February 7, 2011

Dearest Family,
Well first I want to say Thanks for the update on Sara Steve and Melinda. I can't imagine how hard these last 3 and half weeks must have been. It's hard because she had so little time here. I know, without a doubt that she is in a very happy place. Like you said mom, that is why I am here on a mission... so that others know that they can be together and be happy for ever! Steve and Melinda must have such incredible faith in the Lord. I know we never want to go through times like this, but I also know God has a plan for every one of us. We just need to trust that after these trials we will learn, grow and eventually every thing will work out. I am glad that Steve and Melinda know about God's plan and that they will once again be together and happy forever. I am glad they have the gospel, because if they didn't have it....it would be even harder... not knowing what happens after death. I know that every trial we have, eventually becomes a blessing. They are an opportunity to learn, grow, progress spiritually and increase our faith in our heavenly father. Heavenly Father loves us and always watches over us.

Well... we had a pretty interesting day yesterday. You could say technically" we baptized someone yesterday. It was a man named J and he really should have been baptized in another ward but he has a friend in our ward, so he was attached to our ward. Missionaries from ANOTHER ward taught him. So we were working with 3 different wards. ha ha Anyway, lots of things happened but he really wanted to get baptized. He couldn't be baptized in the other two wards, so we were able to baptize him in our ward. You will notice in our picture that there are 4 missionaries. The other 2 taught him and we just baptized him! Sweet! But he is happy now and we are too. He has so much faith and quit smoking and drinking to get baptized. I just love this work! It's really hard and complicated sometimes but its great!

Yup 1 year! Wow. i cant believe it. Nothing much happened my hump day. haha The coolest thing was that i got my 1 Year package from mom right on the exact day!! haha! So that was great and mom.... Monjarraz and I thank you soooooo much for the package and candy... but our favorite thing that you sent was... the POP TARTS! haha I totally forgot about those and I was soooo happy to eat them again. Thanks mom! Just know you can send those again if you want !
One question for Bry and Blake. Did you guys use Preach My Gospel? I dont think Bry did but I'm really not sure, I would love to know.
Oh and Jon, thanks a bunch for the SWEET wrestling shirt. (i used it today to play soccer haha) and I love the ties too! Thanks dog!
So i am now rolling the parted hair look haha. The President told me to part my hair.... so i decided I will obey! And I actually kinda like it. So I don't think i will be using my hair gel thing anymore. I am going to try and send that and other stuff back home like the ipod speakers and Caitlin's sweet nativity scene she gave me. But I have no idea when.
I have some awesome news! Every 5 years an apostle visits this mission and this time we have the privilege of having 2!!!! The Apostles are coming this May 22nd and 23rd (I think) It was a birthday present from the President. Thanks President! Elder Oaks and Elder Cook are coming! whoooooo! We are really excited and really preparing ourselves, being even more obedient and stuff. I am super excited and already nervous hahaha. But it's so far away!
I forgot to tell you, we have an elder here that is from Bountiful named Elder Jones. I actually knew him before my mission, but not very well because he went to Woods cross High. but he sure remembers me. It's funny but it's cool.
I totally forgot about the Super Bowl. It's funny because football isn't really huge here. But on Sunday, it was like I was in the U.S. again! People were outside having "BBQ," having beer, wearing jerseys, with their TVs outside. haha! Sometimes I think Mexico likes to copy a lot of stuff or maybe it's just another excuse to get drunk haha! But hey... I was never big into football but I did want the Steelers to win. It was not to be! Oh well.
Well I gotta go. I hope you get my pics. I love you guys so much and I'll see you all soon! (less than one year!!!! haha) I freaking love my family and can't wait to come home... one day, but I've got lots of work to do first!!! Love you.


Elder $ean Larson

p.s. mom I didn't burn a shirt, but I love the pics you sent. You guys are crazy! haha
 

Elder Fadel and Elder Larson....1 year!

Burning their shirt!

