I woke up with the flu

So this past Friday, I went on exchanges with my District Leader, Elder T. And I woke up with the flu! That's funny, isn't it? Wait, you are probably wondering where the humor is. Let me explain.

So, after we had our district meeting in the morning, we had to go back to the flat, because I was having a great time feeling terrible. So Elder T had to stay in the flat with me while I slept and recovered from the flu. Poor guy! When he was about to leave, I got up, and told him "Hey, sorry for the lame exchange", and he was like "Are you kidding me? That was the best exchange I have ever had!", meaning that he enjoyed not working. He of course was kidding, both of us would have liked to go and do the work. Especially since we had planned to see like four of Elder Cocker and my investigators. But it definitely made me laugh, and feel better about the exchange.

Korean People AND Indian People are My Favorite

Elder Cocker and I picked up a new investigator yesterday (actually, two, because we taught a lesson to Mrs. K____ also). I don't remember if I mentioned meeting the Indian dude a couple weeks ago, but we ran into him, and he said that he used to go to one of the LDS chapels here in Canberra. We went and visited him yesterday, and found out that he isn't a member, but that he just went a couple times with his neighbor, who is a member. We shared a portion of the Restoration with him, and he told us that we are always welcome to come and talk to him, as long as we are talking about Jesus Christ. It was a cool experience, despite the fact that there was a language barrier. I have decided that Korean people AND Indian people are my favorite (I mentioned the K____ family are Indian, right?).

About Jarrad's Missionary Flat Mates

Okay, so you asked what have I learned from Elder Cocker, and you  wanted to hear about the other missionaries from my flat. Elder Cocker is a stud! He is a great trainer, and has lots of experience to share with me. One thing that he told me that stuck out to me is that we have to recognize that all good comes from God. All of the blessings that we have, everything good that happens in our lives is from God, and we need to acknowledge His hand in all things. (see Moroni 7:13)

Elders Larsen and Cocker working on their Area Book.

The other missionaries in our flat are Elders Pedersen and Searle. Elder Pedersen is from Highland, Utah and plays Gridiron (what Aussies call American football). He will be playing as a wide receiver for Southern Utah University when he gets home from his mission, where his brothers play. He plays basketball too, and has a good sense of humor! Elder Searle is from Cache Valley, Utah. He is good at soccer and basketball, and will also be attending Southern Utah when he gets home from the mission.

That's really cool that the Presiding Bishop of the Church is going to be at Sacrament Meeting in your ward in Chico. Elder Searle is good friends with the Presiding Bishop's son, they live close to him I think.

Teaching Experiences

We saw a family yesterday, only for like 20 minutes. But it was good! Really good! We talked about Biblical prophets and how they are important, and then shared with them that our church has a unique message; that a prophet is again on the earth after centuries of no prophets. And they truly enjoyed the message. We have a return appointment for this Tuesday evening with them. I can't wait!

We haven't been able to see the fisher guy and his Korean girlfriend this week. We planned to see them Friday, but of course I was sick, and then we were also going to see them yesterday, but we got really busy with some other stuff. But we will for sure see them some time this week.

Water spout seen from Mount Ainslie. We stopped there today for the view with the District.

With the Tongan guy, we haven't had any luck. It seems like he has dropped off the face of the planet. Part of that I am sure is that he has a job now, so he is busy. I think that he still has a desire to learn about the Book of Mormon more, and to hear what other messages that we as missionaries share. He just hasn't found time.

There is the capital of Australia! You can see at the far end of the line Parliament Building, and on this side of the line is the War Memorial. To the right on the far side of the river is the National Library.

Of Flies and Spiders

What is the weirdest bug that I have seen? The flies! They are ginormous! And annoying. Elder Cocker and I witnessed a dead fly give birth. That was nasty! We were studying one day, and then Elder Cocker yelled out "Dude, this dead fly is giving birth!" So, naturally I had to go see this phenomenon. It was..... weird. I think I will spare y'all the nausea from describing it, but just know, that it was incredibly.... strange.

