MI QUERIDA FAMILIA,
How is the Larsen Clan? i hope your thanksgiving was fun and full of food and stuff. i really hope you got my camera card that i sent to AZ, i wasn't sure when you were leaving and i got it sent off late so i overnighted it ... i would have just kept it but i realized that i had told you that i'd send it ... dumb dumb me, sorry, i hope i didn't cause too much stress. soooo my thanksgiving was actually pretty normal, i thought i'd be eating tamales or something, but we went to a kind of americanzed member family to eat, so we had to battle with the Football Game and we got to eat lots of turkey and regular thanksgiving stuff. then later in the day we got fed another thanksgiving meal by another member that wanted us to come over ... i'm trying to be grateful for the love the members have for us ... but i can only eat so much, i ate more than everyone but Elder Jenkins. so yeah, the bad thing about thanksgiving was that my poor companion got food poisoning 2 days before and was feeling pretty nasty, so he didn't get to enjoy it. what happened was that he had never had an "Elote" before, Elote is spanish for Corn on the Cob. and the street venders here make what is called Elotes. Corn on the cob smothered in mayonese,matrarella cheese, chili powder, sometimes butter and lemon/lime juice. it sounds really nasty, mayonese on corn ... but they are actually super good, when i come home i'll make them for you. anywho, so he had never had one of these gifts from above, so we saw(at like 7 PM) a "paletero" (street vender dude) and i told him to go chase her and get an elote cause he had never had one, now prior to this the day had been kind of hot, we had had some really hot winds from inland, i think they are called the Santa Ana Winds or something, so the day had been kind of hot, and this particular street vender had all her ingrediant stuff just in a shopping cart, no refridgeration. sooooo he chased her down, ate the elote, enjoyed it, and then was sick for 3 ish days cause of the mayonese that had sat out all day. he really doesn't have very good luck. alsoooooo there was a turkey bowl the day of thanksgiving, in presidents weekly email, he said that we were to have a "normal day" apparently that wasn't specific enough for some elders and so they justified playing in a turkey bowl. we had an appt so we went to teach that with another elder (Elder Kay) whose comp had gone to play flag football in the turkey bowl(Elder Kay didn't want to play). sooooo Elder Jenkins plowed over Elder Cortez (from SA) and broke his collar bone (i have sympathy for him) in the process. this all happened in a game of "flag football" Elder Jenkins thought it was Rugby cause he is a rugby player and likes to over-do things, so he, as another elder who saw it put it "destroyed his soul" (speaking of Elder Cortez). so president found out and everyone got their own personal chew out session with president, he was pretty ticked about it i heard. and Elder Jenkins still won't take any responsibility for it. anywho, so that was my 1st thanksgiving in the mission, very interesting. the rest of the week was normal, minus the food poisoning, workin hard, talking to people, doing missionary work. we're really struggling to find new investigators, and that area of the work is going through hard times, but, we are haviing alot of success with the less actives that we have been working with. Hna Guerrero has come to church 3 weeks in a row! and we have alot more that are progressing really well. now the trick is to find new investigators, man the people here are really heard hearted, lamanites man ...... transfers p-day is today, i'm staying with McCleskey, Elder beck and elder batemon are being whitewashed and we're getting 2 new Zone Leaders to come live with us now, alot of changes, alot of new people coming in. and Elder Jenkins is now my District Leader .... i love the kid, he helps me get better at being patient ;} so i'm almost over the hill, it's crazy how fast time flys, a week from thursday i'll be 1 year old ..... very weird. this week i have been studying of Chapter 4 of preach my gosple, it is entitled "recognizing the spirit" or something close to that. it's an excellent chapter with some very basic insights. i read studyied the "light of christ" that everyone has, it's quite a gift from our father in heaven. he really has given us all the tools, we just have to learn how to use them and then USE THEM. Father didn't send us here to fail. speaking of which, could someone maybe send me that crazy poem that dad always recietes? he sent it to me in an email but i can't print here cause i have no $$ on my library card, so with the next letter could someone sent it to me por favor? thanks. hey, so i'm gonna be sending a package of christmas gifts/stuff home for you guys from Cali, i haven't started collecting stuff yet, and i can't promise anything crazy cool, but i'll try and get you all something cool from here. i hope all is well in Utah, enjoy the christmas season, HA i finally get to start to listen to christmas music now!!!! my apartment mates made me wait until thanksgiving was over before i could start listening to christmas music. remember that the gosple is true, use the tools your father gave you to obtain exaltation, remember that you have a son, brother, grandson, or friend (depending on which of those categories i fit in which would depend on who is reading this :] ) in california who loves you alot, have a wonderful week!!!
Elder Larsen
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
last week of the transfer
Howdy do?!
well hello all you Utah'ns or Utatecos as we say here in Oxnard. how is everyone doing? from the look of the pics and movies and letter, everyone seems to be functioning just fine, which is good. well we are trying to stay positive this week, positiveness is good, and now that we've hit rock bottom as far as lessons and people not wanting to listen to us, the only way to go is up. it's interesting the patterns that the mission follows as far as numbers and such. but this coming week will be much better, we are really really hoping to stay together, we don't want to get transfered, i gotta fix this area somehow. the most important thing is that you work your best and if nothing happens, at least you did your best, no regrets. so we are doing our best to do our best :] this week on thursday night we were going to have correlation with our ward mission leader, Elder McCleskey and I were there as well as Hno. Magarino, the other 2 Elders weren't there yet and we were 30 mins late already and the other Elders had the Key, so we were basically waiting for them outside in the "COLD"(it was windy and humidy and nasty and dark and cold) soooo i asked my faithful comp to throw me the phone so i could call the other elders (Elder McCleskey was listening to a little micro tape someone had sent him and i was talking with Hno. M so we were about oh 10-ish ft apart). sooooo he threw it at me, the phones we use are bricks, and they are black, which made a perfect match to the black sky, and it wacked me right on the outer side of my left eye. soooo now i have a huge shiner that goes under my entire eye and i look like i got beat up. and everyone in the ward (especially at the ward thanksgiving party on friday) had to know what happpened. so i told them that we got in a fight with some Jehova's Witnesses haha funny funny, they laughed. anywho, you'll be getting pictures soon i think. so yeah, other than that i'm good, the black eye is now at the yucky green and brown stage of color. but it's gettin g better and it didn't affect my vision at all. Today we get to go to Ventura because Elder McCleskey has a doctor's appt. it should be fun.
ok to respond to you letters. Brandon, that's some nice peach fuzz goin on there, keep workin on it and eating raw fish. Ryan's wedding looked fun and great, they looked really happy. Mom, the class pics look great, but i'm acrediting it to you and not the mac ;} no really, they look very good, i wish i was as talented as you with comps and stuff like that. Grandma you need to take care of yourself this winter, i'd let you come out here and live with me (Cause the weather here is perfect always) but i don't think President would let me do that. do you know President Murri grandma? HA Sean would get called to germany, that fits him perfectly. thanks for the address, maybe i'll write him if i can find time (I'm really behind on my letter writing). so how can jordan be so fit and strong and tuff as he protests he is and still have an A1C that high? i'm confuzed. HA Hunters Ed, i remember that class, it was fun. gotta get that Blue Card. i remember they showed us this anti poaching video all about how poachers treat animals like poo. these one guys cut off an Elk's head with a chainsaw i think, it was gory. Megan wrote me on saturday, but didn't mention the thing about Sandra, keep me updated. my Friends in SA are good as far as i know. a few of them have not made some good decisions but, over all they are all good. ok mom honestly i haven't put any thought into any kind of wish list for Christmas, my mind doesn't really work how it used to. i'll put some thoughts together this week and mail you the list with the camera card....and i will mail it to Tucson. i don't really need or want anything, but i'll give some ideas if i can organize my thoughts. DPL, popping blood blisters is fun, try it.
Thanks for the Email dad, it's always good to hear from you. no worries, as long as i only have one email to read from president you can email me, i have enough time, although my typing skills are getting worse haha. lack of practice. wow i would have loved to hear you sing, you have an awesome voice. Elder McCleskey and I can harmonize really well and love to sing whenever we get a chance. i'm so excited for Christmas just because i get to listen to christmas music!!!!!! i'm already listening to it, it's my absolute favorite kind of music, i want to go charoling with the other elders if i'm still here in a week. sooo is someone staying with Gma L while you all leave? So Texas is finally gone huh? how sad, i hope someone takes care of him good, you do know that you are destined to have some kind of pet eventually haha you'll never be able to escape as long as you live with Jordan kenidee and derek....and mom ;] the car wash door broke on the station???? why was it open? isn't it too cold to run the car wash or does it stay open all winter??? i forget....soooo i have 2 requests, one, according to Elder McCleskey you can write to some office in salt lake and request to recieve you priesthood line of authority, so if maybe you could do that it'd be great cause i really would like to have it. 2nd. do you have any mission stories or cool experiences...well i know you do but until now i've never really apprieciated them, so maybe if you have some free time one of these days you could put some stuff down i dunno. thank you for everything that you do for me, you've set quite a high standard for me to grow into.
Ok family, no more time to write, remember that i love you lots and lots, say hi to Gma M and Rich Kim and Family. the Gosple is true, i've seen it change lifes. be grateful!
“Gratitude is a Spirit-filled principle. It opens our minds to a universe permeated with the richness of a living God. Through it, we become spiritually aware of the wonder of the smallest things, which gladden our hearts with their messages of God’s love. This grateful awareness heightens our sensitivity to divine direction. When we communicate gratitude, we can be filled with the Spirit and connected to those around us and the Lord. Gratitude inspires happiness and carries divine influence. ‘Live in thanksgiving daily,’ said Amulek, ‘for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you.’ (Alma 34:38)
Love, Elder Larsen
well hello all you Utah'ns or Utatecos as we say here in Oxnard. how is everyone doing? from the look of the pics and movies and letter, everyone seems to be functioning just fine, which is good. well we are trying to stay positive this week, positiveness is good, and now that we've hit rock bottom as far as lessons and people not wanting to listen to us, the only way to go is up. it's interesting the patterns that the mission follows as far as numbers and such. but this coming week will be much better, we are really really hoping to stay together, we don't want to get transfered, i gotta fix this area somehow. the most important thing is that you work your best and if nothing happens, at least you did your best, no regrets. so we are doing our best to do our best :] this week on thursday night we were going to have correlation with our ward mission leader, Elder McCleskey and I were there as well as Hno. Magarino, the other 2 Elders weren't there yet and we were 30 mins late already and the other Elders had the Key, so we were basically waiting for them outside in the "COLD"(it was windy and humidy and nasty and dark and cold) soooo i asked my faithful comp to throw me the phone so i could call the other elders (Elder McCleskey was listening to a little micro tape someone had sent him and i was talking with Hno. M so we were about oh 10-ish ft apart). sooooo he threw it at me, the phones we use are bricks, and they are black, which made a perfect match to the black sky, and it wacked me right on the outer side of my left eye. soooo now i have a huge shiner that goes under my entire eye and i look like i got beat up. and everyone in the ward (especially at the ward thanksgiving party on friday) had to know what happpened. so i told them that we got in a fight with some Jehova's Witnesses haha funny funny, they laughed. anywho, you'll be getting pictures soon i think. so yeah, other than that i'm good, the black eye is now at the yucky green and brown stage of color. but it's gettin g better and it didn't affect my vision at all. Today we get to go to Ventura because Elder McCleskey has a doctor's appt. it should be fun.
