March 28, 2011

The classic shot

Dearest Fam,

First of all... Steele totally looks like a Larson boy! haha Remember how we all were when we were young? Wow! Thats cool! Thanks for the pics. Sadly I don't have enough time to send you pics... well maybe but we will see. I dont have very many new ones.

We didn't baptized this week and even worse, our zone didn't do so well. We only had 2 baptisms in the whole zone and that's really low.  Hopefully it will be better this week. We are super excited for General Conference this week. This will be the 2nd conference that Elder Bylund and I have gone to together and both in April! The sad thing is I think we won't  get to go to the Saturday session, not even the preisthood session. Dang, but its ok. We are going to have more success that day! :D  

Our new convert, Arturo is awesome. He now has the Aaronic Priesthood and we gave him a triple comb.  He is already in Doctrine and Covenants section 72. and that was 3 days ago so I am sure he is farther now.  He is amazing!  I'm pretty sure he will be a seminary teacher here!

It was funny because the other day we ate with the bishop and he has a Wii,  a PS3 and new Xbox. Wow. We had to give him some photos so after we had our meeting he used the PS3 to give him the photos. It was an awesome right! We joked saying that every stake center should have a PS3 haha!

We have been going on a lot of splits lately. It's crazy but fun too because we get to work with other people. We are also going to everyones house because we need to find a lot of missing baptismal records. The Salt lake office called the President saying that we report a lot of baptisms but they haven't received all of the records :(  So, he was a little mad.  But its all good.

The Torres Mora Family is awesome and now we have a baptismal date! We are hoping this week but if not, it will be the next for sure! This family is AWESOME! I am super happy for their progress. They even told us about the good changes that have happened in there family. It's awesome!! The he dad still needs to quit smoking so thats why its taking a little bit longer. but they are great

Sorry I don't have a lot of time left but I have heard a lot of things about a tsunami in Japan Could you update me on that? plus, whats going on with the Caliber?  What are gas prices like there now?I just want to know. Nick, when are you getting a bike? haha I am sure Chels is getting a lot of pressure about that. haha GO LARSON BIKE GANG! Well,  I love you guys and I am super excited for this week. Thanks for everything! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Sean Larson

Investigators dog who got hit by a car... So sad!

There are a lot of dogs running around here.  But
they have never given  me a problem!

March 21, 2011

Filling the font at 4 AM

Dear family,
I can't believe how serious things have gotten with Chris "Stringbean".  I haven't seen or heard from him for forever so it's quite shocking that suddenly he has such serious problems with his heart and at such a young age. I know he is in the Lords hands... we all know that.  He really is such a neat guy. My buds and I have had some great experiences with him!  I  know that he his here on the earth for a special reason and if the Lord is helping him out with this situation, that means the Lord has a plan for him.  So hopefully, he will start getting well  really soon and continue to grow from this. Everthing happens for a reason and he should look at the situation as "what does the Lord want me to learn from this or what does he want me to do?". I don't know... that's what i think but tell him hola from the Elder Beaner in Mexico haha.

This week was good, but it sure got busy at the end. We did a lot of baptism interviews for other elders so we were on splits and all over the place.. On Saturday I actually had 4 different comps haha so that also means that we had a good amount of baptisms. We baptized 10 as a zone which is good but we can do better. (An elder from our same time baptized 13 people on Sunday...just him and his comp! haha)  So we can do better, but this week will be harder because we didn't have very many people that came to church this week, so I think we will do some splits again haha.

 Mom, I got my card and package! Thanks so much for everything. It was funny to get so many candy and then dental stuff haha. Thanks and I'm using the whiting trays that Bry sent! They are already working, but my gums kinda hurt now, well they are just more sensitive to my toothbrush. Thanks for the Cadbury eggs too. Those are AMAZING!  All my favorites.

So while we were doing splits, we got home late and we were tired but we had a baptism on Sunday (the next day)  at 7 in the morning! The services were at 8 so he wanted to get baptized and confirmed the same day. His name is Arturo, I talked about last time. He read all the Book of Mormon and told me "I feel like it's missing more, like I need to read more!" So he started reading the index haha! Soon we'll  give him a triple combo. He is awesome and such a neat guy, plus he quit smoking in just one week after smoking for 30 years he's and going strong.  So we are happy.

We also have another cool family that is totally diggin everything we teach them. They are the Torres Mora family. We also taught with some members and a returned sister missionary that served in California. They are awesome they help so much. The daughter, Michele, heard a talk that the sister missionary gave here and now she wants to know how she can be a missionary. Cool huh?  The dad smokes but we have an awesome plan for him and they all said "We will get baptized soon!" We are happy. We hope to baptize the daughter, son and mom this weeek and then hopefully in a couple of  weeks we can baptize the dad. So happy!

