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
March 23, 2009
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
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