ok to respond to you letters. Brandon, that's some nice peach fuzz goin on there, keep workin on it and eating raw fish. Ryan's wedding looked fun and great, they looked really happy. Mom, the class pics look great, but i'm acrediting it to you and not the mac ;} no really, they look very good, i wish i was as talented as you with comps and stuff like that. Grandma you need to take care of yourself this winter, i'd let you come out here and live with me (Cause the weather here is perfect always) but i don't think President would let me do that. do you know President Murri grandma? HA Sean would get called to germany, that fits him perfectly. thanks for the address, maybe i'll write him if i can find time (I'm really behind on my letter writing). so how can jordan be so fit and strong and tuff as he protests he is and still have an A1C that high? i'm confuzed. HA Hunters Ed, i remember that class, it was fun. gotta get that Blue Card. i remember they showed us this anti poaching video all about how poachers treat animals like poo. these one guys cut off an Elk's head with a chainsaw i think, it was gory. Megan wrote me on saturday, but didn't mention the thing about Sandra, keep me updated. my Friends in SA are good as far as i know. a few of them have not made some good decisions but, over all they are all good. ok mom honestly i haven't put any thought into any kind of wish list for Christmas, my mind doesn't really work how it used to. i'll put some thoughts together this week and mail you the list with the camera card....and i will mail it to Tucson. i don't really need or want anything, but i'll give some ideas if i can organize my thoughts. DPL, popping blood blisters is fun, try it.
Thanks for the Email dad, it's always good to hear from you. no worries, as long as i only have one email to read from president you can email me, i have enough time, although my typing skills are getting worse haha. lack of practice. wow i would have loved to hear you sing, you have an awesome voice. Elder McCleskey and I can harmonize really well and love to sing whenever we get a chance. i'm so excited for Christmas just because i get to listen to christmas music!!!!!! i'm already listening to it, it's my absolute favorite kind of music, i want to go charoling with the other elders if i'm still here in a week. sooo is someone staying with Gma L while you all leave? So Texas is finally gone huh? how sad, i hope someone takes care of him good, you do know that you are destined to have some kind of pet eventually haha you'll never be able to escape as long as you live with Jordan kenidee and derek....and mom ;] the car wash door broke on the station???? why was it open? isn't it too cold to run the car wash or does it stay open all winter??? i forget....soooo i have 2 requests, one, according to Elder McCleskey you can write to some office in salt lake and request to recieve you priesthood line of authority, so if maybe you could do that it'd be great cause i really would like to have it. 2nd. do you have any mission stories or cool experiences...well i know you do but until now i've never really apprieciated them, so maybe if you have some free time one of these days you could put some stuff down i dunno. thank you for everything that you do for me, you've set quite a high standard for me to grow into.
Ok family, no more time to write, remember that i love you lots and lots, say hi to Gma M and Rich Kim and Family. the Gosple is true, i've seen it change lifes. be grateful!
“Gratitude is a Spirit-filled principle. It opens our minds to a universe permeated with the richness of a living God. Through it, we become spiritually aware of the wonder of the smallest things, which gladden our hearts with their messages of God’s love. This grateful awareness heightens our sensitivity to divine direction. When we communicate gratitude, we can be filled with the Spirit and connected to those around us and the Lord. Gratitude inspires happiness and carries divine influence. ‘Live in thanksgiving daily,’ said Amulek, ‘for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you.’ (Alma 34:38)
Love, Elder Larsen
Monday, November 16, 2009
Week 5 ya empieza
Hey family,
no worries about no letter, i understand how busy life can get. i'll try and write a "newsy" email. sounds like you are all sick or were sick ... jeezz, kinda glad i'm not in Utah right now. well keep warm and wash your hands so you don't get more sick. i'm doing just fine here, not sick at all .... not even a hint of getting sick and Me and my Compa are procrastinating the swine flu shot ....... still haven't gotten it .... cause we don't want to get sick for 3 days .... and no one in our zone has swine flu and it's not really hitting here in Oxnard too hard .... sooooooooo i don't think we're going to get it .... we're just trying to figure out how to tell the mission nurse cause we were kinda under orders to get it ..... but i don't think it's worth it. anywho .... we're all healthy here. and i can wait for the Camera card i'm doing my best to turn into a miser/penny pincher when it comes to the home debit card, only things that are absolutely necesary. and my budgeting thing with the mission money is working pretty well so far. that's awesome about president blair, ventura is a beautiful place, very expensive though. we're always working with the Less Actives and we're seeing some success with a few of them. there is this sister named Hermana Guerrero and she is super funny and really frank and sarcastic, so when we go over there to teach her, she and I really get going haha, she tells me to shut up and i tell her she can't run from God and stuff. she's funny and progressing fairly well, we're working with her to get her to read the BOM but i'm pretty sure she has ADD cause she wants to read the BOM with Pictures and not the real thing .... funny lady. but yeah, Less Actives are very important. yeah i can't pray in english very well, stuff comes out weird according to the other elders. and i had to give the opening prayer in the english ward's sacrament yesterday and it was interesting. sooo because Elder Pulham was ET'd (Emergency Transfered) last week we have been in a Tri-companionship for the whole week, Elder Beck got his new comp last night, his name is Elder Bateman, and he went into the MTC the same day i did so we are exactly the same age, i will go home with him, he seems cool. anywho, so this week we have had to cover two areas and two languages. it has been interesting teaching in english (i'm not too good at that either), and doing english work and eating english food (best part of english work). and Poor Elder Beck has just been sitting in our lessons being bored cause he can't speak spanish. but all in all it was a good week, our numbers as spanish missionaries suffered, but as a companionship we taught well over 20 lessons, i learned to like Elder Beck and now consider him a friend, learned the lesson i should already know that we should never judge anyone, even if we think we know them. i thought elder beck was a pile missionary who never did anything and who was always negative, and honestly i regretted having to serve with him when i learned we were to be a trio. now i kinda miss serving with him, he is an excellent teacher and a hard worker, i've been humbled and i feel kinda dumb. soooo now my new goal is to not talk bad or critizise any missionary no matter how weird they are .... and we have some weird ones trust me. another highlight of my week isssss i can now solve a Rubik's Cube. Elder Durrant left one behind and i claimed it and this week Elder Beck taught me how to solve it .... so i feel accomplished in that aspect, i am now a "cuber". this week we are focusing our efforts on getting members to come out with us. cause members are the key to success, and this area needs a jump start to get out of the slump we're in. Elder McCleskey's spanish is improving, he's learning alot, and i'm doing my best to improve my grammar and increase my vocab. i feel as if we aren't really doing much, but for some odd reason we haven't had a normal week of work for a while, every week there has been something that has either distracted us or impeded us from doing something. so this week we are back to normal, and as far as i know we don't have anything to take up our time or distract us. minus a thanksgiving thing the ward is putting on that i think we have to go to. we do out best not to get discouraged. it's getting really cold here in the mornings and at night, the coldest it's gotten is 42 i think but with the humidity and the constant breezz it feels pretty cold. but i'm sure no where in comparison to the temperatures you are all feeling. and in tucson it should be nice and warm. is anyone staying with Gma Larsen? oh another cool thing about this week. The Church sells the mission vehicles when they reach 50,000 miles. so we are allotted 800 miles per month and the Zone Leaders have like 1300 or something like that cause they cover a city called Camarillo as well as their part of Oxnard, so they drive a ton more. soooo up to thursday the ZL's drove a 09 bright red Corrola and we had the traditional "SIlver Bullet" 07 silver corrola (piece of junk nasty car). soooo to "cycle out" our old car faster the mission had us switch cars. soooo now we have a brand spankin new red corrola to drive and it is oh so sweet. haha poor ZL's weren't too happy. oh and Sister Dunn, the sister from Cache Valley went home cause she broke her shoulder a few months ago and has just barely come back and she is now in Bakersfield. sooo if i remember i'll ask her about Bishop Wilson next time i see her, i might serve around her cause she is spanish. no tengo mas tiempo. The Gosple is true and Prayer is "according to Truman G Madsen" something that the saints need to work on. prayer is the key, i'm trying to better my prayers this week. if we don't ask for things, we won't receive them. i love you all, i hope you all get better and not more sick. i don't really know what to write in these emails, i find it hard to summarize my week, give me some suggestions por favor. stay strong
Elder Larsen
no worries about no letter, i understand how busy life can get. i'll try and write a "newsy" email. sounds like you are all sick or were sick ... jeezz, kinda glad i'm not in Utah right now. well keep warm and wash your hands so you don't get more sick. i'm doing just fine here, not sick at all .... not even a hint of getting sick and Me and my Compa are procrastinating the swine flu shot ....... still haven't gotten it .... cause we don't want to get sick for 3 days .... and no one in our zone has swine flu and it's not really hitting here in Oxnard too hard .... sooooooooo i don't think we're going to get it .... we're just trying to figure out how to tell the mission nurse cause we were kinda under orders to get it ..... but i don't think it's worth it. anywho .... we're all healthy here. and i can wait for the Camera card i'm doing my best to turn into a miser/penny pincher when it comes to the home debit card, only things that are absolutely necesary. and my budgeting thing with the mission money is working pretty well so far. that's awesome about president blair, ventura is a beautiful place, very expensive though. we're always working with the Less Actives and we're seeing some success with a few of them. there is this sister named Hermana Guerrero and she is super funny and really frank and sarcastic, so when we go over there to teach her, she and I really get going haha, she tells me to shut up and i tell her she can't run from God and stuff. she's funny and progressing fairly well, we're working with her to get her to read the BOM but i'm pretty sure she has ADD cause she wants to read the BOM with Pictures and not the real thing .... funny lady. but yeah, Less Actives are very important. yeah i can't pray in english very well, stuff comes out weird according to the other elders. and i had to give the opening prayer in the english ward's sacrament yesterday and it was interesting. sooo because Elder Pulham was ET'd (Emergency Transfered) last week we have been in a Tri-companionship for the whole week, Elder Beck got his new comp last night, his name is Elder Bateman, and he went into the MTC the same day i did so we are exactly the same age, i will go home with him, he seems cool. anywho, so this week we have had to cover two areas and two languages. it has been interesting teaching in english (i'm not too good at that either), and doing english work and eating english food (best part of english work). and Poor Elder Beck has just been sitting in our lessons being bored cause he can't speak spanish. but all in all it was a good week, our numbers as spanish missionaries suffered, but as a companionship we taught well over 20 lessons, i learned to like Elder Beck and now consider him a friend, learned the lesson i should already know that we should never judge anyone, even if we think we know them. i thought elder beck was a pile missionary who never did anything and who was always negative, and honestly i regretted having to serve with him when i learned we were to be a trio. now i kinda miss serving with him, he is an excellent teacher and a hard worker, i've been humbled and i feel kinda dumb. soooo now my new goal is to not talk bad or critizise any missionary no matter how weird they are .... and we have some weird ones trust me. another highlight of my week isssss i can now solve a Rubik's Cube. Elder Durrant left one behind and i claimed it and this week Elder Beck taught me how to solve it .... so i feel accomplished in that aspect, i am now a "cuber". this week we are focusing our efforts on getting members to come out with us. cause members are the key to success, and this area needs a jump start to get out of the slump we're in. Elder McCleskey's spanish is improving, he's learning alot, and i'm doing my best to improve my grammar and increase my vocab. i feel as if we aren't really doing much, but for some odd reason we haven't had a normal week of work for a while, every week there has been something that has either distracted us or impeded us from doing something. so this week we are back to normal, and as far as i know we don't have anything to take up our time or distract us. minus a thanksgiving thing the ward is putting on that i think we have to go to. we do out best not to get discouraged. it's getting really cold here in the mornings and at night, the coldest it's gotten is 42 i think but with the humidity and the constant breezz it feels pretty cold. but i'm sure no where in comparison to the temperatures you are all feeling. and in tucson it should be nice and warm. is anyone staying with Gma Larsen? oh another cool thing about this week. The Church sells the mission vehicles when they reach 50,000 miles. so we are allotted 800 miles per month and the Zone Leaders have like 1300 or something like that cause they cover a city called Camarillo as well as their part of Oxnard, so they drive a ton more. soooo up to thursday the ZL's drove a 09 bright red Corrola and we had the traditional "SIlver Bullet" 07 silver corrola (piece of junk nasty car). soooo to "cycle out" our old car faster the mission had us switch cars. soooo now we have a brand spankin new red corrola to drive and it is oh so sweet. haha poor ZL's weren't too happy. oh and Sister Dunn, the sister from Cache Valley went home cause she broke her shoulder a few months ago and has just barely come back and she is now in Bakersfield. sooo if i remember i'll ask her about Bishop Wilson next time i see her, i might serve around her cause she is spanish. no tengo mas tiempo. The Gosple is true and Prayer is "according to Truman G Madsen" something that the saints need to work on. prayer is the key, i'm trying to better my prayers this week. if we don't ask for things, we won't receive them. i love you all, i hope you all get better and not more sick. i don't really know what to write in these emails, i find it hard to summarize my week, give me some suggestions por favor. stay strong
Elder Larsen
Monday, November 9, 2009
week 3 gone
Que pasa mufasa?
