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!