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