la carta final (August 24,2010)

LAST EMAIL FROM QUINN FROM HIS TWO YEARS SERVING IN COLOMBIA!!!!!!!!!

- He didnt say this but I figured I had to because Im just soo excited to see him tomorrow!

I know I wasnt the best at keeping this blog always up to date but Im pretty sure all the emails he has written should be on here now. This way even if you all didnt get to read them every week from Quinn you can go back and read them now. Same for himself once he gets back and realizes how to use this again. Thanks for putting up with me.

--hey this is really short because i have to go to translate for the new gringos and the asistant is telling me to hurry, so im hurrying.

thanks for all your letters and love and it has been wonderful writing to you all these last two years, im happy that i will give you all a big HUG thursday.

its such a blessing to serve the lord and his children and im so glad that with your help that i could serve a mission.

write more later if i can

Elder Larson

A Wet Weekend! (August 16,2010)

well everything went as planned and Luis Valencia was baptized and confirmed, i was able to confirm him and it was a great experience to promise him blessings that the Lord has waiting for him. WE are going to watch the video la restauracion with enrique in lucho´s house tonight to get him all pumped up for his baptism this weekend. we feel really blessed to been able to teach personas so prepared like the ones we have found lately. My comp is working away here in the area while i am on intercambios and he is going to have alot of exito in a few weeks. i got to talk in church yesterday and i shared my testimony that this is the only church that will permit us become like Christ by guiding us in his footsteps. And i am so grateful that i have a full week and then some worth of miralces to make. Keep praying for Faidus, Enrique, and Alejandro. The Lords is blessing us greatly as a family and its wonderful to share with others these blessings. not to long this one but what more is to be said?
Thanks for all your love and letters,
Elder Larson

p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!! i´ll give you a big huge soon.

Good Story Time (August 2,2010)

this past week was very enjoyable, due to the meetings at the beginning of the week and the weekly intercambios i get to do as a DL i wasnt really in my area alot with E Pastran. But it was fun to meet interview a few people and help them get over their unique difficulties (one investigator has the gift of being a bruja which she is trying to get over pretty interesting that one ask me about it later). It seems like the thing that the Elderes in my district are best at is reminding me of how much time i have and dont have as a missionary, its rather bothersome, we are going to have to talk about it tommorrow in district meeting haha. first off HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! i did know last week that it was going to be your birthday but i figuered that bc today is closer to your birthday than last monday i would tell you today so HAPPY BIRTHDAY. dont really have all the space to write how much you have had an influence on me and how grateful i have become (and should have always been) for your care and guidance. ive thought alot about how my life has been impacted to have the presence of a strong priesthood holder espcially i thought about you while i read the talks in GC of Elder Erying (the priesthood session one) and Elder Anderson. There are tons of things that i want to share with you about the mission and how important you have been to keep me giving all that i could but it will be better to tell you in person so when i get back just say ¨hey recently released Elder Larson tell me how important i am to you¨ and we can have a good long talk. (Mom all that applies to you as well for your birthday that is coming up).
well here comes great story time.... due to the fact that i had to been in the DL meetings all day tuesday i was in the north of B/quilla which is the Zona Paraiso which is where i started the mission. It was quite strange riding around in taxi in that part of the city because i saw alot of things that reminded me of ohh so long ago. BUT THE BEST was after the training meeting Tuesday we were leaving the stake center at around 6 and as i was walking out i saw some elders talking to a member who was waiting for an interview to go on his mission. Well i always get excited to see Costeños going on the mission so i went over to cheer him on but as i approached him he looked at me rather strange and then i could tell he recognized me like he had seen me before. i really had no idea who he was but he got really excited to see me and presented himself as Jose Perez. When i calmed him down and got him to stop smiling i asked him how did he know me and then he told me something so marvelous that i dont really know how to write it. He told me that he was a contact that i had made the last day i was in Puerto Colombia, that he was a positive contact and that we taught him the restoration and left him a BoM with the challenge to read and pray. The next day i left to go to Santa Marta as CM but he said that E Beltran (the comp i left behind) went back and kept teaching him and he accepted the Lords invitation to a better life and was baptized within the month! and now a short year later he was getting ready to go on a mission and so happy to be going and so happy to have known the goodness of the Lord. Well i just about started to cry (really im surprised i didnt... ok my eyes got pretty watered up) and give him a real big hug and didnt know what to say. He then continued to tell me that the miracle didnt stop there, but after he was baptized his family also listened to the lessons which led to the baptism of his parents and little sister who are planning on going to the temple in october! that floored me as well but THEN he told me that the Castro family (the first family that i found and was able to baptize) is doing well and especially the 2 sons John and Johnathan and John is also really close to going on the mission! ohh i almost crushed the poor skinny brown boy bc i was so happy i felt like jumping around and dancing and praying and crying all at the same time. to tell the truth im getting all teared up writing about how wonderful it is that the Lord let me be a DL my last cambio so that i had to go to a silly 3 day training meeting so that i could see the convert i never knew i had. it makes D&C 18 all the more true and special in my life, and not just a posibility but a promise. It takes so little space to write this story but i feel like im writing my whole mission, all the work, sweat, dirt, blood, noise, rejection, sun, RICE, and sadness are completely consumed in the joy that comes from serving the Lord and as alma prayed in his mission to the zoramites in Alma 31.
I remember in Puerto after i was able to see the conversion of the Castro family i felt such joy having them come with us to the lessons and was a little worried thinking that the Lord was giving me all the joy of the mission at the beginning bc really i didnt think i would be able to experience more joy than what i felt with them as my first converts. But spiritual joy is something so powerful that the Lord has let me feel it even more strongly through my time of service. through the trials and pain he has enlarged my capacity to feel spiritual joy and as Pte. Roundy always taught ¨physical pleasure or pain is nothing compared to spiritual joy¨ he was very right. The Lord loves His children so much and He has given me some of that love, He is so pained when we use are agency to scorn Him but will always forgive those who return to Him. He accepts the puny efforts of the boys of His church as they leave all that they think they know so well and magnifies them and molds them to do His marvelous work as only a God can. i still dont understand why the Lord would let me have such an amazing and marvelous this was so spiritually powerful to me which really difficults me to try to extend the experience to you all but im trying hard ( I feel like moroni in ether 12). but thinking of it all it just returns to the greatest commandments love God over all things and then your neighbor as yourself. Give God what little you have and as He includes you in His amazing plans you will really see the greatness how His power and capacity to change the hearts of men from the darkness that they are used too to the brilliant light of hope that the Savior is to the world. its wonderful the mission it really is and im so glad that the Lord has given me the chance to live it but if ive learned anything its that i can always be an instrument in the Lords hands to bring others to repentance and the Savior. He is always willing to accept my efforts to bring others to the gospel because it saves others souls but also mine as well, a great secrect that is not too secret.
well after feeling all that in the space of 5 mins with Jose i wrote down his e-mail address gave him a hug and told him good bye. Probably that was one of the most impactful 5 mins in my mission and im pretty sure ive still got a bit to learn from it still but so far that is what ive felt so far.
Thanks for all your love and letters although i love la Costa truthfully im excited to see you all and share these things in person.
Love
Elder Larson

