Week 82

It's amazing how everything falls into place when you rely on the Lords timing, sometimes it's hard, but everything happens for a reason.

We have had an amazing Miracle, Nina is now On date for June 10th, We had a lesson with her on Friday, we were on Exchange, so I was with Elder Hales (yes my First Companion) and we had President Schofield with us as well, the Spirit was strong and Nina is set to go!

Our Sacrament meeting was pretty empty with lots of people out of town, which meant everybody had an opportunity to participate in class :) Then we had Dinner with the Perry's. Then I Skyped home!!! It was the best Skype call yet! Glad to hear everybody is doing well and what not!

My memory gets a little Fuzzy after that, But Pictures!!!

Our Nephite city that we built during zone training.

District Service killing Blackberry Bushes

Likits Baptism (Willows taught him)

Yeah this is our District!

Family (Mission Wise, My younger Bro on the left and my dad on the right)

Rad Stuff

Mi Familia!

Alright y'all have a good week K!

Week 81

I know you all had to wait longer to receive this email, for this purpose I do share an amazing statement that has taught me so much "Patience is a Virtue!" When you wait on the Lord's timing, you get increased blessings. When you wait on my timing, I at least try to write a better email.

 

Today we went to the Temple! oh yes it was grande indeed, to see friends from all around the Mission, somehow one of the Elders got separated from his companion, but was found in the basement of the Temple by the mission Presidency, I don't know how these things happen, but we are all still human, even in the Temple and we get misdirected and lose our companion...

Last Night we attended the Ensign Symphony and I Loved it  It was focused on Mothers. I LOVE YOU MOM! We went with our new Investigator, who is 20 and Autistic, he is really good at Impressions. 

We found out that one of the sisters in our District went home, so we will be getting a new sister or two, I don't know who yet.

Because it has been sunny, we have been able to do a lot of service. We demolished Black berry bushes at a park and we helped an older lady in the ward plant some plants. Biking has been very enjoyable too in the cool sun!

Our week was focused on following the Spirit more and I have been able to learn a lot and the Gospel has opened my eyes of understanding!

Hope all is well with everybody else, you all have a good one

Love and Prayers, Elder Larson

Sorry no Pictures this week, I forgot my camera cord

Week 80

If I could tell you my past week experience in one simple phrase it would be

"Wait a Moment, Things are About to get Good"

Good Tidings I bring to all who actually care to read my email:

This one's for the Fans 

During the 76th annual Hunger Games our District made some poor moves which put us way behind, Sunday we got super pumped and went out and worked hard, but we got so little points. We were at least 100 points behind Zion District and 130 points behind Irreantium District. On Monday though we pulled through and got 130 points, Zion got 0, and Irreantium only got 10. We were in Second! Tuesday I brought my Secret Weapon "Chocolate Chip Cookies" for the Bake Off. After District Meeting though I came out with my cookies and I wiped out the competition, by wiped out I really mean Sister Peterson and Elder Mobley forgot to bring cookies, so I won by default and we got another 50 points for winning the Bake off, we were in the lead! Our District worked hard for the rest of the day since Tuesday was the last day. We pulled in 180 points for the final night, when the other Districts heard we were fire, they all dropped out. Kirkland District had a Ruff start, but we didn't give up, one might say we were even the "Comeback Kings". Moral of the story "Don't Give Up"!  

Now back to Missionary Work and what not

We Tracted a whole lot since we were runnin low on people to teach. It was interesting though we would tract for 2 hours knocking doors and nobody would talk to us, except for the last person. Patience is truly a Virtue and I feel like this week was meant for me to Practice my Patience. With all the empty houses and not Interested people, we still found "Amid the Gloom, Triumph". We found a good amount of people to teach and had many wonderful discussions.

One thing that was really humbling for me was, I am not the biggest fan of knocking doors, but I recognize that we can't teach unless we have people to teach, even if it means knocking a lot of doors. Elder Frei does not like knocking doors, because of bad experiences. I prayed that we would have good experiences while tracting and we had some amazing ones, I am thankful I was able help him like tracting  

Elder Frei is like a Roll and I'm like the Butter, we work very well together. The Spirit is there, we are able to help each other out where the other one lacks. He is a good Comp and together we are shredding up FInn Hill, Literally on our bikes!

Gwyneth Dreessen got BAPTIZED! everything went Well and smooth! our next one is going to be Arbrie for sure, she is progressing so well and the last time we taught a lesson she gave us a bunch of fruits, but that's just a plus. We helped out a couple ward members moving stuff around their houses and what not, I guess with Sun finally coming out, people are suddenly changing things up! bro. Perry took us to nice Mexican Restaurant called Plaza Garcia. As we were going out the Waiter gave us a blessing 

Yep it was a grand week that will surely be talked about in the years to come. I wish you all a Grandastic week!

Love and Prayers, Elder Larson

Dale(Gramps),Gwyneth (little girl), Elder Larson (The awkward looking one), and Elder Frei (the buff guy)

Arachnious Deathicus tried to foil the baptism, by poisoning the font. But elder Frei wasn't going to let him.

