Dear Mom and Dad,
Merry Christmas! How is everything going? It's great to hear about so many good things that are happening. Things here are going pretty well. This week was pretty crazy. The work is going pretty good. I started off the week in Naples with Elder Whitaker. It was a pretty good exchange. Elder Whitaker is a pretty cool guy, he is from California and has a pretty big family as well. We did a lot of biking and saw a lot of people. I remember that when I left Naples mom said that I probably wouldn't miss the biking, at the time I didn't mind so much, but I realized that I have been pampered here in Ft. Myers. I have been pretty much full car since I came back. But Naples is doing really good. They are teaching three sisters who all accepted a baptismal date while I was there.
After the exchange things have gone pretty well. We have some really cool investigators. While I was gone to Naples, Elder Arrieus had a lesson with President Colton and Sylla. Apparently it went pretty well, and Sylla and Carmel were both on for the 27th. But they didn't come to church yesterday and we don't know why. So their date is on hold for now. Also we are teaching Rene* St. Marc. He is a really cool kid. He is 20. But he understands everything really well and just seems really prepared. Yesterday, we reviewed the Plan of Salvation with him and when we talked about the Celestial kingdom and Eternal marriage he was really excited. We also watched Elder Holland's talk on the Book of Mormon and at the end he was just like "Those are powerful words." His sister Loretta *Lynn also had a date for 3rd of January and both of them and their brother Kenny *Rogers really wanted to come to church on Sunday, but their mom only let Rene (Notice the country star names that the kids have, imagine that, a Haitian who likes country). I was pretty bummed. But we still had three people at church somehow. Their names are Jacques and Zach. I was excited that they were able to be there.
We also had our branch Christmas party on Saturday. It went pretty well, although it wasn't spiritual in nature. There were lots of people there and we had lots of good food. This week we should be getting lots of good food. We have three member meals planned. I'm not sure what time I'll be able to call you, if I call from our phone it will be between 5-7 Idaho time. But it may be earlier. I'll surprise you. Oh, also transfers were this Saturday. I'll be staying in Ft. Myers with Elder Arrieus. In fact, our whole district is staying the same. It came as a little bit of a surprise. But I'm excited because the work is going well right now. But at the end of this transfer I will have been in Prov B for a year and in the Providence branch for 15 months. I'm scared that I might not make it to Immokalee, especially if President opens up Winter Haven. But come what may, I will love it. I hope that everything is going well at home, and that you have a wonderful Christmas week. Take care and I'll talk to you on Friday.
December 21, 2009
December 14, 2009
Email of Dec. 14, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
I have to say that I am a little bit jealous of the snow, I'm sure you would love the temperatures here though!
Happy late birthday Dad, I remembered last week before I e-mailed but I forgot to write it. I hope that you had a good birthday.
This week was pretty good. We have a pretty good sized teaching pool to work with. Our most positive investigator right now is Rene. He didn't come to church yesterday. I still don't know why, but we are going to see him tonight. He is a really good guy and is really prepared. I'm excited for him.
Also, this is the last week of transfers. It will be weird to have transfers right before Christmas. I'm guessing that I'm moving but I don't know anything for sure. There is talk of President opening a new area way up north in a town named Winter Haven. I think it will happen eventually, but it could happen this transfer.
This week we had Christmas conference up in Port Charlotte. It was a really spiritually uplifting experience. Afterwards we we treated to dinner by the high councilman assigned to our branch. He has an office in Port Charlotte and offered to take us out. He is a pretty interesting man. Puerto Rican-American who speaks French and served in Vietnam and the NYPD. He has some interesting stories.
This week I will be down in Naples on exchanges for a few days, then we have ZDM on Wednesday and Christmas party on Saturday. It should be a good week.
I hope that everything is going good and that you have a great week.
Love,
Elder Larson
I have to say that I am a little bit jealous of the snow, I'm sure you would love the temperatures here though!
Happy late birthday Dad, I remembered last week before I e-mailed but I forgot to write it. I hope that you had a good birthday.
This week was pretty good. We have a pretty good sized teaching pool to work with. Our most positive investigator right now is Rene. He didn't come to church yesterday. I still don't know why, but we are going to see him tonight. He is a really good guy and is really prepared. I'm excited for him.
Also, this is the last week of transfers. It will be weird to have transfers right before Christmas. I'm guessing that I'm moving but I don't know anything for sure. There is talk of President opening a new area way up north in a town named Winter Haven. I think it will happen eventually, but it could happen this transfer.
This week we had Christmas conference up in Port Charlotte. It was a really spiritually uplifting experience. Afterwards we we treated to dinner by the high councilman assigned to our branch. He has an office in Port Charlotte and offered to take us out. He is a pretty interesting man. Puerto Rican-American who speaks French and served in Vietnam and the NYPD. He has some interesting stories.
This week I will be down in Naples on exchanges for a few days, then we have ZDM on Wednesday and Christmas party on Saturday. It should be a good week.
I hope that everything is going good and that you have a great week.
Love,
Elder Larson
December 7, 2009
Email of Dec. 7, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
Jwaye Nwel! I'm glad to hear that you were able to watch the Christmas devotional. I was able to watch it as well. It just turned out that we didn't really have any thing to do from eight until nine. You're right, it was a great way to start off the Holiday season.
This past week was pretty good. I spent a few days in Immokalee on exchanges with Elder Welch. I think it was really good for Elder Arrieus. He got to spread his wings and fly by himself. I enjoyed teaching alot of lessons in Immokalee. They have a really unique situation. They teach alot of people and they have a couple of youth that just go and help them with all of their lessons. Both days I was there we picked up a member named Ozanadieu Charles. He goes by Jay. He is a really funny kid, and he loves helping the missionaries. They are trying to motivate him to go on a mission.
Then on Friday, Elder Arrieus was on exchanges again. I went up to Sarasota with the zone leaders for ZLDLC. It was a good meeting. In November we broke our glass ceiling for baptisms. We got 76 baptisms. Our zone also broke our glass ceiling with 15 baptisms. We talked alot about what we have been doing good and what we could do better.
The work is going pretty well. We have quite a few people that we're working with right now, we're just struggling to get them to progress. Sylla and Carmel want to be baptized but they aren't coming to church for some reason. But this week while I was on exchanges, Elder Arrieus and Elder Tremblay found a couple of positive people. One we taught yesterday. His name is Renae. He goes by Ray. He is about 20 and he is pretty sweet. He has lots of good questions and is excited to read the Book of Mormon. They also met a family who we are going to teach tonight.
This week we have another trip up north. We are going to Port Charlotte for Christmas conference. I'm excited. Then we were invited to go out to eat with our branch's high councilor who has his office up there. So it should be a good day.
Christmas this year we are only allowed to watch one movie. We are trying to decide which one. My votes were Rudy or Oh brother, where art thou? But we are trying to decide what we are going to do with the rest of the day. We will probably end up doing something for the branch, making cookies or gingerbread men maybe. Speaking of which, could you send me a recipe for ginger bread men? Then I will probably call at around 5 or 6 Idaho time since we get free night time calls after 7.
If packages are mailed to the mission home before tomorrow then they will save them until tomorrow at zone conference and give them to me then. But I think if they get them after tomorrow they will just forward them right away (if it is sent USPS, not UPS, FedEx or anything else). If it is sent through any company but USPS then they just have to wait until the next time I see them, which I'm not sure when that will be. It might be easier to send it directly to my address on Central, as long as it gets here before the 20th or 21st it should get to me with no problem.
As for dad's question about scouting, I'm sure that scouting has helped me alot. Scouting was such a huge part of my earlier years that I don't know how it couldn't have helped me become who I am. It's hard for me to think of specific ways that it has helped me. One thing I can remember just off the top of my head is something we talked about at Timberline. It was the S.M.A.R.T. goals acronym. It's something I think of pretty much every time I set a goal.
But everything is going well, thanks for all you do. I love you tons!
Elder Larson
Jwaye Nwel! I'm glad to hear that you were able to watch the Christmas devotional. I was able to watch it as well. It just turned out that we didn't really have any thing to do from eight until nine. You're right, it was a great way to start off the Holiday season.
This past week was pretty good. I spent a few days in Immokalee on exchanges with Elder Welch. I think it was really good for Elder Arrieus. He got to spread his wings and fly by himself. I enjoyed teaching alot of lessons in Immokalee. They have a really unique situation. They teach alot of people and they have a couple of youth that just go and help them with all of their lessons. Both days I was there we picked up a member named Ozanadieu Charles. He goes by Jay. He is a really funny kid, and he loves helping the missionaries. They are trying to motivate him to go on a mission.
Then on Friday, Elder Arrieus was on exchanges again. I went up to Sarasota with the zone leaders for ZLDLC. It was a good meeting. In November we broke our glass ceiling for baptisms. We got 76 baptisms. Our zone also broke our glass ceiling with 15 baptisms. We talked alot about what we have been doing good and what we could do better.
The work is going pretty well. We have quite a few people that we're working with right now, we're just struggling to get them to progress. Sylla and Carmel want to be baptized but they aren't coming to church for some reason. But this week while I was on exchanges, Elder Arrieus and Elder Tremblay found a couple of positive people. One we taught yesterday. His name is Renae. He goes by Ray. He is about 20 and he is pretty sweet. He has lots of good questions and is excited to read the Book of Mormon. They also met a family who we are going to teach tonight.
This week we have another trip up north. We are going to Port Charlotte for Christmas conference. I'm excited. Then we were invited to go out to eat with our branch's high councilor who has his office up there. So it should be a good day.
Christmas this year we are only allowed to watch one movie. We are trying to decide which one. My votes were Rudy or Oh brother, where art thou? But we are trying to decide what we are going to do with the rest of the day. We will probably end up doing something for the branch, making cookies or gingerbread men maybe. Speaking of which, could you send me a recipe for ginger bread men? Then I will probably call at around 5 or 6 Idaho time since we get free night time calls after 7.
If packages are mailed to the mission home before tomorrow then they will save them until tomorrow at zone conference and give them to me then. But I think if they get them after tomorrow they will just forward them right away (if it is sent USPS, not UPS, FedEx or anything else). If it is sent through any company but USPS then they just have to wait until the next time I see them, which I'm not sure when that will be. It might be easier to send it directly to my address on Central, as long as it gets here before the 20th or 21st it should get to me with no problem.
As for dad's question about scouting, I'm sure that scouting has helped me alot. Scouting was such a huge part of my earlier years that I don't know how it couldn't have helped me become who I am. It's hard for me to think of specific ways that it has helped me. One thing I can remember just off the top of my head is something we talked about at Timberline. It was the S.M.A.R.T. goals acronym. It's something I think of pretty much every time I set a goal.
But everything is going well, thanks for all you do. I love you tons!
Elder Larson
November 30, 2009
Email of Nov. 30, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
How are you? It sounds like you all had a good Holiday. Ours went pretty well also. We lost to the Immokalee youth in Football. We are all just too old and out of shape, but it was pretty fun. Then we ate with the zone at the Naples church and watched Remember the Titans. Then we made a stop at President Lowman's to finish off the day.
As for your questions about my health and meals, I am doing fine. I weigh about 170 so I must be eating something. I usually have pancakes most mornings, then for lunch I usually make some pasta or Shepperd's pie or something like that. Every once in a while we get fed by members, investigators, or even just random Haitians that we contact; so I'm well taken care of. The only problems come at the end of the month, and that's why I have been dumb with my checking card.
I heard about the BYU-Utah game, it sounds like a good one. I wish President would've let us watch that one instead of the one last year. We also got permission to go to a high school football game on Friday. A priest from our branch was playing in the playoffs. We weren't able to see the 4th quarter because we had to go home. They ended up losing and Chero got hurt right at the beginning. But it was still fun.
As for the rest of my week it was pretty good. The whole district had a little bit of a Thanksgiving slump. Hopefully we will be able to get out of it. The whole zone had a really good month in November. There were 15 people baptized, which I'm pretty sure, is the most we have had during my whole mission. seven of those were in the other Providence area. It was pretty cool to see all those people baptized. Especially the Boutin family who were baptized on Sunday morning. They are a really cool family of four. They should be able to help the branch a lot. I wish I could have been more involved in their conversion but it was still good to be able to see all of those people baptized.
The work in our area is doing pretty good. We have quite a few people that we're working with right now. Lani, Jheasong's little sister, really wants to be baptized, we are just waiting for permission from her parents. We are also teaching a family. There is the mom, Florence, and her three kids: Lee, Harvey, and Normand. The kids are fairly active Jehovah's witnesses, but they really like our church. The mom is an inactive Jehovah's witness, but she seems to really like us as well. After them, we have a handful of other people, but those are the most positive right now. We are just trying to keep on working hard and get the most out of the holiday season.
Everything is going great and looking good in the future. I hope that everything is going well at home. I can't wait to hear from you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
How are you? It sounds like you all had a good Holiday. Ours went pretty well also. We lost to the Immokalee youth in Football. We are all just too old and out of shape, but it was pretty fun. Then we ate with the zone at the Naples church and watched Remember the Titans. Then we made a stop at President Lowman's to finish off the day.
As for your questions about my health and meals, I am doing fine. I weigh about 170 so I must be eating something. I usually have pancakes most mornings, then for lunch I usually make some pasta or Shepperd's pie or something like that. Every once in a while we get fed by members, investigators, or even just random Haitians that we contact; so I'm well taken care of. The only problems come at the end of the month, and that's why I have been dumb with my checking card.
I heard about the BYU-Utah game, it sounds like a good one. I wish President would've let us watch that one instead of the one last year. We also got permission to go to a high school football game on Friday. A priest from our branch was playing in the playoffs. We weren't able to see the 4th quarter because we had to go home. They ended up losing and Chero got hurt right at the beginning. But it was still fun.
As for the rest of my week it was pretty good. The whole district had a little bit of a Thanksgiving slump. Hopefully we will be able to get out of it. The whole zone had a really good month in November. There were 15 people baptized, which I'm pretty sure, is the most we have had during my whole mission. seven of those were in the other Providence area. It was pretty cool to see all those people baptized. Especially the Boutin family who were baptized on Sunday morning. They are a really cool family of four. They should be able to help the branch a lot. I wish I could have been more involved in their conversion but it was still good to be able to see all of those people baptized.
The work in our area is doing pretty good. We have quite a few people that we're working with right now. Lani, Jheasong's little sister, really wants to be baptized, we are just waiting for permission from her parents. We are also teaching a family. There is the mom, Florence, and her three kids: Lee, Harvey, and Normand. The kids are fairly active Jehovah's witnesses, but they really like our church. The mom is an inactive Jehovah's witness, but she seems to really like us as well. After them, we have a handful of other people, but those are the most positive right now. We are just trying to keep on working hard and get the most out of the holiday season.
Everything is going great and looking good in the future. I hope that everything is going well at home. I can't wait to hear from you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
November 23, 2009
Email of Nov. 23, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
Things here are doing great! Today we are having a regular working day, but we are still able to e-mail and shop. The work is going pretty good. We are teaching quite a few people, and we actually had some people at church yesterday, which we have been struggling with. Yesterday, was member invitation Sunday, which means that all of the members were supposed to invite a friend. There were quite a few people there. About a fourth of the 100 people at sacrament meeting were non members. Afterwards we had a thanksgiving pot-luck. It was great eating Haitian-style turkey with rice and pikliz. All in all it was a successful day.
This week we also helped Sylla and Carmel move to Lehigh. They are only about 5 minutes from the church out there but, at least so far, they have chosen to continue to attend the Providnece branch; even though it is about a thirty minute drive for them. But, one thing I've learned on my mission is how to move, or at least how not to move, from the example of Haitians. They don't do any preparation, just show up with a truck and throw everything in. But their new house is actually much nicer, just much farther. But they are doing really good. They both want to be baptized in December, we just need to set a date with them. Which we will probably do on Tuesday.
We are also teaching the Apollo family: Florence, Normand, Lee, and Harvey. They were able to come to church for the first time yesterday and at least the kids really liked it. We are also teaching Jheasong's little sister Lani, who really wants to be baptized. We just need to talk to her mom. We also got a call on Saturday night from a former investigator who we thought had been ignoring us, but who really had only moved and didn't have a phone to tell us. So that was a nice surprise. Plus we have a handful of other investigators and people that we are working with so there is plenty of work to be done.
I just want to tell you once again how appreciative I am for all that you have done, are doing and will undoubtedly continue to do for me in the future. I hope all is going great at home for everyone. Take care!
Love,
Elder Larson
Things here are doing great! Today we are having a regular working day, but we are still able to e-mail and shop. The work is going pretty good. We are teaching quite a few people, and we actually had some people at church yesterday, which we have been struggling with. Yesterday, was member invitation Sunday, which means that all of the members were supposed to invite a friend. There were quite a few people there. About a fourth of the 100 people at sacrament meeting were non members. Afterwards we had a thanksgiving pot-luck. It was great eating Haitian-style turkey with rice and pikliz. All in all it was a successful day.
This week we also helped Sylla and Carmel move to Lehigh. They are only about 5 minutes from the church out there but, at least so far, they have chosen to continue to attend the Providnece branch; even though it is about a thirty minute drive for them. But, one thing I've learned on my mission is how to move, or at least how not to move, from the example of Haitians. They don't do any preparation, just show up with a truck and throw everything in. But their new house is actually much nicer, just much farther. But they are doing really good. They both want to be baptized in December, we just need to set a date with them. Which we will probably do on Tuesday.