We went to visit some families in Morelos today. It was cool. It really makes me want to come back after my mission and visit everyone. Which I really want to do!  It's just a matter of when and who ever wants to go is invited. Cool.

I better go. Thanks so much for writing! Sorry I couldn't  respond to each one but I loved every letter! Thanks for your prayers! i love you guys so much and I am so happy that I have the best family ever. Love you soooo much!

Senior Arturo.  He is awesome and so funny!

Dressing up the dog!

Look at his eyes!!

Visiting families in Moreelos.  It was so fun!

Elder $ean Larson

p.s. hey we also have pyramids here! haha i will try and take some pics next time. :D

March 14, 2011

Saying "goodbye" to our converts in Culturas

At the temple with  new converts & investigators

Dear family

So being ZL is great. I thought it might be a lot harder but it's actually better than I thought. You've got to be a good example to all the missionaries, and its funny because the cell phone is always ringing! But I love my zone. They really have great enthusiasm for the work and really are great workers. We put down a goal of baptizing 31 people this month and we already have 21, so we might raise it. It's pretty cool. Elder Bylund is teaching me a lot and I am also using the "as if" principle dad taught me. Man that sure has helped me throughout my mission. Elder Bylund really is a great missionary and he speaks Spanish really well so I am still learning Spanish from him. The area is great! We are working again in apartment buildings. I love those really! We have one building where we are teaching 4 families, its sweet. We have an investigator name Arturo that is progressing a lot. He has gone to church 3 times and in just 3 weeks has read up to 3 Nephi 11. Crazy! He is really awesome. In fact we are going to have a baptismal interview tonight so hopefully that goes well. We think we will have 4 baptisms this week and I have faith that we can do it. We are working hard but really this area is very blessed. We have amazing food here too. Sooo good! There are a lot of members here and I'm pretty sure they will help us out. Plus our bishop is really cool and very young again. The house is smaller but good, we just need to clean it a little, and the bathroom always smells. I don't know why haha but we are working on that because the grandma lady above keeps on complaining haha. Actually, she is really nice. It is just me and Bylund living here but there might be a chance of getting new missionaries from the U.S. If they come here they will stay with us but I don't think that will happen. This area is cool and we have Morelos, my second area, in the zone. Bylund served there too when he first got to Mexico. I think next monday we are going to visit some of the members and our converts there. It will be really cool. 

Sorry I've got to get going. I sent a few pics I hope you like them. I miss you guys and thanks for all your support. I will need your prayers to help me lead my zone. I love my mission and this church! You guys are amazing by the way! Bye!

Love,

Elder $ean Larson

A crazy tradition here in Mexico

"Super Missionary"

Time to clean!

Fire on the neighboring hill

Elder Bylund with mission dog!

March 7, 2011

Dearest family!,

Sorry I am writting this one a little late because... you guessed it... I had transfers again.  :( I'm sad because I really love Culturas and Elder Monjarraz and we had a lot of success there. It was sweet! But this is the cool (and scary) thing.   I received a call from the mission President in the morning and he told me that I have been assigned to be Zone Leader and he asked me if I would accept. I was shocked because I really wasn't expecting that at all! But of course, I accepted  and now I am serving in the  Tenayo zone and my area is called Santa Cecilia.  It's going to be awesome because I will zone leader over my 2nd area so hopefully, I can see some of my converts there and my new comp is...ELDER BYLUND! Whoooooooo! If you remember, he was my comp in the MTC and now we get to be comps again. It's funny because during this whole time we haven't even been in the same zone...and now we are comps! :D He is my first American companion and I am his first American comp!  So it's pretty awesome. He has already been a ZL for 2 transfers, so he is going to teach me a lot of stuff.  We are super excited! But I will miss Culturas and Elder Monjarraz. We had some great experiences there.  We made a lot of great friends too and it was hard once again to say goodbye. But that's what happens. Now I will be responsible of about 20 missionaries and I will need to be a really good example. Bylund said to me that we are going to work our tails off and I am totally fine with that. I really think we will have a lot of fun too. The missionaries are awesome and I really hope to have a lot of success. This zone just baptized 13 people yesterday so I think we can do some good... but it will  be hard. Once again, I know the Lord has put me here for a reason and I know that He will help me. I don' know everything, but I  believe with the Lords help that we can have success!!!!