CARTA!!! (July 26,2010)

hey family, taking a quick moment to write to you all to say im grrrreat! we had a good attendance in church yesterday and they have me playing the keyboard in primary to sundays are the best. i think it is something strange for the members to see a big white gringo sitting behind a really small table with a big keyboard playing primary songs and singing in his opera bass voice becuase almost everyone that passes by looks in to see what all the noise is about. i fully enjoy it. Our investigators are still progressing but with lots of dificulty, its quite hard for people to actually put faith into action when they dont have pratice doing it and when sacrifing could mean there is no food on the table for the family. but with lots of little steps they are working towards baptism. we really need the members help to show them its possible to live how the Lord wants us to here in B/quilla so we are going to be doing the extra work of getting the fun members here out of their house and on the street. dad in response to your question if im better looking now than before i think if alma 5 is true and i dont look any different we would have problems wouldnt we? in response to moms question about our investigator who dreams he said he saw ME so he recognized me when i stopped by. also he has told us more of his dreams which has been a hoot but just so you all know i am the same size a Jesus. he said the last time he had a dream about jesus he was my same size and build so thats interesting. the reason im writing so little is that they are taking 1/2 of the pday to have a DL meeting with the new MP. its a 3 day deal bc they are making some adjustments to the way the missionaries are going to teach so they are getting us up to speed. let me tell you im just so happy that they are going to take me out of my area for 3 days so that i can learn how all the OTHER missionaries are going to teach but thats the way things go.
thanks for all your love and letters. you are the all the BEST family ever.

Elder Larson
Misiòn Colombia Barranquilla
La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias

(i finshed my letter like that becuase i notice thats what all the cool rich misionarries in Germany do... BACANO TU PAPÀ!)

