Yeah Mom, fortunately as a missionary there are only so many things one can want for Christmas, and in terms of food and massive amounts of chocolate the members here certainly had me covered. Now there's a question I've been pondering my whole mission, Lisa. At this point I'd be happy at least being in the same zone as Elder Peatross, but somehow we always seem to end up being in opposite corners of the mission. Being companions with him would be pretty stinking awesome though. In terms of videos, unless you plan on sending me scream-o music or the new star wars movie, sending videos is allowed. Yeah Dad, I'll make sure to talk to President Fingerle about getting an endorsement, though I am starting to lean more and more toward just waiting for Winter semester and not having to go home a transfer earlier.
Well it's certainly crazy how Christmas just came and went. Sadly this week 4 (out of 5 total, haha) of our investigators were feeling under the weather and weren't able to meet, but fortunately we were able to keep ourselves pretty busy. Going door to door is discouraged during the 24th-26th of December, so we grabbed a huge stack of 500ish Christmas cards that were left over from last year and stuck them in mailboxes. We also prepared Christmas presents for less active members and investigators; perhaps not too surprisingly, up to this point our efforts in making Christmas presents have yielded far more results than putting cards in mailboxes, haha.
Nothing too crazy happened this Christmas, we sadly didn't see any manifestations like last year, when the "Angel Gabriel" (a.k.a. a random dude who walked into the church who smelled like smoke and said he was the Angel Gabriel) appeared to us. But we had some awesome appointments with some awesome members.
So I've been thinking somewhat lately about the transforming power of the Atonement and just how real this power truly is. I've thought back on the beginning of my mission where I felt like my foundation was somewhat fragile and that every new whirlwind of missionary trials threatened to overwhelm me. I constantly would seek out General Conference talks that could perhaps offer me the key to success and joy as a missionary, but things didn't seem to change at the rate that I hoped. Now I look back and see the impact that my efforts back then, as imperfect as they were, have had on making me who I am now, a year later. Obviously I'm still unbelievable far from perfect and still make mistakes with every passing day, yet I've been able to feel a part of the joy that comes to the "penitent and humble seeker of happiness," and have a greater understanding of what it means to repent and to change, a power that is made possible only by and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, who took our sins and weaknesses upon himself so that he could allow us to experience true joy in this life and for eternity.
I'm grateful for the time we've had to celebrate the birth of our Savior and I'm grateful for you all and the influence you have had on me. Love you, have an awesome week!
Elder Larsen
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Frohe Weihnachtennnn!!!!
Yes Mom, and I continue to feel more and more like an old man of a missionary. I'm the oldest missionary (by like 5 months) in my district of 8 of us and 3rd oldest in the zone of 22 missionaries. It's sad to hear that your missionary efforts aren't having the same effect they did at first Mom, that's something we experience fairly often as well. We have a great, spiritual first lesson with an investigator and then afterwards the fire somehow dies, whether through anti-mormon stuff or hostile family members or friends. We can do our best, but we can't force anyone to do anything. Boy Lisa, sounds like you really like getting sick! Hmm, it also sounds like Savyahna is going to be all grown up by the time I see her again. Andy, either you go on so many dates that they aren't worth mentioning in your weekly highlights...or you had no contact with the ladies this week. I'll hope for the best. Keep up the good work Joey, make sure that those orcs don't eat too much pizza. Dad, it's interesting to think how even if one temple in Provo gets closed down there's another one in the same city...probably hard for members around here to believe. For a while there was no open Temple in the whole Country, and if I'm not mistaken Germany is the only Country in Europe with 2 temples. By the way, it looks like we'll probably do skype at about 7:00 PM here, so 11 AM over there. Let me know if that works for yall.
Well this week was pretty solid. On Wednesday we went to Zwickau so that Elder Christoffersen (a missionary, sadly not the Apostle) wouldn't have to wait alone for his new companion. So we did some finding which was pretty fun. It was the first time in a while that I had done finding in a city with actual people walking the streets...yeah Werdau isn't the most busy town in the world haha. Then it was time to say farewell to Elder Anderson (sadly, again, a missionary and not the Apostle), who is now safe and sound back in 'Merica. The only problem was...he had the keys to the Zwickau apartment with him. He had gone with another "finisher" Elder to pick up his stuff from the apartment, and then forgot to give the keys back to the Zwickau Elders. Which meant that Elder Christoffersen couldn't get into the apartment to get his suitcases, so he missed his train and had to wait several hours for the new Zwickau Elders to get there so he could grab his stuff and go to his new area. Yeah...about every time me and Elder Christoffersen are together we manage to have some adventure: missing a bus, driving too far in a bus, losing the keys, etc.
Anywho, my new companion got into Zwickau early afternoon and we took a train back to Werdau. His name is Elder Hunt. He's been in Germany about 4 months now and is from Logan, Utah. He's pretty awesome. I'm getting more and more convinced that God's really starting to hasten the work, because all the newer missionaries that I've met lately have been crazy good missionaries. Elder Hunt has a fire and excitement in him that isn't all too common 'round these parts. It's going to be a great transfer. We're also speaking 24/7 German this transfer, which is pretty fun.
On Friday we had a leadership schooling thing in Leipzig and a couple missionaries talked about the importance of having a vision. That we don't simply wander aimlessly around the streets talking to people, but that we go out with goals and with a purpose, praying specifically and acting in faith in order to achieve said goals. It's so simple to just go through the motions, setting goals with little thought, going outside for a few hours, talking to some people and then coming back home. But in order to have success we need to have faith and hope that God truly is preparing people for the message; we need to involve God in everything we do. Then we will have more success, not only in terms of people to teach but in personal growth and progress as well. Working with a younger, excited missionary has helped me a lot to see that in the last few days.
My time's about up, but FROHE WEIHNACHTEN! The days fly by so fast, it's crazy. Have fun and don't forget to #LightTheWorld!
Elder Larsen
Well this week was pretty solid. On Wednesday we went to Zwickau so that Elder Christoffersen (a missionary, sadly not the Apostle) wouldn't have to wait alone for his new companion. So we did some finding which was pretty fun. It was the first time in a while that I had done finding in a city with actual people walking the streets...yeah Werdau isn't the most busy town in the world haha. Then it was time to say farewell to Elder Anderson (sadly, again, a missionary and not the Apostle), who is now safe and sound back in 'Merica. The only problem was...he had the keys to the Zwickau apartment with him. He had gone with another "finisher" Elder to pick up his stuff from the apartment, and then forgot to give the keys back to the Zwickau Elders. Which meant that Elder Christoffersen couldn't get into the apartment to get his suitcases, so he missed his train and had to wait several hours for the new Zwickau Elders to get there so he could grab his stuff and go to his new area. Yeah...about every time me and Elder Christoffersen are together we manage to have some adventure: missing a bus, driving too far in a bus, losing the keys, etc.
Anywho, my new companion got into Zwickau early afternoon and we took a train back to Werdau. His name is Elder Hunt. He's been in Germany about 4 months now and is from Logan, Utah. He's pretty awesome. I'm getting more and more convinced that God's really starting to hasten the work, because all the newer missionaries that I've met lately have been crazy good missionaries. Elder Hunt has a fire and excitement in him that isn't all too common 'round these parts. It's going to be a great transfer. We're also speaking 24/7 German this transfer, which is pretty fun.
On Friday we had a leadership schooling thing in Leipzig and a couple missionaries talked about the importance of having a vision. That we don't simply wander aimlessly around the streets talking to people, but that we go out with goals and with a purpose, praying specifically and acting in faith in order to achieve said goals. It's so simple to just go through the motions, setting goals with little thought, going outside for a few hours, talking to some people and then coming back home. But in order to have success we need to have faith and hope that God truly is preparing people for the message; we need to involve God in everything we do. Then we will have more success, not only in terms of people to teach but in personal growth and progress as well. Working with a younger, excited missionary has helped me a lot to see that in the last few days.
My time's about up, but FROHE WEIHNACHTEN! The days fly by so fast, it's crazy. Have fun and don't forget to #LightTheWorld!
Elder Larsen
Monday, December 12, 2016
Endure
Yeah Mom, Germany is quite particular about such things. So particular that they wouldn't let Elder Anderson do it, because you can apparently only de-register a week before leaving, as opposed to a week and a half. So we need to still get that taken care of. I guess Chase getting home is just another sign of my advancing age. It's quite terrifying. Well Lisa, sadly the state in its entirety that I'm currently in probably couldn't satisfy your lederhosen request. Saxony just can't quite pull off the classic German guy wearing Lederhosen and drinking a beer style. That would probably be the ultimate dirty devil challenge though, going through the whole thing in Lederhosen. Well Andy, I'm not really sure how graduating is going to help you with the ladies, but I hope it does. I'm not sure about Skype Heidi, though it would probably be around 5 or 6ish in the evening here. It's also more likely that I'd contact y'all through Skype, since our mission cell phones can't make international calls. Cool to hear about #LightTheWorld things from your side of the world, we're working hard over here to do stuff for that as well. No Joey, sadly I haven't seen any Donnerstag reindeer. Frankly I didn't know they existed. You'll have to send me some of those family pictures, Dad.
Sorry for the lack of emails last week, on Monday we spent a chunk of the day in Leipzig so that Elder Anderson could de-register himself from Germany, which with travel time included took up a few hours of our pday, leaving us with pretty much no time for emails.
On Saturday we got transfer calls; I'll be staying at least another 7 weeks in Werdau, woohooo! My new companion's name is Elder Hunt, I've never met him before but he was in the same MTC group as my last companion, Elder Earl. Also on Saturday we went caroling in Zwickau with a group of other missionaries and members, and I'm starting to notice a somewhat disturbing change in my life...namely that I actually like singing now. Quite strange.
Aside from that nothing too exciting happened this week, just getting lots of random things taken care of, mostly in preparation for Elder Anderson going home. One thing in particular that I noticed this week is the tendency some missionaries, myself included sometimes have to see the concept of enduring more of a pain than a pleasure. Enduring a day of going door to door, enduring the strict schedule of missionary life, enduring the mission rules, etc. In reality that isn't really at all what enduring in a Gospel-sense of the word means. Enduring means pressing forward in spite of hardships, full of faith and joy. Obeying the rules or going finding because we "have to" isn't going to give us the power to stay true to the end...or to even want to. Of course that's just the personal opinion of Elder Larsen :).
Well I hope y'all have a marvelous week, love you!
Elder Larsen
Sorry for the lack of emails last week, on Monday we spent a chunk of the day in Leipzig so that Elder Anderson could de-register himself from Germany, which with travel time included took up a few hours of our pday, leaving us with pretty much no time for emails.
On Saturday we got transfer calls; I'll be staying at least another 7 weeks in Werdau, woohooo! My new companion's name is Elder Hunt, I've never met him before but he was in the same MTC group as my last companion, Elder Earl. Also on Saturday we went caroling in Zwickau with a group of other missionaries and members, and I'm starting to notice a somewhat disturbing change in my life...namely that I actually like singing now. Quite strange.
Aside from that nothing too exciting happened this week, just getting lots of random things taken care of, mostly in preparation for Elder Anderson going home. One thing in particular that I noticed this week is the tendency some missionaries, myself included sometimes have to see the concept of enduring more of a pain than a pleasure. Enduring a day of going door to door, enduring the strict schedule of missionary life, enduring the mission rules, etc. In reality that isn't really at all what enduring in a Gospel-sense of the word means. Enduring means pressing forward in spite of hardships, full of faith and joy. Obeying the rules or going finding because we "have to" isn't going to give us the power to stay true to the end...or to even want to. Of course that's just the personal opinion of Elder Larsen :).
Well I hope y'all have a marvelous week, love you!
Elder Larsen
Monday, December 5, 2016
Not Dead Yet!
Hey I'm still alive but we had to go to Leipzig today so that Elder Anderson could de-register himself from Germany, so we don't really have much time to email. But it was a good week :). Love you!
Elder Larsen
Elder Larsen
Monday, November 28, 2016
#DerWeltEinLicht
Yes Mom, unfortunately there seem to be many who don't understand our superior sense of humor. It's no uncommon occurrence for me to do something so intentionally stupid that no one could possibly believe I had done it on purpose...and yet I believe several people out there think that I'm just a special brand of dumb, which I suppose really isn't all that inaccurate, tehee. There seems to be a sickness epidemic over here as well, Lisa. Half the ward seems to be struggling with some sort of sickness. I'm hoping to avoid it, though I may be in danger as on Sunday during church I got attacked by a bunch of kids whose parents were sick. My magnetic powers of children beating me up apply without a doubt in Germany. Yeah Andy, I remember the good old summer days of watching dragon ball z and avatar and all that good stuff. I suppose those days are at an end for me as well. It's kinda weird to think that I'll be going to college after I get home from my mission. Don't worry Joey, I'm currently in a phase where I'm with a companion who hasn't played League (about half of my companions have), so the possibility of me getting distracted by it is quite low at the moment. Yeah a counselor in young men's seems like the place to be. Despite the fact that there are only 3 youth between 12-17 in Werdau, that's where I'd like to be. Boy Dad, sounds like you're already on the ball. I certainly wish I'd be doing a service project on the first and I'll hopefully be able to do something, but for most of the day I'll be in Berlin for a leadership training meeting. I guess you guys will just have to do something for me in my stead.
