Yeah Mom, I'm trying to imagine what would happen if you came to Lower Saxony in order to do "Genealogical research," while I just happened to be in Stadthagen, haha. Though I'm afraid I unfortunately won't have the opportunity to "snuggle" with any nieces or nephews in the near future, I'm happy to report that children in Germany also recognize immediately that it's ok to attack Elder Larsen. Yesterday during Stake Conference the Bishop's little son's arsenal consisted of fists, pigs and books; however as soon as pencils entered the picture the Bishop decided to put a stop to it. Not too many experiences can compete with having fun with little kiddies. Is that really how the conversation went, Lisa? I'm trying to picture Ho Young saying "you creeper." Too bad by the time I get back Allison will have (hopefully) lost her constant scowl face. That means you've got less than a year and a half before you have to have another one Heidi. Hey Joey, I'd sure B Flat-tered if you'd give it a shot. I'd reckon you're right about faith. That's been a very prominent topic for us the last few weeks, helping our investigators to exercise faith. I suppose another big part of it is us having the faith to say whatever the Lord wants us to say, even at the risk of investigators feeling "uncomfortable." Sometimes having a life changed for the better isn't entirely comfortable, but it is entirely worth it. We'll just have to have more faith ourselves and keep moving forward. That's awesome that you got to baptize/be baptized for some of those old relatives Dad.
Well, this week we had a lot of random little "firsts." For the first time we visited the northern third of our area. For the first time I sealed the anointing of a blessing in German. For the first time I ate pancakes in Germany. For the first time (you may want to skip this one) I saw maggots eating moldy bananas which we perhaps should have thrown away a week or 2 ago..."cough cough." and for the first time a bird flew into our apartment and proceeded to dance on Elder Barboza's lunch, which was one of the few parts I unfortunately was not able to catch on film. Yep. Quite the exciting adventures.
On a more serious and perhaps even more stomach-wrenching note, the younger couple that we had been visiting with every week for a month or so "no longer have the time" to meet with us, which is a bit disappointing. But I think eventually, whether in a couple months or a few years, they'll start to realize how much they need God in their lives. On the bright side we now have even more time we can use to find those that God is preparing. This Saturday we'll be doing a street display in order to invite people to a showing of Meet the Mormons, which we'll be showing in the church building on June 3rd. We've been covering all the bases we can think of in order to get people there, and we're hoping and praying for a miracle.
This week we once again went on exchange with the Bielefeld Elders, and I once again went to Bielefeld, this time with our District Leader Elder Casperson. Unfortunately due to institute, ward council and a few other things we had to get taken care of, we didn't have a ton of time to go finding or teach anyone, though there were still a few good tips I got from Elder Casperson. He introduced me to this "purification process" thing, which basically consists of fasting for a day and writing down things that prevent the Spirit from being with you: disobedience, pride, distractions, etc., and then for the next 40 days you try to overcome whatever things you wrote down. And being the above-averagely-imperfect person that I am, there are many things that, with the Lord's help, I will hopefully be able to change.
At the end of the week we were able to enjoy Stake Conference, which was presided over by a certain Scottish Seventy by the name of Elder Herbertson. Not gonna lie, there are few people who can talk for a solid hour straight and not lose the attention of an audience of people that don't even speak the same language. He's certainly one of them. He had the audience laughing or in tears for pretty much the entire hour. The main points I got out of it are that first: God loves us and knows all the details of our lives and second: we should look to the future with hope, rather than looking to the past with regret. It was pretty much the bomb.
Anywho, have an awesome week! "I am with you...I love you!"
Elder Larsen
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