white but not cold- Dec 21, 2009

well it has been a couple of confusing days here in Sincelejo. Its a fun city here, but im having a hard time getting oriented because its so flat. it is not quite as hot as Cartagena or at least it doesnt feel like it. We were able to start the cambio off well with 4 confirmations in the zone and we have quite a few progressing for the next weeks. my compa´s name is elder Rojas and he is half peruvian half chilien. He is real skinny and walks fast ( i think that might be why he is so skinny). He has about 1 year in the mission and this is his 3rd cambio here in Sincelejo, so i have just basically following him around because i dont know where i am half of the time. My area is fun because they are alot of people to teach and alot of excersice to do (that means its big and also its about 15 mins walking from where we live). But when we are walking to the area we pass through the farmers market and they have TONS of fruits. For noche buena we are all going to buy water melons and they are going to be great! seeing for christmas we are going ot work like normal i thought it would be better if i called you in the night instead of in the morning so the phone call doesnt throw my spanish off for the day. So ill call you the 25th at 7ish or a 8ish, depends on when the other elderes in the house are gonna call. We are putting in the telephone line tommorrow so hopefully there wont be any problem with the call going out friday, i doubt there will but we are in colombia so just be aware. Im staying busy and happy because im doing the lords work where and how he wants it to be done.
love ya all and ill call ya christmas!!
Elder Larson

oh ps because we have super cool cheap phone cards every ring counts as a minute so answer the phone fast, that might not need be said but i thought that would add a fun competitve edge to who gets to answer first.

me voy de esta ciudad LOCA- Dec 15, 2009

hay cambios!! Im heading off to the city of Sincelejo in the deparment of Sucre. Its a districto and my compi here was there before and he is telling me it is the promised land. Its in the savannah of the coast so its really flat and its about an hour from the ocean. its going to be a little hotter because there wont be so much breeze but my compi tells me that there are TONS of fruit and they are all real cheap, you can buy a watermelon (yes we have fresh watermelon in december) for about a dollar.. so ill be drinking fresh watermelon juice alot ... enjoy your postum dad hahaha. Ill miss Cartagena a bit but not deathly. Its pretty and all in some parts but really ill just tell you now that im leaving that is the most dangerous city in Colombia at this point. So many robberies and jumpings everyday its not fun. About once a week i had to deal with something happing to the missionaries, people breaking into the houses, them getting robbed, and other things. I havent got robbed so dont worry im fine leaving here but im relieved that im getting out of here in one piece. Just a lot of stress being LZ here, but Sincelejo is more country and so maybe being LZ there ill be able to focus on the spiritual part of the misionareis and not just their lives. And dont worry im getting sent in PLANE to sincelejo, not because its really far, but because there is a fun mountain range in the middle where people who dont share the christmas cheer and wear camo live.
so i hope you have sensed my feelings of relief and happienss. i have learned alot here in Cartagena and ill always remeber it. When we come back it will be safe because none of the stuff im talking about happens in the tourist parts, just where we work! the mission is a GREAT experience to learn how to sacrifice and trust in the blessings that are coming.
Love you all,
Elder Larson

p.s. ill called christmas day at noon sharp
p.p.s. mom call my helper lady at USU and see what she says.

BAUTISMO- Dec. 7, 2009

yeahh we baptized Marco freulan de la cruz sanchez! it went really well and he was super happy. never have i had so many techinal problems such as church doors that wont open, water that doesnt come, and members who want to use the baptismal font for a primary activity but i dunked the guy and the Lord was with us. Also this week we have found 2 great familys which has been really uplifting. It seems like we could save cartagena from getting destroyed early after all.... oh wait all the people who are listening to us arent from cartagena... how ironic! really this city is SO gritty and dirty. The music here is really loud and vulgar (and the problem is that i understand it now) and the people aren’t in the mood to listen to two Mormons. But if i have learned anything here (and i have learned ALOT) it would really be how much the world values life and the real price of sin. You can see the weight the people carry in their faces and the price that they pay for years. You can hear in their tone of voice when they speak about what they do. and you can just feel it as you contact them that they are lost and want something but just dont want it from where they should. But they just live for the weekend like scared children and then try to forget it all drinking the weekend away (the weekend here starts thursday). And then monday they are back without money or hope because they are just where they were a week before. Obviously they all need to repent and me as well so that’s what im working for. There was a talk I read from Elder Maxwell in an old liahona that said something I really liked an it applys to Cartagena ¨the atonement is so wonderful because through repentance our tomorrows are not slaves to our yesterdays¨ that is what we all need to know.
but regardless of what they people here do im have really been blessed and happy in what i am doing. we are finding the pure in heart and we are purifiying ourselves while doing it. We had a good fast yesterday and the members are giving some refernces this week so that will be a good way to find some new people to teach. The baptism was really satisfying and again i am reminded of how much i really dont do in the conversion of someone and how grateful i am for the little part the lord does allow me to play. The devoncial was really super and very purifying to listen to the music. I love the steadiness o the prophet and the force of his simplicity. I feel a lot like the description of pte uchtdorf that we pass by and nobody really sees us, only those who really want can see the beauty of and the truth of what we carry. I am so thankful everyday for my testimony that the things that I say and teach are true and for all your testimonies which unite with my to bring happiness to a world that I didn’t know before my mission but know I know. And I know how much it needs what we have. True love and a light, the gospel of Jesus Christ
love you all
Elder Larson

a unfortunatly dry weekend

well we had a great baptism all planned for this past weekend but something always shows up. the baptismal fount does not hold water so saturday night when it was all filled up and we were al happy was a false sense of happieness because when we got there domingo in the morning there was NO water. so there was no baptism. kinda sad for our investigator (and for his missionaries) but we pumped him up for this weekend so we are going to get everything ready and if we have to we will baptize him in smelly canal behind the church! sounds like thanksgiving was a good time, and im glad that BYU socked it to the utes but im so far from that train of thought that when you said football game i thought you were talking about soccer and i didnt understand why a soccer game would be the highlight of novembre for the state of utah, then i realized i was mistaken and imagened all the football players playing soccer and it was funny. The zone is did really well this week in inviting people to get baptized so thats happy, also as a zone we did about 1150 contacts which is really good. so we are getting ourselves out of the hole that we were in and in about 4 weeks there should be a goodly number of baptisms but most likely by then ill get moved to another zone that needs fixing... such is life. so far my experience here in cartagena with the missionaries, the members and myself has helped me learn alot about some things that arent the most fun to learn about such as humilty, pride, the consequences of disobidience, what happens to members when they stop progressing, what happens to wards/stakes when their leaders arent living quite like they should, and the importance of peace of consience. im glad mom said that even my brevity says something because many times ive been applying the great rule of if you cant say something nice, dont say anything at all. But i have really learned what a great reasurrance it is to be personally worthy, to do your best, to keep working even when it looks like you arent getting any results, or peace of consience. that also helps to know that when you are doing all that you can and should to recieve blessing and you arent reciving them, just be pacient and the lord will send them your way when its time. But as i said im happy with myself, with my work, and with my diligence and i know the lord will bless me for what ive been doing here in this crazy city of cartagena.
i got the package you sent and i liked the pictures and the missionaries in the house liked the mike and ikes. i didnt open the presents dont worry but im not too entrigued because mom wrote what they were on the declaration of content thing haha. mom good luck on your plans to help our family to continue to progress and migrate towards the raising sun... if you know what i mean. thanks for all your prayers and support and keep being GREAT!!!!
love
Elder larson

