December 12, 2011

Dear Family!

 

Well... i am going to start off with the Christmas call...I mean chat! haha Well, let's do it on christmas then. We have our services for one hour from 10 to 11 (i think that is 9 to 10 your time) then.... I hope that we will have a baptism after so maybe we won't finish until 12ish (11ish your time) I will plan on calling right after that hopefully. So plan getting online like at 11 or 11 30 your time. Hopefully, it will work out. If I can't use the video, I will call the house from here and then you guys can call me back me back on that same number. ok? I hope i make sense. That way I can talk to Blake before he has to go! cool!

 

Well, I guess some of you heard about the earthquake here in Mexico.  Good news is.. I AM ALIVE! haha  It was quite far away where the epicenter happened. But... never the less, I still felt it. It was kinda weird because that was the first time i have actually felt an earthquake.  It lasted quite a long while.  It shook the walls a little and the lights.  Basically everything was kinda waving around... not big and I wasn't scared but you could feel it for sure. So nothing happened here! but it must have been a descent size earthquake to get all the way here. But all is well!

  

 Remember I told you about the guy we are teaching, well he is progressing, but we will see... he is not too sure about baptism but he is thinking about it. He still hasn't gone to church, so after he goes he will get a better idea of what it is like and how he feels about it.  Hopefully that will get him excited. We are hoping that he goes to church with us this Sunday.  He is really cool, but it will be really hard if he does decide to be baptized because he will need to change some things. But it would be cool! 

 

We weren't able to baptize anyone this week, but we have someone with a baptismal date for this Sunday.  She is the grandma of another investigator and she just LOVES church.  We put down a date for this week. She just needs to get her interview and thats it!  Hopefully we will baptize her granddaughter too because she loves the gospel too.  She is working on some things,  but we hope that we can baptize them both this week . We are praying and fasting for them! 

 

Well I really don't have a whole lot more to write. I am so grateful for all the letters you guys send!  I love them and of course, I read every single one... but  I don't have a lot of time to respond to them. I'm so sorry!!  I love all of you sooooo much! I cant wait to SEE you again on Christmas!  It sure will be a special one!  THANKS SOOOO MUCH!

 

Elder Sean Larson

 

p.s. Mom, did you get your letter from me?

December 5, 2011

We ran into one of our recent converts Arturo...he is such a great guy!

Dear family!

Wow! Thanks for the update and pictures of the wind storm.  I can't believe what happened in bountiful! I didnt think winds like that happen there!  That was really crazy to see all the damage that happened. I have never seen any thing like that .  It's so cool how all of Bountiful pitched in to help out! Awesome!  I can't really imagine it. Dad, you can count on me helping you witht the fence when i get home!   I have to admit,  I was soooooo worried for the Christmas train. What a mess it would be if we lost it..... that is the Larson family treasure! ( Aren't you famous for that haha. ) It's good to hear that all you guys are fine!  Another sad thing i noticed in the pics is that.... there isn't any snow on the ground! NOOOOO!  haha.  I know sometimes it is like that, but there had better be snow when I get home or even better... it should be snowing! Thanks for the update and the pictures.  I am glad everyone is alright.

Well we had a really cool week this last week.  We had a Mission Conference with the President Johnson who is a 70 and the area Pres. in Mexico.  It was really neat! It was cool how he taught us... he basically took an hour just asking us questions about some scriptures we read about the doctirine of Christ.  He would simply respond and the ask another question according to what we asked. It was really cool because  the spirit was teaching us more than just him teaching us.  He made us think and ponder about a lot of things and he taught us some new things that we can do and apply in the mission. So i am really excited to apply everything he taught us.  It is weird but i just completed 22 months in the mission and that means I only have 2 months left.   I am excited to apply everything I have learned from these last 22 months and all the new things that Pres. Johnson taught us.  I am super scared  to come home but  I am just going to continue to work hard...and then Feb. 8th is when I will worry about that. But i realize that the Lord expects a lot from us.  After the mission i will continue working hard and serving  in the church  because I love it and I know it is what the Lord wants us to do. 