Our flat is really nice, there aren't really any spiders that I have found. I have seen redbacks here, but not at the house. Redbacks are similar to Black Widow spiders that are found in the states, only their backs are red, not their bellies. Similar sting, from what I have heard.

The Australian Redback Spider is related to the American Black Widow spider

Answers to Miscellaneous Questions

I don't think that anyone in the Canberra zone can go to the temple. All of the other zones can, but Canberra is really far south. So, I will have to wait until I am transferred somewhere north of here. But I don't really want to be transferred. I love it here!

The new bike is good! I have only ridden it twice, because Elder Cocker has a busted tire already. After two rides! Unlucky. But the bike rides very nicely. It is a bit hot to be riding bikes here around now, so I am glad to be walking. It may take longer, but I am not drenched in sweat when I am done. At least we aren't in Sydney. It is hoooot there!

Those were some cool pictures of the albino buck! Reminds me of all the good times out on the farm!

Blacktail deer picture taken by Jarrad's old boss, Brian M.

I will have to teach JJ how to play uke! I will just have to learn how to play first... Or maybe JJ can learn, and teach me when I get home! :)

Jarrad's Ukulele, which he spent an undisclosed sum of money on.  ;)

Final Thoughts

I like the pictures that you guys sent me. Very cool! What's on Moana's face?

Okay! Well that's about it! I hope y'all have a good week! Thanks for the prayers and for the love! Much appreciated. Be good and remember who you are! Peace out!

Elder Larsen

PS - Ezra, you are a goof! Thanks Kaysie, I appreciate your desire to share [your cold] with me.... Oh, and I forgot to answer one of your questions. I did meet Elder Macfarland, but not until we were traveling. He is a good guy! I don't know him too well, he was in a different zone, but a good guy nonetheless.

Another cool bird...

10 Quattuordecillion Times Better than Last Week!

So this week was 10 quattuordecillion times better than last week! Heaps of miracles, and good times and the whole lot! We saw lots of miracles, and how the Lord has prepared the hearts of individuals in our area. One I would like to share happened this past Thursday.

We love the Elders in Queanbeyan!

Elder Cocker and I were walking to an appointment, when Elder Cocker saw a house that he felt prompted to knock. So, we did, neither of us knowing really what to say. The door was answered by a Fijian-Indian lady, Mrs. K____, and her two daughters. They were very kind to us, and we offered to do some service for them. They accepted graciously, and then she told us to come back in a half-hour to meet her husband. We did, and Mr. K____ was just as nice as his wife. They told us that when we came over to do service for them that they would have Fijian food for us etc. That was pretty cool.

Yesterday, we decided to stop by their house to let them know we have the stuff to do the service we will be doing, and to catch up a bit with them. Mr. K____ and his daughters were at the house, so we talked to him. And before we left we asked if we could share a message with him. Right after we asked he said he would love for us to share a message, and that we could come over anytime to share messages with him and his family. He said that if we wanted to come over at 10 or 11 pm, then we should send him a text and he would welcome us in! Not that we would do that anyways, but it was a nice thing to say.

To top it off, he expressed to us that we were an answer to his prayers! He had been praying to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for help with the service we will be providing, and with other things (I don't remember exactly what he said), and then two days later, we knocked on their door. He basically bore testimony to us about the power of prayer. So cool! I felt and know he felt the Spirit very strongly, and it was a real testimony-strengthening thing for me to be a part of. I can definitely see how the Lord prepared their hearts for us.

We plan to visit them as frequently as we can, because they are so receptive and want us to come share messages with them. It was such a cool experience! There have been other small miracles this week, but this one was the highlight for sure.

Elder Larsen in front of a random Creepy House.

Korean people are my favorite

We did see the three fisher guys [this week]! They are doing well. We went and saw one of them last Friday or so. And that was awesome! So we got to their house, and before we went inside, we decided that we wanted to make this visit an experience to remember. And it was!

