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

"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

Gotta Run

Well I be having like no time, but thanks for the emails and for being
awesome. Love y'all!

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.

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

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

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.

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

An Email From a Kind Member in Stadthagen

Dear Elders, dear parents from your wonderful sons,

today we had the privilage to have your sons with us for dinner. We ouerselves had four sons; all of them served in different english missions in the past. We know the feelings from missionarie parents. Therefore this pictures for you.
Elder Larsen is a very humbling missionar. Both of them are working well together.
Thanks for sending your sons. They will come back as good prepared men finding her own way.
So it was with our 4 sons & so will it be with yours.

kindly regards from Stadthagen, Germany