4/26/11

Hello hello!

Have you guys ever considered what it would be like if all of our voices were like cb radios and everytime we opened our mouths it would make that static PSSSHHHH sound? man, frightning proposal isn't it? SO!!! this week was fun, kind of a long one, but all is well. not much has changed though, but i do have a fun story to tell you guys about a miracle that came from terrible idaho weather. so we have this investigator who is pretty close to baptism. he is really a good guy. so we've been trying to set up an appointment with him for AGES and nothing was ever working out. well, yesterday, it was a pretty nice day, and our car is totally out of miles (again) so we decided we would ride our bikes up to sun valley to try and visit some people. well its about ten miles from our house, and going TO sun valley is all uphill from hailey, but we went and we finally made it. well, just my Larson Luck, nobody was home. so we had dinner about an hour from the time we finally got done looking, which was plenty of time to bike to dinners house. so we started back. WELL! just my Larson Luck (again) out of NOWHERE it starts snowing like crazy! and we're just in our white shirts! so we are riding past this members house and we are like hey lets stop this is nuts. so we stop and go to the members house. well, as it turns out, the member is pedros boss, and neighbor! He called him right there and pedro came over and we taught an AWESOME lesson! the spirit was amazing there. SO, the moral of the story is, crazy things happen, and sometimes they suck cause you have to ride your bike in the snow, but the outcome always outweighs the circumstances. its like that end justifies the means stuff. sometimes its true. so that was my awesome story for the week. thanks for listening guys! hope you had an awesome EASTER and you got to think about Christ a bunch, cause i know i did, and it was a great day. i love the Gospel! its the best! and i love you guys! you're the best too. I hope you all have a wonderful week, and that you get to see awesome miracles too, hopefully that don't involve snow in the Valley, although that would be a miracle itself wouldn't it! welp... see ya later!

Love,

Elder Larson

P.S. Mothers day is almost here. crazy!

4/19/11

Hey everybody!

Well, not too much has happened this last week. we had our baptism with Quinton, which was awesome, he was so happy, so that was great. then on friday we got transfer calls! Elder Palomo and i are staying together for one more transfer he in sun valley. i'm am going to be his last companion, so this will be fun. haha so we are just trying to keep busy and keep him focused. we wanna get a baptism this transfer! so we are going to be working hard, i'm gonna wear him out before he dies! anyways, sorry this isn't long folks, i'm just boring! And its Easter this weekend, so Happy Easter! this is a great time for us to really think about the Saviour and what he has done for us. i know my thoughts have been drawn to that a lot lately. I am So grateful for the Saviour, and i am grateful for the daily assistance we receive from his atonement. we are so blessed, even when we don't realize it sometimes. count your blessings! the Atonement and Family are #1! YAYYY! alright, have a good week! I love you guys! oh yeah, and i'm officially 9 months old, WHATS UP?

4/12/11

Well.......

Its the last week of the transfer... not much to report unfortunately. but things are going well. we taught a whole bunch of lessons this week, and we are getting ready for transfers. i don't know what is gonna happen, so don't be surprised if you don't get an email next tuesday! haha but yeah, sun valley. pretty much the same. lots of tracting, lots of trying to figure out what we are going to do, and lots of rain and snow. haha but its all good. My companion goes home in six weeks, so he's pretty home-minded, or trunky, so i am dealing with that, but its okay. i've done it twice before. haha we'll see if we stay together for the next six weeks. a ver. what else, oh! i went and saw bruce willis and demi moore's homes yesterday, they are nice. we saw a bunch of elk over there. haha you know me with my eagle eyes, spotting animals everywhere! other than that though there isn't anything going on. we have a baptism this saturday! i forgot to mention that. Quinton Byington. he's a young kid we've been working with. that should be pretty good. he is a funny kid, but he's got anger problems, so we are trying to help him with that too. the other day, he was playing pokemon, one of the newer ones, and i asked him if he played red or blue versions at all, and he looked at me like, what the heck are you talking about? i realized that he is like 12 years younger than me and that he wasnt' even born when that game came out. haha it was funny. old school! anyways, not much else to report. i love you all, and i hope that you are doing great. i miss you guys, but the work has gotta be done! the church is true, and its the only way to live for us. we will never see greater blessings in our lives than those we see from living the restored gospel! i love you, and hope to hear back from you, have a good week!