Leaders in our zone...DL's and ZL's

Me and my thugs...they are really calm, but HUGE!

Juan's baptism

Monjarraz and I just having fun

January 31, 2011

Sean's zone

Tamara, her mom and sisiter. 

Tamara and her friend. 

Studying before conference!

Dearest Family ever,

Wow. In 3 more days.... I will have been here on my mission for a full year. No way! That seems soo weird to me. I have to say that it has gone by both really slow and really fast. Sometimes the days and weeks seem so long, but then transfers go by soooo fast!  It's really weird. I totally remember the first day in the MTC (and I dont want to go back either mom hahaha) I remember Bryan telling me at Olive Garden, that my first day in the MTC will be the hardest day of your mission... and yes.... it was haha. But I am so happy now! I am happy I made this decision to serve a mission.  Sure it is tough, but it's supposed to be tough. There was a really great talk that Elder Holland gave to some missionaries... but reall bold too. (like Elder Holland should be haha) Some missionaries asked him, "Why is the work so hard?" "Why dont people accept this great gift and message?" "Why" and Elder Holland said, (this isnt exact quote but he said something like) "Truthfully, I don't know why the people don't accept the message, but I do know that it was not easy for Christ either.  He worked miracles, taught us, was persecuted, he suffered soooo much and still gave his life for us.  He died and payed for all of our sins and still many people did not accept him.  I dont think that was easy for him just as I don't think its easy for the investigators to accept our message."  (Something like that.)  It was really bold and spiritual and really showed that the Lords work isn't easy. BUT ITS WORTH IT.  I have learned so much in this past year, much more than just some Spanish!  I love this mission and I know I can do better.  I want to make this next year even better because I just have 2 years.  2 years seems like so much at first but once your on your mission... it's so little! I love this work! I plan to be a "missionary" when I get back and invite others to come to Christ because it's our responsibility.  I am proud of the thingsthat I have accomplished but there is so much more to accomplish. Thank you soooo much for your support, prayers, thoughts, testimonies, letters, packages :) love and soooooo much more. You have all helped me so much in my mission and in this past year. :D

This week was good. We didn't teach a whole lot but we did have some success.  That's right.... another baptism! Whoo! Her name is Tamara. She is a friend of a ward member that She comes to mutual and she wanted to listen to our message.  So we taught her and she told us that she wanted to get baptized in the "future" (which was last sunday) She is really great and now we are going to teach her mom and sister!  Hopefully, they will follow her example and be baptized too.  This is just another example of how much the ward members help in the work of the Lord.  They are key!  It's rare when someone finds those golden people that are ready to be baptized. But that can happen too. Actually, we think we have found some really great people that will get baptized in the next 2 weeks...hopefully.  But we are happy and we are working hard. 

Dad, you know how you always tell me your funny prayer experiences like with the sprinklers and all. (which by the way I use every once in a while :) ) Well, I found a scripture that  talks about how we can always pray to God for ANYTHING.  It's in 1 Nephi 15: 8-11.  Hopefully you get what I mean.  Thanks dad.

Today we played soccer in a really cool field and my shoes are dead (Sorry Blake, they are your Pumas! haha but thanks. :) ) So today I took out like 60 dollars or something to buy some cool shoes. they are nikes. I bet Chels would appreciate that. I think she used Nike for all her running stuff. So don't worry if you get a call from the bank.  I use my card every monday because we go to Burger King. It's close, so we are taking advantage of it! But sadly it's more expensive here.  I am considering my shoes as my Christmas present from you all! Thanks guys! haha

