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