Monday, March 31, 2014

Good day t'ya!

Hello and good morning from Wausau Wisconsin! The birds are singing, the snow is melting, and the sun is shining (okay, it's about 32 degrees, windy, and overcast, but that's no way to start an e-mail!) The last week, lets see... Well I guess nothing of extreme import happened, but there was still a lot that went on. We had an appointment scheduled with a potential investigator and we picked up our member, all ready to go... And nobody was home. We were pretty embarrassed, so we tried stopping by some less actives and managed to have some good lessons anyway... but darn!!! I'm not sure if I have told you or not, but we have a member up in the Steven's Point branch (about 45 minutes away) and he has contacted us, willing to bring us to Steven's Point to do some tracting and visits with Hmong less actives in his branch. We of course were VERY excited, because our "area" is technically the entire stake, but we don't have the miles to travel everywhere. We will hopefully start the Saturday after General Conference. Feeling good, feeling happy, and we are WAY WAY WAY excited for General Conference this weekend. We pray for you, and love you!!
--Elder Larsen

Blessings!

This week we had a couple of great surprises for us... First of all (and I know, I know, least important) I reached my year mark this last Thursday! I was very excited, and we were able to celebrate at a member's house with pizza and cake. Our next surprise came while tracting. We knocked on a house and someone from inside shouted "who is it?" in Hmong. We answered her and everything went silent. We were so disappointed, because this is such a common occurrence in Hmong work. As we left to get back in our car, she shouted out of her door to come back! We went and taught a short lesson,  and have a return appointment where we can bring another male (we can't teach single women... no matter how old) and have a more in depth lesson. Our next two surprises came at church. We have been teaching a less active named Cha to try and get him to understand the importance of church. Ever since I have been here, he has promised to come 3 or 4 times, but has never shown. Well, this Sunday he came for the first time in three years!!! We know he is making great strides of progress. And finally, Anthony was ordained a Teacher this Sunday... So much happening, and so many blessings!!



--Elder Larsen

Monday, March 3, 2014

BAPTISM!!!

Anthony Chang Galvan was baptized this last Saturday!!! And it all went........ Well, it all went! So, of course, the baptism was just absolutely the best part of the week, but it certainly wasn't the easiest part! I'll take you through the day, and the many little stresses that tried (and failed) to take us down. It all started early that morning, we were up a little early (6) to make sure we had enough time to get through everything. We left the house at 7 to fill the font, but got stuck behind a train for (I KID YOU NOT) 30 minutes... Frustrating as that was, it was just a little hiccup. We got to the church and found out that the church wasn't unlocked like it was supposed to be. So we had to drive to the zone leaders to borrow their key... Still not too bad. We started filling the font, and I had to go buy a new camera (I checked mine the day before to find that it had a cracked screen... GRR!) THEN Anthony wasn't ready when his ride came to pick him up, delaying the program 20 minutes... Still, everything went well with the program. We were emptying the font afterwards and the pipes had frozen earlier, so water backed up EVERYWHERE! It was so bad that they cancelled church the next day... BUT... Anthony Chang Galvan was baptized!!! He did so well. He couldn't stop from laughing the whole time. The ward has been so supportive, and we had a fantastic showing. He was interviewed to recieve the priesthood and will be ordained and confirmed next week. As crazy as it all was... Was it worth it? 100%, even if it were 100x worse. Thank you for your prayers and continued support. As I come up to my year mark, looking back I can see the Lord's hand working in my mission. LOVE Elder Larsen