Dec. 28,2009

Hello agian! It was good talking to you guys last week! Youre still just a bunch of crazy people, but thats why i like you! My camera is working fine. I dont want to worry about sending it in or anything. Thats sweet that the missionaries talked, and you called that little boy matthew. Hah! Thats great. Well we are about to leave to grand rapids to do transfers. I think we are going to stay the night there and then head up to Muskegon tomorrow or somethin. I am way excited though. Its going to be a fun transfer. Tidrick is a cool kid so im way happy about that. And i already know Scott and he is way excited im coming. I met a few of the people from the ward. We got permission to go to a hockey game down there so that was really fun too. But we gotta go so ill let you know more next week!

Hey dad!
Happy happy birthday! Im glad you liked the hat. Im sure it looks great on you. Hah, It was good talking to you about everything. It was a little bit hard to get off the phone with you, but we made it didnt we! Hah so i hope you have and aweseome birthday. Eat some cake for me. We are about to go to Grand rapids so i better go. Im also getting kicked off the computer....sound familiar? Hah love you dad, dont work too hard. There is too much in life to spend all your time at work! Love you bye

Dec.15,2009

Werd UUUUUPPPP!
So this week was MUCH better than last week! Since being sick is the worst thing ever. It snowed a lot here! But now its all turning to slush so that is really gay, especially because Brunson doesnt have a valid drivers license and so i have to drive every day. Schools have snow days like they're going out of style here! Last week they had 3! In Utah we wouldnt have had a single one, stupid Utah, im shaking my fist right now... So of course the LeVasseurs called us up like every 10 minutes, so we went sledding with them and played in the snow and stuff. Fun stuff! Theyre crazy crazy crazy.
But enough of that boring stuff. We got another baptism this week! Jason Stafinski. It was pretty tight. Ill send you another email with pix. And ill send that last baptism pix to the bros.
So Christmas is almost here! Im way excited. Its wierd though, Cuz holidays for missionaries are just another ol day. So that kinda sucks, but at least i get to talk to my peeps! We are going over to Mamma Myers house Christmas morning and she is cooking us food and we will be there for most of the day i think, except for our other 3 dinner appointments.... But ill probably be calling in the morning sometime. OHH@!
MOM THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!!!
Okay so we are supposed to come up with our favorite food or dessert, becuase she likes to make everyone in her family their favorite meal for breakfast. She is way awesome, i love her, we go over there and have tea parties with her and just chill out, but she is already making french toast so i was trying to think of my favorite dessert and i failed.....All i knew was i really like chocolate. SOOO mother dear....You have to email Sista Myers for me and tell her what my favorite dessert is. Or give her a few that i like, i told her im better at multiple choice than i am at fill in the blank. Here is her Email address:

Ruthmyers@charter.net

Hah im a dork i know, thats what i get for being a picky eater my whole life. Stupid food anyways. Welp I think thats all i have for you this week. We are still teaching and kicking butt up here in the hand of america. Ill be sending a package hopefully by thursday this week, if you get it late im sorry! BLAH! HAH AHA <-thats me crying. Oky doky love you peace out.


Here is our other victim who fell helplessly into the divine waters of baptism! He didnt even see it coming! Thats how we roll. Hit em while theyre down and kick them into the water. Works like a charm im telling you. This is my gangsta Jason Stafinski. He came to church one day and found Elder B-runs and ever since then we have been teaching him. He has had a cast on his foot for quite a while and he just got it off, so we hurried and dunked him before he had to get his other foot done. He planned out his entire baptism and everything. He was solid for sure. His best friend that has been sitting in on our lessons came too and so he might jsut be the next target we are going to get wet. But everything went really well and it was a nice baptism. Elder Brunson was actually throwing up that whole day and so we werent sure how everything was going to play out, but as soon as we picked up Jason Brunson felt 100% better for the entire baptism. So that was pretty sweet so thats that. Love ya'll !
Whats up pops! That sucks you have been freezing cold at work! Thats the crappiest thing ever. I hate winter im telling you. Lets move to California when i get back? Haha just kidding, kinda. Sounds like you are working way too much too! Bro Fuller worked at a steel plant when he was younger and so he asked what you did and i told him you worked in the Roll mill, and he was like oh well he had the good job. I think he was in the melting place when he worked there. Hah it was crazy. And his wife was talking about how she was on a gluten-free diet and stuff. so i got to talk about you a lot to them, haha.
Hows Briannes driving skills? I sure hope they improved a little bit. How is she handling the toyota in the snow? Its a good truck. Everyday i miss driving it because these cars are just horrible. I have hydroplaned and just about skidded off the road tons of times. Stupid junkers!
Yay boots! Im not sure if my feet are bigger than yours or not...I wear 10 1/2 and i have short little stubby toes too. Hah! I have good looking feet boy! But im sure a 1/2 size will be good if im wearing my snowboarding socks with them, hah!
Dang Grizz thats so dang funny. He has got to be the dumbest dog ive ever seen or heard of. I love it though, good boy Grizz! Give him and pat on the head for me! Well i better get going. Love you dad youre the best!

Dec. 14,2009

Thats so cool about your tithing money! Thats perfect. The Lord works in mysterious ways eh? Merry Christmas! WOOHOO! So i just barely got your package with my clothes in it! Yay! I wore them around all morning. I also got a package from danny and suzi and tony and lori. Hah i loved that Lowes Christmas card! I was laughing my head off all morning and my comp was too. Hah it made my day. I sent you guys a Christmas package. Nothing is wrapped or anything so just open it up and surprise!
So Christmas Eve i think we are spending with the Levasseurs (Marissa thought it would be a good idea to put flour handprints all over me, ill attach a picture) and the Browns invited us over too. Then Christmas morning i am going to Mamma Myers and will be over there for a while, !!!WHICH BY THE WAY!!! She is expecting me to come up with something to cook for her! You need to email her remember? Im too dumb and i fall apart under that much pressure. Hah Its Ruthmyers@charter.net I believe. You should check my last email to make sure tho But after that we have a few other places we are invited too, so we are going to be taken care of pretty well. We ended up with three christmas trees. The Longcors brought a real one to us. But we have nothing to decorate it with and our stand is broken so it has just been leaning against our table. Hah But we have packages all over the floor and candy galore. <-Rhymer i am. So we are going to be taken care of really well so its all good! Im going to keep this short though becasue i have a long letter to write president to convince him to let me stay here in Hart. Ill find out Christmas eve, So ill talk to you guys in a few days! Love you all. OH I can talk i think as much as i want. They never said anything about it, so ill call you guys on Christamas a bunch. I want to call the Grandparents too! Okay love you guys bye bye!
Here is our other victim who fell helplessly into the divine waters of baptism! He didnt even see it coming! Thats how we roll. Hit em while theyre down and kick them into the water. Works like a charm im telling you. This is my gangsta Jason Stafinski. He came to church one day and found Elder B-runs and ever since then we have been teaching him. He has had a cast on his foot for quite a while and he just got it off, so we hurried and dunked him before he had to get his other foot done. He planned out his entire baptism and everything. He was solid for sure. His best friend that has been sitting in on our lessons came too and so he might jsut be the next target we are going to get wet. But everything went really well and it was a nice baptism. Elder Brunson was actually throwing up that whole day and so we werent sure how everything was going to play out, but as soon as we picked up Jason Brunson felt 100% better for the entire baptism. So that was pretty sweet so thats that. Love ya'll
Ya she came up to me at church and pointed a finger at my face and said " and ill be expecting a call from you tomorrow!" Hah she is so funny. She gives us hugs when we go over and stuff. Shes the best. Not as good as you, but she is like our mother out here. haha

Whats up pops! That sucks you have been freezing cold at work! Thats the crappiest thing ever. I hate winter im telling you. Lets move to California when i get back? Haha just kidding, kinda. Sounds like you are working way too much too! Bro Fuller worked at a steel plant when he was younger and so he asked what you did and i told him you worked in the Roll mill, and he was like oh well he had the good job. I think he was in the melting place when he worked there. Hah it was crazy. And his wife was talking about how she was on a gluten-free diet and stuff. so i got to talk about you a lot to them, haha.
Hows Briannes driving skills? I sure hope they improved a little bit. How is she handling the toyota in the snow? Its a good truck. Everyday i miss driving it because these cars are just horrible. I have hydroplaned and just about skidded off the road tons of times. Stupid junkers!
Yay boots! Im not sure if my feet are bigger than yours or not...I wear 10 1/2 and i have short little stubby toes too. Hah! I have good looking feet boy! But im sure a 1/2 size will be good if im wearing my snowboarding socks with them, hah!
Dang Grizz thats so dang funny. He has got to be the dumbest dog ive ever seen or heard of. I love it though, good boy Grizz! Give him and pat on the head for me! Well i better get going. Love you dad youre the best!

