Merry Christmas!!

Hello Everyone!  I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

This week was great!  We were sitting pretty at about 70 degrees all week. Much better than proselyting in the cold, Buuuuttt I am a little jealous of the snow!  We had MLC this week and were able to review all that we had learned with the General Authority here. The mission is at a great place and moving upward! 

We were able to witness 2 children of God enter into the covenant of baptism this week, it was a humbling experience to be apart of. It was so funny this week they were super hyper and wouldn’t focus at all because they were so nervous. Its great to see people with the desire to come to church and make these promises. They are awesome kids!!

Soon to be Member Troy

20 And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not.

 21 Behold, I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the world, to save the world from sin.

 22 Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved.

As we offer of our selves to the Lord we will have a greater influence of the Holy Ghost. Great things can come when we listen to the promptings of the Spirit!!

Love you all!!

Elder Larsen 

Surprise Phone Call to Home from President and Sister Olsen

These are things Mom & Dad remembered from the conversation:

-Elder Larsen is trustworthy and dedicated.

-We can ask him to do anything and he will get in done.

-He is always asking what he can do to be a better missionary.

-He was reluctant at first but he is continually getting better at being in front of people.  He’s not near as quiet as he was at  the beginning of his mission.

-He is becoming very bold in speaking.

-He is very genuine.

-He never asks any missionary to do anything he’s not doing.

-He leads by example.

- We know we have made a lifelong friendship with him.

Everything is Awesome!

Hello everyone, 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

The past couple weeks have been great! We had a really great experience with Elder Arnold. He came in guns blazing it was pretty cool. As he came through he challenged the Jackson Branch to be a Ward in the next year. So everyone seems to be on board and ready to get things going here!! It is interesting to be around a General Authority. He was very time aware, very loving, very direct, bold, he listened to what seemed like every prompting he felt and rolled with it, and was very inspiring. He had a ton of life experiences that he shared and had learned so much from. Its interesting to just watch who they are, you learn so much! He taught all of us about what things we need to do better to increase the effectiveness of our missionary work. Being able to be with Elder Arnold was fun, he’s such a gentle hearted guy. They always have such strong testimonies of the gospel!!:)

This week we had another transfer cycle. I don’t know where the time goes. We are just go go go and all of a sudden its halfway through December! I was excited, that I’m staying.  I haven’t gotten tired of Jackson its probably been my favorite area.  Definitely the most dynamic area I have had.  Its always fun taking the missionaries to the airport on their way out. They are always so confused about how they feel.  We picked up 7 new missionaries this transfer.

Our area has slipped a little bit since we basically were gone for a week and a half. So we have done some work trying to get it back to where we were. Luckily Troy and Maya, children of Tamara are getting baptized on Saturday. What a way to celebrate Christmas! They will always remember that day! Super awesome!! We have been working really closely with a few other people that were able to come to church on Sunday.  Its always awesome when people are able to come to church and feel the spirit!  The branch has been increasing in numbers which is awesome! Our small little dental office building is now bursting with people. We had a Christmas party and there was roughly 100 people there!  Not that many at church but we will get there!  We also sang in sacrament on Sunday:) There is a family here who has been members for their whole lives and recently moved in. They have basically carried the Branch on their shoulders because everyone else is so young in the gospel and a lot of other things have been going on. They have 2 little kids and I don’t know how they do it all but they are awesome! It would be kind of fun to move to a place like Mississippi just to help the church out. Lots of opportunity to serve.

The Christmas season is always a great time of year to look outward and see what you can do for others.  Its kind of fun being here and having a missionaries perspective on Christmas. The Church is true. 

Love you all!!

Elder Larsen

Share the Light!

Hey everyone!

This week we had another great week of work here in Jackson! We were able to see a lot of good things. A big lesson that was learned is that God places people in each others paths to help them in their lives. We saw that a few times this week. Sister Thorton was able to share how she was thinking about her conversion story and all that happened to her earlier this week and then was able to share it with one of our investigators later in the week. They were able to relate and have a lot of the same thoughts and actions.  Also, Brother Hansen was able to share that in his testimony on Sunday. He and his family recently switched units because of the boundary change. They will be able to come in and bless the lives of others in the branch!

Also, I don’t remember if I told you or not but the branch building was broken into 2 weeks ago. They stole a few things. But luckily the show must go on and because the work is true, nothing will be able to stop it. 

D&C 121:33- How long can rolling waters remain impure? What power shall stay the heavens? As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints.

We didn’t travel at all this week. We were in Jackson all week. The weather here has resulted in a whole lot of rain the past 4 days. Its been a constant rain haha... Our investigators are doing great! We had 5 people come to church yesterday which is awesome!!  We are starting transfer planning tonight since this upcoming week we will be having Elder Arnold touring our mission and we will be traveling to Zone Conferences with him! This week is going to be an interesting one!! 

We have shared the Light the World  with a lot of people down here. The Christmas season is awesome, I'm grateful for this time of year everyone just seems happier!!  I am grateful for the support I have at home, its sad to think that some people are out here and don’t have any support!

Love you all!

Elder Larsen

Elder Smith and I and our Tiny Ties

Amanonu, Larsen, Smith, Hunter