Wow, I read the newsletter from the ward and read the article about Jared and Ryan S. Holy cow! Jared is translating stuff ! That's nuts! I would feel really pressured if I had to translate something in Spanish. That's really cool! I am so glad for him and his hard work. He just has an unbreakable spirit and testimony of the work. And wow...Ryan started out the mission so awesome!  I read all the numbers he had in his " power week!" That's nuts!  If you can believe it, that beats our numbers here in Mexico, and you would think we would have more. Thats so great. Thats just what a new elder needs. Get into the work running... and fast! haha So I am pretty sure we can work a little bit harder here. :) I cant wait to read the newsletter from my buddies now to see how everyone is doing.  Tell Jared "Felicidades mi didder.  Ya hemos cumplido un año en la mision!  Vamos a tener mucho mas exito este año. Sale? Te amo mi amigo fiel!" ( if you could send that to tammy to send to him that would be great.) I love my friends and their examples.  I can't wait to be back in our basement talking about the missions, spiritual things and then... some rock band. hahaha and  popcorn too. 

Well, I gotta go. I just love you all!  Thanks for the update on Sara. I really can't imagine how hard it is for them.  but they have such strong faith in the Lord.  I will continue to pray for them.  I know that the Lord has a plan for all of us so that we can all be happy as a family.  and they have already found that out.  I am soo happy!!  I wish you all the best and hope that you recieve many wonderful blessings this week!  I love you all! Bye!
Love,

Elder $ean Larson

Januray 24, 2011

Dear Fam,

"Pokeman" Tower in Culuras

Monjarraz cleaning the apartment

Cleaning day...

If you think it looks bad now...you should have seen it before!

Ok I am going to answer moms questions....
 
1. No changes! We are still here in Culturas and Monjarraz is still with me. We are really happy! :)  The only thing that changed for us is that we didn't get together today with all the missionaries like we usually do. Now we just go straight to the areas. But we didn't change so we just had a normal pday. :) ...so we cleaned!  haha
 
2. I am feeling fine now.  I don't know what I had but I was just sick and out of energy... and pooped a lot! hahaha. (Sorry) But I am totally good now. I am sure it was food or something.  I really couldn't guess waht from... some times it just happens. But I am good and happy! :)
 
3. Work is good, but this week was super super slow. We had very little success so I guess in that sense, it was bad. But we are going to work harder this week because we need too! haha. Sometimes we work with inactive families. We do family home evenings with them or stuff like that. Really, the members need to work more with that too, because we are only here for such a little time.  It's better if the members make visits and stuff, but sometimes that just doesn't happen. We try to work with our mission leader with that as well.  The cards were given out to the members. but we havent seen anything happen with them. We are hoping that people will call us... (which is sooooo rare) or that the members tell us about people who are interested. But so far, we havent heard anything. But it just started, so we will just wait and see. We are also thinking of doing a ward mission activity and training some members to contact and stuff.  Others have done it so we will see.
 
4. I love this area! It's not pretty but I love it! It is  a whole bunch of people in such a small area.  I wish you guys could see the maps we have here...the area's are so small but with a bunch of people. It's good here and hard. This week we contacted a lot but we can never find them and almost all of our appointments fell through. But we are going to work harder! :)
 
5. My comp is great!  He defenitly has the greeny spirit and that really helps me out. Sometimes he pushes me  to contact more or helps me to teach better. At times I am a little prideful and don't like to listen to his advice but now i realize that he is trying to help me and  he is helping me... so things are good. I love working with him, he is funny too. We joke around a lot.  He may go to BYU after so I would love to hang with him and stuff after the mission. That would be cool!
 
6. Really, we dont walk all the time, but we do walk a lot. Like I said, this area is small but it has a lot of  stairs because we usually go to apartment buildings.  I have no clue how many miles we walk but yes we walk a lot haha.
 
7. The work is progressing....but pretty slow. So we are trying to find new ways to work to see if we can have better success. Who knows.?  We are praying and fasting for help... because we need it.
OK, that is it but thanks for the questions. I forget sometimes to answer your questions. If you number questions like that I will be better at answering them. Thanks for the letters too.  I love to hear the updates!
 
