Quite an Adventure!

Hello everyone!

This week has been quite the adventure!

Tuesday we drove from Clinton, MS to Shreveport, LA. with 2 other missionaries to our new areas.  It was only like a 4 hour drive..... It was pretty bad weather too.  It was raining so hard aaaannnnndddd we almost died.  So this semi was in the left lane going super slow and we sat behind him for a second and then he didn’t get over so I got over and was going to pass him but then he started getting over and I was almost right next to him.  It was almost really, really bad.  Luckily I am like the best driver ever so I was able to avoid him. So that wasn't to fun haha.

Wednesday we had district meeting and after that we went to the doctors office for Elder Lovells shin. He has a stress fracture in his tibia.  Then we went to a lesson and I was able to meet Tom.  Tom had a baptismal date for March 5. We met with him and he told us that he wanted to move his date back because he had drank some wine, we were able to teach him about the atonement and how we aren't expected to be perfect. It was a good lesson and we were able to help him move forward and still want to do his baptism on Saturday.

Thursday we did some service. After the service we went and taught a lady named Nadine, it was pretty funny she cussed a lot haha. Despite that she had some pretty good questions!

Friday we made stewardship calls which took 4 hours. Then we went to visit Brother Seay. He is pretty funny and runs a travel agency from home so if anyone wants to go on vacation call him. He can hook it up haha! We also saw another family, the Parks, they were funny too haha. They have 4 little kids who were all super hyper. It was a fun night!

Saturday we got a call from Tom and he told us that he wanted to talk to us so we went over to his house. When we got there we kind of new it wasn't going to be good, so we sat down and he started talking to us and just told us that he was done and wanted to go back to his old church. He said that he couldn't live the lifestyle. Its always sad when people who are so close just back out. He was so close and even had given up everything(wine and such) for 3 weeks but he didn't want to continue anymore. He had been coming to church for a year.  I guess I am just bad luck! haha.

Sunday we went to church and had a great day planned for after. During Priesthood we announced that we needed 2 people to come out on splits with us for an hour after church, after a long pause haha we got our 2 volunteers and were ready to go. We went to see our appointments and backups that we had planned and we knocked on 16 people doors and didn't teach anyone............ So there went our awesome day. But after that Brother Osburn told us that they had been talking with their neighbors about the gospel and that they wanted us to come over and talk to them. So we went over and had a pretty good talk with their neighbors and we invited them to read form the Book of Mormon! Hopefully they will! The Osburns are awesome. They were baptized about 1 year ago in May. Their testimony's are so strong and their conversion story is so awesome. You can tell they truly love the Lord and His Gospel. After that we went to a meeting with the STL's and set goals with them. So it ended up not being such a bad day!

I am doing good. This week has been pretty different. Elder Lovell is awesome but its been hard to do a lot of work because he is basically immobile haha.  Its been a big change in responsibility and stuff, like I have gone to bed past 11:30 like 4 times this week. I have been so tired! I have kind of been acting like I have been on exchanges this past week, just going with the flow. I haven't been the junior companion since my first transfer and I am just trying not to step on any toes or anything so that has been a little different. This week will be better with that though cause I am kinda feeling more in line with things!  I'm grateful for new experiences and all the different opportunities I have to learn!

My Companion, Elder Lovell

Shreveport is good!  I have liked it! It feels good not to be in the middle of no where haha. There is an Air Force base right close to us too so that is where a lot of the members live!  We just have the one ward and they don't really have to much of a desire to help us, at least at the moment. Hopefully we can change that!

Meals have been interesting. Luckily we have gotten fed 4 times since I have been here because there was literally no food here in the apartment haha..........The only thing I have cooked is top ramen and peanut butter sandwiches.  We are going shopping today, and then we have a few appointments lined up tonight!  We are going to Jackson for MLC on Thursday and Friday!

Hey Mom! You are going to be mad at me because I didn't take any pictures I have been to busy haha.

Thanks for all that you do! Love you so much!!:)

Have a great week!:)

Elder Larsen

Scattering of The "Canton"ites -from Elder Pierre-Louis

Hello Larsen Family,

  This is elder Pierre-louis. I hope you guys are having a blast at

Kassidy's game! We're actually watching it right now, we were gonna

make shirts with number 5 and they'd say Larsen in the back, but then

we didn't, it's the thought that counts.

  It's so sad that Kaden and i are like going to the exact oposite of

the mission. This week was like the "Bad News Week." So here are the

bad news in order:

1.  He found out you guys sold the truck, haha.

2. The Pants you guy sent him didn't fit.

3.We found out Canton was gonna get Shut Down.

4. Last but most definitely not least, we are getting transferred

across the mission.

