Sister Paige Larsen—Email Excerpt

We had a Zone activity today at the mission home, which took a few hours. I love the mission!

We had a lesson at 11:00 am today, and the spirit was so strong. When we asked Louis, our investigator, how he felt about what we had taught, he touched his heart and said that he felt emotions. He was raised with non-religious parents, and he was illiterate for about half his life. He is a sweetheart.

The fellow we met at the metro station has set a baptismal date for September 4th. Yesterday, when we were only halfway through the baptismal invitation, he was so excited that he interrupted and asked, "When? How many times can I be baptized?" So he picked out a date with the calendar on our cell phone. He loved the iron rod, especially when we explained it.

Elder Larsen-Email Excerpt

The missionary work is going well. We found six new investigators, and a baptism fell in our laps. A girl took the lessons in Arizona, and she is getting baptized here. All she needs is an interview. We have some others that are progressing more slowly but doing well. One of our investigators said hi to us in the library when were emailing. We had a fun lesson with him.

We were teaching Vincent last week, and Ezekiel, his stepson, was in the kitchen. So I invited him to be part of the lesson. He declined because he knew Jesus, but he listened in the kitchen. Ezekiel came into the lesson halfway through to argue with us about things that had nothing to do with anything at all, and he talked a lot. So I did my best to take control, speed through the last principals with very bold language, and committed them to baptism. Interesting situation: he felt the spirit to the point that he told all of us he knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but he had trouble with the Book of Mormon. Usually, it’s the other way around, but he committed to read and pray, and he is working toward September 10th.

Elder Larsen-Email Excerpt

I have been transferred to Concord, North Carolina. I am still in a car half the time and on a bike half the time. I was crazy stressed out in York, but now I’m in Concord which is in the Charlotte Central Zone. It is by far the best area I’ve ever been in. It’s kind of weird because I’ve only been to hard areas, and this area is a sweet area.

The work is sweet! Things are looking up!

Sister Paige Larsen—Email Excerpt

We are learning our area better. We haven’t been back to Maryland thus far on accident, since the first few days. Sister Arnett drives now and I work the map. It’s working out well. We just can’t play the music while I’m keeping track of the map, or I end up skipping a step/turn, thinking: “Oh we’re already on that road,” not: “We still need to turn on to that road.” Then my mind goes onto the next step thinking it’s already been done. It’s only happened 2 or 3 times though.

There’s a Sister that’s been coming out with us that already has her mission call to the bilingual mission of Carlsbad, CA. I was excited when I heard that she was going there. I assume that Oceanside is in that mission, right? Everyone in that mission gets called to speak Spanish because it’s so densely populated with Spanish speakers. Weather they’ll ever serve in a Spanish ward is another thing. She’s come with us to a few appointments thus far, and she’s so good. She came with us when we taught some Muslims, and then again to visit a 21-year-old girl who was raised Jewish and Baptist. The Muslim appointment went well. We’ll see if they kept all their commitments and if they’ve gotten an answer this Saturday.

Yesterday we had Zone Conference. It was so good!

Sister Paige Larsen—Email Excerpt

I am going to a NEW area! I’ll be opening the area to sisters. This is called White Washing. White Washing an area is when both companions are new to the area. I’ll be serving in the Colonial 2nd Young Single Adult Ward. That covers two stakes; Mt. Vernon stake, which I’ve served in before, and Annandale stake. I’ll be serving with Sister Arnett, who has been out as long as Sister Bagley. Sister Bagley is gaining one of the 5 baby missionaries coming in. Sister Arnett and I are so excited for each other. I love White Oak, it’s so great. With the spirit’s support it helps us not to be overwhelmed and cry. We got the call from President Albright this morning. Which consists of getting a call from one of the AP’s phones and getting a, “Will you hold for President?” Then the president tells you your special assignment. You only get a call from the President if it’s a special assignment.

One of our investigators, who does all of the reading and really takes the time to ponder and apply it, but never got to church because he worked every other week, now works Monday through Friday with the weekends off. His wife never wanted to learn before, but she found out that their favorite book series is written by a member and now she is interested. She is pregnant, so maybe she is more sensitive to the spirit. When we talked to him on the phone on Tuesday, he said they were looking to come soon. Woo hoo! We have been praying for them, and including them in our fasts.

Missions and all hard things refine us if we let them.

