This past week has been crazy busy! I'm having a great time in Clinton and I'm so excited for this coming transfer!
Monday evening we had a fun time eating dinner with the relief society president's family and then carving pumpkins with another family.
Tuesday we spent the morning getting the car worked on. Then we got to have a lesson with Helen. She is doing good but is still struggling with her husband so she's going to go meet with Bishop and get some marriage counseling. I also got to go and say goodbye to the 5 kids which was awesome :)
Wednesday was transfers. My new companion Elder Quinones is awesome. He's from Vegas and is a convert of about 3 years. He's super spiritual and I've already been able to learn a lot from him. We did some service when we got to Clinton and then went and visited some investigators. Clinton is about the exact opposite of my last area. The ward is super small, has 3 sets of missionaries, is not anywhere near as wealthy, has lots of drug issues, and we don't have a car. It's totally different but I love it and I'm so excited!
Thursday we had an awesome lesson with Julio. He seemed really excited and we set up a church tour with him for Saturday.
Friday was my first district meeting in Clinton and it was really good. After District meeting it was down-pouring. Elder Quinones's trainer taught him that they couldn't do work in the rain. So I got rid of the wicked traditions of our fathers and went out it the pouring rain anyways. It was so much fun! We got drenched but we were able to have some awesome conversations with people.
Saturday we showed up at the church for the tour with Julio but he didn't show up. We've been trying to contact him but he's been avoiding us. The rest of the day we tried really hard to get some new investigators but no one would set up an appointment with us. "I'm really busy right now." Ect, ect. That night we helped some less-actives move. They are definitely hoarders so that was a fun experience :)
Sunday was great. We didn't have any investigators or less-actives at church so we will definitely have to change that. We had a delicious dinner at a member's house with the other 4 missionaries. Then we went and visited investigators and potentials.
As far as progressing investigators go, Cesar is progressing pretty well. His baptismal date is going to be pushed back but he making progress with quitting smoking and drinking. The struggle with him will be getting him to church. Tonight we have an appointment with a part-member family who is very promising.
The miracle this week was getting transferred to an area that doesn't have a car. It's so nice being able to bike everywhere and not having to worry about miles, or gas receipts, or car maintenance.
Something I was able to learn more about this week has been gratitude. "Grateful in Any Circumstances" by Dieter F. Uchtdorf is an excellent talk (Thanks for sending it to me Mom :)) "My dear brothers and sisters, the choice is ours. We can choose to limit our gratitude, based on the blessings we feel we lack. Or we can choose to be like Nephi, whose grateful heart never faltered. When his brothers tied him up on the ship—which he had built to take them to the promised land—his ankles and wrists were so sore “they had swollen exceedingly,” and a violent storm threatened to swallow him up in the depths of the sea. “Nevertheless,” Nephi said, “I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions.”" Let us develop an attitude of gratitude and never complain to the Lord. He has given us everything and even if he takes everything away, we are still indebted to him. Gratitude and eternal perspective are wonderful blessings!
This area is teaching me a lot and the change is helping me grow. I've been working hard cleaning the apartment, organizing the area book, updating whiteboards, and getting everything organized. Haha the carpet was so dirty I figured the apartment didn't have a vacuum but last night I found it in the back closet so the carpet is cleaner now ;) This next week is going to be awesome! Hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love, Elder Larsen
Moroni 10:32
P.S. Congratulations to Alyssa on getting called to the best mission on Earth. Oklahoma is the best! :)
Picture with two of the foster kids.
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