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.

Leipzig South Zone

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