CARTA (July 19,2010)

well had a good start to the week that my companion labled ¨the beginning of the end¨ i didnt really appriecate it. Unlike my dearly beloved mother i cant say off the top of my head how much time i have left, and after so much time without doing math it takes me too long to figure it out and so i dont haha i just know i have ALOT of hours left. we are getting everything worked out so that we baptize these great men that we have found. Alejandro got to church yesterday and felt great to be there, we are really excited for him. Robinson is as always a champ and has gave the prayer in gospel doc. class yesterday which was big for him. Luis Valencia is another señor that is progressing well but is still a bit nervous to actually get baptized, he was preparing for this weekend but he got really nervous and his wife wasnt helping a whole lot so we are working that he gets baptized the same date as Robinson in Agosto. The only problem with these men is that their familes (especially their wives) are not progressing with them and we want to baptize FAMILIES! but tonight we are going to do a super family night with soda and everything at Alejandros house (or more like room) and we are going to make sure that Luis is praying and reading the BoM with his wife. Robinson we are not really too sure if we want him to pray with his wife becuase we are not sure to what she will pray to, being a witch and all haha. Another interesting thing that happened to us is that yesterday a man that we invited on the street actually CAME to church. After every negative contact we always invite the person to church and they always say ¨oh yeah ill be there¨ but they never show up but this guy (enrique camacho he is called) walked in during sacrament meeting and we didnt recognize him but after the meeting he told he we had invited him so he came. yesterday por la noche we went by and taught him and he was really acceptive and like the BoM. The field sure is white and getting whiter here in Colombia! He told us that he has dreams (OH NO COSTEÑO DREAMS you know what that means) but he told us that about 3 months ago he saw me in a dreaming teaching a class and so when i contacted him he got really startled and told me he didnt want to talk to me haha. Oh also he said he saw me in the dream with a blonde girl so i guess i was teaching a class with KATIE GARLICK, way to go Kate you made it into the Costeño dream realm! this week is going to be important for my comp. because i have to start doing intercambios with the other elders of the district (they put me as DL again to finish up) so he is going to get to be in charge of things it will be good for him. He is learning alot and works hard so im happy.

let me know how the german missionaries are doing, that is if they arent already back in la mecca mormona.

thanks for all your love and letters

Elder Larson

Cambios (July 13,2010)

heyyy family,
im writing late becaUSE todsay is the last p-day of the cambio and we have p-day the second half of the day! we have cambios today but lucky for us (my comp and i) there arent cambios! this is a happy thing because we are going to get to see our invest. batized hurayy! i was very surprised because i was sure they were going to change me up, that i would go to an area that needs alot of help, contact like crazy and find families and then change and not see them get baptized. that has been the normal cycle here in CBM. id even been studying scriptures about how its not that important who gets to baptize and that kind of thing but luckily the Lord wants to give me that chance to baptize in these 6 weeks that are coming up. so this past week the troubles came for our invest. Alejandro is having a hard time getting work and his family has been pretty sick with some kind of flu and all of this prevented him from coming to church again sunday. Well we passed by and invited him to repent and not repeat and then gave him some hope and he really felt sorry and he is ready for church this weekend come hell or high water (and that high water part is really possible thanks to the rain here). yesterday there was a huge rainstorm for two hours that flooded alot of houses including ours! but not really flooded just kind of formed a river that goes from the back door to the front door and then to the street, it doesnt cause any damage and kinda cleaned a little bit. also as we were waiting the storm out in the house of the members who gave us lunch the hermana abuelita didnt like lighting and everytime it thundered or did lighting she would yell and duck, one lighting bolt struck a eletricity transformer a block away from the house which made it blow up and was really loud.....she almost tackled my comp from being so scared haha. ROBINSON is chugging along and reads a ton of the BoM but we ran into a slight problem with his marriage. problem one his birth registro doesnt exist anymore and that means he has to make a new one which takes time its just really odd that he legally doesnt exsist, thats is the normal problem. the ABnormal problem is that the reason his wife doesnt want to hear us and is not in the house alot is due to her job.... which is..... being a WITCH. yes his wife reads crystal balls and uses cards to tell the future and communicates with spirits all that stuff, on a good day she gets to take demons out of people by using other demons which has its own process that i can fill you in on later rather frighting. there actually is alot of this kind of stupidness here in the coast but this is a first time my invest. is living with a witch. well we arent really sure what is going to happen but i should be interesting but dont worry i wont be looking into her eyes for longer than 5 seconds.
ohh we had our conference with Pte. Gaviria. it was kinda funny the poor man got there really late with his family (they had been traveling alot and looked tired) he has 4 kids from 18 to 4 years. He and his wife kinda presented themselves and then gave us advice but the advice part was funny because they said things like ¨use your cell phones to call the LD¨ (we dont have cell phones) ¨be careful going from the AC into the heat¨(AC doesnt exist) ¨i really admire you all for using suit coats while preaching¨(we NEVER use suit coats for the heat and because it would make us MORE of a target). basically they are new and its fun but im sure they are going to be super great presidents and the coast is going to keep bringing many converts to Christ. thanks lars for the letter im sure scout camp was a blast! Good luck Uncle Rob with that kidney sounds like an interesting way to use your vacation time from work.
keep praying for the invest and they have the hope and faith to keep progressing to making covenats
love ya all
Elder Larson