Well for lack of creativity the subject of this email is just the German version of the Christmas initiative, #LightTheWorld. The highlight of this week was probably our "hohozoco" (zone conference) in Berlin. It's always fun spending time there again, brings back good memories from the start of my mission. It's also all not nearly as overwhelming as it once was. Anywho, the zone conference was super good. For whatever reason it was all in English, which was actually mildly disappointing. But there were a lot of things that I was able to take home with me, like the idea of saying a loud prayer at least once a day, using our God-given power as missionaries to "make things happen" and of course ideas for how we can use the Christmas season to bring people closer to Christ.
I really like the Christmas video this year, mostly because it seems a lot more hands on than in past years. The past ones have also been awesome, but this one gives members and non-members opportunity and inspiration for serving others, something that I think pretty much everyone wants to do but is sometimes hard to find the time or ideas to actually put into action.
Aside from that, we got to chop wood with an ax for an old couple that live on a massive farm. So that was pretty fun. Also, due to a lack of anything else to do on preparation day in Werdau, Elder Anderson and I assembled random articles of clothing we've gotten in our time in Germany and made some ridiculous costumes. Yeah...pretty weird stuff.
Haha, well I hope you have a swell week, love you guys!
Elder Larsen
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P Day Fun |
Well for lack of creativity the subject of this email is just the German version of the Christmas initiative, #LightTheWorld. The highlight of this week was probably our "hohozoco" (zone conference) in Berlin. It's always fun spending time there again, brings back good memories from the start of my mission. It's also all not nearly as overwhelming as it once was. Anywho, the zone conference was super good. For whatever reason it was all in English, which was actually mildly disappointing. But there were a lot of things that I was able to take home with me, like the idea of saying a loud prayer at least once a day, using our God-given power as missionaries to "make things happen" and of course ideas for how we can use the Christmas season to bring people closer to Christ.
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More P Day Fun |
I really like the Christmas video this year, mostly because it seems a lot more hands on than in past years. The past ones have also been awesome, but this one gives members and non-members opportunity and inspiration for serving others, something that I think pretty much everyone wants to do but is sometimes hard to find the time or ideas to actually put into action.
Aside from that, we got to chop wood with an ax for an old couple that live on a massive farm. So that was pretty fun. Also, due to a lack of anything else to do on preparation day in Werdau, Elder Anderson and I assembled random articles of clothing we've gotten in our time in Germany and made some ridiculous costumes. Yeah...pretty weird stuff.
Haha, well I hope you have a swell week, love you guys!
Elder Larsen
Monday, November 21, 2016
Highway to Heaven
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With Elder Anderson version 2.0 |
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Gas Gauge After Speeding to Train Station |
This week was pretty normal. The most exciting thing that happened was probably exchanges with the Zone leaders, which included but was not limited to: having to spontaneously drive to a city an hour away to do a baptismal interview (the district leader who was going to do it missed his train), driving on the highway at a speed that our mission president probably wouldn't have approved of in order to catch a train that we ended up missing anyway, and having to cancel all our appointments that day (because of missing the train). All in all, it was pretty hectic. But still fun.
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The Captain |
Sadly our investigator Frau Putschli is still in the hospital and we still have no way of contacting her, but hopefully this week she'll be able to go back home. Slowly but surely the work here is moving forward. Right now we're working our way through former investigators, trying to see who really has interest. Our investigator Klaus (the one who is struggling with changing his views of the theory of evolution) is praying this week regarding the day he should be baptized on, so we've got high hopes and lots of prayers for him.
That's about it for this week, my mind feels a bit too fried to think of anything else at the moment. But life is good and it's a joy to share the Plan of Happiness with the world. Hope you all have a good week, love you!
Elder Larsen
Monday, November 14, 2016
Adventures of Elders Larsen and Anderson Part 2
Yeah Mom, the first time I saw those names I was somewhat surprised as well. Last December we had 2 Sisters who "trained" us in using familysearch, which pretty much just involved them doing a bunch of random stuff with me having no idea what was going on. Well just about a month ago I discovered some of this random stuff involved reserving temple ordinances. The next ward temple trip is in a month, so hopefully I'll be able to go and work on those names. Another Joseph, eh? Joe, Joey, Joseph, Marty and JJ, what's next? Looks like quite the random assortment of food you've got there, Lisa. Just yesterday at a member appointment I had "pizza-schnitzel" for the first time. It was basically just schnitzel loaded with cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and sauce. 'Twas pretty good. Well Andy, I can see 2 potential reasons for your feminine voice in that situation being so funny. A) because you're so much better than the girls that the thought of you acting like you're one of them is funny or B) you're basketball skills are comparable with those of a woman and everyone found it funny that you admitted it. Based on your use of HAGW I can guess which one is accurate. Sounds like quite the week, Joey. Sickness, injuries, house problems...definitely things I prefer to avoid. Good to hear the classic Joey's good attitude despite tough situations though. That's awesome Dad, I hope that I too will one day have a eight woman cow as my wife. Yes, I suppose offering a broken heart and contrite spirit is probably better than an animal sacrifice.
Well, this week was pretty solid. On Wednesday Elder Earl headed off to Heide, a city way up north-west, and my new companion Elder Anderson arrived here in Werdau. He just happens to be my second companion named Elder Anderson...from Texas. The first gave me my life (aka trained me) and I in turn will be killing (sending home) the second one. Fortunately, despite the short amount of time he has left, Elder Anderson is ready and willing to work hard and be obedient. There are sadly some missionaries who are so antsy to get home that they don't really want to do any work; luckily I've been blessed with companions who don't really struggle with that :). Anywho, Elder Anderson is a chill, funny guy and I'm looking forward to the next few weeks with him.
Aside from that, I drove a car for the first time in over a year and nobody died, so that was pretty good. Something that's been on my mind lately, which you would perhaps expect a missionary who has been teaching the gospel for over a year would realize by now (yeah I'm not all that fast), is that no combination of logic, reasoning or clever words is going to convert anybody. In some situations that's a bit frustrating. We have, for example, an investigator who is struggling to give up his strong belief of the theory of evolution. We discussed the Plan of Salvation and at the end we invited him to baptism. He flat out rejected the invitation, and after a vain attempt of trying to reason with him, I decided to just bear my testimony of the Book of Mormon and shut my mouth. After several seconds of silence, on the verge of tears he told us that he too has a good feeling each time he reads the Book of Mormon, and that he's always found something different and special about our church in comparison with other churches. Granted, he's still a bit unsure and still hesitant to accept a baptismal date, but it was interesting to see the difference between trying to reason with someone and just stepping aside and letting the Holy Ghost do the teaching. It's definitely something I'll have to continue working on.
Aside from that, nothing too mind-blowing happened this week. We're able to keep ourselves pretty busy and pretty happy. In my time in Werdau I've had some of the greatest experiences and met some of the coolest people in my life and though I don't want to jinx myself, I wouldn't mind staying here for a while longer.
Love you guys, have an awesome week!
Elder Larsen
Well, this week was pretty solid. On Wednesday Elder Earl headed off to Heide, a city way up north-west, and my new companion Elder Anderson arrived here in Werdau. He just happens to be my second companion named Elder Anderson...from Texas. The first gave me my life (aka trained me) and I in turn will be killing (sending home) the second one. Fortunately, despite the short amount of time he has left, Elder Anderson is ready and willing to work hard and be obedient. There are sadly some missionaries who are so antsy to get home that they don't really want to do any work; luckily I've been blessed with companions who don't really struggle with that :). Anywho, Elder Anderson is a chill, funny guy and I'm looking forward to the next few weeks with him.
Aside from that, I drove a car for the first time in over a year and nobody died, so that was pretty good. Something that's been on my mind lately, which you would perhaps expect a missionary who has been teaching the gospel for over a year would realize by now (yeah I'm not all that fast), is that no combination of logic, reasoning or clever words is going to convert anybody. In some situations that's a bit frustrating. We have, for example, an investigator who is struggling to give up his strong belief of the theory of evolution. We discussed the Plan of Salvation and at the end we invited him to baptism. He flat out rejected the invitation, and after a vain attempt of trying to reason with him, I decided to just bear my testimony of the Book of Mormon and shut my mouth. After several seconds of silence, on the verge of tears he told us that he too has a good feeling each time he reads the Book of Mormon, and that he's always found something different and special about our church in comparison with other churches. Granted, he's still a bit unsure and still hesitant to accept a baptismal date, but it was interesting to see the difference between trying to reason with someone and just stepping aside and letting the Holy Ghost do the teaching. It's definitely something I'll have to continue working on.
Aside from that, nothing too mind-blowing happened this week. We're able to keep ourselves pretty busy and pretty happy. In my time in Werdau I've had some of the greatest experiences and met some of the coolest people in my life and though I don't want to jinx myself, I wouldn't mind staying here for a while longer.
Love you guys, have an awesome week!
Elder Larsen
Monday, November 7, 2016
Staying in Werdau
That's quite amazing Mom, I'm glad you're beginning to trust that me writing emails a day late doesn't necessarily mean that I'm dead. Yeah, I certainly feel the same about Sundays. After a week of feeling like we're in a war of 2 vs 100,000, it's always quite the refresher to partake of the sacrament, spend time with members and realize that we aren't alone in the work. Well Wouard, if you think it's interesting reading about East Germany and Berlin, just imagine living in it! I'm sad to have missed out on the mummy hot dogs...unfortunately hot dogs aren't really a thing 'round these parts, though on the bright side there's never a shortage of Bratwurst. Yes Andy, times change. I do hope you still remember your commitment to help me buy a 4-wheeler in the case of you not being married or having a girlfriend by the time I get home. I like your description, Dad, of being a law of Moses home teacher. I've read through a decent part of the Old Testament, and know a good bit about the law of Moses now. I hope you're encouraging the people you hometeach to make the necessary animal sacrifices.
Last week we got our transfer calls and it looks like I'll be staying little while in Werdau! I was relieved to be staying; it's been a while since I've stayed in a city longer than two transfers (12 weeks). Though I suppose I should hold my tongue, the last 2 times I thought I'd be staying in a city for a while I got 1) taken out of Bremerhaven after 3 weeks to open up a Turkish program and then later, 2) Emergency-transferred out of Hildesheim to train Elder Earl. Speaking of which, my boy Elder Earl will sadly be leaving me, off to the other corner of the mission, North-West close to the border of Denmark. My new companion's name is Elder Anderson, he'll be getting here on Wednesday but won't be staying long. This is his last transfer, so in missionary terms I'll be "killing him," a.k.a. sending him back home to good old 'Merica.
Sad news in terms of our investigator Frau Putschli, although on Friday everything seemed set for her to come to church on Sunday, she didn't make it. She still doesn't have her cellphone, so we haven't had contact with her since Friday. When we talked to her on Friday, she said that on Monday (today) she'd be going to the hospital for an unknown amount of time, so for the moment we're somewhat in the dark as to how things are going to move forward with her. But we're certainly not ready to give up on her, and our teaching pool here is continuing to grow, so all in all things are looking pretty positive.
My mind is kind of drawing a blank as to what actually happened this week...it's crazy how fast the days go by. Something that's been on my mind the last couple weeks is the power of service. In our daily efforts to talk to people about the Gospel, the majority of people either say nothing and keep walking or simply say that they have no time. Through these efforts we have seen very little success. However, on two occasions there were people standing outside their houses. On the first occasion a lady was doing garden work. We came and offered our help, she hesitantly accepted and as we talked later she expressed interest in our message and at the end said she was convinced that God had arranged our meeting. On the second occasion we offered help to a family moving in to an apartment; they too hesitantly accepted. One of the men told us at the end that he had always disliked Christians and thought they were hypocrites until he met us, and saw how "dope" we are. Obviously there are also times when people have refused our help, and even more obviously there are interested people to be found through our efforts talking to people on the streets or at their doorstep. But I think that service is one of the greatest ways of softening a heart to hear the message of the restored gospel, whether that be with strangers, friends, or fellow members.
Anywho, there's my soap opera for the week. Thanks for the prayers and support, I love you guys and hope you have a great week!
Elder Larsen
Last week we got our transfer calls and it looks like I'll be staying little while in Werdau! I was relieved to be staying; it's been a while since I've stayed in a city longer than two transfers (12 weeks). Though I suppose I should hold my tongue, the last 2 times I thought I'd be staying in a city for a while I got 1) taken out of Bremerhaven after 3 weeks to open up a Turkish program and then later, 2) Emergency-transferred out of Hildesheim to train Elder Earl. Speaking of which, my boy Elder Earl will sadly be leaving me, off to the other corner of the mission, North-West close to the border of Denmark. My new companion's name is Elder Anderson, he'll be getting here on Wednesday but won't be staying long. This is his last transfer, so in missionary terms I'll be "killing him," a.k.a. sending him back home to good old 'Merica.
Sad news in terms of our investigator Frau Putschli, although on Friday everything seemed set for her to come to church on Sunday, she didn't make it. She still doesn't have her cellphone, so we haven't had contact with her since Friday. When we talked to her on Friday, she said that on Monday (today) she'd be going to the hospital for an unknown amount of time, so for the moment we're somewhat in the dark as to how things are going to move forward with her. But we're certainly not ready to give up on her, and our teaching pool here is continuing to grow, so all in all things are looking pretty positive.