hi guys whats up in smithfield? sooo first thing i guess is that president called us early this morning and Elder Pulham(famous roper/cowboy) is getting ET'd or Emergency Transfered, we think someone is going home that was in Fraiser Park (out in my old zone of South Bakersfield) so Elder Pulham is going out there to replace whoever is leaving. pretty crazy, we packed him up in 30 mins and the AP's came and got him and he was gone .... annnnnddddddd we get a Tri-panionship for a few days until president can find someone to come be with Elder Beck ..... very weird cause Elder Beck can't speak spanish and i can't really do anything in english very well. gave a blessing last night in english and my mind shut off and i couldn't translate this one word that i wanted to say from spanish to english ... interesting. anywho, so we'll see what happens this week, it should be interesting. this past week was hard, had a few "dilligence days" i'm not quite sure why things happen when or how they happen sometimes but the important thing i think is that we are working hard and doing our best, trying real hard not to get discouraged. Elder McCleskey is good at being happy so it helps to have him as a comp. we had a few Less active members at church yesterday that haven't been in quite a while, so that made me really happy. also we got dragged into the primary program so us 4 elders got to sing with the primary .... i don't remember those songs being so high .... but i guess they were. we got carlos to church so that was good, then we went over to his house after church and with a little bit of crafty-ness from Elder Larsen i got carlos to tell us that he's been smoking. i've known that he'd been smoking even though, according to him, he's been smoke free for 3 weeks. it's really sad that he's been lying to us for so long, but i finally got him to spill the beans and i think we are going to have to be forced to drop him for now, this is the 3rd or 4th time we've tryed to help him stop smoking and he just doesn't have the responsibility or the will to do it, and i feel really really sad having to drop him, but in the eternal aspect of things all we are doing is condeming him by going over there now. very sad, such is the life we live. so to respond to your letter yes mother i'm getting old, i still feel like a greeny though ..... i'm 11 months tomorrow. Dad "echale ganas" i don't know how to translate that cause it doesn't have a translation i don't think, but it envelopes the idea of "put yourself to work" or "just keep going". if you were spanish you'd know what i mean haha. i love you too and know that the lord loves you and that the lord will always provide a way. so how is the health of the family? Elder McCleskey and I are under strict orders to get the swine flu shot and the regular flu shot. Sister Benson, from Logan, told us we have to get it cause she cares about us ...... but i still don't want to cause you're like guranteed to get sick for 3 days or so(i don't think it's worth it .... but i'm under orders) ..... and being sick + being a missionary = angry frustrated missionaries. we might try and go get one tomorrow. thanks for the pics mom, i am enjoying them haha soooo BHL's new truck is quite a piece, stick shift and how is he able to sit inside the hood with still enough room? that's Crazy about Sarah Wilson .... very weird, i remember when she baby sat me ..... weird ...... tell her congrats for me if you could please. hahah i laughed at the whole "the days have warmed up a little and it gets up to 60 or so... " haha man i miss that weather. it's perfect sunny skys here .... all day everyday, although it's dark by 5 or 5:30 now so then it does get a bit chilly ... but not cold. thanks for the notes from the conference deal, it sounded way cool, President Eyring is an awesome guy. haha mom i never get tired of reading your letters no matter how long they are. yeah dad's letter .... i don't remember ever having gotten it. how is Grandma Larsen? haven't heard from or about her in a while. so you are going to Gma M's for thanksgiving (Dia de Gracias) should be lots of fun, anyone going to make a movie in my stead???? man i'm jealous, i'm going to be missing grandma's ..... dang brain dont work anymore .... at least the memory part ..... the yam thing she makes with the almond paste stuff on top that is like candy .... that thing, i'll miss it. we're eating with some members for Thanksgiving, at least some signed up so we'll see if they realized what they were doing when they signed up haha. i haven't had american food in quite a long time, and i refrain from eating out cause that stuff really isn't good for ya ... and i have no money haha. Kenidee thanks so much for your letter, it's always good to here from my favorite sister. that's cool that you went Babysitting, people trust you more now that you're older and the Moola isn't bad either. AHHH and the $450 isn't bad either, put it to a good use, save it up. HA and you're pumkin made me laugh haha good attitude. and yes i love my new/old comp, he's awesome, some kid at church yesterday walked up to us and said "if i didn't know you two were missionaries i'd say you were twins" haha we both got a kick out of that, we're pretty similar. and no i don't wrestle with him cause he's alot bigger than i am. he was a rock climber before the mission so his arms are quite big. he jumped on me last night and put me in some weird shape that about pulled my arms off without even breaking a sweat. butttttt he is super ticklish so i can always get him haha. and you're signature is very awesome, much cooler than mine. oh and if you could please send my camera card to me cause i have like 30 pics left so i'll be needing it soon. Jordan i hate how youre probably already stronger than me, crazy kid. the corn maze looked fun, i saw that JPL is following my example as a scarecrow haha. Derek you're pumkin looks awesome, you've got a talent for art, taylor you're starting to look like a beach bum again, time for a hair cut, cool pumkin, but i've come to the knowledge here on the mission that Chevy beats Ford anyday haha. i've seen some pretty sick looking cars here in Cali that you'd probably drool over. saw a lambrigini once. i don't understand the "doing strings" pic, Nancy looks good, Carter is getting big. and good sized stash of candy. for christmas i'll send you all a bunch of mexican candy haha. ok no more time to write, gotta shop and look for the dang make me sick for 3 days flu shot. remember to do the simple things, "Simple Gifts" it's a good song, listen to it. read the scriptures every day at least once and say ALL your prayers, nothing happens with out prayers. i love you all, i pray for your continued safty and healthiness and success. church is true, and jesus loves you!
TEAM JESUS!
ELDER LARSEN
hi guys whats up in smithfield? sooo first thing i guess is that president called us early this morning and Elder Pulham(famous roper/cowboy) is getting ET'd or Emergency Transfered, we think someone is going home that was in Fraiser Park (out in my old zone of South Bakersfield) so Elder Pulham is going out there to replace whoever is leaving. pretty crazy, we packed him up in 30 mins and the AP's came and got him and he was gone .... annnnnddddddd we get a Tri-panionship for a few days until president can find someone to come be with Elder Beck ..... very weird cause Elder Beck can't speak spanish and i can't really do anything in english very well. gave a blessing last night in english and my mind shut off and i couldn't translate this one word that i wanted to say from spanish to english ... interesting. anywho, so we'll see what happens this week, it should be interesting. this past week was hard, had a few "dilligence days" i'm not quite sure why things happen when or how they happen sometimes but the important thing i think is that we are working hard and doing our best, trying real hard not to get discouraged. Elder McCleskey is good at being happy so it helps to have him as a comp. we had a few Less active members at church yesterday that haven't been in quite a while, so that made me really happy. also we got dragged into the primary program so us 4 elders got to sing with the primary .... i don't remember those songs being so high .... but i guess they were. we got carlos to church so that was good, then we went over to his house after church and with a little bit of crafty-ness from Elder Larsen i got carlos to tell us that he's been smoking. i've known that he'd been smoking even though, according to him, he's been smoke free for 3 weeks. it's really sad that he's been lying to us for so long, but i finally got him to spill the beans and i think we are going to have to be forced to drop him for now, this is the 3rd or 4th time we've tryed to help him stop smoking and he just doesn't have the responsibility or the will to do it, and i feel really really sad having to drop him, but in the eternal aspect of things all we are doing is condeming him by going over there now. very sad, such is the life we live. so to respond to your letter yes mother i'm getting old, i still feel like a greeny though ..... i'm 11 months tomorrow. Dad "echale ganas" i don't know how to translate that cause it doesn't have a translation i don't think, but it envelopes the idea of "put yourself to work" or "just keep going". if you were spanish you'd know what i mean haha. i love you too and know that the lord loves you and that the lord will always provide a way. so how is the health of the family? Elder McCleskey and I are under strict orders to get the swine flu shot and the regular flu shot. Sister Benson, from Logan, told us we have to get it cause she cares about us ...... but i still don't want to cause you're like guranteed to get sick for 3 days or so(i don't think it's worth it .... but i'm under orders) ..... and being sick + being a missionary = angry frustrated missionaries. we might try and go get one tomorrow. thanks for the pics mom, i am enjoying them haha soooo BHL's new truck is quite a piece, stick shift and how is he able to sit inside the hood with still enough room? that's Crazy about Sarah Wilson .... very weird, i remember when she baby sat me ..... weird ...... tell her congrats for me if you could please. hahah i laughed at the whole "the days have warmed up a little and it gets up to 60 or so... " haha man i miss that weather. it's perfect sunny skys here .... all day everyday, although it's dark by 5 or 5:30 now so then it does get a bit chilly ... but not cold. thanks for the notes from the conference deal, it sounded way cool, President Eyring is an awesome guy. haha mom i never get tired of reading your letters no matter how long they are. yeah dad's letter .... i don't remember ever having gotten it. how is Grandma Larsen? haven't heard from or about her in a while. so you are going to Gma M's for thanksgiving (Dia de Gracias) should be lots of fun, anyone going to make a movie in my stead???? man i'm jealous, i'm going to be missing grandma's ..... dang brain dont work anymore .... at least the memory part ..... the yam thing she makes with the almond paste stuff on top that is like candy .... that thing, i'll miss it. we're eating with some members for Thanksgiving, at least some signed up so we'll see if they realized what they were doing when they signed up haha. i haven't had american food in quite a long time, and i refrain from eating out cause that stuff really isn't good for ya ... and i have no money haha. Kenidee thanks so much for your letter, it's always good to here from my favorite sister. that's cool that you went Babysitting, people trust you more now that you're older and the Moola isn't bad either. AHHH and the $450 isn't bad either, put it to a good use, save it up. HA and you're pumkin made me laugh haha good attitude. and yes i love my new/old comp, he's awesome, some kid at church yesterday walked up to us and said "if i didn't know you two were missionaries i'd say you were twins" haha we both got a kick out of that, we're pretty similar. and no i don't wrestle with him cause he's alot bigger than i am. he was a rock climber before the mission so his arms are quite big. he jumped on me last night and put me in some weird shape that about pulled my arms off without even breaking a sweat. butttttt he is super ticklish so i can always get him haha. and you're signature is very awesome, much cooler than mine. oh and if you could please send my camera card to me cause i have like 30 pics left so i'll be needing it soon. Jordan i hate how youre probably already stronger than me, crazy kid. the corn maze looked fun, i saw that JPL is following my example as a scarecrow haha. Derek you're pumkin looks awesome, you've got a talent for art, taylor you're starting to look like a beach bum again, time for a hair cut, cool pumkin, but i've come to the knowledge here on the mission that Chevy beats Ford anyday haha. i've seen some pretty sick looking cars here in Cali that you'd probably drool over. saw a lambrigini once. i don't understand the "doing strings" pic, Nancy looks good, Carter is getting big. and good sized stash of candy. for christmas i'll send you all a bunch of mexican candy haha. ok no more time to write, gotta shop and look for the dang make me sick for 3 days flu shot. remember to do the simple things, "Simple Gifts" it's a good song, listen to it. read the scriptures every day at least once and say ALL your prayers, nothing happens with out prayers. i love you all, i pray for your continued safty and healthiness and success. church is true, and jesus loves you!