Umm...before i forget. We are able to use skype or google video for our Christmas call.  I can do it either the 24th or 25th.  I know that Blake has to work Sunday so i am trying to figure it out what we can do. I know that our ward here is only going to have the sacrament service and I am pretty sure it will be in the morning. I am also hoping that we will have a baptism that day... and then I will truly have a white Christmas ! So the call would be after the services and then i think we can  skyp for an hour.  We will eat after that.  Just tell me what ever you guys think...  if it's on the 24th,  I am pretty sure i can call at night or in the afternoon. But you guys tell me what ever you can do and I will do it one of those 2 days.  ok!? 

We are working hard and teaching, but it is a tough area!  We are working with one young man, but he has a lot of questions and concerns. There are things in his life that he doesn't know if he can change.  So we will see what happens there. We are still looking for a special family like the family Mondragon Family. I just want to have an amaizing month in December!  We will keep on working, praying and looking!

Thanks soooo much for writting me! I cant wait to talk to you and SEE you on Christmas! Let me know how things follow up after this great wind mess. THANKS AND I LOVE YOU ALL SOOO MUCH!  

Love,

Elder $ean Larson

This is Luis...he is amazing

Luis with Sergio and Gina...they are so cool

It's Sergio's birthday

 

November 28, 2011

Family!!!

 

Thanks for the pics!  Whoa! I don't know why... but it is weird to see Greg at home haha. But I am soo happy for him.  He is such a great friend and a great example to me.   I can't wait to see him too!  Man!  Home is going to be different I think, but in a good way.  Just with a new vision i guess.

 

Soooooo.... WE had a baptism!  Luis Angel was baptized yesterday and it was really neat.  So we are so happy for him. He loves studying! He studies with just the Book of Mormon and the index in the back.  When he found out that we have 2 other books and he really wanted them, so we bought  a triple for him. I know he will be  excited to see that. We are so happy! Missionaries always say that December is the hardest month because everyone goes out of town and stuff, but we are going to change that now!  The mission doesn't want to be tricked out by that.  It is Satan that is saying that. So instead, we are going to see lots of miracles!

 

IT GOT SOOOO COLD! I really thought of Utah yesterday. It just got cold, but no snow. Good thing I bought that coat!  Hey, cool fact about my area.  There is an old mansion here called "Ex hacienda de Santa Monica" and  they filmed part of Zorro there and Phantom! cool huh! 

 

I am also learning about some different religions here, like the muslims, which are really interesting and I certainly respect them a lot more.   i also have learned a little about another religion called "Kabala",  They only believe in the old testiement and they believe that Christ.  We are teaching one this week so... we will see how that goes. 

 

We have been helping a lot of people here recently....service. I love service...even though we don't teach, we've been able to  help peoplemove furniture and stuff.   It's really great to serve and it definitely makes you feel good .  I  know that  it can be more important than teaching a lesson, so it is cool. There was also a couple that didn't have anything to eat because they both lost their jobs. We usually aren't suppose to do this, but we decided to buy them some food that they really needed.  It was really really cool.  I love helping others and I am hoping when I get home, that I can find a  job that serves others because it is the BEST and most satisfying thing. 

 

I gotta go! I love the mission! i love all of you! 

Elder S Larson

 

  

November 21, 200

My old zone

Dearest Family,

 

This week went by really quick actually! I cant believe the success we were blessed to have this last week. It was pretty cool. We weren't able to baptize but we really taught a lot of lessons and contacted a lot of people.... and we are going for more!  We have been having some cool lessons. The people that went to church the last week are going great and we invited them all to be baptized....and they all accepted! Really, some of them asked some of the coolest questions like "If i were to get baptized tomorrow, what do i need to do?" and then we asked the young girl that is 17, if she had any questions and she said "Ya.... how can I join the church?" haha! cool! Those are the coolest questions ever!  We are excited to see what happens this week.  Of course, it is not without it's challenges... we have to help some on our investigators stop smoking or to get married!  But  I  am hoping we will have one baptism this week.  We are teaching a man and he just loves church! He even  came to church with a suit on!  I dont think I told you guys but we have a Seventy  in our ward and he taught the class the sunday when our investigator was there.  He kept on saying "You, brother already look like a member! What are you wating for!?" haha!  He is awesome, but we rarely see him because he travels a lot.  He was a mission president before, so he knows what its like!! .