Carnival Pictures

the first one is what most of the youths did for the week, put up road blocks and if they dont get money paint people. they would also do this to cars and if the car didnt pay they would paint it.
2- when the misoneros did to me when they didnt want to study more, im holding the list of activities that the assitentes gave us... all of them rather boring.
3- throwing someone in a puddle of some kind of liquid
4- recyclers who got around and take scrap material and then sell it
5- day four of carnival
6 a jeep that played music really loud and drove around the block 6 times also sold bannas

PICTURES

here are some pictures of the countryside between Cartagena and Barranquilla when i was traveling to the leaders conferencia

writing you all

well here i am writing you all again. A good week of work, we had a more succesful week of inviting people to prepare to get baptized each area invited more or less 6 people so we have 36 people working on getting baptized the 19th of the nextmonth. Umm i guess ill tell you more about my comp because matthew asked. He is a little guy from chile and a really good worker. He is the youngest in his family and a bit sensitive. He likes to talk at night which is not always good because i get tired. Last night he was talking and i feel asleep listening to him talking but then he woke me up 10 mins later to tell me he tought someone was trying to get into the house. Well i went grumpily out in the bit room with the bat we have to make sure everything was fine and when i came back i was still half a asleep and mad because he woke me up so i shook my finger and him and growling told him not to wake me up anymore because i just want to sleep and i dont care if there is anyone in the house. he just laughed as i went back to sleep. thanksgiving will be fun im sure, here ill eat more rice, but to tell the truth if you all wouldnt have said anything i woul have forgotten. this week is zone conferencia so that will be exctiing. Also this weekend we have a baptism of that peruvian who came to church by himself 4 weeks ago. He is awesome and we are excited to help him out to get his mansion started in the celestial kingdom. he has progressed really quickly, which might be due to the fact that his girlfriends back in peru is mormona and for christmas she wants a mormon boyfriend but HEY its all good. also this week we had an 2 exciting incidents that are better told at home stories but il tell you one because it didnt happen to me. Two elders were taking the bus back to the house and just as they got off 3 guys with knives got on and starting robbing the bus and as when the got off the bus started to chase them (all the while full of people who were all game to chase them down) so they threw rocks at the bus and so the bus stopped and then the police started chasing them... thats as far as the missionaries saw... cool HUH!! As Pte. Howell said Cartagena is great to see... if you go to the right places. Also finally we are starting to find people who want to listen to us so we are happy campers.

What im thankful for is all you happy great gringos who make my life so blessed and put me in so much more debt to the lord. also i am thankful for a testimony that keeps me going when everything is going against it. and im thankful to know that God listens and answers prayers and that he has a plan for all of us to get back to live with him.

i love you all
Elder Larson

QUINNS CHRISTMAS WISH!

Hello all of Quinns friends and followers -

We asked Quinn what he wanted for Christmas and this is what he replied...

"hey mom i hope youhavent sent anything yet. ireally dont need a big box or anything, if i need clothes and stuff it is just easier to buy it here, also its cheaper and usually better quality than in the states! f i would also like if you get my friends to write a letter and youcould send it to me int he package and other family friends that ihavent heard about like the hicks or the boyces or the jacksons or all the great cousins aunts and uncles i have. it wouldbe funner if its handwritten but if they want they could just e-mail it to you (any of my cousins aunts and uncles can email me here). send me that and ill be happy. just send a flat box with letters and a cd and ill be happy you are alreadypaying for me to be here and that is a gift that i will be thankful for for my whole life!!
im healthy dont worry
love ya"

So if you could all help out and write him a letter it would be very much appreciated but all of us and Quinn would really enjoy it.

Send it to 1309 Richmond Place Downingtown PA 19335 and we will put them all together in one box and send it on its way! Thanks again..if you have any questions please let us know!

well im alive (november 17, 2009)

and real happy tobe out of that tiny apartment!! wellbecuase its tuesday and we lost our pday i only have20mins to write. mom i would like it if you ask aunt jalayne how much time Elder bangerter gets to write and then i´ll tell how much time i do and then you wont feel so bad. the week went by pretty slowly, i learned alot about beinga persuasive leader as i had to motivate the missionaries to study and now sleep or wrestle all day. I didnt forget about the pics from my window that im going to send to you all, they will be an enjoyable medley of painted drunks, firework toting teenagers, and water flinging latinos. At the corner of our house a big parade went by with all the people dancing and throwing flour and stuff... we didnt go see. Also what is neat is that during the carnival they have two bueaty pagents, one for senorita colombia and the other for senorita Bolivar (that is the state that im in now). Well lucky for us both of the winners are from cartagena so everyone is all pumped up here that they live in the city of the two prettiest girls in colombia so they´ve all continued to drink and throw stuff and light fireworks of at all hours. so with that we are going to go contact 50 people or so and i will enjoy it completly. im glad everyone is doing good and feeling happy. thanks for the scriptures i havent read them for awhile..... but really thanks i like it when you write me them. thanks for your words of encouragement and faith. One thing im learing here in Cartagena is that God always blesses the obidient but not always when and how we expect it.
Thanks for everything you are all SUPER great
Love
Elder Larson

fotos!

