cause just like when preach my gosple came out it made a better missionary, this new program and way of doing things is going to make a new calibur of missionary and i'm going to miss the majority of it, lucky brandon and taylor and jordan and derek, this is going to be the coolest and best time to be a missionary that the world has ever seen since the beginning of time.  anywho, i hope you all have a wonderful week, i'll write brandon an email, i'll also write him a letter if i get a chance, so hard to find time to do stuff..... i love you all.

Elder Larsen#1

big changes

Dear Family,

howdy do?  man, HUGE changes have been made in the life of Elder Larsen #1......Zone Leader, gigantic area, mas responsabilidad......so my zone is quite large, land wise, although we are probably the smallest missionary wise, we have 12 missionaries in the zone, 2 for every ward minus us, cause we have the spanish branch and the YSA ward....i went to church in english for the 1st time on my mission.....soooo weird, i was asked to give the opening prayer and i butchered it....man.....but i've been meeting alot of cool people, both spanish and english.  oh and we are the only two spanish missionaries in the entire zone, i feel so alone sometimes, no other spanish missionaries minus my companion....so needless to say my area is huge as well...cause my area is the entire zone.  tons of spanish people here in santa maria, i don't blame them cause the weather is absolutely perfect, and i joke not, 70, 75 on a hot day, always a nice breeze, super perfect weather, it does even get pretty chilly at night so that is awesome too!  i like this area alot, my companion's name is Elder Skovran, he is pretty cool, he has 13 months on the mission and has been here in santa maria for only 6 weeks longer than me, his companion before me was elder durrant, who is know a ZL in Bakersfield, all i do is follow elder durrant around haha.  elder skovran is from tennesse and talks very slow and articulated spanish, so he's good for me, he doesn't have a southern accent though, and he only weights like 130, super skinny kid but in very good shape.  we had a pretty good week trying to build up the spanish and YSA units here.  it's very different working in english, i still highly prefer spanish work, plus it's super hard to work in a ysa ward, it's basically just pure member referals, cause it's hard to find investigators who fall under the age of 18 to 30.  we found 2 new investigators this week, both seem to be really promising, we had a really good spiritual fast sunday and it was cool to see the gosple in spanish and english and know that the spirit works in both languages.  in our spanish branch here, which is very very small, we have a bunch of argentines, an entire family and 2 other women.  it's craazy to hear them talk, soooo weird, it's a bit hard to understand them but after a while you get the accent and their way of speaking down.  they were super upset when argentinia lost to germany in the soccer world cup.  we live in a farily nice apartment, nicer than my last one, we live with 2 other elders, elder simmons and elder knight, both very cool.  elder simmons is one transfer older than me, we get along pretty good.  so we get to drive all the way down to ventura tonight to stay the night in the mission president's home so we can have ZLC, Zone Leaders Counsil, tomorrow.  all the zone leaders from the entire mission come to the meeting and we discuss mission needs and stuff like that.  it's supposedly very very fun and uplifting, i'm looking forward to it alot.  i hope to hear from you soon, remember that i love you alot, and think and pray for you daily.  have a safe week.

Love,

Elder Larsen 

Week 1

Hola mi familia favorita!!

how are you all doing today?  i´m on the weird spanish computer today so if some random symbol or something pops up i´m sorry.  i got brandons email, he sounds good, i´ll write him an email, which will take up some of my time so i´ll try to write quick so you also get a decent report on my week.  thank you so much for the package mom, you take way too good care of me, i have the pics on my desk, brandon looks great, he´ll be an awesome missionary.  

so we had a few cool things happen this week, found a few new investigators, one of which is a "golden".  he says he has looked for God all his life and he wants to know what the meaning of faith is .... we talked for quite a while, he actually found us, we were teaching the people he lives with and then he came out and said  hey can i talk to you for a bit afterward?  of course we said yes, his name is tino haha really funny old guy with long white hair and messed up teeth.  

i had my testimony of the hymns strengthened in our district meeting, we were singing the last song that i had chosen, cause when i planned this district meeting i knew that it might very possibly be my last, so i chose one of my very favorite songs, Abide with me tis eventide.  we were singing the song and i just started to feel super good, and instantly i knew that everyone else in the room was feeling the spirit as i was, it was weird i don´t know if it´s because they were all under my stewardship or if everyone knew that everyone was feeling the spirit, but it was cool.  we worked super hard this week, and had a family come to church!!!!!  it was awesome and i´m pretty sure they enjoyed it alot, it was good to have someone in church.  almost no one came though cause of the world cup....and mexico lost to argentina anyway....our branch president gave a really good speech and basically reprimanded anyone that wasn´t at church cause of the game....they´re gonna get it when they get back....but he did it with love, he´s a really great guy, i respect him alot.