We went inside and started talking and catching up with this guy and his super-cool Korean girlfriend. They fed us prawns and fresh crab, where I ate crab out of the shell for the first time in my life (cool beans), and the prawns were real prawns. Like, without the shell or the head or the legs taken off. Freshly cooked and chilled prawns. MMMmmmmmm. They insisted that we eat heaps of the prawns, and half a crab each! Man, that was good! After they shared their food, we continued to talk to them.

I've decided that Korean people are my favorite. They are so kind, and caring! And they laugh at everything! Even lame jokes their boyfriends' tell them.

Anyways, when we were about to leave, we asked if we could share a message with them. And they told us that they would love that! So we shared a quick message out of the bible about how God loves us and is the Father of our Spirits (Romans 8:16). And then the fisherguy started bearing testimony to us about how there has to be a greater purpose to life than just earning money and going to work. There has to be a God and a reason for everything that has happened and is happening. That was awesome! The Spirit was super strong and everything. And then, Elder Cocker asked if we could pray, which they agreed to whole-heartedly. So E. Cocker said the prayer, and the fisherguy said he was tearing up during the prayer. It is amazing to see how the Holy Ghost can touch even the most stubborn of hearts, and how the Lord prepares His people for the Good Word.

(Side note; the huge typhoon that hit the Philippines has been really big news here, I don't know how big of news it has been in the States, probably just as big.)

Cool bird!

Teaching Tongans

The Tongan dude has been doing well also. We didn't get to see him, but we called him. He is still reading the Book of Mormon and wants to discuss stuff that he has read with us sometime this week, which I am super pumped about.

Okay, so now about some of the members in our ward. There is one Tongan family in our ward that has a house full of teenagers. I am pretty sure there are 8+ teenagers that live at one house, plus parents. They are an awesome family, and we really have been working with them to try to get them excited about the gospel. One of the boys is really excited about the gospel, and wants to be active, and to help the missionaries as much as possible in as many ways as he can. One of the girls [is active and] has her mission call.  She is going to the Auckland New Zealand Mission, Mandarin Chinese speaking!. They are all so great! And they all really want to go to church, especially one of the boys and his older sister.

So, anyways, we visited them twice this past week, and saw ____ in the park a separate time. We had some really solid lessons with them, where we shared how we can overcome our weaknesses (Ether 12:27), and one about doing "small and simple things" (Alma 37:6) in order to get blessings from God. The coolest thing in my opinion is that the member boy told us that he wants to go with us for hours at a time every week to gain some experience, and we got permission to take him with us from the Assistants because he isn't 14 yet (although his birthday is next Sunday, and he will be turning 14 then). He is going to be an awesome missionary! Anyone who is preparing to serve a mission, do everything you can to help the missionaries, and ask the missionaries in your area if you can go with them to lessons. I promise they will be more than happy to take you with them.

We took a trip out of NSW... Naw, just the ACT, which is literally 3 minutes away!

Answers to Questions

Uke (Ukulele) lessons are going good! I am learning lots of cool stuff from E. Cocker! As far as drumsticks go, they don't have any marching sticks here in Australia... So if I had to, I could buy drumset sticks, but that wouldn't really be the same.. If you can't send the drumsticks, that's okay though.

Elder Cocker is a stud! I have learned lots from him! But I will have to share more next week. Maybe you can ask me the same question again so I don't forget?

Elder Cocker in front of the random Creepy House.

The pictures of Big EZ and JJ rock! Keep on wearing the Armor of God, boys! I love you all! Be good, and remember who you are!

Jarrad's younger brothers, Ezra and JJ, in their homemade armor.

Final Thoughts

[Thanks for the] good advice! Maybe Elder Cocker and I should dress up like cute little cub scouts... Or maybe you can just send JJ here! (Note: Jarrad's younger brother, JJ, is a cub scout and spent 3 hours this past week soliciting food donations for the homeless, with pretty good success.)

Thanks for the words of encouragement and the uplifting quotes. Much appreciated!

