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