Wednesday, May 28, 2014

MIRACLE!!!

We had a very pleasant surprise for us this week! I'm sure that I've said it more than once, but one of the hardest parts of Hmong work is getting a more than one lesson with promising families. Such was the case for Chou and Mai, a referral from a member in Rapids. We taught 2 fantastic lessons to them, they asked us to come back, and in between lessons Chou even called us to pray for him over the phone. However, we were disappointed when they dropped our next appointment and for the last 4 months haven't met with us. We had plans on Tuesday to see some potential investigators, but we were prompted to try by Chou and Mai's once more. They were home!! We had a fantastic lesson, and we will be going back on Wednesday to set a baptismal date with them! MIRACLE :)

Sorry about the semishort letter this week, we really did have a good week, just that sometimes there isn't much to write about. I love you all! Less than 300 days to go!!

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Happy Mother's Day

Hopefully none of you forgot, and for those of you who did, it's probably too late, but yesterday was MOTHER'S DAY!! And I mean, this week was great and all, Sunday's are always fun, and things in wausau keep chuggin' along, but what could compare to getting to talk to my wonderful family? We were able to talk for quite a while, and skype didn't have any technical issues this time around (thank goodness!) We talked about everything from the new taco bell down the street from my house-- which I will be frequenting all too often-- to my Hmong, to what I'll be doing when I come back home. All in all, I was just so happy that none of my family had changed. Dad is still bald, Megan and Annie aren't married yet, Tanner is drooly as ever, Zach is still a lanky goofball, Taylor still thinks that he can beat me in football (never gonna happen, punk!) and Mom is still concerned with my happiness, health and safety. All was well. We also talked a little bit about the time I have left. Geez, I'm not dying, I meant the 10 months that I have left on my mission. I've decided now not to waste a single second. I'm going to make sure that I leave this mission just as firey as when I came out, and just as focused on the Lord's work. I love you all, and until next week!!
--Elder Larsen

Monday, May 5, 2014

Stake Conference

This week we had the opportunity to listen to the stake presidency, and a few others in stake conference. While my jaw still aches from about 4 hours straight translation (usually we only need to translate for just an hour) I was able to take some scattered notes. I have to say that this was probably one of my favorite stake conferences that I have ever been to for many reasons. Overall, I would have to say that it was just so... simple. That's one thing that I love about the gospel. Sometimes I think that we make things in this church so darn difficult!! So much of the time we try to be great orators, trying to please, convince, or even trick the human mind into believing what we are saying. But this stake conference was different. We had prospective elders, return missionaries, recent converts, and long time members again and again and again tell us that it all comes down to one thing: The Book of Mormon. Either it's true or its not. If it isn't true, then we have no prophet, no revelation, no modern scripture, no priesthood-- in essence, no religion. But if it is true, than this church, and all of the claims espousing it, are true. I have read the Book of Mormon for myself, and I know that it is true. We have convincing evidence of all of these things: Prophets, revelation, modern scripture, priesthood etc. Evidence that we can hold in our hands and read. We just need to READ :) Anywho... I ramble. Stake conference was fantastic :)
Love Elder Larsen