Miracle‼️ - Week 35 - August 30, 2021

Hello everybody! I hope y'all had a great week! I'd love to hear about it. 

The biggest highlight of our week was on Tuesday. We got a referral this week from someone who wanted a Bible. This person lived at a super sketchy apartment complex. It was definitely not somewhere where us missionaries should've been at 8:30 at night. There is a lot of gang activity in the complex and lots of murders. However we were protected by the Lord. We go and knock on the persons door who requested the Bible. A man answered and we asked if Maria lived there and he said no. So we got talking to him and asked if he'd be interested in meeting with us and said yes. So we came over to his house on Thursday with a member that lives in the same complex. Ohhh boy they hit it off; members are key in lessons. We taught Jesus the Restoration and he loved it. Jesus said he has been trying to find the true church of Jesus Christ for awhile now. His wife also joined us and loved the message. We went back over on Saturday and they invited their friend to join, they are also talking to their friends about us. It's great we are getting referrals from them. Jesus loves loves us, he grew up Catholic and they kicked him out because he had questions. He loves how we help him find his questions. I'm very excited about them. 

Other than that nothing too exciting happened. Yesterday in sacrament meeting the Bishop had some extra time so he invite Elder Portlock and I to come share our testimonies, because we are new. It was a great experience. Sacrament meeting was very spiritually uplifting; the speakers were amazing! 

We went to lunch with Brother Ramsey and he said that his Brother is Dave Ramsey (who is someone who helps people spend their money). I don't know if I believe that. He talked to us about his daughter Ocean Ramsey and was telling us how she swims with sharks and has a business in Hawaii where she takes people to do that. She has taken Jimmy Kimmel, Zac Efron, and some other famous people swimming with sharks. That was pretty cool to hear. 

This ward is very missionary minded though. We've already gotten like 3 member referrals and I've been here for just over a week. They are crazy it's awesome! 

As I was doing my studies this week I was reading a talk by Elder Jeffrey R Holland and its called "Missionary Work and the Atonement." In his talk there was a quote that jumped out to me that I never thought about before and it says, "We must always remember that these investigators, every man, woman, and child, were among the valiant who once overcame Satan by the power of their testimony of Christ." Wow isn't that so neat? We need to help those people find their testimonies once again. As we share our testimonies with others, the Holy Ghost will bring back to their remembrance the things they once knew. I challenge all of you to share your testimony about Jesus Christ with someone who isn't a member or who might be struggling at this time. I know that it will make an impact in their life. The Holy Ghost really is the master teacher. 

Hope y'all stay safe!

Elder Larsen 

New area - Week 34 - August 23, 2021

Hello everybody. This week has been a hard and very good week. So I had my last few days in Seguin. That made me really sad because I love the members in Seguin so much. I said goodbye to Bishop Bird who is one of my favorite people; probably every. 

Thursday I got my new companion. His name is Elder Portlock and he is from Riverton, Utah so that is super crazy. We didn't know each other before the mission though. 

We came to our new area and Elder Portlock and I are both brand new to the area so we don't know anything really. I'll attach a photo of what our area book looked like when we first got here. We have been doing a lot of street contacting and calling so many members. We have set up a lot of member lessons. 

This area is a lot different than Seguin, so it's been pretty hard to adjust. We live almost in downtown San Antonio and from what I've heard (from the other Elders in the ward), almost all of our active members live in La Vernia, which is about a 30-40 minute drive. We've had a member dinner every night but one. Since I've got here  they have all been in La Vernia besides a lunch we had yesterday with a member. So our miles will just get destroyed so we will be walking, biking, or taking the bus a good amount. 

Our ward mission leaders daughter is Ocean Ramsey so that pretty sweet. If you don't know who she is, she's a pretty famous oceanographer, she also swam with the biggest shark. 

The apartment is super nice but the Elders before were disgusting so we spent like 3 days cleaning this place. There are a ton of cockroaches which isn't fun. However after we cleaned everything they haven't been as bad. 

We've seen miracles so far though, we have already started teaching a couple people that seem willing to progress. 

I think that's it for this week. I'd love to hear from y'all! Let me know how you're doing. 

Elder Larsen 

-The zoom photo is the Wilson's baptism. They were kids that we were teaching who got baptized on Saturday.

Short one - Week 33 - August 16, 2021

This week was good. 

I'm leaving Seguin, and my new area is the San Antonio 1 ward. It's like my first area; the area goes into downtown San Antonio. We are doubling into the area so that will make things even more fun. 

Elder Larsen

Week of Miracles - Week 32 - August 9, 2021

Wednesday we had a lesson with Gil. President Coleman came to the lesson with us. They hit it off they were talking and talking. With Gil we went over thr baptismal questions with him and asked if he wanted to be baptized..............and he said yes!! We don't have an exact date but he is going to do it in Utah with his LDS friends there. That's a miracle! This lesson all of his worries about the apostasy and priesthood went away. 

Friday I went on a morning exchange in New Braunfels. I forgot my TIWI card so we had to bike in like 95 degree weather with humidity. It was terrible. We had a miracle with biking though. We were just on the side walk looking at our maps on where to go and a car says hey I want to talk to yall. So he pulled over; he told us they are members but haven't been active in yearsss. He said that literally they were just talking about going back to church and then saw us. They said they took it as a sign. 

Friday night we had another miracle. We have been praying to be able to find the elect. We were street contacting down in McQueeny and we ran into this dad and daughter. W we asked if we could share a scripture with them, and they said yes. So we got talking and the dad was from Illinois, and that is where Elder Stowell is from. Then his wife hasn't been to church in years, so we set up another time to come back and share a message with them. 

Saturday we did a carwash and that was just so sweet. We had a lot of cars come, plus almost all of them came in for a church tour. 

Saturday night we had a lesson with someone that was being taught before but just hadn't been able to get in contact with. We shared the Restoration with him and the spirit was so strong. I'm proud of myself because my teaching skills have gotten a lot better. He had some really good questions too. It was just a great lesson. 

It was a great week! Love y'all :)

Elder Larsen

I'm the new assistant!! - Week 31 - August 2, 2021

This week was the craziest/best week of my mission. Holy I loved this week. 

Tuesday we did exchanges with the Spanish Elders. I got to go with Elder Huish; which I love. That day was crazy we had 3 dinners. At the first dinner it was some Guatemalan lady and she loaded my plate up and I said "ohh no." So we finished that dinner then went the other dinner and they had these huge chickens, potatoes, corn, and bread. I said "oh no" again. After that meal I was so stuffed, like about to explode. Oh boy we had one more dinner to go. We had lasagna, we could serve ourselves so I didn't get very much at all. That was a super fun day. 

Wednesday we got to go to the temple!! I have really been trying to prepare. I went with questions and got some answers that I really needs. I didn't realize how much I love to go to the temple until this week. I wish I could go once a week. I had super amazing experience.

Thursday a member called us right after a dinner, super sad. She needed help moving because the movers never showed up. So we helped them move all night. It was awesome though. We gave her a blessing because she was so stressed and very emotional. Right after the blessing she was chilling. Blessing really do work. We also had to give I think 4 blessings this week. Crazy stuff. 

Friday I got a call from the assistant that they wanted to do an enchange. So I got to be an assistant for the day. It was awesome! It was one of my favorite days ever. We had service and then taught a couple lessons and things went great!  

This week was just so amazing. It has been really hard for the last few weeks. I just keep going day by day. Even though it is hard I know that it will pass and that I just need to keep working hard! I love these people and I want the best for them. 

Ether 12:6

And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.

Love y'all

Elder Larsen. 

Love to hear from yall!