 

Well Blake, Happy Birthday! You should get your letter soon! I hope you will share your toys with me when i get home!! :D

 

About the christmas package... I dont know really know what to tell you to send.   i mean, i will be home in just a little bit. Maybe  some vanilla Waffers and Easy mac would be great! and  of course....STARBURST! haha. Thanks

 

I better go. I love you guys sooo much and thanks for writting me! HAVE FUN!

 

Love

Elder Sean Larson

 With Elder Pacheco... saying goodbye

Elder Pacheco

My new companion, Elder Salcedo

Sister Dzib

November 14, 2011

Dearest family ever,

 

Today were the transfers for the mission and it looks like i am..... going to train again!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I am soooo excited.  A lot of our generation is going to train and we are all super happy!  That probably means that I will stay here in Santa Monica till my release!  Which is fine with me! I know it is a hard area but i know that we  will just continue to see more miracles and learn a lot more from my new comp.  O ya,  I still dont know who is my comp. Right now I am with Elder Wagstaff (my old comp that I love)  and then we will be going back up to the offices tomorrow to pick up our kids. I do know that my comp is a new Mexican missionary that is waiting for his visa to go to Argentina.  So we arent too sure how long he will be with me. But I am thinking he will be with me till February.  Well, almost sure. haha  But I am super excited! When someone trains or gets called to a leadership position in the mission, the mission president always calls to personally let us know so when the president called me on Saturday I was so  excited.  I knew immediately that he was going to tell me that I was going to train! He also told me that he was really happy with the work we have done here that he wants me to stay!  So I am super happy and this just means that i have to work EVEN HARDER!  This whole zone is a zone of miracles. It is sooo cool!  I think that is why I am happy to be here again.  It is crazy because when you train, you know you will be there for at least 2 transfers... so i can now see my future.... MY LAST 2 CHANGES! It really is sooooo weird and so scary. i dont know what to think.  But i know i will learn alot!

 

I learned so much from Elder Pacheco. He taught me how to really love people and how to teach them so they can feel the spirit.  (I just tell them "get baptized!" haha jk!!!)  But he really did help me  to be more humble.  It was a great time with him and now I have a friend by Cancun!  He was sent to Toluca which is a really cool place and... really really cold now. He will do good! I cant wait to hear the success he has there. 

 

By the way.... are you guys still thinking about going to mexico for a family trip? haha Just wondering. It sort of stinks to know the date I will be going home! I am just going to cry!  i am really going to miss this mission!! and then I will probably cry some more when i see you guys haha.  I am going to make the most of my time here and work to the end...all the way to the airport I will be teaching and preaching!

 

We had a lesson with our convert Gabriel the other day and it was sooooo cool!  He said he wanted to come with us to teach someone. We weren't really sure what he would say so we practiced it once with him and he nailed it!  He gave the coolest testimony and then he invited the investigator to work on some things! He is sooo cool! That is when you really start seeing success in the mission... when you feel the spirit as your convert shares his testimony.  its the BEST! I love that family and cant wait to see what other blessing they receive!

 

I better go now.  I think i will be buying a suit here i am just going to check how much they are?  My suit has gotten pretty beat up haha. I love you guys sooooo much and i love your emails!  Blake I got your bday letter.  i am sending it tomorrow and mom I am now starting yours!  Sorry, if it gets to you late! I love you all and can't wait to see what miracles we will have!  Thanks!