NOTICIAS DE COLOMBIA (June 28,2010)

another week and it was GREAT!!! there just isn't any other way to describe the Lords labor and being able to participate in it. we had a good assistance in church yesterday and the ward is super excited that i asked the bishop to let me play the keyboard in sacrament meeting. The first two weeks i forgot during the week to ask the bishop if there existed a keyboard but after two weeks of hearing everybody sing ¨oh God the eternal father¨ without any kind of music i wrote it down to ask the bishop and make sure that he would let me play, I'm glad i did. nobody actually sings any better but when i play the keyboard i have to turn up the volume real loud and since im playing the keyboard it almost drowns out the congregation singing haha. anyways yesterday was a challenge for our families that we are teaching. The flia Velez Herenandez is on hold bc the father and two of the girls went to Venezuela for 3 months... not the best news. BUT the family Manjares is doing great but with challenges we are just looking for an active family to come with us to teach them about FhE and all the other great things saints do to be holy. They are working hard to give up cafe and we helped them set a goal to pray as a family every night this week so that's what we are shooting for. the biggest thing that they need is to see how upping their responsibility with the Lord is the best thing they could do. its always a challenge for people here to actually take the decision that brings so many blessings but requires a constant effort to obtain them. sometimes its difficult to help the people really see how much God really WANTS to bless them and bc he knows that we have to make covenants with him to get those blessings he is so willing to help them make and keep covenants. we just have to let God help us by doing what he says and believing. we just barely got the conference Liahona here in Colombia and boy was i excited to finally get it. My comp and i jumped around yelling ¡new scripture new Scriptures! (something that would be completely blasphemous in any other christian religion) i was almost losing my testimony of Thomas Monson bc it had been so long without knowing what he is talking about haha. its funny being a missionary, everybody else is all pumped up about soccer in South Africa and im all excited about a wordy magazine with messages from elderly people in formal business clothes, i guess its more of the spirit it brings than anything else. i liked reading Elder Andersons talk ¨tell me the stories of Jesus¨ because it reminded me alot about my wonderful parents and family. Ive also loved how here in the mission im able to obtain stories of Jesus in what he does in my life like how he guides me always to those who wish to accept him, or how he always protects me from the world, or a million other things that Jesus dones for our family and for me right now.
we´ve been so blessed to live in a time so wonderful and with a family so great. one reason im so grateful to be on a mission becuase i know it lets me SHOW the Lord the gratitude that i have as his servant. Constantly i tell the Lord of my gratitude but its so much better when i can go out and work and let that be a testament to my gratitude for all the things that the Lord has given me. but luckily for all you who are without name tags we can all do the work of the Lord and you all can as well show your gratitude through your works.
thanks for all your prayers and letters
Elder Larson

I had a cold yesterday for the first time in B/quilla! (June 21,2010)

its true yesterday i had cold during the sacrament meeting. Well it started out that going to get our investigators it started to rain a TON!! well luckliy we had our umbrellas but unluckily they are very cheap umbrellas and they turned inside out and the rain was coming on more of a diagonal than straight down so they didnt really help alot. Never the less we kept on wading various flooded streets until we found ourselves challeneged by a very FAST flooded 2 meter ditch. When i say fast it was fast and it also was up on the hill so it also had a waterfall effect going on and i remind you that this isnt pretty rain water after it hits the street here it turns all kinds of brown and when the flow passes where there is a sewer top it puts an even more interesting shade of brown (when we got back to the house i disenfected my feet its necesarry). well lucky for us someone had put 2 old concrete telephone poles across the stream and we carefully made our way across got to the familes house... it was exciting! Well lucky for us it rained from 730 to 830 and then stopped so basically it rained enough to drench us but still give our invest, time to go to church which they did. the families returned for the second time and a new family joined us la familia Manjares, they are a family of 5 and the parents are MARRIED and the husband (alejandro) is way awesome and ya has a testimony and they dont live too far from the church.... pray for them! well simply the reason i was cold was when we got to church we were completly soaked and then we sat in air condiciong for an hour and i really was cold, i throughly enjoyed it. other fun stuff that happened this weekend is that we had our last zone conference and my last interview with Pte. Roundy. They (the Roundys) gave us all the advice they could think of and it was really special to hear their testimonies. the last interview with Pte. Roundy was a little strange being that he is going home before me, but he told me that i had made a great impact on the mission and that he was especially grateful to me for training well so many elders . this week Elder Torres of the seventy is coming to teach us some fun things so that will be exciting. my comp and i are getting along well, he knows quite a bit of english so he is teaching me when we are in the apartment. its silly because randomly he will say some weird phrase in english and his voice in english is really funny. also here in the mission they have given the missionaries a booklet to learn english and the examples of conversations are between elders and members things like... hello bishop how is the retention going? great elder, always in the service of god we are blessed!.... and things of that style so we quote the funny sentances and laugh.