TEAM JESUS!
ELDER LARSEN
Monday, November 2, 2009
week 2...done...
thanks for the letter mom, no worries about it not being mailed, i know you're busy with jobs and stuff. man everyone seems to be getting sick, gotta be careful, i've had a little ity bit of a sore throat for 2 days, but it never gets worse or better, and it doesn't really hurt, it's just a little soreness... kinda weird. be careful about the swine flu, supposedly the symptoms go away and you think you're better then they come back and kill ya.... and there is a specific temperature that the swine flu has, i don't remember what it is though. but please be careful, wash your hands. tell judy to get better for me, that doesn't sound very fun at all. i got a wedding announcement from Ryan and Britney i'll write them back and tell them i can't come to the wedding unfortuatly haha. she seems cool, i'm sure they will be good together. wow jordan you're on a ball man... that's alot of money, how long do you have until your deadline? just double what you now have and then a little bit more and you'll have it, i'm rootin' for ya, if there is anything i can do to help let me know. hahahaha wow, i love how you said "16 or so stakes from Logan" haha their aren't even 16 stakes in my entire mission haha gotta love utah man. thats great that Austin has a good comp now, yeah some missionaries don't really care much about the rules of a mission, unfortunatly i've seen/heard of a whoooole bunch worse stuff that missionaries have done. obediance is the key, gotta have it. Elder McCleskey is a way good missionary, i have alot to learn from him, he's real obideiant too. no i haven't gotten dad's letter yet, when did he send it? i haven't checked the mail yet today so maybe it'll be in my mail box when i get home, if it is i'll respond to it today cause i've pretty much got all my letter writing done already. and today we're going to play SOCCER i think so i'm excited. HAHAHA Brandon bought another truck???? what was the point of selling the other one? what is so cool about this truck? model? color? year? cool features? haha i'll greatly anticipate the pictures haha.
soooooooo this week was an ok week, we've kinda hit a rough spot in the work, the whole zone has kind of, finding new investigators has really dropped. i'm just barely getting my feet under me as far as being senior, we just barely missed our goal of 20 lessons, made me a bit sad on sunday, kinda feel like getting discouraged... but then that is what satan wants and i can't let that happen, so i'm doing alright, we got 4 lessons on halloween and then on sunday i guess everyone had "Halloween Hangovers" and no one let us in the entire day minus one Less Active member. so it was rough, but we'll do better this week, we don't have any "distractions" i guess you could call them, no holidays no big meetings, just a regular week. we had Zone Conference last tuesday and it was tight. it was all about the spirit. i got some really good notes and ideas and instructions and felt the spirit (figurativly speaking) smack me in the face and tell me to do better. Zone Conference charges up your batteries for the transfer. it was good. thennnn on Halloween we only got yelled at twice..... and it was both by white people.... this is why i'm glad to be spanish, cause the mexicans are so much more nice to us. both of the comments directed toward us were them yelling at how our costumes made us look like mormons. "look at them costumes you must be mormons" haha i really had to resist yelling something back.... cause she wasn't dressed very modestly and i totally could have turned her comment around and got her back...... buuttttttt i'm wearing a name tag and living a life that requires a higher level of respect. just blows my mind that a 40 somethin year old lady would firstly dress like that and secondly act so child-ish... i dunno i laughed about it later. haha loved the cartoons mom haha when you print them i'll probably cut them out and use them to decorate something haha. how is grandma's health doing? mom's and dads? hey did you ever send that CD of pics (all the ones when i was with Elder hawes), come to think about it, they wouldn't all fit on one CD, to put them on a DVD would be better, he doesn't have to see them or print them now, Elder Hawes just wants a copy for when he goes home. he goes home in February so if you could send the CD's or DVD to me i'll get them to him, it will give me an excuse to see him, i miss the guy and he never has free time cause he's AP. man i'm almost 11 months old..... i still feel like a greeny. ok, i have to fill out some questionare thing president sent me so i don't have any more time to write, sorry for the letter being a bit short. i love you guys alot, thanks for being awesome! if there is anything i can do for any of you please let me know. the gosple is true, if it weren't i'd be doin' something else for 2 years of my life. until next week!
Con Amor,
Elder Larsen
soooooooo this week was an ok week, we've kinda hit a rough spot in the work, the whole zone has kind of, finding new investigators has really dropped. i'm just barely getting my feet under me as far as being senior, we just barely missed our goal of 20 lessons, made me a bit sad on sunday, kinda feel like getting discouraged... but then that is what satan wants and i can't let that happen, so i'm doing alright, we got 4 lessons on halloween and then on sunday i guess everyone had "Halloween Hangovers" and no one let us in the entire day minus one Less Active member. so it was rough, but we'll do better this week, we don't have any "distractions" i guess you could call them, no holidays no big meetings, just a regular week. we had Zone Conference last tuesday and it was tight. it was all about the spirit. i got some really good notes and ideas and instructions and felt the spirit (figurativly speaking) smack me in the face and tell me to do better. Zone Conference charges up your batteries for the transfer. it was good. thennnn on Halloween we only got yelled at twice..... and it was both by white people.... this is why i'm glad to be spanish, cause the mexicans are so much more nice to us. both of the comments directed toward us were them yelling at how our costumes made us look like mormons. "look at them costumes you must be mormons" haha i really had to resist yelling something back.... cause she wasn't dressed very modestly and i totally could have turned her comment around and got her back...... buuttttttt i'm wearing a name tag and living a life that requires a higher level of respect. just blows my mind that a 40 somethin year old lady would firstly dress like that and secondly act so child-ish... i dunno i laughed about it later. haha loved the cartoons mom haha when you print them i'll probably cut them out and use them to decorate something haha. how is grandma's health doing? mom's and dads? hey did you ever send that CD of pics (all the ones when i was with Elder hawes), come to think about it, they wouldn't all fit on one CD, to put them on a DVD would be better, he doesn't have to see them or print them now, Elder Hawes just wants a copy for when he goes home. he goes home in February so if you could send the CD's or DVD to me i'll get them to him, it will give me an excuse to see him, i miss the guy and he never has free time cause he's AP. man i'm almost 11 months old..... i still feel like a greeny. ok, i have to fill out some questionare thing president sent me so i don't have any more time to write, sorry for the letter being a bit short. i love you guys alot, thanks for being awesome! if there is anything i can do for any of you please let me know. the gosple is true, if it weren't i'd be doin' something else for 2 years of my life. until next week!
Con Amor,
Elder Larsen
Monday, October 26, 2009
long week 1 done!
MY DEAREST FAMILIA
how are you all doing this wonderful fall season (although you can't tell it's fall here ... same weather allllllll year round ... which is good ..... but kinda boring). Elder McCleskey is awesome, haha we could be related, we're very similar looking and have very similar personallities. haha we don't go running, but we do workout in the mornings doing other things. he has some weird heart disease where his heart tissue is too thick or something like that sooo his chambers in his heart are smaller because of the thicker walls/tissue. he knew he had problems before the mission but i guess never really pushed his heart too hard .... then they were just running one morning in Fillmore and he dropped dead on the spot. luckily one of the Elders with whom he lived was an EMT before the mission, he was the the most capable elder to help him in the entire mission and he just happened to be serving in Fillmore at the same time as McCleskey .... interesting huh .... anywho so this Elder did CPR on him until the ambulance came. he was in the hospital in ventura for a week, then had some type of surgery then was out working the next day .... he has a cool pace maker that is also a difribulator. and if his heart rate hits 200 his difribulator shocks him to tell him to calm down ... he says it's happened a few times and that it hurts way bad. so he has a watch that he wears when he does anything cardio and it allows him to know when to calm the ol heart down. but he's awesome, he played Trombone in the band in highschool so now i can listen to "music without words" and not hear Elder Durrant complain about it haha. YAY for interviews, from your letter mom i can tell the blessing bucket is being dumped on you guys, i am glad for that. i hope that the New Dawn stuff goes well for dad .... patience is required ... we are not yet as Job ( hehe ). BHL sold the purple pimp eh? why? i don't understand how someone can be so adament about buying something, put a ton of $$ and work into it, and then want to get rid of it ... oh well, and yeah all the mexicans here lower their trucks .... not sure why ... i think it looks really dumb and defeats the purpose of a truck ... that's cool about your new job mom, at least it isn't an 8 to 5 job. it should still allow you to function normallly while being able to get a few bills paied. i will keep your Uncle Gordon in my prayers. and Jordan, you keep working for the jamboree thingy, work your hardest, and remember to pay your tithing, i can almost guratee that if you don't pay tithing you won't reach the amount of money needed. that is good, you remind me alot of brent when we were younger, he was always trying to sell stuff or find some odd way to make money, keep at it and one day you'll be well off ... which is a really rare thing here in Cali. i'd buy some donuts from ya but they'd probably be all nasty PLUS i need to relook up the word frugal cause i don't think i know what it means. naw i think i've figured out how to make the $$ last more longer. i leave my debit card from home at home in my apt. and i have figured out all my expenses for the month of SEP, which are .... $15 per week for food, $12 for laundry usage, and $10 for a books of stamps (still haven't used them cool light house ones up yet) and sooo all added up it's around $100-ish so i'm going to take it all out of my mision acount as cash the 1st of the month and buy stamps, get quarters for the laundry (ridiculously expensive) and then my food money is going to get put in 4 groups, one for each monday. then i don't have to use any of my cards for anything other than toiletry needs or other small things .... we'll see how it works, i know i've been spending too much of the home $$ .... i have no will power and Elder Durrant has negative will power so he didn't help me save money ... but from now on out it will be saved more efficiently. HA talked to Elder Durrant this morning, he got a speeding ticket, funny funny. anywho, so i'm excited for Halloween, we don't get to do anything and i get to dress up as a servant of the Lord so i'm stoked, we'll have a District Meeting on Halloween night to get all the missionaries off the streets ... i guess it's a bit more dangerous for us on halloween night ... lets just say their are some weirdies here in CALLI. Elder McCleskey was called as an English missionary, spent 3 months as an english elder then was switched to spanish (he remained in the same area) for 3 more months, then he came here to be with me. so i'm "Mom-ing" him, in mission lingo, or Followup training him spanish. he doens't really know much spanish, but he is learning very quickly and has a zeal for missionary work that is amazing. i'm trying to be a good senior comp, but it's hard ... i have to do everything almost cause he doesn't know anything about the area. and if something doesn't go right .... it's automatically my fault. i've been humbled greatly this week, probably the hardest week in my mission so far, so many things to do people to try and see and it's very overwhelming, but i think that i am beginning to see the light ..... it's a long way away ..... but i'm learning little by little how to guide this companionship. i hope to help the work progress here in oxnard ... it's a bit hard at the moment but i keep trying. Elder Eaton (who is home and at BYU) shared with me a quote from the prophet joseph smith that helped me alot.