 

Love

Elder Sean Larson

 

p.s. ok I really have been wondering, but answer me honestly.... is our little dog dead? I would rather know now than come home and find out. Please don't worry.... i just want to know.

November 7, 2011

Pyramid at Templo Mayor

Family!

 Wow! sorry I just realized it took a long time to send those pictures so now I will try and update you with everything.  Not a whole lot has happened this week.  We realized that we weren't going to be able to baptize this week so we focused  on inviting people to church.  It was nuts. This whole week we couldn't get anybody to say "si" (yes) to go to church. It was tough.  Then finally on Saturday we found 3 people to go!  Whoooo! Thank you Lord!  It was cool.

We went to the city center again (that is all the pictures i just sent.)  We decided to go the museum because it is usually closed. It was super cool! I love the history here in Mexico. I have a lot more pictures  but I cant send everything. It was  neat to see all the ancient stuff. It makes me want to know more about Mexico and the history here!  (by the way are we still planning on going to Mexico!!!! haha)

Mom, I got the package. Thank you sooooo much. The missionaries here say thanks for the rings!  I really  love you. You do so much for me and others! AND I LOVE THE VANILLA WAFERS! They are soooooooo good. :D So thanks!

DAD! There is a member here in the stake that OWNS a suit factory and he can get me a suit for a great price! I was thinking... should I buy one here and bring it home? How much is a good suit or what is a good price?  He didn't give me a price but he said... "barato" or cheap haha. Please let me know.

So.. I have now decided that it is legal to listen to Christmas music NOW! We're past Halloween so it's time.  So I'm rocking the Mo tab Christmas now. 

I loved the pic of Charles!  I can't believe how the family is growing..... I do think he looks different than Steele but I am sure he will be just as handsome.  (That's kinda weird.. that a Larson boy looks handsome haha)  And I couldnt believe the pic of Tess trick or treating!  Wow! She seems really big now.  It was also weird to see  SNOW! I really hope it's just storming with white snow when I get back! I really want a lot! I am sure it will happen!

Well I gotta go! Transfers are next week and I am not sure what will happen. There is a small chance that I will train again, but unlikely because there are only 5 new missionaries and there are a lot of missionaries from my generation that haven't trained yet. So we will see.  But I will sure miss Pacheco. I'm pretty sure we will get separated but  i know he will be great in the mission. I  hope I was able to teach him what he needs to know...and that  he will become a "new and improved mini Larson" haha!  Thanks for everything!  I love you all sooooo much!

Love Elder $ean Larson

These are the remains of the pyramid

Cool engravings on the rocks

Me with a bunch of skulls

Knives they used for sacrifices

Model of the pyramid

Me with some statues

This is the cool rock that the myth (below) is about.

HUGE carved rock...I took this from the 3rd floor

Main street in town on Day of the Dead

Myth about a cool rock here

November 1, 2011

New coat! (I didn't bring a heavy coat here!)

Dear growing Larson family,

Haha. Man. YESSSSS! I am an uncle again! Whooo! But Bry and Bre, why didnt you name him Charles Sean Larson? That sounds sooooo much cooler! O well. We will put it on the next one dont worry. :D

Seriously I am so happy to here how much the family is growing.  I pretty sure at least every month I have been in the mission I have heard that there is a new baby in the family! haha. It's sooo nuts!  It's going to be so cool meeting them all.  Bry and Bre are going to have another family of pure priesthood!  Cool!  I have to admit...that does make me a little trunky.... haha no not too bad but i just cant wait to see everyone again.

I am so glad to hear that Greg is doing so good and how much he has grown on his mission. The mission really has changed me too, and I cant even imagine how much it will change all of us as friends.  It's going to be so cool.  I am still scared to stand up in front of our ward and talk haha! but hey I am not going to think about that because I still have mission time left!!  Tell Greg hi for sure!