Elder Nick

4/5/11

Hey everyone!

How is everything? Great i hope! not too much new stuff to report on this week. conference was amazing, and i hope you all had the opportunity to watch or listen and get fat spiritually from the awesome messages given! President Monson is just something else, isn't he? you can tell just watching him speak that he loves us, and that he truly is a prophet of God, and thats what its all about! I was really happy with conference, lots of focus on the family, and on Temples! MERIDIAN IDAHO! that was my last zone. i'm excited about that. We had one of our investigators to come to priesthood meeting, which was awesome, cause he doesn't even speak that much english, but he still came! i feel really good about him. what else... suitcoat season is officially over, thank heavens. summer is on its way, thats for sure. well, spring where i am right now. i shouldn't get too ahead of myself. but yeah, i gotta run, get my shopping done and get a hair cut! but i hope all is well back home. keep your heads up and remember we have a Father in Heaven who loves us dearly, and wants us to be happy, we decide whether we want to be or not! i love you all!

Elder Nick

(and i attached these pictures. this is twin falls, the bridge is 480 feet tall, and it is one of the only places you can legally basejump still. and supposedly evel knevel tried to jump it. haha awesome huh? i though so)

3/29/11

Hello family!

How is everybody? well and prosperous i hope? those of you who got to go to Disneyland, well, i'm jealous of you all, that is fo sho. but i shouldn't envy. it is bad! anyways, this week was fun. nothing out of the ordinary really. i have been practicing my "following the spirit" skills, which is a tough skill to develop. haha he's not nearly as loud as one might hope. but i did have some awesome experiences this week where a name pops in your head and you think go here, and you find someone at home! haha i know i should be having lots more of those, but like i said, i'm still in the developemental stages! haha but we did find two new investigators this week, which is a huge blessing. one is an 18 year old kid who i swear looks 25. Miguel, he's a really good kid. his little brother Rafael is a member, and the only one in the family. thats courage right there isn't it?. lets see, what else is there to report. the snow won't quit. on sunday we came out and there was like a foot of snow. but it all melted but the time we got out of church. but every morning, there is more snow. haha it just doesn't want to give up. oh well. thats how it is. we didn't run into too much hate this week, so that was encouraging. haha BUT, our car is completely out of miles, so we have been hoofin' it lately. we have been walking like 8 miles every day, and i'm just about done with that too, so thank goodness for the new month coming up. what else.. there isn't much else really. i miss the sun and the heat, but its for my experience right? alright, i gotta run, so i'll talk to you next week.

Love,

Nick

3/22/11

Puravida!

Hello hello everybody. how has your week been? fantastic i assume? i am sure you have been enjoying the beautiful arizona weather, cause i sure haven't. haha it is cold and snowy! but all is well. This week was fun, we stayed pretty busy. there isn't a ton of work here, but we are trying to pick it up, so it has been fun challenging ourselves, and setting goals. i never was good at that. all i know about goal setting came of Jim Fultz. haha but it has been good! so this week we gave like four or five blessings, so that is cool. i am still getting used to spanish blessings. but not too much has changed. i am working on developing charity lately, or the pure love of christ. whats crazy is, every talk last sunday, and our zone meeting, was on charity! i think the Lord is trying ot tell me something. so i am working on that, seeing people as our Heavenly Father sees them, and loving them for who they are. someone told me something cool the other day. don't love people as they are, love them as the people they can become. that is cool, cause there is so much potential in each and every one of us. our Heavenly Father has blessed us all with very unique and special blessings, and we never know what another persons potential. so i liked that. anyways, not too much to report! i am loving the area, and my companion, and we are doing our best. keep up the good work at home, and remember that our heavenly father loves each and every one of us, and we are his children! Alright, i gotta run, so have a wonderful week, and family, enjoy the happiest place on earth! take pictures! oh yeah, and i dominate at uno!

