🎄 - Week 52 - December 27, 2021

Hello everybody, this week was a good week. I went on exchanges with Elder Demmerly, he came to my area for the exchange. We had a good day that was full of lessons. 

On Wenseday, Elder Jenkins and I had a solid day. We had 4 lessons with some of the most solid people we are teaching. All of the lessons went very well. We are seeing good progress with them. 

On Thursday we got quite the Christmas present. We went and got a brand new car. It only had 30 miles when we got it. I feel like a lucky man being able to drive such a new car. 

Friday, was interesting. We didn't do anything all morning. We tried stopping by people, however nobody really wanted to see us. We went over to the Haddens (member) for lunch and we stayed over there for 3 hours. It was pretty sweet. 

Saturday we had a couple of members that we went over to. We went to the Varnados, which are recent converts and then we went to the Kezells. The Kezells was so fun we played games and just had some good conversations. 

Lately, I've really been thinking about humility. Humility really is the gateway attribute to be more like Jesus Christ. It can be hard to be humble and sometimes give up your pride. However,  I've noticed that when I'm humble I'm I'm lot happier; I feel more free, I feel less stressed, and anxious. I know that to have faith in Jesus Christ it first starts with being humble. One way to be more humble is to serve others more. I'd invite y'all to pray for opportunities to serve others; then do it! 

 I know Jesus is the Christ; I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is God's kingdom on earth; I know Jesus Christ Atoned for all of us personal; I know that God is a God of love and mercy, and he knows us personally. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Elder Larsen!✌

Transfers🙌 - Week 51 - December 20, 2021

Hello everyone, it was a good week. We had a break through lesson with our friend Joe. We have a couple in the ward fellowshipping her; Joe is just starting to open up. She came to church this past week too! After that lesson we went to eat at a taco truck. These street tacos were the best I've tasted. 

Other than that we've just been working really hard. I got my new companion, Elder Jenkins on Thursday. He's a very good Elder. Not going to lie it gets a little lonely when you're in a two Elder apartment. 

Honestly not too much happened this week! Merry Christmas! Hope y'all remember the Christ in Christmas. 

Love, Elder Larsen

Christmas party/transfers🌲 - Week 50 - December 13, 2021

A lot has happened this week. 

I went on two exchanges, one with the zone leaders and then the other with just another companionship. They were pretty good. On one of the exchanges we biked to the wrong house for dinner, so we were about 40 minutes late to dinner haha. 

We had our mission Christmas party on Thursday. It was so fun I got to see a bunch of my friends. They also made some really good BBQ, oh and we got to watch the grinch! That was pretty sweet. 

Saturday was pretty crazy. We had a lesson with Taylor, we got there and he was walking around all anxiously. Then a bunch of crazy stuff went down, we didn't end up having the lesson. Now the mom doesn't know where he is, plus she kicked him out. So we aren't teaching him anymore. 

On Sunday morning we called some people to remind them about church. John and Esther (they were on baptismal date) said they don't want to meet anymore. Gary, said he doesn't want to meet anymore. So 3 out of the 4 people who dropped us were on baptismal date. So that was hard. 

For transfer news I'm staying here in the San Antonio 1st Ward. I'm getting a missionary that is just getting out of training. I'm excited but nervous, it should be a growing opportunity. 

Elder Larsen✌

Rooster fighting 🐓 - Week 49 - December 6, 2021

Last night was a scary one. I couldn't sleep for some reason so I was just laying in bed. Then I hear some noise coming from the front door, as if someone is trying to hack the door lock. Then it sounded like someone tried to kick the door open; it didn't work. Then they just left. I couldn't sleep for like 1 hour after that.  

Yesterday we had a lesson with a guy named Eric. He's a member but hasn't been to church since he was 15 and now he's in his high 30's. His wife isn't a member. Well so he has a bunch of roosters and they are fighting roosters. So he was showing us all of his roosters and we even got to see a couple of them fight. I have a video but it's too long to attach. They were going crazy at each other though. Apparently they fight until one of them is dead, so he had to break them up. 

We are teaching this guy named Taylor, I don't think I've talked about him. He is a members boyfriend. Taylor is probably one of the most elect people I've met, his goal is to be sealed to his girlfriend! We met with him 3 times this week and taught him a lot. His girlfriend and him are in a unique situation in their lives. I'm not aloud to say much. However they have a lot of things they are trying to overcome. We actually put him on date, because he really wants to become a member and so he can have something to push towards. 

We had a lesson with our friend Joe. She is solid. We hope to put her on date this week or in the next couple weeks. We found out her concerns, and actually her concerns that she had at the beginning have dwindled. She comes to church with her kids every week and reads the Book of Mormon a lot. She's in Jacob. 