Dec.8,2009

Hello!
Did you guys get my pictures? I sent them and got an error to you guys tho....stooopid computers. Sooooo, this week was the crappiest week ever! yippee! I was sick with the Ebola virus all week i think.....We went down to N Muskegon and went to this play with a member there. HHe manages the theater called the Frauenthal and so he took us to it. It was this ginormous christmas tree that kids climbed in and sang and there was this freakin cool light show too. It was sweet. Afterwards we went to pizza hut.....bad idea. Pizza hut is one of Satans tools to kill us missionary folk. I was crampin up after i ate and i thought my stomach was going to pop! So all week i felt like i was going to throw up and i was constipated and took laxatives and they didnt do jack crap I didnt eat for two days and i still cant eat much. Brunson was throwing up like crazy to. It was wierd, we had different symptoms but we both felt like crap. So basically all week we were just chillin in our apartment, we didnt make it to church either...Sister Levasseur is a doctor and she bought us some food and basically saved our lives. Then we got a blessing and were all good now! And guess what! Im out of time i have 2 minutes left and then i get kicked off. I had too many emails to read! haha i love it. So ill try to get to another computer today or tomorrow to write you guys. Cuz this isnt fair. Love you guys so much !
Okay so we went to the library in Hart, so hopefully i can write my peeps. Yesterday we had zone conference so thats why i didnt write you guys. It was pretty boring we had nasty food and i fell asleep and so thats good im starting to know a lot of other missionaries, so its making things a lot more fun. I am making a ton of friends and so that helps a lot. We went to pizza hut again that night with the Fremont elders and i felt like i was going to throwup. Im never going to that place again.
I got the tree yesterday when we got home, we are going to set it up today after we clean the place up. We both have trees and a members i going to get us a real one from his farm, so we are going to be all decked out! yay christmas! We dont have a time limit on how long we can talk either as far as i know. So ill be talking to you guys all day, well for a while anyways... we have 3 dinners....i think we are actually going to mamma myers that morning to have breakfast with her family. She is the best cook. oh man, we are having biscuits and gravy tonight! Its a good day! so i was going to make some christmas cards for everyone but i dont have a picture to use and i dont have a walmart......so now im sad. Mom i dont know what i need. mostly money i think. haha or you can buy me a hoody or shirts/pants or something like that, i always need clothes. Ties are good too.
I dont know josh wood but i heard about him before i even left. I met Elder Turner the first day i was here, he was Jordans friend so he came up and gave me a hug from him. That sucks they are in bad axe, the thumb. Theres nothing going on over there from what i hear, haha
So there is finally snow on the ground! It snowed like crazy for 2 days and so we have a little bit. There still isnt a lot, but im sure it will all come this week or next, bring it on! It snowed really hard yesterday when we were going to zone conference, there were a ton of wrecks and i could barely see the freeway the snow was so thick. It was sweet.
so not a whole lot went on this week with us being sick, but this week we are going to try to make up for it. We have another lesson with Jason before he is getting baptized! Its this Saturday! He planned everything out too, he is way excited. He is a crazy man tho. Im going to resend those pictures of Dennys baptism to the bros/sis ' s...emails. so things are good here. Love you guys, peace out.

Nov.30,2009

OOOHHH! So many people to write to and so little time! I hate that, and thats the truth! I might just email you guys tomorrow too or something. haha. Bro Schuitema is picking us up in a little bit because he wants us to come drag trees out of his yard with his 4 wheeler and tractor. That guy is crazy! He woke us up this morning and we are pretty sure he was all hopped up on his monster energy drink! He always has one in hand. Crazy man, but he is cool. He is the one we lift with and he buys us subway after and all that good stuff. So its all good i guess.
So the exciting news this week is we got a baptism! Ill send you another email with pictures and a little more about it. Hehe funny.
Thanksgiving was alright i guess. We went over to the Hawleys and had dinner with them. They had all sorts of good stuff, they had their whole family over and so we got to talk to a lot of people over there. Then we went over to Bro. Kennidys and had some more dinner! I almost puked! I couldnt shove any more down, but the wierd thing was later that nioght i was eatin again....crazy. He has a sweet house though! He made his basement into an apt so the missionaries could stay there. But they told him he was too far out of the way so he couldnt do it. We played guesstures and the other missionaries were over there and we watched all the football games and stuff. Oh man Detroit blows, haha. So we were around a lot of good company for Thanksgiving, still doesnt beat our thanksgiving partays tho.
Forogt my planner again......ill have to wing it. Friday we went to Fremont and shopped around a little bit. Black Friday doesnt exist here in Michigan. The towns are way too small, haha it was just like any old day, so i looked for something to waste my money on and i failed. Which is good because i have to buy some presents for some members and investigators, dadgum. They need to up my salary i think!
Had a cool district meeting.....went to the Levasseurs crazyness.....Mamma Myers is awesome....I might be getting kicked off better send this! Loves!

YAY! the black friday spirit is still alive! Woot woot! I cant believe you didnt go buy anything tho. I havent been out to the lake yet. I think we are going this week. There is a cool lighthouse out there too that i have to go see. so thats fun. Ya our area is tiny. But the members make up for it. And we have a cool district so we can just go to North muskeegon if we want to go to some stores. Hah Im glad you guys are having fun without me. That makes me laugh that someone fell off the horse. Its crazy it wasnt Jeron tho,. That just blows my mind. Hah Anyways i love you dad and i love the pictures you send me. Thanks for everything you do for me paps

Nov 23,2009

Hello!!!
Holy cow man, this place is so cool! AAAH! I love it! Theres really nothing to do here....but the people here make up for it! We just got back from getting adjusted at the chiropractor, hes a member and does it for free. Hah. We are teaching a ton, we have 4 baptisms set up, he have a baptism this saturday! His name is Denny Cole, he looks a lot like Einstein, hes got the hair and stuff. The members here are dang cool too! Mamma Myers is awesome. She cooks the best food ever! We are going over there for Christmas. She is so dang nice too. We went to a high school play with her this week. Her daughter was in it so we thought it would be nice if we were there. Then we have the LeVasseurs....Dang where do i start. Single mother raising 3 girls and 1 boy all in the ages of 9-15....We go over there and just hang out with them. They love the missionaries. So we go over and watch church movies and jump on their trampoline. They have a huge house, and at the top they have like a balcony thing. So we go up on the top of their roof and just hang out up there. Its so dang fun, they are crazy tho. They hide in our trunk when we are about to leave and stuff. Hah. Then we have Bro Schiodima(i think thats how you spell it)(Sky-di-ma, haha) We go over there three times a week and lift with him and Bro Kenidee. Im so sore! And we are doing chest today and im not quite ready for that again. We have awesome investigators who just love us and really cool Less active people that we talk to. Brunson is the man, I love that kid, dad i dont think i can beat him up...just being honest. He played college football and he did MMA and cage fighting and stuff. We are having a good time though. Im learning a lot from him and this transfer is going to be bomb. Ill send some pictures pretty soon for ya'll and a tape too.
Sorry you are so bored mom, haha thats no fun, you could send me packages if that would cheer you up. I need some more clothes. You could sent my pantaloons that i left home and maybe some of my cool shirts. Im glad the grandparents are feeling better. Tell them hi for me and that i love them and think about them a lot. We have 2 dinners on thansgiving and 3 on Christmas, so we are pretty well taken care of. I looked at the December dinner calendar and its ALMOST FULL!!! Im going to get so fat here. Too many dang good cooks here. Im not even going to buy any food. I have just been eating left overs since i got here.Mom your praying skills must have worked, now just pray that i will get to stay here longer than one transfer.haha
We do a lot of service with the medical care facility here. We work with the old people. Last week we did a ton of stuff. We went bowling with them one day and helped them send it down the lane and stuff. Then the next night we went to dinner with the Alzheimer patients. I was laughing so hard that whole night. They are dang funny. There was one lady that kept coming up to us and she would say " Thanks so much for coming with us. You look so nice. Your parents must be so pround. You are dressed very nice." She would keep saying that over and over. She was the sweetest lady. Then this dang funny guy that would sng all the time woud say "can i say something?" then he would get close and throw his hands up and yell "Thanks for coming!" Hah its was fun. Then we helped them with a bazaar sell thing the next day, and helped with lunch and played some wii and that good stuff. Hah So things here are great.
I just got an email about christmas packages. You can send them to my apt, they have just had trouble in the past with people stealing the boxes that are left on the porch. So i could have them hold any packages that come to us, or you guys could do that. I think i might have to do it on my end though. So it should work out. I have that ipod stereo mom so i should be good i think. Mom yu take me too seriously haha. Im a joker, you know? I dont cut my own hair. We went to the beauty college While i was in Harrison, now im not sure where ill do it. I think ill grow my hair out tho :) I cant think of anything else to say. I love you guys and im glad things are going well with everyone in good ol cache valley. Its the bomb for sure. Its not snowing here yet. I think its supposed to this week though! Bring it on i say! Love you guys! Peace.