I should be more like Elder Bangerter...

but im not. Because i feel real bad my letters are so short but i dont get time to write today. We are going to B/quilla hoy for a confernencia and this whole morning i was on the phone calming an elder down because he is going home because he is sick. I sympithize (no idea how to spell that) with the great german elder about his investigador, that happened on a large scale here in the zone this past weekend... not too much fun. Also me and my compi have been contacting like crazy but we are not finding anybody who wants to hear us... but whats funny is i found that exact same scripture last week and have been repeating it in my head all week. Cambios were fun, we got some new happy elders but also i got some heat becuase an elder we sent to Rioacha (its in the Guajira... not that that means anything to you) decided to fall asleep and not get off the bus and go to Maico (the far side of the Guajira you can look these places up) and decided the tell the assitenes it was my fault. Well it wasnt and the silly newbie finally got to his area. Umm we are going to get locked up thursday for 5 days, not really sure about monday i think ill be able to write but if i dont dont get worried. I loved the picture from the window of Elder Bangers apartment, ill take one from mine during carnival and it will be real funny. This whole weekend the people have been warming up for the party and i have never felt so out of place. WE walk down the street and the people just know we are pure and we stand out like a sore thumb but it doesnt really make them want to listen, i think it makes them a little mad actually. Also it seems like me and elder bangerter are teaching the same color of people... color RECEPTIVE!!all in all i think the lord is reminding me and my compi that its doesnt matter how many hours we work and how many people we contact we are only succesful when he wills us to be, not before and not after.
im really happy and happy that you are all happy. HAPPY ANIVERSARY PADRES thanks mom for marrying dad, he needs your help.
thanks kalan for the photos, you life is good.
LOVE YOU ALL
ELder LArson

p.s. im postive im the only person in my neighborhood who remeberd that its the aniversary of the fall of the berlin wall this week... go figure

IM WRITING YOU!! -Nov 3, 2009

Hey family,
Sorry to be a bit late but the last p-day is in the night so its all good. We had exchanges and im going to be staying put here in Cartagena with my same compi elder sanhueza. Im happy the Lord is giving me another shot of getting us out of this little hole we are in, didn’t quite make it the last cambio. My comp is real great and im sending you all some pictures. It sounds like the getaway to Paris was a hit, and Dad the guy they called the desert fox is Erwin Rommel, he actually didn’t really like his broom mustached lider but he still had to fight for the krauts. Im glad you enjoyed it all so much you two cure deserve it for all you do for the us five. Everytime I see this families that have so many problems that are so basic like don’t waste all the money on beer, or don’t go on dates with other men, or don’t hit the kids I am REAL thankful for you two. So have a great anniversary (in a few days)!!!!
Que mas… things are still pretty exciting here in Cartagena, I bought a fake Rolex today for 7 mil pesos…. Don’t think the mil means its a lot, it about 3 dollars. OH BIG NEWS next week is carnival here in cartagena so you know what that means…..we don’t get out!! Yeah Ill be shut up again for 5 days, not really sure how its all gonna workout but if I write late next week don’t be worried. Also here in Cartagena they have the country wide beauty pageant and the winner goes to miss universe. My comp wants to ask Pte. Roundy permission to watch it but I think he will say no (speaking of beauty pageant do you like how I ran into an old girl friend). We had another pretty exciting Sunday as in that a Peruvian walked in to church by himself and after told us he had been listening to the missionaries in Peru but didn’t want to get baptized there. But now that he is here he feels better about water and all and so when we taught him then and there in the church and he is preparing for the 28th of Nov. chevere no? the Lord just keeps the blessings rolling and I just want to be better.

Thanks for everything for the life (mom), for the example (dad), para el consejo (mateo), for the fun (kalan), for the reminder to be better (Lars), and for the super awesome litter brother who makes everyone happy (LAYNERS).

Love
Elder Larson

un buen dia mi familia..October 19,2009

well another week has FLOWN by and it scares me because i just realized that tomorrow will be the 20th which means 14 months in the mision which means 10 left....i almost cried.... im going to go contact so i cant write sorry..
love you all
Elder Larson









JUST KIDDING.......!!
i almost did it but my comp told me i couldnt (my writing time is special for him because he half naps through it). LOTS OF RAIN this week, like tropical storm rain with lightning and thunder and turns the street to muddy river rain. But most of it has been at night which is super good and its nice because it cools things off for awhile. One lightning bolt struck real close to our house and it was so loud that it woke me up from sleeping and i said a bad word in spanish... cool huh when i wake up i say bad words in another language. i learned them here in cartagena because the chocie of words here is rather tough. MY comp already told me im abusing the gift of toungues so im going to do better. A good week (i feel like a write that alot) a bit crazy for sure and a few things happened that will be great to tell you all.....when im in the God saved land of the USA. WE had a interesting time with our investigadores, unfortunatly we lost alot of them yesterday because they didnt want to go to church and so if someone doesnt want to go to church, well they wont be very active after they get baptized so we cant teach them anymore. So we lost like 2 familys and then some so it was a rough sunday BUT we found a super awesome guy and im going to be like a european misionary and write about just him like he was the only person who listened to us this week (which is not true). So this mans name is Artuo and is very smart, i contacted him where he works in an internet place because we were sending some medical stuff to the office by scanner. well he was excited to hear us and he told us where he lived and we went by the next day. he had read the pamphelt 3 times and wanted a book of mormon to find out if Joseph smith was a prophet. We gave him one real quick. we asked him a bit about his life and it turns out the he was atheist as of about one year ago when he had a a big problem with drugs and alchol and now he is in a substance free house. But when he told us how he began to believe in God again he started to cry and asked us some good soul searcing questions. He had listened to Jehovas witnesses before (when he was atheist) but he didnt like them.... go figure, guess he likes christmas. but we taught him saturday and he came to church sunday which was amazing and everyone at church loved him and they all want to help, mostly the stake presidents wife which is SUPER. So pray for arturo and ill keep you updated. I had a dream about you all last night, not sure what we were doing but we took a picture and i make a goofy pose and you all laughed at me.... so i liked the dream.

Im glad everyone had a good week and that mom is super misionera of the ward. here there is a brother in the ward who keeps me updatd on the phillies but the funny párt was when he first tryed to tell be about them and i couldnt understand who he was talking about because he pronounced phillies so bad, he said it like fiyies. thanks for being my family and so AWESOME.
Love
Elder Larson

aqui les escribo- October 12, 2009

writing you all again. today was a dia de festivo for some reason so it was a bit difficult to find a place to write but we found one. In answer to the last letters congrats dad that the lord wants you to progress faster in a new calling. All the young adults are going to want to be just like you, succesful, with a great family, not too grey headed, and with a short blonde wifey. Mom tell Pte Howell hi back and that Cartagena is great. yes the majority of the city are negros (you can say that here and its all good) which is fun. People like to ask me if i know 50 cent.... i tell them he was my neighbor. Thanks to the african influence here they have a special kind of music that is called Campeta and its basically alot of noise with a big bass beat. Its pretty crazy when the whole street starts listening to it. Also campeta is not know for its clean lyrics and since now im starting to understand songs better it makes it even harder to focus. Also here in Cartagena they have a shortage of street numbers, oh they have them but nobody uses them, including the people who live on the street. They all make up names that dont really work and are really goofy like cara de perro or gatos patos and coco roto. it makes it hard to find people and basically you have to work by memory to find the house, also you have to write funny descriptions in your agenda like ¨fat black lady cutting her nails¨ or ¨family of 5 with hairless dog¨ or a common one ¨house that had a rat run in when i was contacting¨.

with the zone things are looking up, we had alot of people programed this week and we are contacting alot. We had one missionary who got a little sick so i had to take him to get his blood checked for Dengue, didnt have it. Also this past week i had some miracles happen that hadnet happened for a while, which were contacting and teaching and then programing someone for baptism all in the same 40 mins. It was nice to find prepared people again, it had been awhile, its a good reminder that the Lord wants to bless us.