"If I put forth my full effort and give all of my time and effort to preaching, then it won't matter the outcome. It will be as if all men had accepted the gospel."
yeah we don't live in the hazardous waste building ... but ours should have a sign like that on it ... pretty getto. yes i do enjoy playing soccer, we play every other week usually, which is awesome cause we used to just play pure basketball .... every monday .... for hours ..... and we all know how much i enjoy that eroneous game. then Elder Cortez came and he is a huge soccer player sooooo now we get to play soccer sometimes. my knees are hanging in there still nothing more has developed with them, they still hate me. yeah swine flu is pretty crazy here, lots of mexicans have it or have a regular flu ... i don't know why but whenever it gets cold they all get sick ... but i feel fine as of now. and i'll use a padded envelope from now on to send my pics home. Taylor got a Concussion??? nice ...... aren't those helmets supposed to stop that from happening??? thanks for Matt's and Casey's letters ... i'm goin to write matt today ... is there anyway to write casey? email? mission address? how does the whole pouch mail thing work? this week we taught only 17 lessons, not too good, but i'm praying that we are able to get 20 this week cause i'd really like to not feel like a faliure senior comp. i want you all to know that i've seen alot of happy people, and alot of sad people on my mission, most of the sad ones were not members of the church or were less active members. something that i've learned is that the lord helps us when we are obedient, even though we may feel unworthy of his help. i figured out that I must learn to rely on the lord more if i want to do anything here in the misson field. i finished jacob a few days ago and have decided that Jacob was the Holland of his time. such a spiritualy strong individual and so humble. i dunno, i like the book of Jacob, especially chpt 2 it's awesome. my time has run short, i wish you all the very best week and all the blessings our father in heaven has for you. the church is true, no doubt about it. continue to be awesome, thanks for you continued love and support, i really need it. i love you all and am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Con Carino
Elder Larsen
how are you all doing this wonderful fall season (although you can't tell it's fall here ... same weather allllllll year round ... which is good ..... but kinda boring). Elder McCleskey is awesome, haha we could be related, we're very similar looking and have very similar personallities. haha we don't go running, but we do workout in the mornings doing other things. he has some weird heart disease where his heart tissue is too thick or something like that sooo his chambers in his heart are smaller because of the thicker walls/tissue. he knew he had problems before the mission but i guess never really pushed his heart too hard .... then they were just running one morning in Fillmore and he dropped dead on the spot. luckily one of the Elders with whom he lived was an EMT before the mission, he was the the most capable elder to help him in the entire mission and he just happened to be serving in Fillmore at the same time as McCleskey .... interesting huh .... anywho so this Elder did CPR on him until the ambulance came. he was in the hospital in ventura for a week, then had some type of surgery then was out working the next day .... he has a cool pace maker that is also a difribulator. and if his heart rate hits 200 his difribulator shocks him to tell him to calm down ... he says it's happened a few times and that it hurts way bad. so he has a watch that he wears when he does anything cardio and it allows him to know when to calm the ol heart down. but he's awesome, he played Trombone in the band in highschool so now i can listen to "music without words" and not hear Elder Durrant complain about it haha. YAY for interviews, from your letter mom i can tell the blessing bucket is being dumped on you guys, i am glad for that. i hope that the New Dawn stuff goes well for dad .... patience is required ... we are not yet as Job ( hehe ). BHL sold the purple pimp eh? why? i don't understand how someone can be so adament about buying something, put a ton of $$ and work into it, and then want to get rid of it ... oh well, and yeah all the mexicans here lower their trucks .... not sure why ... i think it looks really dumb and defeats the purpose of a truck ... that's cool about your new job mom, at least it isn't an 8 to 5 job. it should still allow you to function normallly while being able to get a few bills paied. i will keep your Uncle Gordon in my prayers. and Jordan, you keep working for the jamboree thingy, work your hardest, and remember to pay your tithing, i can almost guratee that if you don't pay tithing you won't reach the amount of money needed. that is good, you remind me alot of brent when we were younger, he was always trying to sell stuff or find some odd way to make money, keep at it and one day you'll be well off ... which is a really rare thing here in Cali. i'd buy some donuts from ya but they'd probably be all nasty PLUS i need to relook up the word frugal cause i don't think i know what it means. naw i think i've figured out how to make the $$ last more longer. i leave my debit card from home at home in my apt. and i have figured out all my expenses for the month of SEP, which are .... $15 per week for food, $12 for laundry usage, and $10 for a books of stamps (still haven't used them cool light house ones up yet) and sooo all added up it's around $100-ish so i'm going to take it all out of my mision acount as cash the 1st of the month and buy stamps, get quarters for the laundry (ridiculously expensive) and then my food money is going to get put in 4 groups, one for each monday. then i don't have to use any of my cards for anything other than toiletry needs or other small things .... we'll see how it works, i know i've been spending too much of the home $$ .... i have no will power and Elder Durrant has negative will power so he didn't help me save money ... but from now on out it will be saved more efficiently. HA talked to Elder Durrant this morning, he got a speeding ticket, funny funny. anywho, so i'm excited for Halloween, we don't get to do anything and i get to dress up as a servant of the Lord so i'm stoked, we'll have a District Meeting on Halloween night to get all the missionaries off the streets ... i guess it's a bit more dangerous for us on halloween night ... lets just say their are some weirdies here in CALLI. Elder McCleskey was called as an English missionary, spent 3 months as an english elder then was switched to spanish (he remained in the same area) for 3 more months, then he came here to be with me. so i'm "Mom-ing" him, in mission lingo, or Followup training him spanish. he doens't really know much spanish, but he is learning very quickly and has a zeal for missionary work that is amazing. i'm trying to be a good senior comp, but it's hard ... i have to do everything almost cause he doesn't know anything about the area. and if something doesn't go right .... it's automatically my fault. i've been humbled greatly this week, probably the hardest week in my mission so far, so many things to do people to try and see and it's very overwhelming, but i think that i am beginning to see the light ..... it's a long way away ..... but i'm learning little by little how to guide this companionship. i hope to help the work progress here in oxnard ... it's a bit hard at the moment but i keep trying. Elder Eaton (who is home and at BYU) shared with me a quote from the prophet joseph smith that helped me alot.
"If I put forth my full effort and give all of my time and effort to preaching, then it won't matter the outcome. It will be as if all men had accepted the gospel."
yeah we don't live in the hazardous waste building ... but ours should have a sign like that on it ... pretty getto. yes i do enjoy playing soccer, we play every other week usually, which is awesome cause we used to just play pure basketball .... every monday .... for hours ..... and we all know how much i enjoy that eroneous game. then Elder Cortez came and he is a huge soccer player sooooo now we get to play soccer sometimes. my knees are hanging in there still nothing more has developed with them, they still hate me. yeah swine flu is pretty crazy here, lots of mexicans have it or have a regular flu ... i don't know why but whenever it gets cold they all get sick ... but i feel fine as of now. and i'll use a padded envelope from now on to send my pics home. Taylor got a Concussion??? nice ...... aren't those helmets supposed to stop that from happening??? thanks for Matt's and Casey's letters ... i'm goin to write matt today ... is there anyway to write casey? email? mission address? how does the whole pouch mail thing work? this week we taught only 17 lessons, not too good, but i'm praying that we are able to get 20 this week cause i'd really like to not feel like a faliure senior comp. i want you all to know that i've seen alot of happy people, and alot of sad people on my mission, most of the sad ones were not members of the church or were less active members. something that i've learned is that the lord helps us when we are obedient, even though we may feel unworthy of his help. i figured out that I must learn to rely on the lord more if i want to do anything here in the misson field. i finished jacob a few days ago and have decided that Jacob was the Holland of his time. such a spiritualy strong individual and so humble. i dunno, i like the book of Jacob, especially chpt 2 it's awesome. my time has run short, i wish you all the very best week and all the blessings our father in heaven has for you. the church is true, no doubt about it. continue to be awesome, thanks for you continued love and support, i really need it. i love you all and am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Con Carino
Elder Larsen
Monday, October 19, 2009
week 1 ..........wow
wow family, this transfer has just flown by, i don't know where it went. mom thanks for your informative letter i enjoyed reading it alot. Derek thanks for your letter too, it was good to read, i'm glad you are still doing great. remember to enjoy life, cause one day you'll be as old as me and wonder where life went, haha ... but seriously. soooooooooooooo TRANSFERS ...... i am staying here in Oxnard, Elder Durrant is not. Elder Durrant is whitewash training in Santa Paula. Whitewash is when they take both missionaries out of an area and put two brand new ones in the area. sooo that is hard by itself, and then you add training a greeny to it ..... needless to say Elder Durrant is going to have a fun time with his trainee in Santa Paula. I am getting a Junior Companion by the name of Elder McCleskey. i don't know if you remember, i don't remember if i told you, but in his first transfer here in the mish he had a heart attack while running in the morning and almost died ... it was about 6 months ago ish. anywho, so he just barely got switched to spanish from english 12 weeks ago. and he got switched in a city called Filmore ... which is a "zebra work" area. which means the Elders are Spanish elders but they do both spanish and english work .... soooo he supposedly hasn't really learned much spanish yet ..... which means my spanish is about to improve cause i won't be able to rely on my senior comp .... Elder Durrants spanish is going to improve even more than mine cause his comp probalby won't know any spanish and neither of them will have any experiance in the area. i'm real nervous about going senior, it's alot of responsibility and extra stress ... but i got the lord to help me so i'm pretty sure i'll be fine as long as i try my hardest. Elder Pulham and Beck are staying the same.