Nov. 16,2009

Thousan questions!
okay im going to attempt to answer them all....here we go....I'm good, no i don't have a dvd player, but if you want to send me a portable one i can catch up on movies! I decided not to get a quilt, id rather die. Lets wait on the boots. moneywise im good. We get 140 a month and i havent bought anything these last 2 weeks because i knew i was getting transferred. How much would it cost to ship my guitar? just curious....I dont hear really anyhting from Adrian, he gave me his address this week and a note. I havent heard anything since i last told you. He has a way strict mission i guess. He might still be with his trainer? Chris sent me a letter....hahah it was pretty dang funny. He must think Michigan is in Canada, he asked why the mission home wasnt in Canada and then he told me to baptize the canadians......Hah it was pretty funny. Im going to write him a letter soon. Hello there! So this week was pretty dang good! We kicked it up a knotch! We should have kicked it up three, but hey its progress! We did a lot of good this week, hah. So im sure you are wondering about transfers.....Im get on the transfer van tomorrow! Im heading off to Hart! and my new comp is Elder Brunson! Everyone is so dang jealous, Brunson called me up and was all excited and telling me about the area and it sounds so aweomse! He told me to get a christmas list ready because a member is going to be buying us presents! There are a few baptisms set up and the members are awesome i guess. I think he has been out like 20 months and he said Hart is his favorite area by far! Hah im so excited! People are so jealous when i say im going to Hart, then i say with B-runs and they are even more jealous. Our investigator was jealous i was serving with him, cuz Brunson served in Harrison in the spring. Hah so it should be a pretty good Christmas! Im dang excited. Hart is right next to Lake Michigan too! Yay! There are a ton of missionaries who are on their last few transfers that havent seen the lakes, so im getting hooked up this time! I heard it snows a ton there too, because of the lake, so im all pumped up now! Poor Anderson, he is getting a comp he doesnt like...hah. That will teach him.
Its hard to leave though. I really loved this place, the members here are cool, i like them a lot. We went to the Lees and hung out with them, i took a bunch of videos of Madison, Keyins little girl. I made Keyin add Brianne to Facebook and say hi! Hah bamf. Lastn night Bro Ford had us over for a little dinner and fire, We listened to some talks and just sat around the fire chatting, I tried to get Page to come too, but someoene at his place had to go get stitches in their hands. Oh well. Bro Ford is an awesome guy, i like him a lot. He will probably be sending you guys some pictures pretty soon. It was a really fun time though. Bro. Hamilton told me to come over today before i leave, so we will go over there and talk with him, he is our gator who is jealous im serving with Brunson, they got way close. So its exciting, but hard too.
We went back to Jason and Cheryls house to teach them the Plan of Salvation, OOOOOHHH MAN! It was so tough! They just cant keep they're dang yappers closed! They talked about abortion of all things for 20-30 minutes! AAAHH! It was so dang hard. I told Anderson the next time they go over to give them notebooks and have them write all their questions while they are giving the lesson and just emphasize the importance of the lesson they are teaching. So maybe that will make them be quiet. They ask really good questions tho....they just go off on so many tangents. I try to appear like i have something to say ya know, Ill be flipping through my scriptures and reading things and they just keep talking! I could pull out a gameboy and start playing it and they wouldnt even think anyhting of it! Uh it was alright tho. They are dang nice people, and thats three gators that have come from Dook-knocking! Dont tell me it doesnt work!
So thats my life! Im glad the married couple are getting settled in and didnt get kidnapped in Vegas! Sounds like things are going good, Maybe a little bit better if dad would stop hurting himself huh? hah, i started reading the body-builders bible with ARNOLD the governator again, and now i really want to lift. Hopefully Bruns will get me working out. Hes a college football player i hear. so i hope things are good. Keep p the busy work! Love you guys!
Elder Matthew Larsen
375 Lesada Ave Apt #6
Shelby, MI 49455
Dang it snowed again! Its just a matter of time before it starts here. It feels like its still October here. I dont know if i told you that the pictures worked or not....I bought a card reader and now it works just fine. I accidentally deleted one of the cards tho, the 2meg card. I got all the wedding photos and pictures of before i left, but i screwed up on the others. I will be sending you guys a card soon. I love the pictures you send every week too! I like to see people in action ya know? Whats with hurting yourself all the time? Dang kid! Sounds like you are working yourself to death! And i wont stand for it! You need to just sit down and play some video games for a change. You can tell everyone that i gave you permission too! Thats cool that the house is getting finished tho and Im glad Grandma is getting better. Im going to send her an email today. I want to send her a letter, but i just cant get myself to start writing! Thats so cool we got a Texas Roadhouse! I want to go so bad! I also heard down in Ogden or something we got a In'N'Out! Elder Littles trainer called him almost every night and told him about it. He said they are building or already built two of them. mmmm in'n'out welp im almost sick and tired of emailing and i still have a bunch to go. Love you and we will talk to you later

Nov. 9,2009

Hello my people!
Well im glad my mission life is a joke to you mom! Hah! I dont even know whats so dang funny! Oh well i guess im just a goon like that. Sounds like Ryans wedding went well! He sent me a few pictures that didnt work out and one text that he sent to my email. Jeron sent me a bunch of pictures! I want more of Ryan and Britney tho! I cant believe Bryan let Becky and Jeron hold his kids! That was daring of him. Jeron looked like he was about to elbow-drop him WWF style, and becky looked terrified to be holding a kid! HAH! DANG DANG humorous is what it is. Well i better open my planner so i can remember what the heck i did an hour ago. Stupid short-term memory loss! Well crap i left it at our house...
We went on trade-offs on Wednesday and i went to Alma with our DL. It was pretty cool. Their apt was awesome! They have a garage and a weight room and all this stuff. Our house could have fit in their living room! It was saweet. That was after i made a fool of myself at the bar/grill we went to. APPARENTLY i cant order off the kids menu.....my entire plan got shot-down faster than Jeron playing Call of Duty. We had a good time though. We have a cool District. The sisters double our numbers and Almas numbers combined every week, Hah Elder Paul B. Pieper of the seventy talked about that last week. He said no matter where you look in the mission field, Sisters always baptize more. Dang women.
We met with our new gators again, They asked us about our missions, so we gave them a sob story about how we are away from our families....So they invited us to dinner tonight! Its a date! Dinner and a lesson. It doesnt get much better than that! They are dang nice though. I told them i was probably leaving soon so we did it asap.
Transfer calles are this friday! WOOT! Im probably getting transferred. At interviews PJ (Pres. Jones) said, "Its about time for you to get a new assignment isnt it?" So I probably get to leave Harrison finally! Its a bitter-sweet thing of course. Mom you were wondering what interviews were like....Remember when i lit on fire and we went to the police station and i got interrogated? Ya its kinda like that. Only we say a prayer before and after. So im pretty experienced by now! Hah PJ is a really good guy though. Hes a military man, so its all business sometimes it seems. But you can always feel the Spirit when you are around him. The term Spiritual-giant fits well with him. I got a little chastised for not teaching 20 lessons a week...i think we were getting around.....hah maybe i shouldnt say....5? So thats about to change.
Things are good here though, We started slacking for a while and time started moving really slow. But i decided to stop that crap and get back to work, so things are better now :) You asked about my "new" comp. haha we have been together for 5 weeks now and its coming to an end. He is a good kid, nerdy... but good. We get along really well.
So pray for PJ! Or President Jones. That he will send me where i am most needed in the mission! Im excited for a new challenge. mm mm challenges. Arent they fun? I almost forgot! Christmas! i dont know what i want.....books? You could send my retainer and my harmonica, por favor. Im plenty warm. we have our cooler going every night and i dont get cold. If i do i will probably go visit the Amish and buy a quilt from them or something. I almost forgot! On thursday my comp had to go to Kalamazoo! So i got to see my dream area! Oh man it was so awesome! I love the big cities. There were people driving like mad-men and gangsters walking all the streets! it was beautiful too! Thats right i just used that word. we drove there through Lansing and drove back through Grand Rapids, i didnt get to see a lot of GR. It seemed huge tho! Pray that i will get sent to K-ZOO! Anyways i dont know what i want for Christmas. I dont think my shoes(rockports) will make it through the winter....They are getting pretty bad already. I dont know.....hah ill think about it. BYE BLAHKAHWDKFS!
Alright im gonna go now. Love ya'll PEACE!
Looks like a successful hunt! unless those weren't yours! Hah! The state of Michigan isnt progressing much....hah i think the work is alright tho...It hasnt snowed yet. All the leaves have fallen off but no snow yet. These last few days have been awesome actually! It was like in the 70s and stuff. It was totally awesosome. Sorry about your bad luck with the door-knob. I hope you got a good lock for the doors. Because i learned how to card doors on my mission and its pretty crazy how easy it is. it only takes a few seconds too, same with picking locks....Not that im breaking into places, just my own house. Our investigator Karen was shown how by some guy and it scared her to death, so she bought a bunch of locks for her doors too. Too bad Grizz is gun-shy. Thats no good. I talked with a few people this week about how dumb he is. haha. We visited a member move-in and she opened the door and 2 great danes came barking towards us! Man they were huge! The thing could have licked my chest where it stood, hah! The one was all black and looked a lot like grizz just twice his size. It was pretty scary. They were nice dogs though. I could have ridden them just fine. Anyways sounds like youre keeping busy. So things havent changed too much since i have left. Keep up the good work! love you