Sunday wasnt too good, the first sunday to go to church is always hard for the people, and also we had two invest. give us back the BoM not wanting to hear more, but we found an opurtunity to give service in church and felt better. This week we are starting to get out of the hole that we were in and baptize more the only problem is that it takes time and time isnt one thing that is a luxury when you are in your last year. If i could choose one time that the Lord would let me not make mistakes i think i would choose this last year of my mision, and when i have to find myself a wife so i can get to that 3rd heaven that paul went to, but more the mision becuase with every mistake it takes TIME to get out it. But ya paciente and everything and if everything went perfect in my mision i wouldnt learn alot. Well those are my thoughts and im glad to share them with you. Lars thanks for your letter and good luck with the play, have fun passing the sacrament its REAL important just like you.
Love you all
ELDER LARSON

Oct 5, 2009-sorry but it has to be short.....

just kidding!!!Well conference was SUPER GREAT. Thanks to the area presidente the great ELDER NASH we got to watch all the sesions, not in english, but i undestand now what they are saying. But its better to hear the apotles real voices. Elder Anderson recorded his talk into spanish.... it would have been better if he didnt, he speaks real bad. All the colombians almost laughed, but im thankful for the courage of Elder Anderson because he made all gringo misionaries serving spanish speaking feel real confident. Elder christofferson on the other hand speaks amazing spanish and has a really cool voice en español. Of course Elder Hollands talk was a favorite and im going to memorize the whole book of mormon because of it.... not all but more than i am. I love how conference goes by super fast now, i used to think it was way long when i was watching it with you all in the living room, but i guess 10 hours of sitting in cool air has to fly by here in Cartagena. I only have one more conference left so thats not fun. Im glad our DON JAUN matthew is already counting days until the next one so he can see his pale norwiegan pastora (actually i was just glad to hear mention of matthew i was beginning to doubt that he has made it this far without her). The zone is hanging in there. Weve had better days in reality. we had a old friend enter the Zone this cambio, the ocioso ELDER SHUMWAY and needless to say he is not getting along with his companion. Also thanks to the trunkiness of my last companion we are now suffering from the lack of people who were supposed to be programed for these weeks (not sure if you understood that, its kinda of mison talk) in the last cambio. All in all im doing what i usually get to do, fix things. I just feel kinda weighed down because we arent doing our part. the mison has a goal of 2000 baptized this year and to reach that goal from now until the end of the year each zone has to confirm according to its size. WE need to confirm 4 each weekend and we arent doing it as of now. BUT we have a lot of people for the last few weeks so we are not going to loose any of them so we can fill in the holes. I have two great district leaders who want to see confirmations so we are working for miracles, its good stuff.
mom said that you wanted to see how my testimony is going. Pretty good i guess, i love what im doing and how im doing it. Reading the scriptures everyday brings me some great insights and i have of book of things im going to study after my mison because i have to stay focused on the basics here. I know that the lord loves all his children and im trying to apply that knowledge in my actions. Im learning how to listen to the holy ghost and how to recognize whats from him. Im bettering my work ethic and my ability to focus my mind on what i want when i want it to. And i pray and i know God hears me and you and answers us when its right. im happy and excited to see what the future brings in these last parts of my mision and i know the lord will be with me the whole way.LOVE YA LOTSELDER LARSON

Sept 30-: me writing you all about my life as a missionry in colombia

Hey family, well it sounds like a great week up in Downingtown. Here in Cartagena it rained this morning so it wasnt so hot, which was super. My compi s really great and NOT trunky so thats a good thing for sure. He is also really short so ill send a photo the next week. Here is a detail about my misión life that for me in normal but for you all might be neat. I like to make arrepas for breakfeast which is corn meal with wáter and then you cook it with a Little bit of oil or fry it with alot of oil, they go real good with cheese or a fried egg. Then i usually make juice from a fruit called maracuyá which is the shape and size of an ostrich egg but yellow. To make the juice you cut it in half and it has a gooey substance with covering its seeds which are inside. You scoop out the seeds with the gooey and blend it in wáter and then strain the sedes out. It has a citric taste with a Little bit of peach, it needs alot of sugar but thats ok with me!!! Today we are going to barranquilla for a conferencia de lideres so it has to be a Little short (like my comp, hahaha).Thanks for all your letters and prayers, and charge up Little round top for me!LoveELDER Larson

Sept 14, 2009-BAUTISMO CON MANGUERAS

well we had a crazy fin de semana here in the ZONA CARTAGENA. we had 7 bautismos planed but 4 fell through, lots of crazy stuff like apotstate members, missing family members, and catholic preists stopping by to tell the investigator that if she gets baptized she´s going to limbo. but the 3 that did get baptized was a great. Me and elder vega passed by at 6 30 to make sure everything was going to plan but there was about 5 inches of water in the fount, no what we were hoping for. The member who the missionaries asked to make sure it got filled though he had other things better to do, too bad it was the bishop. but anyways all the members started showing up to see the baptism and saw that we lacked water so we all started bringing hoses from the neighbors houses and filling the fount with water. In the meantime the family showed up with the wife set that she wasnt going to get herself wet (when i had spent one hour in interview with her the day before showing her that she was ready). so all the relief society started giving her attention and she changed her mind. we finally got the fount filled and we started the baptism and it was great. the only other hitch was that the missionary who was baptizing was really short and the dad of the family is a very tall large black man so his knees kept coming out (also the misionary is a lefty so i had to stop him mid prayer so his RIGHT hand was to the square). Finally the big man just kneeled down so the water went up to his chest and it was alot easier for the little chileno. Sunday la familia herrera didnt come to church and they dont seem quite as happy to see us but we planed really hard for the lesson we are going to teach tonight so im praying hard. but we also found another family who are really great and they cameto church, the dad drives one of those crazy jeeps i told you about so he drove it to church and it was great. also in church i got asked to give a talk at the end of church in the middle of the sacrament by the 1st consuler, so i got up there and let er rip on refencias and how if someone doesnt give missionarys referncias they dont have alot of faith, but i did it with lots of love and shared Dyc 15 6 which is always a goodie. all in all everything is pretty much normal here in Colombia, that was the 4th bautismo ive had filling it by buckets and i dont think it will be the last, that was the 3rd random sunday talk and i dont think it will be the last. But i love it all.thanks for all your support and prayersELDER LARSONp.s. next week is CAMBIOS so ill write you TUESDAY!!!!! NOT MONDAY!!!! SO DONT WORRY!!! I havent even seen someone fromthe FARC for 3 weeks..... JUST KIDDING.