Elder Bylund looking over our area

So that is what happened and that's why I am writting late.  Mom, I have to tell you, the Cruz Soto Family in Culturas are seriously my Mexican family here. They have been sooo awesome and I plan on staying in touch with them. (Plus, we were able to baptize some of their family) Just know they took really good care of me! 

The Cruz Soto Family

We went to the temple too! and I took a pic of the temple at night and it is really cool.  We brought  4 investigators and 1 convert with 2 members. It was a really neat experience and I can't wait to enter the temple here. It's soooooo beautiful.  You just feel so special when you are visiting the temple with people that don't know a lot about he the church. It's awesome!  We hope they will get baptized soon.  The sad news is that we broke our baptizing streak because we weren't able to baptize yesterday..... :( but thats ok, we have some really good potentials.

Gardens at the Temple

The Temple at night

Another cool thing... we were at a testimony meeting a long time ago and then we visited a less active family and we really taught a awesome lesson.  Monjarraz talked about a lot  of experiences he has had and then today we heard the teenage son in that family bare his testimony saying "Thanks to Elder Monjarraz, my family is more active and now I am going to finish high school and turn in my papers for a mission."  Wow!  I consider that a baptism! Because we reactivated him and now wants to serve a mission. That is sweet! His name is Adrian and i really think he will be a great missionary. 

Well, that is all that is going on.   I love the mission and I love the challenges the Lord has given me. I know that with the Lord's help I can be a great leader, I just need to be obedient and follow the Spirit. I love you all so much. Have fun where ever you are. peace!

Elder $ean Larson

Me and the area below

February 28, 2011

Dinner time, with Monjarraz!

Larson Family,

 

First! What the crap...Steele keeps on growing! He is now standing and shooting rockets and stuff. This is so weird.

 

2nd. What the crap again. Chad got married!?  It's about time! haha.  JK! I have a friend that is named K.T. Wooley, but I'm not sure if she has an older sister named Traci or not.  Congrats Chad!  That's really cool.

 

Ok well ..... yes we baptized again! Whoo hoo!  Her name is Rosa Martinez Cardenas and guess what.... she is our first baptism from a contact in the street. Oh, but it gets better. She was a Jehovahs witness! So being a former "witness", she really wants to help out with the  missionary work... which is perfect because we really need members that want to go out and teach.  Plus she knows a lot about the bible and that's great!   We are super happy that she got baptized and she will help out soo much in the church! 

 

As I said before, it's a mission goal to baptize every week and I know that the Lord knows our goal because He has helped us out soooooo much!  Sometimes, we dont think we can baptize then suddenly we find someone ready to teach be baptized. It's great! but i know we can't do it without the Lord and the spirit.  Those are key things in the mission!! It doesn't matter if you don't have a perfect knowledge of the bible (because i don't) You primarily need to be obedient and always serve the Lord....happily! :) It's so cool!

 

We recieved a refferal from the office the other day and wow... He is perfect!  First, he has friends that are LDS.  2nd he was an alcoholic and drug addict, but now is perfectly clean for over 15 years.  3rd, he has already read ALL of The Book of Mormon and Gospel Principles! He is reading teachings of the Prophet Spencer W. Kimball.   4th, He was telling us that he was asking God if he should get baptized. wow..... so we are hoping to baptize him this week but we aren't really sure. we'll have to see...but pretty crazy, right!?

 

The zone is trying to memorize "The Living Christ" (in spanish ) before the end of this transfer. and I agreed to do it. I thought it would be really hard for me because 1) it's really long and 2) it's in spanish haha!! But I am already half way done! I am really surprised and I realized how much this has taught me.  It's really cool. I also use it sometimes in my teaching.  Mainly, it has increased my testimony of my Savior. He has done so much for us and I know that He lives!

 

Before I forget... yes, transfers are next week. Monjarraz and I don't  want to go. We want to stay like this, but who knows. I doubt we stay together for another change but I really want to stay here. I love it here! I have made some good friends too!  In fact mom you  don't need to worry about me... there is a family that treats us very very well!!  They are super funny too. I definitely  plan on staying in contact with them! (plus, we baptized some of their family.)  Oh, and someone told me that MUSE won a grammy! whooooo! hahahaha. Can someone tell me what did they won for because they are one of my favorites!  Thanks and what was the the best picture this year?  Not that I'd know it.  Don't worry... I'm not home sick..... just excited. haha.

 

Well.... thanks so much guys. I love you all soooo stinkin much. I pray for all of you a lot, but I 

know you guys are happy.

Mom aren't you so happy that your sons are buying motorcycles! hahaha. I love you guys! Thanks for everything! Bye ! PEACE OUT!