elder bills is doing good, still struggling alot with his spanish but he´ll be ok, he´s a great missionary and will probably be AP before soon.  thanks for the typewriter supplies mom, i will put them to good use cause i joke not i´m like 10 letters behind ..... so yeah, thank you alot.  ah and i got toasted on friday ahhh man did i get roasted,  we walked all day basically cause we were running low on miles and it was sunnyer than i thought ..... and i got a haircut the past pday as well ...... so my scalp blistered up and it was quite painfull for like 2 days, but i feel better now and ám not ... well yeah i´m still red, but i don´t think i´ll be able to fix that, i´m always red now .... my nose is permanently burnt i´m sure .... oh well.  

so we had a good week. it was fun.  so i´m pretty sure that god took the day off when president murri was doing transfers cause i´m getting transferred to santa maria to be a senior zone leader ........ elder bills is getting elder mcclesky´s current companion who is a native from nicaragua his name is elder sosa, they are both in santa barbara now.  i do not know my new address so please if you are going to write me use the mission address.  remember that i love you and that the church is true, it´s the only one with living prophets and apostols never forget it, and if you have doubts. check the scriptures, and ask god, a simple combination that is guranteed to have results.  love you !

elder larsen

Week 6 is HERE AAHHHHH

Howdy Family,

thanks for forwarding me that email, it was good to see BHL in the picture .... he is bigger than everyone haha.  i don't know why but i was imagining the MTC down there to be like a little shack or something haha but it looks just like the one in Provo.  well i hope that everyone had a good week, mom thank you for your letter and pictures, it's always good to hear from you.  Dad thank you for the book, i have seen it before but never actually read it, it seems to contain alot of good information that i think will help me to be motivated for my last few months, i'm trying really hard not to be trunky .... and for the most part it's working, but i do need to start figuring out what i'm gonna do so i can hit the ground running when i get back ..... but i think i'm going to procraztinate thinking about all that till like Oct or Nov .... when do i have to apply for college mom???  

anywho, so we had an interesting week ..... the work kinda died this past week, we don't know why, an assumption that we have is that summer just barely started and for that NO ONE IS HOME!  we worked hard, it was just super hard to find people at home for some odd reason, hopefully this week it will be better .... so i'm 95% sure that i'm getting transferred, so if anything that is sent to me will arrive after the 28th of june, send it to the mission office, i'll let you know next monday what is going to happen with me.  the manti trip sounded fun, any other fun trips planned for summer?  

HA so last week Elder Bills bought this big old bag of oranges for pretty cheap only to find out that they where GRAPEFRUIT hahaha the look on his face and the sound that came out when he took a big ol' bite out of the first one he peeled was super hillarious, i was laughing pretty hard for a while, then the next day he tried another one cause he didnt' want to waste them and he said it wasn't as strong, and i told him it was because the 1st one had killed all his taste buds haha,  i like the taste of grapefruit (toronga in spanish) it's the aftertaste that i can't stand.  

we've been yelled at alot by a bunch of white people this week, it's really surprising how many grown men bring themselves down to the inteligence/maturity level of a 3 year old for absolutely no personal gain at all .... anywho, so i've been doing some trading with my zone leaders who are my close friends and i got a new pair of brown pants, some (really nice) brown Rockports, and 2 brown ties that are awesome looking.  and all i gave was 4 retro ties that were my favorites, i got all of them at goodwill for $3.  it was quite the trade.  anywho, so i'll take some pics and send them to ya.  Elder Triana wrote me!  all the way from sweden!!!  he's doing really good, i was super excited to hear from him.  Grandma M also wrote me and told me all about her trip to the "passion play" and it sounds really fun and cool.  