G'day,
Elder Larsen

More Pictures

P.S. The story behind the gnome pics: E. Cocker and I saw this house while GQing, and we decided to ask if we could take photos. Elder Cocker knocked, and when the lady opened the door, this is their conversation:

Lady: "Whatever you are selling, I don't want it."
E. Cocker: "We are missionaries."
Lady: "I don't want church either."
E. Cocker: "That's okay, we were just wondering if we could take a picture with your gnomes." :D

Elder Larsen in front of the famous Gnomes.

P.P.S. Elder Cocker taught me how to shear a coconut and drink the milk/eat the meat correctly.

"Put a lime in the coconut..."

Elder Cocker showing Elder Larsen how to shear and eat a coconut.

P.P.P.S. Elder Shafer is typing next to me, the guy you emailed, Dad. I don't know if it was him that we talked about how they wrote a ton back home based off of their blog, but if it is him, then I found out why. He types 10 million miles per hour! Super cool guy, though.

(Note: you can follow Elder Shafer's blog here:  http://elderkyleshafer.blogspot.com/)

P.P.P.P.S. I found out from the Assistants that if I stay in Queanbeyan (pronounced Quin [rhymes with pin] bee N [like saying the letter]) then I will get to drive a car! woot woot! the mission just got tons of new cars. And Elder Cocker and I got bikes yesterday which rock!

Perhaps Elder Larsen's new car will look like one of these...

To those that suffer shame for His Name...

Malo e' leilei! Or something like that... That means "Thanks for being good" or something in Tongan, and it is a super nice way to greet someone. Elder Cocker has been teaching me some Tongan... :D

Elder Cocker at the Australian National Museum in Canberra.

Hi! It is good to hear from y'all!

Typical days' schedule, revisited

Well, there are no typical days in Australia. So like I mentioned last week we get up 6:30, Exercise, shower, dress, break our fasts, then study HEAPS (that's what they say here instead of "tons"), then depending on the day we will have an early lunch, then hit the field. Now, our days are all unique, but normally we will leave the flat around 12ish, and we will go and visit members, non-members, less-active members and part-member families. And since we walk, we find people to talk to as we travel. We can normally get in to see like 4-6 people a day, depending on how long we take to talk to peeps and walk, and how long we stay at different people's houses, if they are there. We have had a few days, especially this week where all of our plans fell through, so we had to improvise in various ways.

Cool bridge Elders Larsen and Cocker found while visiting different people.

Opposition in all things

As I mentioned... all of our appointments with our investigators fell through this week. Every single one. It is a bit frustrating, but it has taught me patience.

(Note: an "investigator" is someone that is investigating the Church. They ask questions, do research and discuss the Gospel of Jesus Christ with missionaries.)

An update on the 3 fishermen: we haven't been able to meet with them for a while, because they have been busy unfortunately, but we plan on seeing them like 12 million times this week. Seriously. It's gonna happen! We went to try to see one of them during the week, but he was just about to leave to go sell cherries or something. And he was reeeeaallly sober. That was weird, but good, considering he had to drive 40 minutes or so to get to where he was going. So, we haven't made much headway with them. This week has been slow.

An update on that Tongan dude: he is still eager to learn and is reading The Book of Mormon, but all of our appointments fell through with him. There must be opposition in all things, as Elder Cocker keeps on telling me. We are going to attempt to meet with him this week a couple of times. I really hope that this week isn't as slow as last week.

Queanbeyan countryside seen from a hill as a vantage point.

Interestingly enough, our area is slowly improving. We have a good plan to help us to continue improving those in the area, and our numbers are showing it! Slowly but surely!

To those who suffer shame for His Name

A scripture that helped me this week is Acts 5:41 (I think that is the reference, I don't have my scriptures because security didn't let us take our bags in the National Library this week).  But it says mainly "And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." These words refer to the Apostles being persecuted and tried by some Jewish or Roman council (I think Roman).