Nick Larson

3/15/11

Hello Hello from the arctic!

I'm just kiddin its not that cold i am just trying to make myself sound tough, as usual! But it is snowing frozen cats and dogs right now, that isn't a lie or exhaggeration. Anyways, this has been a really fun week. getting used to a new area, well that is kind of hard, but it has been fun. i have met a lot of really cool people, and we have founds lots of new people to teach, so that is a blessing fo' sho'! lets see, i'll give you a run down on the area. it is big, we cover four towns all spread out. there are like three people in the spanish group, we actually have to translate sacrament meeting. haha fun. there are three wards. umm there are lots of hispanics for reasons i cannot determine for myself, but i like it cause i get to use my spanish more. the rich people don't want us, so that has been fun. we have tracted every day so far. i have mets lots of Jehovas Witness, FUN. i destroyed a family in UNO the other day, i think you all would have been proud. i don't know much else, i'm in a new area, so i'm still trying to figure out whats going on myself! haha i saw 16 elk the other day, that was cool. i still haven't seen Bruce Willis' house, its on the agenda for things to do. haha dad said i need to send more pictures. well, truth be told i would, if i took more pictures. haha i will try and send some with this email, of elk and a mountain or something. haha i love you all immensely, and i hope the best for you all. Have a fantastic week, and remember that we are instruments in the hands of the Lord, and that he knows best. i have been thinking about that a lot lately. anyways, have a wonderful week, and until next week, A-Dios!

Elder Nick

3/8/11

Hey Everybody,

Guess what, i got transferred! i'm now serving in Sun Valley with Elder Palomo. Sun Valley is up in the mountains, where all the rich people live and play. haha unfortunately they didn't increase our monthly allotment to match the area. ;) but there is lots and lots of snow, so just when i thought i was getting to spring, i landed here. in the winter again! haha oh well, the snow and the mountains are really nice. it's like alpine kind of. well.. sort of. its really pretty up here though, and i'm excited to be here. Elder Palomo is from Maryland, he's been out 21 months, so i'm with my third old companion, so it will be fun. I don't have too much else to report, cause i don't really know too much about the area and things going on! haha but i am excited to be here. we cover three english wards and a spanish group, so that will be fun. i am back in a spanish zone and district, which is cool. yesterday was long, i was in the car for like four hours getting to my area. i'm way tired right now, so thats pretty much how i'm feeling. oh yeah, and daylight savings changes this sunday, not that that matters to you guys. haha but i have to get up an hour early. lame. i think i'll be alright though. i think we have to speak this sunday, which should be fun. i enjoy speaking on sundays, it keeps things interesting. anyways, i gotta run, but i love you all, hope you have a good week, and i will talk to you all later!

Elder Larson

3/2/11

hey everybody!

How are we? I am doing fantastic! I honestly have to say that this last week was the fastest of my life. i don't know where it went. but it was a good week. we got to teach lots of spanish lessons, and we got to go to zone conference, which was awesome. we learned a lot about finding. oh finding. the funnest part of missionary work. President Cannon talked a lot about the Restoration, which was pretty cool. there is so much to learn about the restoration of the gospel. it has been quite the journey since 1820 thats for sure! By the way, i am sorry for not writing yesterday, we were busy and we went to the temple in boise and it was just a short day. but i'm doing it today! we are doing service today, digging a grave for a Dog in a members yard... sooo... thats pretty much whats going on. what else do we have going on? Transfers are this next week! This once is impossible for me to predict! "Should i Stay or should i go now?" well, i would say stay, but it is not up to me... haha pretty much at all. But i kinda hope i get to stay once more in K-town. i guess we're find out on friday. maybe tomorrow? anyways, there isn't much else poppin here. i wish i had some awesome story for this week, but it was pretty average. haha i love it all the same though. I have said this before and i will say it again, i love my mission. i am having the best time ever, and whle there are discouraging and frustrating days and sometimes even weeks, there is nothing better than being on a mission. not to say i don't miss you all! maybe i just suck at multi-tasking my emotion. haha i just like it here! BUT Arizona is still the best. alright, enough rambling about all this junk! I gots to go! You guys have an amazazing week, and remember who you are! i love you all, and pray for you regularly@