We are also teaching the Apollo family: Florence, Normand, Lee, and Harvey. They were able to come to church for the first time yesterday and at least the kids really liked it. We are also teaching Jheasong's little sister Lani, who really wants to be baptized. We just need to talk to her mom. We also got a call on Saturday night from a former investigator who we thought had been ignoring us, but who really had only moved and didn't have a phone to tell us. So that was a nice surprise. Plus we have a handful of other investigators and people that we are working with so there is plenty of work to be done.
I just want to tell you once again how appreciative I am for all that you have done, are doing and will undoubtedly continue to do for me in the future. I hope all is going great at home for everyone. Take care!
Love,
Elder Larson
November 16, 2009
Email of Nov. 16, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
I'm glad to hear that you had such a good week. I'm excited for the football team. It sounds like everything else is going great as well.
Things here are going pretty well. The work is getting better every day. Our teaching pool got a little bigger this week. We started teaching five new people. There is a man named Ralph and his brother Frero. We also started teaching a woman named Florence- Apollo and her two sons Lee and Harvey. They are all really nice people. They all have their hang-ups but they agreed to read and pray so we'll take what we can get. We still are having trouble finding very many Haitians, but the work is still going forward somehow. The branch is doing really good right now. A lot of the leadership positions are being filled and everyone is excited at how the branch is progressing. When I first came here, it was basically just the branch president doing everything. Now we have full Branch, Relief Society, Elders Quorum, young men, and young women presidencies. About half of them are filled by Haitians. But the other companionship here is doing really well. They already had three baptisms lined up for this weekend and then this week they had a family of former investigators call them up and wanting to be baptized. So the branch is growing number wise as well.
I'm really excited for Thanksgiving. We're not sure exactly what our plans are, but they will include a turkey bowl with some games against the Immokalee youth, a viewing of Remember the Titans, and at least one turkey dinner so it should be really good. Also, this coming Sunday, the branch will be having a pot-luck, so we should be taken care of.
Everything is going great here, I hope the same can be said for ya'll. I love you a lot. Take care.
Love,
I'm glad to hear that you had such a good week. I'm excited for the football team. It sounds like everything else is going great as well.
Things here are going pretty well. The work is getting better every day. Our teaching pool got a little bigger this week. We started teaching five new people. There is a man named Ralph and his brother Frero. We also started teaching a woman named Florence- Apollo and her two sons Lee and Harvey. They are all really nice people. They all have their hang-ups but they agreed to read and pray so we'll take what we can get. We still are having trouble finding very many Haitians, but the work is still going forward somehow. The branch is doing really good right now. A lot of the leadership positions are being filled and everyone is excited at how the branch is progressing. When I first came here, it was basically just the branch president doing everything. Now we have full Branch, Relief Society, Elders Quorum, young men, and young women presidencies. About half of them are filled by Haitians. But the other companionship here is doing really well. They already had three baptisms lined up for this weekend and then this week they had a family of former investigators call them up and wanting to be baptized. So the branch is growing number wise as well.
I'm really excited for Thanksgiving. We're not sure exactly what our plans are, but they will include a turkey bowl with some games against the Immokalee youth, a viewing of Remember the Titans, and at least one turkey dinner so it should be really good. Also, this coming Sunday, the branch will be having a pot-luck, so we should be taken care of.
Everything is going great here, I hope the same can be said for ya'll. I love you a lot. Take care.
Love,
November 9, 2009
Email of Nov.9, 2009
ear Mom and Dad,
How is everything going? It's great to hear from you! I'm way excited about the football team. I wish I could be there, but I know I'm where I'm supposed to be. You'll have to cheer extra loud for me.
Things here are going really great. Today is transfers, but I will be staying put with Elder Arrieus. It should be good. I'm starting to worry if I will ever get to serve in Immokalee. I'm sure I will but maybe not for as long as I would like. It is most every one's favorite area. I love Ft. Myers and the Providence branch though. The branch is doing well. It isn't growing as fast as it has in the past but the members are starting to become closer. It's really exciting to see the church grow at such a fast rate. The fire of the gospel is spreading rapidly. I have seen our stake split, a temple announced, and on Saturday we had the opportunity to go to a groundbreaking ceremony in Immokalee for their new chapel. Their branch, which is mixed Spanish and Haitian, is growing really fast, they have already had 28 baptisms this year. They designed the building in such a way that it can easily be expanded, they could even apply to enlarge it before the building is finished. The spirit of missionary work was strong at that meeting. They just had their first missionary return home as well. He was a Haitian named Fanfan Charles. The huge group from the branch went to pick him up in Tampa and they stopped in Ft. Myers so that he could be released. we happened to stop by the church at the same time and were able to teach his parents who are non-members while he was waiting for the Stake President. It was a very powerful lesson for me.
The work in our area is going fairly well. The baptism on Saturday didn't go through. Sylla and Carmel both backed out on Monday. They said they didn't feel ready. I was a little bit shocked, but I think they they need more time anyways. We are still trying to help them read the Book of Mormon and help Sylla quit smoking. We are also teaching a 14 yr old girl named Robertine. She has some friends in the church, and has read quite a bit in Le Livre de Mormon. We are also teaching an older woman named Saisilenne. She can't read which makes things hard, but she is progressing nonetheless. We are just trying to find new people to teach all the time.
But, everything is going pretty good here. We're all excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We were invited over to the Lowman's house for Thanksgiving dinner so maybe we'll get two. That would be sweet. But, I hope that everything is going great at home. Take care and know that I love you all!
Sete,
Elder Larson
How is everything going? It's great to hear from you! I'm way excited about the football team. I wish I could be there, but I know I'm where I'm supposed to be. You'll have to cheer extra loud for me.
Things here are going really great. Today is transfers, but I will be staying put with Elder Arrieus. It should be good. I'm starting to worry if I will ever get to serve in Immokalee. I'm sure I will but maybe not for as long as I would like. It is most every one's favorite area. I love Ft. Myers and the Providence branch though. The branch is doing well. It isn't growing as fast as it has in the past but the members are starting to become closer. It's really exciting to see the church grow at such a fast rate. The fire of the gospel is spreading rapidly. I have seen our stake split, a temple announced, and on Saturday we had the opportunity to go to a groundbreaking ceremony in Immokalee for their new chapel. Their branch, which is mixed Spanish and Haitian, is growing really fast, they have already had 28 baptisms this year. They designed the building in such a way that it can easily be expanded, they could even apply to enlarge it before the building is finished. The spirit of missionary work was strong at that meeting. They just had their first missionary return home as well. He was a Haitian named Fanfan Charles. The huge group from the branch went to pick him up in Tampa and they stopped in Ft. Myers so that he could be released. we happened to stop by the church at the same time and were able to teach his parents who are non-members while he was waiting for the Stake President. It was a very powerful lesson for me.
The work in our area is going fairly well. The baptism on Saturday didn't go through. Sylla and Carmel both backed out on Monday. They said they didn't feel ready. I was a little bit shocked, but I think they they need more time anyways. We are still trying to help them read the Book of Mormon and help Sylla quit smoking. We are also teaching a 14 yr old girl named Robertine. She has some friends in the church, and has read quite a bit in Le Livre de Mormon. We are also teaching an older woman named Saisilenne. She can't read which makes things hard, but she is progressing nonetheless. We are just trying to find new people to teach all the time.
But, everything is going pretty good here. We're all excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We were invited over to the Lowman's house for Thanksgiving dinner so maybe we'll get two. That would be sweet. But, I hope that everything is going great at home. Take care and know that I love you all!
Sete,
Elder Larson
November 2, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
Can you believe it is November already? It's crazy. This morning it was really foggy and overcast. I love that kind of weather. I'm really excited for the winter time to come. I wish we could get five inches of snow, but I'm sure there's lots of people that wish they had our weather. Our Halloween was pretty uneventful. We went to the Spanish ward's party. Also, President Lowman went trick or treating by proxy for us. We got a pretty good haul.
The work is going pretty good right now. We had a hard time seeing some of our investigators this week for different reasons, but we found a few more people who I think can progress. Sylla and Carmel are scheduled to be baptized this weekend. Last we talked to Sylla, it had been 2 days since he had smoked a cigarette. It has been really hard for him but he is doing well. One of his biggest concerns is that some of the Haitian members will be offended or have their testimonies weakened because he is a freemason, and Haitians have a lot of poor views of the masons. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal until yesterday in PEC when the two counselors in the branch presidency started talking about it. They were going on about how masons, I was surprised that even they would be so against it. Also, President Lowman doesn't want him to be baptized until he has read the whole Book of Mormon. It's all a big mess. So, the baptism may not happen this weekend, we'll have to wait and see. We are going to see them tonight and we'll see how the smoking and reading is going.
It sounds like everything is going well. I hope that work is going well and all the family is doing good. What are everyone's plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas? Our Thanksgiving should be awesome, we are going to play in the turkey bowl in the morning, then we get to watch a movie (probably Remember the Titans), then hopefully Elder Tremblay's grandma (who has a winter home in Naples) will be able to make us a turkey. As for Christmas gifts, I think I'm fine on most of my clothes, Scott sent me some socks not too long ago and I inherited some of Elder Jones' old pants. But, let's see, gift cards are nice. Maybe some peanut brittle or Carmel, something like that. Maybe some egg nog. Pretty much anything food related is good. I really like pictures. Some new music would also be nice. That's about all that I can think of. You don't need to get anything big, you can just save it up for my birthday. :)
I am so grateful to hear from you, I hope that everything is going great!
Love,
Elder Larson
Can you believe it is November already? It's crazy. This morning it was really foggy and overcast. I love that kind of weather. I'm really excited for the winter time to come. I wish we could get five inches of snow, but I'm sure there's lots of people that wish they had our weather. Our Halloween was pretty uneventful. We went to the Spanish ward's party. Also, President Lowman went trick or treating by proxy for us. We got a pretty good haul.
The work is going pretty good right now. We had a hard time seeing some of our investigators this week for different reasons, but we found a few more people who I think can progress. Sylla and Carmel are scheduled to be baptized this weekend. Last we talked to Sylla, it had been 2 days since he had smoked a cigarette. It has been really hard for him but he is doing well. One of his biggest concerns is that some of the Haitian members will be offended or have their testimonies weakened because he is a freemason, and Haitians have a lot of poor views of the masons. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal until yesterday in PEC when the two counselors in the branch presidency started talking about it. They were going on about how masons, I was surprised that even they would be so against it. Also, President Lowman doesn't want him to be baptized until he has read the whole Book of Mormon. It's all a big mess. So, the baptism may not happen this weekend, we'll have to wait and see. We are going to see them tonight and we'll see how the smoking and reading is going.
It sounds like everything is going well. I hope that work is going well and all the family is doing good. What are everyone's plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas? Our Thanksgiving should be awesome, we are going to play in the turkey bowl in the morning, then we get to watch a movie (probably Remember the Titans), then hopefully Elder Tremblay's grandma (who has a winter home in Naples) will be able to make us a turkey. As for Christmas gifts, I think I'm fine on most of my clothes, Scott sent me some socks not too long ago and I inherited some of Elder Jones' old pants. But, let's see, gift cards are nice. Maybe some peanut brittle or Carmel, something like that. Maybe some egg nog. Pretty much anything food related is good. I really like pictures. Some new music would also be nice. That's about all that I can think of. You don't need to get anything big, you can just save it up for my birthday. :)
I am so grateful to hear from you, I hope that everything is going great!
Love,
Elder Larson
October 26, 2009
Email of Oct. 26, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
How are you? I hope that everything is going well. I can't believe Brian is almost home. It's crazy. Do you know when they will be back in the states?
Things here are going great. Elder Arrieus and I had a pretty good week. Our teaching pool is starting to get a little bit bigger. We are still teaching Sylla and Carmel. We changed their date to the 7th of November mostly to give Sylla a little more time to quit smoking. We also spent about 30 dollars on grapefruit juice and everything with cinnamon in it to help him overcome the addiction. We even wrote scriptures in French on pieces of paper to hang up around his house. Hopefully all that will help him out.
We are also teaching two 17 year old sisters named Jevenis and Taff. Jevenis has a date for the 14th of November. We are also teaching a more middle aged woman named Ginette. She is pretty cool. She has been a Seventh Day Adventist for about 30 years but she understood what we taught her and she came to church yesterday. We are going to try and see her again tonight. It is kind of hard with her because she doesn't have a phone or a car and she lives about 5 miles away. But I'm excited to teach her. She is also an artist. I'm hoping to get some sweet Haitian paintings from her. I'm not sure how many souvenirs I want to get on my mission. I will probably just wait until I can go to Haiti to buy much of anything.
But that is pretty much our teaching pool at the moment. We are working with a few new converts and less active members. We are still teaching Kirk, Wallace, and Jheasong. The Branch mission leader is supposed to teach the new member lessons but our old one didn't do very much and our new one doesn't speak very much English. But I like teaching all of them so it's no big deal. Church was pretty good yesterday. We had the combined primary program with the Spanish ward. The chapel was packed! It was a really cool sight. We almost had to open up the gym too. There were a lot of members who hadn't been there in a long time. Everything is going well! The work is going forth boldly, nobly, and independent!
Last weeks p-day was pretty fun. We just played football in a nearby park. Today we are going to the zone leaders apartment where they have a volleyball court, and game room (pool table). We are also going to play some "Settlers of Catan." That game is awesome. But, that's pretty much the scoop on what's going on here. I hope that everything is going well for you!
Love,
Elder Larson
How are you? I hope that everything is going well. I can't believe Brian is almost home. It's crazy. Do you know when they will be back in the states?
Things here are going great. Elder Arrieus and I had a pretty good week. Our teaching pool is starting to get a little bit bigger. We are still teaching Sylla and Carmel. We changed their date to the 7th of November mostly to give Sylla a little more time to quit smoking. We also spent about 30 dollars on grapefruit juice and everything with cinnamon in it to help him overcome the addiction. We even wrote scriptures in French on pieces of paper to hang up around his house. Hopefully all that will help him out.
We are also teaching two 17 year old sisters named Jevenis and Taff. Jevenis has a date for the 14th of November. We are also teaching a more middle aged woman named Ginette. She is pretty cool. She has been a Seventh Day Adventist for about 30 years but she understood what we taught her and she came to church yesterday. We are going to try and see her again tonight. It is kind of hard with her because she doesn't have a phone or a car and she lives about 5 miles away. But I'm excited to teach her. She is also an artist. I'm hoping to get some sweet Haitian paintings from her. I'm not sure how many souvenirs I want to get on my mission. I will probably just wait until I can go to Haiti to buy much of anything.
But that is pretty much our teaching pool at the moment. We are working with a few new converts and less active members. We are still teaching Kirk, Wallace, and Jheasong. The Branch mission leader is supposed to teach the new member lessons but our old one didn't do very much and our new one doesn't speak very much English. But I like teaching all of them so it's no big deal. Church was pretty good yesterday. We had the combined primary program with the Spanish ward. The chapel was packed! It was a really cool sight. We almost had to open up the gym too. There were a lot of members who hadn't been there in a long time. Everything is going well! The work is going forth boldly, nobly, and independent!
Last weeks p-day was pretty fun. We just played football in a nearby park. Today we are going to the zone leaders apartment where they have a volleyball court, and game room (pool table). We are also going to play some "Settlers of Catan." That game is awesome. But, that's pretty much the scoop on what's going on here. I hope that everything is going well for you!
Love,
Elder Larson
October 19, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
How are you? How is everything going? Things here are going great. Right now we are in the middle of a cold snap, the temperature was as low as 54 yesterday. It makes things really nice.
This week was really good. It started with a little trip up to Tampa. It was kind of weird to be back in the mission home, it brought back some old memories. It was hard to see Elder Hall and Elder Jones go home, but I was glad I could be there too. My new companion's name is Elder Arrieus. He is from Cardston, but he is originally from Montreal and the rest of his family is from France. He has only been speaking English for nigh unto three years (but you couldn't tell by talking to him). His Kreyol is already pretty good too. He is a good missionary and we had a good first week.
Our teaching pool is really really small right now. Our only investigators aren't really progressing. But we have a lot of new potential investigators that we have talked to so with some effective follow-up our pool should go back up.
One of the things that we focused on this week was working with our new converts. Partly because our Branch mission leader doesn't speak much English, we teach all of the new member lessons. Kirk, Wallace, and Jheasong (Jason) are all doing great. Jheasong even received the Priesthood yesterday. They did it in his class so I wasn't there but he seemed really happy after church when I talked to him about it, especially when we talked about him passing the sacrament.I was really cool because he is someone who doesn't show very much emotion.
But things are going great, I think today we are going to take advantage of the great weather and go play some football, I'm excited. But I hope that everything is going great, I appreciate everything that you do for me!
Love,
Elder Larson
- Show quoted text -
How are you? How is everything going? Things here are going great. Right now we are in the middle of a cold snap, the temperature was as low as 54 yesterday. It makes things really nice.
This week was really good. It started with a little trip up to Tampa. It was kind of weird to be back in the mission home, it brought back some old memories. It was hard to see Elder Hall and Elder Jones go home, but I was glad I could be there too. My new companion's name is Elder Arrieus. He is from Cardston, but he is originally from Montreal and the rest of his family is from France. He has only been speaking English for nigh unto three years (but you couldn't tell by talking to him). His Kreyol is already pretty good too. He is a good missionary and we had a good first week.
