Week 58

Tis the Season to be Jolly, it's that time of the year already, Christmas! and boy am I excited, this is the time of year when many people are humbled and want to hear more about Jesus, which is a huge change from last year, where 90% of people I talked to were Jewish and didn't want to hear about Jesus...

Last week had a Fantastic P-Day with my Boyz Elder Francis and Smith! We have such a special bond with our district, I would do anything for them and they would do anything for me. We are that Tight, sadly we are not as tight with the Sisters, but they are still Awesome, Sister Orr and Jenne definitely raise the Faith in our District, they are so Diligent and work super hard!

We had our second to last District Meeting, it went super well and we even had Pumpkin Pancakes afterwards as a Zone, thanks to our Lovely Russian Senior Couple the Petersons! 

Thanksgiving Eve we helped bro. Bishop (Not the Actual Bishop) repair an old shed, it was Fun using Crowbars and Hammers, he got us really good pizza from a fancy Pizzeria, it was so good!

Thanksgiving, had a Talent Show as a mission in the Morning, some Out of the Normal Missionary Life stuff happened and I mustn't say more.... There were some really good talents, I was bummed though, because they didn't want me to show my talent, because it wasn't "Spiritual", you kidding me what can be more spiritual than a Smeagol impersonation!

Had a Beautiful Thanksgiving dinner with Sister Lukrofka, she had recently lost her Husband, all her kids and grand kids were there, it was a very touching Thanksgiving for me, everybody was bearing there testimony on the Plan of Salvation, it was Awesome

Day after we cut wood for another widow in our ward, sister Nebekar, we went through about 8quarts of wood, which in Lumber terms, means A Lot! Luckily we had a wood splitter and a couple of Strong Axe Men, Elder Jenson being one of them, that boy is Strong. I enjoy cutting wood so much, since we never get to do it in Arizona, we were there for three and half Hours, it was a good day, though my muscles were sore for a bit...

Day after that we raked leaves for another widow in the ward Sister Kristofferson, we were there for two hours and her yard and driveway have never looked better, at least thats what she told us

Sunday!!!!! Derek, let me tell you his story... He is divorced with two kids and recently got into dating, he met Christie, also divorced with two kids, she tells him she is Mormon, Derek's interest Piqued, he wanted to know for himself if Mormonism is True, for he is a Truth-Seeker. He came to our ward last week with his now Girlfriend Christie, He felt the spirit strongly and said this is where he wants to be, but First he needed to know, is the Book of Mormon True. He went to a Mountain and Fasted and Prayed, pleading to God to give him an Answer. He came to church yesterday and told everyone he got his answer, he pointed to the subtitle just under the Title "The Book of Mormon" and proclaimed without a shadow of doubt that what that subtitle said is true, it says "Another Testament of Jesus Christ", Derek has gone to the Lord in Prayer and came  out with the answer, he knows now that it's true, yet his journey does not end here, his tale still continues, but the path that Derek has chosen, will give him his Hearts Desire! 

Love and Prayers, Elder Larson

Week 57

That Crazy thing I was going to do last week, didn't happen, I got Ratted out 

Oh well I guess you will never know what I was going to do till after my Mission...

Sorry had a boring Week this week, Nothing Too Important Happy

Hopefully Ill have more to say next Week 

Love Elder Larson

Week 56

District meeting with the President.

Yep to answer my parents Questions, yes I am a District Leader Now and have been for the past three weeks...

It is an interesting experience to know that you have missionaries relying on you to serve and lead them.

In my District is Elder Francis(MTC Companion) and Elder Smth in NorthCreek, Sister Orr and Jenne in Bothell Russian South speaking Russian!, and Elder and Sister Petersen a Senior Couple they also speak Russian! Then theirs me and Elder Jenson in Cottage Lake speaking English 

Last Monday we had so much fun with the NorthCreek Elders, we are not allowed to hang with Elders on P-day, but Elder Jenson needed to go to the Clinic, so we talked for an hour and it was great to get to know them better, we are their ride too, so we get to talk to them a lot in the car :)

Tuesday we surprisingly had District Meeting, I wasn't scheduled, but I get a District scenario at 8pm at night with the Zone Leaders saying there is in fact District Meeting tomorrow. With the Little time I had I prepared a great District Meeting, but Right before it starts, President Schofields walks right in my District Meeting  I kept my cool and we did our District meeting and it was Great, Pres. Schofield really liked it!

We did a District Blitz in NorthCreek, helped the Elders get a new Investigator! We got a new one ourselves up here in Cottage Lake, her name is Simo, Italian mother of 4, she is interested in the plan of Salvation, so we will be looking forward to that this week! Had Zone Training and had to report on the Zone and man all my District Leader Companions make District Leading look easy..Exchanged with NorthCreek, I went there with Elder Smith and does he have a cool life story, Had a miracle we were able to contact a Less Active and she wants the missionaries to go back!