Love,

Elder Nick

2/22/11

Hey Everybody,

. last week was good! we got 2 new investigators, the Andersons, who are already talking about baptism, so i am very excited for them. we stayed really pretty busy, and we got to teach a bunch in spanish as well, which is always a blessing. Lets see, what else. OH, we organized a big church tour that we did on friday, where we invited the members of both stakes in Kuna to bring friends to learn a bit about the gospel. wellllllll..... it wasn't as successful as we had hoped, but president Cannon showed up and said that he was so impressed with it and blah blah blah. I think maybe he was trying to make us feel better. haha oh well. stuff happens. we unfortunately didn't have a baptism last weekend, we had someone scheduled to, but he wanted more time, which is fine of course, we work on their time, not ours. He is an awesome investigator though, he just is the nicest guy, and he has a lot of friends leaving on missions, so that is helping him out for sure. haha any other news fit for print? i don't think so... we have zone conference this friday, so that should be good. we are doing horrible on miles right now, haha our area is too big, but don't tell anyone! anyways, i love my mission. and i now realize that every week is not always a good week on the mission. haha it should be a good week, but attitude is everything right? and sometimes we struggle with that attitude thing. well i do. haha i love you all immensely, and i am grateful for your support. this is a big work you know.. but its the most important thing we can ever do for our Heavenly Father. I love the Gospel, and i love Idaho!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep praying for the missionaries! you're the best

Love,

Elder Nick Larson

2/15/11

Dear Everyone who never writes me (except Josh),

This week was great! We stayed out of trouble for the most part, The week actually started really well, we found 3 new investigators, the allens. they are a part member family, the dad is pretty inactive, but he loves the church. so we started teaching them, which is exciting. then of course, we had the Ericksons baptism. it started out as a disaster when we found out we didn't have a suit big enough for the guy baptizing them, but his son was able to do them all, so everything worked out really well. there were tons of people there, and the whole thing was just so cool. the baptisms were fun, six baptisms takes a while i found out, but not nearly as long as six confirmations. haha but we got them done, and it was such an awesome thing. i will send pictures when i get them from sis erickson, i didn't have my camera at the baptism. oh well! what else, we got to teach some spanish lessons yesterday, which was awesome as usual. also, HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARIZONA! we made a bunch of pink pancakes and ate them as a district! haha so thanks mom for the pink pancake stuff! anyways! i gotta go! i love you all, and i want you all to know that Arizona is the best but Idahos weather has been perfect lately. 60 degrees all day! yahhh! haha it's awesome here. things might even start getting green soon! that might make this ugly place a little bit better. haha just kiddin. sort of. i wonder where i'm gonna go next transfer... probably somewhere that really is ugly, like ontario. that woudbe fun though, the work is good there. anyways, i love you guys! hope you are staying out of trouble! you're the best!

Love,

Elder Larson

2/8/11

Hello Everybody!

