Happy Neujahr!

Well Andy, looks like the day is coming a lot faster than we thought it would. By the time I get back I'll be the ripped sports king, and you'll be a wee 90 pound lad, reading all day. Tehee, but yeah I'd
be up to going to Peru. It's too bad I can't hear your vast wisdom face to face anymore Lisa, but I do enjoy reading it. It reminded me of a quote from President Monson, "Always be happy, never be satisfied." It's easy to be happy and easy to be unsatisfied, but to be both together takes some work. Ja Joey, manchmal esse ich viel. Are you gonna be on son #5 by the time I get back? I suppose assuming you guys would magically know that it would be a Skype call was a poor move, but at least it ended up working alright. We technically have up to 40 minutes, we just had a member appointment to run to. I'm glad you've been having some fun tooth adventures mom, if it makes you feel any better, my implant still feels weird in my mouth. Did you at least take a hillbilly picture before the implant was put in?  Good to know y'all are doing well.

It was definitely a unique Christmas. As opposed to the
typical opening presents and spending time with family,
 I: met the Angel Gabriel, destroyed my mouth (and later my bowels) with Serbian food and ate lunch with a Muslim, an atheist and a Christian.

So there we are at the church, finishing our studies and about to do our skype calls, when this guy (also, the door was locked) walks in. He walks over to us, hugs me and gives Elder Anderson a kiss on the cheek, tells us that he is the Angel Gabriel, looks at a restoration pamphlet for 30 seconds, says something to us in Arabic, says "I love you" in English and then leaves. Off spreading the good word I suppose...also smoking. Didn't know that angels reeked of cigarette smoke.

So the member appointment for Christmas dinner was with a family originally from Serbia. We had this soup stuff, and off to the side were 2 bowls of spices, one "spicy" and the other "very spicy." Well after a few months of eating with Germans, who probably find ketchup to be spicy, I figured I could handle whatever came my way. So I dump in 2 big spoonfuls of the spicy and a spoonful of the very spicy. By the end my mouth, face and eyeballs were basically on fire and when I took a seat on the toilet the next morning, I had quite the burning in my bosom...and not the good kind. Anywho, I now have the nickname Chili Elder. The third story isn't actually very exciting, we just ate lunch with a member and 2 of her friends. One was atheist one was Muslim...yep. Also it happened first, so it probably should have been the first story. Anyway, that was Christmas.

We had a couple other awesome member appointments during the week, met with some investigators and (drum roll).....our bishop came to church! After weeks of being sick (since before I even got here) he finally made it. Also at church, this old couple randomly walked in for Sunday school and Sacrament. They enjoyed it and made an appointment with the sisters to learn more. Wonderful stuff!

 But yeah...the Gospel is awesome. In 3 Nephi Jesus Christ quotes Isaiah, "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted! Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy
foundations with sapphires." Fair colors and sapphires...enduring and trusting in God through hard times not only helps us to grow, it beautifies us. It definitely takes time and effort and maybe a bit
of pain, but it's always worth it. Have a great week and happy New Year!

Elder Larsen

Woooooow!

Merry Weihnachten!

Very true Joey. So you're spending Christmas in Arizona. Does that mean you aint even gonna be a part of my skype call? Also, I love you as much as Garen loves to spin. Yeesh Lisa, how many years ago was Pizza Factory? It really does feel like ages ago, since then I've met so many people, experienced so many new things and learned so much. Paul is getting married in just a couple weeks??? Looks like I'm missing out on all the excitement. Quite the story Mom! I feel like I can relate to it pretty well. Don't worry too much, I'll be rejoining you in your tooth adventures in a couple years. My attempts to jam my bottom retainer on in the MTC just ended up breaking it, tehee. And yep, got the Christmas package. Pops, my Sunday schedule is: Ward mission council, church, lunch appointment, then back to normal work. Finding, appointments, studies (for the 12 week training thing). P-day: Excercise, go shopping, do studies, clean, eat lunch, write emails and then do whatever (visit cool stuff, sleep, eat food) until 6. If we're invited by a member to FHE, we do that, otherwise just normal work. Our heating and air conditioning is good, showers are a bit chilly. Training meetings we typically learn more about teaching, finding, the Holy Ghost, etc. Also, my call is probably going to come around 9:00 AM.