I am sooooo happy for the Mondragon Family. They are doing sooooooo great.  We just had the Primary Program here! It was awesome! But what really touched me was when we saw our "little converts" up there and they did soooo well! They only have one month in the Church and yet they memorized their scriptures and sang all the hymns!  Other families in the ward were amazed too...they told us "my son has more than 6 years in the church and he couldn't do as well as those little girls!" It was funny.  Their parents, of course, were super proud and  we all felt the spirit soooo strongly.  We even had one family that brought a lot of their extended family members  that are not LDS... And they brought some friends!  There were a lot! We got to teach them in the Gospel Principles class, so that was really cool. Unfortunately, hardly any of them live in our ward boundaries so we won't be be able to work with them.. but we were able to help the Lord in his work. We are planning to go to one of the investigator this week, so hopefully she will like our  message!

Oh yeah, Gabriel, now has a new job  and is doing awesome!  The other day we decided to drop by their house and we walked in and saw him reading the Book of Mormon!   It was so cool to seem him reading!  It felt great!  I know they are going to receive sooooo many blessings!

O ya, just so you know, I  bought a new coat the other day because it's starting to get colder! Next transfers I don't know if i will get sent to a colder part of the mission or not. Besides i liked it and  I figured I will bring it home to use in the winter.  (It will be an adjustment, getting us to cold weather again!)

We are going to the center again today because they changed our pday from yesterday to today. We are going to be able to go to the museums this time so i will be sure to take more pictures!  Well until next week! I love you all sooooooo much!

One of the posters in the dentists office

My comp went to the dentist. This is perfect dentist picture!!! (look at his eyes)

Other pictures in the dentist's office!n haha!

October 24, 2011

My dear dear family,

Man I just love this work.  This zone has  been known for its miracles  and it is sooo true!  Miracles really do happen here.  We witnessed a miracle just this last sunday, because we were able to baptize again!  YAAAA!  Having a baptism helps us out so much,  we just get  more excited to work.  Maybe there is a chance to baptize every week this transfer...That would be really cool and I think it would be something that this ward has never accomplished.  So we need to work hard this week.  Hopefully we will be able to baptize a sister we have been working with that really wants to get baptize.... but she needs to get married first. And getting people married here is hard because sometimes they do not have the money or they do not have their birth certificate.  Plus, unlike in the United states...we can't just have our bishop marry them,  but I am hoping we can do it.

Oh yeah.  Rosa is the lady that we baptized last week.  She is super funny. She is a lady we taught here and have been bringing to church and she has just LOVED it.  She told us that the time went by sooooo fast and was she was so excited to go the next week.  So we are super excited for her.  She has some really interesting stories for us.  She was really ready to be baptized. So we did that this last week.  We are sooo happy for her and for all the success the Lord gives us.  I know this is His work and this success is thanks to Him.  I love it!

This last week we got to know a Portuguese lady.  She didnt speak very well in spanish  but then told us that she speaks Portuguese.  I told her I had a brother that went to Brazil...but sadly he didn't teach me any Portuguese hahah. JK Bry. We wanted to teach her but sadly we cant find her. We are still going to look for her because she was really cool.  

I dont' know if I told you guys, but one of the Bishops in this stake gave us something so precious to us "gringos"....  ROOT BEER! Man!  And not just any root beer, but A & W root beer.  it was sooooooo cool! I realize how much I've missed it and Brys home made root beer too! haha (are you still making that Bry?)  I saved it for a long time because I was scared to open it! ha! But then I bought some vanilla ice cream and made a root beer float!  It was awesome! 

Sadly, we are not finding a whole lot of new people to teach.  We need to work even harder this week. I am excited to see what comes up! I am soo glad to hear from all you guys. O ya, i had to talk again this last Sunday and I was surprisingly  a lot more comfortable this time.  But that doesn't mean anything... when i get home, I will really scared to talk at my homecoming haha. Tell Greg HOLA! And please give him a big hug for me. Tell him he cant play rock band without me and the boys! hahaha. jk 

Thanks for everything i love you guys soooo much! I hope everyone is alright and "growing"!  Talk to you all next week!