It was a good week! haha all the weeks are good though, i should just stop saying that. we are still staying busy so that is good. we had a lot of canceled lessons last week, which is a bummer, but nothing we're not used to! haha but we did have a baptism and a confirmation, which was awesome. Hunter Engel, a ten year old whose mom is a very faithful member but his dad is not a member at all. so that was a really cool experience, cause they did something i have never seen, and he had his ten year old classmates do the talks on the holy ghost and baptism. that was cool cause he had the support of classmates, and they got to participate in that fun and special experience of a friend. other than that the week was pretty slow, we had a few lessons, our investigators are all still progressing, which is always a blessing. we have the Ericksons baptism this weekend, which i am pumped for. six confirmations.. that should be a fun sacrament meeting. Oh yeah, something funny happened a while ago that i forgot to mention. we have this family in one of our wards who was less active, then their son decided to put his mission papers in, so when he did i kept telling him he was going to Tempe Arizona, and he kept denying it. then he got his call and guess where he is going! Tempe Arizona. haha so that was pretty funny. he is leaving i think next week, but i'm not sure. So look out for Elder Cody Calloway, you know, cause our mission is so small. that is always funny, cause i tell people i'm from Arizona and they go, oh i know someone from arizona, do you know so-and-so? and i have to tell them, uhhh, no. our county is like six times the population of idaho... i think i get that 9 out of 10 dinners that i go to. Oh, speaking of dinners, i gained a pound. haha 167 and counting. my goal is 180 by the time i get home. okay, well, i am just rambling at this point. i hope everything is going well at home, and i hope you all have a wonderful week. keep praying for the missionaries, and pray for the work in your areas, we really can work miracles in the lives of others, in fact, that is kind of our job. haha anyways. i love you all immensely!

Elder Nick Larson

2/1/11

Hey Everybody!

so this week has been awesome. new companion, getting used to that, but that has been a lot of fun. we have stayed pretty busy the last week, which is always a good thing. last saturday we had a baptism for Justin Owens. that was awesome, the spirit was amazing. i witnessed for it, and the guy who did the baptism slam dunked him, it looked kind of painful. haha but it was good, and president Cannon even came out to see it. we had lots of really good lessons, and we commited an investigator to baptism, so that made the week awesome. i love this area. the people are amazing. i got enlisted to help a less active member walk their five dogs, so that should be fun. haha there are just so many funny things out here. i wish i had more eventful stories to tell, but everything just runs together and i just don't know what to say. i sent a letter to the family though! haha so no one can give me garbage anymore! i need to gain a little more weight, and i think i am doing well in that department. my goal is to have a pot belly by the time i go home. :) OH! and i cut my hair yesterday. haha just buzzed it, again. nothing new. sorry i'm boring guys. i have been speaking a lot of spanish with my companion, funny thing is, i'm learning costa rican spanish from him, so that is going to be pretty interesting working with mexicans. anyways, i love you all and hope you have a wonderful week. keep on keeping on, and pray for the missionaries. we need it! haha

Love,

Elder Larson

6 month mark!

Hey Everybody!
Guess what, i celebrated my six month mark this last week! how crazy is that? crazy i know! This last week was awesome though. we picked up a new investigator, then set a baptismal date with the family in melba! yahhhhhhhhh! that was awesome, so we are doing their baptism on the 12 of feb, so i am very excited! Then on saturday we went and heard from Elder Russel M. Nelson of the quorom of the twelve. that was so awesome, he said we need to write our families more. i think mom complained to the general authorities of the church for my poor letter writing. But being there was awesome, you jus know that he is truly an apostle of the Lord. so that was really cool. we also did a crazy baptism on saturday, nathaniel edwards! it was crazy, we put it together in like an hour, so i thought it was going to be a disaster, but it ended up being awesome. we have another this saturday, then the saturday after, then six on the saturday after that. i am very very excited for the work here, all it takes is time i guess.
So, transfers were yesterday, and my trunked out companion elder denning is going home. i got a new companion, elder gonzales from florida. he speaks spanish, so that will be awesome having someone to talk to. they re-split our area, and we have melba and the spanish branch again. that will be good, this transfer will be a lot of finding though, so that should be a good experience. i was made senior companion, which is cool, but i don't know if it really means anything! haha i am excited for this transfer though. i can't believe how fast the last transfer went. amazing really. speaking of time flying, i am done with six months, so last night, we went to a families house, and i did my tie burning ceremony. that was fun, i will attach pictures of it to this email. anyways, i gots to go, so i will talk to you all later, i love you and miss you, pray for the missionaries!
Elder Larson