My mind is kind of drawing a blank as to what actually happened this week...it's crazy how fast the days go by. Something that's been on my mind the last couple weeks is the power of service. In our daily efforts to talk to people about the Gospel, the majority of people either say nothing and keep walking or simply say that they have no time. Through these efforts we have seen very little success. However, on two occasions there were people standing outside their houses. On the first occasion a lady was doing garden work. We came and offered our help, she hesitantly accepted and as we talked later she expressed interest in our message and at the end said she was convinced that God had arranged our meeting. On the second occasion we offered help to a family moving in to an apartment; they too hesitantly accepted. One of the men told us at the end that he had always disliked Christians and thought they were hypocrites until he met us, and saw how "dope" we are. Obviously there are also times when people have refused our help, and even more obviously there are interested people to be found through our efforts talking to people on the streets or at their doorstep. But I think that service is one of the greatest ways of softening a heart to hear the message of the restored gospel, whether that be with strangers, friends, or fellow members.
Anywho, there's my soap opera for the week. Thanks for the prayers and support, I love you guys and hope you have a great week!
Elder Larsen
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Happy Reformation Day!
Yeah, you caught me Mom. I just couldn't handle the shame of you outdoing me in baptisms. Though I too have found some names on family search and hopefully this month when we go to the Temple with Peter and Beate, I'll be able to do some work for them. Well you see Lisa, I couldn't think of a different name for the subject, so I tried to think of a long random German word that I could use. Fahrvergnügend, as far as I know, had nothing to do with the events of he week. Boy, it sounds like baby Jake is a slightly more grown up baby nowadays, tehee. The new calling sounds like a party Broseph. I imagine it was similar for you as well on the mission, that more things seem to happen and more progress is made when you have more responsibility. I'm still looking to the day that the frisbee bros are back, to humble the foos who think they can take us. Sheesh Joey, having a baby, buying a house, what else are you going to do while I'm gone, become president? Yeah Dad, I still need to figure out what exactly I want to do, and obviously don't want to dedicate too much thought into it, but living in an apartment seems like it could be fun, plus it will help me get married before Andy (just kidding, though the social aspect is certainly an advantage).
Well while you all were celebrating the boring holiday of Halloween yesterday, we were partying it up in a city called Jena, celebrating the one and only...Reformation Day! I guess it's been 500ish years since the day that Martin Luther started the reformation of Christianity. Our partying consisted of walking around for 4 hours talking to people and...yeah that was about it. It was actually a lot of fun though and we talked to a lot of cool people. Jena is a university city, so there are a lot more people who are open to new ideas. We were up there for pretty much the whole day, which is why I'm writing emails today.
The highlight of this week was probably one of our appointments with our investigator Frau Putschli. We had lost contact with her for about a week because she lost her phone and our appointments fell out, but we were able to get back in contact and meet on Monday and Friday. For the appointment on Friday we brought her over to Peter and Beate's house, the recently new converts, who live just a few minutes away from her. Once again I was amazed at the progress that Beate has made. Beate, who was baptized only 3 weeks ago and who had actually accepted a baptismal date after Frau Putschli had accepted hers, gave awesome testimony about faith and how faith leads to works; and said quite outright that Frau Putschli, through her works, was not showing that she had the faith she needs to be baptized. It was very direct but very necessary, and I just sat there amazed. 6 weeks ago I could never have imagined Beate saying things like that. Frau Putschli was obviously taken aback, but afterwards Beate also showed an outpouring of love, saying to Frau Putschli that she was part of their family now, and if she ever needed anything, they'd be there to help. It was stinking awesome.
Aside from that, we found a couple new investigators this week and were able to make a couple appointments out with some old ones; it's looking like we'll be having a very busy week, which is always nice. I know that God loves us, that he stays true to his word and that he is our Heavenly Father. Without this knowledge I can say 100% that I wouldn't be here in a little German town right now, having some of the coolest experiences of my life, haha.
Love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Larsen
Well while you all were celebrating the boring holiday of Halloween yesterday, we were partying it up in a city called Jena, celebrating the one and only...Reformation Day! I guess it's been 500ish years since the day that Martin Luther started the reformation of Christianity. Our partying consisted of walking around for 4 hours talking to people and...yeah that was about it. It was actually a lot of fun though and we talked to a lot of cool people. Jena is a university city, so there are a lot more people who are open to new ideas. We were up there for pretty much the whole day, which is why I'm writing emails today.
The highlight of this week was probably one of our appointments with our investigator Frau Putschli. We had lost contact with her for about a week because she lost her phone and our appointments fell out, but we were able to get back in contact and meet on Monday and Friday. For the appointment on Friday we brought her over to Peter and Beate's house, the recently new converts, who live just a few minutes away from her. Once again I was amazed at the progress that Beate has made. Beate, who was baptized only 3 weeks ago and who had actually accepted a baptismal date after Frau Putschli had accepted hers, gave awesome testimony about faith and how faith leads to works; and said quite outright that Frau Putschli, through her works, was not showing that she had the faith she needs to be baptized. It was very direct but very necessary, and I just sat there amazed. 6 weeks ago I could never have imagined Beate saying things like that. Frau Putschli was obviously taken aback, but afterwards Beate also showed an outpouring of love, saying to Frau Putschli that she was part of their family now, and if she ever needed anything, they'd be there to help. It was stinking awesome.
Aside from that, we found a couple new investigators this week and were able to make a couple appointments out with some old ones; it's looking like we'll be having a very busy week, which is always nice. I know that God loves us, that he stays true to his word and that he is our Heavenly Father. Without this knowledge I can say 100% that I wouldn't be here in a little German town right now, having some of the coolest experiences of my life, haha.
Love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Larsen
Monday, October 24, 2016
Fahrvergnügend
Yeesh Mom, with all the hype I was expecting you to look ridiculous with your new haircut. Maybe I'd just need to see it at a different perspective, but it looks fairly normal. Yeah, Peter and Beate are pretty adorable. I don't think I've yet to see this Elder O'Bryant, but I'll keep my eyes out. The Vogels had been there before I left, Michael's a pretty stinkin cool guy. Lisa you keep terrifying me with pictures of nephews and nieces...Marty looks like a real person! It's too crazy. Hmm, well if Wouard isn't a flattering name I sure don't know what is. Wow Andy, I'm surprised you all came back alive after having run into the Smokestack wizard. I'd keep my eye out. Don't forget: "but we all knew, they were all...switched up!" Well Heidi, surely that would be rude of Andy to help you during the dirty devil and steal away the opportunity to be helped by your own husband. Jose, if you meet anyone with the last name Earl in the distant land of Orem, know they may be related to my companion. Well Dad, I'm sad I wasn't there to run into the random old wizard of the dirty devil. Sounds like Debby's birthday was quite the party, nothing beats square dancing with your sisters.
Well, things are gonna have to be kept a bit short this week, we still need to go shopping and get haircuts before the afternoon is through. Since her baptism last week, Beate has continued to make good progress. She has a building excitement for the gospel and she seems to have developed a special love for praying, which when we first met she was very uncomfortable with.
Things with Frau Putschli haven't been going quite so smoothly, we had two appointments fall out (do appointments fall out or is that a German thing?) and she lost her phone, so it's been hard getting in contact with her. We don't think she's ready to be baptized this Saturday, but it's obviously not very ideal to have to push a baptismal date back. But things should work out fine.
Aside from that, today we got the new "Area Book App," which means for the next while we'll be transferring all the information we have about Werdau into the new app, which should be pretty awesome once all the information has been carried over. Good ol' technology, keeping us on our toes.
Anywho, life is pretty great :). Things continue to go well and every day the Lord blesses us with little miracles. Love you guys and hope you have a great week!
Elder Larsen
Well, things are gonna have to be kept a bit short this week, we still need to go shopping and get haircuts before the afternoon is through. Since her baptism last week, Beate has continued to make good progress. She has a building excitement for the gospel and she seems to have developed a special love for praying, which when we first met she was very uncomfortable with.
Things with Frau Putschli haven't been going quite so smoothly, we had two appointments fall out (do appointments fall out or is that a German thing?) and she lost her phone, so it's been hard getting in contact with her. We don't think she's ready to be baptized this Saturday, but it's obviously not very ideal to have to push a baptismal date back. But things should work out fine.
Aside from that, today we got the new "Area Book App," which means for the next while we'll be transferring all the information we have about Werdau into the new app, which should be pretty awesome once all the information has been carried over. Good ol' technology, keeping us on our toes.
Anywho, life is pretty great :). Things continue to go well and every day the Lord blesses us with little miracles. Love you guys and hope you have a great week!
Elder Larsen
Monday, October 17, 2016
Getauft! (Baptized!)
You may be interested to hear Mom that I too, can't believe that Zeke is one year old. Boy aside from having seen pictures I can hardly find a reason to believe that he exists! As far as I know I'm just seeing pictures of Jake when he was younger. Boy Lisa, I never knew your true calling in life was to be a model. A B+ with a class average of 70%, Andy? Look who's turning into the family nerd! But hey, it seems it isn't too uncommon these days to see the nerds getting together with the babes, so it may be a smart way to go. What Wouard, you mean you aren't also going on the Dirty Devil? Boy it seems to be birthday season around these parts, Savvy turning 7??? Dad, you aren't the only one to mention Mom's new hair cut, yet I still haven't had the opportunity myself to see it. Thanks for the prayers Pops, we can feel them. Well Joey, while it's still not 100% if we can give Jake a baptism for his birthday, you may be interested to hear that Zeke got a surprise baptism for his birthday.
So funny story. Shortly after writing emails last Monday we got a call from one of the assistants to the President, Elder Day, informed us that at a meeting they had had that morning, President Fingerle had the feeling that this week we could have 5 baptisms in the mission. So Elder Day asked us if we had anyone who could potentially be baptized...within 5 days. To make a long story short, our investigator Beate got baptized this last Saturday. Though we had to have a few jam-packed lessons, we were able to teach everything and despite the rushedness (yeah I don't think that's a word) of it, we had the feeling that she was ready for it. The whole time we've been teaching her she's had an excitement for reading the Book of Mormon, praying and keeping God's commandments. The ward wasn't super thrilled about how spontaneous it all was, but we had their support 100%. Her husband Peter was able to perform the baptism and all in all it was a pretty stinking awesome experience. Now the two of them mention every time we see them how impatient they are to be sealed together in the Temple, haha.
Though that was naturally the highlight of the week, we did have some other cool experiences in the last few days. One being on Saturday, when we had set up an appointment with a former investigator, where upon arriving instead of seeing him again we ran into his brother, who looked and acted so similar to the first guy that for a few seconds I legitimately wondered if he had tried to disguise himself. So we ended up teaching him and although he was really friendly and nice, he felt that there were too many evidences that the Book of Mormon couldn't be true. Upon asking him if he had read any of it, he said no. I guess it's a clever strategy of the adversary, doing whatever he can to keep people from reading the Book of Mormon, since all the points that people can bring up against it would be crushed if they were to sincerely read in and pray about it.
We're continuing to work with Frau Putschli, who is still working toward the 29th of October for her baptism. It's a little hard to see exactly where she's at in her conversion, and it's been difficult to get her to come to church, but we're pressing forward.
That's all for now folks, love you!
Elder Larsen
So funny story. Shortly after writing emails last Monday we got a call from one of the assistants to the President, Elder Day, informed us that at a meeting they had had that morning, President Fingerle had the feeling that this week we could have 5 baptisms in the mission. So Elder Day asked us if we had anyone who could potentially be baptized...within 5 days. To make a long story short, our investigator Beate got baptized this last Saturday. Though we had to have a few jam-packed lessons, we were able to teach everything and despite the rushedness (yeah I don't think that's a word) of it, we had the feeling that she was ready for it. The whole time we've been teaching her she's had an excitement for reading the Book of Mormon, praying and keeping God's commandments. The ward wasn't super thrilled about how spontaneous it all was, but we had their support 100%. Her husband Peter was able to perform the baptism and all in all it was a pretty stinking awesome experience. Now the two of them mention every time we see them how impatient they are to be sealed together in the Temple, haha.
Though that was naturally the highlight of the week, we did have some other cool experiences in the last few days. One being on Saturday, when we had set up an appointment with a former investigator, where upon arriving instead of seeing him again we ran into his brother, who looked and acted so similar to the first guy that for a few seconds I legitimately wondered if he had tried to disguise himself. So we ended up teaching him and although he was really friendly and nice, he felt that there were too many evidences that the Book of Mormon couldn't be true. Upon asking him if he had read any of it, he said no. I guess it's a clever strategy of the adversary, doing whatever he can to keep people from reading the Book of Mormon, since all the points that people can bring up against it would be crushed if they were to sincerely read in and pray about it.
We're continuing to work with Frau Putschli, who is still working toward the 29th of October for her baptism. It's a little hard to see exactly where she's at in her conversion, and it's been difficult to get her to come to church, but we're pressing forward.
That's all for now folks, love you!