you're welcome for the pics .... i don't know why the thing was smashed cause i've sent it home before like that .... plussss the USPS people sent the envelope back the first time i tryied to send it cause it was too thick to be handled by machine so i had to put an extra stamp for "hand handling"..... but apparenly it went through the machines anyway .... orrrr someone has really big strong hands ...... so i'm just shy of a year ... it's really weird .... like super weird ..... i got your new numbers .... that's a bummer about losing my message ... cause it was awesome .... hahah if you guys really want you can send me whatever number and password and i'll do your answering machine, i'll do it in english first and then in spanish if you want haha ... let me know. i'll update the mission records tomorrow at transfer meeting. so Jordan destroyed mom's phone eh??? hahah two hands ... hmmmmmmm i think the last time they had Two hand phones was when they had those ones you had to Wind up like in England and stuff ... haha well i'm glad you got the whole phone thing figured out. i'll do my best to take a few good pics with Elder Durrant outside .... although the outside is just as ghetto as the inside .... hahaha and that hazourdous sign is all over in bakersfield ... and no it's on the Zone Leaders apartment complex ... i about died laughing when i read it ..... who would want to live there ...... NOT ME! sorry about the small pics ..... for a few of the pics i lowerd the ISO so i could take a pic in low light and because i don't have to hold the camera still with those .... also the ones of Elder Durrant sleeping i couldn't use flash or he'd wake up too soon .... but i won't do that anymore ... haha and no i wasn't in the basketball pics cause i didn't play! my hands aren't the most coordinated things. but Elder Cortez from SA loves soccer so now we play soccer every other week and i do play for those ... its fun although i can barely walk afterwards haha. that's cool about the paper route jordan ... i think i did that as a sub for brent a few times and for someone else ... keep saving money for your goals. Yeah the swine flu is crazy, everyone in Elder Pulhams family is sick with it .... weird ... and the MTC still has it. no one has it here though, just the regular flu cause it got cold and rainy on Tuesday and Wed .... then ok on Thursday and then Friday and Saturday were super hot and humid and nasty .... i almost died. but i'm taking care of my health. i feel fine and don't really get sick too often anyway. i have been feeling great, i love cold weather .... my knee is still bothering me but i thnk it's cause of the increased humidity. ohhhh and i almost forgot! I WAS IN AN EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!!! Friday night we had a small 5 sec earthquake. we were planning for the next day and i said... "maybe we should knock doors at 4" then the whole room started shaking haha so we decided that God didn't want us to go tracting at 4 haha. supposedly there is supposed to be a bigger one coming one of these days. most missionaries have like 2 or 3 earthquakes during their mission. it was a cool experience haha. we've decided that California is going to fall off into the sea anyway cause it such a sin filled place.
sooo this week was an awesome week, we found 5 new investigators and got out of the slump we were in. stuff is slowly starting to pick back up and hopefully me being senior comp doesn't make it go back down. i just plan on working hard and trying to get to know the area. sooooooo Elder Durrant gave me a really good idea that i want to run by you guys. Since BHL is leaving before i get back we won't see each other for 4 years. when that happens it's common (depends on mission president) for the Elder who is in the field to be able to call his brother on his birthday or while he's in the MTC to talk with him. Elder durrant said that he had a friend that was in the same position as BHL and I and what they did was, i'm just going to use our names cause i don't want to write Brother a million times. BHL would come out here with me for a week and we would have a Tri-companionship so that BHL could see what it's like to be a missionary and prepare better. he would do everything that i do just not be officially set apart as an Elder. follow schedule follow the same rules i do, wear white shirt and tie, teach, i'd teach him some spanish, i'd even let him use one of my name tags haha. and one of his other friends worked it out so that him and his brother actually got called to the same mission and they were companions at one point but i dunno cause that seems like you're picking the mission and not the Lord..... anywho, these are just some ideas that i heard, i have no idea if they are possible or how Pres Murri feels about them. i think i'm gonna try and call BHL on his birthday regardless cause it's gonna be a while. but i dunno, it will also depend on where i am in the mission area-wise and if it is feasable with BHL and you guys. it would also depend on when BHl would be going into the MTC. i dunno, tell me what you think about it. and depending on what you tell me i'll talk to Pres Murri .... or if you'd prefer it, mom you can talk to pres murri ... email better i'd think, he's a busy man.
ok gotta go, i'll take pics with Elder Durrant and with my new comp. i'll mail the new pics with new comp so you don't have to wait forever to see him. he kinda looks like me ... we'll see what happens. thanks for all your love and support. we got to give talks yesterday all the missioanries in sacrament and it was very cool, i talked on faith and having confidence in our leaders, i was kinda blunt, but it was cool, helped me build my testimony a little more ... use faith until you have a testimony, then you don't need it for that thing ... then use faith for another thing that you want a testimony of, and get that ... and little by little you gain a stronger and stronger testimony of the gospel. i know it's true! have a spectacular week everyone!
Love, Elder Larsen
you're welcome for the pics .... i don't know why the thing was smashed cause i've sent it home before like that .... plussss the USPS people sent the envelope back the first time i tryied to send it cause it was too thick to be handled by machine so i had to put an extra stamp for "hand handling"..... but apparenly it went through the machines anyway .... orrrr someone has really big strong hands ...... so i'm just shy of a year ... it's really weird .... like super weird ..... i got your new numbers .... that's a bummer about losing my message ... cause it was awesome .... hahah if you guys really want you can send me whatever number and password and i'll do your answering machine, i'll do it in english first and then in spanish if you want haha ... let me know. i'll update the mission records tomorrow at transfer meeting. so Jordan destroyed mom's phone eh??? hahah two hands ... hmmmmmmm i think the last time they had Two hand phones was when they had those ones you had to Wind up like in England and stuff ... haha well i'm glad you got the whole phone thing figured out. i'll do my best to take a few good pics with Elder Durrant outside .... although the outside is just as ghetto as the inside .... hahaha and that hazourdous sign is all over in bakersfield ... and no it's on the Zone Leaders apartment complex ... i about died laughing when i read it ..... who would want to live there ...... NOT ME! sorry about the small pics ..... for a few of the pics i lowerd the ISO so i could take a pic in low light and because i don't have to hold the camera still with those .... also the ones of Elder Durrant sleeping i couldn't use flash or he'd wake up too soon .... but i won't do that anymore ... haha and no i wasn't in the basketball pics cause i didn't play! my hands aren't the most coordinated things. but Elder Cortez from SA loves soccer so now we play soccer every other week and i do play for those ... its fun although i can barely walk afterwards haha. that's cool about the paper route jordan ... i think i did that as a sub for brent a few times and for someone else ... keep saving money for your goals. Yeah the swine flu is crazy, everyone in Elder Pulhams family is sick with it .... weird ... and the MTC still has it. no one has it here though, just the regular flu cause it got cold and rainy on Tuesday and Wed .... then ok on Thursday and then Friday and Saturday were super hot and humid and nasty .... i almost died. but i'm taking care of my health. i feel fine and don't really get sick too often anyway. i have been feeling great, i love cold weather .... my knee is still bothering me but i thnk it's cause of the increased humidity. ohhhh and i almost forgot! I WAS IN AN EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!!! Friday night we had a small 5 sec earthquake. we were planning for the next day and i said... "maybe we should knock doors at 4" then the whole room started shaking haha so we decided that God didn't want us to go tracting at 4 haha. supposedly there is supposed to be a bigger one coming one of these days. most missionaries have like 2 or 3 earthquakes during their mission. it was a cool experience haha. we've decided that California is going to fall off into the sea anyway cause it such a sin filled place.
sooo this week was an awesome week, we found 5 new investigators and got out of the slump we were in. stuff is slowly starting to pick back up and hopefully me being senior comp doesn't make it go back down. i just plan on working hard and trying to get to know the area. sooooooo Elder Durrant gave me a really good idea that i want to run by you guys. Since BHL is leaving before i get back we won't see each other for 4 years. when that happens it's common (depends on mission president) for the Elder who is in the field to be able to call his brother on his birthday or while he's in the MTC to talk with him. Elder durrant said that he had a friend that was in the same position as BHL and I and what they did was, i'm just going to use our names cause i don't want to write Brother a million times. BHL would come out here with me for a week and we would have a Tri-companionship so that BHL could see what it's like to be a missionary and prepare better. he would do everything that i do just not be officially set apart as an Elder. follow schedule follow the same rules i do, wear white shirt and tie, teach, i'd teach him some spanish, i'd even let him use one of my name tags haha. and one of his other friends worked it out so that him and his brother actually got called to the same mission and they were companions at one point but i dunno cause that seems like you're picking the mission and not the Lord..... anywho, these are just some ideas that i heard, i have no idea if they are possible or how Pres Murri feels about them. i think i'm gonna try and call BHL on his birthday regardless cause it's gonna be a while. but i dunno, it will also depend on where i am in the mission area-wise and if it is feasable with BHL and you guys. it would also depend on when BHl would be going into the MTC. i dunno, tell me what you think about it. and depending on what you tell me i'll talk to Pres Murri .... or if you'd prefer it, mom you can talk to pres murri ... email better i'd think, he's a busy man.
ok gotta go, i'll take pics with Elder Durrant and with my new comp. i'll mail the new pics with new comp so you don't have to wait forever to see him. he kinda looks like me ... we'll see what happens. thanks for all your love and support. we got to give talks yesterday all the missioanries in sacrament and it was very cool, i talked on faith and having confidence in our leaders, i was kinda blunt, but it was cool, helped me build my testimony a little more ... use faith until you have a testimony, then you don't need it for that thing ... then use faith for another thing that you want a testimony of, and get that ... and little by little you gain a stronger and stronger testimony of the gospel. i know it's true! have a spectacular week everyone!