Nov. 2,2009

SUP! So its monday of course. And im doing gooood! I forgot everything i was going to say....hmmm. well i guess ill start at the beginning of the week....stupid brain think!....well i better pull out my planner(missionaries brain)okay its blank....now what. HAh just messing. So we had our half mission tour with Elder Paul B Pieper.It was so cool. He knows everyhting! He would ask us a question and he would get like 10 answers back, but it was always something a lot deeper that he was looking for. It was cool the way he spoke about things. Kinda going back to the root of the doctrines and things like that. He basically taught us how to teach better, i think thats what they all do. He was a really neat guy though. He just radiated pure awesomeness. We got chastised tho, because a lot of us showed up like 5 minutes before we started.....oops...and he told us he needed about 10-15 minutes to interview all of us while he sat on the stand. Crazy general authority magical powers or something. I forgot to take something to write, so i had to fill up my planner. haha but i dont have any specific things to tell you other than it was amazing and i learned a lot. Like were supposed to commit people to be baptized on the first lesson....i always thought it would be the second or third. im a nooooob. Then on thursday we went to Farwell, becuase i dont think much work has ever been done over there. And we found this big outside concert theater thing. called Mountain rock. It was sweet! They had posters of def leppard and dio and all those old school bands that played there. Who woulda known in tiny little Farwell. Elder A got us stuck in a ditch. He scares me when he drives. So i took over the keys. haha, He got out of the car to start diggin us out. I got in the drivers seat and rocked the car out and started driving aways. hehe, im a thousan driver. Then we went to Clare and stopped by a house that i had doorknocked into with E Simpson and finally they werent busy so they invited us in! We taught them the restoration and a lot about prophets and the Apostasy and missionary work. It was so hard to teach them tho. I asked them something about prophets and they just went off on some tangent for like 20 minutes and then i asked them another question and they did it again... They would answer and then just keep talking. We got onto the topic of how catholics put pics of the Saints as reminders and they talked about soccer and AAHHHH! Totally off the subject. So i dont think they got the whole priesthood authority being restored part....so we will have to review with them on tuesday. They have two young kids and they said they dont get very many intelligent conversations,...obviously haha. They were really cool though. Im excited to teach them. So we got two more investigators! WOOT! Now president wont slap us this week at interviews! Yesterday Bro Ford took us to a funeral so we could have some dinner. haha hes a good guy. He is probably going to be sending a picture or two to dads email. Anyways we almost had to give the prayers at the funeral because the sister missionaries hadnt showed up yet. tardy tardy tardy, but they came screaming around the corner at the last moment, so we got out of it, woot! They want us to go to mount pleasant tomorrow and do some work on campus with them. This mission has this ginormous Book of Mormon that some Elders made, and so missionaries take that around the campuses and walk around with it and it attracts all kinda of attention, so we might do that maybe. So thats all that happened this week. So i hope all is well. Good luck with the Wedding! Thats so cool! im excited for ya'll. Mostly Ryan of course, love you guys and we will talk to you next week!

Oct. 26,2009

Hello family!
So Bro Mckay took off for a few days without telling us! haha what a funny man. So we didnt have a dinner appointment last night and i had to pay to get my laundry done! First time in 4 months. Stupid stupid stupid. So i got the package and i loved it all the candy is almost gone. ive been making myself sick on it like i do. Oh and by the way. Those otter pops that you sent me a long time ago i ate all of them in i think a week and a half. i had 20 in one day once......it was sweet....im tellin ya.
I cant believe what happened to baby sis! I could punch somebody! Was it our car or someone elses? Stupid no good rotten mongrels! I like how they left my picture in there though. Thats sweet. hah. that makes me so mad though. AAAAHHH. Ill strangle them!.... And the Christ-like attributes kick in...aah...all better.
Yes ive gone tracting. haha i think thats what you asked. You have a picture of my first door knock ever....oh wait maybe not. Little has it! anyways that was my first day out. so ya. We dont do a whole lot of door-knocking because it isnt very effective. But i like to do it anyways, my comp hates it though...whatev.
So we taught the WoW to Amy and it went alright, she wants to quit. Its going to be hard because her "boyfirend" doesnt really support the idea. What a jerk he is. So on Saturday i decided we were just going to drive to Gladwin and see if Sheila was home, and we did. And she was totally there and invited us in and we read the scriptures with her. We read about the Tree of Life and explained it and talked a little bit more about church and the things that go on. Im pretty sure the reason she hasnt come is because she is scared people will think bad about her if she does something wrong. She said she would come and then she didnt....of course....Im pretty ticked. Oh and while we were teaching her a cigarette pack fell out of her coat pocket......That was the most depressing thing ive ever seen. So much for her baptism date( which was that day HAH). Cigarettes are the worst thing in the world man, i hate them with a passion,. They ruin EVERYTHING! We have 4 investigators that would get baptized if they would just stop smoking.. One of our old investigators showed up though which was a huge surprise because some shiz went down with him and his wife.....anyways it was the primary thing in sacrament so thats why they were there. We went to Brendas for our first appointment ever and turns out her son has the swine flu and so we didnt go in because Bro Sprague kept making jokes like "Its alright im old its time for me to go" HAh he is the funniest man i love it. So we resceduled for tuesday. hopefully he is better so i dont get sick, and if i do im probably dead because theres not really anywhere to get shots around here. Oh well! jk mom...kinda
And about my eating...I eat everything. Its wierd im telling you, I had this wierd soup stuff that looked like something that you would feed pigs, And surprisingly it was pretty tasty. It wasnt that your cooking was bad mother. I was/am just stupid about things like that. I refuse to eat mashed potatos because i have been harrased so much about them.....okay not really. They are pretty good i guess. "Branching out" doesnt really help too much either...I now weigh 185 and im all depressed because of my love-handles, im not getting any lovin out here either!
Michigan is known for its fall season. The colors over here are awesome. If you are ever on a hill its pretty sweet, because you can see this endless forest of trees and all these different colors everywhere. People bragged about it all summer. Now that its here i havent really heard anyone talk about it. They are in denial i think. Michigan isn't so good, haha
I dont have my friends addresses with me right now. So i would just call up their parents, I could have it tomorrow for you but it might just be better to get it from them. I could even get them later today or something. Let me know!
So i have been reading the New testament and its awesome! I love it. Im learning so much. Im in Mark right now and i read Jesus the Christ while reading the Bible. It clears up a lot of things and makes it pretty awesome, like how Jesus calls James and John the "sons of thunder" <-- look it up its pretty cool. Im kinda of disobeying a rule. We are supposed to read PMG and the BoM the first year of our missions and then after that we can read whatever we want. I think its dumb, it just puts a damper on learning so i choose the higher law. <- its sounded good.... dont know exactly what it means, but i could make something up pretty easy, but i wont. Anyways the church is true, yadda yadda yadda. Love you guys! Peace be unto you.
Sounds like you had quite the hunt! Thats what i like to hear! Never back down! haha thats sweet that its working like a charm now. its a good truck! The pictures are dang funny, hah good times. I like how Brianne is wearing all my clothes in that last picture. Dang girl! I can just see you guys trying to get up that muddy road. If the truck breaks down you might as well be in the hardest spot to get out right? Remeber that time we went 70 down Smithfield canyon in your old truck? i thought for sure we were going to die, haha that was dang fun. Oh i forgot to mention in the letter to everyone. We have Elder Paul B Pieper coming down this week and we are going to have a zone conference with him and he will speak to us and stuff, so it should be really cool. Im excited. I guess last year everyone was arguing with the last general authority and using scriptures against what he was saying and stuff. So nothing really happened. haha dang know-it-all missionaries! So im excited for that it should be pretty sweet. Sorry you didnt get anything better luck next time and then next time again until im home. whoo! So Jordan says he wants to get into body-building and so i told him ill be his partner. So conjure up some potion for us and make us huge! anywho love you, and have fun at work! I miss work.....bye bye