President Fingerle sends us a miracle of the week in his weekly email, and this week a guy referred himself (he googled "what is the point of life?" and found the church website) and now has a baptismal date with Aaron Peatross and his companion.

Quite the week this week, 4 of our investigators that we were just about to give up on decided to finally come back to life! We were in our weekly planning, and like 10 minutes after making the decision to give this guy a break (we'd been trying to call him for a few weeks) he gave us a call and set up an appointment. Crazy stuff. And then that evening  we got back in contact with 2 others. The fourth one finished up with school and we'll finally be able to start meeting him more often. It takes some time, but once we put in our little bit of effort, God really starts to work with people. Not only those we come in contact with, but ourselves too. There's a quote (I think from Elder Christofferson) that says how the best way to find ourselves is by helping others. The actual quote is a lot better, but I can't remember it completely.

So we've been teaching this guy (for the sake of privacy I'll name him John). He's smart and has a lot of faith, but he also has a whole lot of weird, fantastical stories. Ghosts, magic, imaginary houses, doppelgangers, slow-motion knife fights, you name it. All things that he has apparently experienced. Somehow he's always able to connect it back to our lesson, but not before saying (several times) "and I thought to myself: wooooooooow" every few seconds as he tells his story. Pretty entertaining...I've tried unsuccessfully to mimic the level of excitement and wonder that he manages to express each time he says wow. He's pretty awesome, I'm excited for the day, whether in this life or afterwards, that I'll know whether or not any of his stories are actually true, haha.

Aside from that, we had another caroling party (this time as a whole zone) by a winter market in Berlin. We sang some songs, shared tons of cards, and even attracted a few drunk dudes who joined in singing with us. I'm excited to see what'll come from it all. Granted, some people just took a card for the packet of gummy bears attached to it, some took them so we wouldn't keep bothering them, some probably took them out of curiosity...but either way it's an opportunity for Heavenly Father to start/continue working in their lives.

I can't believe Christmas is this week. We've got a solid Christmas tree (Car's wrapping paper cut into triangles), lots of quality member time, last second Christmas-card sharing and lessons with returned investigators. Above all else, a week centered on Jesus Christ, what could be better? The Gospel is awesome. God and Jesus Christ love and understand us perfectly, and are with us every step of the way. Merry Christmas!

Elder Larsen

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . . Still Fall

Lisa, is that the first time that the subject of your email was
something other hi/hey? I agree, we're all children of the same
Heavenly Father, how different can we all really be? I hope you have a
good Christmore as well Joey. Yeah Andy, you've definitely had it
worse but I find myself similarly frustrated at times. The last few
days in the BoM I've noticed a ton of references about just being
patient. I think about how ticked Alma and Amulek may have been after
days of being spat upon, slapped, naked, underfed and all kinds of
nonsense. But they endured, waited till the trial was over and moved
forward. They also caused the prison to crush those that had abused
them, not sure if that one will happen for you or not. Anywho, I could
definitely use that kind of patience. Mom, I can't wait till you're
100 years old and you're going to spend hours a day making sure that
the home of each great grand child is completely unpacked and
organized, haha. My call will be sometime in the morning there, around
7:30 pm here. Dad, my exercise is basically just a cycle of sit ups,
crunches, push ups, curls and squats. Not gonna lie, them abs aren't
looking too bad.

But really, aside from a random snow storm in the middle of November,
it's basically just been leaves, dirt and dead trees. Of course that
ain't stopping them Germans from putting up tons of Christmas
decorations! They even have a weird Frozen-themed artificial sledding
hill thing.