Our teaching pool is really really small right now. Our only investigators aren't really progressing. But we have a lot of new potential investigators that we have talked to so with some effective follow-up our pool should go back up.
One of the things that we focused on this week was working with our new converts. Partly because our Branch mission leader doesn't speak much English, we teach all of the new member lessons. Kirk, Wallace, and Jheasong (Jason) are all doing great. Jheasong even received the Priesthood yesterday. They did it in his class so I wasn't there but he seemed really happy after church when I talked to him about it, especially when we talked about him passing the sacrament.I was really cool because he is someone who doesn't show very much emotion.
But things are going great, I think today we are going to take advantage of the great weather and go play some football, I'm excited. But I hope that everything is going great, I appreciate everything that you do for me!
Love,
Elder Larson
- Show quoted text -
October 13, 2009
Email of Oct. 12, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
It sounds like everything is going great. I always love hearing all the things that are going on. I'll start by answering your questions so I don't forget. A lot of our teaching comes from tracting. We don't do very much street contacting. In Immokalee that is about all that they do, they just talk to the Haitians that are walking around while they are biking from lesson to lesson. We get a few referrals, but most of them are what I call accidental referalls. That is when we stop by a member's house and they have a friend there. Really the only difference the mission has between us and English missionaries is the different supplies. We also have special language meetings before each zone conference. President is thinking about having a Haitian conference in Tampa just so we have a chance to see it more that when we get here and when we leave. Speaking of which, some of the other Elders are jealous because I get to go to Tampa to pick up my trainee. haha My clothes are doing well, I just got a package from Scott and Lesley and it had some socks in it, which was a pretty timely gift. I was really grateful.
This week was pretty good. It is hard to see Elder Jones and Elder Hall go home. Our district is going to be a whole lot different now. We were with them for about 14 months. It's weird to be one of the older missionaries too. Our whole zone is young. But, the baptism went well on Saturday. Jason is a really good kid. Our teaching pool is still pretty small. But I'm excited to work really hard these next couple weeks. So it should be good. Sorry I don't have much to say. I', especially pressed for time today. But I want you to know I love you all, and thanks for all you do.
Love,
Elder Larson
- Show quoted text -
It sounds like everything is going great. I always love hearing all the things that are going on. I'll start by answering your questions so I don't forget. A lot of our teaching comes from tracting. We don't do very much street contacting. In Immokalee that is about all that they do, they just talk to the Haitians that are walking around while they are biking from lesson to lesson. We get a few referrals, but most of them are what I call accidental referalls. That is when we stop by a member's house and they have a friend there. Really the only difference the mission has between us and English missionaries is the different supplies. We also have special language meetings before each zone conference. President is thinking about having a Haitian conference in Tampa just so we have a chance to see it more that when we get here and when we leave. Speaking of which, some of the other Elders are jealous because I get to go to Tampa to pick up my trainee. haha My clothes are doing well, I just got a package from Scott and Lesley and it had some socks in it, which was a pretty timely gift. I was really grateful.
This week was pretty good. It is hard to see Elder Jones and Elder Hall go home. Our district is going to be a whole lot different now. We were with them for about 14 months. It's weird to be one of the older missionaries too. Our whole zone is young. But, the baptism went well on Saturday. Jason is a really good kid. Our teaching pool is still pretty small. But I'm excited to work really hard these next couple weeks. So it should be good. Sorry I don't have much to say. I', especially pressed for time today. But I want you to know I love you all, and thanks for all you do.
Love,
Elder Larson
- Show quoted text -
October 5, 2009
Email of Oct. 6, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
Conference was great wasn't it? I really enjoyed all that talks. Priesthood session was especially good. It made me think of home a little. But it was good.
We didn't have a lot of members of investigators come to the church for conference. But the ones that did got a lot out of it. The work is going pretty well right now. Elder Jones is ready to go home, but I'm trying to keep him here mentally. Our teaching pool is fairly dry. We are teaching Jason, Sylla, Carmel, and that is about it. We have a couple other people but they are both going to Haiti within the next couple of weeks.
Jason is doing really well. He is excited for his baptism, and his mom is excited for him too. He has started reading more in his Book of Mormon and he was able to attend conference. This week we just have to finish teaching him some of the smaller commandments and have him interviewed by the zone leaders. He should be good to go.
Sylla and Carmel aren't doing as hot. They are still really hard to see, and they have stopped coming to church. I'm not sure what is going to happen with them. Their new-member kids, Kirk and Wallace, are doing really well though. They were at one session of conference, have been at church every week since they were baptized and are becoming good friends with the rest of the youth.
I think that I have some pictures lying around. I haven't taken any in a while though. I will try to get you some new ones though. I'm not sure if I can upload them to the computer in the Library, if not I will just mail them. Sorry I've been slacking on that.
I sure hope that everything is going well, I can't wait to hear from you next week!
Love,
Elder Larson
Conference was great wasn't it? I really enjoyed all that talks. Priesthood session was especially good. It made me think of home a little. But it was good.
We didn't have a lot of members of investigators come to the church for conference. But the ones that did got a lot out of it. The work is going pretty well right now. Elder Jones is ready to go home, but I'm trying to keep him here mentally. Our teaching pool is fairly dry. We are teaching Jason, Sylla, Carmel, and that is about it. We have a couple other people but they are both going to Haiti within the next couple of weeks.
Jason is doing really well. He is excited for his baptism, and his mom is excited for him too. He has started reading more in his Book of Mormon and he was able to attend conference. This week we just have to finish teaching him some of the smaller commandments and have him interviewed by the zone leaders. He should be good to go.
Sylla and Carmel aren't doing as hot. They are still really hard to see, and they have stopped coming to church. I'm not sure what is going to happen with them. Their new-member kids, Kirk and Wallace, are doing really well though. They were at one session of conference, have been at church every week since they were baptized and are becoming good friends with the rest of the youth.
I think that I have some pictures lying around. I haven't taken any in a while though. I will try to get you some new ones though. I'm not sure if I can upload them to the computer in the Library, if not I will just mail them. Sorry I've been slacking on that.
I sure hope that everything is going well, I can't wait to hear from you next week!
Love,
Elder Larson
October 4, 2009
Letter to the SJH Football Team
This is an e-mail that Don sent for this years team.
Sak Pase?
How is it going? I hear the season has started off pretty well. You've got a couple of wins under your belt now. That's sweet! I hope that the rest of the season goes well. Right now I am serving in the Florida Tampa Mission speaking Haitian-Creole. It's the best mission in the world and the coolest language in the world. I'm serving in Fort Myers which is a little bit of a ghetto but it keeps things exciting. This mission has been such a great experience. It dwarfs any other experience I've ever had (including taking state). But if I could give you guys a little advice I'd say to just work hard every day. Become the best football player you can be, become the best student you can be, and don't settle for second best in any of your endeavors. But, that's just my two cents. I hope that you guys can continue to find success. Go Broncos!
Sak Pase?
How is it going? I hear the season has started off pretty well. You've got a couple of wins under your belt now. That's sweet! I hope that the rest of the season goes well. Right now I am serving in the Florida Tampa Mission speaking Haitian-Creole. It's the best mission in the world and the coolest language in the world. I'm serving in Fort Myers which is a little bit of a ghetto but it keeps things exciting. This mission has been such a great experience. It dwarfs any other experience I've ever had (including taking state). But if I could give you guys a little advice I'd say to just work hard every day. Become the best football player you can be, become the best student you can be, and don't settle for second best in any of your endeavors. But, that's just my two cents. I hope that you guys can continue to find success. Go Broncos!
September 21, 2009
Email of Sep. 21
Dear Mom and Dad,
Thank you so much for your e-mail. It sounds like everything is going really well. We don't really have a chance to do too much service. Unless there is a hurricane we don't do too much. The most that we do is moving people, mostly members. Haitians like to move a lot, but they don't do it well. We usually show up to help and nothing is boxed or anything. And they love having huge furniture. But every once in a while we do some yard work or something. As you told me about the Black's it made me think of Sylla. He grew up in the Ivory Coast. He said there are about 65 tribal languages. But they all speak French.
Speaking of Sylla, him and Carmel have been slipping a little bit lately. We weren't able to have a lesson at all with them this week and I'm not too sure what is going to happen with them. I just wish their housing situation could be resolved so they could focus more on their commitments. But on a brighter note, their sons Kirk and Wallace are doing great. We've been teaching the new member lessons to them and I think they are both making the transition well. They fit in well with the other young men.
Jason is also doing pretty well. He is reading about a page a day in the Book of Mormon, and he has been to church three weeks in a row. We weren't able to teach his mom at all this week though, but we are going to continue to try to do that.
We are also teaching a few people in Lehigh. There is one "family" that is decent. They have stood us up twice for church now so we'll see what happens with them. Then we also had an older woman named Desanye who came to church last week that we have started to teach. She really likes the things that we taught her and she likes church even more. She told us she felt very welcome at church, which was the first time I have heard that positive of reviews about the fellow shipping. So I was pretty excited. She told us she's always been a visitor at churches but she doesn't feel like that anymore. One down side is that she is probably going to Haiti in a few weeks and usually when that happens they don't come back for months.
This weekend was Stake Conference for us. It was pretty good. The stake's theme this year is "All roads lead to the Temple". There were some pretty good speakers. Including our first counsellor and his wife who were just sealed a little while ago. I had fun translating. It helped me find some weak spots in my Kreyol where I need to improve. It was also nice seeing some of the members from Naples.
This weekend is transfer calls and there may be some changes. Elder Hall and Elder Jones go home two weeks after transfers and we'll be getting a new Haitianary from Canada. So we may have some changes to get ready for that. I will most likely be staying here though. That's pretty much what's going on in my neck of the woods. I hope that everything is going well for you. Thanks for all that you do for me.
Love,
Elder Larson
Thank you so much for your e-mail. It sounds like everything is going really well. We don't really have a chance to do too much service. Unless there is a hurricane we don't do too much. The most that we do is moving people, mostly members. Haitians like to move a lot, but they don't do it well. We usually show up to help and nothing is boxed or anything. And they love having huge furniture. But every once in a while we do some yard work or something. As you told me about the Black's it made me think of Sylla. He grew up in the Ivory Coast. He said there are about 65 tribal languages. But they all speak French.
Speaking of Sylla, him and Carmel have been slipping a little bit lately. We weren't able to have a lesson at all with them this week and I'm not too sure what is going to happen with them. I just wish their housing situation could be resolved so they could focus more on their commitments. But on a brighter note, their sons Kirk and Wallace are doing great. We've been teaching the new member lessons to them and I think they are both making the transition well. They fit in well with the other young men.
Jason is also doing pretty well. He is reading about a page a day in the Book of Mormon, and he has been to church three weeks in a row. We weren't able to teach his mom at all this week though, but we are going to continue to try to do that.
We are also teaching a few people in Lehigh. There is one "family" that is decent. They have stood us up twice for church now so we'll see what happens with them. Then we also had an older woman named Desanye who came to church last week that we have started to teach. She really likes the things that we taught her and she likes church even more. She told us she felt very welcome at church, which was the first time I have heard that positive of reviews about the fellow shipping. So I was pretty excited. She told us she's always been a visitor at churches but she doesn't feel like that anymore. One down side is that she is probably going to Haiti in a few weeks and usually when that happens they don't come back for months.
This weekend was Stake Conference for us. It was pretty good. The stake's theme this year is "All roads lead to the Temple". There were some pretty good speakers. Including our first counsellor and his wife who were just sealed a little while ago. I had fun translating. It helped me find some weak spots in my Kreyol where I need to improve. It was also nice seeing some of the members from Naples.
This weekend is transfer calls and there may be some changes. Elder Hall and Elder Jones go home two weeks after transfers and we'll be getting a new Haitianary from Canada. So we may have some changes to get ready for that. I will most likely be staying here though. That's pretty much what's going on in my neck of the woods. I hope that everything is going well for you. Thanks for all that you do for me.
Love,
Elder Larson
September 15, 2009
Email of Sep. 14
Dear Mom and Dad,
How is everything? It sounds like things have been going well. That's really cool about BYU I hear they were ranked #9 before the Tulane game. I hope they go undefeated. That's rough that the high school lost. It sounds like Edward's business is doing some cool things. Elder Tremblay was really into Paintball before his mission. Him and some of his friends had a team that was pretty good. They would go to tournaments in California and Vegas and stuff. I bet you're relieved to be released. But it probably won't last too long.
Things here are doing fine. The work is going decently well. Sylla and Carmel have been very stressed out/busy on account of their housing situation. But they were able to come to church yesterday which was nice. The branch has been waiting to ordain Kirk and Wallace to the priesthood until they were there, so it was extra important that they attended. We're hoping to be able to see them more often. They are both progressing really well, I can't wait to see that whole family in about ten years.
We are also working with a couple teenage kids. Jason is 14, he has been taught before, he knows a couple of the members already, his mom likes us, and he's been to church the past two weeks. He seems pretty solid, one of our goals is to focus more on the mom and trying to teach her as well. We are also teaching Erik. He is the son of a member, he is 16, he is a pretty funny kid, and he kinda has a big mouth. We usually joke around with him a lot. But one thing that is really cool is that whenever we say a prayer to start a lesson, he knows it's time to be serious and he seems to have a real desire to learn more. As long as he keeps his commitments he will be good.
But, everything is just peachy here. I hope that the same can be said for you. Take care and I hope you have a great week.
Love,
Elder Larson
How is everything? It sounds like things have been going well. That's really cool about BYU I hear they were ranked #9 before the Tulane game. I hope they go undefeated. That's rough that the high school lost. It sounds like Edward's business is doing some cool things. Elder Tremblay was really into Paintball before his mission. Him and some of his friends had a team that was pretty good. They would go to tournaments in California and Vegas and stuff. I bet you're relieved to be released. But it probably won't last too long.
Things here are doing fine. The work is going decently well. Sylla and Carmel have been very stressed out/busy on account of their housing situation. But they were able to come to church yesterday which was nice. The branch has been waiting to ordain Kirk and Wallace to the priesthood until they were there, so it was extra important that they attended. We're hoping to be able to see them more often. They are both progressing really well, I can't wait to see that whole family in about ten years.
We are also working with a couple teenage kids. Jason is 14, he has been taught before, he knows a couple of the members already, his mom likes us, and he's been to church the past two weeks. He seems pretty solid, one of our goals is to focus more on the mom and trying to teach her as well. We are also teaching Erik. He is the son of a member, he is 16, he is a pretty funny kid, and he kinda has a big mouth. We usually joke around with him a lot. But one thing that is really cool is that whenever we say a prayer to start a lesson, he knows it's time to be serious and he seems to have a real desire to learn more. As long as he keeps his commitments he will be good.
But, everything is just peachy here. I hope that the same can be said for you. Take care and I hope you have a great week.