Elder Larsen
Monday, October 10, 2016
Midlife Crisis
Well Mom, I hope you let Grandma know that ol Matt in Germany is very grateful for her prayers. It's good to know of and feel the support of those around me, even (or perhaps especially) from those who are thousands of miles away. I can't imagine the amount of cackling that must have happened as you agreed to have your hair cut to look just like Anna's...I'm surprised I didn't hear it from here. Boy Lisa I feel like I won't even recognize you when I get back. You'll be some famous, rich model living the high life. I very much appreciate the pictures of the kiddies, crazy to see that Z is already starting to look like a real person. Dang Brosky, black box canyon sounds like quite the party. If only the ladies knew what they were missing out on, eh? Heidi I'm ashamed to say that when you wrote "I loved Elder Nelson's talk about joy. It made me think of Allie since that is her middle name." I first asked myself if Allie's middle name is Nelson. However I then came to the conclusion that Joy is her middle name. How embarrassing. I'm also disappointed that I didn't get this promised picture of Allie wanting to eat me. Joey, I'd say soon after World War 2 would be more accurate. Because of the communist government that existed in East Germany the majority of people that live here don't believe or even claim to believe that there is a God. Make sure to give Zeke a birthday nose-pick from Uncle Matt! Don't worry Dad, as missionaries we also have clients who don't want to follow the commandments. Everything always seems to work out though.
Well, life is going pretty well down here. Some stress and frustration on the one hand, but joy and success on the other. There seem to be a lot of little tug-of-wars going on around here, and we as the missionaries often seem to be in the middle. Our ward mission leader and the bishop haven't seen eye to eye on a lot of things, our Bishop/ward aren't on the same page regarding the dates of the baptisms we've set as our Mission President...so lots of drama. But it's good to know that if we trust in God and do our part, we don't need to worry about it.
So I feel like I've been having a bit of a mid-life crisis. For the first several months of my mission I seemed to constantly be trying to speak up more in lessons. Now however, after spending 6 weeks with a companion who spoke no German (companion from the Turkey mission) and having spent some time training a new missionary, I now have to set weekly goals to shut my mouth in lessons and help Elder Earl talk more. Crazy how life can pull a fast one on you like that.
Anywho things are going well around here. Our investigator Frau Putschli is unfortunately having health problems right now, so we've only been able to meet her once in the last week. She's doing really well though and is still pushing for the 29th of October.
Our other investigator Beate is also doing really well. We taught her today, ready to teach the Word of Wisdom. She had mentioned a couple weeks ago that she didn't think she'd be able to give up coffee, so we were prepared to talk about it. However as we started teaching her she said nonchalantly that she had already stopped drinking coffee about 2 weeks ago. Haha, she's awesome. She's been reading like crazy in the Book of Mormon, and though she still feels a little uncomfortable with prayer, she continues to push herself and give it her best. Her faith has definitely grown in the last couple weeks.
In other news we've been continuing to look out for new investigators, while also spending time visiting old investigators (some of these people have been investigating the church for longer than I've been alive) and we're gradually finding more people to work with. I don't think I've really done anything to deserve all the blessings we've been receiving from God, but I sure am grateful for it. Even on those dark, gloomy days when I just feel like giving up and collapsing, I can always get on my knees and be filled with the light and warmth of God's love.
Have a super duper week!!!
Elder Larsen
 |
Leipzig South Zone |
So I feel like I've been having a bit of a mid-life crisis. For the first several months of my mission I seemed to constantly be trying to speak up more in lessons. Now however, after spending 6 weeks with a companion who spoke no German (companion from the Turkey mission) and having spent some time training a new missionary, I now have to set weekly goals to shut my mouth in lessons and help Elder Earl talk more. Crazy how life can pull a fast one on you like that.
Anywho things are going well around here. Our investigator Frau Putschli is unfortunately having health problems right now, so we've only been able to meet her once in the last week. She's doing really well though and is still pushing for the 29th of October.
Our other investigator Beate is also doing really well. We taught her today, ready to teach the Word of Wisdom. She had mentioned a couple weeks ago that she didn't think she'd be able to give up coffee, so we were prepared to talk about it. However as we started teaching her she said nonchalantly that she had already stopped drinking coffee about 2 weeks ago. Haha, she's awesome. She's been reading like crazy in the Book of Mormon, and though she still feels a little uncomfortable with prayer, she continues to push herself and give it her best. Her faith has definitely grown in the last couple weeks.
In other news we've been continuing to look out for new investigators, while also spending time visiting old investigators (some of these people have been investigating the church for longer than I've been alive) and we're gradually finding more people to work with. I don't think I've really done anything to deserve all the blessings we've been receiving from God, but I sure am grateful for it. Even on those dark, gloomy days when I just feel like giving up and collapsing, I can always get on my knees and be filled with the light and warmth of God's love.
Have a super duper week!!!
Elder Larsen
Monday, October 3, 2016
Keeping Things Real in Werdau
Well Mom, I used the word hypothetically because I haven't stayed a full transfer in an area since my days in Stadthagen, but yeah, I'm quite sure I'll be staying for another 6 weeks in Werdau. Also happy Burfday, as my last email got cut short I forgot to add anything to my sass about whose birthday it was. Lisa, don't hope too hard that I get comfortable in my new area. When I start getting comfortable is typically when I get a surprise phone call telling me I'm going somewhere else, haha. I hear you Andy, I've gotten more out of the last 3 general conferences than I got in my first 30...possibly. I don't know bro, are there even going to be any girls to impress with this 60 meter rappel? I'm excited to read your success stories Joey, as you bring the nerds of the world to a knowledge of the Gospel. In terms of food being edible, not much to worry about there, though in Germany there is an unfortunate lack of delicious American desserts. Seems like 90% of the desserts here are some sort of fruity concoction. Well Dad, sounds like you also had a good time on Mom's birthday. I've had a couple of gyros here, though I'm afraid they can't compete with the Turkish food they've got here.
It feels good to finally be able to write emails on Monday again. For whatever reason everyone in this country seems to only be able to meet on Mondays, so we've had to ask President Fingerle several times to change pday to Tuesday.
Anywho, it's been quite the exciting week. On Monday and Tuesday we met with a new convert Peter and his wife Beate, who is currently (as of today) working toward the 5th of November to be baptized. She's pretty awesome. Despite having lost her faith during the difficult times after World War 2, she's excited to reclaim her faith and follow Jesus Christ.
Then on Wednesday we met for the first time with an investigator who was found by the missionaries about a year ago, named Mrs. Putschli. She had wanted to be baptized in the past but because of health problems and the elders leaving Werdau, things died down a little bit. We were finally able to meet with her; she said she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and wants to be baptized, so we set a date for the 29th of October. However a few days ago we discovered that the 29th is stake conference, but we should be able to work things out. Lots of miracles happening in this city.
Friday we went with Peter to the Freiberg temple, where he was able to do baptisms for the dead for the first time. He really enjoyed it and is looking forward to the day that he'll be able to be sealed to his wife in the temple. Pretty stinkin legit. Elder Earl and I were able to do a session in German, which was awesome.
Then of course the weekend was full of General Conference! I'm still trying to sort through everything, but the main things on my mind from it right now are prayer, joy and increasing my faith in the power of teaching others the plan of salvation. It's crazy how blessed we are to have living Prophets and Apostles who receive revelation from God as to what messages we need to hear. I love it.
Anyway, have an awesome week!
Elder Larsen
It feels good to finally be able to write emails on Monday again. For whatever reason everyone in this country seems to only be able to meet on Mondays, so we've had to ask President Fingerle several times to change pday to Tuesday.
Anywho, it's been quite the exciting week. On Monday and Tuesday we met with a new convert Peter and his wife Beate, who is currently (as of today) working toward the 5th of November to be baptized. She's pretty awesome. Despite having lost her faith during the difficult times after World War 2, she's excited to reclaim her faith and follow Jesus Christ.
Then on Wednesday we met for the first time with an investigator who was found by the missionaries about a year ago, named Mrs. Putschli. She had wanted to be baptized in the past but because of health problems and the elders leaving Werdau, things died down a little bit. We were finally able to meet with her; she said she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and wants to be baptized, so we set a date for the 29th of October. However a few days ago we discovered that the 29th is stake conference, but we should be able to work things out. Lots of miracles happening in this city.
Friday we went with Peter to the Freiberg temple, where he was able to do baptisms for the dead for the first time. He really enjoyed it and is looking forward to the day that he'll be able to be sealed to his wife in the temple. Pretty stinkin legit. Elder Earl and I were able to do a session in German, which was awesome.
Then of course the weekend was full of General Conference! I'm still trying to sort through everything, but the main things on my mind from it right now are prayer, joy and increasing my faith in the power of teaching others the plan of salvation. It's crazy how blessed we are to have living Prophets and Apostles who receive revelation from God as to what messages we need to hear. I love it.
Anyway, have an awesome week!
Elder Larsen
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Staying in Werdau!...Hypothetically
Wait Mom, I was having trouble understanding your letter, whose birthday was it? 7 hours in the temple sounds like quite the party. We're hoping that on Friday we'll be able to take a new convert to the temple, though I imagine we'd have to have quite the conversation with President Fingerle if we were to stay there for 7 hours. Lisa, a true magician never reveals his secrets. But fortunately for you I am no magician. It just involves some awkward leaning and stretching until my head is about sideways. In terms of your question, "what is the purpose of prayer," I'm not sure if I can really tell you anything you don't already know. Some answers I've heard from others are: to invite the Holy Ghost into our lives, to receive answers from God, to align our will with His, to obtain forgiveness for our sins, to obtain direction in our life, to express gratitude to God, to receive the strength to change our circumstances, to ask God for things we need...all of which I think our good and true answers. For me personally I think the purpose of prayer is for me to have the opportunity to speak with and obtain divine help and direction from my Father in Heaven, who loves me and who I love. Well Andy, it's strange to hear that the Dirty Devil is coming up once again. That means I'll be around for the next one. So I sorta just got stuck in a long phone call with a member which means I've now got like 0 time, but things are going well. For whatever reason everyone in this country seems to only be able to meet on Monday so we keep having to change to Tuesday, but President Fingerle hasn't gotten bothered by it...yet. Love you guys, have a good week!
Elder Larsen
Elder Larsen
Monday, September 19, 2016
Little Town of Werdau
Yeah Mom, I suppose Andy could be right. Transfer me once, shame on
you, transfer me twice, shame on me. Or something. Now I just need to
find out what the nefarious Elder Larsen could be doing to cause such
a thing :). Well Lisa, I'm guessing that if the crab never is able to
go through the door at all, you'll probably be having terrible luck
for the year. I awkwardness of your little dating experience that you
shared last week as well. Careful Andy, if I had a dollar for every
time you've said you'll probably be smooching this week, I'd have at
least one dollar. Gotta say Heidi, I'm pretty jealous. I sure wouldn't
be opposed to Elder Bednar randomly showing up to the Leipzig stake
conference here in Germany. You're certainly right Joey, if nothing
else all the craziness definitely keeps me from getting bored.
Unfortunately Dad, I don't think we'll be able to go to the Freiberg
temple for pdays. Traveling there and back would take around 4 hours,
which already takes up all of our time. But I am really hoping we'll
be able to get Peter, a new convert that was baptized a few months ago
here in Werdau out to the temple.
Well, I'm pretty sure I spent more time traveling over the course of
this week than any other week in my life. Getting here to Werdau from
Hildesheim, going to and from Berlin for a trainer/trainee conference
and traveling to a city called Jena for a zone service project
probably puts me at around 15 hours or so. It'll be nice to be able to
spend more time actually in Werdau itself this upcoming week.
My new companion, Elder Earl is from Orem, Utah. After 4 weeks he's
got stinkin good German and seems to know more about missionary life
than I did after being out for like 6 months, haha. He's kept a good
attitude despite the difficult situation he's been put in. It's not
every day that a brand new trainee knows more about his city than his
trainer. He's an awesome missionary.
Anywho, aside from sitting in trains a lot, 2 highlights of the week
were, as previously mentioned, the trainer/trainee conference and zone
service project. The training conference was an interesting blast to
the past, as it was about the same as what we had done back when I was
a trainee. But it was really nice to think back on and remember the
things I had learned back then. It hit me once again that the key to
having success as a missionary, the key to receiving the gift of
tongues and the key to being a servant of the Lord is love. In one of
he videos we watched a member of the Seventy says: "The gift of
tongues is not a one-time event. It's a journey of loving the people."
I think that principle applies to most aspects of being a missionary.
As for the service project, it was "Service Day" in the city of Jena.
Little did they know they'd be invaded by 14 missionaries from all
over East Germany. Elder Earl and I got assigned to help build a
couple tables at a day care center, where we worked alongside a couple
college students. We were able to get to know them, and afterwards
they invited us to come with them up this hill with a pretty good
overlook of the city. We were able to talk with them for a while as
well as share some of the message of the restoration. Though they
didn't show much interest in religion, it was a confidence booster
that everywhere in the world there are good, friendly people out there
being prepared by Heavenly Father. Who knows, perhaps the next time
they run into missionaries they'll be interested in learning more.
Life is great here in good ol' Deutschland. I'm hoping to be spend a
little more time here than I have in my last 2 areas, but I'll be
satisfied with whatever the Lord gives me. Love you all and hope you
have a great week!
