Elder Jarrad Larsen: Heaps of good, a bit of bad, a whole lot of in-between!

How ya going?

I have had a great week this week. Lots has happened. Heaps of good stuff, a bit of bad, and a whole lot of in-between stuff!

In a threesome

Elder Searle came back this past Tuesday. His companion is still sick. So he came down here with the car to work with Elder Cocker and I, in a threesome for the transfer. Or so we thought. Sunday, at a dinner appointment, Elder Searle got a call from President, and President has reassigned Elder Searle to a part of Sydney. He is going up Thursday.... So, unfortunately, we won't get to be a threesome for much longer. He isn't taking the car, so I may get certified to drive, but we would rather have Elder Searle here to taxi us around..... Man, the original district is dwindling! Only Elder Cocker and I are left! Ahhhh!

So now our district will only be four people; Elder Cocker and I, and the sisters. That will be weird. It will be okay, because we are a tight district. But still weird. It was weird when Elder Pedersen left. But this is going to be even more different!

Three Amigos! Searle, Larsen, Cocker.

Some pretty good teaching experiences

We have had some pretty good teaching experiences this past week. We taught J_____ the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is still progressing! He was going to come to church, but he and his Church friends went up to Sydney for the weekend, so they didn't make it. But that is okay! He continues to express every time we meet with him that the things we share make him want to be better and follow Christ's example. Man, it is cool to see how prepared J_____ has been just by being around those boys.

J_____ is doing well on his baptismal preparation! He wants to come to church. He wants to make changes in his life. And he is enjoying the lessons we share with him, and reading the Book of Mormon. He mentioned that it makes him want to keep learning, because it feels good. We told him that was the Spirit confirming truth to his heart. He was excited about that. So he is doing well!

We also saw the American Indian fan. We talked to her more about Indians of course, but we were also able to share a bit about the Plan of Salvation with her. She told us about how she had had a number of deaths in her family, most recently her brother, who passed away last week. And she expressed to us that she was afraid of death. We told her a bit about God's plan for his children, and that she will be able to see her family members again after this life. She agreed with that. She said that she feels the presence of her nephew and her brother's spirits. We have set up a time to go and visit her tomorrow, and explain a bit more about that plan of happiness. We are excited for that!

I have been waiting as patiently as I could...

This past week, we also went to the K____ house while they were not home to do more of that service that we have been doing. We took some of the Bishop's boys with us for more man-power. And we tried to get the stumps out of the ground. Man those things are tough! There were probably 6 small ones that we were able to get out, but there are still 3 ginormous stumps that wouldn't budge... So we will have to go back with yet more reinforcements....

By the way, the K____ Family finally got back on Friday! We went over to see them Saturday, but the father was still at work, so we are going to meet with them this week. Man! It is about time! I have been waiting as patiently as I could for them to be back, but it has been hard! I can't wait to teach them again this week!

RFC - Roo Fighting Championships

One cool thing that happened was Elder Searle, Elder Cocker, and I watched some Kangaroos fight! I caught it on tape, and it sounds like the H___ Family sent you the video. Crazy stuff, huh?? I have talked to a number of people in the ward about it, and all of them have said that they have never seen a Roo fight! It was crrraaaaaaazzzyyyyy cool! The way they stand on their tails to kick is fascinating! Man! Only here in Australia...

(Note: we hope to have a video of the Roo Fight to post here in the future.)

Me with the roo-bags! It was nice and cool that day!

Brawling roo-bags!

The scene of the crime....

Roo-poo! I thought you would enjoy this one Dad, JJ and Ezra :)

Spanish investigators

Elder Searle and I went to teach one of his Spanish investigators, M____, along with his less-active wife. The wife doesn't speak like any English (M_____speaks pretty well though) so I got to use my Spanish talking to them. That was awesome! I am surprised at how well I was able to communicate after so long without speaking Spanish. It was a good lesson too, on the Atonement. Unfortunately for us, they are moving to Hawaii really soon. But they said that they are going to go to church there. Hopefully the missionaries are as awesome as us out there :).

10 lizards

At one of our dinner appointments, Elder Searle and Elder Cocker got peed on by a lizard. It was funnnnnnny! The members that we ate with own like 10 lizards, and let us hold them. One had to go, so when Elder Cocker was handing it off to Elder Searle, it started to go. Hahahahaha!

Oh, Australia Day was yesterday. Our ward celebrated by having a breakfast at a park. And all of the food was pretty American..... French toast with eggs and American and Australian Bacon. It was fantastic. I thought it was funny that we had an American meal for a purely Aussie day. It helps that half of our ward are Americans...

That is pretty much the highlights of the week! Studies have been great, I am learning heaps still, I am becoming much more comfortable in teaching situations. Life pretty much is good!

So now some question answering business

That returned missionary (RM) that I mentioned last week was not able to make it to church yesterday for various reasons. But he is still a keen little green bean to help us out! We are probably going to go visit him and invite him to lessons sometime this week.

How are J____ and J_____ related? They aren't.... At all. Unless I don't understand your question?

After church on Sunday.

The Lord helped me know what to teach

A recent experience where the Lord helped me to know what to teach someone? Well, there was one experience that we had last Monday, not yesterday, where we were teaching one of the nonmember boys who stays at Bishop's house, wants to be baptized, but cannot because his parents wont give him permission, and he is 17. Normally, Elder Searle and Elder Pedersen would teach him, but since they are gone/going Elder Cocker, the sisters, and I have been teaching him. So, when we got there, we didn't know what to talk about. This young man has been through all of the lessons multiple times, but Bishop wants us to continue to visit him and teach him so that he continues to prepare for his baptism in the near future.

What was something that he hadn't been taught? What could we share that would be different from what the other missionaries have been sharing with him for the past 8 months? Then I remembered what I had studied like on 4 separate occasions the week before; the role of the Book of Mormon in our religion and its significance. We had already started the lesson with him, and the other missionaries were asking him what he wanted to learn about. I butted in and asked "Why do we have the Book of Mormon?" Bishop's sons were there in the lesson with us. They all didn't know. So that is what we focused on. It was a spiritually uplifting experience for all of us. They learned heaps. And I had a testimony builder of the importance of studying. It was awesome!

Well that is it! Thank you for tuning in to Elder Larsen's weekly letter! I hope you all had a good time :)

Bye bye, now!
Love,
Elder Larsen