Mowing lawns and opening hearts

G'day!

How ya goin'? My week was pretty great here in the best mission ever, in the best zone ever!

It is good to know that I will be here for another 6 weeks. I really love it here. I wouldn't even mind another 6 weeks on top of that! This area is truly Zion! We have had an awesome time together, the zone as a whole.

Elder Bartholomew is a musical genius!

So let me tell you about some of the new members of the zone. Elder Bartholomew (Elder B) is a musical genius! He is super funny and fun to be around. His response to the question "Is Elder B. a BYU fan?" is that he doesn't follow sports that much.... but if he did he would be a UVU (Utah Valley University) fan, because he went and is going there after the mission. Soooo I think you can still accept him as my companion. Because he didn't say that he isn't a fan....

Definitely drive with your hazard lights on! 

Favorite moment from the week with Elder B.: Last night, we got a phone call from some of the sisters in our zone, who were calling to inform us that their car had a metal hook stuck in the tire. The car was making a noise (as the hook would hit the frame of the car) and then they asked what to do. We asked some questions about the location of the hook and the depth, to which one sister responded hysterically "Oh okay, should I drive with my hazard lights on, or not, because I can only drive 20 k/hr...?" We looked at each other, and busted up laughing. Definitely drive with your hazard lights on! Hahahhahaahahah We aren't exactly sure what was so funny, but just the way she said it... Sigh... It was great!

The "Hectic Cow" - for explanation see video at end of post.  Also notice the duck...

Mowing lawns and opening hearts

A cool experience that we had this week: so we borrowed the lawn mower of one of the members in the ward, and we were asked to return it. So, we arrived with the lawnmower the next day (a day later than they wanted it) and we unloaded it from our car, and took it around the back of their house. We noticed that the lawn really needed a mowing, so we asked the partner of this member (partner isn't member) if we could do it for them (we had just returned from helping another member move out, so we were dressed for the occasion). She said don't worry about it, but we insisted, so she finally accepted the help.

We got right to it! We mowed the front yard, and then we weeded their garden. It felt great! After perhaps 40 min., the member drove into the driveway, and saw us doing his lawn. He quickly told us to stop, that we had done plenty, and that we didn't need to worry about it. We were almost done! The cool part is this brother is less-active, he has a strong desire to return to church, but in the past I have never really been close to him. With Elder Bartholomew and I working on his lawn, he opened right up. He shared with us his desires to return and to bring his whole family to church. He bore testimony profusely. And he invited us to come back more frequently. Sweet as! That was choice.

For you member missionaries out there, seek opportunities to serve! Because as you serve people, they become more open to you, and by default more open to the gospel. Think of the story of Ammon in the Book of Mormon. As Ammon served King Lamoni, the King became impressed with him, and much more open to receiving the message Ammon bore. (You don't necessarily have to chop off 300 arms defending the flocks of a king)....

Elder Larsen with some church members from Liverpool.

Ever-increasing faith in Christ

We taught P_ and O_ this week. Our lesson with them was as spiritual as always! And we finally got their phone numbers, so that we can stay in touch with them (text them their daily scripture reading assignment etc.). We taught the commandments "Obedience", "Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy", "Prayer", and "Scripture Study", and called it Spiritual CPR. They expressed their understanding and desire to continue to learn the commandments, so they can more fully follow God. Choice! They should be baptized by the end of October. Our main focus right now is finding fellowship for them that are the same age. They have parents and aunties and uncles that are all strong members and incredible fellowshippers. But they need friends they can relate better to. You asked what they are like. Well, their dad is Tongan, mom is Chilean. They are both really into basketball (which is awesome). O_ is in year 10 in college (high school), and P_ is in her first year of uni (college). They have ever-increasing faith in Christ and are looking forward to their baptisms.

Brett moved!!! We found out this past week that he moved up north somewhere.... Which is unfortunate. But hopefully we can get missionaries to visit him there.

Looks like we have a sincere investigator

So, another thing that we have to look forward to, our appointment with Teauiti's brother's fiance was moved back to tomorrow. And it should be at a member family home. Looks like we have a sincere investigator! Please pray for us! This first visit will make or break her desire to learn and accept the gospel. Please pray!

That is pretty much the highlights of the week. Oh we did actually have a really spiritual lesson with La and Rio, the Fijian cousins. Rio's desire to learn was sparked as we shared and bore testimony of the Restoration. It was cool! I will let you know how this week goes!

Okay, love you guys! I don't think that I took any pics really this week, so hopefully you have some extra's from last week to use for the blog!

042
Elder Larsen

Video - the Hectic Cow!