Love, Elder Larsen
Monday, October 12, 2009
one more week
Que Onda familia?
hey guys, sorry that you haven't gotten my pics yet ... well i don't think you have, i sent them off and then i got it back the next day cause i had to put an extra stamp on it for "non machinable" something-ness cause i put my card in the envelope ... never had that happen before, but whatevs i put it back in the mail and i think you should get it today if you haven't already got it. ummm favor, Elder Hawes lost this camera and all his pics, so he was wondering if mom could get all the pics and vids that i took during the time i was with him and put them on a CD and send them to either me or him. he'd be really apprieciative. and i do remember that i did forget the camera for the Quel's wedding ... i'll look at the pics that i have with me and hopefully i have some, cause Elder Hawes was the one who took them all ... but we did print all of them out and we gave them a photo album of their baptizm and wedding so they for sure have copies of the pics ... sorry ... i'll look though and if i find any i'll send them home. so this week flew by as usual, we worked hard and met most of our goals, next monday we have transfers, we're pretty sure that Durrant is leaving, so we'll see who i get and if i get made senior ... kinda hoping not but we'll see what happens, it'd probably, as much as i hate to say it, be good for me, force me to strech myself n stuff. and no worries about the short letter this week, you made up for it with my wonderful B-day package. Elder Durrant got a B-day package of cookies from his Grandma, and is still waiting for the 2 from his parents ... they sent the packages fed-ex ... note ... never do that ... bad idea. i do remember the consistency talk, it was good, something i'm not very good at, i need to learn how to be more consistant. hahaha mother how could you have dozed during Hollands Talk haha he was practically yelling the whole time. his talk was very powerful, well given. he's every missionaries favorite apostol. jeezz the pic of Conner and Tyler, they're huge!!! bigger than grandma! it's getting cold here too, its supposed to rain tomorrow and wednesday! the leaves don't change here ... well ... all we have is palm tree leaves haha. i like rain and cold weather, my knees don't but i do! haha. knees are hangin in there, haven't worsened to bad yet. you have some pretty cool pics of taylor playing football. a few weeks left in the football season. mom you sound busy with all the yearbook stuff you have to do, it's alright cause you're good at multi-tasking. i honestly kinda miss yard work ... we hardly ever do any "work" as missionaries cause no one wants to let us help them cause we'll dirty our clothes. soooo i took pics and a short Vid, some members gave the other Elders in our ward some cooked ... rather just dried "crikets" to eat. kind of a delicacy/snack food i guess ..... sooo they called us up and told us and i had them bring a bag home .... soooo i ate a couple of the little suckers and they aren't that bad haha ... really really salty, kinda almost reminded me of veggimite, just crunchy. anywho, the weirdest thing i've eaten on my mission yet ... and i got a whole bag of them. Adam Kinnaman, i heard that he had lost a ton of weight, i'm glad he's home, he'll be able to help Kyle get ready for his mission, i'm going to write to kyle today if i get a chance ... i have like 7 letters to write today .... got alot of mail this week. YAY for cool stationary, i've already gotten alot of compliments about it haha. haha mom you made wheat bread? cool! thats all i buy now cause i realized how bad for you white bread really is .... haha i miss your home made bread, i just barely remember it, i remember the bread maker machine too. good memories. guessing the surgery went well with Kenidee, still looks pretty nasty. there's already snow in the mountains??? isn't that super early to have snow in the mountains???? nice costume kenidee ..... what are you? AH so for halloween we have to come in early cause they don't want us out at night .... but we have a district meeting and i think we may get to carve pumkins of something cool like that, i'll be sure to take pics. sooooo this past weekend we had 2 baptizms, Maria and Samantha, the two little girls that we almost baptized like a month ago, but then had to give them up to the english Elders .... they got baptized and confirmed memebers of the church this past weekend, it was sweet, i gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and we got to see them get confirmed. it was pretty sweet. we had a really good lesson with Ramona about gambling and making changes in our lives in order to put them more in harmony with the commandments of God. and she agreed to continue working toward baptizm! yay for her, she is doing pretty good. we found out that Carlos was lying to us and hasn't stopped smoking, butttt we had a really good lesson, and he is resolved to stop, and bought some nicotine gum to help and is still working toward baptizm. hopefully he continues in this path. other than that a pretty normal week, we are having a bit of problems finding new investigators, but are hoping to improve in that area this week. there is some kid from Logan coming into the mission this next transfer he is spanish i think, so hopefully i get to meet him. in the next 3 transfers we are getting like 20 new spanish missionaries!!! It will be good to replenish the spanish missionaries, cause alot have been going home and not alot coming in, a few areas have had to be closed because of it. Lorrin wrote me and is doing great in WI, his spanish is no longer "MTC spanish". talked to some guy from the phillipiens and he thought we spoke tagolag haha he told us that there are a ton of Elders in the phillipiens, i thought of eric and was wishing i could speak tagolag but oh well. not much time left, we're going to play soccer again this week i'm excited. i want you all to know that i know the church is true, it was restored, and it is the only church on the earth that can provide the saving ordinances of baptism and confirmation. until next week family!!!! we'll see what happens .... i'm kinda nervous ...... ahhhhhhh
Con Carino,
Elder Larsen
PS: thanks for the letters from Mat and Casey ... it's good to know that they are doing good ..... everytime i read a letter from Casey i'm more grateful i get to serve in the states ..... BHL get ready for your mission in Albania!
hey guys, sorry that you haven't gotten my pics yet ... well i don't think you have, i sent them off and then i got it back the next day cause i had to put an extra stamp on it for "non machinable" something-ness cause i put my card in the envelope ... never had that happen before, but whatevs i put it back in the mail and i think you should get it today if you haven't already got it. ummm favor, Elder Hawes lost this camera and all his pics, so he was wondering if mom could get all the pics and vids that i took during the time i was with him and put them on a CD and send them to either me or him. he'd be really apprieciative. and i do remember that i did forget the camera for the Quel's wedding ... i'll look at the pics that i have with me and hopefully i have some, cause Elder Hawes was the one who took them all ... but we did print all of them out and we gave them a photo album of their baptizm and wedding so they for sure have copies of the pics ... sorry ... i'll look though and if i find any i'll send them home. so this week flew by as usual, we worked hard and met most of our goals, next monday we have transfers, we're pretty sure that Durrant is leaving, so we'll see who i get and if i get made senior ... kinda hoping not but we'll see what happens, it'd probably, as much as i hate to say it, be good for me, force me to strech myself n stuff. and no worries about the short letter this week, you made up for it with my wonderful B-day package. Elder Durrant got a B-day package of cookies from his Grandma, and is still waiting for the 2 from his parents ... they sent the packages fed-ex ... note ... never do that ... bad idea. i do remember the consistency talk, it was good, something i'm not very good at, i need to learn how to be more consistant. hahaha mother how could you have dozed during Hollands Talk haha he was practically yelling the whole time. his talk was very powerful, well given. he's every missionaries favorite apostol. jeezz the pic of Conner and Tyler, they're huge!!! bigger than grandma! it's getting cold here too, its supposed to rain tomorrow and wednesday! the leaves don't change here ... well ... all we have is palm tree leaves haha. i like rain and cold weather, my knees don't but i do! haha. knees are hangin in there, haven't worsened to bad yet. you have some pretty cool pics of taylor playing football. a few weeks left in the football season. mom you sound busy with all the yearbook stuff you have to do, it's alright cause you're good at multi-tasking. i honestly kinda miss yard work ... we hardly ever do any "work" as missionaries cause no one wants to let us help them cause we'll dirty our clothes. soooo i took pics and a short Vid, some members gave the other Elders in our ward some cooked ... rather just dried "crikets" to eat. kind of a delicacy/snack food i guess ..... sooo they called us up and told us and i had them bring a bag home .... soooo i ate a couple of the little suckers and they aren't that bad haha ... really really salty, kinda almost reminded me of veggimite, just crunchy. anywho, the weirdest thing i've eaten on my mission yet ... and i got a whole bag of them. Adam Kinnaman, i heard that he had lost a ton of weight, i'm glad he's home, he'll be able to help Kyle get ready for his mission, i'm going to write to kyle today if i get a chance ... i have like 7 letters to write today .... got alot of mail this week. YAY for cool stationary, i've already gotten alot of compliments about it haha. haha mom you made wheat bread? cool! thats all i buy now cause i realized how bad for you white bread really is .... haha i miss your home made bread, i just barely remember it, i remember the bread maker machine too. good memories. guessing the surgery went well with Kenidee, still looks pretty nasty. there's already snow in the mountains??? isn't that super early to have snow in the mountains???? nice costume kenidee ..... what are you? AH so for halloween we have to come in early cause they don't want us out at night .... but we have a district meeting and i think we may get to carve pumkins of something cool like that, i'll be sure to take pics. sooooo this past weekend we had 2 baptizms, Maria and Samantha, the two little girls that we almost baptized like a month ago, but then had to give them up to the english Elders .... they got baptized and confirmed memebers of the church this past weekend, it was sweet, i gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and we got to see them get confirmed. it was pretty sweet. we had a really good lesson with Ramona about gambling and making changes in our lives in order to put them more in harmony with the commandments of God. and she agreed to continue working toward baptizm! yay for her, she is doing pretty good. we found out that Carlos was lying to us and hasn't stopped smoking, butttt we had a really good lesson, and he is resolved to stop, and bought some nicotine gum to help and is still working toward baptizm. hopefully he continues in this path. other than that a pretty normal week, we are having a bit of problems finding new investigators, but are hoping to improve in that area this week. there is some kid from Logan coming into the mission this next transfer he is spanish i think, so hopefully i get to meet him. in the next 3 transfers we are getting like 20 new spanish missionaries!!! It will be good to replenish the spanish missionaries, cause alot have been going home and not alot coming in, a few areas have had to be closed because of it. Lorrin wrote me and is doing great in WI, his spanish is no longer "MTC spanish". talked to some guy from the phillipiens and he thought we spoke tagolag haha he told us that there are a ton of Elders in the phillipiens, i thought of eric and was wishing i could speak tagolag but oh well. not much time left, we're going to play soccer again this week i'm excited. i want you all to know that i know the church is true, it was restored, and it is the only church on the earth that can provide the saving ordinances of baptism and confirmation. until next week family!!!! we'll see what happens .... i'm kinda nervous ...... ahhhhhhh
Con Carino,
Elder Larsen
PS: thanks for the letters from Mat and Casey ... it's good to know that they are doing good ..... everytime i read a letter from Casey i'm more grateful i get to serve in the states ..... BHL get ready for your mission in Albania!
Monday, October 5, 2009
what a birthday!