Love,
Elder Larson
September 8, 2009
Email of Sep. 8
Dear Mom and Dad,
Happy Labor Day! In case you didn't realize, the library was closed yesterday, so I'm e-mailing today. It sounds like you had a good trip. Things here are going well. We went to Immokalee yesterday for p-day and played football and soccer with the young men out there. It was tons of fun, but we all got a little too much sun. Then we had a member meal with the Davies family out in Lehigh. So it was right on the way back. We aren't doing Thursday night basketball anymore. At least not for a while. The work is going well. We are starting to have a few more people to teach. We are still teaching the Sylla family, but it has been rough trying to see them lately because they are in the process of finding a new house and trying to move. But other than that they are doing well. The rest of our investigators are mostly people that missionaries have taught before. They are all pretty positive, but I'm not sure if any of them will progress too much. This week our finding went down a little bit. I think the youth are starting to get burnt out a little. We're trying to give them a little bit of a break. One of our investigators that I'm excited about is a young kid named Jason. Him and his mom have both been taught by missionaries before but we've started teaching him again. He came to church on Sunday and we found out that he goes to school with a member who lives in his same apartment complex. He seems pretty positive. We are also teaching two husbands of members. Hypolite is about 65 and has been taught a few times. He has always wanted to be baptized but has a problem with the word of wisdom. So we're trying to help him with that. We are also teaching Henry who is Evelyne Charles' (baptized by Elder Hall and myself) husband. He is pretty positive. He is just kind of set in his ways. But he seems to like the church and I think eventually he may come around. But, that is the jist of things here. Everything is going well. I hope that the same goes for you. Love, Elder Larson
Happy Labor Day! In case you didn't realize, the library was closed yesterday, so I'm e-mailing today. It sounds like you had a good trip. Things here are going well. We went to Immokalee yesterday for p-day and played football and soccer with the young men out there. It was tons of fun, but we all got a little too much sun. Then we had a member meal with the Davies family out in Lehigh. So it was right on the way back. We aren't doing Thursday night basketball anymore. At least not for a while. The work is going well. We are starting to have a few more people to teach. We are still teaching the Sylla family, but it has been rough trying to see them lately because they are in the process of finding a new house and trying to move. But other than that they are doing well. The rest of our investigators are mostly people that missionaries have taught before. They are all pretty positive, but I'm not sure if any of them will progress too much. This week our finding went down a little bit. I think the youth are starting to get burnt out a little. We're trying to give them a little bit of a break. One of our investigators that I'm excited about is a young kid named Jason. Him and his mom have both been taught by missionaries before but we've started teaching him again. He came to church on Sunday and we found out that he goes to school with a member who lives in his same apartment complex. He seems pretty positive. We are also teaching two husbands of members. Hypolite is about 65 and has been taught a few times. He has always wanted to be baptized but has a problem with the word of wisdom. So we're trying to help him with that. We are also teaching Henry who is Evelyne Charles' (baptized by Elder Hall and myself) husband. He is pretty positive. He is just kind of set in his ways. But he seems to like the church and I think eventually he may come around. But, that is the jist of things here. Everything is going well. I hope that the same goes for you. Love, Elder Larson
Email of Aug. 31
Dear Mom and Dad,
How are you? It's great to hear from you. Don't feel to bad about last week. I would rather have a package than an e-mail any day! It sounds like things are still just as crazy as ever. Things here are going pretty good. We had another tracting filled week trying to find Haitians. I'm not sure how I was able to have so many people to teach for those first six months I spent in this area. It's crazy how things can change in just a years time. We are still working with Sylla and Carmel. They are doing pretty good. They weren't able to come to church this weekend but it was cool to see all of their kids come to church. The kids just stayed over at their cousin Oscar's house on Saturday and they all came to church. There are a ton of really good kids in this area. Recently we gave Sylla a triple and we're starting to think it may be a bad idea. He has been eating up the Doctrine and Covenants, which is a good thing, but we want him to read the Book of Mormon first. We're also trying to help him with some word of wisdom problems. Also, their family is having some financial struggles and are even contemplating moving. But, besides those minor problems the whole family is doing really good. We are also teaching a guy named Geurby who lives out in Lehigh. He is friends with the first counsellor in the branch presidency. He is doing pretty good, it's just hard to see him because we can only go to Lehigh twice a week and so if we miss him once we may not see him for a week. It sounds like the football team is doing pretty good. I'll try to write a quick e-mail for them. Keep me posted on them. Also I would love to hear about the Utah-Utah State game on Thursday and I would really really love to hear about the BYU- OU game on Saturday. Thanks again for all that you do for me, I can't say it enough. I hope all is well! Love,Elder Larson
How are you? It's great to hear from you. Don't feel to bad about last week. I would rather have a package than an e-mail any day! It sounds like things are still just as crazy as ever. Things here are going pretty good. We had another tracting filled week trying to find Haitians. I'm not sure how I was able to have so many people to teach for those first six months I spent in this area. It's crazy how things can change in just a years time. We are still working with Sylla and Carmel. They are doing pretty good. They weren't able to come to church this weekend but it was cool to see all of their kids come to church. The kids just stayed over at their cousin Oscar's house on Saturday and they all came to church. There are a ton of really good kids in this area. Recently we gave Sylla a triple and we're starting to think it may be a bad idea. He has been eating up the Doctrine and Covenants, which is a good thing, but we want him to read the Book of Mormon first. We're also trying to help him with some word of wisdom problems. Also, their family is having some financial struggles and are even contemplating moving. But, besides those minor problems the whole family is doing really good. We are also teaching a guy named Geurby who lives out in Lehigh. He is friends with the first counsellor in the branch presidency. He is doing pretty good, it's just hard to see him because we can only go to Lehigh twice a week and so if we miss him once we may not see him for a week. It sounds like the football team is doing pretty good. I'll try to write a quick e-mail for them. Keep me posted on them. Also I would love to hear about the Utah-Utah State game on Thursday and I would really really love to hear about the BYU- OU game on Saturday. Thanks again for all that you do for me, I can't say it enough. I hope all is well! Love,Elder Larson
August 24, 2009
Email of Aug. 24, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
How is everything going? I'm sure things are crazy with school starting for both of you. It's kind of a bitter sweet thing that school is starting here. It's nice that there are no kids at the library but it's going to make teaching and tracting a lot harder.
Things here are going pretty good. The baptism went well on Saturday. It started about an hour and a half late but once it started it went really well. We didn't have too much member support but there was quite a few investigators. The food after was really good too. Rice, fried bananas, chicken, and apple juice. The four people that were baptized were Richard, Wallace, Kirk and Oscar. The last three of which are related. Wallace and Kirk are brothers and Oscar is their cousin. Oscar and Richard were taught by the other missionaries and were found right before I left Ft. Myers in the spring. We are teaching Wallace and Kirk's parents now. They are awesome. Both of them want to get baptized. They have a few things they have to overcome before they will be ready but they are doing good.
Other than that family we aren't teaching too many people. We only have two other real investigators and neither of them will even be able to come to church for a few weeks. It is really hard to find Haitians in our area. They are hidden pretty well. The past two weeks I've had more contacts than during any other week of my mission and we still can't find any. It's rough. But as long as we are still working with this family I won't complain.
I also heard that we got grazed by I think it was Ana or Claudette. We had no idea it was even coming or that it had hit. We went to the doctor for Elder Harris' feet and the doctor mentioned it. I also heard that Bill is too far north to hit us. But the season is still young. But i guess you probably know more about our weather than we do. Unless we're in real danger we don't hear anything.
I hope that everything is going well for you. I appreciate everything you do for me. Good luck with school!
Love,
Elder Larson
How is everything going? I'm sure things are crazy with school starting for both of you. It's kind of a bitter sweet thing that school is starting here. It's nice that there are no kids at the library but it's going to make teaching and tracting a lot harder.
Things here are going pretty good. The baptism went well on Saturday. It started about an hour and a half late but once it started it went really well. We didn't have too much member support but there was quite a few investigators. The food after was really good too. Rice, fried bananas, chicken, and apple juice. The four people that were baptized were Richard, Wallace, Kirk and Oscar. The last three of which are related. Wallace and Kirk are brothers and Oscar is their cousin. Oscar and Richard were taught by the other missionaries and were found right before I left Ft. Myers in the spring. We are teaching Wallace and Kirk's parents now. They are awesome. Both of them want to get baptized. They have a few things they have to overcome before they will be ready but they are doing good.
Other than that family we aren't teaching too many people. We only have two other real investigators and neither of them will even be able to come to church for a few weeks. It is really hard to find Haitians in our area. They are hidden pretty well. The past two weeks I've had more contacts than during any other week of my mission and we still can't find any. It's rough. But as long as we are still working with this family I won't complain.
I also heard that we got grazed by I think it was Ana or Claudette. We had no idea it was even coming or that it had hit. We went to the doctor for Elder Harris' feet and the doctor mentioned it. I also heard that Bill is too far north to hit us. But the season is still young. But i guess you probably know more about our weather than we do. Unless we're in real danger we don't hear anything.
I hope that everything is going well for you. I appreciate everything you do for me. Good luck with school!
Love,
Elder Larson
August 17, 2009
Email of Aug. 16, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
How are you? I hope everything is going well. Things here are going pretty good. It has been nice to be back in Ft. Myers. Church went really smoothly even though President Lowman wasn't there. his two councilors did great without him there. It was kind of nice not to have to do too much at church. I thought I was going to have to speak but when I got to church I found out that they had found another speaker. All I had to do was translate which I don't mind doing anyways.
The work here in Providence B is going pretty good. We don't have too many investigators right now but the ones we have are awesome. We have two young men scheduled to be baptized on Saturday. They are: (capt) Kirk who is 14 and his older brother (William) Wallace who is 18. They are both really good kids and are excited to be baptized. We are also teaching their parents. They are some of the smartest people I've ever taught. The husband is named Amamy Sylla. He is actually from the Ivory Coast but he is married to a Haitian and speaks Kreyol along with French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and a few other languages. Him and his wife both really like the church and will probably get baptized eventually. Their cousin is also going to be baptized this Saturday. His name is Oscar and Elder Tremblay and I found him right before I left for Naples a few months ago. His grandma has also been coming to church and is being taught by the other missionaries. I was thinking back and I remembered how we first found all of those people. Elder Tremblay and I had just got done visiting a member and were starting to bike away, when we saw a kid playing basketball down the street. He looked Haitian and so we decided to go and talk to him. He was a pretty cool kid named Jean but his parents weren't too interested in him talking to us but we invited him to come play basketball at the church on Thursdays. He came, and through him we met Oscar and eventually all of those other people who we are now teaching. It's pretty cool to look back and see how such a small decision to go talk to the kid down the street turned into so much good.
Also this weekend there will be another person being baptized who I taught while I was here before. His name is Richard. It will be a sweet weekend. Also this past Saturday I was able to go down to Naples for Dashna and Gottfried's baptism. It went pretty well. There were quite a few people there, a lot of whom were biliganas from the English ward. But, it all went well.
It's been pretty cool working in a triple-ship. We've gone on splits almost every day which is one of our goals. Most of them so far have been with the youth and we have gone tracting. They have really enjoyed it surprisingly and we want to keep it going. We also are going to do a lot of splits with the older priesthood holders once we have more people to teach. But, everything here is going good. I had heard that there was a storm on the way. I heard it's name was Anne, but that's about all we've heard. Also, I'm a little sad that you got puppies. Not because I don't like puppies but just because I'm going to miss the puppy stage and they won't be as cut when I meet them. But oh well. By the way you have my approval on the name choices. I assume Loki is also a Norse god. i also wish that Ralph and Gerri were on my mission and that they could take pictures for me. I definitely don't take enough. I hope this e-mail finds you well and that everything is going good.
Love,
Elder Larson
How are you? I hope everything is going well. Things here are going pretty good. It has been nice to be back in Ft. Myers. Church went really smoothly even though President Lowman wasn't there. his two councilors did great without him there. It was kind of nice not to have to do too much at church. I thought I was going to have to speak but when I got to church I found out that they had found another speaker. All I had to do was translate which I don't mind doing anyways.
The work here in Providence B is going pretty good. We don't have too many investigators right now but the ones we have are awesome. We have two young men scheduled to be baptized on Saturday. They are: (capt) Kirk who is 14 and his older brother (William) Wallace who is 18. They are both really good kids and are excited to be baptized. We are also teaching their parents. They are some of the smartest people I've ever taught. The husband is named Amamy Sylla. He is actually from the Ivory Coast but he is married to a Haitian and speaks Kreyol along with French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and a few other languages. Him and his wife both really like the church and will probably get baptized eventually. Their cousin is also going to be baptized this Saturday. His name is Oscar and Elder Tremblay and I found him right before I left for Naples a few months ago. His grandma has also been coming to church and is being taught by the other missionaries. I was thinking back and I remembered how we first found all of those people. Elder Tremblay and I had just got done visiting a member and were starting to bike away, when we saw a kid playing basketball down the street. He looked Haitian and so we decided to go and talk to him. He was a pretty cool kid named Jean but his parents weren't too interested in him talking to us but we invited him to come play basketball at the church on Thursdays. He came, and through him we met Oscar and eventually all of those other people who we are now teaching. It's pretty cool to look back and see how such a small decision to go talk to the kid down the street turned into so much good.
Also this weekend there will be another person being baptized who I taught while I was here before. His name is Richard. It will be a sweet weekend. Also this past Saturday I was able to go down to Naples for Dashna and Gottfried's baptism. It went pretty well. There were quite a few people there, a lot of whom were biliganas from the English ward. But, it all went well.
It's been pretty cool working in a triple-ship. We've gone on splits almost every day which is one of our goals. Most of them so far have been with the youth and we have gone tracting. They have really enjoyed it surprisingly and we want to keep it going. We also are going to do a lot of splits with the older priesthood holders once we have more people to teach. But, everything here is going good. I had heard that there was a storm on the way. I heard it's name was Anne, but that's about all we've heard. Also, I'm a little sad that you got puppies. Not because I don't like puppies but just because I'm going to miss the puppy stage and they won't be as cut when I meet them. But oh well. By the way you have my approval on the name choices. I assume Loki is also a Norse god. i also wish that Ralph and Gerri were on my mission and that they could take pictures for me. I definitely don't take enough. I hope this e-mail finds you well and that everything is going good.
Love,
Elder Larson
August 10, 2009
Email of Aug. 10, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
Whoa, I'm blown away by all the news. Sounds like there is alot of exciting things going on. I was a little sad that I wasn't able to be there for Michael, but I'm glad that he was able to have so much of the family there. I hope everything went well.
I'm trying to keep busy here as well. Though I don't know if I'm keeping up with the pace you've been going lately. Today I moved back up to Ft. Myers. It was sad to leave Naples. But Ft. Myers is going to be awesome! The baptism on Saturday didn't happen. We postponed it until next Saturday so that the mom could make it. I should be able to make it down next weekend if we have enough miles. It will be really good for Elder Tremblay's trainee to have a baptism on his first weekend here.
This past week we also set a date with a woman named Elvila. She is pretty "golden" and she has three kids of baptismal age. She has a ton of faith. She has a lot of problems (her husband left them, she's not working, and she's about to lose her house) in her life right now but she still is holding strong and is a pillar of strength. It was hard to leave such good investigators, but Providence B has alot of good people that they were working with as well so I'm really excited.
I'll be more descriptive next week when I have more time and when I've actually met all of the people.
This week we also have a really big change, in that Elder Hofer and Elder Valentine are leaving and we are getting three new greenies. It's going to take some time to adjust to some new blood in our district since we've been the same for over a year.
I wish I had more time to talk to you but I gotta run. Take care and I'll hear from you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
Whoa, I'm blown away by all the news. Sounds like there is alot of exciting things going on. I was a little sad that I wasn't able to be there for Michael, but I'm glad that he was able to have so much of the family there. I hope everything went well.
I'm trying to keep busy here as well. Though I don't know if I'm keeping up with the pace you've been going lately. Today I moved back up to Ft. Myers. It was sad to leave Naples. But Ft. Myers is going to be awesome! The baptism on Saturday didn't happen. We postponed it until next Saturday so that the mom could make it. I should be able to make it down next weekend if we have enough miles. It will be really good for Elder Tremblay's trainee to have a baptism on his first weekend here.
This past week we also set a date with a woman named Elvila. She is pretty "golden" and she has three kids of baptismal age. She has a ton of faith. She has a lot of problems (her husband left them, she's not working, and she's about to lose her house) in her life right now but she still is holding strong and is a pillar of strength. It was hard to leave such good investigators, but Providence B has alot of good people that they were working with as well so I'm really excited.
I'll be more descriptive next week when I have more time and when I've actually met all of the people.
This week we also have a really big change, in that Elder Hofer and Elder Valentine are leaving and we are getting three new greenies. It's going to take some time to adjust to some new blood in our district since we've been the same for over a year.
I wish I had more time to talk to you but I gotta run. Take care and I'll hear from you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
July 27, 2009
Email of July 27, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
Whoa, it sounds like you've had a pretty crazy couple of weeks. I think that you have been getting more rain than us. But we'll catch up once the hurricanes start coming.
Things here are going great. There are a lot of exciting things going on. We are teaching some really awesome people right now. This week we really focused on the one family who I have been teaching the whole time I've been in Naples. It's pretty frustrating because the father knows that the church is true but doesn't want to get baptized. So we are going to go ahead and baptize the kids and eventually when he is ready the father will be baptized as well.
Yesterday, church went well. We had a decent number of people show up. One of our investigator's (Lounique) boyfriend showed up unexpectedly (we invited him but didn't think he'd actually come). We're hoping to start teaching him and get them married and baptized. All in all, things are going pretty well.
I'm not sure if I told you last week, but I know for sure now that I'm going to back to Ft. Myers in two weeks when the new missionaries come out. I'll be in my first area. I'm pretty excited. I was able to go up there on Saturday for a party that their branch threw for the returning missionaries. It was probably not the best thing for me because now I'm just really excited to go back. I'm just trying to stay focused on Celeste until I leave.
I wish I had more time to tell you about all of the experiences I'm having but they'll just have to wait I guess.
Thank you so much for all you do for me and for your weekly e-mails. Take care and have fun in California! You all will be in my prayers.
Love,
Elder Larson
P.S. It probably would've been good to mention this before the Pope reunion, but I found out that the area I started in is one area where cousin Tyler served and he also served down here in Naples. His name is on the miles report in the car and I saw a picture of him in the Spanish elders apt.
Whoa, it sounds like you've had a pretty crazy couple of weeks. I think that you have been getting more rain than us. But we'll catch up once the hurricanes start coming.
Things here are going great. There are a lot of exciting things going on. We are teaching some really awesome people right now. This week we really focused on the one family who I have been teaching the whole time I've been in Naples. It's pretty frustrating because the father knows that the church is true but doesn't want to get baptized. So we are going to go ahead and baptize the kids and eventually when he is ready the father will be baptized as well.
Yesterday, church went well. We had a decent number of people show up. One of our investigator's (Lounique) boyfriend showed up unexpectedly (we invited him but didn't think he'd actually come). We're hoping to start teaching him and get them married and baptized. All in all, things are going pretty well.
I'm not sure if I told you last week, but I know for sure now that I'm going to back to Ft. Myers in two weeks when the new missionaries come out. I'll be in my first area. I'm pretty excited. I was able to go up there on Saturday for a party that their branch threw for the returning missionaries. It was probably not the best thing for me because now I'm just really excited to go back. I'm just trying to stay focused on Celeste until I leave.
I wish I had more time to tell you about all of the experiences I'm having but they'll just have to wait I guess.
Thank you so much for all you do for me and for your weekly e-mails. Take care and have fun in California! You all will be in my prayers.
Love,
Elder Larson
P.S. It probably would've been good to mention this before the Pope reunion, but I found out that the area I started in is one area where cousin Tyler served and he also served down here in Naples. His name is on the miles report in the car and I saw a picture of him in the Spanish elders apt.