Week 79

My fellow Disciples in Christ, this day I send forth a proclamation!

"I have seen the Marvelous works of the Lord, his word brings Peace to my heart, and I know that ALL who follow him, may obtain a Perfect Brightness of Hope!" -Elder Matthew Larson

I have yet more to say, concerning this splendid matter, but alas all good things come to those who wait!

I have had many grand experiences to tell all who have come to hear....

My fellow Disciples in Christ, this day I send forth a proclamation!

"I have seen the Marvelous works of the Lord, his word brings Peace to my heart, and I know that ALL who follow him, may obtain a Perfect Brightness of Hope!" -Elder Matthew Larson

I have yet more to say, concerning this splendid matter, but alas all good things come to those who wait!

I have had many grand experiences to tell all who have come to hear....

We are having a Baptism this Saturday at 4pm for Gwyneth Dreessen, she has been prepared by the Lord and is ready for this next step in her life. Our Bishop, Bishop Sowby, has been a great help teaching her, he pretty much taught her everything she needed to know himself, and he is the one who put her On Date too! He is by definition an "Audacious Ambassador of Glad Tidings", yes yes Elder Frei and I have a good relationship with him.

We met with our good friend Arbrie as well and she is doing Fantastic beyond belief. She Loved church and she loves the people in it. She is so happy to build a relationship with Heavenly Father, her Desire is to join the church. We know (Elder Frei and I) that she is going to be Baptized next month, she has been prepared, she is Awesome!

We were able to participate in the Member Missionary Fireside, singing beautiful songs of Praise. I was able to see my friends of wards I have served in as well as good old Mission buddies. Celeste our recent Convert came and she has already been asked to speak at a Fireside in a couple months, she is doing great and despite breaking up with her Boyfriend who is in our ward (which we finally found out that she dumped him "phew")  she is growing strong in the Faith.

Our zone is currently holding the 76th Annual Hunger Games. it started Friday and will end tomorrow. The rules of the game goes as followed: you get 5pts for Meaningful contact, 10pts for handing out a Book of Mormon, 25pts for finding a New Investigator, and 50pts for getting a New On Date. Along with that at the end of each day, you may choose whether you want to keep your points or attack other District (Yes we are divided into Districts) and Games end tomorrow after District Meeting and we will be having a "Roleplay Off", to rack up some more points! 

The Districts our divided as follow:

Irreantum District; Led by Elder Moulton, with Sam Valley YSA, Redmond 1st, Novelty Hill, and Big Nation

Zion District; Led by Elder Van Wagoner, with Redmond 3rd, Duval, Sammamish 1st & 2nd, and Union Hill

Then the Best District KIRKLAND DISTRICT! led by Elder Hales, with WIllows, FInn Hill(us), Lakeview, and Totem lake

This whole Fiasco started because of Elder Frei... Why you may ask, because during our weekly planning I asked Elder Frei "Elder Frei what can I do to befriend the zone better?" he said "Talk to them", which I followed with "there has to be someway to build solid friendships within the Zone", he replied "I don't know maybe get the whole zone to do something"

Then the idea sparked and we challenged the whole zone to a Cookie Bake off, then the idea somehow turned into a Hunger Games, we are still doing the bake off and I'm going to win!!!!!

Things have been going great up here in Seattle, the Sun is finally coming out, which means good thing are gonna happen!

Love and Prayers, Elder Larson

Me and my best friend "Elder Bermudes"

Crew Picture

Getting with Friends

Run out of seats, sit on the stairs.

Week 78

This past week has been a good one!

My new companion is Elder Frei (Free) he is from North Carolina and was born in Canada. he is almost 21 and has been out for 6 months. We are both covering Finn Hill in the Redmond Zone. Elder Hales (my trainer) is our district Leader! 

Elder Frei is a very courageous Missionary, we walked by a group of high schoolers playing Basketball and even though he is not good at it, he played with them and scored a lot. He has an amazing relationship with Heavenly Father, he is good at heeding the Spirit's promptings. He also has a great sense of Humor, the members are already opening up to him, because he has such a kind personality.

We set a Church tour with one of our investigators on Tuesday and it got Cancelled. Then we set another on Wednesday and it got Cancelled. Then on Thursday we set up to meet at her apartment and we brought Bro. Jaeger with us, it did not Cancel. We taught her all about Jesus Christ, because she doesn't know much about church in general, the Spirit was there and she invited us to come again on Saturday. On Saturday we brought Sister Lathen and Bowler with us and they were the best fellowship we could of ever asked for. Sister Lathen especially, they pretty much became friends and sister Lathen offered to take her to church. On Sunday we are sitting in the Chapel, sacrament has already started, we don't see her or sis. Lathen, then they start passing the Sacrament and we both got a feeling that their was nothing to worry about and after the Sacrament portion was over we saw sis. Lathen with our investigator.  She enjoyed Church and we are looking forward to our lesson with her this week.