Oct. 19,2009

HI HI,
I dont know how much longer im going to be able to write everyone, im just throwing that out. by the time i write to ya'll and then to my friends im like 3 hours into things, haha so i might just be sending one big letter to the family and i will try to address everyones concerns/problems/comments/predicaments/funny jokes and lives.
This week was a lot better, even though we only got to teach one lesson to Amy, /sigh. Sheilas been having problems getting people to work on her house and shes been "running in circles" so we werent able to go and teach her this week....i told her we would be happy to help but oh well. so we are going to have to push her date back and throw her coffee maker away. So we talked to this girl on tuesday. she told us she was blackmailed into joining the church and had a lot of questions.....so we werent very excited for this meeting. She was a strange person. She had like 4 pages of questions to ask us. I cant remember them all but things like. Can you repent if you feel no sorrow for what you did? can you believe in other religions beliefs and still be mormon? can woman prophesy if so, how can you know if its true? Why arent we allowed to have tattoos? Do we believe in symbology? she started talking about terra cards and occult stuff, haha so we...well mostly Elder Anderson and her friend(who is a RM) answered most of the questions but i threw my two cents in. I think she was mainly making sure that what she already believed was ok with the church. So that was an interesting time. She wants to have more meetings because she has a lot more to ask.....yay. Then we didnt do a whole lot the rest of the week. We talked to Amy and taught her the third lesson. Their car broke down so thats why they havent been to church for a while. So i told her id find her a ride.....i brought it up in Priesthood and nobody volunteered....so im going to have to use my missionary powers and order the members to bring her. You cant deny my wishes.
We did some service on Saturday. It was supposed to take like 2 hours......11 hours later we were home. hah. We built a deck for a lady and it was dang cold i thought my toes were going to fall off. I got pretty mad because everyone was explaining how to use the saw and the drill gun and measurements to me and they wouldnt let me tell them i already knew....so i just listened and had some patience. Its frustrating when you can do something better than someone yet they are telling you how to use the saw and stuff. funny people. so halfway through i was sick of just standing there with nothing to do so i went inside with Sis. Lazano and she was pretty happy that i did. You could tell she wanted someone to talk to. Everytime i would start going back she would call me back to help her cook or tell me something. shes a nice lady. So that took up our entire Saturday, which was fine by me, because we had no appointments or anything to do. Afterwards we went back to Bro. Lees house and he fed us Chili. It was the first time i have ever tried it! I had seconds haha. He thought it was crazy that i was american and hadnt tried chili. Then he talked about being in the army and some stories and his job and things. He was one of the main guys in homeland security. He brings up his "six-figure income" when we are talking to investigators and stuff. not bragging or anything, he just tries to get his point across. hes just a funny Korean man, good guy. I had to correct him like 4 times yesterday in Elders quorum meetings, he always writes things down wrong, haha i love that guy.
So what i hear from Adrian he is doing pretty good it seems. His mission is dang dang strict i guess. Which i think is good for him. I cant wait to see how he has changed in two years. he is going to be so smart about things. What a good boy. But ya he is good i think, he is always joking with me and stuff. Im not exactly sure what his favorite candy is, but i think we bought a lot of licorice in the day. Except i dont think he likes cherry or something. Its been so long! He likes dots. He will eat anything you send at him im pretty sure. He will just be happy to have something from you guys.
So all the missionaries are now supposed to get swine flu shots and stuff. yippee, i dont know how much they cost. but im pretty sure i can just punch the flu in the face before it enters into me. so ill be fine without it, So im back on the soda. CURSE YOU MCDONALDS!!!!! YOUR CRAFTY MONOPOLY GAME HAS BEATEN ME ONCE AGAIN!!!! I have every piece but the winning pieces on my board. Im going to win dangit! so anyways im eating healthy.....and i have gained a few pounds since the start of this stupid game. Cursed game....
Sounds like things are going well with the wedding preparations! haha dangit im so excited and so depressed. haha just messin. It will be cool. Just make sure the hotties kiss my cardboard cut-out(Not you Ryan) okay that would be wierd..... nevermind. Ill try to get some good pictures of me with my tie for yous.< yep famous michigan talk. Couple three weeks ago i was mowing yous lawn. unedumacated.
Im feeling a lot more comfortable with things...finally. yesterday at church i felt like i was running things. I was making fun of the ol timers and crackin jokes at people just like the good ol days! It felt good. I felt a lot more "at home" This time with the people. I love the members here they are so dang funny. Its going to be sad leaving this place......they help us out a lot. and we get almost 100% home teaching done almost every week! They havent gotten a letter from the Prophet about how well they are doing, so that is pretty sweet i think.
Im getting a lot better with lessons. It has taked me way way too long. But when you had a trainer that never did comp study....hah i hate comp study to be honest. But im way more comfortable and im learning a lot. Im planning on reading through a lot of books. You asked what i wanted for Christmas...books! Little had a Jesus the Christ book that was leatherbound and looked more like scriptures that i was coveting. That big one that i have is impossible to read comfortably...haha, and i think Lucy Mack Smith would be good too. So thats my wish list. A book! yay! books are good.
OH i have a bone to pick, kinda. That cheese cutter was a family earloom! i couldnt believe you sent THE ONE! Could you not find another? I feel bad if i took the only one. Im going to etch Larsen into it and keep it in the family forever. Everytime i use it im just amazed at how wonderful it is. Those packages i got were awesome! Grandmas cookies were sooooo good! They only lasted me three days. I was always eating them. *drool* And grandma sent me a bunch of money which i was so soooo grateful for! I am so poor! I was going to sell my guitar and buy another but then i realized how poor i was, so im stuck with my guitar i have now. woe is me! So that money was a blessing for me.
Well I gotta go, so i better finish up. I love you guys! thanks for everything you do! Scriptures are true! read them again. I learned so much after finishing it again. Its the third time i have read it but it was like i was learning things for the first time. I feel so much better after reading through what the prophets of old have written and reading the experiences and challenges that came to them, that arent much different than what we face now. wooo doggie! Its so fun to learn, i love it. gotta go! LOVES

Oct.12,2009

Hello,
So this week wasn't to good. All of our appointments fell through and so we didnt get to do much. PLUS it was raining and it was cold and i hate this place. haha. i want Utah back! oh well. Hopefully ill get moved down south for the winter so its not so bad. So my new comp is Elder Anderson, he is from West Jordan and i like him alot. He is more fun than Little i think, maybe just because he isnt bossing me around all the time. I call the shots now. booyah! i liked Little though. he is a good guy. We had a pretty crazy night Monday with H Lake and stuff. haha it was dang fun. Whatev, so ya we are getting along nicely. He is a goofy kid though. i like it. H Lake got white-washed and they came over and had lunch with us on their way up there. They are dang cool. They arent in the district though. sad day. I think i already told you but im in a district now with 2 other elders and 2 sister......ugh thats going to be fun....whatev. I got your packages! it was like the best day of my life! So there I was....getting the mail. i got this slip that said i needed to pick something up at the PO so i did and i was expecting yours but lo and behold! it was Grandma Larsen! She sent me a bunch of cookies and a sweet quote book! I love it!, so im writing her a letter this week for sure. anyways like 10 minutes after we got back we get a knock on our door from UPS and your package and grandma Bs package got here! woot! Grandma sent me some good candy as well as womens vitamins. so thats good right? and i got letters from jeron and becky, aaawe how cute. It was aweosme tho Good work team. .
okay well im going to email some of my other peeps. mostly family. love you tons! Thanks for all you guys do for me!
Im so glad the Ford is working thats great! And the old ford is working like it should! hahah those trucks are so funny. So you are actually seeing things up there huh? i thought they were all gone! Too bad you cant find a spike! That would be way fun to set up a big wall tent somewhere and hunt from there. Thats the way to do it i think. So its getting cold there too huh? i think its supposed to snow this week here. im not ready for that. i hate this weather. its just cold and miserable. It froze here the other night. dangit, that means its winter doesnt it? you will have to send me some pictures of the house when its done. its finally done now! whoohoo! Those pictures made me want to come home, its so green. I love our view of our backyard and stuff. You cant see anything here. it feels like im living in tunnels. all these dang trees everywhere. So last night when we got home i stood outside for like 20 minutes. It felt so good! it was like 30 degrees or something and it was the kind of bitter cold we get in Utah. so i just stood outside and looked at the stars and enjoyed it. It was really refreshing. i could have sat out there all night. the cold here just seeps into you and tries to stop your heart. no bueno i say. Ill try to do all those things you said. haha it was quite the list. but i better go now. i have been on here for toooooo long. Love you paps, good luck on the hunt! bye