July 20, 2009
Email of July 20, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
It was great, as always, to get your e-mail. I am jealous of all the good things that are going on at home. Especially, mom getting to hang out with Amelia's kids. I sure miss my nieces and nephews. I hope that Michael's surgery went well, and that he doesn't have to go through too much pain. Speaking of knee problems,I'm still trying to decide if I still want to study physical therapy when I get home. I'm just glad I don't have to worry about it for a while. Everything is going great here. We had quite the week. There were some ups and some downs. We had a really great Zone Conference on Wednesday. President, his wife, his counselor, the A.P.s, and our zone leaders all gave great trainings and the Spirit was really strong. Also, this week one of our members passed away. His name is Fre(Brother) Aristid. It was fairly sudden and unexpected. He was only 65. His wife wasn't doing to well but is starting to pull through. I had the opportunity to give her a Priesthood blessing. It was a great opportunity for me to use my priesthood. She has gotten a lot of support from the branch, which I was really grateful for. She has two kids that live in Naples so she is pretty well taken care of. They are planning on having the funeral in Haiti because they can't afford to do it here. Those were some of the biggest things that happened this week. But also we are still working with a few families and some other random people. Our main investigator, Michinique, moved up to Cape Coral and may be up there for good. But, we got him in contact with the missionaries up there so hopefully he can continue to progress. Also, if I go back to Ft. Myers when the new missionaries come out I will hopefully be able to see him. Yesterday was also an interesting day at church. Last week, we were kicked out of the primary room and into the Relief Society room, but because of a Spanish Sunday school class that meets right before us, we were forced to change rooms again. This time we moved, temporarily, to the Nursery room. We were wondering how we were going to fit, but we ended up only having about 19 people show up so we all fit. I wish they would've listened to my suggestion and moved into the chapel. I just don't think we will ever grow if we stay in little rooms. But, all in all it was quite the hectic week. This upcoming week is going to be really good. We have a lot of work to do and never enough time to do it all. But we should have some exciting things happening this upcoming week. I love you, and can't wait to hear from you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
It was great, as always, to get your e-mail. I am jealous of all the good things that are going on at home. Especially, mom getting to hang out with Amelia's kids. I sure miss my nieces and nephews. I hope that Michael's surgery went well, and that he doesn't have to go through too much pain. Speaking of knee problems,I'm still trying to decide if I still want to study physical therapy when I get home. I'm just glad I don't have to worry about it for a while. Everything is going great here. We had quite the week. There were some ups and some downs. We had a really great Zone Conference on Wednesday. President, his wife, his counselor, the A.P.s, and our zone leaders all gave great trainings and the Spirit was really strong. Also, this week one of our members passed away. His name is Fre(Brother) Aristid. It was fairly sudden and unexpected. He was only 65. His wife wasn't doing to well but is starting to pull through. I had the opportunity to give her a Priesthood blessing. It was a great opportunity for me to use my priesthood. She has gotten a lot of support from the branch, which I was really grateful for. She has two kids that live in Naples so she is pretty well taken care of. They are planning on having the funeral in Haiti because they can't afford to do it here. Those were some of the biggest things that happened this week. But also we are still working with a few families and some other random people. Our main investigator, Michinique, moved up to Cape Coral and may be up there for good. But, we got him in contact with the missionaries up there so hopefully he can continue to progress. Also, if I go back to Ft. Myers when the new missionaries come out I will hopefully be able to see him. Yesterday was also an interesting day at church. Last week, we were kicked out of the primary room and into the Relief Society room, but because of a Spanish Sunday school class that meets right before us, we were forced to change rooms again. This time we moved, temporarily, to the Nursery room. We were wondering how we were going to fit, but we ended up only having about 19 people show up so we all fit. I wish they would've listened to my suggestion and moved into the chapel. I just don't think we will ever grow if we stay in little rooms. But, all in all it was quite the hectic week. This upcoming week is going to be really good. We have a lot of work to do and never enough time to do it all. But we should have some exciting things happening this upcoming week. I love you, and can't wait to hear from you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
July 13, 2009
Email of July 13, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
It was nice to get your e-mail and hear how everything is going. I'm glad to hear things are coming together for the wedding. I got the invitation on Saturday. I'm sad I won't be able to be there to support them, but not that sad. I just better get a lot of pictures! I hope everything goes well with Michael's surgery and that dad's back gets better and everything else.
Things here are going pretty good. This week we saw some good success. We started teaching a few new people. We did have some fairly disappointing news in that our main investigator is probably moving to Cape Coral. We're hoping that he won't be too far from the Church in Ft. Myers. We are also teaching a few older couples/families. It is a nice change from our usual teaching pool. As Haitian missionaries we seem to teach a lot of teenagers. It's nice to be able to teach more complete families.
This coming week is going to be good. Today, the missionaries from Immokalee are coming down so that we can do exchanges. I'm staying here with Elder Valentine. I'm pretty exciting and I think that he is excited to see some of the members here. Then, on Thursday we are having our zone conference in Venice. We're going to have to wake up pretty early to get there. Normally our zone conferences are only about 15 minutes away but a few weeks ago they created a new stake and it threw off our zones and made it so that we have to drive all that way. But it will be nice to see a different part of Florida.
I hope that all is well in Blanding. Thanks for all of your love and support. I am so grateful for all that you do for me.
Love,
Elder Larson
It was nice to get your e-mail and hear how everything is going. I'm glad to hear things are coming together for the wedding. I got the invitation on Saturday. I'm sad I won't be able to be there to support them, but not that sad. I just better get a lot of pictures! I hope everything goes well with Michael's surgery and that dad's back gets better and everything else.
Things here are going pretty good. This week we saw some good success. We started teaching a few new people. We did have some fairly disappointing news in that our main investigator is probably moving to Cape Coral. We're hoping that he won't be too far from the Church in Ft. Myers. We are also teaching a few older couples/families. It is a nice change from our usual teaching pool. As Haitian missionaries we seem to teach a lot of teenagers. It's nice to be able to teach more complete families.
This coming week is going to be good. Today, the missionaries from Immokalee are coming down so that we can do exchanges. I'm staying here with Elder Valentine. I'm pretty exciting and I think that he is excited to see some of the members here. Then, on Thursday we are having our zone conference in Venice. We're going to have to wake up pretty early to get there. Normally our zone conferences are only about 15 minutes away but a few weeks ago they created a new stake and it threw off our zones and made it so that we have to drive all that way. But it will be nice to see a different part of Florida.
I hope that all is well in Blanding. Thanks for all of your love and support. I am so grateful for all that you do for me.
Love,
Elder Larson
July 6, 2009
Email of July 6, 2009
Dear Family,
It sounds like you had a great 4th of July holiday. I was craving some shishkabobs all weekend. I had some Haitian made BBQ instead. The branch had a little get together that ended up taking a little more time than we thought.
The work is going well. We are teaching a pretty good amount of people and trying to find more. This week one of our investigators (Michinique-17) accepted a baptismal date for the 25th. It was pretty exciting. Especially when we told his friend, who is a priest in the branch, that he could baptize him. The date will probably have to be pushed back because they are both going to scout camp in Orlando from the 18th to the 25th. But he is really positive.
Also, we are going to start teaching the parents of two of the youth. They are really nice people and already have friends in the church. They should be pretty good.
Transfers passed. I am staying in Naples with Elder Tremblay for a few weeks until Elder Hofer and Elder Valentine go home (don't ask why Haitians go home in the middle of transfers) after which I may be going back to Ft. Myers. Speaking of Ft. Myers, we are up in here today for a zone P-day.
I hope everything is going well. I hope Michael's surgery goes well, I hope the last weeks of camp go well for Edward, and that Dad gets feeling better. Have a great week and I'll talk to you next week!
Love,
Elder Larson
It sounds like you had a great 4th of July holiday. I was craving some shishkabobs all weekend. I had some Haitian made BBQ instead. The branch had a little get together that ended up taking a little more time than we thought.
The work is going well. We are teaching a pretty good amount of people and trying to find more. This week one of our investigators (Michinique-17) accepted a baptismal date for the 25th. It was pretty exciting. Especially when we told his friend, who is a priest in the branch, that he could baptize him. The date will probably have to be pushed back because they are both going to scout camp in Orlando from the 18th to the 25th. But he is really positive.
Also, we are going to start teaching the parents of two of the youth. They are really nice people and already have friends in the church. They should be pretty good.
Transfers passed. I am staying in Naples with Elder Tremblay for a few weeks until Elder Hofer and Elder Valentine go home (don't ask why Haitians go home in the middle of transfers) after which I may be going back to Ft. Myers. Speaking of Ft. Myers, we are up in here today for a zone P-day.
I hope everything is going well. I hope Michael's surgery goes well, I hope the last weeks of camp go well for Edward, and that Dad gets feeling better. Have a great week and I'll talk to you next week!
Love,
Elder Larson
June 29, 2009
Email of June 29, 2009
Dear Family,
Happy 4th of July! Thanks for your e-mail. It sounds like things are going pretty good. I hope Dad and Michael's health improves. That's cool that so many people are coming down for the holiday. I've already decided that I want to run the 5K next year, I'll probably ask you to sign me up for it. I hope I get one of those wedding invitations pretty soon.
Things here are going well. Raynald was baptized on Saturday. It was the first baptism this branch has had this whole year. But we just set a goal of five for July, so hopefully we'll have more in the near future. The service went fairly well. There were some hiccups, like the Spanish Elder's car breaking down so we were forced to sing accapella, and we found out at the last minute that the branch president had to work so his counselor conducted the meeting as well as performed the baptism. Also Raynald was a little bit late, but in the end he was baptized and everything went well. Yesterday, he was confirmed in Sacrament meeting as well.
Yesterday we were also able to go to a baptism in Lehigh. There were three kids from Immokalee who were baptized. They hold their baptisms in Lehigh because they don't have a font in Immokalee yet. Two of the priests were able to baptize them. One of them (Milsont) baptized his two little brothers. It was really cool to see. Most all of the missionaries have taught them, and Milsont and his brother were some of the first people to get baptized there, they are the reason most of the members there were baptized.
The work here is going pretty good. We have some pretty good investigators and we have a lot of work to do. This week should be really good. This week is also the last week of the transfer and I think I may be leaving Naples. It would be rough to leave right now when things are going so well.
But I hope that everything goes well this week. Have a great fourth of July!
Love,
Elder Larson
Happy 4th of July! Thanks for your e-mail. It sounds like things are going pretty good. I hope Dad and Michael's health improves. That's cool that so many people are coming down for the holiday. I've already decided that I want to run the 5K next year, I'll probably ask you to sign me up for it. I hope I get one of those wedding invitations pretty soon.
Things here are going well. Raynald was baptized on Saturday. It was the first baptism this branch has had this whole year. But we just set a goal of five for July, so hopefully we'll have more in the near future. The service went fairly well. There were some hiccups, like the Spanish Elder's car breaking down so we were forced to sing accapella, and we found out at the last minute that the branch president had to work so his counselor conducted the meeting as well as performed the baptism. Also Raynald was a little bit late, but in the end he was baptized and everything went well. Yesterday, he was confirmed in Sacrament meeting as well.
Yesterday we were also able to go to a baptism in Lehigh. There were three kids from Immokalee who were baptized. They hold their baptisms in Lehigh because they don't have a font in Immokalee yet. Two of the priests were able to baptize them. One of them (Milsont) baptized his two little brothers. It was really cool to see. Most all of the missionaries have taught them, and Milsont and his brother were some of the first people to get baptized there, they are the reason most of the members there were baptized.
The work here is going pretty good. We have some pretty good investigators and we have a lot of work to do. This week should be really good. This week is also the last week of the transfer and I think I may be leaving Naples. It would be rough to leave right now when things are going so well.
But I hope that everything goes well this week. Have a great fourth of July!
Love,
Elder Larson
June 22, 2009
Email of June 22, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
Things here are going well. I thought about you guys at scout camp pretty much all week. It sounds like it went well. I can't even imagine 235 people trying to crowd around the outdoor chapel. That is insane. I hope everything is going well for Edward at Entrada as well.
This week went pretty well. Our teaching pool is starting to die down and the areas that we were working in have all been tracted. But that's ok with me because I am pretty ready to move on to the next area. I was thinking back and I have been teaching pretty much the same people that I was when I first got here. We found them all my first week or two and have just been teaching them the whole time. Now I just hope that they will be able to be baptized before I leave. Raynald is scheduled to be baptized this Saturday. Everything is looking pretty good. We were scared that we would have to postpone the baptism yesterday because we hadn't been able to get a hold of the people that give him a ride. We have a little unwritten rule that an investigator can't be baptized if they are not at church the week before. Luckily his mom, who normally works on Sunday mornings, was able to give him a ride. It was really a miracle for us.
Our other investigators are still pretty much the same. Jean (the 16 yr old) wasn't able to come to church again because his parents left him to take care of his younger siblings. The Joseph family is all doing pretty good. We had a lesson with the Dad by himself at the church and he told us that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and that the church is true but he wants to wait for his wife. We were a little reluctant because his wife hasn't been to positive and we don't want to stall his progress but we respected his wishes and we are going to be working with the mom even more. Yesterday, she came to church for the first time even though she had worked the night before and hadn't slept yet. So maybe she is more positive than we thought.
But all in all things are going great. Today we are going to play some volleyball and maybe go out to eat. There are going to be a ton of missionaries here because both district leaders are doing exchanges and the English Elders are switching the car. Then we have Raynald's interview at 5 after which I will be going to Immokalee until Wednesday. But thanks for your e-mail, it was good to hear about camp, I'm glad that it went well. I can't wait to hear from you again next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
- Show quoted text -
Things here are going well. I thought about you guys at scout camp pretty much all week. It sounds like it went well. I can't even imagine 235 people trying to crowd around the outdoor chapel. That is insane. I hope everything is going well for Edward at Entrada as well.
This week went pretty well. Our teaching pool is starting to die down and the areas that we were working in have all been tracted. But that's ok with me because I am pretty ready to move on to the next area. I was thinking back and I have been teaching pretty much the same people that I was when I first got here. We found them all my first week or two and have just been teaching them the whole time. Now I just hope that they will be able to be baptized before I leave. Raynald is scheduled to be baptized this Saturday. Everything is looking pretty good. We were scared that we would have to postpone the baptism yesterday because we hadn't been able to get a hold of the people that give him a ride. We have a little unwritten rule that an investigator can't be baptized if they are not at church the week before. Luckily his mom, who normally works on Sunday mornings, was able to give him a ride. It was really a miracle for us.
Our other investigators are still pretty much the same. Jean (the 16 yr old) wasn't able to come to church again because his parents left him to take care of his younger siblings. The Joseph family is all doing pretty good. We had a lesson with the Dad by himself at the church and he told us that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and that the church is true but he wants to wait for his wife. We were a little reluctant because his wife hasn't been to positive and we don't want to stall his progress but we respected his wishes and we are going to be working with the mom even more. Yesterday, she came to church for the first time even though she had worked the night before and hadn't slept yet. So maybe she is more positive than we thought.
But all in all things are going great. Today we are going to play some volleyball and maybe go out to eat. There are going to be a ton of missionaries here because both district leaders are doing exchanges and the English Elders are switching the car. Then we have Raynald's interview at 5 after which I will be going to Immokalee until Wednesday. But thanks for your e-mail, it was good to hear about camp, I'm glad that it went well. I can't wait to hear from you again next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
- Show quoted text -
Email of June 15, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
I hope that you're having fun at scout camp! I sure miss those days. I hope that everything goes well this week. I hope you are able to go to Dr. Redd's funeral tomorrow as well. That is a really tragic story.
Things here are still going well. This week we didn't see too much progress, but the work is still going forward boldly, nobly, and independent. We are teaching a lot of lessons and riding our bikes a lot. We still have three people with a date for baptism. We are hoping to have a few more by the end of this week too. Hopefully the 4th of July will be a big baptismal day.
Yesterday we had quite a few people at church. There were six investigators, two children of investigators, and two other visitors who we haven't yet started teaching. So, about a third of the congregation were non-members. We also had some good participation from the Priesthood so we didn't have to do everything ourselves.
Well, it sounds like everyone is doing pretty well. I hope that scout camp(s) goes well. I can't wait to hear from you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
- Show quoted text -
I hope that you're having fun at scout camp! I sure miss those days. I hope that everything goes well this week. I hope you are able to go to Dr. Redd's funeral tomorrow as well. That is a really tragic story.
Things here are still going well. This week we didn't see too much progress, but the work is still going forward boldly, nobly, and independent. We are teaching a lot of lessons and riding our bikes a lot. We still have three people with a date for baptism. We are hoping to have a few more by the end of this week too. Hopefully the 4th of July will be a big baptismal day.
Yesterday we had quite a few people at church. There were six investigators, two children of investigators, and two other visitors who we haven't yet started teaching. So, about a third of the congregation were non-members. We also had some good participation from the Priesthood so we didn't have to do everything ourselves.
Well, it sounds like everyone is doing pretty well. I hope that scout camp(s) goes well. I can't wait to hear from you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
- Show quoted text -
June 8, 2009
Email of June 8, 2009
Dear Family,
Things are going great here. This week we saw a lot of success. We are teaching three people who have accepted a baptismal date. They are: Raynald 27th, Adline 27th, and Jean for July 4th. We met Adline through one of the members here. The member actually rents a room from her. She is really solid. She accepted a baptismal date on the first lesson and she even walked to church yesterday with her two kids.