Elder Larsen
you, transfer me twice, shame on me. Or something. Now I just need to
find out what the nefarious Elder Larsen could be doing to cause such
a thing :). Well Lisa, I'm guessing that if the crab never is able to
go through the door at all, you'll probably be having terrible luck
for the year. I awkwardness of your little dating experience that you
shared last week as well. Careful Andy, if I had a dollar for every
time you've said you'll probably be smooching this week, I'd have at
least one dollar. Gotta say Heidi, I'm pretty jealous. I sure wouldn't
be opposed to Elder Bednar randomly showing up to the Leipzig stake
conference here in Germany. You're certainly right Joey, if nothing
else all the craziness definitely keeps me from getting bored.
Unfortunately Dad, I don't think we'll be able to go to the Freiberg
temple for pdays. Traveling there and back would take around 4 hours,
which already takes up all of our time. But I am really hoping we'll
be able to get Peter, a new convert that was baptized a few months ago
here in Werdau out to the temple.
this week than any other week in my life. Getting here to Werdau from
Hildesheim, going to and from Berlin for a trainer/trainee conference
and traveling to a city called Jena for a zone service project
probably puts me at around 15 hours or so. It'll be nice to be able to
spend more time actually in Werdau itself this upcoming week.
got stinkin good German and seems to know more about missionary life
than I did after being out for like 6 months, haha. He's kept a good
attitude despite the difficult situation he's been put in. It's not
every day that a brand new trainee knows more about his city than his
trainer. He's an awesome missionary.
Anywho, aside from sitting in trains a lot, 2 highlights of the week
were, as previously mentioned, the trainer/trainee conference and zone
service project. The training conference was an interesting blast to
the past, as it was about the same as what we had done back when I was
a trainee. But it was really nice to think back on and remember the
things I had learned back then. It hit me once again that the key to
having success as a missionary, the key to receiving the gift of
tongues and the key to being a servant of the Lord is love. In one of
he videos we watched a member of the Seventy says: "The gift of
tongues is not a one-time event. It's a journey of loving the people."
I think that principle applies to most aspects of being a missionary.
As for the service project, it was "Service Day" in the city of Jena.
Little did they know they'd be invaded by 14 missionaries from all
over East Germany. Elder Earl and I got assigned to help build a
couple tables at a day care center, where we worked alongside a couple
college students. We were able to get to know them, and afterwards
they invited us to come with them up this hill with a pretty good
overlook of the city. We were able to talk with them for a while as
well as share some of the message of the restoration. Though they
didn't show much interest in religion, it was a confidence booster
that everywhere in the world there are good, friendly people out there
being prepared by Heavenly Father. Who knows, perhaps the next time
they run into missionaries they'll be interested in learning more.
Life is great here in good ol' Deutschland. I'm hoping to be spend a
little more time here than I have in my last 2 areas, but I'll be
satisfied with whatever the Lord gives me. Love you all and hope you
have a great week!
Elder Larsen
Monday, September 12, 2016
Birthday Package
You'll be pleased to hear, mom, I did indeed get my birthday package.
I had the opportunity to go on exchange in Berlin this week with the
Turkish Elders (the ones who are actually from Turkey and speak fluent
Turkish) and at the end I was able to go to the office and pick it up.
I'm quite grateful for the unique pillow case, as well as the various
sweets. But I'm especially thankful for the notes from my setting
apart; it was kind of scary how much the things written on that apply
to my current situation and the way my mission has been in general.
Thanks, love you guys!
Elder Larsen
I had the opportunity to go on exchange in Berlin this week with the
Turkish Elders (the ones who are actually from Turkey and speak fluent
Turkish) and at the end I was able to go to the office and pick it up.
I'm quite grateful for the unique pillow case, as well as the various
sweets. But I'm especially thankful for the notes from my setting
apart; it was kind of scary how much the things written on that apply
to my current situation and the way my mission has been in general.
Thanks, love you guys!
Elder Larsen
Here We Go Again
So...funny story. A few hours ago I got a call from President
Fingerle, informing me that I'd be leaving Hildesheim...today. At this
moment I'm on my way to a city called Werdau, where I'll be training a
new missionary named Elder Earl. His old companion got sick and had to
go to Berlin, hence the lack of forewarning. I'm really bummed to
leave Hildesheim; my short Turkish adventure with Elder Johnson is
over, and I only had time to say goodbye to a couple members and
investigators. I suppose if nothing else, at the end of this I'll be
able to say that over the course of 2 months I've been in 3 different
areas, 6 weeks of which I was able to learn a teeny bit of Turkish.
I'm still kind of flabbergasted (pardon my use of such a word) about
all that's happening, so I'll keep this email short. But I know that
the Lord is watching over me and will not forsake me; nor will he
forsake you. I hope y'all have an awesome week. Love you!
Elder Larsen
Fingerle, informing me that I'd be leaving Hildesheim...today. At this
moment I'm on my way to a city called Werdau, where I'll be training a
new missionary named Elder Earl. His old companion got sick and had to
go to Berlin, hence the lack of forewarning. I'm really bummed to
leave Hildesheim; my short Turkish adventure with Elder Johnson is
over, and I only had time to say goodbye to a couple members and
investigators. I suppose if nothing else, at the end of this I'll be
able to say that over the course of 2 months I've been in 3 different
areas, 6 weeks of which I was able to learn a teeny bit of Turkish.
all that's happening, so I'll keep this email short. But I know that
the Lord is watching over me and will not forsake me; nor will he
forsake you. I hope y'all have an awesome week. Love you!
Elder Larsen
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
The Celestial Language
Hallo,
Sorry about not sending this yesterday, for whatever reason people
only seem to be able to meet with us on Mondays, so we keep having to
ask if we can move our email time to Tuesday.
The crowning event of this week was, of course, the dedication of the
Freiberg Temple. Not only were we able to hear President Uchtdorf
speak in German, but Elder Bednar as well, who served his mission in
Germany. I suppose German really is the celestial language after all.
Unfortunately the satellite connection at the stake center in Hannover
was struggling so we ended up missing a good chunk of President
Uchtdorf's words, but it was still pretty legit.
Nothing else from this week can really compare with that, but we did
have a couple cool experiences. So the typical German teenager when
stopped on the street will typically stare at you for a second and
then start laughing before walking away. After experiencing this
rather often, I've become somewhat wary of the mysterious creatures
known as teenagers and wasn't particularly excited when we crossed
paths with one a few days ago. Well instead of walking away, laughing,
he listened and asked questions until we had shared pretty much the
entire first lesson. Though he didn't have interest in meeting, he did
have interest in the Book of Mormon ("I can have it for free!?").
We're hoping and praying that he'll read it and one day have interest
in learning more.
Second cool experience, we were walking through the center of town and
this random guy comes and talks to us in English, "are you guys
missionaries?" He's a student from Syria and had met the missionaries
(not sure where or how much he met with them) but he gave us his
number and said he'd like to come to church. It was kind of awkward,
because we had to tell him he'd have to wait a week because of the
temple dedication, but we have an appointment with him later today. It
was a nice reminder of who is really in charge of this work, at the
end of the day it's not really us doing anything, it's just God using
us as instruments in His hands.
That's all for this week folks, have an awesome week!
Elder Larsen
Sorry about not sending this yesterday, for whatever reason people
only seem to be able to meet with us on Mondays, so we keep having to
ask if we can move our email time to Tuesday.
Freiberg Temple. Not only were we able to hear President Uchtdorf
speak in German, but Elder Bednar as well, who served his mission in
Germany. I suppose German really is the celestial language after all.
Unfortunately the satellite connection at the stake center in Hannover
was struggling so we ended up missing a good chunk of President
Uchtdorf's words, but it was still pretty legit.
Nothing else from this week can really compare with that, but we did
have a couple cool experiences. So the typical German teenager when
stopped on the street will typically stare at you for a second and
then start laughing before walking away. After experiencing this
rather often, I've become somewhat wary of the mysterious creatures
known as teenagers and wasn't particularly excited when we crossed
paths with one a few days ago. Well instead of walking away, laughing,
he listened and asked questions until we had shared pretty much the
entire first lesson. Though he didn't have interest in meeting, he did
have interest in the Book of Mormon ("I can have it for free!?").
We're hoping and praying that he'll read it and one day have interest
in learning more.
Second cool experience, we were walking through the center of town and
this random guy comes and talks to us in English, "are you guys
missionaries?" He's a student from Syria and had met the missionaries
(not sure where or how much he met with them) but he gave us his
number and said he'd like to come to church. It was kind of awkward,
because we had to tell him he'd have to wait a week because of the
temple dedication, but we have an appointment with him later today. It
was a nice reminder of who is really in charge of this work, at the
end of the day it's not really us doing anything, it's just God using
us as instruments in His hands.
That's all for this week folks, have an awesome week!
Elder Larsen
Monday, August 29, 2016
Cast Out and Spat Upon
Boy Mom, I'm quite disappointed that after a short time of being gone you can't even recognize my terribly proper and grammatically-correct writing style. Yeah we were a bit rushed last week, so I forgot to mention that I unfortunately have not yet obtained the birthday package. You gotta be careful though Mom, you don't want to get addicted to those computer games of yours. Familysearch, indexing and whatnot. Yeah Lisa, often I think about how similar Germans and Americans are, but other times I wonder when I see some of their weird cultural things. That's funny with the Jenkins kids, I think the distraction tactic works with more than just kids though. There are times out here where I feel kind of mopey and upset and then one little thing can happen to change my attitude and make me wonder why I was annoyed in the first place. In terms of learning Turkish, it's going pretty slow. Since our only Turkish-speaking investigator speaks better German than Turkish, it's hard to work up the motivation to crack down on Turkish rather than just working on my German, so I probably need to repent. Yeah Andy, I'm not really seeing the resemblance between you and Elder Johnson either. Based on those pictures you sent me, someone is looking a little bit scrawny. Hope you'll be ready to be taken down by your younger bro. I'm sorry Joey, but I don't think you've made it to the point that you can call yourselves "The Larsens." If I ever figure out what on earth Straussenfartens are, I'll be sure to avoid them. That Tracy Hall Science Center sounds pretty legit Dad.
It's funny how a mission changes your perspective on so many things. For example, normally I wouldn't have been very excited to take up my entire Saturday helping someone move. On a mission however, there's nothing I'd rather do than spend 8 hours straight carrying furniture. Even better was that the member we helped invited one of his co-workers to also come help, who just happened to be Turkish. Elder Johnson was able to talk with him and unfortunately he didn't end up having any interest, but hey it's the thought that counts.
On Monday we were able to go to Hannover to visit Brother Erdogan, the only Turkish member in the Stake. We didn't have a whole lot of time, but we got to know him and will hopefully be able to meet with him more in the near future, he seems like a pretty awesome guy.
All but one of our appointments for this week ended up falling out, so we had quite a bit of time to do street contacting. The Lord times things pretty well; I just happened to be reading in Alma 26, where Ammon says that they taught people in their houses and on their streets and were cast out, spat upon, stoned and bound with cords. I can't yet relate to being stoned or bound with cords, but everything else sounded pretty familiar. With their initial lack of success and their bounty of afflictions, it may have been easy for the sons of Mosiah to lose hope, yet they trusted in the Lord's promises and ended up fulfilling one of the most successful missions in history. Though I'm not sure that we'll be able to bring as many thousands of Germans/Turks to repentance as Ammon and Aaron did, I do know that in one form or another the Lord will bless us with success when we are faithful and diligent in doing what we have been called to do.
Life is wunderbar, have a jolly old week!
Elder Larsen
It's funny how a mission changes your perspective on so many things. For example, normally I wouldn't have been very excited to take up my entire Saturday helping someone move. On a mission however, there's nothing I'd rather do than spend 8 hours straight carrying furniture. Even better was that the member we helped invited one of his co-workers to also come help, who just happened to be Turkish. Elder Johnson was able to talk with him and unfortunately he didn't end up having any interest, but hey it's the thought that counts.
On Monday we were able to go to Hannover to visit Brother Erdogan, the only Turkish member in the Stake. We didn't have a whole lot of time, but we got to know him and will hopefully be able to meet with him more in the near future, he seems like a pretty awesome guy.
All but one of our appointments for this week ended up falling out, so we had quite a bit of time to do street contacting. The Lord times things pretty well; I just happened to be reading in Alma 26, where Ammon says that they taught people in their houses and on their streets and were cast out, spat upon, stoned and bound with cords. I can't yet relate to being stoned or bound with cords, but everything else sounded pretty familiar. With their initial lack of success and their bounty of afflictions, it may have been easy for the sons of Mosiah to lose hope, yet they trusted in the Lord's promises and ended up fulfilling one of the most successful missions in history. Though I'm not sure that we'll be able to bring as many thousands of Germans/Turks to repentance as Ammon and Aaron did, I do know that in one form or another the Lord will bless us with success when we are faithful and diligent in doing what we have been called to do.
Life is wunderbar, have a jolly old week!
Elder Larsen
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Iyi Gunler (Have a Nice Day)
Hi,
Kind of an interesting week 'round these parts. So on Friday at 5 we came to the church for a few minutes so that Elder Johnson could get in contact with an old investigator in Turkey, and left shortly afterwards. Well an hour and a half later the other Elders in Hildesheim came to have an appointment in the church and found that the church had been broken into. Someone had drilled a hole into the window to get it open and had scoured the church, apparently searching for money. Fortunately they didn't seem to find any and left without taking anything...in fact they seemed to have accidentally left about €2 worth of coins outside the door, so apparently in their attempt to rob the church they actually lost money. But anywho, since the 2 of us had only been in the foyer when we were there, we have no idea if the break-in happened before, during or after our visit...scary stuff. The police came to investigate, and since then not much has happened, everything is back in order and just as it was before.