  But it's all good. He's going to my last district, he'll have a

blast there. The people are amazing. He's definitely getting an

upgrade on apartments the zone leader's trailer is Glorious! speaking

of which...KADEN'S GOING ZL!!! AND ONNEEE!! Everyone in the district

guesses it and I was like yeah that's my comp but I ain't bragging

though haha. I freaking love the kid,

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life

for his friends.

14Ye(Kaden) are(Is) my friend. (John 15:13-14)

He's the most humble missionary ever, I keep telling that he's going

AP but he won't believe me, so we made a bet, we'll see at the end of

the mish.

  This weekend has been crazy. I'm sure he told y'all about that

Mexican Restaurant, the food was divine but the people... OHHHHHH

MYYYYYYY.Yeah so that was an experience #TheSouth.

Anywho hopefully I'll meet you guys in the near future, I mean I'm

sure I'll visit, I have relatives in Sandy which is not too far. It

was nice writing you guys and tell Kassidy Congrats on her win.

~Elder Giovanni Laurentz Pierre-Louis

Great Companion -Elder Pierre-Louis

Awesome Alhalteh Family!!

"So Blessed to know Elder Larsen and Elder Pierre-Louis!!!  We are going to miss them a lot!  

Elder Larsen last night in the Madison ward, he's leaving to go to Shreveport!!  

Elder Pierre is leaving to Hattiesburg!!" -Sister Alhalteh

Headed To Shreveport, Louisiana!!

Hey everyone! This week was pretty interesting!

"Dinner, dessert, and a great lesson from Elder Larsen and Elder Pierre tonight!!!" - Sister Alhalteh

On Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and that was good, in one of their appointments we went to the son of the guy they were teaching, walked in and sat down, started talking with us then we were about to start teaching and he pulled out a note pad and started writing down everything that we were saying. I was amazed haha if only that happened with every investigator...

Happy Birthday to Elders Hendrickson and Hainsworth!

Wednesday we had District meeting and it went well! After at lunch, we went to a restaurant called Papitos and it took us literally 3 hours to get out of there it was so bad.

Thursday we were just working here in Canton and had an appointment with Joseph, we committed him to coming to church so it was a pretty good lesson!

Friday we weekly planned for hours and went and tried to visit a few people. Then we were trying to find somewhere good to eat here. Turns out there is this mexican restaurant that I have never seen before. It was so funny hahahahaha. We walked in and music was just blasting, they were having karaoke night hahaha, and there was a tooonnn of people there. It was hilarious and the food was probably one of the best mexican places I have ever been it was sooooo good. A perfect combination of good food and people watching hahaha, Mom you would have loved it!

THE best Mexican Food Ever!!!

Saturday we went to an appointment with Brother Ueki to visit a friend of his that he works with and on the way to that appointment President Olson called and told us he was shutting the area down, kinda sad, but that’s ok.  I bet you have never heard of someone opening and closing the same area haha.  We went to dinner at President Comans house and I had to break the news to them about no more missionaries in their area. It was pretty awkward, they weren’t very happy after that, I felt bad. They are awesome though!

Dinner with The Wonderful Ueki's!

"Wonderful 'Last Supper' with the Missionaries.  Sorry to see these guys go but oh did we feed them well tonight!!"  -Sister Comans 

                   
Sunday we went to church in Madison and said goodbye to everyone there. They were so much fun to be with. I am grateful for all of the families there. They took great care of us!!

"Saying goodbye- your son is headed to Shreveport, Louisiana.  Wherever he is in life, he will be a success.   You have a great son."  -Sister Bradburn

I am doing great!  Guess what! I am getting transferred! I am going a llll the way across the mission haha to Shreveport, Louisiana and President called me as the new Zone Leader so that’s gonna be scary!!!!!  I am excited, it will be good!  I am sad to leave this area. It was a great area as far as all the members go. They were so awesome!!  Elder Pierre-Louis is going to Purvis to a real Spanish speaking area! He has been fun to be with. I will miss him!  We didn’t have anyone too serious that we were leaving behind. Here in Canton things have been a little rough. We haven’t been able to get anyone to really progress the whole time we have been here. That’s ok though I hope that one day missionaries will be able to do productive work here!  I am excited to continue to learn and to grow! I can’t wait for the adventures that lie ahead!

President tells all the Zone leaders their new companions before the transfer.  My comp is Elder Lovell. I don’t know anything about him though, except this is his last transfer before he goes home.  My area is more in Bossier City.  I will let you know the address when I get it!  The mission is huge!!! I don’t know how it’s so big haha. They should honestly split it in half.  I will be in a full car still. I will have to do a lot of traveling...

A mission is full of challenges and full of hard experiences. But if you look at it a mission is just like the "furnace of affliction" Nephi was talking about in 1 Nephi 20:10. As we go through the course of our missions we are being refined. Elder Pierre-Louis and I were talking about this the other day, how a mission is basically another rebirth because how much change takes place in you and in your life while you are serving. Keep working hard and let the mission mold you!