The other day I recieved some Christmas Cards from Aunt Sue, Aunt BJ and grandma Davis so that was really nice!! Thank you all soo much for that!  Thanks for thinking of me in the holiday season.  Plus I recieved a card from the stake presidency. Thanks Heights Stake... you guys rock! And I got 10 bucks haha. Thanks so much, but i am not going to be able to use it here!
I dont have a lot of time, but I want to tell you one thing. A blessing really from serving as a district leader. We have the opportunity to go to meetings with the mission president and man.... they are sooooo amazing and powerful.  I love my president. He sure is hard but I love him and you can tell that he really loves us.  I am so happy to have these meetings with him and feel the spirit!
 
I gotta go!  Sorry. I love you guys so much. I will continue to  pray for Steve, Melinda, Sara and the family.  I hope everything goes well. I know that the Lord is with them and with sara.  I love this church and I love the unity it brings to families. We really are so happy thanks to the gospel!  I love you all and miss you!  Almost one year! whoooo! haha
 Peace!
 
Elder $ean Larson
 

January 17, 2011

Sean's zone

Fam,

Ok I only have like 5 mins, Sorry! My family is just amazing and everyone decided to write me! I loved them all thanks!

Well, sadly we thought we were going to baptize this week but we didnt.  I'm pretty sure this week we will though. We have some great people and other great references.  Working is different with Monjarraz, but its good! I need his greeny spirit sometimes.  Though its hard, because he seems to correct me a lot. Not much, but mainly on things I am already working on. I am trying to be humble and listen but sometimes I feel so dumb because I am Senior comp.  But it's good. I know that every companionship can be like that, so we can both learn.  So we are giong to move  forward and I'm going to get better! :)

I have been sick for almost a week. I am totally fine now but I must have eaten something bad! I don't know... but one day I couldn't work and the others I just was soooo tired.  It was tough, because all I wanted to do was think of being at home on the couch with a blanket and mom helping me out.!  haha it's ok. It just sucks because I wanted to work more!  But I am good now and....I dont have diarrhea anymore!! haha

Oh I forgot... now it's just me and Monjarraz in the house. The other 2 missionaries found a house in their area. It's a lot better now because we can actually focus more and be more obedient! Sometimes that is tougher with other "friends".  Even better, the house is a lot cleaner. We fixed some things up. It's pretty sweet and now we actually have beds! haha I  don't sleep on a freakin couch, so thats good news.

We are now going to work with the ward better.  The bishop has made some sweet cards for the ward. Basically they are the 3 lessons we teach and the members get 5 each so they can give them out to their friends and stuff.  It's got the church hours and our number on the back, so hopefully we get a lot more references. I'm stoked for that.

Well... I am so happy to hear from you all. Thanks mom for the updates and I will for sure pray for Sara. I know there are miracles!  We just need to put our faith in the Lord.  It's interesting because we decided to fast this last week and I fasted for some things in  the mission but I felt like I should fast for my family for health and success in your lives.  And now mom told me about that, I think i was inspired to do that. I wasn't really sure what was going on but i know i love all my family. I know the lord will listen and answer our prayers.  He loves us and we love him!  

I love you guys soooooo much. Thanks for the letters and for everything!! You're the best family ever! peace out! 

Elder $ean Larson

"Area" dog...he lives next door!

January 10, 2011

Sean, Evangelina, Dana, Christian and Manjarraz

Remember I said last week that we had 3 people who wanted to get baptized, well... it happened! A family of 3. Christian, Evangelina and the daughter Dana. I baptized the wife Evangelina and Monjarraz baptized the other 2. It was really cool. Their family is great and now almost all of the family are members. There is one family memeber left... a daughter and she just doesn't want to get baptized yet. I dont know why, but little by little I think she'll come around. I am so proud of Christian because he stopped smoking so he could get baptized and Eva (evangelina) stopped drinking coffee. It's really amazing when we have baptisms, but even more amazing when people change their lives so they can have these blessings. The mission... wow.. I was thinking (now that i am close to a year haha) what it will be like to not be in the mission. That just seems so weird to me, both good and bad. It's really weird. But it will be cool to be with all of you again!