Berlin Cathedral

Not the most exciting week in the world, but still good. Lots of area
book work, (attempted) less active visits and lazy investigators. My
notable conversations this week were: French guy who speaks little
German tells me that I should learn French in order to obtain a
girlfriend (it's already gotten him 2). Awkward conversation with man
who speaks basically no English OR German. And a conversation with a
Muslim who wanted to convert me. They were all entertaining, but
unfortunately not terribly successful. But this next week is smelling
like a good one.

So yesterday during studies and before going to bed I was feeling some
creative juices and whipped out this baby.

Analogy time. I want a car. I go to my dad, asking, pleading and
begging for him to give me a car. He thinks about it for a few
seconds.
"Do you promise that you'll obey the rules? Follow the speed limit,
wear a seatbelt, stay sober...everything?"
"Of course, dad!"
So my dad buys me a car, a very nice car. Before giving me the keys he
once again reminds me of my commitment to be obedient. I nod soberly,
snatch the keys and run out the door.
After a few weeks I start to notice that many drivers basically ignore
the speed limit. No one seems to be getting in trouble for it, so I
decide to crank the speed up a bit.
A month or so later, I'm feeling pretty good about myself. It's easy
to tell that I'm a much better driver than most people. What do I need
a seat belt for? Sure, some people get in accidents, but I've been
driving for almost 2 months now and haven't had anything close to an
accident.
Another month goes by, and some dudes invite me to a party. My dad's
warnings enter into my mind, but I manage to push them away. I've been
doing just fine on my own so far, right? I go to the party. Of course
there's alcohol, and everyone's drinking it. I have no interest in
being the one fool that refuses to drink, so I jump right in. Well
after a couple hours the party comes to an end. Something feels wrong,
but what am I gonna do, sit there all night until I feel better? What
would my friends think? So I start driving home.
Things are going ok, but after those couple hours of partying I've
never felt more tired. I still have a nagging feeling in my stomach,
but whatever. A few minutes later my eyes start to droop. The road
becomes a blur. A bright light flashes in front of me, the honking of
a car drills itself into my head. I swerve off the road. I hit a tree.
I wake up, battered, bruised and broken. My car is totaled, I can
hardly imagine how I'm still alive. After a few moments of taking in
the situation, I start to wish that I wasn't. Not only am I in
terrible pain, my precious car totaled. I have to return to my father,
battered and bruised, show him the totaled car, the car that he freely
gave me, and tell him straight to his face that I knowingly acted in
opposition to his conditions. For a time (minutes, hours, days?) I lie
in agony, wishing that I hadn't survived the accident.
After an eternity my head starts to clear and I remember something my
older brother told me shortly before I drove off.
"I'll always be there for you."
These words which I had previously disregarded flood into my mind. I
grasp onto it and pull out my cellphone, which is miraculously still
intact. At the first ring he answers his phone, almost as though he
was expecting a call. In response to his voice all I manage is a
strangled cry,
"I'm sorry."
He listens patiently and quietly as I explain to him what happened,
occasionally offering words of comfort and support. There is no anger,
exasperation or condemnation. As I finish explaining my story, he
simply says:
"Everything will be alright. I'm on my way."
I forget my pains, my fear and my guilt. Everything would be alright.
I hear the squeal of brakes, the opening and closing of a car door. My
brother wrenches the door open and pulls me out. I'm too stunned to
say anything as he kneels down in the dirt and starts addressing my
wounds. Finally I find my voice.
"Don't worry about me, take a look at my car!"
"I'll take care of that too, but I'll need your help. Can't very well
help me in a condition like this, can you?"
As he finishes, he helps me to my feet. He makes a deal with me.
"Together we're going to repair your car. It will take some effort on
your part, but I'll help you every step of the way. Once the car is
fixed and you're back on the road I want you to call me every day and
tell me how you're doing."
"Every day? Aren't you busy?"
"Never too busy for you, bro."
It takes some time, but a few weeks later, my body and car are as good
as new. Before driving back home he once again gives me those
reassuring words.
"I'll always be there for you."
And ever since then, things have been going great. Sure every once and
a while the temptation comes to stretch the rules a bit, but after
looking back on all that happened, it's not hard to push the thought
out of my mind. And if it comes back, my brother is just a call away.
Now I'm devoted to helping others understand, so they don't have to go
through what I did. Sometimes they believe me, sometimes they don't.
Every day my brother offers me encouragement, and lovingly offers me
ways to improve. There's nothing I want more than to one day be like
him.

