The drought is ending!

To my awesome family and friends,

Y'all rock! Man! It is so good to hear about the missionary work that you all are doing back home! Good on ya! Keep up the good work! Studs!  Sounds like all is well in the land of the Walnuts and Prunes. That is great. My week has been pretty good as well! I guess I will just jump right into it.

Miracles are raining from Heaven!

Miracles are raining from Heaven! We are meeting so many people that are prepared for the Gospel. If I shared them all, then I would be stuck at this computer for ages! Man. We have been having great success with just talking with everyone, knocking doors, sharing the message, and doing everything possible to fulfill our purpose. I think that our mission president really is onto something..... Miracles are happening across the entire mission. As a whole, we are seeing the miracles of being "Open Your Mouth" missionaries. Because of that, I think that the fear that many missionaries have is decreasing drastically. We heard in our letter from President Palmer that over the course of the past few weeks our mission has achieved mission record highs in most areas (referring to the key indicators of Preach My Gospel). What a great time to be a missionary and a member-missionary!

That was a day where it was raining and was sunny at the same time! It was cool!

I started that journal that I mentioned I was going to start. But instead of video journals, I am using the voice recorder. It is sooooooo much easier than writing everything. That is such a hassle. I will be able to download all of the journals and send them home with my camera card, when that happens. From the looks of it, my camera card is three-quarters of the way full. So it should be coming shortly.....

The drought is ending!

B_ is doing sooooo good!!! We have been able to meet with him a couple of times over the past week since I wrote. Every time, we hear B_'s testimony, and feel the Spirit and it is so nourishing. We talked about B_'s road to eternal life with him, the ordinance of confirmation, his testimony of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and the other standard works. And we have been discussing final details of his Baptism. I am going to make sure that I take a fair amount of pictures to record the moment. It will be very special for B_ and for me, to see him make it to the waters of Baptism. The zone as a whole will be having 5 baptisms this weekend! Holy Cow! These will be the first in our zone for months! The drought is ending! Good work, Liverpool Zone!

Tracting is like an Easter Egg

I went on trade-offs yesterday with one of our District Leaders, Elder Howse. And we had such a great experience. We had a focus of talking to as many people as possible, with a goal of talking to 10 people on the streets, outside of member and investigator visits, and tracting. And we did pretty well. BTW, I really enjoy tracting. It is like an Easter egg! You never know what is on the other side of the door (or inside the shell).  We met a few solid potential investigators through our efforts, had an awesome lesson with B_, met some less-active members and had good experiences there. It was such a productive trade-off!

We also were able to go to the Stake President's house for dinner for my first time. His house is crraaaaaazzzyyy! He lives in an area called Sandy Point, and his house was built by an architect. It is cut out of sandstone and his backyard leads down to the Georges river. It. Is. Awesome!!! And that family is so cool! We had a great and uplifting time. They almost made us late home though.....

The Lord refines us with our trials

This morning I had a neat experience with my studies. I went into them a little bit down, and discouraged for various reasons. I needed answers and prayed for divine help. The Lord knows us so well! Normally, my studies begin with a bit of studying in the Book of Mormon. But for some reason I decided to read my conference notes. There were soooo many answers and responses to my prayer that I was overwhelmed with the Spirit, and my testimony has greatly benefited as a result. I think that Heavenly Father knows what we can handle. And he prepares a way for each of us to bear our burdens.

I was guided to a number of different notes from talks. I read some of my notes from Elder Uchtdorf's Sunday Morning address; President Monson's Priesthood address; Elder Holland's talk. I was refered to the book of Job in the Old Testament. And I learned from Job's trials. Then I read in 1 Nephi 20 in my personal Book of Mormon studies, where Nephi quotes Isaiah. Isaiah says "For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." The Lord refines us with our trials. I have felt that and hope that you all can feel so as well.

That is my week in a nutshell. Hopefully you all have a great one! I will try to keep sending pics till I go. But for now, I love you. In response to your questions, President Back enters the MTC in July, and we aren't sure when he will get his visa. Also, yes, Elder Wulf is of Samoan ancestry. He is Samoan, German, and Chinese I think.

Have a great week!
042!
Elder Larsen

My testimony is challenged, stretched, attacked, abused and tried

Jarrad sent us a copy of the letter he wrote to his mission president this week.  We were impressed with this paragraph:

"I have a testimony of the truthfulness of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. My testimony is confirmed over and over. With every contact that we make, my testimony is challenged, stretched, attacked, abused and tried. And through all of the whirlwinds of the adversary, my testimony grows ever stronger, just like a tree does as it experiences storm after storm. I hope to become as immovable and faithful as Nephi, who is my favorite testimony of obedience and faith."