We have a lot of good things going for us, we have been blessed with service opportunities and with new investigators.  We have one former Investigator who started coming back to church and a golden member referral.

It was also my Birthday this week on April 15th (Tax Day) I got a cake from Sis. Morley and Elder Hales got me a two-liter of Dr. Pepper. Elder Frei and I had so much fun!  

It was so good to celebrate Easter and focus on Christ and think of all he did for us, making the Impossible, Possible!

Hope you all have a Magnificent week!

Love and Prayers, Elder Larson

                                                           Elder Frei and I

Elder Fukuoka

Beautiful weather up here in Seattle

I really enjoyed my cake!

Week 77

Hello

This last week being in a three pack has been amazing, we had so much fun and had a lot of crazy experiences.

The coolest thing that happened this last week, was we had the KZA's (Kirkland Zone Awards) on Friday. Zone Leaders made a certificate of appreciation for all the Missionaries in the Zone, they Elder Poll and Fulton the District Leaders be the Hosts. We each got to go up and receive a certificate of Appreciation with a compliment on it. Mine said "For Meekness in Trials and Triumph", It really means a lot to me, This Zone was one of the Best!

Along with receiving Certificates, we also showed I'm a Mormon Videos, Videos that we made up ourselves, that were about 30 seconds each.

We had the wonderful Pleasure of demolishing a back Porch for the Perry's in our ward. It was a good stress reliever...

unfortunately we were unable to teach any of our Progressing Investigators, we found a new Investigator, she  is Divorced with a six year old son, she knows nothing about God, but she is Golden, she also has a very good sense of humor and gave us lots of Carrots.

We did service for a Food Bank (HopeLink) we stood at the entrance of Fred Meyers for a good four hours handing out flyers and collecting donations, saw a lady run over another person's kid and I saw someone else crash into somebody else's cart, yep good stuff

Played Soccer again this week in the Lake Washington ward, slowly I'm getting better. Also did our usual Volley Ball activity and had a full house, before I go on, we played Volley Ball this Morning at Juanita Beach and playing in the sand is a lot harder than you think....

So Transfers are this week

Elder Poll is going to Seattle and Elder Nielsen is going to Bellevue

From reading the subject of my Email, you already know I'm going to Redmond zone...

Yet I'm also staying in Finn Hill...

Kirkland Zone is no more, Redmond has completely taken over and in the Process they made a new Zone called "Zona Espanola", or the Spanish Zone. All Spanish areas, no matter where there at, are a part of this new Zone!

When Life Gives you a Sucker Punch; Accept it Gladly, you will be Stronger if you do 

Love and Prayers, Elder Larson

At the park by Lake Washington, Enjoying the Breeze

This is for you Hermano!

Week 76

> I don't know about you all, but I am fired up! General Conference caused a Habenero pepper to form in my heart. I loved every last bit of it and each talk was well done, I appreciated the Mission shout out from former Mission President Elder Yoon Hwan Choi.
>
> This past week was another interesting one. Monday we had an amazing Lasagna dinner with the Segobias, then we went to the Lake Washington Ward Family Home Evening and played games in Spanish! 
We were asked to give the First Training at Zone Conference on Thursday and we forgot about it until two days before on Tuesday and thought of this great Training to do, then Elder Poll was taken from us and they put him with the Redmond Spanish Elders and they took the car, since their car was in the shop. We had half a day planned to be in Bothell, so we had to come up with a list of people to visit. 
Then its Wednesday and we get a call from Elder Poll saying that he and Redmond Elders are going to do the training since they practiced it, Elder Nielsen and I were down with that. Went down Finn Hill and it was amazing, like so many people were home and Nice. The Last guy we visited with, who is now Investigating, we knocked on his door and when he opened it, he started laughing and said "Look Jesus is knocking on my door", we were like ah yea.  He opened up to us and told us that he gotten fired from his job that day and is really high right now, so we set a time to come back on Friday. We got our beloved Elder Poll back just before the Night is over. 
Thursday is Zone Conference and the big Highlight of it was they made a Washington Seattle Mission Workout Video that is very Cheezy! 
Friday we had our lesson with the new investigator and he is ready to make changes, although he is moving in two weeks, so we are going to prep him and give some missionaries a Golden Referral. Went to the Lake Washington Ward Activities night, played a lot of Basketball and soccer. Saturday CONFERENCE and Volleyball, my spikes are getting pretty good and we are getting quite the turn out. Sunday CONFERENCE and we had an amazing Rib Dinner with brother Jaeger and then went to the Knights and they were celebrating their Kid's 2nd Birthday, woo fun stuff.
>
> I Hope you all have had amazing weeks, I testify that God is a Loving Heavenly Father and he wants more than our stuff, our deeds, our words. He wants us, he Loves us so much, in his son's name Jesus Christ Amen
>
> Love, Elder Larson
>

Elder Van Wagoner and I.  Man the sun is shining.

Me at Volleyball