 Love always,

 

Elder $ean Larson

 

Rosa Martinez Cardenas baptism

Me, Rosa and Monjarraz

Just goofing around!

Photo op

Monjarraz and I

February 21, 2011

Manuel and his family.  Our bishop is on the right.  He's awesome!

Fam!

Sorry i have like 2 minutes. I read a lot and wrote a lot.  Guess what?! We had another baptism! Whoo! Manuel, who is the father in law of the bishop here. he is awesome and I am hoping  we will baptize his wife soon, but she doesnt feel quite ready. (She does go to church every week!) We also have another person who we hope will get baptized next week! Whoo! I am really seeing the Lords hand in this work. There is no way we can have success like this without him!  I love this mission. We had a stake conference this week and it was really cool. Lots of people. 

Umm mom just use the newsletter paragraph i wrote as another part of this letter. Sorry, the time went by really quick but thanks for all the letters and for the pics! I love you guys! I'll talk to you all next week!

Elder $ean Larson

p.s. i killed a rat as a service project this week haha. 

Manuel at his baptism

The future missionary

She is so nice and so funny!

February 14, 2011

Guadalupe Chavez Camacho and her daughter Jatzri Marina Chavez Camacho.  

MEGUS!
Haha i just had to say that because I just thought of  it when I saw the picture of blake that you sent me. haha  Blake.

Well, as you may  have noticed, we had another baptism this week! Whoooo!  I can't remember if I told you but we are really focusing trying to baptize every  week, because our President is really pushing us now and he knows (remember he recieves revelation) that we can baptize every week.  This area is awesome!  We have some really good members that really help us out !  Monjarraz and I really want to complete this goal.  I have noticed that I kind of teach "softly" to investigators and hope they feel my love and all.  Manjarraz likes to be more bold and talk about how they need to be baptized and how it will bless them.  So I think for these opposites we have we become a good companionship!  Oh yeah, we baptized 2 people this week!  So exciting!  Guadalupe Chavez Camacho and her daughter Jatziri Marina Chavez Camacho.  They were references from a member here and really awesome people. The member and Guadalupe have a taco stand that they started and they are always feeding us HUGE tacos. (I'd  better watch myself because boy, is there a lot of fat and stuff in those but they are sooo good.) Anyway, I was able to baptize Guadalupe and Monjarraz baptized Jatziri.   It was really neat.  I was nervous because we didnt know if they were coming to church on Sunday because they didn't come until the last hour of church. Whooo! haha But all is good now.  And...we have one person with a baptismal date this next sunday (which is stake conference too) He is the father in law of the bishop here. We hope we will also be able to baptize his mother in law too, but we will see.

Gaudalupe and Jatziri

Monjarraz got sick this week which was really weird for me because I havent had a comp who has been sick in the mission.  We were at a members house and he was resting and I decided that I was going to learn french... haha. We have a black member here in our ward who is from Haiti and he speaks fluent  French!  It is really rare to see black people here.  Jarome is really awesome and super nice,  he taught the family and me a little french. I don't understand french well because the accent is soo weird but it was fun.  Actually, the ward is trying to help Jerome get money so that his wife and child can come over here They are still in Haiti and he doesn't have the money to bring him here.  I hope they can get here! Monjarraz is good now and we are working again! :)


Hey Bry! I was thinking. I have been gone a year with out a dentist check up. I noticed that my teeth are... yellower than usual ha! (I promise I am brusing every morning and night! :) Could you send me something like whitener or something. I would love that. Put the bill on moms account!  I am sure she will be happy to take care of it ;)


Something funny this week is that I finally recieved grandma Larson's Christmas card haha. So I guess some things are really late here. But it's all good now.  Thanks grandma!


I read a little story/talk that talked about how God answers our prayers. It talked about a little daughter who was in a coma and her parents were really struggling. It's not the same situation as Steve and Melinda but it's a really cool story.   Maybe you can look on the lds web site to find it.  It's old, it's called "Adversity and Prayer" and its in the January 1974 Ensign, page 18.  Check it out. It's really good and teaches us how we need have faith in God's will and not our will.  Maybe you can share it with Steve and Melinda, but you decide.  It might be too soon...


Well.... sorry the power went out a little while ago so now I need to finish this and get out of here. Luckily google mail is  smart and automatically saved my letter. So this week should be better for us.  We have different missionaries and some of our missionaries went up to another zone.  Just like that!  And it was all done over the phone. Thanks for the pics! I love you guys so much and can't wait to see you all again. love you!  PEACE OUT!


Elder $ean Larson