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