Member referrals are the way to go!

Larsen Familia!

Greetings to my number one family! This has been a pretty hectic week.

(From this website: "To Australians from the Illawarra area, "hectic" can be used as an adjective roughly synonymous to "awesome", as in "She has a hectic singing voice." ...hectic carries with it a greater sense of pure excitement and enthusiasm for one's subject, such excitement that normal language cannot possibly convey and so an alternate word must be created.")

There it is! Lake Illawara!

Member referrals are the way to go!

One highlight of the week has been the opportunity that Elder B and I have had to work with the members of our ward. That has been a major focus for us. As a result, we made plans to visit many of the members of the ward council in their homes this week.

One family that we visited was the M_ family. Bro M_ is a priesthood leader here in my ward. He has an awesome family. He and his wife are from Tonga, and his kids (I think there are 6) were born in New Zealand and Australia. We talked to them about missionary efforts, and they told us about two families that they are working with. Not only that, they asked us to go and visit their neighbours on both sides of their house. Apparently they have talked to them both a fair bit about the church. Cool beans! Member referrals are the way to go! We tried to see the neighbours; one answered and said we could come back, and the other didn't answer. Awesome! Nothing may come of it, but we are very happy that the members were willing to give us people to see.

Another family we saw was the K_ family. Brother K_ is a young men's leader in our stake, from Ireland. And they have two young men's age boys, and two primary age kids, a boy and a girl. They are a cool family! Brother K_ is pretty funny. Love his jokes. But anyways, they basically gave us two names of people that they wanted us to follow up with them on Sunday; they plan to invite these people to dinner, along with the missionaries. We followed up with them, and they are making progress. Sweet as!

Wednesday was a bit slow. Elder B woke up sick, so we weren't able to go out and proselyte. So I took the time to fix a couple shirts, catch up on journal writing, lots of extra study etc. A productive unproductive day!

Coolest experience of the week

I think the coolest experience of the week was my trade-off with Elder Thomas. Man, it was hectic. First thing that he told me when he walked in the door of our flat was that his auntie served with a Former Elder Lynn Larsen in the Auckland, NZ mission. And she is Facebook friends with said person, too! His auntie is Leslie K_, although that is her married name. Does a Former Elder Lynn Larsen know said person? (Parent note: Yes, he does!)

E. Thomas and I ! Just before we went to the K_ Family! In the background you can see Lake Illawara (Beeeeaaaaautiful).

Apparently Elder Thomas has been writing his aunt, and she has been sending emails every now and then about an old mission mate that has a son in the same mission, and then she sent a picture to Elder Thomas, and it was me! Random! But cool. Elder Thomas is the man. Our trade-off was hectic! We started off the day with studies, and directly after we went to the T_ Family home, to talk to Bro T_ about missionary efforts with some of the people that he has been helping us work with. That was awesome. He is the man! Such an awesome member-missionary who gets things done! Definitely a doer of the word. He said that he could come to a lesson with us, with one of our investigators who isn't really progressing. We drove over there, to try and drop in. No one was home.

When we were at the door, Bro T_ got a returned phone call from K_! Apparently the whole car ride he had been attempting to make contact with those that we had been talking about earlier. And we were able to turn around and go to K_'s right away! We went over there, caught up a bit, and met her son, A_, who invited us to go play some Basketball! And K_ gave us the names of heeaaaaps of people in the area who we could visit. Man it was hectic. It was good I had Elder Thomas with me, because he knows heaps of the same people as both Bro T_ and K_, being from NZ.

Trade offs always bring miracles

We ended up going to play b-ball with A_ and his mates. I earned some respect on the court, and now we have more opportunities to share the gospel in a unique way! I love interacting with people through sports, and that seems to be the best way to connect with people. I have decided that Trade-offs always bring miracles. Without fail.

1. Elder Thomas's aunt and a Lynn Larsen served in the same mission together, and their respective nephew and son are serving together in the same district.
2. Bro T_ is the man.
3. Bro T_ became a segway to get into the homes of people that we by ourselves would not have been able to visit.
4. We had much success in visiting the members of our ward (that was the day we saw the K_ Family)
5. We have a number of new people that we have the opportunity to visit ex) A_, K_ and R_, A_'s mates, names given to us by K_ and K_ family.
6. Life is good!

Man. good times!

I had two minutes!  Oh well.

Friday we had a crazy day. The Mittagong Elders all came down to stay the night before for District Training Meeting (DTM), so our flat was packed. And we had been booked in to sing for a half-hour at a rest home for one of the women in our ward (who works there) with all 8 missionaries. At a time that was right in the middle of DTM time on Friday. Ughhh..... So we had to do our DTM much earlier than we would have, cutting off half of my training. I had asked Elder Anderson and Elder Te'o to give 10 min. trainings each on "The Role of the Holy Ghost in Conversion" and "The Role of Commitments in Teaching for Conversion". That was 20 min. gone. Then we had the start of meeting stuff. 20 min. gone. Role plays: 20 min. gone!

Da district: Thomas, Anderson, Te'o, B, Jenkins, Olsen, Tito, Larsen.