Oct. 5 2009

Hello family!
First of all you guys are awesome. So how are ya'll this week! So we got our car back and now that rule is done away with because its getting super cold, yay! im excited for winter. i just hate this time when its raining and cold and miserable. Especially when i dont have any winter stuff! haha i have been using E Littles jacket when i go out. And we did move that girl. We just had to drive from H Lake. and good thing we did because we were the only people that were able enough to life that stuff! Pres wouldnt have found out about that anyways. So you are dying to know if i got transferred huh? well good news! im not! E Little is though. He is going up to Saginaw(sagnasty) and he will be in a tri-companionship with the funniest missionaries ever. Im getting Elder Andersen, his MTC comp. so im way excited, i wasnt ready to leave here yet. I like it too much, and we have a lot of investigators and i have high hopes for this transfer! So go ahead and send my package and all that good stuff. so Conference was amazing! I loved Elder Hollands talk of course. He is so awesome, he layed the smack-down on the BoM phew it blew me away. His whole talk was basically his testimony too. I loved all of Elder Eyrings talks. He is probably my favorite speaker of all time. He is such a loving man, I still remember seeing him at the MTC and him having the biggest smile and giving air-hugs to everyone, oh man he is so great. There was another talk too. i cant remember his last name. he was a seventy and his first name was Tad. he talked about the new testament and all this crazy stuff. but ya i cried in a few talks, im such a baby! We didnt have any investigators come, which was so sad because they all would have loved it! The whole time i was like "Page would have loved that talk" and basically every talk was geared towards them and they werent there! Sheila tried to make it but she couldnt find the chapel, so she went home and called, so i talked to her like all the way through Elders Cook's talk about it and trying to find a solution. Because she lives 20 miles away and she was really dissapointed she could find it. so im going to call her up today and see if she found it online. if not ill walk her through it. We went over and taught her the third lesson! It was pretty cool, except i was so nervous! I usually have a notecard with scriptures written on it for each principle and i totally left that at our house! so i was panicking. But i got most of them i was just really awkward about it. BUT! I committed her to baptism! and we got 3/4 of a yes! she still has questions and she hasnt been to church and hasnt read very much of the BoM. but we decided to commit her anyways, so October 24th is her date! So im way excited for that. She is so awesome. We have 4 lessons this week with our gators, so it will be way cool, cuz ill be the one they know and ill get to lead things! yaya! So im in Houghton Lake right now. we are helping them pack and clean and stuff, so its hasbeen fun. Im going to miss this district we are all buds. I dont do any cooking mom. I gave up on that, i guess ill just have to find a wife that can cook. if not ill send her your way! haha we are going over to peoples houses for dinner all the time though. The Lees have us every Friday and Bro. Mckay has us every Sunday. Then we have random dinners everywhere else. We had dinner last night at Sister Greens house here in H Lake. She reminds me a lot of Grandma B. She is such a sweet lady and she doesnt take no for an answer when she offers food. so we had salmon and all sorts of stuff last night. so ya. Mom, i get up at 630 every morning....okay i lied. I have had a hard time waking up in the mornings my whole life! its so hard! but im trying. Dont ask those kinds of questions, haha. Things are good here though. im liking it and im getting a lot better at teaching. I am going to finish the BoM today if i get a spare moment. so thats good. Its crazy how much i have forgotten! I have read it i think 2 1/2 times before my mission, but a lot of it i dont remember at all! Now i have to start the new testament this transfer! yay im excited! new transfers are awesome. Im glad to hear you are all doing so good. I got a letter from Casey last week. and im not sure where to reply because the address i had for him was the Ansfere one, but he wrote a really weird address on his envelope, so let me know today if you can! and do you have Tyler or Lorrins address for me yet? and also Paul Crowther(worked with him) if you arent busy. that would be awesome possum! oh before i go. Funny story. So H lake came down for Conference becasue they cant get it up there. so in between sessions on saturday we were going to the Hilemans house for dinner and i caught up to sister Green on this dirt road and it was pretty muddy, she pulled over to let me go past and so i did...but i didnt think about the puddles of mud everywhere! so as i drove past i look in my mirror and i see this huge splash of muddy water go alll over her car! It was like the meanest thing ever i was laughing so hard! She pulls up and the side of her car was just mud! and she threatened me and so i have to go over and wash her car i guess. haha it was great. okay well i better go! i love you guys! The church is true! i love feeling the power of the Holy Ghost in my life, i am begginning to realize more and more how powerful and complete the spirit can change lives. It has changed mine. We explained what the Holy Ghost was to Sheila and she said " Oh, so thats what im feeling" Booya! oh man it is wonderful. I love the scriptures there is so much to learn from it. I just read through the entire thing but it feels like i have barely scratched the surface when it comes to the experiences and emotions and faith and love that you can learn from that book. Speaking of love. it seemed to me that that is what the "theme" was. that and the Holy Ghost in conference. if everyone would just love each other as children of God...../sigh "we need to start viewing people as Children of God" -Elder Holland, MTC. I love and live by that. I see so many times missionaries or members that just blow people off because of this or that, but really we should teach every single person we meet because everyone is great in the sight of God, so shouldnt we be viewing them the same way? yup yup we should. love love love. that what this world needs. it has been spoken. haha love you guys so much, OH! i miss you guys. conference wasnt the same without my family but thats alright only 3 more to go. hah ok well i better go, loves!


So i had a cool experience i wanted to tell you guys! We went on thursday down to Clare to the beauty college to get our hair cuts, and i started teaching this girl about the restoration. so there i was.... i got my hair cut and done and i was waiting for Elder Little and i was like " hey, i want some gel" so i went back to ask for some and one of the girls was talking to my haircutter and she was like "oh we were just talking about you" and so at first i was like "ya, im hot stuff"(cuz she was a babe)i mean..... anyways she started asking if i was a Jehovahs witness and she was wondering what they believed and what we believe and so i started talking to them and it was really cool because they were both listening so intently about what i was saying when i was talking about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and it was just really cool cuz i was alone and i was "teaching" and i had the answers! it felt so good, and so while i was talking i was feeling for the first time like an actual teacher, like i knew things that others wanted to know, and this is why we are called, because we have the truth we truly know and others ARE looking for answers they just dont know where to look like Amos says. so it was kind of an eye-opener for me. so anyways we gave her a card with her number on it and told us to call if she would like to learn more and so hopefully she does. if she doesnt ill go back and bug her, haha. so that was really cool. anyways gotta go!

Sept. 21,2009

WOOOOORD!
Hey how come im never invited to go places? every time you guys write you have gone on some trip or something dang exciting has happened. that's good that you are staying busy, things are boring otherwise. i cant believe that Eric is going to Melbourne. that is so awesome. Tell Ben and Eric to write to me or ill rip up their friend card. Josh emailed me this week. yay! he is such a cool kid. Tell Kory to send me pics of his system and i want to hear all of his new songs. tell him ill rip up his card if he doesnt too! im pretty rich this month because Sister Rogers bought us so much. Im glad you found my coat! it hasnt been too cold here its actually been about perfect. the temperature for this whole month has been like 70 so it has been very nice. You probably should send it next transfer tho. im not sure if i will be staying here or not. Transfers are the first week of October. so you will know then. But i have some requests that you can throw in with it. my shoes! i have been wearing these black globe slippers this whole time and i need some service shoes. so those black and white Circas i think they are would be nice. also, i thought i brought my retainer but i may have left it. so if you could check on that, its probably in the blue case. other matters of business. if you could find me a CHEESE CUTTER!!! like the one we have at home that would be the best present ever! ever! EVER I TELL YOU! BAAH i have looked in every store in my area and Houghton Lakes! dad never told me if he knows Bob Bartlet! his bro, or cousin.....is here and he is the funniest guy we make jokes at each other and have a jolly ol time. i already told you about him tho. mom...Turtle hunting isnt dangerous OR wrong. We just arent supposed to swim. Pres Jones says we can wade in the lakes as long as we arent swimming. I found out H Lake is the biggest inland lake in Michigan too! but its really really shallow. the deepest part is only like 25 feet. anyways thats boring stuff.
So this week we taught Sheila again, she is so awesome. Im really excited for her. she almost started crying twice! once when i was talking about the Atonement and the other when i read the scripture in Alma 40 about the Resurrection. so that was good. crying is good. yup yup. but the best part of the week...SUNDAY! we got Page Nichols to church! oh man it was good. he was asking awesome questions. and he was answering some questions that other people asked. it was perfect! He talked to pretty much the entire branch and he said this last year something has been leading him back to church and so he has studied the bible and watches tv programs and stuff and is really into it. He said the churches he has been to havent been able to answer his questions, he was catcholic, then he tried Seventh day adventists, and the church of the Nazarene. and none could answer his questions straight up. he also said he hasnt been baptized and its something he plans on doing, but he believes you should only do it once, so it should be done the right way......BOOYA! he is from Newfoundland and he was really interested in geneology and stuff. cuz i guess its a saying up there "you cant move forward unless you know your past" or something like that, pretty cool. he could talk until you died on the spot though. eveytime we go over it takes about an hour before he lets us go. haha he is a cool guy. That was probably the highlight of the week. that and we had an awesome time at Houghton Lake on trade-offs. we all played games and stuff and E Richardson taught me how to make chicken alfredo and he made me a blueberry pie and a peach pie. haha we're friends now hah.
Im glad yellowstone was fun even though i wasnt there. good news. i only have to read 8 chapters a day in the BoM to finish it this transfer....oh mercy! thats hard. but dangit im going to do it! and i started a tape to send to yous. so ill get my district to talk to you too! yay ok well im going to go for now. i might come back in like 2 hours and say some more things if i can think of anything. so ya. loves!