Elder Sean Larson

 Just eating  some burgs

Open markets in the city 

This is an "afialador" a knife sharpener on the street

Pasta making factory

Our good friend!

October 17, 2011

Larson family,

What a cool week!  Really this was one really great week.  Not just because we got a lot of work done but we truly saw and witnessed a miracle! it was sooooo coool. Let me explain. We baptized a family last week, and as I mentioned, the dad was not ready to be baptized.  We were sad to see that. So, we kept passing by their house often to help the family and especially the dad.  Every time we finished a lesson, the mom, followed us to the door and always asked us to help her husband and keep passing by.  Of course, that is what we did.   He is influenced by his friends a lot. So we asked him if,  when he was ready to be baptized, would he quit drinking and he said that he would. We told him that we were going to work with him and set goals so that he can be baptized.  That Sunday he went to church with his family, and he got to see us confirm all his family!  (It was really cool by the way.)  I think he liked it a lot.  After, we had our Zone Leader, Elder Wagstaff, (my old comp) do an interview to see if he really did want to get baptized in the future.  That interview helped him a lot and he really felt the spirit because he came out saying he wanted to get baptized that same day.  :O Wow!  It was sooo cool.  We talked with the bishop to make sure that it was ok.  He said yes and we baptized him that day. After he got baptized the bishop invited him to share his testimony and Wow! He has seriously changed!  He has  a new view on things and is going to stop drinking and find a new job so he isn't tempted anymore.  Really! it was amazing! I love him. He  is a such a great example for me. This was a miracle of the Lord for sure. I am so grateful for everything He has done.  This is His work and His success. I love this work! I love being able  to help families have eternal blessings.  They changed our bishopric  last Sunday and we are excited for the new bishop. Sadly, they took away our mission leader who was really good but we will see what happens. I have to go now. I love you all soooo much! I love the Lord and I know that we are all blessed by obedience! Love,Elder Sean Larson

October 10, 2011

On top of a hill in our zone

          Familyyyyyyyy!

YESSSSS! It is possible in Santa Monica!!!! haha. As you may guess, we had a baptism this week! Whoooo! The family we have been working with was baptized on Sunday night.  Sadly, the Dad didnt get baptized.  He is still not ready but we do think he is loving it all. Their Aunt too came to Church too, so we will see if we can help her recieve these blessings too. They are all happy! Really!  The mom knows a lot and it was really cool because she was telling us how she received an answer from God about these things.  She even was telling us about how she was teaching another Christian all the things we taught her.  So that means that she already has a testimony about these things. She says  "it just makes sense....Before, we had the basic teachings and now you are helping us find out more and understand more of the truth."  It was really cool when she said that and we really felt the spirit! Of course, this is the Lords success and not ours.  He did all of this!!  We are just  tools in his hands and I am so grateful for that!  We are really happy and we want to work even harder!

Yes, we had transfers but as you know, I am with my same comp.   Because I'm training, we are together for at least 2 transfers.  So we will be together for this one... and the last 2, I dont know what will happen!?!?!?!  But I'm sure it will be cool.  

Mom go ahead and keep the shoes.  I actually can find a guy here that replaces the bottom of shoes so that will work.

We are now reading the Book of Mormon as a mission and I think I already told you that, but its harder now because I want to finish the New testament and Book of Mormon this week.  I am still working on it.  I am so glad to hear all the news there!  I can't wait to sees pictures of Charles when he arrives! (Charles or Charlie?) ha ha. I am so glad to see and hear how the family is growing! i love all of you guys sooooo much! love you all! and talk to you soon!

Elder Tron Larson (haha! I love that!)

A dog trying to get us from the other side of the fence

My comp inside a mall here

Pinata store

Some really big homes here

This is part of our area too

The Mondragon Family's Baptism! 

