Nada nada limonada 🍋 - Week 48 - Monday, September 4, 2017

Hello people. I have 0 ganas to write this email right now but i will do what needs to be done. I will just remind you guys to try and finish the Book of Mormon once before the year ends. You still have like so much time. You got it. I believe. I hope at least one of you does it. Then i would call it a success. I finished the Book of Mormon this week. Well kind of. I read the whole thing out loud in Spanish which is super cool but I didn't learn a whole lot because it was mostly to help me with Spanish. It was still so cool though. The Book of Mormon can do so much. It can even help me with Spanish. Isn't that so cool!

We just had a breakfast with these people in our ward this morning and we were talking about the importance of the Book of Mormon and its purpose. We talked about how the Book of Mormon helps us understand the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is so true too. Sometimes i feel like we talk about Joseph Smith too much. A lot of people think that Joseph Smith is our Jesus or something. Yeah Joseph Smith is cool, but we should not be apart of the church because of the joseph smith story or his testimony. We should be apart of the church because it is Christ's church and because we have felt him in our lives through his scriptures. Yeah that is all i got for today. You guys are all awesome and I hope you have a good week! 

Elder Larsen

Semana 17... - Week 47 - Monday, August 28, 2017

Hello everyone. Once again I am emailing you all. Things have been going great here in Sterling, VA. It has really been great. I will say that this week might have been the hardest week I have had on my mission. I know what you are thinking, that I have been out so and so months but still have hard days or weeks. Oh man yeah. This one was just a barrage of stuff that made it not the funnest week, but it ended all good. I was talking to my mission president a while ago and one of the things that he said stood out to me this week. He told me that when he interviews missionaries at the end of their missions he asks them when they learned the most on their mission. He then told me that the times that those missionaries learned the most usually were during their hardest times. It is really interesting and cool. There is this awesome EFY song that we listen to that is called "Mountains to Climb". That song just really stood out to me this week.

My friend Shandon quoted a scripture in his weekly email about the 2,000 stripling warriors of Helaman. It was kind of cool because I read about them this morning! I read about the people of Ammon and how they wanted to go to war because all of the Nephites were dying, but Helaman told them they shouldn't because he was afraid that they would lose their souls. Then the sons of these amazing people stood up and agreed to go out there to fight. I just think about how scary that would be. I never want to go to war. I thought about that and how I could apply it to my life and I thought about how I left my parents to come be a missionary because they can't be missionaries because they are too old. How I am out here fighting a spiritual battle, well we are all fighting a spiritual battle but you get what I am meaning here. It talks about how those warriors obeyed with exactness and quoting the same scripture Shandon did, not one of them died in battle, but they also all received wounds. Us missionaries aren't perfect. I remember when I was little I thought they were. We are all out in this battle together, missionary or not. Isn't it a wonderful thing this gospel. It really is guided by Jesus Christ himself.

I am thankful for all of the support from all of you! You are all awesome and I really hope that you all have a great week!

Davis

Semana 16... :) - Week 46 - Monday, August 21, 2017

Well I hope you all are preparing for the eclipse. We found out about it yesterday when the bishop talked about it in sacrament meeting. Sounds like it will be cool. This week we had a bunch of stuff going on. We had interviews and also exchanges. They were both way awesome! I love my district leader and my president. It is so amazing to be surrounded by such great missionaries. I just love how you can see the good in almost everyone. Well I guess everyone. I feel like all of the new missionaries that are coming out are just so awesome and are way better missionaries than me. Literally everyone matters. Every single person is important to God and has great potential. I hope you guys can just tell someone that you love them today! It really means a lot to hear it!

 I literally heard on of the most amazing testimonies this week. It was from a non-member too. We were doing a pass of lesson with the English elders. The investigators asked us what happens to us after we die. Or what we believed. Then after the investigator told us how her mom had died five months ago. Then she told us that she is absolutely sure that her mom is in the presence of God. It was literally so powerful. My comp Elder Richardson told me how he could understand every word that she said and that he almost wanted to cry. It was so cool to see such great faith. The conviction in her voice was undeniable. It was just so awesome. The plan of happiness is real and there is no need to worry about death. Like the Book of Mormon says in Mosiah 16:8- "But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ."