Aside from that, nothing too exciting from this last week. We're starting to focus some of our time and effort in working with less active members, which is going pretty well. One needed help taking some things to the dump, and upon leaving he had us wait for a second as he went to talk to one of the female employees. We couldn't hear what they were saying, but she looked kind of embarrassed, pulled out her phone and talked to someone, then walked away. He came back and told us that he had asked her out on a date. He told us it's not typically normal to randomly walk up to someone and ask them on a date in Germany, and that he gets all kinds of reactions when he does it. Learn something new about German culture every day...anyway we were able to talk with him and commit him to start praying every day, a small but important step. It's a little difficult, as he is apparently completely at peace with his life and doesn't really feel a need to change, but we're gradually making progress.
That's about all I've got, love you all, have an awesome week!
Elder Larsen
Kind of an interesting week 'round these parts. So on Friday at 5 we came to the church for a few minutes so that Elder Johnson could get in contact with an old investigator in Turkey, and left shortly afterwards. Well an hour and a half later the other Elders in Hildesheim came to have an appointment in the church and found that the church had been broken into. Someone had drilled a hole into the window to get it open and had scoured the church, apparently searching for money. Fortunately they didn't seem to find any and left without taking anything...in fact they seemed to have accidentally left about €2 worth of coins outside the door, so apparently in their attempt to rob the church they actually lost money. But anywho, since the 2 of us had only been in the foyer when we were there, we have no idea if the break-in happened before, during or after our visit...scary stuff. The police came to investigate, and since then not much has happened, everything is back in order and just as it was before.
That's about all I've got, love you all, have an awesome week!
Elder Larsen
Monday, August 15, 2016
Turkce Bilmiyorum
Merhaba,
Yeah Mom, I had talked to Elder Johnson and he said that most people in the military would either be in the city where he had served or in the all-american military branch. That's crazy that they'll be moving here to Germany though, small world. Yep, my companion be from Murica Lisa. New Joyzee, to be precise. Yeah, trying too hard is something I've thought about a lot as well. Especially in a mission like Germany where our efforts aren't always immediately met with obvious success, there's the potential of getting discouraged or cynical. But if you just don't stress too much about it, put in the effort while being patient and faithful in the Lord's timing, things go a lot better. Don't worry Andy, I'll be back to take you down in ultimate soon enough. I gotta say though, during the one time so far that I've been able to play ultimate, despite us winning pretty solidly I wasn't quite feeling that competitive fire. But I'll get it back eventually. Thanks for the birthday wishes Steve! Things are going a bit slow with the Turks, but we're gradually pressing forward. You know Joey, sometimes I look back and wish that I had heard some of these stories before my mission, haha. I discovered pretty quick in the field that my expectations of a mission weren't incredibly accurate. Somehow I pictured the main difficulties being eating nasty food or missing video games or being chased by dogs or some nonsense like that. It's a whole lot more complex and meaningful than I had first thought. Sounds like a good week, Dad. So with all the stuff at the stake park, did you not spend as much time at the cabin this year at the hall reunion?
This week started off pretty solid. On p-day we went as a district to this sweet castle in our area, where we did some exploring and took some nice pictures. Afterwards that evening in our finding efforts I ended up getting us on the wrong bus, taking us to the opposite side of the city as where we wanted to work at. But we saw that there was a less active member in the area, so we decided to visit her. She opened the door and said she was busy right then but that she'd like to make out an appointment with us. A couple days later we had a little meeting with our Branch President where we mentioned that we had visited this lady, and he said that after years of trying to send members and missionaries to visit her, they hadn't been able to get an appointment. So I'd say that was something of a miracle. Funny how God can even take the things we see as mistakes and use them to fulfill his purposes.
In regards to our efforts in finding Turks, we seem to be running into some difficulties. Apparently Hildesheim has one of the biggest concentrations of Isis-sympathizers in the country, and in the last 4 weeks they've had 2 confrontations with the police. So not exactly the safest time to be proselyting around high populations of Muslims. Right now we're just talking mostly to Germans and trying to see if we can possibly spend some time during the week in Hannover, the area next to us, because there are also a lot of Turks there and it's also the ward with the only Turkish member in the stake. In the end though I think it'll just come down to being patient and waiting to see what the Lord has in store for us here.
Think that's about all I've got, I hope you guys have an awesome week! Love you!
Elder Larsen
Yeah Mom, I had talked to Elder Johnson and he said that most people in the military would either be in the city where he had served or in the all-american military branch. That's crazy that they'll be moving here to Germany though, small world. Yep, my companion be from Murica Lisa. New Joyzee, to be precise. Yeah, trying too hard is something I've thought about a lot as well. Especially in a mission like Germany where our efforts aren't always immediately met with obvious success, there's the potential of getting discouraged or cynical. But if you just don't stress too much about it, put in the effort while being patient and faithful in the Lord's timing, things go a lot better. Don't worry Andy, I'll be back to take you down in ultimate soon enough. I gotta say though, during the one time so far that I've been able to play ultimate, despite us winning pretty solidly I wasn't quite feeling that competitive fire. But I'll get it back eventually. Thanks for the birthday wishes Steve! Things are going a bit slow with the Turks, but we're gradually pressing forward. You know Joey, sometimes I look back and wish that I had heard some of these stories before my mission, haha. I discovered pretty quick in the field that my expectations of a mission weren't incredibly accurate. Somehow I pictured the main difficulties being eating nasty food or missing video games or being chased by dogs or some nonsense like that. It's a whole lot more complex and meaningful than I had first thought. Sounds like a good week, Dad. So with all the stuff at the stake park, did you not spend as much time at the cabin this year at the hall reunion?
This week started off pretty solid. On p-day we went as a district to this sweet castle in our area, where we did some exploring and took some nice pictures. Afterwards that evening in our finding efforts I ended up getting us on the wrong bus, taking us to the opposite side of the city as where we wanted to work at. But we saw that there was a less active member in the area, so we decided to visit her. She opened the door and said she was busy right then but that she'd like to make out an appointment with us. A couple days later we had a little meeting with our Branch President where we mentioned that we had visited this lady, and he said that after years of trying to send members and missionaries to visit her, they hadn't been able to get an appointment. So I'd say that was something of a miracle. Funny how God can even take the things we see as mistakes and use them to fulfill his purposes.In regards to our efforts in finding Turks, we seem to be running into some difficulties. Apparently Hildesheim has one of the biggest concentrations of Isis-sympathizers in the country, and in the last 4 weeks they've had 2 confrontations with the police. So not exactly the safest time to be proselyting around high populations of Muslims. Right now we're just talking mostly to Germans and trying to see if we can possibly spend some time during the week in Hannover, the area next to us, because there are also a lot of Turks there and it's also the ward with the only Turkish member in the stake. In the end though I think it'll just come down to being patient and waiting to see what the Lord has in store for us here.
Think that's about all I've got, I hope you guys have an awesome week! Love you!
Elder Larsen
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Turkish is a Delight
Yeah Mom, I'm pretty much famous. If only the people in Hildesheim were aware of it. Where did Brian and Stasia live in Turkey? I'll bet there's some Turkish missionary around these parts that knows them. Yikes, it doesn't even seem like that long ago that Tessa left on her mission. Now I'm almost to my year mark. Scary stuff. Well theoretically Lisa, I'd like to develop the gift of tongues to the point that we can talk to each other in German and Turkish and understand each other...but at the moment for the most part we speak in English. Yeah I've discovered that in the mission, where there are those missionaries who take pride in being disobedient, especially when despite their lack of obedience they see lots of success. Your comment seems pretty spot on having to trust in the Savior. Sometimes we need patience and faith to see the blessings that come from being obedient, even when they don't always appear immediately or when we want them to. Don't get my hopes up too much, Andy, because now I'm definitely expecting a juicy email for next week. I think the last real juicy email I got from you was your encounter with a certain returned sister missionary. Boy Heidi before you mentioned my birthday it hadn't really occurred to me that it's coming up in 10 days. I don't really feel like I'm ready to accept the age of 19, so I'll probably just stay 18 this year. Gotta say Joey, I've complained a bit about the cold summer here in Germany, but in comparison to the hottest summer in 100 years in Spain I think I'll stick with the cold side. Keep up the temple work Dad, sounds like pretty awesome stuff.
Well this week was kind of all over the place. On Wednesday we spent most of the day in Hamburg at a Zone Conference, where we were taught by Elder Charles of the Seventy. Lots of cool stuff there. A big thing that stuck out to me was trying harder to reach heavenward in finding situations; sometimes I get in the zone of just walking along, using the same approach and same questions, watching the minutes go by, rather than really focusing on loving the people and trying to see them as God sees them. I also got to see my bros from the mtc, Elders Fritz and Green, not to mention the one and only Elder Peatross! So that was pretty solid. Then on Saturday we went to Berlin where we had a language training meeting, since now I'm apparently learning Turkish...and I thought German was a difficult language. Anywho, there we learned some ways that we can work together as a companionship despite not being able to speak the same language during lessons.
We had had a couple appointments earlier in the week which ended up being me teaching the lesson and afterwards telling Elder Johnson what happened. Certainly wasn't the best strategy. Hopefully we'll be able to take what we've learned and change things up so we can actually help each other in lessons. We were able to find a Turkish lady who had been an investigator, who was born in Germany but learned Turkish from her parents. At this point that's kind of all we have right now in terms of Turkish investigators. We're just gonna have to be patient and try whatever we can to find those being prepared by the Lord. It's definitely a unique and stretching experience, neither of us know entirely what we're doing, haha. I have no experience talking to/finding Turks, and Elder Johnson has no experience with openly proselyting. Good thing the Lord is patient with us, with His help I think we'll eventually figure this stuff out :).
That's about all I've got for this week, keep on keeping on! Love you!
Elder Larsen
Well this week was kind of all over the place. On Wednesday we spent most of the day in Hamburg at a Zone Conference, where we were taught by Elder Charles of the Seventy. Lots of cool stuff there. A big thing that stuck out to me was trying harder to reach heavenward in finding situations; sometimes I get in the zone of just walking along, using the same approach and same questions, watching the minutes go by, rather than really focusing on loving the people and trying to see them as God sees them. I also got to see my bros from the mtc, Elders Fritz and Green, not to mention the one and only Elder Peatross! So that was pretty solid. Then on Saturday we went to Berlin where we had a language training meeting, since now I'm apparently learning Turkish...and I thought German was a difficult language. Anywho, there we learned some ways that we can work together as a companionship despite not being able to speak the same language during lessons.
We had had a couple appointments earlier in the week which ended up being me teaching the lesson and afterwards telling Elder Johnson what happened. Certainly wasn't the best strategy. Hopefully we'll be able to take what we've learned and change things up so we can actually help each other in lessons. We were able to find a Turkish lady who had been an investigator, who was born in Germany but learned Turkish from her parents. At this point that's kind of all we have right now in terms of Turkish investigators. We're just gonna have to be patient and try whatever we can to find those being prepared by the Lord. It's definitely a unique and stretching experience, neither of us know entirely what we're doing, haha. I have no experience talking to/finding Turks, and Elder Johnson has no experience with openly proselyting. Good thing the Lord is patient with us, with His help I think we'll eventually figure this stuff out :).That's about all I've got for this week, keep on keeping on! Love you!
Elder Larsen
Monday, August 1, 2016
Week 4 in Bremerhaven....Psych!
Yeah Mom, missionary work is certainly a roller coaster. You're so flippin awesome Mom, keep it up! Lisa, I gotta say I'm confused with these pictures. You seem to have sent me an old picture of Jake and a picture of some boy wearing Jake's superhero suit. Where's Zeke? Boy...I haven't even been out a year and I don't recognize my own nieces and nephews anymore. Hmm, you'll have to ask Joseph what inspired him to give that strange looking creature the name Jax. Andy I do hope you still remember your promise that if I get home and you have no wife or even a girlfriend that you'll split the cost with me to buy a 4 wheeler. I as well had a few Brats for din din this weekend. Unfortunately they don't seem to have them good ol' breakfast sausages here in Germany. Heidi, you mean you blew your opportunity at having a pet mouse? Wouard, you need to have Savvy and Abby send messages to ol' Jacob Zundel like "you're stinky" for me. Well Joey, I'd probably be mocking you too if I saw you talking to your phone. Good to hear that Marty Jake NZ are great. Al Vida zein!
So...funny story. Monday afternoon I get a random phone call from President Fingerle, who says he wants to see me in the Mission home in Berlin Wednesday morning with all my suitcases packed. As I start thinking of what I could possibly have done that would lead me to being sent home, he reassured me that I had done nothing wrong and that I would be receiving a "special assignment." When I asked for more information, he said that I'd learn more Wednesday morning. Well to make a long story short, over the course of Tuesday I had to pack everything up, say goodbye to members, investigators and good ol' Elder Rogers, then take a train to Berlin to overnight there...still having no idea who my new companion would be, where I'd be going or what the reason for this craziness was. Well Wednesday morning in the mission home, everything was finally revealed to me. So apparently a coup took place in Turkey, which after failing put the Country into a state of emergency. In order to escape potential danger and persecution and under the direction of the First Presidency, the 15 "volunteers" (they weren't allowed to call themselves missionaries in Turkey) left the country and came to the Berlin, Germany mission, as it has the largest concentration of Turkish people outside of Turkey. So I was assigned a new companion, Elder Johnson, who had served in Turkey for about 4 months and were then sent off to the Hildesheim area, which is in the same stake as Stadthagen, where I was just a month ago. Lots of crazy stuff.