October 3, 2011

Fam,

Wow. So I got 5 mins. I am soo sorry, we just suck at timing things haha.  P day is always the most filled day.  Anyways. I will give a really really brief letter

Mom, answers for the questions

1. Ok just keep the shoes I guess. I can last in these.

2. Yes 2 10s and 1 9 1/2

3. Mac and cheese. Pics of Simon Dewy paintings, (if you have some more for me to give away to people) and candy.....and.....ya. haha!  Whatever!

Yes, I went to conference but only on Sunday. We worked on Saturday. It's alright... cuz I love it too. But the best part is we brought a family of 5 to the conference! cool!  The Mondragon family. Really they are awesome! I think they will get baptized.  They are  just a really humble and willing to listen and follow our Savior. They are great.  Prayers please for them!

I met a famous guitarist/singer that is older but still plays in concerts and he also plays classic rock in Spanish! So cool! I got his autograph. He plays for the "Hermanos Carrreon". Maybe you can find them on itunes or something.

Dad. I heard someone drive by in their bmw and listening to Rolling Stones and it made me think of you. Are you still listening to Sting and Andrea Boccelli in your sweet beamer? haha Just wanna know.

I am sorry I gotta go! I will do better next week! Bye!

Elder Tron :D

September 26, 2011

Sunset from our apartment

                    Family

Another quick week again.  Wow.  This week we really have been working a lot and i think it's really paid off!  It was sooo sweet!  Honestly, we didn't have great success in our area, but we did as a zone and  as a mission!  In this zone we haven't been able to teach like we should be and it 's been kinda tough.  So the President's Assistents came over to one of our meetings to get us excited and to help us work harder.  It's tough because a lot of our zone is really rich and it's harder to find people to teach.  But we decided to focus on doing baptismal interviews this week.  Usually we do about 10 a week. But this time we focused on doing interviews for all the people that we have brought to church and we ended up with 41! It was crazy! It's harder because, as leaders, we have to go to other areas and have  interviews with them.  Each interview last at least 30 mins and somtimes more! (I had one that lasted about almost 2 hours ) As you can see it takes a while, plus all the traveling we do.  So we weren't able to work as much in our own area. But the interviews helped us out a LOT!  We were able to baptize 17 people in our zone...thanks to all those interviews.  So that was good. Plus it was the last week of the month and as a mission we were able to baptize 303 people!!!! Whoooooo! it was really cool! (I sent the letter the president sent us to congratulate us.)  That is really amazing because we have baptized more than 300 before but that was when we had 5 weeks in the month, but September was a month of 4 weeks. So it was really cool!  We were able to bring 3 people to church in our area, which is a lot better than before! 

Sadly, this week I got another in grown toe nail! Ewww. haha But i am so grateful for some of the sisters that are here.  Sister Santos helped me out.  I told her that I would tell my family that she took out the in grown toenail haha!!   i owe her big time.... So there you go. I am now walking a lot better! haha

I loved seeing mom, Tammy, Shawn and Sue at Ellen!  Man I can't imagine how much fun that would be.  That is soo cool!  Maybe we will get a chance to win a car on price is right or something haha.  

Well i gotta go! Thanks for all the letters and pictures! I loved them all! I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOOO MUCH AND PRAY FOR YOU ALL!

Love, 

Elder $ean Larson

Planes fling in formation above the city

My new scripture cases

The 'Tree of Life'

September 19, 2011

Cooking at our  mission activity

Family!

Well, this might be a shorter one sorry. We are kinda short and time and besides...I did just write you on Thursday... so there isn’t a lot of new things to share. 

I am sooo happy for Brad and his recovery and CANCER FREE! It really  shows that God has some big plans for him in this life.   He is such a strong, positive and funny guy.  He will continue to be blessed and now he will be able to bless many others.  