We also had the big day here on the 6th of January....  3 Kings day.  It's basically  Christmas for kids. This is when little kids and only kids get gifts and all from the 3 Kings. They make lists  and some put their  list in a shoe. (I dont know why but then they asked me why we use stockings or socks)....and I said, " good point!" haha. It's pretty fun.  The kids are great! I love the Mexican kids and the family get togethers, Ohhh and they all eat a huge bread called "pan rasca" or something like that. It is really big and good.  Another tradition they do here is when they make this bread they put a little toy figure things in there that represent Jesus Christ as a baby. And when you take your slice of bread if you happen to have the toy, guess what?.... you get to buy these things called "tomales" for everyone on Feb. 2! haha Don't ask me why, but that's just one of the many different  traditions here in Mexico. Fun! 

I can't remember what else I wanted to talk about haha. Work is good here.  We are blessed to have another investigator and a baptismal date for this next Sunday.  Whoohoo!  I hope it goes well!  The rules  in order to baptize someone are that they need to go to church at least 2 times and this investigator went yesterday and plus  they saw the baptism! Whoo! That was really good.  A general authority promised us that if we can get 80% of  our investigators that go to a baptism service, that they will want get baptized. So we are working on that.   I am really grateful for all the blessings and fruits of hard work that we have had  in this area. The Lord knew that all of these changes would be hard for me but He has also  showed us the way so we could work hard and have sucess.  Our district is doing good but sometimes they struggle, so I go on splits once in a while and it's really interesting. OH! I went on splits with one elder in my first area in Loma Hermosa and we actually went to teach my first converts! Whoo! They are doing so good and now are preparing to enter the temple! whooooo! So I will be able to go with them if they get sealed while I am on my mission. Our President has given us permission to do that!. It's so cool!  I love this area. I love the work! It's hard but I love my mission! 

I love you all soooooooo  freakin much. I love the pics you sent and the letters. More, I love your support, prayers and testimonies. I am so glad i have the best family ever! i will see you all later! Bye!

 Love,

 Elder He $ean

Evangelina, Dana and Christian

The whole family!

January 3, 2011

Family,

Well... things are going great.  Yup we had a  baptism  again this week! I am super super happy!  Its kinda interesting because they are a family of 3 that live in Veracruz, but they are here visiting a family (who are members in this ward) for a few weeks. They really wanted to get baptized, so we taught them and invited them to get baptized. They were really prepared! Seriously, the 2 daughters are 8 and 10 yrs old but wow, they have an amazing testimony of Christ and the plan that God has for us. I can't really explain but these beautiful little girls  told us how they felt about Jesus and  and they said "I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and he died for us so that I could come back to my father in heaven and live with Him together".  We were both in awe! They are awesome.  But sadly, they will return to Veracruz and the problem is that there isn't a ward or a branch by them. The closest church is 3 hours away and they don't have the money to go there every week. We challenged them to be dedicated and to be faithful! To study every the scriptures every Sunday as a family and to be prayerful because the Lord knows their needs and what challenges they will have. I  want to get their email address so i can stay in contact with them after my mission.  and hopefully encourage them to continue on like that.  oh  i also got to confirm one of the girls!! This was my first time in the mission!   It was reeally cool and very special.  Then I remembered that Nick blessed Tess the same day so that was kinda cool!!! (I heard his blessing was very special and sweet!!! Nick is just like that!

Other great news!!!  There are 3 other family members here who are relatives of the family who just got baptized. They aren't members so we have been teaching and asking them to  commit to get baptized but they just wouldn't budge!!. haha Eventually it became a joking matter to talk about baptism with them. But after their relatives baptism, they came to church and after the services they told us that they had something to tell us. We asked" what"  and they said they wanted to get baptized next week! WHOOOO! I have to say, I am really seeing the blessings from our Heavenly Father. Before I felt like we were working hard yet we didn't have anyone ready to get baptized...then all this happened. I am soooo grateful to my Heavenly Father.  I know He knows what we are going through and he has helped us but we need to still work hard because anything can happen. Its so great. Things like that in the mission are way awesome!

