Week 12

Nov. 2, 2015

Dear Fabulous Mother of mine,

I just want to wish everybody a Happy Halloween, sadly I wasn't allowed to dress up this year and we were locked in our apartments at 5:00 pm. This week on the other hand has been amazing. On Monday we had P-day and I played basketball with Elder Jennings, Van Wagoner, Nelson, Mun, Tate, and my companion Elder Hales, it was way better than church ball because for one, people actually passed the ball around and secondly, I made a few baskets so it was pretty cool. That night we taught this really devote Catholic family and the father was taking notes on our lesson which included the Restoration and Plan of Salvation, they invited us over six weeks from now though, because they are going on vacation. Tuesday We finished mowing and trimming Fran's lawn, it was another three hour job, then we mowed the Atehortua's lawn for letting us use their lawn mower and weed whacker. Taught our nice Chinese investigators Gary and Emile, Gary explained that he didn't want to be baptized until he knew what we taught was true, so we committed him to continue praying and reading and going to church, that by doing so, he will receive a witness of the holy ghost. Wednesday Elder Hales and I gave a church tour to our investigator Griffon. Griffon just randomly wanted to go to church so he went with his friend Ian a member of our church and he wants a closer relationship with God, he is 24 and single and works at a coffee shop. He really felt the spirit during the church tour and is meeting us this Wednesday to learn more from us.

We worked at the thrift shop as per usual and they gave us licorice for our volunteering services. We met with the Seldens to teach their nephew Piero, it was interesting considering we had to have the parents translate what we said, because Piero only speaks Spanish. Why couldn't I just bring Jacob and have him teach for me, anyway it was good the Seldens always feed us when we are over. Then we had dinner with the Behnkes. They are an older couple and they are just hysterical, Sister Behnke was just called as Relief Society President, so you want to get on her good side. :) We then taught another person, who hasn't been feeling to well sadly, he said that he knows what we teach is true, but Elder Hales and I know their is something holding him back, because he still won't come to church, but we will continue to work with him. Thursday we met with a potential investigator that we met six weeks ago and gave her a Book of Mormon, we came to her house many times, but she was never home. However, when she opened the door we knew she was mad, apparently she had been reading the book and got to the part where the Lamanites are cursed and she being African American took serious offense to that and said that she could never join such a racist church, man she was mad, so Elder Hales and I tried to explain the circumstances, but she wasn't having it. After that episode we knocked on a door and big guy opened the door, we stood our ground and talked to him, he is 24 and going to college, parents are Jewish, but not practicing, his name was Jacob. We taught the Restoration and he was really interested, we are meeting him next Monday to teach. We taught our on date investigator Vicki and we watched a couple of videos about Jesus Christ, but since we don't have I pads we had to figure out how to use her DVD player, man it has been so long since I have touched one of those. The lesson was awesome and she really enjoyed the videos.

Friday we had a great District meeting, Elder Hales did a great job teaching us how to apply the Book of Mormon better when teaching, after that the day was pretty slow, only excitement was thrift shop, we did have a lesson planned with Stella, but something came up and she cancelled. Saturday we had coordination and we decided that to better involve Josh was to get him to mutual, so for this to work, Elder hales and I are going to plan a mutual activity and invite Josh and his friends to it, I am so excited for it. We had a lesson with an investigator planned, but they cancelled, so we did lots of tracting, Elder hales and I biked six miles all the way south to tract and we were lucky that the first door we knocked on we met a guy, Tate Givens, he has read the Bible and wants to learn more, we then saw a house boat, a boat dragged onto land and then remodeled to be more like a house, that was cool. We rode six miles back to our apartment, because we had to be locked in at five. Time zones changed one hour back, so we got an extra hour of sleep.

Sunday we had a couple of less actives show up and they actually bared their testimonies. Vicki showed up as per usual. Smiley showed up again, he isn't interested in taking lessons yet, but likes coming to our church. Stella, our Jewish investigator, also showed up and for her this is a huge step, she said she loved it and felt the spirit there. Statent, a member who just moved here asked us if we could give his sick, pregnant wife a blessing, we of course said yes. His wife's name is Courtney and she was born without her two lower legs and her right arm, she can walk around on her knees and she writes 70 words a minute. She has been pregnant for two months, after passing the sacrament to her, we asked who she would like to give her a blessing and she said she wanted me to do it. So I gave her a priesthood blessing and the spirit was so strong, Elder Hales said that it wasn't even me talking, but if was like an angle was speaking through me. It was the best experience for me so far on my mission. Statent showed his appreciation to us by giving us adjustments, because he is a chiropractor and said that if we ever need to be adjusted to just visit him and he will do it. He was so cool, he was actually part of a band called Iron Rod, so if you want his autograph I can hook you up. I had smoked Salmon with Bishop Post. Met with Joshua's mom and got to know her better and she is very encouraging of letting Josh choose his own path. This past week has been a major blessing to me and as always I pray for everybody's safety and well being. Peace!

With Love, Elder M. Larson