Lunch at Chick fil a and a bunch of Golf Junkies!

Week 36

Last Pday we played Golf with Bro Hunter and surprisingly I was able to hit the ball straight, maybe I can go into Golfing after my mission 

The rest of the week went along smoothly, Elder Sorensen and I are going to step it up this transfer  So look forward to some major excitement!

Played a lot of Basketball with kids on the street, sorry Mom, but we have been playing in our white shirts and slacks Our weekly Book of Mormon club went amazingly well again, reading 1 Nephi 13-14, it's been really good especially for our Recent Converts and Less Actives coming back and even for myself, I learn more from it and how it applies in my life! Did our usual services at Annies and the Food Bank. They were happy we were not transferred. We live action role played the plan of Salvation with our 8yr old Investigator Caitlynn Kille. Went on Splits with Lyle and Bro. Hunter, I went with Lyle to teach Charlotte about Forgiveness and Elder Sorensen and Hunter taught Linda the Word of Wisdom. 

Zone Blitz: Seattle/Everett Missionaries visited all the Less active Single adults and we met two very cool adults, one is going to Kenya Africa and the other doesn't want to go, because he said the people in the singles ward are single for a reason, but we will push him along.   Ate lunch at Five Guys with the Relf family, I was confused, because there was no fry sauce, but I later learned thats apparently a Utah thing 

Stake Conference, we sat in the back, Cause we the cool kids  with Linda, she liked it a lot!

Had a really blessed Sunday and hope all of you did too, going to Church is the best habit you will ever make! and I truly believe in that. I love you all and pray for blessings and miracles in your lives!

With Love, Elder Matthew Larson

P.S. Happy B-Day Bri 

Sunset, Ward Correlation, Bro. Lyle Smith -Ward Mission Leader

Zone and District

Week 35

We had Zone Sports Day! playing Soccer, I almost made some goals, my Companion Elder Sorensen was the goalie for the other team and kept blocking my shots I was like "It's always you! really though I had a great time! Had dinner with the Nickles, ate food or something? played 3 way chess with their boy Austin, we teamed up and beat Elder Sorensen, then Austin turned around and demolished me! Saw our good friend Vincent, he sprained his ankle, so we cheered him up and gave him a Tie, since he doesn't own any and his wife Blanca was like "now we need to buy a white shirt and get ya to church."  Had an Amazing last District meeting, Everybody brought treatsyummy! Visited our residential Call of Duty master Bro. Thessian, he is 85 and claims to have the fastest thumb in the West! Ate really good orange Chicken with the Hills family and their boy Marius was showing off all his lego creations, he is a good kid! Went to Book of Mormon Club and read 1 Nephi 9-11, we held it at the Picketts house and they did a great job explaining what was going on! 
 Made some Chickfila at Annies, I was excited, it felt oh so familiar! Bro. Shaw went out with us to meet Charlotte and she was prepping her son Ethan for his concert, who knew he could play Violin.  Had dinner with the Andersen's, good old Sloppy Joe's!  Contacted Edmonds Beach and saw one of the most beautiful sunsets of my life, I almost Cried Almost! Worked at the West Gate FoodBank and as always had lots of fun! Ate Veggie Lasagna with Jan Lee and her Grandkids and her grandkids are by far the sassiest kids I have ever seen Helped a Jehovah Witness family move in and Ky the YM president was with us, with his son Jonah. The family was very appreciative of it, their kids Morgan and Matt were huge nerds, so they fit in well with the ward 

Played B-ball at West Gate, got some good shots! Jill and Charlotte got in a car crash, a guy ran a stop sign, hit them, then drove away! We gonna find you, so you can run and tell that to your home boy! So we visited Jill and Charlotte to see if they needed anything, but they were completely fine!  Church was fantastic, Ate dinner with the Hunters and the kids said what they liked about their dad, but then it Escalated and they were telling all the embarrassing stories of their dad, it was Hilarious for sure! Taught our good friend Linda the Law of Tithing and she was surprised that we told her we don't pass a plate around and her mind was literally blown when we told her the bishop doesn't get paid!  

Charlottes family and Jill's family

Mission Picnic

My new bike

Week 34

Here is the breakdown of my week

"Explosion"

That's at least what it felt like! 