 I loved the ugly sweaters. Wow this competition is getting more intense haha. I better buy one here or something... i think i have an idea... hahah.  I would have to say Chelsea's and Bre's sweater and  are way awesome haha. Yes, Mexico  knows Justin Beber!   "BABY BABY BABY OOOOOOH!" It's always playing here haha. That's the thing about Mexico is, that there are always songs that they repeat over and over and over again. It's annoying haha. but i loved it! thanks so much for the pics.

Holy cow!  I forgot to tell you! We got permission from the president to watch a Disney movie for new years! whooo. soo.... we watched...... TOY STORY 3. It was sooooo awesome! I loved it! Especially in Spanish It was cool because I understood what "Spanish buzz" said! I thought I might not like it as much because I haven't  really seen a full movie in Spanish but it was sweet and I understood it all, so that was cool. Then we broke a piñata and stuff so that was cool!

Christmas Nativity

                    Oh wanna know something else amazingly cool ?  I  got a package from Caitlin! whhoooo!  A christmas package. It came a little bit  late and it was an awesome surprise! It had some candy and a sweet nativity scene that i loved!! It had some pics too!!  Whoooo!   I'm pretty sure she wins out of all my friends because she is just awesome like that!  So if any of you see her tell her "Muchísimas Gracias Señorita!"  Just tell her thanks a million and that she wins as best freind in the mission!!!  It was funny too because she wrote a whole bunch of spanish catholic prayers and stuff on the outside.   It was so nice of her and so awesome!!  Way to go Caitlin!   


Well I gotta get going. I just realized that I am passed my time limit!  I love you all sooooooo freaking much! I was so happy to hear you all and I am so happy that the holidays treated you all very very well. i love you and thank you so much for your prayers, support  and letters!   I pray for continued success in this area! The church is true! Love you all!
e. $ean. larson 

Soccer field in Culturas

Hortencia, Estrella and Lucero bapatism

Our ward house!!

He reminded me of cute Monte

Elder Manjarraz in our area

Dec 27, 2010

Christmas in Culturas

Wow, its seems so weird that just a little while i talked to you guys on the phone.  That time went by so fast . but thats ok. i realize im not home sick like i used to be. well we do think more about home in times like these but really its going good!! missionary life is just normal to me now. and truthfully, it's going to be so weird to go back home to "normal life". not getting up at 6 and playing video games and stuff like that.... it really is going to be so weird.
  I forgot to tell you, I didn't open up my christmas cards until after I called you and I just want to tell you how thankful I am for you guys doing that. That really was soooo great! I loved them all. It really brought the spirit to me and reinforced to me how important these times are to remember Jesus Christ.  I realize how important it is that i am here to share his message with everyone. You all gave me such a boost and I loved it!!!! Thank you so much for sharing your stories and your experiences and especially your testimonies!  I love my family so much and im pretty darn sure no one has a better family than us. :)

So i told you we hoped we had a baptism coming up and yup we were able baptize her! whooooo! This is the first one here in Culturas.  I sent a few pics from here and Consuelos baptism.  She is really great. She is older and when she walks  she gets tired pretty fast so i was a little worried she wouldnt be able to last through church and then her baptism but the Lord gave her strength and she did it!  My comp baptized her but I was there to help her go under and to get out of the water.  It was a little tricky, but everything went so well. We were worried because she told us that she wasnt sure if she would be able  be here for her baptism because she was going to visist her sister.  So we explained the importance of her baptism and all that it would bring to her life and then asked her to think about it. Then just before we left, she told us "well....i thought about it. i think i should get baptized!" whooo. We felt so blessed that she could make the choice.  She will be confirmed next week. 