things really are going great here, i feel so blessed that the Lord has let us find some people who really WANT to hear and change, it makes everthing alot nicer. im always grateful that missionary work diligently performed forms a wall of protection against temptacion or disanimo (that something that is promised in PMG in the chap 6 part about obediencia) becuase ive really have felt that my time here and i contiue to feel so.

thanks for your love and prayers and letters

Elder Larson

que PODER (June 14,2010)

sounds like an exciting weekend for all you gringo folks up north. IT just started a huge rainstorm here so we are going to be wading out of the internet after we finish typing.. YAYY!! it has been a good week of hard work looking for people who are willing to listen and change to be more like Christ (the keyword is change b/c here in friendly B/quilla almost everyone is willling to listen as long as they dont have to do anything). Here it was big soccer news 1) b/c the world cup started and everyone is glued to the TV and 2) this last weekend was the nacional finals of soccer with B/quilla playing at home for the championship. About 2 hours before the match started nobody was in the street or if they were they were watching a gaint street screen. Our area is about 5 blocks from the stadium so we could hear all the noise and see the fireworks. The only time the costeños actually get angry for us talking to them is when there is soccer so we got some fun insults thrown at us. One guy angrily told me that if the team was to lose it would be my fault bc i had inturrupted his prayer to the saint someone that the team would win. Luckly i didnt inturrupt his prayer too much and the home team won!! our apartment is next to a main street and that street was full of people blowing on plastic trumpets and playing drums until early in the morning. these happy people are always ready to start a party for whatever reason. On a more important note yesterday we had a good group of investigators at church which made my compa all happy( me too). it always is neat to me how one gets to an area, starts with pretty much nothing, start talking and testifying, and if you look hard enough with your eyes of faith investigators start to form. It has always seemed to happen to me to get to start an area over again and its such a miracle to see how the Lords guides those who wish to be guided to thos who will accept Him. It just cant be something that ¨happens¨ bc it happens so much and when it happens (it being finding people who are really prepared to change) its amazing! so here to working hard and smart so it happens some more!

We have a neat family of 5 (la familia Velez Hernandez) who are really friendly and looked like they had a good time in church yesterday. the ward really struck a home run with talking to them and taking them to classes when they were looking to sneak out early. i felt really relieved that the ward helped us on this one bc after all the work it takes to get people to go to church once they are there its up to the members to make them feel welcome, and it they dont do it there really isnt much that can make up for it. also another man who we found our first day together while we were walking around lost came to church by himself and with his BoM in hand. He informed us that he had read all of the book of Jacob and was working on helaman, we were floored. It just reminds me how big of a power the ¨el libro de los mormones¨ (like they call it here) is to convert, the only thing is trying to get this people who see the need to read books to READ it!!! as a mision we have been reading the BoM together since Jan. and we are going to finish the end of this month. i have really enjoyed seeing how the book has elevated the mision to achieve the goals we have set as a mision and i have seen alot more humility in the mision. and personally reading the book has helped me mantain the focus that is so important here in the service of the Lord.

thanks for your letters and love,

ill hear from you next week,

keep praying for us here and well pray for you there

Love

Elder Larzón (our name colombianized)

Mail Time! (June 7,2010)

Well hello family! It was great to get all your letters and find you all well and happy. Here in my new area of Ciudadela all is CHEVERE! First of my new compa is Elder Pastrán from Mendoza argentina which is cool. His accent is more manly than the chilenos accents so that is good. He comes from a rather crazy family life but so far he is normal. He is really excited to be here and listens well and learns quickly. One thing im teaching him is how to walk side by side without bumping into his companion. I guess he is orbiting around me and because im so much chunckier now my gravitational force has increased and he cant help but colliding into me every 5 mins. But we are learning and more than anything it makes me laugh about all the stuff that he is learning to do that I didn’t even realize that a missionary does because it just am used to it. My area is WAY different than where I have been the last 6 months. If we remember sincelejo is a cattle town and monteria pretty much the same. So I m used to lots of mud, pigs running around in the sreet, cheap crazy veggies, and more iguanas smashed on the street than dogs. Well B/quilla is not like that, this is really the first time Ive have the chance to work in B/quilla wince intercambios in Pto. Colombia way back when so its exciting. Lots of salsa music 24/7, buses that go WAY to fast, 3 legged dogs and no iguanas, oh and its started the tropical rains here so about every day at 2 it rains real hard and B/quilla is famous for its flooding streets that really do turn into rivers and sometimes overturn cars (we don’t cross them when they are like that don’t worry). When we got here we got soaked bc neither of us had umbrellas so we bought 2 and then it didn’t rain… just like the mission. The Barranquilleros are a very friendly specie (the females sometime overly) and they always say they want to hear us, but when we come back the next day they have completely forgotton and say OH I didn’t think you were going to actually come back!. But contacting these last few days we have found some good people which has been a good experience in listening to the spirit seeing that when we got here neither of us had any idea to where to start. The ward is really strong and anxious to help so that is a new one for me. I was actually a little overwhelmed Sunday with the all the members who talked to us and wanted to give us food send their son to teach with. So things are looking up like always here in the service of the Lord, its great to be in a place where so many people need the gospel and to know that it can help them. My compa keeps telling me im an old man because I am constantly saying ¨one time in….¨ and then share a teaching story from times past. But its great to have those stories, while making new ones, while working like im just starting! Love you all and I hope that Lars and Layne can live until schools out!