Hey Everybody

HOLA FAMILIA!!! (now imagine i said that in a super gringo voice, and you thats how i said that)
SO! this week has been pretty awesome! we have had lots of lessons, which has been prett nice. the holidays are really slow for lessons. we picked up a new investigator who wants to be baptized in a couple weeks, and we commited one of our investigators to baptism on the 29th! i'm really pumped for that one! we gave him a blessing last night, which is always a really special experience. we have an appointment with a new investigator tonight, which should be awesome. there is just so much work coming out right now, it has been such a blessing for us. i am really excited for this next transfer, i might be back with a spanish comp which would be pretty awesome. we'll see though. i got to interview with president Cannon yesterday, which is always nice. its cool talking to him and getting his advice and opinions on the area. so i'm glad we got to do that.
this last sunday was awesome. we had ten of our investigators in church, which was so cool. and my drunk friend came to church! i was so excited! so it was just a really cool sunday, the Lord most definitely answers prayers. i also got to speak to the spanish branch in sacrament... again. haha i got like a three week break. but that was cool. I am definitely learning spanish fast being the only spanish speaker. people asking me to translate, and speak and teach and its just busy! before my mission i was worried how i was going to learn spanish in idaho, well, guess this is the answer. haha but i am happy with it.
So not much else this week. i do want to say that i love my mission though. haha kind of strange but it is true, and i am learning things that you really can only learn like this. its just amazing. anyways, i love you all and miss you, hope you have a wonderful week!

Happy New Years

Dear Familia!
Hey everybody! how have your holidays been? hectic i am sure! haha well i'm sure you have all made it through mostly unharmed. the holidays here were fun! a lot different from home that is for sure. its fun being with other people and having the opportunity to spend that time with someone else though! i definitely took my holidays at home for granted! but all is well here in the IBM. the work is going great, and we are getting a lot done. i love the people in this area. after a while you just feel invested. its gonna be weird when i finally leave this area. but that shouldn't be for quite some time, so i don't have to worry about it! so, what to say what to say. well, we are hopefully going to have a baptism this week, a twelve year old kid, i've been teaching him for a couple of months now. i am really hoping that will work out. we also just started working with this guy who is just an awesome investigator so far. we are going to try and commit him to baptism tomorrow, which is exciting! the work is just fun around here, the people are so nice, even if they are going a little bit against the grain with you. i have really been enjoying the full english work too. it kind of spreads us thin, and its scary teaching alone in spanish, but the Lord provides, and i have seen lots of miracles already this transfer. so, things are going great!
I guess i should probably tell you all about my new years AKA the funniest two days of my mission. new years eve, we went to a tongan fiest with the other elders of our district (one of them is from tonga) where i had the opportunity to eat meat straight off a pig, i ate a fish eye, and i ate pig brain! haha so awesome! i'm sure none of you are very surprised though. then we went and taught an awesome lesson, then went to a baptism, which was also awesome. we went to a church and played sardines with some of the elders and sisters from the zone, which was really fun. not much like home, thats for sure. then new years day, we went to another baptism, then went and played broom hockey with some other elders and sisters, after which we got taco bell and did, dum duh duh dummmmmm!!!!!!

THE GALLON CHALLENGE!

for those of you unfamiliar with the gallon challenge, essentially you have one hour to drink a gallon of milk. sounds easy right? wrong! elder shelley (from gil-beezy AZ) and i went for fastest puke. we both did half a gallon of good ol 2% in about 5 minutes and just blew up! then we both decided that we were going to finish our gallons. so after four tries and eight times puking, i finished the gallon, all in about 20 minutes. it was so SO funny. i quite enjoyed doing that. haha reminded me of doing crazy things at home. awesome. that was pretty much new years! haha
anyways, i'm sorry everyone for being a bad letter/email writer. i will be better. anyways, i miss you all a ton, and i hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. keep choosing the right, and praying for the missionaries. there are guys out here that really struggle. i have been blessed with lots of comfort and support thanks to all of you, and i appreciate that. keep working hard, and keep your heads up. i love you, have a great week!

Elder Nick Larson

Not for the queasy!