These past few months have been great! I have learned a lot and been able to grow a ton too! So the other day we got a call from one of our investigators and he said "Hey don’t we have an appointment today at 3?" We weren’t going to make it so we rescheduled with him for 5 and he said "alright make it here as soon as you can because I have some of my friends here that want to talk with you"......... So we went into this knowing that he was going to have some of his friends there that wanted to bash with us, so we show up and sit down and start reading from the Book of Mormon and the guy that was there just started laughing and said "So you mean to tell me that Jesus Christ after he ascended into heaven came down here in the Americas?" We told him yes and explained to him about everything. Then he started going off about how no Prophet ever was white and that I was wrong and from the lineage of Esau and how Caucasians aren’t supposed to even have any part of the gospel and were never meant to know about Jesus Christ. He started to tell my companion that he was a disgrace to the African American race because he was with me and believed what I believe. He was pretty crazy. After he was done going off we were like ok, well we appreciate you talking with us and we will talk to you later. It was very hard not to talk back to him. Soooooo the moral of the story.... The south is crazy and they don’t like white people.  They were like recording the whole conversation too haha.... But I have been doing so good. I have truly been so happy and I love being able to serve the Lord!  It’s been really hard but it’s been awesome!!

Love you so much!

Thanks for all that you do!!:)

Hope you are all doing great!!

Elder Larsen

Hey Mom!! I am able to watch the bball game!!! GO KASS!!! Send someone over to the other side of the court so I can see them on camera!!:) I am watching the game right now and was able to pick Dad out of the crowd sitting as he usually does haha. Does he have on a white shirt?! I will be praying for them!!  I hope that they do good. They are playing good right now. It might be time to take Kennedy out though. Up by 20 I think that she should start getting rested haha.

Tell Kass good game!!!!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Hey Everyone!!

Hey Mom!  Our week was pretty good!  Valentines Day was just another day haha.  But HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

This week was a good one!  We had a lot of great lessons and also a really good Zone Conference that will hopefully make a big change in the mission!

Tuesday we went on exchanges and I went with Elder Crouch.  We went and did service at a food place where they box like 1000 boxes of food to send to different people a day!

Wednesday we went to Zone Conference and learned a lot about how we need to be planning.  It was a really good meeting!!  I learned a lot.

Thursday we had a really good day.  We had a lesson with a member referral and then we had another member come out with us later that day.  It makes a huge difference when you have members with you.  That night after we came in we heard a knock at our door and the Sisters drove all the way to Canton for our service game that we are playing.  They were dressed up as a reindeer and as a christmas tree and started singing missionary versions of Christmas songs that they had made up it was pretty funny!  We couldn't think of anything funny to do to them so we just gave them some candy haha.

Friday we weekly planned for what seemed like forever.  Then we had a lesson with Joseph and he asked some questions and then we talked about the importance of covenants and told him that there was going to be someone making a covenant with God at church in Sunday and then we asked him "Will you come to church with us to see this person get baptized?"  He then said "Ya that seems important but, in the spirit world the people there in prison will have a chance to learn right?"  Elder Pierre-Louis said "Ya that's all true, but what we are really wondering is if you will come to church with us tomorrow?"  Joseph said "Come back tomorrow and I will have my answer for you."  It was kind of funny how he was just trying to change the subject.

Saturday we went back and he had went fishing.  I don't understand why people won't just be straight up with us and say no.  Other than that we had a pretty good day.

Dinner with the Davin Family!

Monday we were able to go bowling.  I don't think I have ever been so excited for something on a P-day haha.  It was fun!!  The weather was pretty bad yesterday.  There was a tornado that almost touched down here but it never did.

Bowling Fun!

Lesson with the Ritter Family!

I don't know what will happen with transfers.  We find out on Saturday, it will be interesting to see what happens!!:)  It's crazy, 3 more transfers and I will have been gone for a whole year!

Thanks for everything-
Hope you are all doing great!  Love you!!

Elder Larsen

Tornados!

This week was pretty eventful!

We went to the zoo as a district for pday!

This ones for my friend, Elder Parrish(Giraffe) serving in New York!

I came up with this service game to help our district be more unified and this is what one of the sisters did to us haha! ...

We had a really good lesson about charity and unity in District Meeting and I think it turned out really good. We just read John 17 with them and discussed the importance of being one just as Christ and God are one. It went really well. We also had a practice at the end of the lesson where people sat in the chair at the front and we went around the room saying 1 thing we loved about that person!

We got dropped by our only investigator on Monday. He told us that his girlfriend didn’t want us to come by anymore...