Love ya

Elder Larson

Changes! (June 1,2010)

well familia im writing you late because we have CAMBIOS!!! and im going to be leaving monteria to work in the big city of Barranquilla. this will be the first time i will actually be IN B/quilla so it will be will fun and alot different than here in my area of monteria. my new comp is coming in fresh from the MTC of Bogota so i get the blessings of a new missionary again yayy!! what i wrote when elder diaz was coming in 12 weeks again applies here again so if you want you can read it again. But im really happy that im going to have a comp that is excited to change the mission and B/quilla at one time. im a little short on time due to the fact that i have to pack but im going to send you some fotos which is worth a thousand words each so this letter is actaully really long! im so happy to be working at this time in the full time service of the Lord and having the oppurtunity to serve his children as he would.

thanks for all the letters brothers!

love

Elder LArson

ps. o send you the first ones big and the last ones little so that you can see that my camera isnt fuzzy

I feel like stephen (the one from Acts) - May 24,2010

yes this week i was hit with a rock. it was kinda of traumatic and a bit difficult to return to the neigborhood where the scene of the crime happened but i prayed with faith trusting in the prayers of my mother and returned to where the Lord needed me. JUST KIDDING but i was really hit with a rock but not for being a missionary what really happened is a man was trying to hit a dog that was getting too friendly with his female dog. well since about 88.6745% of the people here need but dont have glasses he chucked the rock even though we were behind the offending wannabe alpha male dog. Well the rock didnt hit the dog but landed about 8 feet in front of me and bounced and struck me in the leg. really it didnt hurt at all and more that anything im really excited because but now i can say i´ve been stoned for the lords sake in the mission (biblicly stoned not hippie style). but talkin about hippies this week i bought some super super glue for my shoes and was gluing them together in the little room that we have to study and due to the strong odor of the glue my compa started to get real light headed and giggly.... we put a fan in the room fast i dont like giggly compas hahaha. other than that the week went by fast and enjoyable. The daughter of Laureano was baptized and confirmed this past weekend which was a blessing to see. im not sure why but costeños just dont liked to get baptized all at once there is someone who always wants to linger and ruin what could be a super baptism picture but the picture isnt important and she was confirmed (which is). These weekend the little sister of a convert that Elder Abanto and i baptised is preparing for baptism so the Lord is blessing us quite a bit (like always) here in Monteria. Sin embargo im still praying to find that bishop and his family, maybe ive already found him and he just has to grow up and have a family, but ill keep working like i havent found him and like i should... diligently! its such a blessing to serve in the lords labor. yea its hard and hot and sweaty and smelly (i washed my clothes today and they smelled just amazing, i had to use a bucket of bleach) but really i know there is no other way so great at this point in my life to help other people and myself come to Christ than what i am doing now . its a blessing to serve and everytime i do something good for someone i help the Lord do what he would do. and doing what the lord would do sure feels great. thanks for all your support and prayers. i know that my preparacion for this time in my life started when you first taught me how to pray and read the scriptures. Its such a blessing to help others start a path that they might never find but also teach them how great it is to walk it relying only on God. so many people here rely on their pastor or their priest so they can grow spiritually and sometimes its hard to help them understand that they can progress without us always at their side . Teaching a gospel that is so personal and individual is a blessing to all who really desire to take upon them the name of christ and work out their salvation. But im so very thankful that all you wonderful family of mine that you all decided to do what the Lord would have done and helped me serve a mission, thus progressing personally but also helping me in ways so special and personal. its a blessing to choose the right.

Love

Elder Larson

Baptisim (May 17,2010)

