Brother Reyes fills our Stomaches!

Crawfish Boil!

Hello everyone! 

This week has been a great week! We had a crawfish boil as a ward party, there was some crawfish, boiled potatoes, corn, sausage, and mushrooms. It was pretty good. The crawfish are a little interesting haha. I can't eat a lot of them, they are a lot of work to eat and they are pretty gross little things. Next time we go to Lake Powell and find some in a little river we will have to boil some up haha.

This week I was reading in an old Ensign about the journeys of some of the Pioneers settling parts of Utah. It is amazing what they all went through to help establish a place free from the refuge of the world where they and those following them could worship God how they wanted to. I am grateful for the pioneers and what they did and the sacrifices they made. I even read about an article on the "Hole in the Rock" or "Hell in the Rock" to quote my aunt Tara. It probably is a fitting name Tara gives the place because they labored there for 6 months just to make a path through the rock that was wide enough for their wagons, a road that would be able to hold them as they went, and a ferry to cross the river. 

Hope everyone is doing well!

Love you!

Elder Larsen

PS. next week P-day will be Tuesday.  We have Zone Conference in Gulfport!

"Sorry Guys"

Hello everyone!

This week has been good! We had a few days that were suuupper humid. But we survived!  We had a ton of rain down here yesterday. During the final hour of church we could hear the thunder from inside the chapel. When we walked outside there is a walkway that is covered and there was like 2 inches of water already there. It is crazy how quickly the rain falls down here.  We were told not to proselyte yesterday, it was raining and thundering so hard but no bad effects here in Slidell and the sun is out and shining today!

One day as we were out biking around to some of the local businesses looking for service opportunities we stopped at the Bishops storehouse to get some water and just felt like we shouldn’t stop there quite yet so we kept going down the street and rode past the library. As we were riding past we saw one of our investigators out front sitting on a bench so we rode up and started talking to him asking him what he was doing. He kept shuffling the books that he had around trying to make it so we couldn’t see them. Elder Suapaia asked him about one of them and he kept avoiding the question by talking about his day haha. Finally he lifted up the book and showed it to us and said "Sorry guys". Turns out it was a big old anti book. Elder Suapaia had read some of it before and told our investigator that it wasn’t true, and wasn’t going to do any good for him.  So we picked up the book and told him we were going to do him a favor and return the book for him. He said fine. It was funny how the Lord placed us in his path to stop him from doing that.

We also were able to teach some other good lessons! I think the Ward is continuing to get more and more excited about missionary work because they see the hard work that we are putting in. This next week we will be meeting with one of the members friends and teaching her. She has been coming to church for a while now.

The gospel is true! 

Love you!

Elder Larsen

Fun with Elders

Elder Thorley and I

Nametag

Text from Sister May:

We have actually never really had the missionaries over to our home before so this has been really good for my family.  My husband and oldest son (stepson) are not members.  This is the first time any missionaries have even attempted to talk about the gospel with them.  No matter what the outcome, i will be forever grateful to them.  Tonight was the very first time my husband had ever read any scripture in his whole life.  I don’t Know what we’ll do when Elder Larsen leaves us.  My heart will be so sad.

Walk in the Light

Hello everyone! 

Another transfer down, Elder Suapaia and I are going for round 3!  We just found out we will be with each other for another 6 weeks!  After that, I only will have 6 more weeks left. Time is going by so quick.  I’m excited we are staying together again though. I think we will see some good things happen with the people we are teaching. Especially with the Mays. They are the part member family.  We asked Ryan(the dad) if he wanted to learn more about the gospel and be united with his family in it and he told us yes. So hopefully he will be able to make some progression!!!  We are excited to see what miracles can come this next transfer.  Elder Thorley is getting transferred, Elder Warren is staying.  They are the other Slidell Elders.

We had quite the week… For the most part things are moving forward here in Slidell. The ward is awesome and is great at helping us when we need it. We have been working hard and been trying to talk to everyone we see. This week we met a lady who called herself a Luciferian. They think Jesus is a vampire?!?You could definitely tell a difference between what we felt there and the spirit! It was quite interesting. I am grateful for the knowledge of the truth and the ability to discern between light and dark. 

1 John 1:5-7

5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto  you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie,  and do not the truth:

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Hopefully we can all continue to walk in the light.  Things are going good here. We have been blessed!  We are going to lunch here soon with a member so that should be fun! Love you all!

Love, Elder Larsen

Zone Conference

Slidell Elders- Suapaia, Warren, Thorley, Larsen

Soaked!

Hey everyone, we had a great week this week! 

Peyton was baptized on Friday! The baptism went really well, Peyton is a good kid! There was a lot of his family there and a lot of members were there to come and support him! I’m grateful to have been apart of his process. His mom has been awesome at helping him come to church on Sunday despite working 2 jobs. I’m grateful to be able to meet people like that!!  She is a member and recently reactivated. He has a dad but he isn’t in the picture. Peytons uncle came over from Dallas, TX to baptize him!! 