Before leaving the mission home in Berlin, President Finglerle gave us some instructions and told us that the Turkish missionaries should focus on maintaining and improving their Turkish, and that our focus in our new areas was to find and teach Turkish people. Well, unfortunately a couple days after arriving in Hildesheim we ran into a couple obstacles. We had a meeting with the Bishop here, Bishop Jensen, who expressed quite clearly his disappointment and frustration at having a companionship that would be focused on the Turkish population, rather than Germans. His frustration was shared, in some degree, with the rest of the ward, including our ward mission leader. It's not like the ward is bad or mean or anything, but they've had a rough history with missionaries and just want things to go back to normal. Another obstacle we ran into was sickness. On Friday I started feeling a bit weird and on Saturday it developed into a fever which took me out for most of the day. Sunday it started getting better and today I'm shaking off what will hopefully be the last of it. This week we'll be able to put those things behind us and put our trust fully in the Lord. There's a reason he sent us here and there are people being prepared here to accept the Gospel, even, or perhaps especially, Turkish people.
Life is pretty crazy right now, but pretty great as well. I know that God's hand is in everything that happens, and that he has amazing things in store for each of us. I'm excited to see what miracles we'll experience; a German-speaking missionary together with a Turkish-speaking missionary, walking through the streets of a city in Germany looking for Turkish people...funny stuff. Hope you guys have a week as exciting as this one will be for me!
Love,
Elder Larsen
So...funny story. Monday afternoon I get a random phone call from President Fingerle, who says he wants to see me in the Mission home in Berlin Wednesday morning with all my suitcases packed. As I start thinking of what I could possibly have done that would lead me to being sent home, he reassured me that I had done nothing wrong and that I would be receiving a "special assignment." When I asked for more information, he said that I'd learn more Wednesday morning. Well to make a long story short, over the course of Tuesday I had to pack everything up, say goodbye to members, investigators and good ol' Elder Rogers, then take a train to Berlin to overnight there...still having no idea who my new companion would be, where I'd be going or what the reason for this craziness was. Well Wednesday morning in the mission home, everything was finally revealed to me. So apparently a coup took place in Turkey, which after failing put the Country into a state of emergency. In order to escape potential danger and persecution and under the direction of the First Presidency, the 15 "volunteers" (they weren't allowed to call themselves missionaries in Turkey) left the country and came to the Berlin, Germany mission, as it has the largest concentration of Turkish people outside of Turkey. So I was assigned a new companion, Elder Johnson, who had served in Turkey for about 4 months and were then sent off to the Hildesheim area, which is in the same stake as Stadthagen, where I was just a month ago. Lots of crazy stuff.
Before leaving the mission home in Berlin, President Finglerle gave us some instructions and told us that the Turkish missionaries should focus on maintaining and improving their Turkish, and that our focus in our new areas was to find and teach Turkish people. Well, unfortunately a couple days after arriving in Hildesheim we ran into a couple obstacles. We had a meeting with the Bishop here, Bishop Jensen, who expressed quite clearly his disappointment and frustration at having a companionship that would be focused on the Turkish population, rather than Germans. His frustration was shared, in some degree, with the rest of the ward, including our ward mission leader. It's not like the ward is bad or mean or anything, but they've had a rough history with missionaries and just want things to go back to normal. Another obstacle we ran into was sickness. On Friday I started feeling a bit weird and on Saturday it developed into a fever which took me out for most of the day. Sunday it started getting better and today I'm shaking off what will hopefully be the last of it. This week we'll be able to put those things behind us and put our trust fully in the Lord. There's a reason he sent us here and there are people being prepared here to accept the Gospel, even, or perhaps especially, Turkish people.
Life is pretty crazy right now, but pretty great as well. I know that God's hand is in everything that happens, and that he has amazing things in store for each of us. I'm excited to see what miracles we'll experience; a German-speaking missionary together with a Turkish-speaking missionary, walking through the streets of a city in Germany looking for Turkish people...funny stuff. Hope you guys have a week as exciting as this one will be for me!
Love,
Elder Larsen
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
"Are You Guys Mormons?"
Wow Mom, that's stinking awesome. Keep it up Mom, I'm praying for you. Lisa I'm not sure if I understand what you mean by "I watched Joseph and Olivia pooch Jax this week." For one thing I'm not sure what pooch as a verb means and the only Jax I can think of is the one in League of Legends. Gotta watch out for those 1 year olds; you may be interested to hear that even kids in Germany recognize that they can beat me up. This little boy in sacrament meeting one week came up and started attacking me and afterwards went to his parents and was like "I beat that guy up!" to which they laughed. Shocking (tehee). That's cool that Devin be staying for a few months Broseph. How's that chap doing? Smooching any babes? Yeah I'm not sure that I understand the whole grace/works thing either...all I can think to take out of it is to have the attitude of knowing that we are entirely dependent on Christ and His Atonement. I get it Wouard, sleeping in an extra half hour is more important than celebrating the pioneers, eh? Haha, nur Spaß. That's sweet that Allison got her baby blessing. Looks like Savvy is off to a good start if she's already lost 4 teeth. Maybe she won't have to get 12 baby teeth pulled out like me. Yeah Joey, I'll definitely have to work on my Engrish. How emburrising. In terms of struggling to find the the will and motivation to work hard consistently...it's probably no surprise to you that I can also relate to that. The desire to go out in the heat and have the things most important to me be mocked and rejected isn't always terribly large. But it's always nice to take a step back and look at the reasons that I'm here and to see those whose lives have been changed by the message we share. I imagine it's the same concept as your work; looking at the reasons that you do what you do. Dad, you better give Grandma a thank you from me! That's cool that you were able to find some stories about our pioneer ancestors. We sure have some awesome ancestors.
Well this week was pretty normal, up until Saturday evening. There we be, waiting for the bus to come to take us home, when randomly this guy pulls up at the bus stop in his car and calls out "are you guys Mormons?" and we be like "Yeah..." and he be like "Where do you guys want to go?" We were naturally pretty surprised at this point, as it's not every day that random people offer us rides. Anywho, he told us he had met the missionaries a few years ago in a city east of Bremerhaven and that he has a lot of respect for the church and the missionaries. So he gave us a ride and we got to know him a bit. To make a long story short, we were able to invite him to church and set up an appointment for Sunday evening. Well, he came to church and after a few minutes into our conversation with him we finally learn...he's already been baptized. However his Mom died a couple years ago, and since then he's found it hard to believe in God. Well unfortunately he wasn't able to stay afterwards, but we still had our appointment for that evening. We had the idea to also bring along another less active member; we thought it would be good if the two became friends: the two of them are around the age of twenty and the closest active member in terms of age to that is a girl in her 30s. Well that ended up not being the greatest idea, as their skepticism and issues kind of built upon each other, though in terms of becoming friends it worked out pretty well. But that's pretty much going to be the main goal of the next few weeks, is getting the two of them active. The branch here desperately needs active, young members.
Time is running short, so I guess I'll wrap things up. I know that the Lord blesses us when we have the courage to choose the right, even in the face of mockery, rejection or embarrasment. I know that when we stand by the Savior, He will stand by us; and we will not fall. God will reward us for our righteous behavior with happiness and peace in this life and eternal joy in the world to come. Have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder Larsen
Well this week was pretty normal, up until Saturday evening. There we be, waiting for the bus to come to take us home, when randomly this guy pulls up at the bus stop in his car and calls out "are you guys Mormons?" and we be like "Yeah..." and he be like "Where do you guys want to go?" We were naturally pretty surprised at this point, as it's not every day that random people offer us rides. Anywho, he told us he had met the missionaries a few years ago in a city east of Bremerhaven and that he has a lot of respect for the church and the missionaries. So he gave us a ride and we got to know him a bit. To make a long story short, we were able to invite him to church and set up an appointment for Sunday evening. Well, he came to church and after a few minutes into our conversation with him we finally learn...he's already been baptized. However his Mom died a couple years ago, and since then he's found it hard to believe in God. Well unfortunately he wasn't able to stay afterwards, but we still had our appointment for that evening. We had the idea to also bring along another less active member; we thought it would be good if the two became friends: the two of them are around the age of twenty and the closest active member in terms of age to that is a girl in her 30s. Well that ended up not being the greatest idea, as their skepticism and issues kind of built upon each other, though in terms of becoming friends it worked out pretty well. But that's pretty much going to be the main goal of the next few weeks, is getting the two of them active. The branch here desperately needs active, young members.
Time is running short, so I guess I'll wrap things up. I know that the Lord blesses us when we have the courage to choose the right, even in the face of mockery, rejection or embarrasment. I know that when we stand by the Savior, He will stand by us; and we will not fall. God will reward us for our righteous behavior with happiness and peace in this life and eternal joy in the world to come. Have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder Larsen
Monday, July 18, 2016
Gotta Run
Well I be having like no time, but thanks for the emails and for being
awesome. Love y'all!
awesome. Love y'all!
Monday, July 11, 2016
Cray Cray
Well Mom, you're right...and you're also right. You're right in that my suit crisis has come to an end, and you're also right in that the pants I was wearing in that picture were just a pair of my dress pants. That hardly seems fair mom, you were all able to get 46x as many baptisms as me in a single day! And no, I most certainly did not hear that Joseph and Olivia are expecting a baby. Yet another Joseph, eh? Maybe I'll have to name one of my kids Joseph as well, just to keep the trend going. Weecha, I'll admit that a watermelon made out of rice crispies is cool, though this week at a less active members house he took out a watermelon, cut a hole out of it and stuck a mixer in. Totally made a watermelon into a drink...pretty awesome. Funny that you bring up people that are "stuck in your life for the moment and you have to keep dealing with them frequently," as that's pretty much what companions are on missions, haha. Fortunately I've been blessed with pretty awesome companions. Wouard, your own mother participated in the water balloon fights and you didn't? Hope ol' Swavvy gets better soon. Golfing, Andy? Are you going to turn into some posh golf player or something? I suppose there are probably some girls that are into that. Nope, no fat companion Joey. In fact I've never had anything more than a skinny companion so far. I'm happy you recognize my repentance Joey, though I'm afraid I haven't really gotten past the confession part. Unless going back to baptize someone in the ward counts as making things right again. Happy Birthday Pops! If I remember right President Fingerle's daughter is getting married in the Netherlands temple. Pretty awesome that you got to do endowments in the new temple for the first time.
Week one in Bremerhaven! Kind of a cray cray week. Tuesday we spent pretty much the entire day packing, saying goodbye to members, setting up appointments and getting things ready for the sisters. Wednesday good ol Elder Barboza and I parted ways; me to Bremerhaven and the now "Andrew" Barboza back to Texas. Anywho, things were going pretty normal. I made it to Bremerhaven, met the new companion, Elder Rogers, started unpacking. He told me that that evening we'd be teaching two men from America...with a homosexual relationship. Which at the time didn't seem that strange: there are plenty of stranger things in Germany. So that evening we go to their house, I get to know them and everything. Then without warning Elder Rogers plunges into the law of chastity, pulling out scriptures that condemn homosexuality and pretty much telling them they're going to be thrust down to China. Well after a few minutes of bewilderment they all burst out laughing...it was all just a prank. But uhh, based on that...I think it's safe to say I'm in for an interesting transfer. Needless to say I've since then discovered that Elder Rogers is a very sarcastic, jokey person. It's gonna be quite the ride.
Well aside from that craziness, Saturday we were able to drive to Stadthagen for the baptism of Frau Heumann! Everything went super well: the Spirit was strong, the members were there to support and Frau Heumann was super happy. Perhaps the only flaw was that the water level was a little low, and with Frau Heumann being a tad bit large, it was kind of a challenge getting her all the way under, haha. But it was awesome to have the opportunity to go back and help her make the important step of baptism. There's still lots for her to learn and to do, but she's on the right path, and that's amazing to see.
Well I'm about out of time. I'm pretty curious to see what the city of Bremerhaven has in store for me, but I know that with God's help we can overcome all the trials and struggles that life throws at us. Thanks for your prayers and for your awesomeness, have an aweome week!
Elder Larsen
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| Leaving Stadthagen |
Week one in Bremerhaven! Kind of a cray cray week. Tuesday we spent pretty much the entire day packing, saying goodbye to members, setting up appointments and getting things ready for the sisters. Wednesday good ol Elder Barboza and I parted ways; me to Bremerhaven and the now "Andrew" Barboza back to Texas. Anywho, things were going pretty normal. I made it to Bremerhaven, met the new companion, Elder Rogers, started unpacking. He told me that that evening we'd be teaching two men from America...with a homosexual relationship. Which at the time didn't seem that strange: there are plenty of stranger things in Germany. So that evening we go to their house, I get to know them and everything. Then without warning Elder Rogers plunges into the law of chastity, pulling out scriptures that condemn homosexuality and pretty much telling them they're going to be thrust down to China. Well after a few minutes of bewilderment they all burst out laughing...it was all just a prank. But uhh, based on that...I think it's safe to say I'm in for an interesting transfer. Needless to say I've since then discovered that Elder Rogers is a very sarcastic, jokey person. It's gonna be quite the ride.