Sept. 11, 2009-HE AQUI ESTE ES DE SU HIJO AMADO.. LEELO TU

querido familia
It was great to hear from you this week. Good LUCK Kalan at school, i know you are loving it and everyone thinks you are so cool. When you feel like calling mom AGAIN write me a letter instead (or update my blogg deal AND write me a letter. I just got done eating a big lunch of beans rice and some eggs so im kinda sleepy. WE had a zone leader teleconference today which was fun i guess. The misión goal for the year is 2000 and we are at 1250 or something like that so we got to kick it up a notch, or as we say it redoble el paso. Thanks Lars for fasting for us here in Cartagena, how funny is it that we fasted for the same things. We were really blessed this week to find a great family. Mom , dad and 2 kids,their name is the Familia Arroyo Herrera (where there are doublé r you have to roll your tounge, have fun). The mom and dad went to church and liked it more or less, it was a bit different for them. THEY ARE going to have some adjustments to make but pray for them to recieve a strong testimony of the book of mormon and to understands what that means.The zone is doing good im loving to work with so many misioneros here. One misionero who lives in my house with me is Elder Gonzalez from Yopal santender Colombia. He was baptized by himself when he was 16 which was a big thing because his dad at the time was minister of one of those get up and shout for Jesus churches. He got his testimony of the BoM through a dream where he dreamed all the story of the BoM up to the restoracion and saw pres. Hinckley talking in a conference. Last year before he came on his misión he baptized the rest of him family and he is a great guerrero here in Cartagena.
Um not too much else, i got the contacts, we get Money today, we have a baptism this week, and the goal in the zone is 8. Dad to have 100% of the converts in the church is WONDERFUL and something we really have to improve here. Thanks for you love and prayers, i feel them.
Elder Larson

PHOTOS

well for p day last week we went to the old city and took a bunch of photos. it actaully felt like a p-day! this week have gone good a little down in the baptisms in the zone but we are working hard to have the two families progressing here baptized this weekend (im talking about the whole zone not just me and Elder Vega). i saw some pretty exciting stuff here this past week that ill be sure to share with you all after im safely in the good old USA, new experiences everyday!! This week is zone conference so we get to hear President Roundy pump us all up YAYYY!
disfrutalos! i hope you especially enjoyed the last picture (me branishing the BOM), i liked taking it. We can play a game and you can all send me which scripture you think best matches the picture! there are more but ill show you them all in a year or so. Love you all and i love every second here. Send saludos a todos the misioneros up north.

Love Elder Larson

p.s. mom i havent got the contacts but i got the one with the tie and the CD and the rocking letters thank the primary

pps i think it would be better if you dont tell me the temp here, i like to think its cooler than it is.We never know what the temp is because we cant watch tv or listen to radio, we just walk and sweat and get super blessed!

ppps good luck at school everyone especially the freshie up in IDAHO!!

Todo Bien

Well we had a great fin de semana here in la Zona Cartagena. We were blessed to have 8 baptisms between the 6 areas and two were families that the missionaries helped get married and the two in our area are brother and sister. It was really a great experience to see how the work goes from a little bit higher up and be able to help all the areas meet their goals of confirmations. I was really impressed to see how much each companionship sacrificed to help out thier converts.
We were just really blessed and it was great to see the Lords hand. I didn’t mention this the last week but our bishop here is an American who works for the state department and his gringo family. I was super surprised when I saw them but them REALLY happy because we eat with them Sundays in the afternoon, SOOO GOOD!! She even made REAL BROWNIES from scratch and my comp almost died because they were so good and it was his first experience with REAL brownies.
The members are really nice here and love the missionaries which is a pretty big change. Before I felt more like the novia maluca (or ugly girlfriend) that all the members tolerated but did didn’t really want, but here they give us good food and tell us they have references and its great.
Maybe a funny transportation detail, there is a main road that takes a big circle that goes through all the zone we take the Cartagena verison of buses to get around. They have really old jeeps that they but seats in the back facing each other and they charge 1 mil pesos (50 cents) and you can ride the whole circut. The jeeps are super old and are basically metal shells on wheels but they work and are funny. The good thing is that because the seats face eachother the people have to look at us so its easier to contact.
My comp is anxious to write his family so it has to be a little short agian but im sending photos. The persons who were baptized are Huber and Anis Montes and are little siblings of a member here in the ward.
Love ya tons and keeping praying for me and for the Zona Cartagena.
Elder Larson

CARTAGENA TE QUIERO

Well family a new day here in Cartagena. This place is soooo cool!! Being a Zone leader here is so sweet because we have to go downtown to the old walled city to pay bills and look for birth certificates (so the people can get married) and it super pretty. It has Old buildings and old HUGE almendros trees and mango trees. I haven’t seen a city this pretty my whole time in Colombia. The chapel is an older colonial house that the church converted and its way cool, they have a terrible keyboard so im playing sacramento meeting (first time playing in 10 months I was a bit rusty to say the least). My comp is named Elder Vega and he is really great, he is from a few groups ahead to me and his group isn’t really know to be super hard working and he isn’t an exception but its good because we can work together to improve. But Elder Vega knows what hes doing and he is really efficient in getting things done once he gets started. im just the excitable sunburnt gringo who wants to baptize everybody. He is from the really cold mountain part of Peru and going up to about just my shoulder. Our Area is really big and most of it not too fruitful because its full of tourists and beaches Lots of high rises with guards (with big guns) who are paied not to let us talk to anyone. The main Colombian navy base is here (in our area) which is fun I guess (cant get in there either and we aren’t going to try). But we also have another part which is a little bit easier to work in and its all good. The Zone here has the richest part of Cartagena (and the mission) which is my area and the poorest (ironically called Ezperanza). We are a small zone of 12 elders and no sisters (thank goodness….. just KIDDING… it just because they don’t let sisters work in this zone). Im haven’t felt realy overwhelmed exactly I just know two things with very clearly 1) im the least of these my brethren here in this Zone and 2) the only way ill do any good is if I humble myself and let the lord work though me, because he can lead the zone very easily…. So heres to HUMILITY!!! Next week we´re going to go to the old castle they have here so i´ll send photos or maybe the week after (yeah there is a castle to keep pirates out way cool). Also the house we live in has a kitchen that works and a balcony and doenst loss power everyother day.
All in all with the pretty old city, a cool chapel with a ward and key board, nice house, if I just had more money i´d be serving a pampered European mission!!!

