Dear Family and Friends,
This past week has been awesome! I'm still doing good and everything is going well.
Last week's P-day was a Zone P-day so we went to the park and played football and ultimate Frisbee with everyone in the zone. It was so much fun and I got to see my MTC comp. Elder Dayley :) That same night we had an STM (Standard Training Meeting). We watched a video about driving safely. My favorite part was when Elder Scott said, "If someone pulls out in front of you, smile." That's definitely something I need to work on ;)
Tuesday my comp had a LTM (Leadership Training Meeting) because he is our District Leader. So I was on exchanges for most of the day with Elder Barton in the OKC 1st ward. I got to ride my bike for the first time and I had a blast! We handed out 3 Book of Mormons and got to talk to lots of people. I kind of wish I was in that area so I could feel more productive each day. Sometimes we are just stuck at the apartment doing basically nothing because we don't have enough miles to drive somewhere. And we can't just walk outside and do stuff because our apartment isn't even in the area and it would take us forever to bike to the nearest neighborhood. It's so frustrating sometimes. Street contacting and tracting is also really hard to do in our area. Most people are at work during the day so knocking doors doesn't really work. And if anyone is home and is crazy enough to be outside they usually run inside their houses as soon as they see us. One guy was sitting on his porch and his Rottweiler was barking at us. "How are you doing today?" No response. "What's your dog's name?" "Killer" "Well have a wonderful day." So we basically rely off of referrals and spend a lot of time with less actives.
Thursday was fantastic because we had 3 lessons in one day and got 3 different members to come to all of them. We had a solid lesson with the Foster children (who still don't have permission to be baptized). We set up an appointment with a referral we got from some lady who lives in Orem and talked to this couple about the gospel on a plane ride. We taught them the Restoration and gave them a Book of Mormon so we'll have to follow up with them this week. They go to the Church of Christ so we'll see what they think about the restored gospel. Our third lesson was with Freedom Sinclair and it was awesome! We talked a little about the restoration and gave her a tour of the chapel. And the since the temple is literally across the parking lot we got to walk over and talk about it as well. She's had some struggles in her life and I'm so excited for her to be baptized and receive the joy and peace that come from the gospel :)
Friday night we went and taught the Judd's (a recent convert family) about the Priesthood and Temple marriage. Brother Judd is a character. He thinks the Church is going to re-publish the Book of Mormon because apparently the 116 lost manuscript pages of the Book of Lehi were being passed down in his family for the past 175 years or whatever and last week he went to Salt Lake City and met with Elder Anderson's son (The head of the Church History Dept. or something) and gave him the key to the deposit box that has the pages. So if the Church announces that the lost pages have been found, I know the guy who found and turned them in ;)
Saturday my companion insisted that we go help some members who are moving to Orem. It was at 3:00 in the afternoon on a Saturday and they live pretty far away so I was against it. They had plenty of help loading stuff into the moving truck, it cost us a LOT of miles, and I feel like there was better stuff for us to be doing. I love serving others but I've got the rest of my life to help people move. My time as a full-time missionary is relatively short.
Sunday we had some less-actives at Church which was cool :) We had a lesson with Freedom that night so we finished talking about the Restoration and re-committed her to reading the Book of Mormon and finding out for herself that it is true. Her baptismal date is Sept. 5 and we're so excited!
To answer some of your questions, Mom, I can't drive until I get my driving card this Wednesday so my companion has been doing all the driving. All the mission vehicles have this little box that keeps track of your driving habits so if you drive too aggressively or speed too much then your driving privilege gets revoked. I think it's awesome because now I don't really have to worry about companions driving too fast or doing other stupid stuff. We have dinner appointments about every other night but hopefully soon we'll have one almost every night. I'm getting plenty to eat so don't worry :) I bought a pillow last Monday so it's easier to fall and stay asleep now. I might need to buy a blanket when it gets colder but for right now I'm fine. I get $135 for groceries and other expenses each month. I've been able to exercise each morning now which is really nice. My comp. has a pull up bar so I might get one of those if my next apartment doesn't have one. I wake up at 6:30 every morning. My district has 2 other companionships, one of which are the Zone Leaders. We go to the temple 2 twice a year. The next Temple day happens to be next week though so that will be fun :) The building our ward meets in is right next to the temple which is cool. Transfers are every six weeks and I write to President every week.
Thank you Mom and Dad for the box of goodies, I've probably got enough junk food to last me till the end of the year ;) Friday we finally got some rain in the morning which was so refreshing. This next week will hopefully be better than last week. Things are picking up and we're making great progress but I know we still have a LOT of room for improvement. I'm learning to be more patient and to not be discouraged. Hope you all are doing well and I have you have a fantastic week!
Love, Elder Larsen
(I forgot to bring my camera to the Library so I'll try and send pictures to you guys later today)
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