Tuesday it was pouring rain. We were able to contact a referral though and it ended up being an awesome lesson. Khaleria and her mom Victoria both had a lot of questions and we were able to teach them about the plan of salvation. It was really good!!

Wednesday there was a ton of flooding and there were 2 tornados that touched down here in Mississippi and in Alabama. Luckily our little shack is still standing haha:)

Thursday we had a pretty good day! We were able to meet a lot of really good people and teach a few good lessons.

Saturday we went on exchanges with the AP's and as always I learned a lot! I went with Elder Hainsworth and then Elder Hendrickson and Elder Pierre-Louis went together! We tracted a lot, and then the others had some good appointments. While they were going to another appointment by Josephs house they saw his girlfriend and she told us to go back and see him. During that lesson he basically told them that he knew the church was true so hopefully we don’t blow our 2nd chance!  We will try and keep seeing him! His girlfriend told him to stop having us come over but she then told us to go back so we will see!

Sunday we went to church and then went to the Bradburns! They are awesome! They cooked some good food for us and we even got to watch a little bit of the Super Bowl! The part that I saw was pretty exciting but I bet after that it kind of dwindled out.  It was really tempting to go sit inside Pizza Hut and watch it after we left the Bradburns haha!:) Granny would be happy Peyton got another one!

The Awesome Bradburn and Alhalteh Families!!

                             

                             

This week was smoother. The work is just super slow and its soooo hard to get anyone to see the importance of the gospel!  I love being able to serve and the spirit that I feel here. There is nothing better than feeling like you have touched someone’s life.  I'm grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve! The time is going by quick!  We have a few appointments tonight, and we have Zone Conference on Wednesday, so we will go to Clinton!

I am doing great! I have probably learned the most this transfer than any others it’s been good for me!  D&C study is going good I have learned a lot. The Lord is very blunt. If you do this then you have this blessing, if you don’t then you are going to be hating life haha!

As I have been studying the Doctrine and Covenants there have been a few verses that have stuck out to me in Section 19:31-32

31 And of tenets thou shalt not talk, but thou shalt declare repentance and faith on the Savior, and remission of sins by baptism, and by fire, yea, even the Holy Ghost.

32 Behold, this is a great and the last commandment which I shall give unto you concerning this matter; for this shall suffice for thy daily walk, even unto the end of thy life.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ should be the most important thing we as missionaries talk about, look at the first lesson, The Restoration of the GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST.  As we teach the Restoration we should be focusing on the Gospel being restored to the Earth.

Next is Section 1:21

21 That faith also might increase in the earth.

The Restoration brought a new sense of faith to the earth. Because of Joseph Smith people would have the opportunity to "know the only true God and Jesus Christ". Our ultimate purpose should be to increase the faith of those around us whether it be something as simple as asking someone to check out Mormon.org or whether it’s asking them to be baptized. Whether its asking a member, active or not, to read a chapter of scripture or to invite their friends to hear the gospel. Any simple invitation could change someone’s course in life!

Love you all!

Thanks for all that you do! You’re the best!!

Elder Larsen

The Car Died.

Hello Everyone!  How are you all doing??

Lunch at The Alhaltehs Store!

This week was a little rough for us haha.  Tuesday it was raining.  We were on our way to exchanges and I stopped at Men's Wearhouse to drop off my suit pants.  I ended up getting new pants and when we walked outside to leave, our car wouldn't start.  We couldn't get it with the jumper cables so we had to call the tow truck, then the tow truck guy came and had a portable battery.  What do ya know it worked….. We still had to go to Firestone to get the car looked at so we did absolutely nothing on Tuesday.  The 5 minute drop off turned into an all day event.

Wednesday we had District meeting and it went pretty well!  After that we were finally able to go on exchanges!  There's always so much to learn from them!  I went with Elder Vest!

Thursday we went to visit Joseph and when we got there he told us to walk to the park with him.  I guess he and his girlfriend were fighting.  He told us that he had talked with her about getting married and the Word of Wisdom and stuff so that is awesome!!

Friday we went and helped some people in the ward move.  They are moving into this nice barn, it's actually pretty cool!

Selfie Sportin my Karren Farms Shirt!

Saturday we continued to help them move and then we tracted for a little while!  Wonda and her fiancé TJ, they are awesome and really open and receptive, turns out last week Wonda like passed out because she drank to much and she is now in rehab….. Hopefully we will get the chance to see her again!  The high school kids were out playing basketball and so we stopped and played with them again.  It was funny because they remembered me and were like "HEY it's Kevin Love, he's back!" hahaha.

Sunday we went to church and then we went to visit a less active family.

The weather has been pretty warm here.  It's back to short sleeves.  I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve, and even though we don't make a lot of progress with people, I am glad to be here!

Beautiful Day in Mississippi!

Thanks for everything!
Love you all!:)
Elder Larsen