Thanks for the letters love and prayers
Elder Larson

CAMBIOS ME VOOOY- August 11, 2009

HOLA FAMILIA
Well we´ve had cambios and im leaving Santa Marta. Its kinda of sad ive changed a lot here. I Started out as Companero Mayor and im heading out different. Started out with 3 investigators from the last companionship (2 hippies and one druggie they didn’t get baptized) and leaving the area a little better I feel. I know half of the barrios here in santa marta and all the good bakeries and barbershops and which bus will take us for less because we´re missionaries, you learn these things when you walk all day everyday.
But its ok there has to be change so I leave tomorrow. Im going to Cartegena which i´m pretty excited about. Its a lot bigger than Santa Marta and it has two stakes. And two zones. Santa Marta is the oldest city in Colombia and Cartegena is the second, when the Spanish were here it was the main port to send all the gold and silver back to Spain. The Lord is planning a big trial for this zona because He is sending me there as Lider de Zona menor…. I´ll be praying a lot tonight. But im grateful that ill get to humble myself so that the Lord can lead and do what He wants in Cartegena through me. All in all im pretty dang excited, new places and new faces it’s a Larson family tradition for sure.

Mom happy BIRTHDAY!!!! Im sure you just turned one year younger because you are so youthful and all that wonderful stuff. Thanks for all your advice and help my WHOLE life. Also thanks for not raising me like the Colombianas raise their kids. They are not in on the whole secret that kids do whatever their parents do so they whack their kids and yell at them not to hit and such things. You´ve always been an outstanding example of how I should be and when you tell me I need to shape up (which gratefully was and will be for sure often) you would change with me. And in this way you are JUST SUPER AWESOME and I LOVE you TONS!!!

The e’mail service is a bit shakey so im sending this and i´ll write more...well i cant write much more but thank for your example and love. I´d be super happy to see an irish musical when i get back. Kalan you are going to be great at college just remeber that going to a group of a bunch of mormons to be different is not to be borderline on the standards the Lords blesses us with, to be different is to live them and show others its fun to do so. Mom Happy birthday again and i love you
Elder Larson

Aug 3- Mondays always go absurdo

Mondays are cursed for missionaries. The machine erased my email AGAIN so im sorry it has to be short. The baptism went great and it was super awesome to have the help of the members. Ender is on my left in the photo. This is week 6 so cambios are next week so I WILL WRITE TUESDAY NOT MONDAY (that’s in caps just in case moms eyes don’t work in frantic mode when she re-reading all my e-mails looking for clues if FARC has captured me). i´ve sent photos of what happens to missionaries if they don’t contact (get squashed by the Finger of God) and me showing how I dismount my bed and also of how fun it is to sleep in an anti jungle fever net. Love the work and love you all
Elder Larson


New scripture im using with all the people who don’t want to keep commandments:
1 Juan 2:3-6

a super week and a HILARIOUS SUNDAY

so i´ll start with the good week. We had zone conference this week so we all got our testimonies and ambitions kicked up a notch which was great. Our super investigator passed his special interview with the president so he´s getting baptized this week. Also our super investigador (his name is Ender Pereyra) pulled a super obedient this week. I was eating lunch saturday (rice, and cow stomach) and wondering what miracle i was going to get to see today. Well it didnt snow like i was hoping the miracle would be so i kept looking. We passed by a members house a few hours later to use their bathroom (yours truly has been digesting his food really fast if you know what i mean) and Ender was there because he is good friends with the member, references are great by the way. Well after i used the bathroom and flushed it down with a bucket of water we asked Ender how he was going with his new job. He had told us he got a job finally BUT like always our investigadors get jobs that makes them work on Sundays in the mornings from 9 to 12, a problem. Well he told us he didnt have a job which made us worried because he told us he had one. When we asked him why he told us because he didnt acept the job because if he worked on sundays he couldnt get baptized and then he couldnt go to the temple in one year..... i almost had to use the bathroom again i was so happy. Needless to say i was pretty pleased with the miracle and the faith God gave this humble child of
His.
Hiliarious Sunday time. Well this sunday el loco del barrio went to church. A harmless crazy guy who always talks to us in the street decided he would actually listen to our invitation that we give to everyone and walked in to church just after sacrament meeting. Well the members were pretty surprised and so was i. He dresses normal but he has his short sleeves rolled up always and he told me why sunday. Well after gospel principles he talked to me and my comp for 15 mins and told us about how he is crazy and how he goes to the catholic church always to talk to the bishop there but he doesnt want to talk to him. He told us he just wants to learn how to wrtie poetry and sing and dance like John Travolta in Grease, especialy John Travolta because when he was waiting to talk to the Catholic Bishop one of the nuns told him he looks like John Travolta and THAT is why he rolls up his short sleeves. Well he asked what we could do to help him talk to the catholic bishop and he was really sad when i told him i didnt know him personally BUT to cheer him up me and Elder Jaliri wrote a letter of recomendation to the Good Bishop that he could show him the next time he goes. Dont worry we didnt sign our names or write the churchs name just that he is a child of God and needs help (i was tempted to write ¨dear holy bishop, could you please teach our friend to write poetry and sing and dance like John Travolta, we are busy baptizing all the people who have found the truth.¨ but i didnt). he was happy with the note and went right away to the catherdaral down town. So funny. But as we were chuckling i realized what we really wrote was true,that he is a child of God and needs help so i called him back real quick and taught him how to pray and then let him go bother the his Holiness of SAnta marta. SO many adventures as a missionary and i love it.
Thanks for you love and prayers
Elder Larson

Feliz dia de la Virgen SANTISSIMA!!!

it was good to hear from you all. Dad i love the ward temple goal, here we have our little chant we say¨¿para que bautizamos? En un ano en el Templo, con nombre de sus antepasados?¨im sure you can figure it out. To go to the temple here is a bit more of a challenge (a lot). So we missionaries are working hard to baptize more families who want to pay tithing so they can get a temple here in the coast. The comp i have now is the one i had before Elder Jaliri. They switched us for like 4 days and then back again, kinda silly but in el ejercito de Dios you just smile and contact. But its good because he is a great missioary. Kinda clumsly but really humble and i learn alot from him. we have to buy bags of water to drink and he always puts them in the mini fridge wrong and they spill all over the floor, so we mop alot but its with expensive (for a missionary) water. There was a BIG catholic party the 16 El Dia de La Virgen del Carmen. How do they celebrate? just like everyother holiday, music, beer , and cheap fireworks. In front of the house a bunch of taxis and then buses and then semis went past honking horns with virgens on top. They also were selling shirts with the virgen on them and i was going to buy one but elder

Jaliri talked me out of it.... it was a good idea.

