First Day in the Field!

Well Guess what, i made it to Idaho! haha so yesterday was my first day, and it was really a lot of fun, but crazy. after i talked to you all on the phone, i got on a tiny little plane to Boise, the flight was like 45 minutes or something. I talked to a guy who had lived there for quite a while and he just went on and on about how much he loves it, and how it really is the city of trees. when we flew in and i looked out the window, i can't exactly say it was a Land of trees, but it is definitely a lot more green than it is at home! haha it really is beautiful here, it is just like home. So we flew in and President and sister Cannon picked us up, then we went to the mission home and had a nice lunch and interviews with the President. he is an awesome man, very enthusiastic. then we went back to the mission office, which is right next to the temple (which is one of the coolest looking temples i have ever seen in my life) and had a training meeting, and after that we got our trainers, or "dads," and our area assignments! i am with Elder Farthing, from Richmond Virginia. he has been here for like 19 months, so he knows what is going on. We are working in Kuna, near Nampa, in a hybrid spanish/english area (we are the only ones doing that). basically we cover a really tiny spanish branch of about 20 people, and we just got placed in two English wards. We have 0 people in our spanish teaching pool, and someone lost the area book, so we are essentially starting form nothing. that should be quite the experience for someone with NO EXPERIENCE right? haha crazy. our english wards are in Melba, but i haven't met any of them yet. but we went tracting before a dinner appointment, and he just walked around trying to find spanish speakers and asking people if they had any spanish speaking neighbors, or if they were interested in our message.no success, but that is okay. we found some houses we can try back at later. then we had a dinner appointment with the Cook's, an english family, and they were... insane. haha they were so disfunctional, but also a really amazing family. they live back on a little farm, and they made us chicken wings, they were just super nice. they had like 10 computers though, and the son was playing world of warcraft when we got there it was funny. but we shared a short message with them, and left to see if we could catch a potential investigator at home. we didn't get to talk to him but we were next to a house, and we heard some loud mexican carnival music bumping in the back, which is a good sign for our work. hahah so we walk into the back and there was jesus, washing his mustang, which had like 4 subs in it and he is just cranking this fiesta music and it was just awesome. we got his attention, and asked if he needed help, he said no, but we asked if we could share a message with him, he said sure, lets go out front. we go into his front lawn and he grabs us some lawn chairs and we start talking to him getting to know him. he is catholic, but doesn't attend, and doesn't really understand why there are so many other churches. Perfect. now remember this is all in spanish and i am about as disoriented as it gets. so here i am sitting in the front lawn of this guy, just trying my hardest to understand him, and i hear my companion say, well, it is elder larsons first day, so he is going to teach! i look at him like, WHAT?? and he says to me in english, its all you, teach the restoration. So terrified, i reach in my bag for my preach my gospel, and i only have my english one. so i just went! it was just amazing though, obviously it wasn't a perfect lesson, and obviously it wasn't great, but i could feel the spirit, and i know that he did too.. i don't actually even know what i said, i was just talking, i was so terrified. after we talked about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, i commited him to read and pray about the book of mormon. he accepted, and we are going to go back and visit him tomorrow night.. hopefully something will happen. ah it was so cool! i think my companion was a little surprised that i could speak even my broken spanish, but when i told him about the mtc and whatnot he wasn't as surprised. haha it was just nuts. so i got to record my first lesson taught last night.

later that night, we went to a part member home, and the wife wasn't home, but the husband, who is the non-member, was. his daughter told us to go out back, and we went into this makeshift garage, and he was standing there barefoot in this like slushy ice that had fallen out of a freezer that he couldn't get to shut cause there was too much in it. so we start trying to help him, and he is talking to us in spanish and i'm doing my best to keep up and answer, and it was just crazy to be able to here from people who are just so different. he ended up giving us some plums, and said he had to go cause he needed to eat all of the food, then pointed to a bowl with like 10 frozen personal size pizzas in it. hahah so we left him to eat his pizzas, and went on our way. we'll go back and visit him hopefully sometime next week. haha so that was pretty much my first day. it was crazy.