Well, the activity was pretty fun.  We did make a pretty weird combination of food.  We had pancakes with ice cream and then some hot dogs and some meat for tacos hahaha!  Go missionary life! But we still had a huge bag of "krustez" pancake mix left over, so we made some more pancakes and played basketball today.  The sad thing is is that we didn't have a whole lot of time because people  arrived late!  But we still watched “Remember the Titans”.  That was cool!  It really gets you excited to work and  you can apply a lot of teachings from that movie to the mission.  So it was fun. We did that and then we went home haha. It was cool.  We also had a little testimony meeting after the movie to share our feelings about our companion and the attributes he has.  My comp has a lot! He is a great guy.

Sadly, we didn’t bring anyone to church this week.  We had soooo many good people lined up to go but Alejandro was nervous to go and the others just didn’t show up.  We will have a chance to see Carlos this week because he has been gone all week so we haven't seen him.  We will be able to see him tomorrow.  Hopefully he will want to be baptized. Maybe this week... he is a good guy!  We are also working better with the ward.  We invited all the members tof the ward to share "The Proclamation to the World" and invite people to listen to us or go to church with them. Hopefully we will see some success with that.  We've  also been gaining more confidence in and working better with our bishop too.  That is always a good thing!!  I  think we will be working with ward members more this week and see if we can get some referrals.  

Mom I loved to hear about the Ellen experience. You have to tell me if you won something! haha!  I am really glad you got to go on the show...Finally! haha. I totally forgot about her show! You all sound so good and I hope you all continue having a lot of fun and success.  I know that this is the true church and I know that my mission was the best decision I made in my life.  I cant believe all the things I have learned in this mission.  Spiritual things as well as characteristics.  it's so cool! I love you all! Adios mis queridos hermanos!

Elder $.Larson

Elder Bylund making pancakes

September 12, 2011

Me and some of the Elders in my district

Family,

WHOOOOOOOO! sorry I just got a message from mom hearing that brad is good and CANCER FREE !!!! Whoo! I am super happy for him and for everyone in their family. I have been praying every night for him! YES! That's great. Tell him felicidades!

This week is going by quick. We are just about to go to our "Noche Mexicana" to do our activity with the zone. We are going to watch "Remember the Titans" then we are going to have a testimony meeting thing. After we will eat some meat and tacos and beans! Whoo go Mexican food! haha Then we are going to make pancakes and have ICE CREAM! Whoo hooo! So we will have some fun today.

Well, I have some great news! We brought someone to church! You should have seen me. I was sooo excited when he came. He is around 30 and single and he studied graphic design in New Jersey. Now he is working with his own business. Everything is going well for him but and he feels like he needs God in his life! He told us "I feel a thirst for God or the word of God in my life". it was so cool! He liked the church all but we cant see him till next week because he is out of town. Hopefully he will want to learn more and eventually get baptized. He's great so we will see.

We are also teaching a Buddhist. He reminded me of Mark Earl from Top Hat. The Buddhist's focus on love and the earth. He says that he feels he doesn't have love like he should have for other people. He feels that he judges people. So one day he was walking by our church and just felt that he really wanted to go in. (The spirit!) So he went in! Luckily we were having a weekly meeting. We talked to him and now he is meeting with us. Hopefully, he will want to go to church this week with us to really learn how Christ can help him. It's funny because he said one time, "Everytime you say Joseph Smith, my heart opens up". I told him that that is God answering your prayers... saying that this is the path to follow. Hopefully he'll continue to pray and study and will chose to follow.

The work is getting better. We are starting to find people that will actually listen to us and that are progressing. I just love it. We continue to work really hard. I am praying every night on my knees that God will bless us and show us what we should do differently. He is helping and blessing us a lot. I am learning so much from my comp. He is a great guy with great love.

Well.. I gotta go. I am soo grateful for this mission! I am scared that it is coming to an end. I love you all and hope everyone is doing great! You all are helping me soooo much! Love you and talk to you on monday. ADIOS!

Love

Elder Sean Larson

Part of my area

Where else can you see an Audi, a Beamer and horses?

Another part of our district