Sept. 14,2009

HI HI.
Sorry about the computer! Sometimes they are a pain! I got your tape on Saturday! It was so awesome and unexpected. But it was great i loved it. I will start talking into the stupid little box too. i always feel like a dork but thats ok sometimes i am.....and then other times im just really really awesome. hah.
All my friends seem to be doing really well! I havent heard from Tyler since he has been in the MTC. I think mostly because you only get 30 minutes to write. But i lost his email address somehow. I would like to hear from him and such. Mom i am happy :) Last week was rough, but we had Zone Conference and so that really kinda just fixed me up. Then the tape sealed the deal. ZC was awesome tho! Im making a lot of friends and the guys i came out with seem to be doing pretty well. We all said the same thing tho. Last week time kinda slowed down. it was wierd like time felt like it was flying bye and then all of a sudden it stopped and it was kinda depressing. whatevah. We had a lady(Sis. Wing) talk to us about her conversion story and it basically was like a 15 yr story. It was the most amazing thing i have ever heard. She was amazing. I would pass on the story but i would leave too much out so i wont. haha and we had the instruction and everything. I think i told you about the car thing. where if we dont get a new investigator our cars are taken away. Now we are supposed to be teaching 20 lessons a week. to gators. less actives, members and all that junk. so that is pretty good for me, because that is where i learn and grow the most is when im teaching. We are told we are supposed to be "full-time teachers" Thats why we are doing this. We arent only supposed to find non-members, but we are supposed to be uplifting the members in our area and by doing so we will find more people. Its kinda neat i guess.
The weather here has been so awesome. its like 70 degrees, not very humid, its just perfect. i love sitting outside in my reclining chair and just whipping out a sweet tasty jam on my 6 string for the world. mm mmm its good. Im getting scared tho. The leaves are already changing color! Winter is coming up and i dont want it! I miss snowboarding so much its rediculous. plus its going to be really cold. plus im going to be shoveling a lot of snow. and by the way. i dont have my coat. on the tape you said i have it and i dont. I only have gloves. so probably next transfer i will need my winter stuff. Oh and i think i might have forgotten my retainer for my teeth? i thought i brought it but i cant find it. so if you could check on that. it should be in a blue case. i would love to have it. My face is doing pretty good. its better than before i left.....if thats possible...haha im going to send this and ill send a lot more in a minute!
You're welcome for the info. funny stroy before i start again. after ZC the Houghton Lake elders were at our place and we went to the Lees and afterwards we played a board game. right in the middle of it Elder Simpson ( new to the district, really wierd. thats ok) he went to use our bathroom. well after like 10 minutes he comes out and asks if we have a plunger.....and a towel.! haha say what?! my towel is white buddy. anyways he cleaned up his mess and comes out with water spots all over his shirt. it was so dang funny. Poor kid. i get to go up to Houghton lake on wednesday with E Richardson. he is going to teach me to cook. and i might just get another guitar if i can return the one i have. i looked inside and one of the crossbars is broken and they used really bad pieces to begin with and there is some kind of rattle noise when i hit a certain chord. so thats strange . Thats what i get for buying a cheap guitar. it still sounds good. i just want a better one. haha
We went turtle hunting! It was so much fun. E Little saw one but didnt catch him before he went into his whole. There is this hug swampy area out on Mostetler road that seemed golden for snappers, but no luck! I was getting kinda scared actually. i was out in the middle of it with the waders on and i started wondering if there were alligators in Michigan! haha i thought i was going to get eaten. so then we checked the creek that ran next to it and it seemed really really promising. there are traps for turtles and little burrows and stuff. oh and Elder little was wading through the creek in his winter boots! The sorrels that are at Mr. Mac haha dang funny. so this week we are going out to Marion, cuz E little saw two gigantic ones crosssing the road there once so we are going to check it out. We were telling Bro. Mckay about it last night at dinner, and APPARENTLY thats where the bears like to hang out, there are a lot in that swamp and by the creek there. HAH! we were turtle hunting in the bears domain! and there was a guy shooting on the other side of the swamp and we were wondering if we were going to get shot. but nope im fine! sorry to scare you mom! hah oh but guess what i did!? so i was in the creek and i was near this dam and the sun was setting and it was really beautiful so i was like " hey i should take a picture!" i whipped out my camera making sure i was really careful not to drop it. i was trying to put the strap around my wrist for "extra" protection and my hands were really dry from being in the water all day and i totally dropped my camera.........so that was like the worst thing that has happened to me so far. but luckily it still works......it has a hard time focusing and it makes a wierd noise when i turn it on but i think its good. im kinda worried about the picture quality cuz im wierd like that. sooo i was wondering, first of all...I think we have a 2 or 3 year warranty if i remember correctly. let me know. and secondly. i was wondering if you could check to see if i could send it in to get the lenses clean because water got in there. Cuz im pretty sure if i start taking anything apart the warranty will be void. so i was curious what i should do. im an idiot i know. i havent dropped my camera ever. it doesnt even have a scratch cuz i have been so careful. and then when im trying to be super duper careful i chunk it in the water. dang my blasted luck! So thats the turtle hunting story.
We got a new gator this week! shes golden. Sheila's son joined the church in Idaho and she said he finally seems happy and it filled the whole inside of him and he is happy now and before i guess he was a pretty mean guy. and thats kinda the same things she has been looking for. that "belonging feeling" she is a catholic but she doesnt like the catcholic church. so we gave the first lesson and she started crying(booyah!) and she opened up about things. and we are going to be teaching her a bunch so that is really exciting! our other one Karen that kind of had that same story dissapeared......i have called and left her messages on her voicemail, (her cellphone....) and we left notes on her door and she is just gone. we went back and the note was gone, the plants were watered. but nobody ever answers.....so we kinda think she might have been ANTI'D!!! blagh i hate anti-mormon stuff. its so rediculous. found out Traverse City is like the biggest anti mormon distributer in the states. so stupid. hopefully she turns up. cuz she was really nice. she cooked us brownies and was going to have us over for dinner and a lesson....so it seems wierd that she just dissapeared. so this week and last week we were supposed to have like 4 or 5 gators at church and we have gotten a solid 0. Page Nichols wants to come so we have been trying to pick him up cuz he doesnt have a car, but he is never there. last week he had surgery and this week, him and his wife got in an argument the night before and he left...on foot....a few days after surgery.... and hadnt shown up when we went to pick him up. bah! its frustrating. Dang people! haha. so we havent done much teaching to them since two weeks ago because something always come up. bad eggs is what it is. This has been a ginormous email so thats kinda cool. i taught my first gospel principles class on Sunday! it was boring and scary, but i made it through. haha
Last week Sister Rogers bought us 200 dollars worth of food....she does it for all the missionaries. it was aweomse. she didnt even seem to care what the price was or anything. i said thank you and she didnt even say anything. kinda wierd but it was really nice of her. so dad about your weight comments...... i could say im downright sickened by them! I will never gain 30 or 40 pounds on my mission, thats a promise. My weight is all over the place tho. there was a time in Harrison where is was at 169, firday night i was 190, this morning i was 180. so i dont know whats going on. i should be at 175 though dangit. i guess if i would stop being so lazy and go outside to excercise i would be doing better but.... running stairs in the cold doesnt seem to appealing at 630 in the morning. haha umm im running out of stories to tell you...
Im happy that the house is finally going to be finished! thats exciting! it will look really good. Glad you are getting more hours now at work and that things are busy. you wouldnt want any down-time right? haha im glad the wedding went good and everything was just peachy. im going to want pictures and stuff like that. oh and mom you asked if Michiganders have an accent. the answer is no. BUT they are just dumb. they say yous and yas and my favorite " a couple 3 weeks ago" thats a phrase used a lot here. "are yous coming over tonight?" they pronounce houghton lake, hullton lake. The city Gaylord, Gaylerd. and there are other things that make me chuckle. but im going to stop writing cuz it will probably take you three hours to read this email! so i love you guys and im happy to be on a mission. Im learning a ton. its amazing how the simple things of the gospel that we teach(prayer, faith, repentance, atonement) really arent so simple. The more i study them the more i am blown away by the eternal aspects of them each. there is so much to learn its rediculous. i had a little struggle within myself about "faith". all my life i was taught to have faith but the more i studied the more i realized how much i need to grow in that certain area. I was very lacking and it kinda tore me up inside for quite a while. and instead of trying to do better i sat and dwelt on the lack of faith that i had. and it was amazing what happened to me in those few days that this was happening. it was the hardest week on my mission. I dont want to go into details about it but i was tempted and tried, because i had planted that seed of doubt in my heart and i wouldnt let myself look past it. but finally i was sitting there and i got this thought that instead of dwelling on it get up and start having faith. hah so simple, but at the time i was too focused on my own doubt to even think that i could fix it. it was like a "duh!" moment. i thought of the scripture in Alma where we are told to excercise faith and to experiment on the words and from that moment on everything was better. and its actually kinda funny thinking back about it because my farewell talk was about not doubting and having faith. It was one of my personal battles within myself. the battle that when you win you are given and entirely different view, a fresh view on life, and the world, and Gods children that we are out here building up and preaching the teachings of Jesus Christ, bringing peace and happiness to their homes and lives. it has strengthened my testimony greatly. I am so thankful to have lived with such an amazing family. i almost started crying when i was talking about families to one of our investigators. I dont know why i was so blessed to have grown up in a home where the teachings of our savior were taught, but i was, and i want to give others that same chance and that same opportunity that i was so blessed with. I love being out here spreading peace and joy to the people here. and i hope one day i will become a great teacher that will make my Father in Heaven proud. I was reading my patriarchal blessing and after my little battle a lot of things were brought to mind about my purpose in this life and its been laid out in front of me for so long. I am so thankful for this church and the Spirit of God that has touched my life so deeply and that continues to strengthen and edify me as i continue to be a faithful servant. Its so aweomse! and this is long so im going to end this now! I love you guys so much. Talk to you next week!