Hola familia querida. This week has been very enventful and special, ill start with the most important and finish with the least so that if you get bored you can stop Reading halfway. First off Ana Laureano and Anderson (thier son) got baptized!!!!! WE had soooo many Little things that got in the way this week, we had to send them to antoher town to get married and the car broke down, the sister who made the cake for the party came late, her mom decided not to stay for the baptism and that made her sad, and the baptismal clothes for Laureano were too small…. BUT THEY GOT BAPTIZED!!! It was really a special experience to see, this family has changed so much to be able to be baptized and confirmed it was a roller coaster helping them get there. Ana was especially touched by the baptism and as she left the wáter she just started to cry and was so happy. As she bore her testimony after she changed she just said she felt so different, lighter she said, a feeling so warm and loving (something that she hasnt had much in her life), then she said somthing that really was awesome she said ï felt like i never knew how to sin¨. What a great way to explain how the spirit influences us. It makes the very thought of breaking Gods commandments look totally ridiculous and stupid (as it is). They were married and baptized on Friday so Saturday we passed by to remind them how important it is to get to church on time for the confirmación and she asked us again about this feeling she had felt after she was baptized. I felt impressed to tell her that her soul was being lightened from sin and then promise her that she will never have to feel like she felt before her baptism after she recieves the holy ghost and is worthy of it. It felt good to teach the truth. It got to do the confirmaciones which was a special way to express the Lords feeling for them through his servant (Little ol meJ). My compa is pretty happy being these his first converts but we arent satisfied because a family that we have been teaching that werent too excited for marriage have changed their minds and are all pumped up for getting hitched! Thanks for all your prayers in behalf of Ana and Laureano. I know they helped them as well as me, it really is hard work getting a family baptized andi feel so blessed that the lord let us succed. But the work isnt over yet to please direct your prayers for the family Llorente. tHey are a family of 4 that are going to get baptizted in a Little as 2 weeks if our prayers and plans work out. Well besides that the most important thing other fun details, this past Tuesday was the dia de la virgen maria in case all you mormons didnt know. Well everyone was lighting candles and reciting the hail mary with alot of faith so guess what…. She appeared to someone in the neighborhood!!! Yea i know but seriously there is a crack in one of the walls in one of the neighborhoods that someone decided looked like the virgen and went and told all the old ladys who are crazy about the virgen and they all came in forcé and roped of the area and lit candles and put flowers down. Some pretty important stuff….but it made me laugh because even more people than normal asked us about Joseph Smith being a saint and one old lady was willing to light a candle for him. i told her it wasnt necesarry but if she wanted to she could pray to the elect lady Emma Smith… just kidding!! Its great to be able to help the faithful people direct their faith in the right directions which is to say make covenants so they can recieve the blessing that their heavanly father wants so much to give.

Love you all tons

ELDER LARSON

el gran sueno (May 10,2010)

well it was super great to hear from you all a fun way to end the week for sure. to clear up the doubt about in what language i do interviews with Pte. Roundy the answer is a resounding.... SPANISH. after the 3rd interview here in colombia all the interviews have been in spanish so the last time i had an interview with pte roundy in english was more than a year ago. the idea was not speak english so i had to speak spanish so i could learn faster, i think it worked.

well after telling you all about my marvelous life yesterday as promisedhere is a funny dream i remeber from an invest. back in Sincelejo.

one must remember that sincelejo is a cow town and if you remember i think i wrote you all about the ¨corraleja¨ which is put alot to drunk people in a rodeo type arena with an angry bull and see who gets run over first. Well thats is a tradition since 50 years ago so often contacting we would run into old guys who were all scarred up from getting gorred when they were younger and all guns to talk about the glory days liked to show us this scars. One of the best ones was when we contacted a man who let us teach him in his garden of mangos and papayas behind his house. he seemed pretty interested at first but then... the dream! just as we got to the part of lesson one where we talk about prophets out of nowhere he interrupts and tell us how much he believes in jesus because he saved him from the crazy cows when he was younger. Well i knew this was going to be a great one so i had to ask him how. well he told us how when he was 20 he decided to go to the corraleja and being drunk he was gored but the bull. he was gored in his lower abdomen (which scar he did NOT show us) and while he was injured and the rest of the spectators carried him off the rink he looked at the people and saw carrying him off the rink peter, james and the VIRGEN!!! (the best apostles ever as he told us). he told them he didnt want to die and the virgen at this point had turned into jesus and he told him the if he wanted to live he had to give up the corraleja and drinking. Well the injured dreaming costeño told the dream jesus that he could give up the corraleja but he wasnt too sure about giving up drinking because he really likes it. Well because jesus is to kind he told our dear costeño friend that that was ok and he had to give up just the corraleja.... how nice. Well he got better and to this day he hasnt gone to another corraleja buthe still likes to drink! the costeños really are a special people and a hoot but i love em and if i dont work for their salvation i dont know who will (besides the Lord). keep praying to Laureano and ana (the Jimenez Gomez family) this weekend is going to be great!

love you all!