This is a really cool scripture in many ways. They rejoiced in their persecutions, and they recognized their sufferings as a manifestation of their worthiness to represent Jesus Christ, and suffer shame for His name. Sooooooo cool! That is exactly what we missionaries do on the daily.  Often in various places of the world members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and members of other faiths are also persecuted for their beliefs much in the same way as the Apostles. So to all of you people out there who "suffer shame for His name", Good on 'ya! I hope that isn't irreverent....

Answers to family questions

Happy Birthday Cami and Sirius Black! Hopefully you are excited for your Vegemite in 2015! And nice present, Kaysie....face palm... Have fun in Salt Lake City (SLC), dad! Elder Lovin just gave me an update from SLC and how he is doing. And he mentioned that he is speaking Nepali!!! Whaaaaaa? And he is serving in a Nepali ward I think. Crazy! I hope you are enjoying my phone, Moana! I am not missing it at all! JJ! I'll be looking in the mail, buddy! Ezra! Hurrah for Israel! Mom, I hope that you figure out how much to cook with me not being there to eat it all!

Polynesian Night

Saturday night, we had a Polynesian night put on by some local Tongan guys, one of them being the before-mentioned Bro. Ki* (I spelled it wrong before). That was way cool! They fed us some good food and we had a blast seeing all of the performances and such!

Hula dancers from a Poly Night!

The District: from left to right: Elders Searle, Larsen, Cocker, Pedersen, To'ungutu, and Moala.

Last P-day we went to the National Museum and National War Museum. That was super cool! Lots of interesting stuff in there. Oh, and I bought a ukulele! Elder Cocker is teaching me how to play it, and I am picking it up fairly quickly. He is a beeeeaast! But it is sooooo fun! Next week I will have a recording of me playing it or something. It was probably the best thing I could have done with (slides hand over mouth) mumble-mumble dollars :D. There is a music store literally two minutes walk from our flat. So we get to visit that on Preparation Days (or P-days).

(Note from Jarrad's dad on P-day: the missionaries have one day each week that they are allowed to do personal shopping, write emails home and have some recreation)

Final Thoughts

The work is hastening! This week is going to be fantastic! I can already tell! Hope you all have a GREAT week! I love you all! Thanks for the prayers!

'Ofatu!

Elder Larsen

Photos taken at the Australian National War Museum

Elders Cocker and Larsen at the National War Museum. 

The Dome...

Super cool stained glass windows from that dome you can see from the last pic.

More National War Museum Pics.

It's a TANK! Naturally we had to stop at the National War Museum too!

I am going to be really confused when I get home

So I have decided that I am going to be really confused when I get home. I will have an American\Aussie\Mexican\Tongan\Kiwi\Samoan\Filipino\Arabian\Southern accent and I don't think that I will know how to function in a predominantly American Society. It will be weeeiiiirrrrd as! (Yup, I said "weird as", that's a kiwi (New Zealand) thing, thanks to my comp Elder Cocker).

Elder Cocker and Elder Larsen.

Something funny...

Last week, we drove out to the National Library in Canberra (where I am now) to try and email. But we got here and there was no parking whatsoever. So, Elder Cocker supposedly saw a spot that said "5 hour parking", so we went and parked there. When we got out, we looked at the sign and we saw that it said "5 Minute parking". So we had to get back in the car and drive all the way back to Queanbeyan and find a library there.

Canberra Capitol Building, or something...

Study habits

Everyday, I get up at 6:30 AM to exercise till 7 AM, then I have an hour to prepare and have breakfast, and then I study. I have personal study for an hour, until 9 o'clock.  That includes the Book of Mormon, Preach My Gospel, and the missionary library. Then we have companion study from 9 AM to 10 AM, where we as a companionship recite our missionary purpose, D&C 4, and the First Vision. Then we prepare for lessons or meetings that we have till our comp study ends.

Elders Larsen and Cocker in their apartment.