We were having a lesson with our friend Ray this week. Elder Hogan wasn't feeling too hot so we decided to watch the Restoration movie with him. Before we were leaving he was telling us how he wants to join our church. So boom put him on date right then and there. 

Things have been going pretty well. Just a lot of homesickness. It never goes away even when you've been out for a year haha.

Kid sauced me up in b-ball🏀- Week 48 - November 29, 2021

Thanksgiving week!

On Tuesday we did exchanges. I was with Elder Demmerly. It was fun, we had service and we rode in the back of a moving truck🤫. We then biked around a little bit and had a good lesson. 

On Thursday, it was Thanksgiving so we had two dinner appointments. The first one was with the Hadden's and then the second was with the Freelove's. The Freelove's are a super awesome and the dad is a killer cook, so it was amazing. Other than that it was pretty lonely. I weighed like an extra 5 pounds that night, haha. 

Nothing crazy has happened besides I was playing b-ball with some kids the other day and almost dunked on one of them. It was this 12 year old African American kid that thought he was all that and a bag of chips. Not gunna lie this 8 year old kid sauced me up and scored on me (I'll attach a video of the kid below). 

Lately, I've been pondering the grace of Jesus Christ and His devine help in our lives. That's all I wanted to say about that haha. 

This week wasn't the best for missionary work. We only found like 2 people to teach and only 4 came to church. We only had like 5 lessons, because a ton of them didn't end up happening. It's whatever though. 

Elder Larsen

Zone Conference - Week 47 - November 22, 2021

Hello everyone,

On Tuesday we had zone conference and it was all about working with members. We have been implementing the things that we've been learning, and I feel like we are gaining super trust with the members. Also in zone conference President Tveten gave Elder Hogan and I a shoutout for getting 16 people at church! 

We had a lesson with Vacianna family. The dad is from Jamaica and was converted when he was 11, it was a pretty cool conversion story. He has a wife, 6 kids, then a sister, and her 2 kids that all aren't members. He wants his kids to learn and then get baptized. Things are going super well with them. 

Friday we had a movie night with a bunch of our friends. We watched the Restoration movie. We had a pretty good turn out and all of them loved it. 

This holiday season is making being on a mission hard. That's for sure. It's good growing experience though. 

That's it!

What's happening... - Week 46 - November 15, 2021

I apologize that this email will be a long one. This week, especially the last 2 days were crazy. 

So not much happened during the beginning of the week. The Elders told us about all their people, because they all got passed off to us. We then had transfers on Thursday, we took the Elders, then just left right away. We did some service for a member when we got back. 

It's been just Elder Hogan and I in the apartment and it's so nice. However it is a lot different than a 4 person apartment. 

So Saturday we had a packed day! We didn't have time for lunch, we started off with service which was a 30 minute drive both ways. Then we came back daily planned, changed, then made a sandwich and started personal study, then companionship study, then back to back to back lessons, then had dinner with a member 30 minutes away then 30 back, then another lesson and then we had a ton of contacts to do. 

Even though it was so crazy; it was worth it. We had 16 people at church yesterday!!! It was so stressful. Luckily the ward is awesome! They talked and sat by these people. The people who came LOVED church so much. One even started tearing up from hearing the testimonies. Also one of our friend gave us a shout out in Elders Quorum. We are gaining so much trust with the ward; it's great. I feel like I'm best friends with all the members. It's so awesome to see this ward starting to get excited with missionary work, especially when I first got here the ward was straight up dying. There are probably a consistent 90 people at church now. Where when I got here it was like 60. 

Last night, at 2am I wake up to hearing someone doing donuts just out side our window. I was just listening for about 30 second then I hear a BOOM. In my head I said,"Oh shoot he crashed." I jumped up quickly and just ran to the window and I didn't see anything. Then I went out to the porch and there was a crashed car into 2 other cars. The cops came and I saw the person running away. So I told the cops. Then a man came out of his apartment right below us and said that it was him and a girl messing around. They were chasing each other in the parking lot. When she hit his car then crashed into 2 other cars. Holy dumb, I mean what were these people thinking. I lost like 45 minutes of sleep from this haha. 

That's it for this week! Love y'all have a great week. 

People bashing/transfers🥶 - Week 45 - November 8, 2021

 Howdy everyone, 

This week was a interesting one. Yesterday(Sunday), was so awesome. We had stake conference and Weatherford T. Clayton from the seventy came to speak to us. He had some great thoughts. That was something I really have been needing. We also got to sing in the choir. 

