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