We have a 12 week study program for new missionaries where we study "Preach My Gospel" essentials. We normally do that for two hours, so that Elder Pedersen can do his language study (he speaks Spanish). One profound thing that I read in "Our Search For Happiness" by M. Russel Ballard is that we can never pay back the Lord for all of the blessings He has given all of us. Two years of my life is nothing in comparison to what He has done. Jesus Christ suffered and died for us on the cross. He took the sins and pains of the world on Himself so that we imperfect beings can return to live with Him and Heavenly Father, despite all of our shortcomings, if we will accept Him and His Gospel, and strive to improve ourselves each day. That was really powerful.

Inside the flat where hours of study happens.  Still looks kind of spartan...

Finding people to teach

Our other finding efforts are going well. We really have been focusing on working with members. We have visited tooooooons of Less-Active members in order to clean up the ward list, focusing particularly on the Queanbeyan area. We have done "GQ'ing" (General Questioning or street contacting) a few times, and I have another awesome miracle-of-a-story to tell. And we have been visiting every active member in the ward that we could. So basically our finding is going relatively well.

Elder Cocker crying repentance from a local amphitheater.

Two blowouts

We changed 2 tires this week. I won't mention who our driver is to protect him from embarrassment (I just narrowed it down; he is an elder, not a sister ;D ). The first one happened randomly. This lady pointed at our tire when we were driving to the church Tuesday for MCM (Missionary Coordination Meeting),  and she said (in a heavy foreign accent) "You tiya!" (your tire). When we got to the church, we had to change it. But we took that "You tiya!" and had fun with it as we drove away. "No I am not tired, thanks". "I know I am on fire, but I appreciate the complement". "Actually we are missionaries, we aren't for hire. We do offer free service, though." The thing to realize is that we weren't making fun of her, we were making light a stressful situation, so it actually was very healthy for us :D.

The second time it happened, our chauffeur didn't see a curb, and hit it, hard. That busted that tire. One important thing to note is that these were two different cars, so they both had spares. Very interesting.....

Teaching experiences

Another cool thing that happened is that Elder Cocker and I went to visit the three fishermen again on Saturday. And it was pretty awesome! We let them talk mostly, but by the end of it we had set a return appointment, where they said that we could come over and share a message, and that we should have shared a message then and there. They really have been prepared. It was awesome! We plan to teach about prophets, Jesus Christ and His earthly ministry, and the Plan of Salvation. We really can help these guys out.

Sunset picture close to where they met the three fishermen 

And one other thing that I should mention; we went out GQ'ing one day, and we ran into this 22 year old Tongan guy, and he was really cool, and he told us he has a cousin on a mission and stuff, and that he would like to learn more about the church. Then he gave us his number (without us asking) and we were off. The next day we ran into him at the library, where we taught him the entire message of the Restoration. Cool beans!

We got this picture from a wonderful LDS family in Canberra who fed these hungry missionaries!

Zone Conference

On Friday, we had our first zone conference. We met in a chapel like 25 minutes drive from Queanbeyan, and met the zone. Our zone is awesome! Our zone leaders are Elders White + Shafer (it is the same Elder Shafer that you emailed, dad, so that was really pretty funny). We had conference, then had a half p-day with the zone. We did laser tag! that rocked! then we went and played touch rugby, which I really enjoy. I wish I could say more, but I don't have time.... Sorry!

Final thoughts

What is awesome about the flat? The toilets are awesome, but the missionaries are even more awesome than the toilets! Although I have decided that the toilets aren't quite as awesome as I originally thought (we had to have a plumber come fix one of them this week).

The 3 Story, 2 Bedroom, 2 Toilet Flat of Awesomeness

Okay! I love you all! be good, and thanks for all of the prayers and everything else. You all inspire me!

G'day (yes they really do say that here)

Elder Larsen  

Elder Cocker singing.

A cool church building in Queanbeyan that Elders Larsen and Cocker passed while street contacting.

The new missionaries and their companions who arrived the same day as Elder Larsen.  Elder Larsen is in front row, fifth from the left.  Elder Cocker is next to him on the right.

Aussie Sunset in Queanbeyan.