okay, now i should tell you the details. i don't know my address, so if you want to send me mail, send it to the mission office, 1111 cole road or something, mom you have it. we're living in the basement of an english members home, it's actually a nice place. there are like three rooms and two bathrooms and a kitchen, of course we only use on room. haha the beds are way bigger than the mtc so that is really nice. i don't really know much else yet. my pdays are still tuesdays. my companion is a funny guy. Idaho is a lovely area, and it's true, the people here WORSHIP Boise State. there are flags and stickers EVERYWHERE around here. haha it is just fantastic. It is a lot like home. our window looks right into a farm, adn it looks just like home, i caught myself staring during lunch today. We are scheduled to have dinner with members every night this month, some we are scheduled twice. haha the members here are just great. i'm excited to go to church and start getting to know them. we'll see! i just really want to work in spanish right now. we have a dinner appointment with a reactivated family later tonight who is preparing to go to the temple, so that should be nice. we're gonna talk a little bit about enduring to the end. i'm excited. we never have dinner appointments with spanish people though. only english! haha but seeing as i am a spanglish missionary all is well! well i gotta go now, i love you all immensely, and i miss you! i hope all is well at home! have a good week, and pray for the missionaries!

love,

Elder Larson

Week 8

Hey Everybody! i don't have a ton of time to write today, had to go get a haircut and stuff so i don't have full time. but it's okay cause nothing much has changed! haha spanish is going great, teaching is going great, leaving here is very stressful but so exciting, and i have my travel plans! i leave next tuesday at 845 or so! it's so very exciting i cannot wait, but i have to. they closed up the gym and everything here so i'm not gonna miss out on too much here! it's starting to get really chilly in the mornings, but thats okay. i'm sure i will see worse. i wouldn't mind if you sent me a sweatshirt or somethin mom.. haha but if not i'll be fine! umm not much else going on here. we just have departure meetings and whatnot here, so busy busy days. i can't wait to get out in the field though. it's really a scary feeling, knowing i'm finally doing it.. i'm finally going to be using this knowledge that i've tried to pick up here.. its just crazy. i love it here, but after a while you are just ready to work. i am at that point for sure! most of the elders in my district are getting reassigned, only two got their permisos to mexico, but its all good! thats like two mission calls! Que Chito! haha okay wellllllll i gotta go. if you don't get an email next week its cause i am on an airplane! i love you all! have a wonderful week!

Elder Larson

Week 7

Hola Hola Hola Familia y Amigos,

I hope all is well back at home! things here are not changing really at all, so once again, nothin to report. it was a really quick slow week, and i know that doesn't make sense but if you were here you would understand. spanish is going great, still hard, and this week we started working on subjunctive, and if i understood what the heck that was in english i would try and explain. but i don't. so essentially, everything i know about spanish changed. haha but it is a-okay. i am missin home a bit but there is work to be done around here and soon when i finally get to enter the mission field. 2 more weeks! i like the shire comment mom! the gospel is still going great, and learning it in spanish is really quite rewarding, because somehow it makes conversational spanish so much easier. count your blessings, si? i love it here in the mission. i love getting up early, i love studying the scriptures, i love worrying about my companions wellfare and what i am going to teach, and i sorta love spanish. it's discouraging at times, but very very fun. que mas.. we don't get to go to the RC and call people anymore so things got very boring this week. only fake investigators now. haha que lastima. no se ill survive. i am forgetting more and more english everyday, which could be a good thing or a bad thing, most likely good. not much else to report. i get my travel plans this week, so next week you will all know for sure just when i get out of this little community. its really weird, cause you see the same people everyday, so you start to forget there is more out there. for example, i had no idea it was labor day yesterday? hmmmm... holidays don't matter on the mission though, haha its like birthdays. Dad, congratulations on winning the softball tourny, i always knew you had it in you. all it took was for me to leave! look at the blessings you are receiving! estoy bromiendo! okay i gotta go. i love you all, and i think of you often. have a wonderful week, and be positive. pray for those missionaries!

love

Elder Larson

Week 6

Hola everybody!