We have been teaching Jean and Raynald for quite some time now. They were pretty much just waiting for a ride to church in order to continue progressing. This weekend we had a special branch fast on behalf of our investigators. On Saturday night we got a call from the English ward bishop saying that he had found someone willing to give rides. We found out that a member of the stake high council had recently moved to a new development that is nearby all three of the Habitats where we work. His wife is also Raynald's primary teacher. It was the perfect situation. Raynald was able to come to church for the first time since the Sumps left. and Jean was all lined up to come until his parents left at the last minute leaving him to babysit his brothers and sisters. But things are going good.
We are teaching a lot and riding our bikes a lot. How is everything going at home? Why are some of the 8th ward now going to the first?What is mom going to be doing at scout camp?
I hope everything is going great, I can't wait to hear from you next week!
Love,
Elder Larson
- Show quoted text -
Things are going great here. This week we saw a lot of success. We are teaching three people who have accepted a baptismal date. They are: Raynald 27th, Adline 27th, and Jean for July 4th. We met Adline through one of the members here. The member actually rents a room from her. She is really solid. She accepted a baptismal date on the first lesson and she even walked to church yesterday with her two kids.
We have been teaching Jean and Raynald for quite some time now. They were pretty much just waiting for a ride to church in order to continue progressing. This weekend we had a special branch fast on behalf of our investigators. On Saturday night we got a call from the English ward bishop saying that he had found someone willing to give rides. We found out that a member of the stake high council had recently moved to a new development that is nearby all three of the Habitats where we work. His wife is also Raynald's primary teacher. It was the perfect situation. Raynald was able to come to church for the first time since the Sumps left. and Jean was all lined up to come until his parents left at the last minute leaving him to babysit his brothers and sisters. But things are going good.
We are teaching a lot and riding our bikes a lot. How is everything going at home? Why are some of the 8th ward now going to the first?What is mom going to be doing at scout camp?
I hope everything is going great, I can't wait to hear from you next week!
Love,
Elder Larson
- Show quoted text -
June 1, 2009
Email of June 1, 2009
Dear Family,
Wow, it sounds like life is keeping things interesting. I guess it's always good to be busy and have something to keep you on your feet. Yesterday in church we talked a lot about trials and tribulation and why we have those kinds of things. Our high councilor gave a good talk about it in Sacrament meeting and then we discussed it more in Sunday school as well. I know that the challenges that we have can be a blessing for us. But only if we let them. Whenever we have a trial we have two choices: we can let it overcome us or we can learn from it and grow. I'm grateful for the few challenges that I've had in my life and the things that I've been able to learn from them.
Things here are going pretty well. This week I was looking back a little at the past year and how it has gone by so quickly. I keep meeting more and more missionaries who have been out for less time than me. The three new Haitian missionaries should be going into the MTC in about a week. The work here is going pretty well. Elder Tremblay and myself are excited about all of the good people that we are working with. We have a pretty full teaching pool and they are all pretty positive. We are still struggling to get rides for some of the people who live so far away. We are still working with the Joseph family. They are doing pretty good. The mom isn't too positive but the dad loves the Book of Mormon and also loves dropping his kids off at church and not staying himself. But we're working with him. One of the other more positive investigators is a 16 year old kid named Jean. He is really good at keeping his commitments, especially reading the Book of Mormon. The one thing holding him back is the ride situation. Raynald also has a date to be baptized on the 13th. He is also being held back by the lack of a ride. We are also trying to focus a lot on member work. At our last zone and district meeting Elder Hall gave a training on that subject and he talked about the way that we can double baptisms like President Hinckley asked us to do a few years ago, and as President Colton has asked us to do as well. He said it isn't so much that we need to double our efforts but that the missionaries and the members need to learn to work better together and then we will be able to find more success. We are really going to work better with our members. They need a lot of strengthening and direction. We also want to work a lot with our less-actives. Our branch has a lot of those. We have a lot of work that needs to be done. But I'm grateful for the opportunity. Things here are going quite well. Thanks for your e-mail, I love hearing from you. I can't wait until next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
Wow, it sounds like life is keeping things interesting. I guess it's always good to be busy and have something to keep you on your feet. Yesterday in church we talked a lot about trials and tribulation and why we have those kinds of things. Our high councilor gave a good talk about it in Sacrament meeting and then we discussed it more in Sunday school as well. I know that the challenges that we have can be a blessing for us. But only if we let them. Whenever we have a trial we have two choices: we can let it overcome us or we can learn from it and grow. I'm grateful for the few challenges that I've had in my life and the things that I've been able to learn from them.
Things here are going pretty well. This week I was looking back a little at the past year and how it has gone by so quickly. I keep meeting more and more missionaries who have been out for less time than me. The three new Haitian missionaries should be going into the MTC in about a week. The work here is going pretty well. Elder Tremblay and myself are excited about all of the good people that we are working with. We have a pretty full teaching pool and they are all pretty positive. We are still struggling to get rides for some of the people who live so far away. We are still working with the Joseph family. They are doing pretty good. The mom isn't too positive but the dad loves the Book of Mormon and also loves dropping his kids off at church and not staying himself. But we're working with him. One of the other more positive investigators is a 16 year old kid named Jean. He is really good at keeping his commitments, especially reading the Book of Mormon. The one thing holding him back is the ride situation. Raynald also has a date to be baptized on the 13th. He is also being held back by the lack of a ride. We are also trying to focus a lot on member work. At our last zone and district meeting Elder Hall gave a training on that subject and he talked about the way that we can double baptisms like President Hinckley asked us to do a few years ago, and as President Colton has asked us to do as well. He said it isn't so much that we need to double our efforts but that the missionaries and the members need to learn to work better together and then we will be able to find more success. We are really going to work better with our members. They need a lot of strengthening and direction. We also want to work a lot with our less-actives. Our branch has a lot of those. We have a lot of work that needs to be done. But I'm grateful for the opportunity. Things here are going quite well. Thanks for your e-mail, I love hearing from you. I can't wait until next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
May 26, 2009
Email of May 26, 2009
Mom and Dad,
How is everything going? I hope you had a good Memorial day. I'm anxious to see how Uncle Jon is doing. Things are going great here. This week some exciting things happened. First, I found out that there are armadillos in Florida. Second, we had 31 people at church including 4 investigators of baptismal age. Third, we had transfers. I am still in Naples, but I am now back serving with Elder Tremblay. Elder Jones is up in Fort Myers serving with Elder Welch. So they just did a city-switch with our two companionships. I'm excited to be back with Elder Tremblay. We are teaching a lot of people right now and there are a lot of members who need help. We have a lot of work that needs to be done. Lately, we have been doing a lot to strengthen the branch. It has been struggling for quite some time and so we've been working out some ways to try and get the stake to help us out a little more. We have a lot of good members we just lack leadership. But it just means that more of the burden falls on the missionaries.
Our investigators are doing pretty well. Both of the two that had baptismal dates have lost them. But we have a lot of other investigators who are progressing and moving towards baptism. I am excited to see what will happen with them. But everything is going great here, I hope the same for you. It is a blessing to have such a great family. Thanks for the birthday present. They fit pretty well, although I haven't gained as much weight as you may think. But thanks again, and tell Grandma and Grandpa thanks for the card as well. I don't know if I will have time to write them myself. I hope to hear from you again next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
How is everything going? I hope you had a good Memorial day. I'm anxious to see how Uncle Jon is doing. Things are going great here. This week some exciting things happened. First, I found out that there are armadillos in Florida. Second, we had 31 people at church including 4 investigators of baptismal age. Third, we had transfers. I am still in Naples, but I am now back serving with Elder Tremblay. Elder Jones is up in Fort Myers serving with Elder Welch. So they just did a city-switch with our two companionships. I'm excited to be back with Elder Tremblay. We are teaching a lot of people right now and there are a lot of members who need help. We have a lot of work that needs to be done. Lately, we have been doing a lot to strengthen the branch. It has been struggling for quite some time and so we've been working out some ways to try and get the stake to help us out a little more. We have a lot of good members we just lack leadership. But it just means that more of the burden falls on the missionaries.
Our investigators are doing pretty well. Both of the two that had baptismal dates have lost them. But we have a lot of other investigators who are progressing and moving towards baptism. I am excited to see what will happen with them. But everything is going great here, I hope the same for you. It is a blessing to have such a great family. Thanks for the birthday present. They fit pretty well, although I haven't gained as much weight as you may think. But thanks again, and tell Grandma and Grandpa thanks for the card as well. I don't know if I will have time to write them myself. I hope to hear from you again next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
May 18, 2009
Email of May 18,2009
Dear Family,
Happy Haitian flag day! It sounds like things are going well at home. It was nice to talk to you last week. Happy late-anniversary!
Everything here in Naples is going great. There has been a lot of rain these past couple of weeks. It looks like summer has arrived in full force. The work is going pretty well right now. We are still riding our bikes a lot and teaching a lot of lessons. We have two people who have a baptismal date but neither one of them were able to make it to church this week. Because the area in which we work is so far away, it can be tough to get people to come to church. We are working with the English ward to work out some rides. We taught a couple of new people this week. The first is a teenage boy named Jean. He is really positive but we haven't had a chance to really talk to his parents to much yet. But he told us he wants to bring all his siblings to church when he comes. The other person is named Johanna. She is pretty positive, and has a really nice family. Plus, she has a car and a license so she shouldn't need a ride.
Today, as I mentioned earlier, is Haitian flag day. Since today is a Monday we celebrated on Saturday. Our branch went over to Immokalee and we ate food, played soccer, and listened to a former Haitian senator speak. It was a really good party and I learned some good things about Haiti. But things are going great here. I hope everything is going just as well for you. Tell everyone hi for me.
Love,
Elder Larson
Happy Haitian flag day! It sounds like things are going well at home. It was nice to talk to you last week. Happy late-anniversary!
Everything here in Naples is going great. There has been a lot of rain these past couple of weeks. It looks like summer has arrived in full force. The work is going pretty well right now. We are still riding our bikes a lot and teaching a lot of lessons. We have two people who have a baptismal date but neither one of them were able to make it to church this week. Because the area in which we work is so far away, it can be tough to get people to come to church. We are working with the English ward to work out some rides. We taught a couple of new people this week. The first is a teenage boy named Jean. He is really positive but we haven't had a chance to really talk to his parents to much yet. But he told us he wants to bring all his siblings to church when he comes. The other person is named Johanna. She is pretty positive, and has a really nice family. Plus, she has a car and a license so she shouldn't need a ride.
Today, as I mentioned earlier, is Haitian flag day. Since today is a Monday we celebrated on Saturday. Our branch went over to Immokalee and we ate food, played soccer, and listened to a former Haitian senator speak. It was a really good party and I learned some good things about Haiti. But things are going great here. I hope everything is going just as well for you. Tell everyone hi for me.
Love,
Elder Larson
May 4, 2009
Email of May 4, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
Things here in Naples are moving forward. Yesterday at church we had about 36 people in all, which is a pretty good number for us. The primary room where we meet was pretty much full. We also had four investigators at church. One of them is named Lunique. She is a really awesome lady, about 30 years old. She has been progressing fairly well. Her biggest problem is her boyfriend, whom she lives with. We are planning on having a lesson with our Relief Society president and her husband who went through a similar situation when the husband was investigating the church. It should be really good. The other investigators that were at church were the Joseph family. They are a family that we're really excited about. The mom is a niece of a member and was a judge in Haiti with one of our strongest members (Brother Marc). The mom wasn't able to come to church but the dad and the three kids were (the youngest is 5 so technically he doesn't count as an investigator). They all had a really good time at church and things are looking good. We are planning on having a lesson with them on Friday with Brother Marc. We have some other really good investigators right now as well. We are teaching a young boy named Raynald who has a date to be baptized in June. We have pretty much stopped teaching the young girl that we were teaching that had a baptismal date. This week we also started teaching another family. This one seems really cool as well. They are neighbors/friends of the Joseph family. We are also teaching a few other younger people. That's one of the sad things about Haitians is the lack of good solid families. The parents will love you to teach the kids, but mostly just as a babysitting deal. They are just trying to get rid of the responsibility to raise their own children. It's not very often that you find parents who are interested themselves, or who are at least willing to give their kids rides to church. But it just makes those families that much more special.
We have some other exciting things coming up in the near future. We found out that the new Haitian missionaries will be coming in August. It is strange to think about the four older missionaries going home. It's only a few months away and then I will be one of the oldest. That is pretty much the low down on all the happenings here in the Florida Tampa mission. Things are going great. I'm keeping busy (as are you). I hope all is going well at home. I'll talk to you Sunday. It will probably be after church for you guys. But I may surprise you and call at 7 am MDT. Our church starts at 11 am EST.
Love,
Elder Larson
Things here in Naples are moving forward. Yesterday at church we had about 36 people in all, which is a pretty good number for us. The primary room where we meet was pretty much full. We also had four investigators at church. One of them is named Lunique. She is a really awesome lady, about 30 years old. She has been progressing fairly well. Her biggest problem is her boyfriend, whom she lives with. We are planning on having a lesson with our Relief Society president and her husband who went through a similar situation when the husband was investigating the church. It should be really good. The other investigators that were at church were the Joseph family. They are a family that we're really excited about. The mom is a niece of a member and was a judge in Haiti with one of our strongest members (Brother Marc). The mom wasn't able to come to church but the dad and the three kids were (the youngest is 5 so technically he doesn't count as an investigator). They all had a really good time at church and things are looking good. We are planning on having a lesson with them on Friday with Brother Marc. We have some other really good investigators right now as well. We are teaching a young boy named Raynald who has a date to be baptized in June. We have pretty much stopped teaching the young girl that we were teaching that had a baptismal date. This week we also started teaching another family. This one seems really cool as well. They are neighbors/friends of the Joseph family. We are also teaching a few other younger people. That's one of the sad things about Haitians is the lack of good solid families. The parents will love you to teach the kids, but mostly just as a babysitting deal. They are just trying to get rid of the responsibility to raise their own children. It's not very often that you find parents who are interested themselves, or who are at least willing to give their kids rides to church. But it just makes those families that much more special.
We have some other exciting things coming up in the near future. We found out that the new Haitian missionaries will be coming in August. It is strange to think about the four older missionaries going home. It's only a few months away and then I will be one of the oldest. That is pretty much the low down on all the happenings here in the Florida Tampa mission. Things are going great. I'm keeping busy (as are you). I hope all is going well at home. I'll talk to you Sunday. It will probably be after church for you guys. But I may surprise you and call at 7 am MDT. Our church starts at 11 am EST.
Love,
Elder Larson
April 27, 2009
Email of Apr. 27, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
This past week was really good. The work is going great and I'm starting to really like Naples. One of the biggest differences between Naples and Fort Myers is that we have a senior couple here. They help us a lot. In fact they go with us to most all of our lessons and they give us rides occasionally too. This past week was their last week here. It is going to be a lot different trying to do the work without them. This branch is sure going to miss them. But you may get a call from them in the next couple weeks to tell you how bad of a missionary I am. Last night (Sunday) we had a surprise party for them. It went really good and we ended up with most of the leftovers too, so that was good.
This week there has also been a pretty big wildfire just to the east of us. It shut down the freeway to Miami and has been blowing smoke and ash over us for the past few days.
This week we used the Sumps (the departing senior couple) as much as we could. We have quite a few investigators right now and so we were able to teach a lot. A lot of our investigators are younger and it makes it harder for them to come to church. That is going to be one of our biggest challenges. Either getting their parents to step up and take them or organizing rides for them all. Another common theme with a lot of our investigators is that they all seem to know members. Which is crazy since we didn't find them through members they were all our contacts. A good example of both of these is a boy named Isaiah D'Haiti. He is about 13 and I think he has the coolest name ever. He lives with his dad on weekdays but on the weekends he lives with his mom in an apartment complex that closer to the church. So we got his number from him for his mom's house, but when we put it into the phone the next day it came up as a member in the branch. So we came to find out that he knows a few members already. Also we are teaching a girl (Bethie) who is cousins of some members in Immokalee. Then we are teaching a really cool family. We met the kids while we were out tracting. They were playing soccer in a cul-de-sac. When we came back the next day to meet the parents we found out that the mom is a niece of a member and that she was a judge in Haiti with the counselor in the branch presidency. We're really excited about all of those people. Right now two of them have dates to be baptized in May. May is going to be a really good month. We hopefully will have a baptism or two (which this branch really needs), we are going to have a bi-branch (maybe tri) Haitian flag-day party in Immokalee on the 16th and 5 of the 8 Haitian missionaries birthdays are within a couple weeks of each other.
While we're on the subject of birthdays, if you send me anything I would appreciate greatly if you could find some of my french stuff for me. I don't know how packed up it is. But I would just like the laminated fold outs that have all kinds of basic stuff on them, and maybe a dictionary. If you can't find them it's ok. Also, I still like to know where Dad served on his mission. Thank you so much for all you do for me. I really appreciate your weekly e-mails. Oh, and I got the letter this week too. I loved all of the letters/pictures. I hope all is well and I will talk to you on the 10th.
Love,
Elder Larson
This past week was really good. The work is going great and I'm starting to really like Naples. One of the biggest differences between Naples and Fort Myers is that we have a senior couple here. They help us a lot. In fact they go with us to most all of our lessons and they give us rides occasionally too. This past week was their last week here. It is going to be a lot different trying to do the work without them. This branch is sure going to miss them. But you may get a call from them in the next couple weeks to tell you how bad of a missionary I am. Last night (Sunday) we had a surprise party for them. It went really good and we ended up with most of the leftovers too, so that was good.