hey fam,
wow, so you guys are the best party throwers ever. haha thank you for all your wonderful gifts, i'm going to write you all a small note thanking you for your love and kindness today (so i can write other stuff here) and send my camera card with them cause i realized today that you guys haven't had pics since august 11 so for like 2 months ... sorry. oh and you'll see in the pics, the Decorating idea and streamers were way cool, but on sunday morning we didn't have much time cause we had to get to conference so i quickly stuck up two streamers and then just decorated myself ... you'll see. thank you for all your cards, my favorite part of my birthday morning was reading all them ... you all should go into the card making business ... you'd make alot of $$. a few families in my ward here heard about my birthday and so we all ate lunch and cake between conference, and then later last night we had cake and ice cream at a members house, her name is rosa and she is really kind to us, we go over there every sunday and she feeds us. and then a week ago for Elder Durrant's b-day another member had a small party for him and I and we got to eat cake and celebrate our birthdays together (that will be the pic of me biting the cake, it's a tradition that usually ends up with the persons head getting smashed into the cake ... but not me!) so all in all my birthday was awesome, i recieved more than i could have asked for. PLUS i got to listen to conference ... i'm not quite sure why conference never affected me before my mission ... it's like a missionaries dream to listen to conference, seriously, it's like a little kid with candy. this past conference was filled with some great counsil about how we should treat our brothers and sisters here in the earth, i hope you all paied attention, don't be like i was and just try to find a way where mom couldn't see me sleep. the privilige that we have to listen to a modern day prophet and 12 apostols of the lord is not enjoyed by many. think about it, 14-ish million members of the church right? a million is one thousand, thousands, and we have 14-ish of those, a bit hard to comprehend for me, that is quite a big number, lots of people. now, in the world we figured around 6 or 7 billion people, a Billion is, one thousand, millions. try and pass that one through your thinker. sooooo in reality and with comparison to the world, almost no one enjoys the blessings we do by having a guide from God, a modern day moses. soooooo what does that mean, it means that i got alot of work to do, their are only 50 something thousand missionaries world wide, sooo what is the answer, MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK. we use that alot for our referal lesson to get members to get excieted about missionary work and to give us referalls. but the conference was amazing, i took some good notes, i think, and plan to study the conference talks when they come out next month. by listening to conference my testimony of the church was strengthened, how can one not believe what Elder Holland said about the Book of Mormon, or Elder Anderson when he talked of true repentance, or of our prophet when he taught us how to love in place of getting angry. haha or Elder Bednar's BIG "Smack in the Face" about hypocracy ... all i can say is that i personally have alot to work on and to improve and to fix. for me i have learned that we must progress in life, no matter what. it's like a big 6 lane highway, lots of different lanes lots of different types of cars going at different speeds ... but they are all progressing in the same direction. ok forrrrrrr responces to mom's letter. 1st i'm glad that i'm in the USA cause i like hot water and mail. 2nd i'm no longer a teenager even though when i recieved the letter i still was haha. Ramona is doing ok, we are waiting to hear back from president about a question we had concerning her, she recieves a social security check and it doesn't always make ends meet, so when she needs a little extra money ... she goes to the casino, now the church is opposed to that but it isn't a commandment so techinically she we don't think it should hold her back from getting baptized but we aren't sure. she isn't addicted to it but at the same time it's like Word of Wisdom, i could drink a beer and not get addicted, sooooo we called pres and he has to ask his supeririors ... we'll see what happens. my left knee is still being real dumb and bothersome, i think it's cause it's getting alot colder here maybe, but i'll keep wearing the magnets and wraps. Elder Durrant's fam sent him packages by Fed-Ex and he never told them our actual address, cause his family wouldn't be able to follow him around the mission, they would just keep sending stuff to that address ... by the way he explained it they just don't seem quite on the ball with things. anywho, so they sent it to the mission office and the mission office can't forward stuff unless it comes through the postal service ... so long story short, he is still waiting for birhtday packages. i got Gma's gum drop cookies and promptly put them in the freezer cause i want to make them last a long time, i still have Gma Larsen's cookies in there still. the corn maze idea sounds fun, take pics of the ward garden hahah such a Utah thing ... lagoon sounded fun, i love lagoon, and hate the scary ride there, hahaha bad experiances. and i'm sure BHL was in a sense grateful for the swine flu in that instance, is the girl ok? how was the womans conference? i think i remember the first fall festival of Thomas Edion school, or at least it was the first i remember cause got all painted up and made balloons for everyone. texas is officially 2 eh? how did you celebrate his B-day? Last pinewood derby huh? wow ... that is weird. how did the Block do? it sure looked cool! HA mom you are gonna pass me up in my reading, i just finished Isaiah ... some good stuff in there but it's like the MTC all over again, ya just want to ice your brain after you finish with a chapter ... sometimes a verse. sleeping in every once in a while is good for you (this excludes missionaries for some odd reason...;] ) just gotta make sure you do your scripture reading, like the heart surgen 70 guy said yesterday, he had stopped reading and praying intentfully and he lost his desire to attend church. the basic things are important. i've been having trouble sleeping this week, i wake up and can't fall back asleep ... first time in my life this has happened, sooooo hopefully it passes ... plus this week everyone has decided to start talking in their sleep ... seriously, Durrant talks in spanish sometimes, usually just mumbles grammatically correct sentances but with weird words, Pulham sings "Let Zion In Her Beauty Rise" loudly (they sang the song in conference, that is our mission song all the missionaries know it, its an amazing powerful song but almost no one has ever heard of it), and Beck just yells stuff and it ALL wakes me up. anywho, so we'll see where that goes. Carlos hasn't smoked for a WEEK! he is finally progressing, slow but steady, so at this rate he will be able to be baptized on the 24th of OCT!!! and Maria and Samantha, those two little girls who we taught EVERYTHING but then had to give them up to the english elders >:{ are going to get baptized this weekend! so although the work sometimes goes slow, we still have smalll miricles. time is up, the comp is gonna kick me off, i love you all alot and wish that everything is going welll with you. again thank you so much for you love and support, i really couldn't/wouldn't be here without you, you all possess some of the "ity" attributes that were talked about yesterday. thank you all for everything, the church is true and the Book Of Mormon is a true testiment of Christ, as so stated and declared by Elder Holland. I love you all!
Con Carino, (that is spelled with the squiggly thing above the n...i just can't figure out how to do it on this comp)
Elder Larsen
PS: thanks for the letters from my cousins and eric, it's good to know they are doing ok.
wow, so you guys are the best party throwers ever. haha thank you for all your wonderful gifts, i'm going to write you all a small note thanking you for your love and kindness today (so i can write other stuff here) and send my camera card with them cause i realized today that you guys haven't had pics since august 11 so for like 2 months ... sorry. oh and you'll see in the pics, the Decorating idea and streamers were way cool, but on sunday morning we didn't have much time cause we had to get to conference so i quickly stuck up two streamers and then just decorated myself ... you'll see. thank you for all your cards, my favorite part of my birthday morning was reading all them ... you all should go into the card making business ... you'd make alot of $$. a few families in my ward here heard about my birthday and so we all ate lunch and cake between conference, and then later last night we had cake and ice cream at a members house, her name is rosa and she is really kind to us, we go over there every sunday and she feeds us. and then a week ago for Elder Durrant's b-day another member had a small party for him and I and we got to eat cake and celebrate our birthdays together (that will be the pic of me biting the cake, it's a tradition that usually ends up with the persons head getting smashed into the cake ... but not me!) so all in all my birthday was awesome, i recieved more than i could have asked for. PLUS i got to listen to conference ... i'm not quite sure why conference never affected me before my mission ... it's like a missionaries dream to listen to conference, seriously, it's like a little kid with candy. this past conference was filled with some great counsil about how we should treat our brothers and sisters here in the earth, i hope you all paied attention, don't be like i was and just try to find a way where mom couldn't see me sleep. the privilige that we have to listen to a modern day prophet and 12 apostols of the lord is not enjoyed by many. think about it, 14-ish million members of the church right? a million is one thousand, thousands, and we have 14-ish of those, a bit hard to comprehend for me, that is quite a big number, lots of people. now, in the world we figured around 6 or 7 billion people, a Billion is, one thousand, millions. try and pass that one through your thinker. sooooo in reality and with comparison to the world, almost no one enjoys the blessings we do by having a guide from God, a modern day moses. soooooo what does that mean, it means that i got alot of work to do, their are only 50 something thousand missionaries world wide, sooo what is the answer, MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK. we use that alot for our referal lesson to get members to get excieted about missionary work and to give us referalls. but the conference was amazing, i took some good notes, i think, and plan to study the conference talks when they come out next month. by listening to conference my testimony of the church was strengthened, how can one not believe what Elder Holland said about the Book of Mormon, or Elder Anderson when he talked of true repentance, or of our prophet when he taught us how to love in place of getting angry. haha or Elder Bednar's BIG "Smack in the Face" about hypocracy ... all i can say is that i personally have alot to work on and to improve and to fix. for me i have learned that we must progress in life, no matter what. it's like a big 6 lane highway, lots of different lanes lots of different types of cars going at different speeds ... but they are all progressing in the same direction. ok forrrrrrr responces to mom's letter. 1st i'm glad that i'm in the USA cause i like hot water and mail. 2nd i'm no longer a teenager even though when i recieved the letter i still was haha. Ramona is doing ok, we are waiting to hear back from president about a question we had concerning her, she recieves a social security check and it doesn't always make ends meet, so when she needs a little extra money ... she goes to the casino, now the church is opposed to that but it isn't a commandment so techinically she we don't think it should hold her back from getting baptized but we aren't sure. she isn't addicted to it but at the same time it's like Word of Wisdom, i could drink a beer and not get addicted, sooooo we called pres and he has to ask his supeririors ... we'll see what happens. my left knee is still being real dumb and bothersome, i think it's cause it's getting alot colder here maybe, but i'll keep wearing the magnets and wraps. Elder Durrant's fam sent him packages by Fed-Ex and he never told them our actual address, cause his family wouldn't be able to follow him around the mission, they would just keep sending stuff to that address ... by the way he explained it they just don't seem quite on the ball with things. anywho, so they sent it to the mission office and the mission office can't forward stuff unless it comes through the postal service ... so long story short, he is still waiting for birhtday packages. i got Gma's gum drop cookies and promptly put them in the freezer cause i want to make them last a long time, i still have Gma Larsen's cookies in there still. the corn maze idea sounds fun, take pics of the ward garden hahah such a Utah thing ... lagoon sounded fun, i love lagoon, and hate the scary ride there, hahaha bad experiances. and i'm sure BHL was in a sense grateful for the swine flu in that instance, is the girl ok? how was the womans conference? i think i remember the first fall festival of Thomas Edion school, or at least it was the first i remember cause got all painted up and made balloons for everyone. texas is officially 2 eh? how did you celebrate his B-day? Last pinewood derby huh? wow ... that is weird. how did the Block do? it sure looked cool! HA mom you are gonna pass me up in my reading, i just finished Isaiah ... some good stuff in there but it's like the MTC all over again, ya just want to ice your brain after you finish with a chapter ... sometimes a verse. sleeping in every once in a while is good for you (this excludes missionaries for some odd reason...;] ) just gotta make sure you do your scripture reading, like the heart surgen 70 guy said yesterday, he had stopped reading and praying intentfully and he lost his desire to attend church. the basic things are important. i've been having trouble sleeping this week, i wake up and can't fall back asleep ... first time in my life this has happened, sooooo hopefully it passes ... plus this week everyone has decided to start talking in their sleep ... seriously, Durrant talks in spanish sometimes, usually just mumbles grammatically correct sentances but with weird words, Pulham sings "Let Zion In Her Beauty Rise" loudly (they sang the song in conference, that is our mission song all the missionaries know it, its an amazing powerful song but almost no one has ever heard of it), and Beck just yells stuff and it ALL wakes me up. anywho, so we'll see where that goes. Carlos hasn't smoked for a WEEK! he is finally progressing, slow but steady, so at this rate he will be able to be baptized on the 24th of OCT!!! and Maria and Samantha, those two little girls who we taught EVERYTHING but then had to give them up to the english elders >:{ are going to get baptized this weekend! so although the work sometimes goes slow, we still have smalll miricles. time is up, the comp is gonna kick me off, i love you all alot and wish that everything is going welll with you. again thank you so much for you love and support, i really couldn't/wouldn't be here without you, you all possess some of the "ity" attributes that were talked about yesterday. thank you all for everything, the church is true and the Book Of Mormon is a true testiment of Christ, as so stated and declared by Elder Holland. I love you all!
Con Carino, (that is spelled with the squiggly thing above the n...i just can't figure out how to do it on this comp)
Elder Larsen
PS: thanks for the letters from my cousins and eric, it's good to know they are doing ok.
Monday, September 28, 2009
week 3....terminado
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
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
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