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
August 24, 2009
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
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