Also yesterday I saw some "missionaries" from another church while we were driving. I told Elder Hogan to stop and park. We got out and pretended like we were going street contacting. Oh boy this man ran right up to us and I mean ran; he was sprinting. He just started bashing with us--he was just tripping to the max though. Him and his companion said that you don't need ANY works to get to heaven. I asked him if he believes in the Bible and of course, he said yes, so I said do you believe in the commandments, and he said yes. I then said well keeping the commandments is a work. I also pointed out how Jesus says you need to be baptized to enter heaven, and that is also a work. He just started speaking loudly and fast to try and mix us up. He then said you don't have to keep the commandments to go to heaven. Man is straight tripping. 

Then his friend was dissing on the Book of Mormon, and asked us if we believe in the King James version of the Bible. I said yes. He starts flipping to Revelations where it says no words can be added or taken away. Before he even got there I said to him,  "I know exactly where you're turning man." Then he closed the Bible and just kept bashing. Holy, it's crazy how important the Book of Mormon is to help clarify the doctrine of Christ.

My testimony wasn't shaken at all, the Holy Ghost has testified to me that these things are true. I can't deny the feelings of the Holy Ghost. The Book of Mormon is true; no doubt in my mind. 

Other cool things that happened:

-We put two people on date

-It's been cold this past week

-We got to sleep in yesterday

Some of my goals(keep me accountable):

-Finish Book of Mormon before Christmas 

-Finish Old Testament before end of my mission 

-Repent daily

-More meaningful prayers 

-Understand the nature of God, and implement attributes he has 

-Recognizing and acting on promptings from the Holy Ghost 

That's it for this week! Love y'all!

Elder Larsen 

P.S. we got transfers and Elder Hogan and I are staying together. The other Elders got doubled out and now there is only one set of Elders in this area. 

13 people at church‼️ - Week 44 - November 1, 2021

Welp. 

This week was pretty good. Yesterday at church we had 13 people!! It was so insane. We had Joe and her kids there, Alejandro (we got a referral this week from him), a part member/less active family, and we had some members bring some friends. It was crazy. In young mens/young women's there was more non members than actual members. 

We have been grinding in this area, we are working really hard. I'm trying to get to Deerfield (assistants area).....just kidding. I hope I never have to do that. I'm chilling with junior companion. 

On Wednesday, I just sat in the apartment the whole night watching "Saints Unscripted." One of the Elders was sick, so I stayed with him and let the other Elder get out and do stuff. I was thinking how terrible it must be to be home; I felt so unproductive. 

Nothing too crazy is happening though, we are starting to work with part member families/less actives. It's a blast, I hope I can stay in this area for another 6 months. 

Oh ya and I hit 10 months the other day. Crazy, times goes too slow...this past transfer has gone by soo fast though. 

Love y'all!

Elder Larsen

Famous rappers - Week 43 - October 25, 2021

This week we had our ward Halloween party. It was a lot of fun and we had 10 of our friends come to the party!! We had a less active family come too. For the trunk or treat we passed our candy with pictures of Jesus taped on the back. The less active families kids loved it so much, and were so extatic that they want the missionaries to come over and re-activate them. We also joined the chili cooking contest...but lost. 

We ran into a rapper. He said he's made thousands of songs and that he's famous--man was mad tripping. He showed us one of his songs, he tells us that there is no swear words in the song. Oh boy let me tell you there was swear words in the song. 

Oh, then we got dropped by two people yesterday. Someone we were going to put on baptismal date, and then another person we were excited about. So yesterday was depressing. 

Nothing else too exciting happened. So I'll see y'all later. 

Elder Larsen.  

I thought this photo was funny of the two Elders looking pissed during a mission training.

Referrals and Miracles - Week 42 - October 18, 2021

Hello everyone, this email will be a short one. 

This week we found a couple solid people to start teaching; I am super excited. One we always see at the gym in the mornings, we started talking to him and he had a lot of questions about our church. So we went over on Monday evening and taught him the Restoration. He started listening to the Book of Mormon, which is awesome. The other we found, knocking on members doors. The member didn't live there but a man named Robert did. He was open to a message, we taught him the Restoration also, and he set up our next appointment. It was so cool, I can definitely tell that God's hand is I this work. 

We got a referral for someone this week that moved from California. The missionaries over there taught him everything and this man wants to get baptized so badly. He had a calling in his other ward, without being baptized! He came to church on Sunday, and we hope to put him on date on Tuesday. 

We did some service this week for a member. We caught a baby rattlesnake and were caring it around, haha. I then caught a frog and put it next to the snake hoping to watch the snake eat it. However it didn't. 

That's it for this week! Love y'all. 

Elder Larsen

Michael Jackson and AK 407's - Week 41 - October 11, 2021

Yo yo, hello everybody I hope y'all are doing well. This week was probably the craziest week of my mission in the best way. 