AH so i didn't tell you last week but last week we ate with the sister missionaries at one of their members houses and they are the Knippenbergs, and he was born in Logan and lived in Smithfield!!! he knows the Crosleys, he told me that Bro Crosley had just barely died.  he is a really cool guy (he's from Cache Valley i guess that's a no brainer ;]] ) anywho, so that was cool to finally meet someone from home, 1st guy i've met from home.  AH and on saturday morning Elder Bills' Aunt and Uncle paid us a surprise visit, they live like 30 mins away from santa paula and told us they couldn't resist any longer, the entire experience was like 3 mins maybe, and they gave him a huge bag of food that weighed like 30 LBS it was funny, and I laughed.  

so dad i totally blew Father's Day, and mom gave me a few weeks notice .... i'm sorry, i did think about you though and i think i will write you a letter this week, i'm sorry i always blow holidays and birthdays now ..... i don't know why ...... i used to be real good at getting everything done on time but i think my brain has degenerated too much now ..... spanish man ..... well i'm not sure what else to write, i've run out of things to say, know that i love you all and hope that summer is super fun, i read Alma 11 and 12 this morning and it was awesome how Amulek .... someone who didn't know hardly anything about God before could "contend" with Zeezrom.   him and Alma had some pretty good tag team action going on there AND the best part about it all is that Zeezrom gets baptized a few chapters later!  LOVE YOU!!!!

Elder Larsen

PS: do i have to wear brown socks with brown pants or can i get by with black????

AHHHHH i have a super slow computerrrrrrrrr

MAN...........it's been 20 mins since i got on and i'm finally writing you guys....sooo frustrating annnddd they put some dumb lock on it so i can't do anything about it....anywho i'm doing good for the most part, we had a really good week, taught lots of lessons and got some good potential investigators, only found 1 new investigator but that is ok.  well BHL your time is up, i hope you are excited and a little bit nervous, you'll be fine no worries, just be relaxed about stuff and don't try to learn everything in a day.  i will add you to my weekly email list so you get my emails, please add me to yours so i can get your emails.  you will have a blast if you want to.  also, mom/dad, if someone sends me international stamps i can probably write BHL at least 1 or 2 times a month, i dunno....stamps are expensive.....EVERYTHING is expensive here.  

so we went on an awesome hike this morning, we woke up at...well we were supposed to wake up at 5:15 but i forgot to turn the phone's ringer on, so we were a bit late, but us, the AP's the ZL's and 2 other missionaries all were hiking up a trail at 6:30-ish this morning, the hike is called the punch bowls, it's here in Santa Paula, it was super cool, even though i hiked it in my indoor soccer shoes...no support, and i'm lucky i didn't roll my anckle haha. we hiked up a canyon right next to a stream to almost the source of the water, mom i took some awesome pics so be excited when i send my card in....but not for a while as i have a good number of pictures left to take.  it was a cool rocky hike cause we hiked for a lot of the way in the old river bed, so tons of rocks, we rock hopped for a while to cross the river.  it was awesome and was a little over 7 miles round trip it took us like 5 hours, cause we kinda lost the trail on the way back and were just hiking through all the foliage and junk, but it was in a canyon and we parked at the mouth of the canyon so you'd have to be pretty dumb to get lost.  it was fun, everything from my knees down throbs haha but it was worth it.  

Hna Hanson goes home on friday, yesterday was her last sunday in the mission, we (us 4 missionaries) sang "Ye Elders of Israel" in sacrament, it was cool cause Hna Hatch majored in Music instruction so she knows what she is doing, soooo we all sang melody the 1st verse, then i bumped up to tenor on the 2nd and on the third i sang bass, Hna Hatch switched around a bit too, we were the only ones who could read music so Elder Billetes and Hna Hanson sang melody the whole time, but it came out really really good we got lots of complements.  the Bensons even stayed a little late so that they could hear our "special musical number".  it was good.  ANNNDDD i got really frusterated with the whole "having church in Ventura" yesterday cause we had a bunch of people want to come and no one could cause no one had cars and we don't have members who can take them from Santa Paula to Ventura....soooo I vented to Elder Finkle (cause he goes to church in the same building) and i think he is going to let me take the mission Van next sunday to go and pick everyone up haha we'll see if it works....i think i might have to ask president....but i'm pretty sure he'd say no.....i dunno what i'm going to do yet.  

Mom i hope that you got my 2 packages that i sent home, one is mail, just leave it be and the other one is full of random stuff, don't lose anything in either package please, my shoes are in the big brown one.  i guess you can put them next to my 10 big BINS or whatever i have to organize before i can leave the house or something like that  =]  mom i will be home for sure on Wednesday the 15th of Dec, that is the day that i will be flying into Salt Lake, so you can plan around that date for the trip or whatever.  Taylor you look RIDICULOUS.  Derek thank you for the Marriage Prediction, Kenidee i'm pretty sure that you'd be best friends with one of our recent converts out here, she is just like you and the same age too.  super sporty, super smart and is a tom boy....just like you....she is just mexican and your american.  Dad how is work going?  hey, question, what is the purpose for Missionaries, when they return home, having to report in front of the high council or something like that, i have heard that it happens shortly after they get home?  Mom you sound super busy as usual, i'm not quite sure how you keep up with everything, pretty sure you have super powers that none of us know about.....haha....but seriously....  how is Grandma Larsen doing?  and Rich and Kim and Gma Matteson, how was their visit, did you all have fun?  