Blake, came around and came to church on Sunday! He just gets super upset when he doesn’t understand something! But we helped him out!  We are seeing him again on Wednesday!! We had a zone meeting, had to go all the way to Hattiesburg to have it!  It was good. They are better now that I don’t have to teach them, but they are still long haha!  It’s fun to see everyone!

On Saturday we were out biking to an appointment and all of a sudden out of no where it just started pouring rain! We hurried over to a tree and stood under it for a little while. Luckily a few minutes later a guy came outside and invited us to come stand under neath his porch. We survived the rain storm but we were pretty soaked haha!

Sunday we went to the Mays and had a great dinner with them!! They are an awesome family!  They are a family that takes good care of us just like the Osburns did. They are the best! I am grateful for the Easter season and the chance to remember the Savior and what his resurrection and Atonement means for all of us. Its what makes it possible for us to live together as a family with Him and our Father in Heaven again!

Lately I have been studying a lot about the Spirit world and the resurrection and am going to be moving on to the kingdoms of glory soon. If you find any good talks let me know! We have had a few rainy days but it hasn’t been blasting hot lately so thats good news!  We have a good teaching pool right now and are staying busy, I’d better work hard cause I don't have a lot of time left!

I heard the Jazz won their playoff game. Thats sweet they are in the playoffs!!!

Love you all!

Elder Larsen

Mosiah 16:7-9

7 And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of 
death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection.

8 But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the  sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.

9 He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be  no more death.

-Zone Conference

-Dinner with Bro. Reyes
-Kyani with Bro. Reyes
-Peytons Baptism
-Easter Egg Hunt with the May Family 
-Easter Dinner with the Mays
-Easter Dinner with the May Family

How to Tie a Tie!

Hello everyone!

This week has been good! We were able to go to a baseball game and watch Sister Mays son play so that was fun! We also had some good teaching appointments, the Lord is looking out for us!

Alma 42:11-15

11 And now remember, my son, if it were not for the plan of redemption, 

(laying it aside) as soon as they were dead their souls were miserable, beingcut off from the presence of the Lord.

12 And now, there was no means to reclaim men from this fallen state, 

which man had brought upon himself because of his own disobedience;

13 Therefore, according to justice, the plan of redemption could not be brought about, only on conditions of repentance of men in this probationary state, yea, this preparatory state; for except it were for these conditions, mercy could not take effect except it should destroy the work of justice. 

Now the work of justice could not be destroyed; if so, God would cease to be God.

14 And thus we see that all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice; yea, the justice of God, which consigned them forever to be cut off from his presence.
15 And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except and atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be perfect, just God, and a merciful God also.

I am grateful for Christ and the Atonement He made, and the plan God laid forth for us! I know each of us have an intricate part in that plan! 

Blake had another falling out about something but Peyton is doing good and is planning on getting baptized on Friday at 6! The Ward is doing good. We have a pretty fun ward! I am glad I am getting to serve my mission here. Things with Elder Suapaia are great, President Olson asked me today if I thought it would be a good thing for us to stay another transfer today. I hope we will get to stay together another one! Today we are going to play basketball at a public gym, indoor courts and everything so that will be fun! Hopefully some local high school kids will be there!

Thanks for all your support! Sorry for the short email!

Love, Elder Larsen

1- Teaching the Primary Kids how to tie a tie

2- Visiting with Joel Reyes

                            

3 Minutes 28 Seconds

Hello everyone!!

I hope all is well! This week was great, we survived the rain and made it through the warmth! We woke up this morning to lots of thunder and lots of lightning!! Conference was great this weekend. I enjoy each time we get to listen to the Prophets and Apostles. We just watched it at the church. I liked President Monsons message as well as President Eyrings.

I think Elder Rasbands talk about the Holy Ghost was really good, he mentioned a quote from Joseph Smith "If you respond to the first prompting you will get it right 9 times out of 10." I think we often get caught up on wondering if we are receiving revelation or just thinking ourselves. When in reality it shouldn’t matter as long as it leads us to do good.

President Monson, in the 3 minutes and 28 seconds he spoke on Sunday morning spoke about 2 of the most important things he could tell us. He first announced 5 new temples. Then he mentions how we all need to be reading from the Book of Mormon every. single. day. I am grateful for his council and his testimony which has strengthened mine. He truly is a prophet of God!

The church is amazing, I was reading this morning about when Joseph Smith died and the things that happened while trying to figure out who the next Prophet would be. It was pretty cool what Brigham Young said about how the Keys are with the 12 and the 12 will be shown by the Lord who the new Prophet would be and then would ordain him to that office. 

We had some good experiences this past week! We met a lady with a University of Utah sticker on the back of her car. We had a good talk with her about Utah and she told us we could come back. We also were able to teach Peyton and Blake. Blake we had a little hiccup with this week but he ended up coming to conference and enjoying it. Peyton is planning on getting baptized on the 15th. They are both prepared and ready to be baptized. Im grateful for the chance I have had to teach them and work with them, the Lord prepares his people!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Larsen

1- P-day fun in Slidell.

2- Turtles!

3- Companion Fun!