Some amazing members bought me a bike and fixed Elder Sorensen's too, so now we bike around and the buses allow bikes on it, so we are Bus/bike missionaries! I baked a bunch of cookies this week and they are killer, this recipe a member gave us is the bomb! so we have been giving cookies to our members and investigators.  We gave some to this family, only the mom is a member, her husband just sprained his ankle, so we brought cookies to cheer him up, but he wasn't home and the kids were like " he'd be lucky to get even one", oh dear  Went to mutual with the youth at the Edmonds Park, we had just had dinner with the Josephats eating Ribs, so we were in a real good mood! Daniel an investigator we are working with, came and he just had so much fun with the other kids! We spent a lot of time with the Relf family, they kept inviting us over and since they had investigators with them it was fine, but man they had us over for Breakfast, Lunch, and dinner in one day and each time was with a different investigator  they sure are cool. There was a special mission conference, so we went to that and it was good, I learned a lot! If anything this week I feel like I have really learned more about myself and my testimony. Being with Elder Sorensen has been a lot of fun!

 I realized that the gospel is not telling us to change who we are, because that's you and you can't change it, but the Gospel helps us discover our best selves, so discover your best self and do it!

I'm not going to keep this secret! This past week I had a lot of Persecution and Adversity, but none of that affects me in the least bit, make fun of me all you want, what we have to share is how we find true happiness, if you don't want it, we will leave, but you will be missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime! I have a testimony of our message, it isn't about converting others to Mormonism rather it's helping them find everlasting joy and Happiness and I share that with you all in the name of Jesus Christ Amen

With Pure Love, Elder Larson

Bounce house with Ryland, then Kylee

Week 43

Man where do I even start? I guess I will start with the BoM Club! The club went fantastic, we do something different with it, instead of holding it at the church building we hold it at members homes, this time we held it at the Pickitts house and their house is big and beautiful and they really ran the show with the discussion. Ana Luiza and Charlotte showed up and we read 1 Nephi Ch 5 to 7 and we had 16 people there  it was the best turn out yet!!! We did Service for Jan Lee a member, helping her build a Bunk Bed and helped her put in new doors, her husband Dave a Nonmember is so cool and we finally figured out how we can get to him *Mischievous laugh* Went on Exchanges to the Spanish Ward and oh boy, my High School Spanish was useless, but I could pick up the conversation the second they talked about food cause lets be honest whatever language it is, you know when somebody is talking about food had a great Italian Dinner with a Spanish member who could speak fluent English thank goodness! I was with Elder Simons by the way during that exchange he was cool, I was nervous when he was driving, because he is blind in his right eye, but I lived through it so it's fine! Made Poptart Milkshakes with this 14 year old boy we are working with, his name is Daniel he has had an abusive father and a harsh past, but he is also really spiritual and we made some awesome Poptart Milkshakes you all should try it! Daniel's Sorta Brotha was there and he was excited about the milkshakes that he also wanted help in making a Japanese dish, so it was a great meal! Cathy, Daniel's Grandma was so grateful that we were befriending her grandchildren and teaching them about Christ even though she is not Mormon she respects us and we respect her  Talked to Jamie a Less active boy we are teaching, showed the new Mormon Message Life's Drama and he really liked it and said that the more he is around us the happier he feels, we committed him to pray and be sincere too, because he is a great kid he justs needs to know there is a father in heaven who loves him! Went to a child of record Baptism for the Keoki Shaw and the Shaws are a huge Starwars family, they are cool, they have a son that is 3 named Andrew and Andrew really likes me and shares his candy with me and he gave me a hug and the parents were like "He never does that unless he really likes you", which is funny, because he could never remember my name, he calls me "You Guy"!   

Now for my Favorite Event this Week!!!!

BOUNCE HOUSE PARTAY!!!!!!!!

Yep we had a Bounce House Party. we held it at our Ward Mission leaders home and we invited members with young families to it, so lots of kids! Charlotte our Investigator made it and she brought her Kids Ethan(11) and Kylee(7) and those kids went crazy and made a lot of new friends! the Barbecue part went swell we had some Part Member Families there so it was great to have fellowshippers to befriend them! the best part was when Ryland(7) wanted to go into the Bounce House, but couldn't, because of a hand injury, so he could only go in if everybody got out, but even then he didn't want to jump unless somebody was in there so he had ME go in there with him, so I bet everybody was like " what is that missionary doing"!   All in all it was fantastic, Ethan, Charlotte's son told Bonnie(Ward Mission Learders Wife) that he had a lot of fun and that he was thankful that he was invited! Charlotte told us that Ethan never says thank you by himself, Ethan has also had ruff couple of months since his Father and older brother left their family it seems like we are doing something right, but really it is the Lord who is touching Ethan's life and reminding him that he still Loved!!!