me writing you all

Saludos familia!!

Well i got the christmas Packaged… thanks a ton! It was great to hear from so many of you and im glad that everyone is so blessed back in the good ol USA. Thanks King larsons for the toothbrush i used it right away! Evreything is going great with my comp. Elder Abanto. He is very diligent and want s to learn and serve so we are getting along well. The number of people going to church dropped a bit but a family that we thought wasnt going to go showed up all of a sudden which was great. Also we were able to help one of our investigators get a testimony of the the BOM this week which was a very special experiance. He was confused about how the holy ghost really talks to us because he had seen as a child those crazy evangelista people who punch people in the face so they relieve the spirit and then they start to flail and go crazy. Well he didnt really want an experiance like that so he was understandably afraid and wasnt praying, so E. Abanto felt like we should pray with him and we did and boy did he get his answer!! It really was a great opurtunity and a privledge to witness it. As we were leaving i pointed out that God must really love him to give him an answer to clear and he sai ï just realizad that¨ how great an answer that is! It is all about getting people to really see that god loves them and it was so awesome to be there.

Thanks for everything, the BoM is true so keep Reading it!
Love
Elder Larson

p.s. send me some snow!!!

dusty dusty Monteria

Here in Monteria things are going just great. My compa is Elder Abanto from Lima, im his 3rd comp and he is all fired up to work hard so we get along great. He was baptized 3 years ago and is the only member in his family which is pretty cool. Our area is called Emundo Lopez and its the outskirts of Monteria so all our roads are dirt roads and we are in the dry season here so its DUSTY. my shoes are alot more brown than black. Also a neat feature of the barrios im in is that they dont really have a sewer system, they have dicthes that run in front of the houses and the dirty water from the house runs into the ditch until they get to a bigger ditch and then who knows where it goes. but it makes things smell interesting when the sun almost boils the murcky black water at 2 in the afternoon. Everyone says here that monteria is the hottest part of the mission but i havent really noticed the difference, it just hot. all in all the area is a little less than a walk in the park but what super makes up for it is the people here are really great. We had 11 in the church yesterday which hasnt happened for me in 2 transfers. we are teaching 3 families and 1 of them is already married (and the other family actually has their birth certificates so we wont haveto search all over colombia to find them)!! Also now that im a DL of a small district i have almost the whole week to teach in my own area with my own comp! In sincelejo i was in intercambios almost everyday (its a mission thing that we do lots of intercambios) so it will be nice not to travel as much which means more time working yayy!
Umm here in monteria they have a cool fruit call guayaba agria which is an a guayaba but more acid... maybe you dont know what a guayaba is. its a fruit the size of a fist and normaly its really sweet and pink and it makes super good juice with milk. guayaba agria is the same fruit but more sour and with water it takes thrist real fast, we drink it alot. well im happy just working away with my compa, he has good ideas and he works hard so the people will understand the gospel. Im excited just to be back in the thick of things and not paying bills and other ZL stuff. Ive learned that if one puts in the hours diligently the Lord always blesses in one way or another and sucess comes in the Lords time, and im happy i can put more hours in!
thanks for your love and prayers
Elder Larson

p.s. they say there are more iguanas and ive seen 2 but both of them were dead in the ditch in front of our house... not to exciting until a pack of buzzards found them and they got in a fight with a stray dog to see who could eat them first... the buzzards here are super ugly ill try to take a picture and sent it next week.

im 21!

HOOOLA FAMILIA,
Well it is cambios so that is why im writing today and not yesterday. Im heading out to Monteria now as a district leader, which pleasently surprised me. Not because i like avoiding responsibilty but more because my Compa menor is taking my place and he is prepared, and now i can write more in my journal. I have learned alot in these past months as a zone leader and im grateful for the oppurtunity i had to serve as such. More than anything i learned that positions in the church dont matter as pertaining to ones personal progress and that its great to serve wherever the lord wants you to. BUT i am kinda of bummed because im going to miss the baptism of Delsi which i was really looking forward to. She has got such an awesome testimony and was just waiting for someone to invite her to pray about the truth. She has taught me alot about how pure faith, pray, and will can overcome even the most difficult things (such as a 40 year addiction to smoking). My birthday passed by not like my others because as a misión we FASTED Saturday, so i had my birthday fasting. A good way to pass the birthday in the misión for sure. I havent gotten the package yet but the missionary in the office told me that its there and that he is gonna send it to me pronto. Last week just as i finished writing to you all there was one more type of movilización that took to the streets…. HORSES!!! The street was full of them and they were all riding around and prancing and whatnot. I had my camera with me so i took some sweet pics, enjoy the horse mounted mariachi (mariachi is not colombian b/c it is super mexican). Sincelejo is kind of the cowboy west of colombia because lots of cows and horses and they have this corraleja party. Lots of sobreros costeños and ponchos as well.
All in all im kinda sad to leave Sincelejo so fast its a calm Little town (montería as well) but it was kinda of fun to teach lessons with cows grazing in between you and your compa. But new adventure and new town.
Thanks for all writing me it made me feel special for my birthday :)!
Love
elder larson