I had to give a training in district council, which is my favorite thing to do! Not, they aren't my favorite but they got to be done right? It went pretty well actually I felt like everyone was engaged. 

Saturday night we did a blitz. Which means that everyone in your district goes to one place and you street contact. It was pretty fun, however the only one's who could make it was us and the Sisters. We accidentally picked this super sketchy apartment complex, oops sorry Sisters.  The people that lived there were just strapped with pistols and were all gang related. We found like 5 people that night it was crazy. We had a crazy miracle too, so we were walking the neighborhoods in that area and it was pitch black. We were trying to make it back to our car, then we see a man riding a motor wheelchair. We stop him and ask if we could share a scripture with him. He says yes and goes on to tell us all these things he's been struggling with and needs help. He just gives us his phone number and address without us even asking. It was awesome. Then after that while we were still walking we see this man get in his friends car with an AK 407, and they looked like they were about to do a drive by or something. It was sketchy. 

Also there is a guy who dresses up as Michael Jackson and busts down. He's got some crazy dance moves, he just stands on the side of a intersection.

Yesterday we had 8 people at church!!!! It was insane I was so stressed the whole time at church. Also during second hour a members friend they had brought to church wasnt happy for some reason (I'm not aloud to say). So we sat with him the whole second hour just talking with him and helping him feel loved and accepted. He wants to take the missionary discussion which is awesome. 

This ward is awesome and we are seeing some crazy miracles here and are working super hard. I've never been this busy in my whole life, we have SO MUCH to do in this area. It's so fruitful. 

I love y'all and hope you have a great rest of your week! 

Elder Larsen. 

Transfers - Week 40 - October 4, 2021

This week was awesome!!

We dropped off Elder Portlock on Monday at the mission home. President invited me into his office and I had a great little interview with him. I then was in a trio with Elders Murray and Johnson for a couple of days. We had an amazing temple tour with one of their friends, the next night.  

On Thursday I got my new companion. I love transfers, because almost all the missionaries are there, so I can just go talk to everyone. We'll my new companion is Elder Hogan. He is running at Utah State, so he goes running every morning, then today he's about to run 11 miles. I love him so much already. He is perfect for me, we are the same person and are getting a long super well. He's been out for 14 months now. 

We have been really trying to work on getting members involved in lessons. Sometimes it can be interesting for the members I think. In two of our lessons we had members in, our friends were just saying some crazy stuff. Some lady picked up her car from the shop(this lesson was over the phone), so she was muted for like 5 minutes. We finally say her name to see if she was still there, then out of the blue she's like yes yes I'm still here. Then goes on to tell us that her car she picked up, the breaks weren't working. She told us that she flew up on a curb and couldn't stop. This all happened while she was muted. This lady then was still driving but at very slow speeds, man I was tripping. I was just so confused with what was going on hahah. I could only imagine what the member was thinking this whole time. 

Saturday was so crazy; we over scheduled that day. To make it even worse a member signed up for dinner that live 40 minutes away...welp rest in peace to us I thought. We had a member lesson right before the dinner with a member. We run over to the members home ask them if we can come after our dinner with the other member. We asked them this because we were running like 20 minutes late and didn't have time to share a message. Thankfully they said yes. So we go to dinner and keep dinner to 45 minutes. On the way to the member lesson we were planning on having a lesson with one of our friends, while driving. Well our friend asked if we could do it in 15 minutes. We were like shoot. So we called the members who we were going to, to see if they could join us in the lesson and they said yes. We get to their home and our friend doesn't answer. So we share a short message then we had to go because we were having a lesson with the no brakes lady. When I type it out it doesn't sound crazy but the whole evening was just so crazy. 

General Conference was awesome! I hope everyone had the opportunity to watch it. I know that I will be looking over the talks frequently until the next conference and I invite y'all to do the same thing. 

Love y'all

Elder Larsen

Baptism🌊 - Week 39 - September 27, 2021

Hello everyone!

This week was pretty well. I'll just highlight the best stuff this week. 

We found 8 people to start teaching this week, our goal was 12. We had a few lessons yesterday with a couple of referrals, and it went super well I'm excited for a couple of those people. 

On Saturday Gil got baptized. I had the opportunity to do the baptism for him. I was so nervous because I had never baptized anyone before. To make it worse he is 83 and the font was filled to my mid thigh. Oh boy I was nervous, it went great though. I was so happy for Gil he is such an extraordinary man. It was also super awesome to see all of the member in Seguin again. 

Nothing else crazy happened this week. I got transfer news and I'm with a cross country runner now. Apparently he runs everyday and 11 miles on p days. I'm not running that far with this man, I might run a mile haha. I do not like running at all. 

Hope y'all have a great week!