Thanks for all the love and support! You guys are all awesome and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Larsen

Semana 17... - Week 45 - Monday, August 14, 2017

Well another week has come and gone. There has been a huge push in our mission to use the Book of Mormon a lot more. It has been really cool. One of the biggest things we do is share scriptures with people on the street or on their porch. Then they usually think its the bible. Its not. So then we explain it and stuff and it has been way cool. The Book of Mormon has the converting power that no person will ever have. So why not try and help people read the Book of Mormon? It has really helped alot. We have been teaching this recent convert that leaves to BYUI in a few weeks. She told us that she wants to finish the whole Book of Mormon before she goes. Which is so awesome. She is only in 2 Nephi so she has got some work to do! 

This week I read in Alma 26 which is probably one of my favorite chapters in the whole book. It is Ammon and his brother talking basically. Aaron tells Ammon that he is being boastful and Ammon basically replies by saying that he is only boasting in God and the strength that he can give him. I also love verse 27 where it talks about what happened when they were depressed or discouraged on their missions. I remember before i left on my mission there was a return missionary in my ward that had just gotten home. He came and talked to us priests. He shared Alma 26:27 and how it helped him on his mission and boy does it help and is it true. I hope you all can find peace from the scriptures the more you read them. I hope you all can share a scripture that stood out to you this past week with someone. That could be your family, a friend or even me! I think i count as friend too. Well hope all is good in your lives. You guys are awesome!

Elder Larsen

Semana 16.5... - Week 44 - Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Hey guys! Coming to you guys on a Tuesday! We got to go to the temple today! It was way sweet! This week has been full of a ton of stuff! We have been way busy with zone conference and exchanges. Luckily that is all over now and we have more time to actually do stuff! We have been trying to find the hispanics that live in houses and i have been enjoying that. I also took a trip to the mosque this week. Those people are awesome. We also were given a ton of books including the Quran. They are way super nice though. 

Well I hope you all have continued to read the book of mormon. I have been reading it! I havent had a lot of time but I have dove into alma! I was reading and I decided that Alma is probably my favorite prophet in the Book of Mormon. Hopefully that is okay to say. Alma literally just does everything! He used to be one of the worst people too. He was the prophet, he was a missionary and he also fought out in battle and killed people. He basically did everything! He is so awesome! I would love it if at least one of you would send me your favorite prophet or story from the book of mormon and why! Hope you all have a great week! Youre all awesome!

Elder Larsen

Semana 17... - Week 43 - Monday, July 31, 2017

Well another week has come and gone and not much has changed. I did read the Book of Mormon some more this week and I am on the last chapter of Mosiah! Super excited to start reading Alma tomorrow. I also started to read the New Testament. I am trying to finish that this transfer. I read the story of Alma the younger this week though. I love that story. I was thinking about it and it shows how big of an influence friends have on you. Alma and his four friends were going around trying to destroy the church. They were all trying to do the same thing. Then when they changed and all that stuff. They all started to do good things. They ended up becoming awesome missionaries! It is so cool. It goes to show that your friends have a huge influence on you! It is crazy! I am so thankful for the friends that I have and the good influence they are to me. Most of my friends are out there on missions too and it is really awesome to hear from them every week. I am even lucky enough to have one of my good friends here in my mission. I love my friends. I love my family too. Don't worry family.

So this week something really awesome happened! We taught this one crazy lady and her kids. Her kids then told us that there friend was interested in listening to us and her mom too. We were like alright. So we went over to the house and this lady answered the door. She was a member from Bolivia. She was baptized about 8 years ago in another ward in our mission. She was baptized in Alexandria. She is the only member of her family. Her husband goes to another church. So what happened was that her and her husband would fight about where their kids would go to church until one day they decided that they were both just going to stop going to church so that there would be no fighting. That was about 3 or 4 years ago. Then 2 years ago she moved here to sterling and didn't know where the church was or anything until we found her. We had a lesson with her last night and she told us how it is time for her to go back to church with her daughters. She said she doesn't know it her husband is going to understand, but she is going to do it. She said she would come to church next week too. We are way excited for them!

Well I hope you all have a great week and you guys are all way awesome! Love you guys!

Elder Larsen