Aug. 24,2009

You are working a ton! How is it? did you get your hours back? are things going good over to there or is it about the same? That is so cool that you are getting that much hay from the field, the last few years we have been getting half that! Totally sweet, and thats good that you found someone that can do your hay, that would be nice to have your own swather then you can get even more? Did you crash Jerons bike on your way up the mountain? Ill be honest i was kind of expecting something. haha no offense....just saying. Did you take pictures? are you going to record it like you did with Jeron? So the gear shifter is worse? it has always been bad and kinda hard to get in reverse. you have to push it all the way to the right and almost up a little before you go down. I cant imagine anymore slop than how it was! it always felt like it was in neutral! That sucks if you have to fix that now. Are you still going to sell it? Is it clean? i miss driving....It has been 3 months now. Im a terribly good driver compared to everyone else out here. But im the best driver there is so i guess thats nothing new right? And about the lawn. I dont think anyone waters their lawns here. it doesnt get too hot and it rains pretty often. we didnt mow it for like 3 weeks and the landlord come over and did it and all the houses near us. our grass sucks. haha. Houghton Lake was pretty neat. It super shallow but it is pretty big. I dont know if i told you guys about Houghton lake....i think i did. There are some members that live right next to that apartment that catch squirrels and drown them in the lake! haha it was dang funny. I guess The other two missionaries helped disect it and stuff. Kinda gross, they said it was purely for learning...haha the pictures were gross. How is the deck coming along? Send me pics!? of the house too! I miss the mountains....People up here are always like "ya but we have beautiful trees in the fall time.." Psh who cares! We have awesome mountains all the time! Stupid Michiganders. haha And i like your words of wisdom Study till you puke, and pray to get better. HAHA im going to right that on the wall. Dang funny! But its true! im trying to read the Book of Mormon this transfer, i started a week early tho, im almost through 2nd Nephi, Im cruisin! Haha anyways. Im out of stuff to say. Thanks for teaching me how to work! Even if i didnt do it a lot...haha It has helped me so much out here it crazy, anyways love you! keep smiling! Talk to you next time!

Aug. 17,2009

Thats the final straw for me.... ill send you my new email address. Brianne.....I never do anything stupid....everything i do is graceful and well thought out and i never slip up. ok? Tell me about Bear Lake. Were their boys? don't lie to your mission stricken brother! That's awesome that you befriended a non-member teach her! Booyah LARSEN POWER! Tha'ts pretty sweet about the guy that went on a mission and remembers what dad said! That is so cool. That just makes me think of all the people that i have talked to on the doorstep that haven't wanted to learn. maybe some of them will remember what i said and when the next opportunity for them comes they will be more open. Its pretty sweet. Well i need to write a letter to pres and set up my othe email before we go to dinner with the Cravens! love you all you are the best! The church is true! There is so much to learn in the scriptures its amazing! I'm reading the Book of Mormon in the morning and the Bible at night! I realized how much i need to learn last week when we were teaching all of our lessons, and i know the things in the scriptures come from God through his prophets and there is nothing on earth that will help us more in life than the teachings and the stories that are found in the scriptures. I LOVE to read them as much as i can, every time i pick them up i get excited, because every time i read....i learn, and i become closer to the Savior, and by being closer to Jesus Christ i gain confidence in the things that i teach people and i love it. im so excited for the experiences that will come my way and i want to be able to encounter them the the Spirit of the Lord, because without it i know i cant teach. I love you guys keep being the examples you are to those around you. We are so blessed and we need to share the things we know with Gods children so they can experience the joy that we have. I really need to go. Talk to you all next time! I'm so excited to hear from you again!!!! dang brothers getting married. haha its awesome! Love you all so much! Peace out!

Aug 3,2009

Helllooo Family. Here i am in little Harrison of course. Last week was alright. We ran out of miles so we had to walk a thousan miles everyplace(crap, thats how Ryan would say it) abd Humidity is so freaking stupid i hate it. We were doorknocking a few days ago and it was probably like 60 degrees or less but it had just rained. i was sweating like a hog! i sweat worse on that day than a 85 degree day walking in the sun. blaaggh! ok im over it.....I hope i get a wedding announcement You'll send one...*fists a shaking* thats way cool though im excited. send some Hamiltons my way please! Im getting a little bit better at this missionary thing, its getting more and more exciting everyday. Every person is a new experience. its like a new challenge everytime. Im happier too, so that helps out when i talk to people. i notice people will start smiling and listening better when im happy and excited about what im sharing. so it is becoming fun. Mornings still suck terribly! OH MAN! The worst day of my life happens every morning. and then after lunch its over. But i took a Sunday nap yesterday after dinner and i think that fixed me. so im making that a requiremement from now on. Sunday nap time. I didnt appreciate a good nap until that one, mm mm it feels good. Im still learning what to say at all the situations i come to, but Elder Little is showing me what to say and stuff. Sometimes i wish he would shut up so i could get a word in, but whatev. I dont think i have reallly been yelled at yet. but im excited for the day. You can always send treats with any package you send me, thats a silly question! That way i wouldnt have to eat all of Elder Littles! haha i eat all his candy. The big doofus. He thought he could win me in an arm wrestle!(Dad will appreciate this)I thought he could too! he's 6'6" and 230 pounds and he looks muscular, But i kicked his butt. hehe, then i told him to stop being a pansy and taught him how to do it and he won, but just barely. Im huge, haha. A lady at a garage sale gave us an Arnold Swarzeneggar encyclopedia of body building book. haha so we have been reading how to get huge. its kinda funny....i think...soooo about this "amp"... you cant just say Kory Broke the amp hah.... was it mine? does it still work? Details please! has he installed his system yet? I must know!Im not sure if i told you I gave a talk? well i did last sunday. it was on Pioneers so im really happy grandma gave me those stories, cuz they really helped out..We have dinner with the Lee's every friday night. I told him i play guitar, so he pulls out his brand new Alvarez guitar! the same one Jeron had! it was so awesome. I might have to buy a guitart off ebay, because i cant find one anywhere. We had hobo dinners and just sat around the fire. I love going over there. And we also had dinner at the Bartlets. And i found out his Brother/cousin is Bob Bartlett in Newton! The name sounded familiar so i thought id pass it on. I loved going there too. it was the most "at home" i have felt since coming here to Michigan. We joked and there was lots of sarcasm, we shot squirrels off his deck. It was a good time. I even ate some spaghetti and loved it... wierd i know. Sad news, 2 of our investigators dropped us...it was really wierd. Melissa believed everything we said, she felt the Spirit. but Don, got caught up on the Spirit World and some scriptures in the Bible. They are joining the Baptists, he even said 'i think people that dont have a chance to hear about Christ will be judged accordingly after this life......' but thats not what the Baptist believe. Its either Heaven or Hell with them, so hopefully he realizes that. We are still going to go over and see them and stuff. cuz they were really cool. We picked one up yesterday at church tho, so that was good. Her mom is a member and she wants to learn more, so thats pretty sweet. We went up to Marion the other day because we had some referrals. It was the first time we had gone there and they were having some "old fashion days" so the whole town was going crazy. there was a one man band, who i took some pictures of. he would chase people around as he played his keyboard and sang. he was goofy. They had a pretty sweet car show too! there were a lot of sweet Camaros, like 6 i think. i took pictures of them all so you could see if any of them were like yours. i couldnt remember what year you had, so i took pictures of all of them. Im going to write to Grandma Larsen today. I feel so bad for not writing her sooner, oooops. Well i ran out of things to say. Im doing better all the time here and im learning a lot! There is so much i dont know its rediculous, so im studying hard and learning all i can. Hope everyone is doing good. Tell me whats happening in good ol cache valley. I really miss that place. and i miss you guys more. But its getting easier all the time. I love you all and hope you are doing well in all your adventures. talk to you next week!the one and only,Elder larsen