Before i forget... this church (our building) is really really super nice! I have to admit that it is prettier than a lot of our chruches in utah. haha I will take a picture sometime because it really is beautiful. It's also the stake center here.  Oh, our bishop is really awesome!  He is the best one I have had yet, and great to work with, so that is sooooo much better!

Now it is back to work like normal!! That's good!   I think we will do something as a zone for new years but who knows. I think we get to break some piñatas, cool... but we´will find out.  We will definitely  have to come home early again and i am pretty sure the drunks will be singing again. I dont remember if i told you, but on Christmas Eve there were drunks right outside our house BLASTING music and singing sooooooooooooooo loud  alllllll night looooooooooooooong. It sucked!  but that's ok.... i just hope it doesn't happen again for New Years. haha.  
I am suppose to write another acceptance letter to you guys and the first presidency for the mission again.  A Seventy serving here asked us to do it, so I  will do that next week. So i wont have  much to write next week!
I am going to head out and get my hair cut. I love you guys sooooo much! I loved talking to you all and loved just hearing your voices.  (especially when steele said my name!!!!! WHOOOO GO STEELE! Tessa.....you better say my name by next year haha.) I love you all and I cant wait to see you all again.... one day....but first i have a mission to complete!!!  I know this churchis true!!  It's awesome! See you all later!

Christmas Village..Mexico Style

Before cleaning...

After! 

Playing games with the Zone

Elder Manjarraz

Fixing Breakfast

Manjarraz and Sean

Consuelos, out 1st baptism in Cultuas

                                       

December 20, 2010

Querida Familia,

Wow.  Finally one week has gone by.  I cant believe all of the new things happening to me right now.  It' great being a DL and all but sometimes it's frustrating and there is a lot more  responsibility.  We have 2 other missionaries living in our house because they don't have a house in their area yet and it's fun...... but sometimes it's harder to be obedient and be an example to them.  Then I am training my son in the mission and thats going good. He is really a good missionary  and we get along really well. I guess you  could say he is American because he was born in Riverside California he has lived in Mexico most of his life. He knows english too. 

This area is cool. Small with a whole bunch of apartment buildings, so we dont knock alot because sometimes we can't even get in... but we sure do contact people a lot!  Our goal is to contact 140 people every week so we get some investigators going but man. nobody is in the house or they don't want to listen. This week we had very little success, but thats ok.  I also had to do 3 interviews for baptisms  for an elder in my district.  I was a little scared but really, it's pretty simple.  You just talk to them and try and get them get excited for baptism.    It's good,  but it does take a lot of our work time to do those.  So we have a lot of hard work right now.  We don't know any members or where they live. Plus many are gone on vacations and we need to work with them to get more references.

Before I forget. I got the other package. whoooooo.. I opened one! Thanks for the stockings and awesome snow flakes and hofs hut stuff! That was awesome. Thanks for the other stocking for my "kid" because he doesn't have anything for Christmas.  Your snow flakes were very well made, especially the square from chelsea hahaha. But they were really cool.  I am planning on calling you guys Christmas morning! I think around 10 to 12. We are going to have breakfast with the President and his family this week with all of the zone but not sure when.  

So we have a lot of work to do here.  Our house, truthfully sucks. haha It's so dirty!! We are going to clean it next Monday.  I will take before and after pics.  The good thing is we have a washer in the house and....... drum roll........ a DRYER. That is so rare here. We don't need to hang clothes now! Whooooo!  Mom... don't worry, but its a lot more dangerous here. Sometimes I don't wear my watch or ring at night and we walk only in certain areas.  But ... its all good! We are protected by angels here!

I gotta go!  I cant wait to talk to you next SATURDAY THE 25TH OF DEC. somewhere around 10 to 12.  I love you all! I hope you have an awesome Christmas. Dont worry about me, I will try and have a "white" christmas with baptisms this week! :D I love you all!  You are all so amazing!