Elder Larson

lluvia (May 3,2010)

YO HOOOLA familia

bueno un gusto a escribirles to tell you im grrrreat! we had a missionary week (missionary week = great) for muchos reasons ONE) we taught tithing to Ana and Laureano and so what did they do this sunday..... PAY TITHING!!! that is a first for me, to see people who arent members yet pay tithing. super blessings are in store for them TWO) the relief society is going to help us sell the fritos so ana y laureano can get married THREE).... well im testifying of christ and inviting people to repent thats good enough in inself. It sounds like the hiking trip was a good one and HOW cool is it that katie is going to stay with you all. Tell her she can use my pillows if she wants. Well i understand that you all got some rain and im sure that its true, BUT here in colombia we´ve started the drenching season. All in all im pretty sure that we end up getting about the same about of rain but the dramatic thing is that here it dumps 2 days worth of rain in about 30 mins! that makes things interesting becasue its floods the canals and what is in them starts to float around on the street (we wont talk about whats in them but it is of various colors and smells interesting). also the streets turn to complete MUD after they have drained. well what we usually do when it rains is obvious.. teach but the thing is almost all the houses in our area have tin roofs. so when the rain is coming down colombian style its like somone has put a tin bucket on your head and then starts to whack it with drumsticks.... all in all it makes it rather difficult to communicate. But with my ever eager compa i usually pass the lesson to him when it the strongest and he yells really loud and the people sometimes understand him. OHH and what makes it more fun is when water starts coming in under the wooded walls and we arrange the seats (we are always in a very small cirlce so we can understand something) 2 or 3 times to avoid the puddles. sometimes we even help put little buckets out to catch the rain that leaks through the roof. but all this excitment is olny about 30 mins of every other day its not like nonstop lluvia and just when it stops out comes the sun strong as ever to dry things out bone dry. umm this sunday other than being mother day here is also stake conference so that might be fun, you know how i am with stake conference. Oh also yesterday they asked me to lead the hyms NOOOOOO it was so ridicouls. i was set to get everyone to sing the right rythm but i was completly foiled by the songs the bishop choose 1st one a poor wayfaring man of grief (the first time they heard it im sure) and the last one the best latin favorite...... HOW GREAT THOU ART!!! but ive learned to enjoy the interesting singing style of peopel who never have had the chance to study music.

thanks for your prayers for our invest. it has helped alot. pray that they strengthen their testimonys of the BoM its so important.

thanks for all your love and letters

Elder Larson

les escribo (April 26,2010)

well to quote the famous Elder Bangerter Andrew.. it was a great week! but im not going to make up reasons for repeating myself buecause i find myself teaching the same thing almost everyday just to diferent people. I was thinking about that during my limited personal think time (usually when im walking a 30 min long distance walk) and came to the conlcusion that since there is only one truth there really arent that many ways to say it. its a worldy desire to have something NEW and FABOULOUS every 2 months but the good thing with the unchanging gospel truths is that it seems one can understand something very common but on a new spiritual level. so i have to keep studing the scriptures that they put in PMG even though by know i know what they say before i read them bcI have to grow so I can understand them better. so back to my week me and my chilean child are going strong, we are getting really excited for the baptism for Ana and Laureano in a few weeks. WE are going to sell fritos to raise the money necessary and hopefully the ward is going to pitch in. Keep praying hard that they recoginze how important this is and that their baptism is the most important thing for them now. They have quite a few of family realtionships details to work out and its kinda rocky this whole change thing but we are heading over tonight for a fun family night and they asked us to dedicate the house (ana says she sees spirits and she spooked my compa and he said he felt something too.... ohhh latinos). Umm this sunday they called tatianna (my conversa from a few weeks ago) to be a primary teacher and that made me happy. It really is great to give onself to the edificacion de zion. i feel that a little bit too often we focus on want the mission does for the missionary but we have to remember that the mission that i have the great opurtunity to serve is to build zion. This is to say that instead of worrying about if we are good enough for the calling we just have to do our best knowing that the Lord will do his work like he wants to and he will do it with whatever servant is willing. This is another product of personal think time that helped me alot when i was in Cartagena.

congrats matthew with the gradutation and the safe return of the norweigan princess. ohh im going to call for mothers day the 9th of may. the easiet time will be in the afternoon at 4 or 5 but if you want i could call later like 7 or 8. let me know next week.

thanks for all your love and faith, pray for the costeños because they need your prayers (me too)

LOVE

Elder Larson

de MIII (April 17,2010)

heeeey family,
well sounds like an eventfull week. Matthew tough luck, it seems like the adversary
has a stronger hold on iceland than other places, that or the Lord wants to see if you can
pray down a volcano.... better get started. If you promise that ill see the wedding ill join you with
my super faith filled greeny but if not we´ll leave you on your own. jaja but seriously that is kinda crazy
that a volcano interrupted (i put interrupt and errupt togother!!) things. pero se acuerda que para siempre es PA´
SIEMPRE. well here we had CAMBIOS im staying put with E´ diaz which is going to be great! WE are going to baptize some great familes and we are going to find MOOORE.

we are going to play ping pong so i have to write quickly, but i send pics, which are worth a thousand words

thanks for all your love and letters

Elder larson

p.s. send my regrets to the Bangerter family. When i was little and heard andrew talk about Grandpa Bangerter i thought he was the profeta!