Re-exchanged back to Cottage Lake, did service for a Recent Convert, raking leaves, then painted a Non-members Bathroom, I've been improving my handyman skills, which will be good for when I get married...

Sunday had a great time at church, still getting to know the ward, went to an activity called Pie Night, didn't really know what was going to happen, turns out it's a priest/Laurel activity, they have a 5 minute lesson and then eat dessert for an Hour, it was awesome, got to know our youth a lot more!

This week is going to be Crazy, some things are going to change... but I can't tell you yet.  I'm going to make my move, like a thief in the night and I'll tell you more about it next week! 

Matt was made a District Leader

We received a letter from the Mission President letting us know, that Matt was called to be a District Leader.  Of course Matt did not mention this because he is too humble.  He is doing so well and we are so proud of him and all that he is doing.

Week 55

So I have had a very crazy week
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> To start off, we stayed in all day on Halloween.  Elder Heuer and I just talked about things, I told him all about Edmonds and how great it is, he said "I'll never serve there", to which I said "oh you will serve there soon!" They are also tearing up the Basement to add in heating, so we will be warm in the winter.
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> Tuesday we had a District Meeting and it was very interesting having Russian Sisters in our District and also having Elder Francis(MTC comp) and Elder Smith as well.  We took a picture at the end of District meeting just incase of an Emergency Transfer. I received new Name tags for myself only to find that they misspelled my name, they put "Elder Larsen", I'm Swedish not Norwegian, so I'm getting new ones for free! Went on Exchanges and I was with Elder Francis and we got to catch up on a lot of things since we haven't seen each other for months.
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> Wednesday Elder Francis and I did service at a thrift shop then ate DQ, then we rexchanged, only to find out that our phone reset itself and no one knows the password to it, so Elder Heuer and Smith were completely out of contact, Elder Heuer and I got a hold of the Zone Leaders, they didn't do anything to help us, of course, so we were outcasts with nothing to do, oh well I've had worse ;)
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> Thursday Weekly Planned but still couldn't contact anybody, we had to go to a District Leader Training meeting at the Office at 3pm, but we went there at 1pm so we could get the phone thing figured out.  It took the guy 5 minutes to get our phone working again and since we were already there and they were feeding lunch to all the 1st and 2nd transfer Missionaries, we decided to stay and partake.  Elder Heuer is a fun one, he was scared about us just waltzing in and eating, but I was like "watch this" and walked up to the Assistant and said "Hey Elder Heuer and I are already here, we might as well eat with these fine missionaries", he looked at me and chuckled and said "Go Ahead."  As we ate I saw lots of my Shoreline Buddies, they were surprised to see me. Went to the DLT it was very intellectual and I learned a lot. After the Meeting, President Schofield asked to see Elder Heuer and I in his Office. Crap, what did I do now! We came in and I see Elder Van Wagoner and his new Companion Elder Jenson (they are currently in Edmonds), President says "I have been Inspired by the Spirit, Elder Jenson you are going to Cottage Lake with Elder Larson and Elder Heuer you are going to Edmonds with Elder Van Wagoner!"
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> Woah wait a minute, I know I said Elder Heuer was going to Edmonds, but I didn't think it would be that Fast, so ya President told us to go home pack and tomorrow the Emergency Transfer begins.
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> Friday we drive to Edmonds, I'm super Homesick for Edmonds and it doesn't help that I had to drive through it, I even saw Sister Jaramillo on the street, I yelled out to her and she was shocked to see me. Walking through the apartment I just left was like coming home after being away for awhile, Yeah I miss Edmonds a lot, I said bye to Elder Heuer and Hi to Elder Jenson, Cottage Lake has been 95% whitewashed. Elder Van Wagoner told me a guy that I've talked to a lot is being Baptized on Saturday, so I called President and asked for Permission to go to this guy's(Ron's)  Baptism and even though I never taught the guy since he was taught by the Halls Lake YSA Sisters, I still got Permission!!!
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> Saturday we had a ward service project that was rained out, but we were able to do service for Bro. Copland, the member that we live with, he is so cool. We then headed over to Edmonds again for the Baptism, we got there 20 minutes before and the Halls Lake Sisters were very surprised to see me.  They asked why I was there and I said "I'm here for Ron's Baptism", Sister Ellis then said "well we have a problem, the guy who was supposed to Baptize Ron isn't going to make it", she then lit up and said "Could you Baptize Ron"?  I looked at Ron, he is like "I don't care as long as I get Baptized", So I said "yes", even though I didn't have a change of clothes.  I still got wet and Baptized Ron! Miracles Happen!

> Sunday did our best to talk to everybody in the ward and we made a little meet the Members calendar, so Members can sign up to have us over for spiritual thoughts and ya just trying to get to know the ward more and my new Companion Elder Jenson!
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> Love and Prayers, Elder Larson
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  P.S. I ate a Duck Egg for Breakfast this Morning, needs more salt!

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