Well aside from that craziness, Saturday we were able to drive to Stadthagen for the baptism of Frau Heumann! Everything went super well: the Spirit was strong, the members were there to support and Frau Heumann was super happy. Perhaps the only flaw was that the water level was a little low, and with Frau Heumann being a tad bit large, it was kind of a challenge getting her all the way under, haha. But it was awesome to have the opportunity to go back and help her make the important step of baptism. There's still lots for her to learn and to do, but she's on the right path, and that's amazing to see.
Well I'm about out of time. I'm pretty curious to see what the city of Bremerhaven has in store for me, but I know that with God's help we can overcome all the trials and struggles that life throws at us. Thanks for your prayers and for your awesomeness, have an aweome week!
Elder Larsen
Monday, July 4, 2016
Transferred to Bremerhaven
Mom, you're welcome to come over and help us organize everything, I wouldn't be opposed. Haha, I'm sure there wouldn't be nearly as much drama over a potential baptism in most missions, but in good old stubborn Germany, baptisms aren't terribly commonplace. Well Lisa, it appears as though you've fallen into the evil trap of google translate. Schön dich zu sehen, wäre richtig gewesen. You aren't allowed to use formal "Sie" when talking to your own brother =P. We're playing volleyball and grilling some meat as a zone today to celebrate the 4th, and I'm also wearing my Captain America shirt, though I doubt I'll go so far as to sing The Star Spangled Banner. I'm impressed by that picture Heidi, her nose is surprisingly booger-free. That sounds boring that you slept in Steve's mom's house. Wouldn't it have been more exciting to sleep in a tent? Sounds like it was a fun reunion. Andy I think you need to start looking at things in a missionary perspective. Is it an effective use of time to go camping when you don't bring any babes along? I think you've gotta dedicate more time to good old fashioned finding. Thanks for your prayers Dad, we're really hoping everything works out with Frau Heumann's baptism this weekend.
In my email last week I compared the week to a rollercoaster. Well this week said rollercoaster pretty much exploded (I may be exaggerating just a little). So there we are on Saturday evening, working on making invitations to Frau Heumann's baptism. Earlier in the day we had met with her, taught her the rest of the last lesson (during which she asked me if I would baptize her) and afterwards she had an interview with our district leader, who found her ready to be baptized. Well this Saturday evening just happened to also be the day that we would be receiving our transfer call, to see who would go and who would stay. But we didn't really put a lot of thought into it: Elder Barboza is going home which would typically mean that I would stay in Stadthagen and get a new companion, since it's pretty rare that both missionaries get taken out of an area at the same time. And having it happen the week before a baptism is pretty much unheard of. So we get the call, and the Assistant to the President says "Elder Larsen, you're being transferred to Bremerhaven." Elder Barboza and I chuckled a bit and asked him, "so what's happening, really?" Well it was no joke. It was pretty hard to swallow, mostly because I had been 100% sure that I'd be staying at least 6 more weeks in Stadthagen and was looking forward to it. Stadthagen has such an awesome ward and the future here is looking pretty positive, so it wasn't terribly easy to accept. But after the initial shock and surprise and after finding out the reasons behind it things started to settle down. Elder Barboza's group is quite large; 23 Elders are going home and only a fraction of that number are coming in. But (no idea how), there are 18 Sisters coming in this transfer. So our area and a few others are being shut down and replaced by sisters. Crazy stuff. But I've heard a lot of good things about Bremerhaven, and I'll still be able to come back to Stadthagen this weekend for Frau Heumann's baptism. So life is good :).
Aside from that this week I attended my first and quite possibly last German wedding. President Fingerle's daughter got married, and because the groom has a lot of relatives in Stadthagen, and since President Fingerle can't leave mission boundaries (otherwise it would have been in southern Germany), they got married in Stadthagen. In Germany the government doesn't recognize marriage in the Temple as official, so members have to get married first in the City Hall--that's the part President Fingerle invited us to--and then in the Temple. Couldn't compare at all to the feelings of the Temple, but it was a pretty cool experience. The main weird thing about it was a somewhat scantily-clad statue of some viking woman hanging from the ceiling. Wasn't really sure what that had to do with marriage.
Anywho, I'm excited to see how things go in the new area. It was sad having to say goodbye to people here, but there are always new people to meet and new things to experience. The Lord wants me in Bremerhaven. It's funny, the city there is 10x as big as Stadthagen, but the ward is about 5x smaller. It'll be fun to be in a bigger city again, where we don't talk to the same people every day :).
I know the Gospel is true and I know Christ is my Savior. I know that He loves us and gave his own life so that we could return to our Father in Heaven. I know that through his Atonement we can overcome all the obstacles of this life and be forgiven for our sins, as well as learn from them. The Gospel is true and it is wonderful. Love you all and hope you have a jolly good week.
Elder Larsen
In my email last week I compared the week to a rollercoaster. Well this week said rollercoaster pretty much exploded (I may be exaggerating just a little). So there we are on Saturday evening, working on making invitations to Frau Heumann's baptism. Earlier in the day we had met with her, taught her the rest of the last lesson (during which she asked me if I would baptize her) and afterwards she had an interview with our district leader, who found her ready to be baptized. Well this Saturday evening just happened to also be the day that we would be receiving our transfer call, to see who would go and who would stay. But we didn't really put a lot of thought into it: Elder Barboza is going home which would typically mean that I would stay in Stadthagen and get a new companion, since it's pretty rare that both missionaries get taken out of an area at the same time. And having it happen the week before a baptism is pretty much unheard of. So we get the call, and the Assistant to the President says "Elder Larsen, you're being transferred to Bremerhaven." Elder Barboza and I chuckled a bit and asked him, "so what's happening, really?" Well it was no joke. It was pretty hard to swallow, mostly because I had been 100% sure that I'd be staying at least 6 more weeks in Stadthagen and was looking forward to it. Stadthagen has such an awesome ward and the future here is looking pretty positive, so it wasn't terribly easy to accept. But after the initial shock and surprise and after finding out the reasons behind it things started to settle down. Elder Barboza's group is quite large; 23 Elders are going home and only a fraction of that number are coming in. But (no idea how), there are 18 Sisters coming in this transfer. So our area and a few others are being shut down and replaced by sisters. Crazy stuff. But I've heard a lot of good things about Bremerhaven, and I'll still be able to come back to Stadthagen this weekend for Frau Heumann's baptism. So life is good :).
Aside from that this week I attended my first and quite possibly last German wedding. President Fingerle's daughter got married, and because the groom has a lot of relatives in Stadthagen, and since President Fingerle can't leave mission boundaries (otherwise it would have been in southern Germany), they got married in Stadthagen. In Germany the government doesn't recognize marriage in the Temple as official, so members have to get married first in the City Hall--that's the part President Fingerle invited us to--and then in the Temple. Couldn't compare at all to the feelings of the Temple, but it was a pretty cool experience. The main weird thing about it was a somewhat scantily-clad statue of some viking woman hanging from the ceiling. Wasn't really sure what that had to do with marriage.
Anywho, I'm excited to see how things go in the new area. It was sad having to say goodbye to people here, but there are always new people to meet and new things to experience. The Lord wants me in Bremerhaven. It's funny, the city there is 10x as big as Stadthagen, but the ward is about 5x smaller. It'll be fun to be in a bigger city again, where we don't talk to the same people every day :).
I know the Gospel is true and I know Christ is my Savior. I know that He loves us and gave his own life so that we could return to our Father in Heaven. I know that through his Atonement we can overcome all the obstacles of this life and be forgiven for our sins, as well as learn from them. The Gospel is true and it is wonderful. Love you all and hope you have a jolly good week.
Elder Larsen
Monday, June 27, 2016
God Is Love
Well Mom, it sounds like maybe I need to pay more attention to my thoughts during those difficult morning prayers, where I seem to be half asleep. I'm afraid that it'll take a more traumatic experience to make me a clean freak than some member's apartment, but I suppose anything is possible. Yikes, can't believe Ho Young already got his mission call...pretty sure he's still 16. Boy Andy, I'm surprised you're even allowed to be home alone. You'd think mom and dad would recognize that you'll be partying all night with "all your babes." Bro I hope you don't plan on telling me that you blew your chances with a certain _____ girl. You may be interested to know, Lisa, that here in Germany people say "beautiful to see you." Though in German it doesn't sound quite so ridiculous. I hope you have a good time in this "pond." I think what you said is pretty much missionary work in a nut-shell. Lots of ups and downs, success and blessings don't always come how we want them, and it's often difficult to tell if any of our efforts are making a difference. But the way we see things is a lot different from how God sees them. Not gonna lie Wouard, that collage thing is totes my goats adorbs. Are you sure that when Allison "practically smiled" at you, that it wasn't just gas? Surely she won't truly be able to smile until she meets her favorite uncle. Your rap seems pretty accurate Joey. And where be Isaac headed off to? Yeah Dad, that talk from Elder Holland last conference was pretty awesome. Nice to know that God blesses us just for having the desire to be better.
So...quite the rollercoaster this week. Tuesday we met with Frau Heumann and discovered that she works on the 2nd and 3rd of July. She said she hasn't gotten her entire work plan for July and that she'd call us when she did so we could make out a new date. Well, that evening President Fingerle called us, and we told him how things went. After a somewhat long and stressful phone call, he advised us to try to see if it would be possible that she got baptized THIS weekend, a.k.a. the 25th of June. Well we kind of panicked after that; for one thing neither I nor Elder Barboza have any experience with baptisms, which take more preparation than one might expect, and also the ward probably wouldn't be super thrilled about us spontanteously baptizing someone. But the next day we called Frau Heumann and it turns out she also had to work on those days, so that also didn't work. Well after much drama and conversations with our district leader, zone leaders, Assistants to the President, Sister training leaders and of course President Fingerle himself, we ended up with the 9th of July as the new date. Still a bit of churning in my stomach, but we're hoping that everything works out alright :).
In other news, our investigator Martin finally made it to church this Sunday. Elder Barboza had an awesome singing solo in Sacrament meeting, during which Martin teared up a little. He's such an awesome guy. One of the members, Esther Graf, also brought a friend to church (go members!), who also really enjoyed the church meetings and told us that he'd give us a call, once he gets back from vacation in a couple weeks. So we should have some pretty exciting stuff going on in the near future.
This week I finished reading the Book of Mormon, and the topic I was focused on throughout was how much God loves us. Well after going through my notes and reviewing what I marked, I think I can say that love is the #1 thing that makes God who He is. Everything he does is influenced by his love for us, and it's through love that we become more like Him (Moroni 7:48). I thought I was pretty clever when I came up with the phrase "Love is the defining characteristic of Godliness," but John the Apostle beat me by about 2000 years when he said "God is love." But in all seriousness, God loves us with all his heart, might, mind and strength. His joy comes from our success, and the steps that we take to follow Him and to work our way toward eternal life. The Book of Mormon is true.
Love you all, have an awesome week!
Elder Larsen
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Zone Leader's Drawing of Elder Larsen |
So...quite the rollercoaster this week. Tuesday we met with Frau Heumann and discovered that she works on the 2nd and 3rd of July. She said she hasn't gotten her entire work plan for July and that she'd call us when she did so we could make out a new date. Well, that evening President Fingerle called us, and we told him how things went. After a somewhat long and stressful phone call, he advised us to try to see if it would be possible that she got baptized THIS weekend, a.k.a. the 25th of June. Well we kind of panicked after that; for one thing neither I nor Elder Barboza have any experience with baptisms, which take more preparation than one might expect, and also the ward probably wouldn't be super thrilled about us spontanteously baptizing someone. But the next day we called Frau Heumann and it turns out she also had to work on those days, so that also didn't work. Well after much drama and conversations with our district leader, zone leaders, Assistants to the President, Sister training leaders and of course President Fingerle himself, we ended up with the 9th of July as the new date. Still a bit of churning in my stomach, but we're hoping that everything works out alright :).
In other news, our investigator Martin finally made it to church this Sunday. Elder Barboza had an awesome singing solo in Sacrament meeting, during which Martin teared up a little. He's such an awesome guy. One of the members, Esther Graf, also brought a friend to church (go members!), who also really enjoyed the church meetings and told us that he'd give us a call, once he gets back from vacation in a couple weeks. So we should have some pretty exciting stuff going on in the near future.
This week I finished reading the Book of Mormon, and the topic I was focused on throughout was how much God loves us. Well after going through my notes and reviewing what I marked, I think I can say that love is the #1 thing that makes God who He is. Everything he does is influenced by his love for us, and it's through love that we become more like Him (Moroni 7:48). I thought I was pretty clever when I came up with the phrase "Love is the defining characteristic of Godliness," but John the Apostle beat me by about 2000 years when he said "God is love." But in all seriousness, God loves us with all his heart, might, mind and strength. His joy comes from our success, and the steps that we take to follow Him and to work our way toward eternal life. The Book of Mormon is true.
Love you all, have an awesome week!
Elder Larsen
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