Also we went and took pictures kinda close to the beach which was scary. The picture with the big soccer player is a local of Santa Marta named Pebe and he played soccer from the 70´s to the 90´s and is super famous. A missionary here baptized his cousin and it got in the newspapers.

thanks for your love and prayers
Elder Larson

compañero nuevo

so my new comp is Elder Murcia from Leticia is the south of colombia. He
tells me its not more dangerous than here but its in the south of colombia
in the jungle, it is. He is finishing his mission here this transfer so
thats fun, someone has got to be dying elders compaions and it might as well
be me so i get the blessings for it. being in Nauvoo sounds super cool
especially going through the temple, i miss that more than i thought i
would. Being in the street all day everyday really makes me realize i grew
up in a pretty temptacion free environment. here in the happy streets of
santa marta you can find ways to break all 10 commandments in about 10 mins
if you wanted. But its a good place, they took out 2 more missionarys so
here in the city are only 12 missionarys (6 of them are in my district).
They arent many of us here in this city of half a million but thats good
because there never are excuses to not contact. Makes Jacob5:7 mean more.
There have been firworks going off at random moments because it is the dia
de la virgen del Carmen the protectora SANTISIMA de motor cycle drivers so
its a party. Also the evangelicos in the barrio had a big party thing in
the street for 3 nights straight complete with chanting and drums and
dancing and a guy who would blow a rams horn. Then the preacher likes to
get up and talk about how bad the USA is so that people wont talk to me (the
Lord prepared 2 of his neighbors to find the truth and i was able to help
them). all in all ive been really greatful for the TRUTH these past weeks
and to know the truth not by all of your wonderful testimonys and examples
and prayers (they sure help thats for sure) but becasue God cared enough
about me to give me one when i asked Him. Ive been feeling really happy
with the people these last couple weeks and the Lord has blessed me to be
more loving of them and more saddened by their weaknesses/ sins. And im
really happy to have latino comps again!!
Thanks for your love and letters keep saying thanks to eachother (we just
had to teach that to the family Vasquez because the wife didnt know how)
Love
Elder Larson

p.s. mom how are the other missionarys doing

p.p.s. DAd you forgot to send a scripture, i like them, so heres one for you
2 Cor. 12:1-3 and then DyC 131, arent you happy you make it up there!!

no one threw rocks while i whistled

So 4th of July is not celebrated in Colombia but NEVER FEAR i keep the spirit. I read D&C 101:88 (think thats it) and 1 nephi 13 about the formation of America for personal study (elder Jaliri didnt like the sharing time because i couldnt hide how proud i was very well). Also i wore blue pants and a red tie to compliment the everyday white (more off white) shirt. ANd i whislted God bless america and other patriotic songs all day and sang the anthem, all four verses, for the lady who makes us dinner. I´m glad i was there to see dad get set apart and im super happy that your going to have people come over. Thats one thing that you can do is just let the invest come over and be friends to them. As misioneros we dont expect the members to be BFF´s at first sight with the investç.just be interested in them. Also talk about how NORMAL you are,like that you listen to normal music and watch TV and you have friends and read books. Lots of my investigadores think all mormons are like the missionaries so at first they arent too pumped up to get dunked and burned (thats want we call baptism and confirmation here). Dad is going to be so great at this i know it. You´re all going to see alot of miracles because one thing is sure it that those who help others make their first steps to know God get to feel the Spirit that the Lord is pouring on the investigadores. I´m so excited that you get to play a more involved role in this wonderful work and wonder than im in all the time. Needless to say with the 4th of July and thinking about all the i´ve been given i´m super blessed and was almost upset that the Lord has blessed us so much when there are so many people here who just need to know who God really is. But then i remebered that blessings dont come from a limited source so i´m trucking away to get some more Colombians more blessed than i am. Thanks for the love and prayers.
Elder Larson

short but HAPPY

hey so sorry this is so short, internet problems i wont waste time esplaing. But we had cambios i´m staying here which is great because we have some good families. Pray for the familia Vasquez that they will learn how to forgive and want to get married. They are a family of 7 five kids and the mom and dad. Real humble and they need the gospel so bad. Alot of marriage problems that need to get resolved so thats where the Spirit comes in cuz i´ve never been married. We taught read and pray together 4 days ago and its amazing to see the change in them. WE are also using the familia Alvarez to get them excited which is completely AWESOME teaching with our converts. My comp is Elder Jaliri from Dacna Peru and is really good. real quite and shy but really nice and LOVES the NBA and always wants to talk about tim duncan. We had two baptisms this last saturday which was great, they were so happy to get baptized and complete the requirments to be born into the kingdom of heaven (moses 6:59 or 60 dont remember but its around there). Sorry its so short but thats the way it is sometimes here in the service of the Lord.
Love ya lots!!
Elder Larson

PICTURES (June 15, 2009)

Dear family,

not too much new so im going to send pictures because they are worth a thousand words!! Its starting to rain more often here which is fun. The streets flood nice and deep so sometimes we have to wait around for them to drain because a lot of funny stuff starts to float when the streets flood (for example its got a Darwin affect on all the old cats, they don’t survive). But the temp drops quite a bit which is super. This week is Zone conference so that should be fun, we get to sit in the air conditioned church for along time and listen to revelation. Also the word on the street is that the mission has got the new conference additions to the Liahona so we´re all getting pumped up for that NEW SCRIPTURE!!!! I sent the pictures of the baptisms of the family Alvarez first the Dad and his daughter the next week. Also the picture of Anwar notice the halo around the head and the placement of him and the picture behind, sweet huh!?

Here we have us eating in the apartment and i´m making important phone calls on my special district leader phone, they sell them for real cheap here. Also here is elder JALIRI from tacna Peru he is hilarious and always looks like he´s half asleep, he also has a funny stutter every time he starts to get excited and or testify. Also when I wrote you that tiny letter its because I went to that leader conference thing and I saw Elder Wilson from my generation, we were in the same district in the MTC. He is going to teach me how to rock climb when we finish saving Colombian souls, he his from Highland and graduated from Lone peak. Umm not to much else im reading my scrips everyday and pray a lot.