This week has been a great one! not entirely eventful, but enough worthy to write an email about! first off, i hope all is well back at home! now, last tuesday, we had the incredible opportunity to hear from Jeffrey R. Holland in our devotional, and boy was it something. he has such a passion for missionary work, and hearing him try to express his love and support of us unscripted, and from his heart.. oh it was just inspiring. he told us how much the first presidency loves us, and how much they appreciate us, which was a cool thing to hear straight from an apostle of the Lord. he spoke about how missionary work is hard, because the atonement of Jesus Christ wasn't easy. how true is this. mom thank you for your wonderful comments and insights on this topic in your email. all in all it was an incredibly spiritual experience for all of us. Our district combined with another this week, so our new district has 14 Elders. 11 are going to mexico, one to portland, and one to TEMPE! take care of him if you see him he is my comp! We cut english entirely out of our lives this week, which has been tough, and has been a massive leap of faith for me, but as we do it, i can feel the Lords hand in my life. it is amazing. ran out of time. i love you all, have a good week, more in my letter

elder larson

Week 5

Week 5 down! i can't believe it! its insane how quickly time goes when you are busy and confused and don't know what is being said most of your day! haha but all is well. spanish is going great, my companionship is going great, pretty much the MTC is going great! it is a great learning and growing experience, and it's fun to have the opportunity to mess up and get better (hopefully i am). not a ton has changed this week, it is just same ol' same ol' work hard and play hard. we have been working entirely in spanish, and it has been insane, but it has been a great learning experience. i hated it at first, but now i really enjoy it. it really just feels right now... it's a fun language, and it is almost an opportunity for me to learn the gospel over again, which changes your perspective of the simplicity immensely. the gospel is beautiful. Nephi said several times, my soul delights in simpleness, and that is exactly what this gospel is. if we teach and believe the simple truths which make our gospel the ONLY true gospel, then we are truly understanding what it means. it is amazing here. i wish you could all experience it. i love you all so much, and i hope you have a fantastic week. work hard, and pray for the missionaries. like i always say, they need it!

love

Elder Larson

Week 4

hey youuuu guysssss!

can you believe its been a month? this has been absolutely amazing! i hope everything has been the same for you! it was a great week. we worked on the second lesson in english, but this week, starting yesterday, we made the transition to all spanish. so this will be a trip! i'm sitting in the laundry room right now, so its strange trying to think about the week. haha but we did have a lot of great experiences. i say we because it's weird not referring to my companion and i that way. we're getting along really well finally, which has been super helpful to me this week. new roomates, one from hawaii, and one from yuma. the hawaiian is a great guy. we taught the second lesson on saturday, and the way we were told to plan was for a single young adult going to college who is catholic. well guess what... that didn't happen. we get to the "room" in the trc, fake investigators, and there is a full family, with 4 ninos under the age of five, crawling all over the place! well fortunately for me, i grew up in a situation like that, even with teenagers crawling around. haha so we ended up changing our plan in the lesson, but the spirit was there, and somehow, someway, we knew exactly what to say. it was so amazing to feel that, being able to just open your mouth and say at least something right, even if you aren't sure. haha so that was a great experience. i finally got your letter today mom, so i was super happy. i'm glad rocket is doing well.. i strangely enough was really worried, haha so it's good to hear he is doing well. i'm glad all is well in the queen crizzle, and you are all having a good time without me! i wrote a letter family so i'm sorry if this doesn't seem really like much of an email. it's harder than you think it would be! have a great week everyone, and remember PLEASE pray for the missionaries! i love you all!

love,

Elder Larson