You guys have matching uniforms!

Hi family!

This week has indeed been pretty short. But we have had some good experiences over the past several days.

You guys have matching uniforms!

Last Wednesday, while searching around a couple stores for some stuff that we need for our flat, we met this guy named Allen. Allen is the man! He is an American fellow from North Carolina, married here, and now lives in our area. It was pretty funny how we met him, we were just going up the escalator, and he was just in front of us, and said "you guys have matching uniforms!" Immediately we noticed the American accent, and we started talking with him more. He has been all over the place! But most importantly, we swapped contact info, and he is keen to have us over hopefully sometime this week to teach about the gospel! I think that he is Anglican? Not positive on that. I think the main thing for him is that we are American. So, sweet as!

It is neat how the Lord blesses you as you simply do what is asked; on Preparation Day, we are asked to go around in proselyting clothing unless we are doing an activity that requires other attire. It is very easy for missionaries to not do so, but because we obeyed, we were blessed. How cool is that?! If we were in non-proz (non-proselyting clothing) then we wouldn't have been able to meet Allen. As we obey, the Lord will immediately bless us.

The Bankstown Zone (aka the Celestial Zone)

And again

He was going to take the Book of Mormon to his church for scripture

We also had a bit of success doing some street contacting this past week. We were walking around one of the suburbs that we normally work in, and there were a few kids playing outside on the grass, and they said "Hi!!" We said "Hi" back, and they just came up to us and started talking! For ages! Man, these kids were only 11 and 12 (one boy and one girl). They were trying to tell us jokes and stuff (but we knew all of the punch lines! Hahahaha) and that was funny. They were astonished to hear us say that there is a living prophet on the earth today, and they immediately wanted to know more. We gave them copies of the Book of Mormon. The boy said that he was going to take it to his church for scripture (apparently he was assigned to read their pastor a scripture that Sunday), I wonder how that will go over... Hahaha! Hopefully we will be able to meet the whole family sometime this week.

We have been struggling to be in contact with most of our previously progressing investigators. Which is why these little finding miracles are so meaningful. Unfortunately we were unable to meet with P_ and O_ this past week, because our main fellowshipper was not able to fit time in his super busy schedule. We will see for this week...

General Conference was fantastic!!!

General Conference was fantastic!!! There were so many great talks! One that I really liked (and President Back really liked too, he told us, because we go to the mission office for general conference) was Lynn G. Robbins' talk. "Which way are you facing?" I don't know if you guys caught it, but that talk was fire and brimstone! It was really neat. Are we facing others around us, or are we facing the Lord? That was the question to be asked.

I LOVED President Uchtdorf's talks (here and here). He is so inspiring! I love the analogy that he used for us as we seek spiritual light and truth. We need to use the proper instruments (read and ponder the message of the BoM/other things, ask God with faith and sincerity if is true, live and apply the principles in our lives) in order to be able to discern and gather celestial light, and know truth, just as is the case with deep-space information-gathering. Definitely something that I want to share with people here.

I enjoyed Elder Ballard's talk about "Stay[ing] in the Boat". I pondered a great deal on the rafting/canoeing/boating experiences that I have had in the past. And the experiences that I have had when I went down the river w/out a boat, just a life jacket. And I tried to apply the principles that he taught in the message. Please stay in the boat!!

I also enjoyed President Monson's talk about the importance of having a functioning rudder to guide us through mortality. I personally am a fan of war stories, maybe that is why I liked his talk so much. But everything that Pres. Monson said struck home with me. As we have purpose and know where we need to go, we will be able to navigate ourselves back to the presence of our Heavenly Father.

Elder Bednar's talk was great. "Why do we as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints desire to share the gospel with such zeal?" It is because we have had powerfully experiences in the past that has healed wounds. We have overcome trials and difficulties  through the Atonement of Christ only fully accessible as you live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The story of his kids was also pretty cute. I did in fact think of my brothers as I heard it.

Do not abandon the Gospel's safe embrace

Because we were out of our area at the Mortdale chapel, and we didn't want to waste k's by driving back to our area in between every session, we went on trade-offs with the Mortdale Zone Leaders, Elder Anderson and Elder Macfarlane. That was great! I was with Elder Mac most of the time, and we had positive experiences with inviting people to come to conference and such. I did hear some sad life experiences that really have motivated me to not abandon the Gospel's safe embrace. I know that more often than not it is my standards and understanding of the Gospel that keeps me safe.

We had ZTM (Zone Training Meeting) this week as well, I think that I forgot to mention it last week. ZTM was good! I did a follow-up training on effective studies, following up from last month. And Elder Bartholomew trained on focusing on teaching Faith and Repentance. The meeting went well, the Spirit was felt, and we are hopefully all better as a result of it!

We have done a few services this past week. Just this morning we mowed a lawn, which tends to be the service we render most often. I think that the strangest service that we offered was back in Canberra, when we went through a garage and sorted what needed to be thrown out. It was strange because of the stuff we sorted through... Lots of raaaaandom stuff. Also lots of cool stuff. Ex) indian wallets, detailed maps of Australia, old serviceman equipment etc. Fun stuff!

The most rewarding service that we have rendered.... Hmmm... Probably just the services that have helped us to get closer to the people that we serve. For example, we did service for some of our middle-eastern investigators this morning and last week, and they want us around so much! They call us their "sons". The family has soo much potentiel. They also have so much improvement to make! But that's just like us all. I need to improve. And fortunately, I am at a moment in my mission where I can evaluate what has been done, and set goals and make plans to improve.

On my year mark we didn't have a whole lot of time to do too much. But we did have time to study, which was probably my most benificial study session on my mission. I looked over the past year of my mission, at my regrets, at my successes, and decided that I don't have room for any more regrets. Which means I have some work to do. But I am proud of the person I am becoming. I am more and more like my Saviour. What a transformation! And I have a year to go, still!

That's pretty much what has been going on over here. My companion is still the Man, our zone is celestial and all is well!

Love ya heaps!
042!
Elder Larsen