Yeah, a little bit out of the blue, 'twas inspired by Alma 36. Anywho,
I love you guys. It'll be good to see yalls faces at Christmas,
especially in comparison with the interesting phone call we had a few
weeks ago. Have a good week!

Elder Larsen

Du Bist in Dunkelheit!

Guten Morgen!

That seems pretty accurate Lisa, especially when we've been born and raised in Provo, it's 

sometimes easy to take the gospel for granted. It's quite the change coming into an area 

where the number of members is only slightly more than 0%. It's a mixture of refreshing, 

exciting and overwhelming. But on the other hand, wherever you go people are people. I 

forgot to answer you mom, we use our iPads basically for gospel library, maps and notes. 

Maybe one day we'll have Facebook, who knows. You guys should stop dying...Joey's head 

trying to explode, Mom getting her tooth pulled, Lisa and the chillun getting sick, Andy 

getting wasted at basketball. Keep workin on that German Joey. Once I have German down 

President Fingerle said I can work on my Spanish again. Then we can both have a solid 3 

languages.

Another busy (in other words, great) week! The rundown is basically caroling, an interesting 

Muslim dude, a trip to the temple and a trainer/trainee conference. So: caroling. In an effort to

use tons of Christmas pass along cards, we got some of our zone together to sing some jolly ol 

songs. I hoped I'd be able to hide from it, but there was no escape...I was one of the 2 card passers. 

It was one of the few times in my life that I've wished to have better singing skills. In all honesty, 

it wasn't bad at all! Most people rejected my efforts to shove a card in their face, but in the end, 

along with giving away quite a few cards, I was also able to have some pretty nice conversations. 

I talked to a couple students, and it was basically the first time I've ever been entirely alone in a conversation with non-member Germans. Granted, I'll probably never see them again, but it was 

still pretty cool. After 2 days of caroling (45ish minutes each day) we got a solid 250 or so cards passed out. Awesome stuff!

So there we are going to visit a less active, when a very Muslim man came up to me and started rambling about our religion being false and was convinced that if we came to his house and watched this video that we'd want to change. Of course after politely listening to him for a solid few minutes, he refused to listen to anything we had to say, and just started calling out, "du bist in Dunkelheit!" (You are in darkness). Lots of interesting people.

Temple trip! Our ward mission leader drove us and one of our German investigators as well as 

two other elders and one of their investigators to the Freiberg temple, which is unfortunately under construction. But there are 2 sister missionaries that have a little presentation thingy where they 

talk about the temple and it actually went really well. The investigators were pretty emotional 

afterwards. President Fingerle has a big focus on the temple, so it'll be great when the temple is finally open again.

At Trainer/Trainee Conference

Training conference was great, got to see how my ol mtc buds are doing. Elder Green still gets his letters of eternal love from his girlfriend every week, Elder Racine already has a baptism under his

belt and Elder Bennett is still Elder Bennett. My main takeaway from it all is that mission work (and life in general) is really all about love. In terms of a language, someone from the 70 said that learning a language and having the gift of tongues isn't an event, but a journey of loving the people. Someone pointed out how the description of God and the description of charity have a lot of similarities. Loving others more than ourselves is maybe the best way for us to become more like God. His work and his glory is for other people to be happy!

So love people! God loves us perfectly, and naturally when we share that knowledge with others, God will bless us. Have a great week!

Elder Larsen

PS Also fun fact, if all the inactives started coming again, the size of the ward would be more than doubled. Imagine that happening in Provo...