Email of Jan. 5, 2009

Dear Mom and Dad,
Bon Ane! I can't believe that it is already 2009! It's gotten off to a pretty good start. We started the year off with a little branch activity at the church. We got together and ate soup joumou (pumpkin soup). Which is a traditional in Haitian culture to eat every premye janvye. It is supposed to bring good health if you start of the year by eating it. After we ate multiple bowls at the church we went to another member's house and ate a few more. It was pretty good and I am looking forward to some superb health this year. The work is going pretty good. We have started teaching Henri, who is Evelyne's husband. He is pretty interested in the church mostly because he wants to be unified with his wife and also for his kids. I'm excited for him and hope that he can continue to progress. We are also working a lot with Jean-Claude who is Peter and Miara's dad. We are waiting on the kids baptism to see where the parents will go. A lot of times Haitian Parents just want someone to take care of their kids but aren't really interested. So we are hoping to get the whole family coming to church before we baptize the kids. We are just trying to get Jean-Claude to understand that if he wants to receive an answer to his prayers he needs to show God that he has a sincere desire and come to church. Until he can do that I don't think he can really progress any further. Things here in Florida are going pretty well. Thanks for your e-mail and I hope to hear from you again soon.
Love,
Elder Larson