I had two minutes! Oh well. So I decided that I would save my training for next week (not this week, because we have interviews with President Lew). They all thought that I did that on purpose. It was definitely not on purpose! I was disappointed, to be honest. Oh well. The singing thing went well! There was an audience of about 40 elderly people. And they loved the church hymns that we did, some with a bit of a modern twist. We also talked to a 15 year old kid who was doing work experience stuff there and he gave us his contact info, and said we could visit him. Miracles! So maybe I have nothing to complain about!

Us again! Poor decision to open the blinds...

Much success in the Land of Kangaroos

Saturday was pretty discouraging. Literally no one was home. No one. We knocked doors of people that we had planned to visit. All day. Nada. Zip. Nil! It was a dry day! There was a famine in the land, not of food nor drink, but of hearing the word of God! Come on people! Why weren't they waiting at the door to offer us tea and crumpets? And a foot massage? Maybe even $1,000,000? Oh yeah, life isn't easy. Oh well.

Fortunately for Elder B and I, yesterday everyone opened the door to us, offered us tea and crumpets, and foot massages and millions of dollars. Jokes! But most everyone was home. Which was much better than any of those things. We visited a number of less-active families, contacted the M_ Family's neighbour, and had much success in the Land of Kangaroos. One particularly good lesson was a lesson with the C_ family. They are a part-member family; the mom is less-active, along with the two oldest kids, and the partner to mom and two baptism age kids are not members. Well, anyways, yesterday we went and saw them. And we were finally able to meet all of the family. We had a great lesson, where all of the kids actually participated! We committed the whole family to pray, and then invited them to come to a Family Home Evening with us, not today, but next Monday, which they graciously accepted! Woohoo! Progress, baby! Totally made up for Saturday's failures.

That was pretty much my week. Now I will respond to your questions.

Where the idea for the 7-day Fast came from

You asked where the idea for a 7 day fast came from. Well, I am not really sure. The ward here has done 40 day fasts (which I think you know how they work) and has seen much success from them. I knew that I had to do something to change the dynamics of our district; we all seemed to be in a bit of a rut. So, I put a lot of thought into what could be changed. And the 7 day fast came to mind. Everyone agreed that it should be done. So we did it. As a result (or I feel was a result) Elder Tito and Olsen extended a baptismal commitment that was accepted; Elder B and I have a bunnnncccchhh of new people to see, new contacts to make, new opportunities to share the Gospel. The Mittagong Elders have a baptism coming up soon.  I am so excited to see what this week has in store for us. We have set ourselves up for success.

I think it will probably be better to send my package to the office, just in case I get transferred to a new area. Transfers are not this Saturday, but next Saturday. I don't think I will go, but there is always a possibility.

We didn't see P_ at all this week. We haven't figured out what to do about her partner. But we do want to see her this week sometime. Hopefully all goes well.

What I like most about my new area

What do I like most about my new area? The contacts that I have made, forsure. Contact with people that know an Elder Larsen that served in NZ. People that are related to people that know that same Elder. An awesome ward family. Awesome opportunities to share the gospel.

What is my favourite color, Ez? You should know! Royal Blue! TITANS! Woohoo! And I am coming back next year in October. So pretty soon! (Kinda) You have to make sure Sirius Black is nice by the time I come back, okay Ezra?

My favorite Book of Mormon story

What is my favourite Book of Mormon story, JJ? Ugghhh... That is the  hardest question I have ever been asked in my life. It relates to the question "would you rather have apple pie, or cherry pie?" Such a hard choice! One of my favourite Book of Mormon stories is the story about Teancum and Amalakiah. I read that this morning. It was hectic! Teancum is leading part of the Nephite army, and Amalakiah is a Nephite disenter who, by trickery and deceit, became king of the Lamanites. Well, anyways, they fight all day long, and at night they camp out. Teancum and his servant sneak into the Lamanite camp, kill Amalakiah in his sleep without alerting his servants, and get out safe. The next morning the Lamanites don't know what to do, so they retreat. Not exactly the most Spiritual chapter in the book, but it was a great story! I enjoyed it. I have too many favourite stories to count.

Well, that is about it! I will send some photos in a minute! In the meantime, Be good! Remember who you are and what you stand for! And be good member-missionaries!

Alu a e?
Love,
Elder Larsen

Bonus paragraph from Jarrad's letter to his mission president

Sometimes Elder Larsen sends his family a copy of his letter to his mission president.  Here are some choice words he uses in this week's letter to president to describe how the Holy Ghost touches his heart:

"Reading the Book of Mormon as always has brought the influence of the Spirit in my life. I am finding that I am becoming truly converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As I sincerely read the Book of Mormon, and pray to be enlightened, the Holy Ghost touches my heart in such a way that I can no longer have any doubts about the truthfulness of that book. As is said by many of the prophets, the Holy Ghost has brought conviction that I don't believe a heavenly manifestation could bring. I really look forward to my studies, every day. They always build me up, when I am down, and give me insights that I would miss otherwise."

Elder Anderson and I... Cool cats!

Weird colored sky here in Aussie land...