This week there has also been a pretty big wildfire just to the east of us. It shut down the freeway to Miami and has been blowing smoke and ash over us for the past few days.
This week we used the Sumps (the departing senior couple) as much as we could. We have quite a few investigators right now and so we were able to teach a lot. A lot of our investigators are younger and it makes it harder for them to come to church. That is going to be one of our biggest challenges. Either getting their parents to step up and take them or organizing rides for them all. Another common theme with a lot of our investigators is that they all seem to know members. Which is crazy since we didn't find them through members they were all our contacts. A good example of both of these is a boy named Isaiah D'Haiti. He is about 13 and I think he has the coolest name ever. He lives with his dad on weekdays but on the weekends he lives with his mom in an apartment complex that closer to the church. So we got his number from him for his mom's house, but when we put it into the phone the next day it came up as a member in the branch. So we came to find out that he knows a few members already. Also we are teaching a girl (Bethie) who is cousins of some members in Immokalee. Then we are teaching a really cool family. We met the kids while we were out tracting. They were playing soccer in a cul-de-sac. When we came back the next day to meet the parents we found out that the mom is a niece of a member and that she was a judge in Haiti with the counselor in the branch presidency. We're really excited about all of those people. Right now two of them have dates to be baptized in May. May is going to be a really good month. We hopefully will have a baptism or two (which this branch really needs), we are going to have a bi-branch (maybe tri) Haitian flag-day party in Immokalee on the 16th and 5 of the 8 Haitian missionaries birthdays are within a couple weeks of each other.
While we're on the subject of birthdays, if you send me anything I would appreciate greatly if you could find some of my french stuff for me. I don't know how packed up it is. But I would just like the laminated fold outs that have all kinds of basic stuff on them, and maybe a dictionary. If you can't find them it's ok. Also, I still like to know where Dad served on his mission. Thank you so much for all you do for me. I really appreciate your weekly e-mails. Oh, and I got the letter this week too. I loved all of the letters/pictures. I hope all is well and I will talk to you on the 10th.
Love,
Elder Larson
April 20, 2009
Email of Apr. 20,2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
Thanks for your last e-mail. It sounds things are super busy. Dad is up to tons of scout stuff, and Mom is busy with school and all the guests. I'm glad to find out that Oleyna and Natauni are married or soon to be. It's good to hear about things like that sooner rather than later(hint hint).
Things here in Naples are pretty good. Naples is kinda closer to the ocean, but we actually live in a area called Golden Gate that's probably about the same distance from the ocean as Fort Myers. Naples, Fort Myers , and Immokalee are all about 30 minutes from each other, so Haitian missionaries don't ever go very far. In fact, today we are going to Fort Myers for a zone P-day. The branch in Naples (Celeste) is about a third the size of Providence but there are some really good members. One of the strongest families here (the Marcs) just went to the Temple and were sealed. They had a really good experience and I was pretty jealous. My companion is really cool. He has been out for about 19 months now. A lot of that time has been here in Naples. He reminds me a lot of Edward. He likes video games a lot too. Right now we are teaching a few people. One of our biggest obstacles here is that the area we are working in is about 13 miles away from our house and almost that far from the church. It uses up a lot of our time when we have to ride our bikes down there and it's an even bigger problem getting people to come to church. One of our strongest investigators is a girl named Manushka. She has a date to be baptized but she hasn't come to church yet because her parents aren't really willing to drive her. But we've started working with them and hopefully they can start progressing. We may have to get her rides with some of our other investigators that live down there.
Sorry I don't have too much to say this week, The time limits at the library here are a little shorter so I'm being rushed. I hope I answered your questions. Dad if you could, I really would like to know what cities you served in on your mission. I hope everything is going well. Once again, sorry for the rushed e-mail. I will try to make up for it next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
- Show quoted text -
Thanks for your last e-mail. It sounds things are super busy. Dad is up to tons of scout stuff, and Mom is busy with school and all the guests. I'm glad to find out that Oleyna and Natauni are married or soon to be. It's good to hear about things like that sooner rather than later(hint hint).
Things here in Naples are pretty good. Naples is kinda closer to the ocean, but we actually live in a area called Golden Gate that's probably about the same distance from the ocean as Fort Myers. Naples, Fort Myers , and Immokalee are all about 30 minutes from each other, so Haitian missionaries don't ever go very far. In fact, today we are going to Fort Myers for a zone P-day. The branch in Naples (Celeste) is about a third the size of Providence but there are some really good members. One of the strongest families here (the Marcs) just went to the Temple and were sealed. They had a really good experience and I was pretty jealous. My companion is really cool. He has been out for about 19 months now. A lot of that time has been here in Naples. He reminds me a lot of Edward. He likes video games a lot too. Right now we are teaching a few people. One of our biggest obstacles here is that the area we are working in is about 13 miles away from our house and almost that far from the church. It uses up a lot of our time when we have to ride our bikes down there and it's an even bigger problem getting people to come to church. One of our strongest investigators is a girl named Manushka. She has a date to be baptized but she hasn't come to church yet because her parents aren't really willing to drive her. But we've started working with them and hopefully they can start progressing. We may have to get her rides with some of our other investigators that live down there.
Sorry I don't have too much to say this week, The time limits at the library here are a little shorter so I'm being rushed. I hope I answered your questions. Dad if you could, I really would like to know what cities you served in on your mission. I hope everything is going well. Once again, sorry for the rushed e-mail. I will try to make up for it next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
- Show quoted text -
April 13, 2009
New Address
I forgot to give you my new address. If you want to send me anything directly use this one. I'll probably be there for a while (7 1/2 months?):
5455 16th Place SW
Naples, FL 34116
5455 16th Place SW
Naples, FL 34116
Email of Apr. 13, 2009
Dear Family,
Thank you so much for your e-mail. It always brightens my day to hear how everyone is doing. This past week was a really good one. We taught a lot and met a lot of new people. I also found out that I am going to Naples. I’m way excited. It will be hard to leave Fort Myers though. We have a lot of really solid investigators right now. We have six people who have a baptismal date and others who are really close. The branch is also doing really well, and we just started Thursday night basketball. But even though I’ll be missing out on all that, Naples has a lot to look forward to. I’ll be serving with Elder Jones. He is a really good missionary who has been out for about 18 months. Naples has a senior couple who will be able to sew my pants and give us rides until they go home in a couple weeks. One of the families we are teaching here might be following me down to Naples. Naples also has a really awesome family who is going to the temple this week. So, lots of things to look forward to. Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting. My companion was kind enough to let the branch president know that I was leaving and suggested that I speak. I was more than happy to speak. It just so happened that, because of Easter there was an unusually high number of people there. But I was lucky enough to be able to speak on the Atonement. I am so grateful for the opportunity to share my testimony of the Savior with other people, especially the Haitian people. The longer I serve the more I know that my call was inspired and that this is where I am supposed to be. To answer some of your questions: I was able to baptize Peter, E. Valentine baptized Miara, and E. Tremblay baptized Girtha. I got a couple pictures from the wedding, I got one of the whole family at the luncheon standing in front of some Christmas trees and I also got one of all my nieces and nephews. Happy birthday to Ian by the way (a couple days a go) and Anthony (a couple weeks ago). There might have been some other pictures but that is all that I remember. I hope that this e-mail finds you well and that everyone had a happy Easter!
Love,
Elder Larson
Thank you so much for your e-mail. It always brightens my day to hear how everyone is doing. This past week was a really good one. We taught a lot and met a lot of new people. I also found out that I am going to Naples. I’m way excited. It will be hard to leave Fort Myers though. We have a lot of really solid investigators right now. We have six people who have a baptismal date and others who are really close. The branch is also doing really well, and we just started Thursday night basketball. But even though I’ll be missing out on all that, Naples has a lot to look forward to. I’ll be serving with Elder Jones. He is a really good missionary who has been out for about 18 months. Naples has a senior couple who will be able to sew my pants and give us rides until they go home in a couple weeks. One of the families we are teaching here might be following me down to Naples. Naples also has a really awesome family who is going to the temple this week. So, lots of things to look forward to. Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting. My companion was kind enough to let the branch president know that I was leaving and suggested that I speak. I was more than happy to speak. It just so happened that, because of Easter there was an unusually high number of people there. But I was lucky enough to be able to speak on the Atonement. I am so grateful for the opportunity to share my testimony of the Savior with other people, especially the Haitian people. The longer I serve the more I know that my call was inspired and that this is where I am supposed to be. To answer some of your questions: I was able to baptize Peter, E. Valentine baptized Miara, and E. Tremblay baptized Girtha. I got a couple pictures from the wedding, I got one of the whole family at the luncheon standing in front of some Christmas trees and I also got one of all my nieces and nephews. Happy birthday to Ian by the way (a couple days a go) and Anthony (a couple weeks ago). There might have been some other pictures but that is all that I remember. I hope that this e-mail finds you well and that everyone had a happy Easter!
Love,
Elder Larson
April 6, 2009
General Conf. Weekend email Apr. 5,2009
Dear Family,
Conference really was a spiritual feast. It was great to receive such needed and specific instruction from the leaders of the church. One of my favorite talks was President Uchtdorf's from the Priesthood session. I was really impressed when he said "this isn't someone's best guess about ancient scripture, this is the truth of God revealed to his holy prophets." This conference was a reaffirmation of that fact for me. We were able to watch all of the sessions of conference in the chapel. There weren't too many people there, but we did have quite a few investigators come to multiple sessions.
Speaking of our investigators, this week we saw a lot of progress with them. We are still teaching Girtha's cousin Richard Lajoie. He is progressing pretty well and now has a date for the 26th. We gave him the date in the baptismal font with Girtha and I thought it would be a little awkward but the Spirit was strong and he accepted without hesitation. We are excited for him but he is still in the process of moving to Fort Myers and may be living in Lehigh which is the other Elder's area. He says he should be settled here by the end of this week but we may have to turn him over to the other missionaries. Our other main investigators is a family of five made up of a mother (Ida) and four of her five kids (Chirlinda, Natasha, Charlie, and Jonathan) that live with her. They are all very solid and have accepted soft commits for baptism but not yet a date. All four of the kids came to at least two sessions of conference. The mom wasn't able to make it because of work. We are also teaching the kids Kreyol. It will be great for them to be able to communicate better with their mom. We are working with a few other people as well. One, named Winson has been attending church for about a year, but wasn't able to be baptized along with his three cousins last summer. He is working toward baptism and we're excited for that. We are also trying to start teaching some of the kids who have been coming for basketball. We'll see where that goes.
This week we also had a competition with the zone leaders to see who could get the best numbers. It probably wasn't the best thing because it made us focus on numbers more, but President Colton was all for it and we got free frozen custard out of it. That's about all that I can think of to tell you for now, everything is going great here. I'm not excited to find out about transfers this weekend because it will probably mean I'm leaving Fort Myers. But I know that where ever I go is the place that I need to be. I hope everything is going well at home. Tell everyone hi from me.
Love,
Elder Larson
Conference really was a spiritual feast. It was great to receive such needed and specific instruction from the leaders of the church. One of my favorite talks was President Uchtdorf's from the Priesthood session. I was really impressed when he said "this isn't someone's best guess about ancient scripture, this is the truth of God revealed to his holy prophets." This conference was a reaffirmation of that fact for me. We were able to watch all of the sessions of conference in the chapel. There weren't too many people there, but we did have quite a few investigators come to multiple sessions.
Speaking of our investigators, this week we saw a lot of progress with them. We are still teaching Girtha's cousin Richard Lajoie. He is progressing pretty well and now has a date for the 26th. We gave him the date in the baptismal font with Girtha and I thought it would be a little awkward but the Spirit was strong and he accepted without hesitation. We are excited for him but he is still in the process of moving to Fort Myers and may be living in Lehigh which is the other Elder's area. He says he should be settled here by the end of this week but we may have to turn him over to the other missionaries. Our other main investigators is a family of five made up of a mother (Ida) and four of her five kids (Chirlinda, Natasha, Charlie, and Jonathan) that live with her. They are all very solid and have accepted soft commits for baptism but not yet a date. All four of the kids came to at least two sessions of conference. The mom wasn't able to make it because of work. We are also teaching the kids Kreyol. It will be great for them to be able to communicate better with their mom. We are working with a few other people as well. One, named Winson has been attending church for about a year, but wasn't able to be baptized along with his three cousins last summer. He is working toward baptism and we're excited for that. We are also trying to start teaching some of the kids who have been coming for basketball. We'll see where that goes.
This week we also had a competition with the zone leaders to see who could get the best numbers. It probably wasn't the best thing because it made us focus on numbers more, but President Colton was all for it and we got free frozen custard out of it. That's about all that I can think of to tell you for now, everything is going great here. I'm not excited to find out about transfers this weekend because it will probably mean I'm leaving Fort Myers. But I know that where ever I go is the place that I need to be. I hope everything is going well at home. Tell everyone hi from me.
Love,
Elder Larson
March 23, 2009
Email March 23, 2009
Dear Family,
This past week was an exciting one. We are still in a mostly-finding mode right now. We're never not in a finding mode but it's been more finding than any thing else for a while. It looks like we might need to be doing even more in the coming weeks if our investigators don't start progressing. We have a lot of potential investigators but none of them are real willing to progress. But this week we found some newer places to tract. It is a huge apartment complex that we didn't think we would be able to find any Haitians at, but our first day we found two. Which wasn't too good, but better than I expected. Hopefully we'll be able to find more.But I know that even if we don't find too many, that when we are willing to go out and search for them we will be blessed with people to teach, even if they come in other ways. This week I also had the opportunity to go on my first exchange outside of Ft. Myers. I was in Immokalee from Wednesday to Friday. It was a really good experience. Immokalee is an awesome town. It reminds me a lot of Blanding. If you made Blanding about three times bigger, added a lot of plant life, and turned all of the people into Spanish and Haitian people you would have Immokalee. Immokalee has one branch that is combined Spanish and Kreyol. The whole Haitian group is made up of around 30 youth and a couple inactive adults. It makes things pretty interesting but everyone says that the youth are the best part of serving there. Yesterday we had branch conference. It went really good. The stake was all there and taught most of the classes. We got new young womens, young mens, primary and elders quorum presidencies. They are bringing in a lot of help from outside the branch which should be really good, especially for the youth, a lot of which don't really have good home lives of good role models to look up to. Also, yesterday our branch president told us he is going to ask our President Colton permission for us to start a basketball night with a few of our investigators and their friends. There is a bunch of kids who used to come every Wednesday and play but it got too big and too crazy since it was at the same time as mutual. So he wants to keep those kids coming to the church but not at the same time (mostly to keep them away from the young women). We are hoping that will go through. It would be a great for us to find people and it would be funner than tracting. It's something that we had already been thinking about so we were happy when he suggested it. Also, while we're one the topic of sports, today we are going to a Red Sox spring training game if it doesn't get rained out. I'll send you pictures. Well, it sounds like you had a fun time on your road-trip. But, I bet that you're glad to be back at home. I hope you had a little time to relax before getting back to work. Thanks so much for you e-mail. I always love to hear from you. I hope all is well at home. You are always in my prayers.
Love,
Elder Larson
This past week was an exciting one. We are still in a mostly-finding mode right now. We're never not in a finding mode but it's been more finding than any thing else for a while. It looks like we might need to be doing even more in the coming weeks if our investigators don't start progressing. We have a lot of potential investigators but none of them are real willing to progress. But this week we found some newer places to tract. It is a huge apartment complex that we didn't think we would be able to find any Haitians at, but our first day we found two. Which wasn't too good, but better than I expected. Hopefully we'll be able to find more.But I know that even if we don't find too many, that when we are willing to go out and search for them we will be blessed with people to teach, even if they come in other ways. This week I also had the opportunity to go on my first exchange outside of Ft. Myers. I was in Immokalee from Wednesday to Friday. It was a really good experience. Immokalee is an awesome town. It reminds me a lot of Blanding. If you made Blanding about three times bigger, added a lot of plant life, and turned all of the people into Spanish and Haitian people you would have Immokalee. Immokalee has one branch that is combined Spanish and Kreyol. The whole Haitian group is made up of around 30 youth and a couple inactive adults. It makes things pretty interesting but everyone says that the youth are the best part of serving there. Yesterday we had branch conference. It went really good. The stake was all there and taught most of the classes. We got new young womens, young mens, primary and elders quorum presidencies. They are bringing in a lot of help from outside the branch which should be really good, especially for the youth, a lot of which don't really have good home lives of good role models to look up to. Also, yesterday our branch president told us he is going to ask our President Colton permission for us to start a basketball night with a few of our investigators and their friends. There is a bunch of kids who used to come every Wednesday and play but it got too big and too crazy since it was at the same time as mutual. So he wants to keep those kids coming to the church but not at the same time (mostly to keep them away from the young women). We are hoping that will go through. It would be a great for us to find people and it would be funner than tracting. It's something that we had already been thinking about so we were happy when he suggested it. Also, while we're one the topic of sports, today we are going to a Red Sox spring training game if it doesn't get rained out. I'll send you pictures. Well, it sounds like you had a fun time on your road-trip. But, I bet that you're glad to be back at home. I hope you had a little time to relax before getting back to work. Thanks so much for you e-mail. I always love to hear from you. I hope all is well at home. You are always in my prayers.