EXCELLENT well i have to get running, lots of stuff to do today.  i love you all alot and hope that everything goes good with BHL, have an excellent week.....does the house feel empty?  i was thinking about that the other day....it must feel really empty with two kids gone.....just know that we love you and will both return sooner than you think.  LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

 

Elder Larsen

Week 4 is starting

hey family how are you all doing?

so i don't know if you notice but i'm running out of ideas for the "Subject" for my emails ..... haha boring old me.  WELLL we had a BAPTISM this past saturday! it was awesome and it all ran smoothy even though we started 30 mins late . . . . as usual . . . . i'm not sure i've ever had a baptism that started on time.  but it went smoothly, us and the hermanas hanson and hatch each had a baptism, it was a double one.  their investigator is a young kid named Ebelsaid .... super weird name .... but really smart funny little kid, and we had Rafa, who is awesome.  a young member from the branch baptised Ebelsaid and Rafa asked me to baptise him ..... welll we asked him and he said "well i actually kinda wanted you two to play rock paper scissors..." and so we did, and i won haha funny kid.  Elder Bills confirmed him a member of the church and bestowed the Gift of the Holy Ghost on him yesterday, it was his 1st one, he did awesome.  AND then President Castro (who was supposed to confirm Ebelsaid) randomly had me confirm Ebelsaid cause he wanted it in english, so i got lots of opportunities to serve.  but it was awesome and everything is good and we are happy.

the transfer is already half way over, it's crazy!  I only have 3 short weeks left here in Santa Paula probably, i'm going to miss this area alot, this has been probably my favorite area so far, Bakes is always the MOST favorite for i was born into the mission there, but Santa Paula is definatly up there, Oxnard was good too but it was kinda stressful cause i went senior there for the 1st time and i did alot of painful growing and maturing there haha here too.  man i wish i could explain to you or express to you all how much my mission has meant to me, i'm very different, i think, and have learned and grown so much, BHL your mission will change your life for the better.  HAHA i've been kind of nervous for you the last few days, i don't remember the week before i went into the MTC but i remember the feeling and i've been feeling it for you for some odd reason, you're gonna have a ton of fun, don't back down and remember that fear is the enemy of faith.  READ THAT TALK!  

well we had a really good week, taught a bunch of lessons, found some new investigators and dropped a few old ones, the area is doing very well it has alot of potential, BHL remember to always leave an area better than you found it, i feel that i have been able to do that.  i actually don't know for a fact that i'm leaving, you never really know until the day, but i'm like 97% sure that i'm outta here cause i'm training and i've been here for 6 months!! is that crazy or what???? i feel like i just got here!  usually ... welll with my other two areas that i have had ... by the time i had 6 months i was ready for a change, ready for something new, but here i dunno, i don't have that feeling, i feel i could stay for a bit longer, but i doubt that i'll get my wish, Trainers hardly ever stay with their greenies for more than 2 transfers, i've never heard of it happening .... ever .... so i've decided that i'm leaving ....kinda sad.  i've met a ton of really cool people here, and the Presiado Family, man ... i'm gonna miss them, they were less active when i got here and we were able to get them coming steady to church .... Hno Presiado is still slackin a bit but we'll get him.  

Mom i'm sending two packages home today or tomorrow, sorry for the delay, it's been kinda hard to find time to put them together, one is all my letters that i've received thus far in my mission and the other is my shoes and a few things that i've aquired that i don't need out here.  i figure that i'll see if i can send the rest of my "extra" stuff that doesn't fit in my suitcases home with the Bensons.  anywho that is still 6 months away, my comp never fails to remind me of how old i am.  this coming sunday is Hna Hanson's last Sunday here ..... she's an awesome missionary.  so yesterday in testimony meeting Victor (our recent convert)  got up and bore his testimony.  he is probably one of the most firm and solid new members i've ever seen, and he bore his testimony about how the Gospel has changed his life and how he is a way better person now than he was before cause he used to drink and smoke A TON!  it was probably one of the best testimonies that i've heard on my mission, for Hna Hanson too cause she is the one who originally found and started to teach victor.  yesterday was a really good sabbath, awesome day at church.  