Thanks for your prayers and support,
Elder Larson

Cosas para leer (June 8, 2009)

Bunas familia,
A super weekend with two more baptisms! We were blessed to baptize the daughter of the man we baptized last week (maria luisa) and a single man who teachs at the Collage here (Anwar Pertuz). The wife of Leonardo (and the mom of maria) was baptized when she was 14 but went inactive when she was 16 (thats why when maria kept coming to church by herself we taught her DAD too not just a 14 year old girl like some missionaries like to do). So now the whole family who can be baptized is baptized and there is a new family in the ward, they were even EARLY to Maria Luisa´s confirmation Sunday!! Anwar was a kick to see baptized because first of all he gave us a HUGE scare and wasnt in his house all Saturday and his phone was off. WE passed by every hour and called his phone every 30 mins to see what he was up to but we just couldnt get a hold of him, we even got yelled at by his neighbors because we jumped his fence to knock on the door because he left a Light on so we thought he might have gotten home. Finally 6 :30 came around so we had to g oto the church knowing we did all that we could do and just had to trust in the Lord (we even found a abandoned house and prayed really hard). Well we got to the church hoping and hoping (that night was Colombia verses Argentia soccer game and thats BIG temptation for Anwar) and as we walk in guess who was chatting away with the Bishop ANWAR. I almost karate chopped him, he told us he´d been waiting for 15 mins and had actually been at the church at 6:45 in the morning because he thought the baptism was at 7 in the morning. And he couldnt understand why we were extra sweaty and smelly (it was due to the extra running and praying in dirty abandoned houses). But everything went well he got baptized and i dunked him extra deep for making us so worried and also because before i baptized him he kept trying to make the sign of the cross until i told him that definatly wasnt needed to cleanse him of his sins.
Also getting Maria Luisa to be excited about her bapitism was a challenge this past week. She has alot of friends who arent too cool with mormons so she was having a hard time at school. But as we were teaching here i was prompted to use alma 36.3 and it was completely PERFECT. I had her put her name in for helaman (and change son for daughter of course) and she loved it and was so happy so fast. With this family i´ve really seen how the Spirit just makes people happy, they are just happier now and i´ve seen in lessons with them how they change during the lesson. This kind of experience has happened with the BoM before and its clearly a fulfillment of D&C 84:85. Its just been great to see some EXITO here because as you might remember when i first got here there were 4 investigadors and they all fell through in 2 weeks. As Sister Laruen Bang put it we do alot but the spirit does so much more, hearing their testimonies after the baptism i was so surprised at the depth of their testimonies, it was clear that even though i´m the senior comp here in my area i´m most certainly JUNIOR to the one whos really teaching my investigadors through me.
Prom looked like fun i´m glad Kalan actually won something worth winning after all the hours mom has put into that activity. I´m still debating if i want you to send me pictures of you all hiking in Yosemite i´m afraid it might be too much (just kidding send me them). Enjoy the summer and breaks.
love you all and thanks for the prayers,
Elder Larson


p.s i always have a long shirt on because i always take pictures on P-days and thats the day i use my long sleeve shirt because its the only one clean by then, dont send shirts i can by ones here for way cheaper
p.p..s the rain has come and its a bit cooler which is nice, just mud happens and the sewers dont handle it well , but i like cooler.

Baby pictures (June 1, 2009)

Well here is the bouncing baby boy (six foot four... tall). Sometimes i think he looks alot like Jacob Garlick which is way sweet becuase Jacob Garlick is my favorite blueberry eating boy. Let Elder Bangerter know im expecting an annoucement pretty soon from Germany.
till next week.

So I guess everywhere ELSE in the world has perfect weather (June 1, 2009)

So that was encouraging Elder Bangerter, Mom, and Dad with all your beautiful weather stories. Here in Santa Marta we are going on a long time hot streak, usually the rain is supposed to come about 3 weeks ago because the breeze stopped. Its around 37 39 degrees so that means like 97 or something neat, but i gage tempurates by my pañuelo (handkerchief). If i pull it out of my pocket and its pretty dry it´s not very hot, if i pull it out and its already sweat damp its normal, if i pull it out and its wet its hot (its been pañuelos mojados for 2 weeks)! But with sacrificio comes blessings thats for sure. We had one this past saturday his name his Leonardo Alvarez, his wife was really inactive (22 years) but we walked up a hill and talked to them and she told us to come back. this is also the family that i mentioned a while back about how we contacted the dad, and then the neighbor, and then the neighbors friend, and then the person who wanted to hear us. This saturday his daughter is planning on getting baptized as well as another man named Anwar which is great, 2 future priesthood in 2 weeks. Also the branch presidency changed so thats GREAT, the old worn out guy went to the district counsel (you might have thought gringo high council was dry but i feel like latino style is much moreso) and his young missionary accompaing grandosn is the new branch pres. So all and all things are looking up here in Santa Marta. Its really nice to think about the blessings i´ve recieved here in this area, when i got here they had 4 invest who didnt really like the church and now we´re baptizing again. I´m just greatful that the Lord sent me to a mission where if you work hard you baptize, the people are there you just have to find them. Thats what we´re working on this week, finding.
Being a District leader is fun (not sure if thats the word for it). My deber (as matthew with happily tell you from his mish memories) is really get to know and look out for the 5 other Elders in my district (my son included). This will present a challege as i´m not the most observant of others feelings as Kalan well knows so i´ve been studying the gift of discerment a bit. Pretty soon i´m expecting to be able to see into my comps mind during study but i´ll let you know how that goes (that was mostly for lars and layne i dont really think that....pero será chevere). One bonus is when i do intercambios (which is alot because there always people who need to talk about thier souls with me so they can be baptized) i get to take a taxi and if i´m lucky it´s air conditioned and i get to persuade the taxi driver to use his agency in the right way for 15 mins. Funny thing about taxi drivers here in Santa Marta is that most of them are from the interior of Colombia but have been here in the coast for along time (or recently)because they are running away from people who had intentions of breaking the 6th commandment with them. I got the whole story from one guy from Cali (the mision where they dont send gringos) and after i did i wish i didnt. But it makes for good taxi rides.
Everything is going good with my son he knows alot of spanish for where he is and he works hard. He´s from Malad Idaho so im sure we´re realted somehow.
Everything is going good and looking up like it always does when you´re working for the Lord.
Love
Elder Larson