WUV,

Elder $ean Larson


November 16, 2010



Dear Family,

OK first mom Yes I got your package! Thank you so much! SO MANY TREATS! Thanks for the music and cd player. We are a lot happier now.   I forgot my camera to send more pics, sorry. But thanks for all the pics you sent me. I LOVED THEM ALL!  I am just "dander" here in Tejupilco.  You pronounce Tejupilco like tei-hoo-pill-co. It's great! When i said this area was big.... I really ment it. We mainly work in this city, Tejupilco, but there are other citys or towns  that are 30 to 45 mins away, so it's he huge. Last week we had a baptism.  Easy right... No! He has been listening to the missionaries for some time now and finally decided to get baptized Cool huh?

 Oh and another cool thing is that the zone leaders said if we complete our goals for this change.... we will go PAINT-BALLING! Really! We have permission so I hope we can because that would be sooooo awesome! (But more importantly is the souls that are saved from message.).... and how many people we shoot in paintball hahaha. It would just be way fun.

Like I said before, this area is big and  far away from everyone.  If we go to the stake center for our meetings with the zone, it takes 2 and half hours to get there.  The president didn't want us to waste that much time  to travel there, so he told us  last Monday to stay here and work in Tejupilco. There is a chance for these 6 weeks we will be very lonely from all the other missionaries. :(  it's sad cuz we want to see other missionaries, plus I can't send or receive any letters if we dont go into the city for our meetings with the district.   We had our last meeting with the district over the phone...in the middle of the road!  We read scriptures and even prayed.  it was funny but bad cuz we couldn't hear anyone or anything.  So i am hoping that we will be able to go to our meetings. We will wait and see what happens. Our President  is working and thinking (praying) about that.

Yesterday we had stake conference. This time we had the chance to go and see our fellow elders    It was super cool!  It was a special stake conference because Herny Eyring and David Bednar spoke to multiple stakes here in Mexico. It was over satellite transmission and it was really neat.  It was an answer to some of my prayers and questions.  Especially the talk Elder Bednar gave.
He said that there are 3 ways to receive spiritual inspiration and that it can be compared to light.  1.  When we enter a dark room and flip on the light switch, instantly light fills the room.  Like when people pray and instantly receive an answer or a spiritual inspiration. And he made it clear here that this is the most UNCOMMON way. 2. Like a sunrise, the sun gradually rises and its sun rays fill the valley little by little.  This is the most COMMON way we recieve spiritual inspiration.  We pray, and continue on the day and little by little we begin to find the truth or start to understand the inspiration.  3.  Is the same as 2 but the sun rises on a cloudy day and we can't really see or recognize the light.  Sometimes we pray, go on through the day and don't really recognize or notice the spiritual inspiration.  He gave an example of when President  Eyring was talking in a stake conference and  he was talking all over the place, from one subject to the next, and without really good transition.  When Elder Eyring (he was an apostle then) ended he sat down next to  Elder Bednar and he said "I had no idea where I was going with that talk."  Later the stake pres. wanted to talk to  President Eyring and  Elder Bednar about the things they could do to help the stake.  The Stake pres. said he had taken detailed notes of all the subjects that Pres.  Eyring  had talked about.   He said that these were exactly what the Stake needed and he wanted to talk more about them! Wow. So sometimes in life we continue on the road and don't really notice the "light", but the Lord has promised that HIS words will be said when we open our mouths.  This really has helped me, especially here in the mission.  I always question myself if I am following the spirit or doing what I am supposed to be doing.  And now I know that as long as I am obedient and open my mouth, He will fill my mouth with His words and I will say the things that need to be said!  An answer to my prayers!

Well this is what's happening... I have to go. Sorry I will talk more about Tejupilco and how the work is here  in the next letter. I love you all so much and I am so happy to be here. This area is FANTASTIC!  I love you all soooooooo veryyyyyyyy muchhhhhhh!  Thank you for your prayers and your support for me. I cant wait to see you agian!

Elder $ean Larson