well when does school get out for you all?  here it doesn't get out till like the 18th .... but high school is already out i think .... weird .... or graduation already happened at least.  are you all excited for summer?  i'm kinda excited, not for the heat, ESPECIALLY if i get sent back to Bakes at the end of the Month.  alright, well i'm super behind on my letters, i have 10 to write ....... but we're going up to fillmore to do laundry and have a letter writing party cause they have a washer and dryer ...... i hate paying 2 bucks to wash .... anywho, i hope that you all have an EXCELLENT week and i love you and pray for you.  please if you could pray for Davawn Escobar, she is going through some really tough times and we are having trouble finding her.  that would be much appreiciated.  i love you all!!!

Elder Larsen!!!

Week 2 Transfer 12

howdy howdy,

 

how is everyone this week.  mom thanks for the New Debit Card, i haven't used my debit card in a week or so, so i'll just not try to use it anymore.  we had a very good Zone Conference yesterday, we learned alot and got alot of things to work on/improve.  it was very edifying and i hope that we improve as a zone.  we had a very good week, taught a good number of lessons and found some new investigators.  one of them is Lupe, she is awesome, kind of christian-y but very open to what the bible says, it's best to let the scriptures teach, cause then the spirit helps them to understand better.  so many aspects of missionary work need to be constantly revised and improved and fixed and changed, but it is necesary for God to mold us into the instruments that he wants us to be, sometimes it isn't a very pleasent experience.  

so i don' t know if you remember Louisa Rodriguez, she went into the hospital at the beginning of last transfer . . . so like 6-7 weeks ago, she just got out of the hospital and is now in a nursing home until she recovers, she is doing much better and i know that your prayers helped alot.  also, Rafayel is all set with his baptism, we fasted last week with him so that his mom would let him get baptised, and with a little persuation from his aunt she is going to let him get baptised!  so this saturday we will have his baptism, the sisters from Ventura, Las Hermanas Hanson and Hatch are having a baptism that day too!  so we are going to have a double baptism and it should be excellent and awesome.  now we just have to plan it out.  

Man, Hna Hanson is leaving on June 18, it's kinda weird to see her go, she is like part of my family cause we came out together . . . it's weird . . . i feel old . . . anywho, so when she leaves if the mission can't find her companion a new companion (cause june 18 is 10 days before the end of the transfer) by the time Hna Hanson leaves, they might just take Hna Hatch completely out of our branch and put her in a tri-panionship in Oxnard and give the entire branch to us!  that's 4 cities . . . . crazy, i really hope they dont do that cause i don't want anymore stress . . . buuttttt on june 28th i'm pretty sure i'm getting transferred out of here cause i've been here for 6 months . . . we'll see what happens, i'm pretty sure i'm going back to Bakersfield somewhere.  oh well no counting the chickens before they hatch haha.  

so the Benson's (the coolest office couple ever cause they are from Logan) are going home at the exact same time i am, so we were joking "Oh, well we'll just carpool" hahaha it was funny, i like sister benson alot, but then we decided that we didn't want to deprive you all (mostly mom) of the airport experience, but i might just save some money and send some extra stuff that doesn't fit in my suitcases with them, although i'll probably beat them home.  anywho, that is in the far future, no need to talk about things far away.  

how are the preparations for the mission going?  it's that last stretch BHL hang on tight to that rod of iron, you'll be just fine try not to worry so much.  The Lord will take care of you whereever you go,  Joshua 1:8 or 9 says that.  i'm very excited for you BHL, it's quite the expierence, let your mission mold you into someone better, that is what it will do.  the gosple is true, it changes lifes and helps us to find that guidance that we need in this crazy world.  BHL you should get a Liahona in Portugese before you leave, it will help you learn faster, read all of it and look up words and grammar that you don't get.  hey i have a favor, could someone look up a talk for me and send it to me?  i don't know the exact name, but it the title contains "light" and "Candlestick" it was given by Boyd K Packer and i think it was on page 58 of an old Ensign in the 80's???  just if someone could that'd be awesome.  well i'm not sure of what to write to you all, i hope that your weekend was fun and that you finish the school year out strong.  remember that i love you all alot and pray for you daily.  let me know if i can do anything for any of you.  

 

Love,

 

Elder Larsen