Love,
Elder Larson
March 19, 2009
Email of March 16, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
How was your trip? Amelia sent me an e-mail to let me know that you would be on your spring-break excursion and that I wouldn't be getting an e-mail directly from you. But I'm sure that you are having lots of fun with all of the kids and grandkids. Things here are going pretty well. This Saturday Peter and Miara were baptized. It was a really good service although I think a lot of the members couldn't handle two baptisms in a row. We didn't have too many people there. But there were a few kids that were about their same age and they had some good family there. Those two kids are awesome. They are honestly probably smarter than some of our members. I just worry about them a little because their parents aren't members they don't have too much support. But they do have five cousins that are all strong members and close to their same age. I just wish that at least one of those seven kids' parents would be a good influence for them. But even with that situation I am really excited for them. That was probably the most exciting thing that happened this week. The rest of the week was spent trying to find new people to teach. Our teaching pool is pretty dry right now. We have a few investigators but none of them are really progressing. We've been trying to work with the members a lot to get some referrals. But not too much success so far. So for the next little while we will be doing some good quality finding. This coming week should be really good. I'm going to be going on an exchange for a couple days so I won't be able to do too much here, but it will be nice to do some work outside of Ft. Myers. It'll be my first exchange where I actually leave. That's pretty much the happenings here in Fort Myers. I can't wait to get your letter this week. I hope you have fun on your trip and say hi to everyone from me!
Love,
Elder Larson
How was your trip? Amelia sent me an e-mail to let me know that you would be on your spring-break excursion and that I wouldn't be getting an e-mail directly from you. But I'm sure that you are having lots of fun with all of the kids and grandkids. Things here are going pretty well. This Saturday Peter and Miara were baptized. It was a really good service although I think a lot of the members couldn't handle two baptisms in a row. We didn't have too many people there. But there were a few kids that were about their same age and they had some good family there. Those two kids are awesome. They are honestly probably smarter than some of our members. I just worry about them a little because their parents aren't members they don't have too much support. But they do have five cousins that are all strong members and close to their same age. I just wish that at least one of those seven kids' parents would be a good influence for them. But even with that situation I am really excited for them. That was probably the most exciting thing that happened this week. The rest of the week was spent trying to find new people to teach. Our teaching pool is pretty dry right now. We have a few investigators but none of them are really progressing. We've been trying to work with the members a lot to get some referrals. But not too much success so far. So for the next little while we will be doing some good quality finding. This coming week should be really good. I'm going to be going on an exchange for a couple days so I won't be able to do too much here, but it will be nice to do some work outside of Ft. Myers. It'll be my first exchange where I actually leave. That's pretty much the happenings here in Fort Myers. I can't wait to get your letter this week. I hope you have fun on your trip and say hi to everyone from me!
Love,
Elder Larson
March 9, 2009
Email of March 9, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
Well, it sure sounds like everyone is keeping busy. I got an e-mail from Katie and it had a similar theme. It seems like there is so much going on! Down here in Florida things are moving at a pretty good pace as well. First things first, we had a very good baptism on Saturday. There were two people baptized. Both companionships had one investigator. Girtha (that's apparently how you spell her name even though you say it like "ji-er-ta") was super excited and I was glad that it went so well for her. The other person was a father from a part member family. His wife and two sons are really solid and so it was nice to finally have that final piece of the puzzle. Hopefully they will be able to go to the temple in a year. His wife also gave a really good talk at the baptism. Girtha had a few friends that were there. Including her in-active friend that introduced her to the missionaries. There was also some pretty good member support. We had the one talk by Sè Roselie and then the baptism. After which Myself and Elder Valentine gave a presentation on the Restoration. Then we had a welcome by the Branch President. He gave both of them a triple, a Bible, and a copy of Preach my Gospel. Then a member of the Relief Society Presidency gave a welcome specifically to Girtha. It was a really good service and the Spirit was really strong. Then, afterwards, we had a big Haitian feast. I'll be sending pictures as soon as I print some off. Then Sunday we had her confirmation in Sacrament meeting. It was really good. I was also pretty relieved that she got there on time with the time change. Other than the baptism, the most exciting thing that happened this week was with our other main investigator. His name is Claude and he is 20. He is friends with some recent converts and is really solid. He is a smart kid and asks all the right questions. I would describe him as an honest seeker of truth. But this week we went to his house to teach a lesson and his mom was there. She basically told us that she didn't want us to teach him any more because she is really involved in her church. Claude still wants us to teach him though and we are going to be trying to work that situation out this coming week. Hopefully we can talk to the Mom again this week and get her to take a tour of the church with us. So we should be having a busy week. Thank you so much for your e-mail. It's great to hear all of the exciting things that are happening at home. I wish I had more time to describe all of the exciting things that are happening here! I hope everything is going well at home. I love you and keep you in my prayers!
Love,
Elder Larson
Well, it sure sounds like everyone is keeping busy. I got an e-mail from Katie and it had a similar theme. It seems like there is so much going on! Down here in Florida things are moving at a pretty good pace as well. First things first, we had a very good baptism on Saturday. There were two people baptized. Both companionships had one investigator. Girtha (that's apparently how you spell her name even though you say it like "ji-er-ta") was super excited and I was glad that it went so well for her. The other person was a father from a part member family. His wife and two sons are really solid and so it was nice to finally have that final piece of the puzzle. Hopefully they will be able to go to the temple in a year. His wife also gave a really good talk at the baptism. Girtha had a few friends that were there. Including her in-active friend that introduced her to the missionaries. There was also some pretty good member support. We had the one talk by Sè Roselie and then the baptism. After which Myself and Elder Valentine gave a presentation on the Restoration. Then we had a welcome by the Branch President. He gave both of them a triple, a Bible, and a copy of Preach my Gospel. Then a member of the Relief Society Presidency gave a welcome specifically to Girtha. It was a really good service and the Spirit was really strong. Then, afterwards, we had a big Haitian feast. I'll be sending pictures as soon as I print some off. Then Sunday we had her confirmation in Sacrament meeting. It was really good. I was also pretty relieved that she got there on time with the time change. Other than the baptism, the most exciting thing that happened this week was with our other main investigator. His name is Claude and he is 20. He is friends with some recent converts and is really solid. He is a smart kid and asks all the right questions. I would describe him as an honest seeker of truth. But this week we went to his house to teach a lesson and his mom was there. She basically told us that she didn't want us to teach him any more because she is really involved in her church. Claude still wants us to teach him though and we are going to be trying to work that situation out this coming week. Hopefully we can talk to the Mom again this week and get her to take a tour of the church with us. So we should be having a busy week. Thank you so much for your e-mail. It's great to hear all of the exciting things that are happening at home. I wish I had more time to describe all of the exciting things that are happening here! I hope everything is going well at home. I love you and keep you in my prayers!
Love,
Elder Larson
March 2, 2009
Email of March 2, 2009
Dear Family,
I can't believe that it is March either! I'm not excited for things to start getting hot again. But I know it will come no matter what. There have already been signs of the coming seasons. It sounds like things at home are going splendidly. Although I was sad to hear that Brother (Larry) Miller had died.
Things here are going fairly well too. This weekend we had stake conference. Elder Devin J Cornish of the Seventy presided. There was a pretty good turnout even among the Haitians. I was able to attend the adult session as well as the general session. We had a few investigators come. Elder Cornish did something that I was really grateful for. He talked specifically to all of the investigators who were there and then made all of the converts who were there raise their hands. About half of the people present raised their hands. It was quite a sight. I know it would have been comforting to me if I were an investigator. Giertan was there with her daughter and also her friend. Her friend just moved here from Miami and is staying with Giertan for a while. She has studied with the missionaries in Miami and even had her copy of the Book of Mormon with her. She told us she wanted to get baptized too. I hope that she can continue progressing along with Giertan. The baptism is still looking good for this Saturday. I'm a little worried because we haven't finished teaching her all of the lessons which I usually like to do at least a week before a baptism so we can go back and review everything. But I think that she should be just fine. She is really excited and so are we. She really loves the church and has grown attached to us. She even calls us her sons. I don't mind if it means she keeps feeding us. I just hope she has developed a strong enough friendship with all of the members.
Also this week we started teaching a 20 year old kid named Claude. He is a friend/neighbor of some members and is a really cool kid. He came to the Adult session of conference and I think it was probably a little boring for him. They talked a lot about things that he probably didn't really understand; things like tithing and the temple were discussed a lot. We tried to help him understand some of the things discussed. I'm also pretty excited to teach him because he and his friends love to play flag football. We might be playing with them later today. Some of them are the same ones we put to shame in basketball a few months ago so it should be fun. Everything else is going really good. The branch is still going solid and a lot of our members are still really looking to be a ward by the end of the year. I think it may be possible and I hope with all of my heart that we can do that.
This week is also transfers and the Haitians (missionaries) are all staying the same. We tend to have transfers every other transfer. But, that is all the news that I have for you this week. I hope that everything is going good at home. I love you and I pray for you.
Sete,
Elder Larson
I can't believe that it is March either! I'm not excited for things to start getting hot again. But I know it will come no matter what. There have already been signs of the coming seasons. It sounds like things at home are going splendidly. Although I was sad to hear that Brother (Larry) Miller had died.
Things here are going fairly well too. This weekend we had stake conference. Elder Devin J Cornish of the Seventy presided. There was a pretty good turnout even among the Haitians. I was able to attend the adult session as well as the general session. We had a few investigators come. Elder Cornish did something that I was really grateful for. He talked specifically to all of the investigators who were there and then made all of the converts who were there raise their hands. About half of the people present raised their hands. It was quite a sight. I know it would have been comforting to me if I were an investigator. Giertan was there with her daughter and also her friend. Her friend just moved here from Miami and is staying with Giertan for a while. She has studied with the missionaries in Miami and even had her copy of the Book of Mormon with her. She told us she wanted to get baptized too. I hope that she can continue progressing along with Giertan. The baptism is still looking good for this Saturday. I'm a little worried because we haven't finished teaching her all of the lessons which I usually like to do at least a week before a baptism so we can go back and review everything. But I think that she should be just fine. She is really excited and so are we. She really loves the church and has grown attached to us. She even calls us her sons. I don't mind if it means she keeps feeding us. I just hope she has developed a strong enough friendship with all of the members.
Also this week we started teaching a 20 year old kid named Claude. He is a friend/neighbor of some members and is a really cool kid. He came to the Adult session of conference and I think it was probably a little boring for him. They talked a lot about things that he probably didn't really understand; things like tithing and the temple were discussed a lot. We tried to help him understand some of the things discussed. I'm also pretty excited to teach him because he and his friends love to play flag football. We might be playing with them later today. Some of them are the same ones we put to shame in basketball a few months ago so it should be fun. Everything else is going really good. The branch is still going solid and a lot of our members are still really looking to be a ward by the end of the year. I think it may be possible and I hope with all of my heart that we can do that.
This week is also transfers and the Haitians (missionaries) are all staying the same. We tend to have transfers every other transfer. But, that is all the news that I have for you this week. I hope that everything is going good at home. I love you and I pray for you.
Sete,
Elder Larson
February 23, 2009
Email of Feb. 23, 2009
Dear Family,
It feels like I just wrote to you! I hope I have something worthwhile to say. I was really excited to hear about Michael. It will just solidify my position as favorite uncle to be the only single one. It sounds like everyone else is keeping busy as well. To answer all of your questions real quick: The weather is beautiful, I will be able to go to the Orlando Temple at least once right before I go home and maybe before then if someone I have taught goes for the first time, and we haven’t been doing the radio show since about when we got a new branch presidency.
The work is going great here. Our main investigator is doing really well. She has been to church three times now and seems to feel really comfortable with the Relief Society sisters. She is still looking good for the seventh of March. We are still teaching a man named Jilbert, who is the husband of a recent convert. He’s a really cool guy and loves the church he just is really hard to have lessons with because of his schedule. We’ve had to develop some patience and try to find times and different ways to have lessons with him. Everything else is going pretty well here. I’m not looking forward to the warmer weather which has started to show signs that it’s coming. I hope that everything is going well at home; I love you and can’t wait to hear from you again next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
It feels like I just wrote to you! I hope I have something worthwhile to say. I was really excited to hear about Michael. It will just solidify my position as favorite uncle to be the only single one. It sounds like everyone else is keeping busy as well. To answer all of your questions real quick: The weather is beautiful, I will be able to go to the Orlando Temple at least once right before I go home and maybe before then if someone I have taught goes for the first time, and we haven’t been doing the radio show since about when we got a new branch presidency.
The work is going great here. Our main investigator is doing really well. She has been to church three times now and seems to feel really comfortable with the Relief Society sisters. She is still looking good for the seventh of March. We are still teaching a man named Jilbert, who is the husband of a recent convert. He’s a really cool guy and loves the church he just is really hard to have lessons with because of his schedule. We’ve had to develop some patience and try to find times and different ways to have lessons with him. Everything else is going pretty well here. I’m not looking forward to the warmer weather which has started to show signs that it’s coming. I hope that everything is going well at home; I love you and can’t wait to hear from you again next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
February 18, 2009
Email Feb. 18, 2009
Dear Family,
I guess I couldn't surprise you again with an early e-mail so a late one will have to do. We had interviews yesterday and so President asked us to wait until today to have our P-day. It sounds like things are going fairly well at home. Spenser e-mailed me and told me about his call, I'm really excited for him. I didn't know Kevin Christensen ever went back to Armenia but that reminds me of a story I don't think I ever told you. My last week in the MTC I was sitting outside talking with one of our teachers and Kevin walked by. He had just got back and was there for something. It's also pretty exciting to hear about USU b-ball. Things here continue to go well. Our investigators are doing pretty well. Last week, I think I told you about the three people who we had just started teaching who were really solid. One of them just moved back to Miami and we have pretty much stopped teaching President Preval's advisor. But the third person, who's name is Giertan, is doing really good. She has now been to church twice and has a baptismal date for the 7th of March. She loves the church and has started to make some friends. The other day we went to help one of our members move and she was there. She is looking really good. She's even planning on feeding us tonight. This past week was our mission tour by Elder Craig Zwick. It was such a great experience and made me miss the MTC and all of the General Authorities that were always there. He told us about the Thursday temple meeting from the week before. He said that President Monson talked a lot about missionary work especially as related to members. He told us that there were only two of the seventy that were leaving on Mission tours so it was very interesting to him that President Monson chose to speak on that subject. He focused most of his training on a story of when his company was renovating the Manti Temple. He talked about the dry rot they found in the main supports holding the roof. He related that to the things in our lives that can be dry rot to us. It was really good and made me want to strive harder to be more focused on the work. He also told us a story about his talk from last conference and about the first time he met President Packer. He said he that President Packer asked him to help save a bridge he had on his property and while he was there President Packer showed him a pond that he has on his property and told him that that is where he goes to think and connect with his divine source. He then asked Elder Zwick where his "pond" is. He challenged all of us to find our personal ponds where we can go in times of trouble. He suggested the pond of prayer. The conference was a really great experience and was a booster to my spirits. Today should be a good day. We are planning on going to the Red Sox stadium and walking around the field. I think the team is here in town. Then we have a dinner appointment with Giertan later. I hope that everything is good at home and I can't wait to hear from you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
I guess I couldn't surprise you again with an early e-mail so a late one will have to do. We had interviews yesterday and so President asked us to wait until today to have our P-day. It sounds like things are going fairly well at home. Spenser e-mailed me and told me about his call, I'm really excited for him. I didn't know Kevin Christensen ever went back to Armenia but that reminds me of a story I don't think I ever told you. My last week in the MTC I was sitting outside talking with one of our teachers and Kevin walked by. He had just got back and was there for something. It's also pretty exciting to hear about USU b-ball. Things here continue to go well. Our investigators are doing pretty well. Last week, I think I told you about the three people who we had just started teaching who were really solid. One of them just moved back to Miami and we have pretty much stopped teaching President Preval's advisor. But the third person, who's name is Giertan, is doing really good. She has now been to church twice and has a baptismal date for the 7th of March. She loves the church and has started to make some friends. The other day we went to help one of our members move and she was there. She is looking really good. She's even planning on feeding us tonight. This past week was our mission tour by Elder Craig Zwick. It was such a great experience and made me miss the MTC and all of the General Authorities that were always there. He told us about the Thursday temple meeting from the week before. He said that President Monson talked a lot about missionary work especially as related to members. He told us that there were only two of the seventy that were leaving on Mission tours so it was very interesting to him that President Monson chose to speak on that subject. He focused most of his training on a story of when his company was renovating the Manti Temple. He talked about the dry rot they found in the main supports holding the roof. He related that to the things in our lives that can be dry rot to us. It was really good and made me want to strive harder to be more focused on the work. He also told us a story about his talk from last conference and about the first time he met President Packer. He said he that President Packer asked him to help save a bridge he had on his property and while he was there President Packer showed him a pond that he has on his property and told him that that is where he goes to think and connect with his divine source. He then asked Elder Zwick where his "pond" is. He challenged all of us to find our personal ponds where we can go in times of trouble. He suggested the pond of prayer. The conference was a really great experience and was a booster to my spirits. Today should be a good day. We are planning on going to the Red Sox stadium and walking around the field. I think the team is here in town. Then we have a dinner appointment with Giertan later. I hope that everything is good at home and I can't wait to hear from you next week.
Love,
Elder Larson
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