Sister Paige Larsen—Email Excerpt

Is it going to be weird to have everyone either married, or on a mission in the Larsen family? By the way, on the subject of the Larsen Family, I have someone in the ward who keeps asking me about my Larsen ancestry. I really don’t even know cousins with the last name Larsen. Could you mail me the family tree on the Larsen side going back more than 4 generations? This member told me a story about a Larsen ancestor that went blind. Maybe that rings a bell. His father’s mother was a Larsen. His oldest child just graduated from High school.

Emma’s baptism was on Thursday. She got baptized twice. We asked a prospective Elder to baptize her. He’s getting ready to go on a mission, so it’s good experience for him. They already have a home teacher for the family.

The next baptism is on July 4th for a 19 year old man in the Marines. He’s coming up here to be baptized because he started being taught here before he went into the Marines. This is where his main fellowshipping family is. I was volunteered to give my first Baptism talk. Before if I got an assignment I sang, or gave a prayer in Spanish.

Elder Isaac Larsen—Email Excerpt

It’s getting pretty hot. The other day Brother Blood said that it was 106° according to the Walgreens thermometer when he drove by, and it was probably 80-90% humidity. It was rather warm. My companion from Lehi, Utah thinks it’s crazy hot. Every time we go outside, on a day like that one, it’s like wrapping up in a big soggy blanket and riding your bike five miles. But from what I hear, August is way worse than anything that has transpired thus far.

Here in South Carolina squirrel is a common food and the Bishop’s son, with the bishop’s permission, offered to hunt, kill, and skin a squirrel so we can try it. So of course we’re jumping on that. It’ll probably be next week when we eat it; good stuff.

Next week we are getting a new mission president.

Sister Paige Larsen—Email Excerpt

I will be receiving my new mission president and mission mom in the nest week. We're going to take Emma to the Washington DC Temple Visitors’ Center tomorrow before her baptism. The baptism is Thursday at 7:00pm. We had a really fun Zone activity today. We studied together, ate burgers and hotdogs, and played Ultimate Frisbee.

My companion and I have been working on being bolder in the past two weeks. Now we've given away 3 Books of Mormon. We've recited the first vision about the same amount of times. We may not be talking to many people, but we feel like we're in the right place at the right time.

We're teaching a 10-year-old girl of a member mom and a non-member dad. The girl has ADD so we need to make all the lessons interactive. We taught the Plan of Salvation first. We had drawn it out with colored permanent markers, and then cut it out into pieces for her to walk on. We had her literally walk through the Plan of Salvation. My companion had a sweater like mine, so she dirtied hers to represent before baptism. Then we gave the girls tools to use in life:
Faith—Flash Light
Repentance—First Aid Kit
Baptism—Bar of Soap (with clean sweater)
Gift of the Holy Ghost—Umbrella

Then when she was resurrected we gave her a white sweater to wear. The sweaters represented her body. She took the sweater off for death when she stepped onto the spirit world.

Elder Larsen—Email Excerpts

I love media referrals. I do. I really do. Give your friends a card for a free video, and make the day for a nice missionary. =]

I’m going to have some baptisms coming up. One for sure is Antonio. He did everything for baptism many months ago, but was on parole. We had to get permission from Salt Lake to baptize him, and we finally got it. So now all he has got to do is get a baptismal interview from President Hobbs.

We committed our next door neighbor to baptism and he accepted. It’s always in the place you least expect it! Oh well, the work is slower than it was. There is a lot more, “What should we do now Elder?” But the lessons that we do have are quality stuff.

We taught a lady the other day and the trinity came up. The lesson started out, “This is how it is,” then turned into “This is what they tell me,” then turned into “You're right, I don't believe it either.” It was funny. We are teaching them again tomorrow. I’ve got some sweet scriptures about becoming gods. (John 10:34, Psalms 82:6, Romans 8:16-17, and John 17:11)

I know this entry is kind of random, but I thought I’d write a longer entry. So stream of consciousness it is. It just so happens that the stream in my head has many turns and bends.

I met a man the other day. He was a homeless man that sat with me, and we talked. He said that he knew that drinking was bad, but that it wouldn’t be right to change until he was ready. I tried to convince him that repentance was his own choice. But he was one of those, “You’re young. What do you know?” kind of people. In the book of Timothy, I believe, it states, "Let no man despise you for your youth."
(1 Timothy 4:12 —Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. )

So I gave the old man a dollar, and told him to go to McDonalds.

I’m kind of loopy because I’m tired. My companion tells me I’m crazy, but when I start to teach I get in a teaching mode and I am completely different. So that’s good at least.

Beware of Golfing Turtles

Last P-day we went down to Rock Hill, South Carolina to the District Leader’s area. We hunted for turtles on the golf course at the country club where they live....no joke. Anyways, I found a turtle and picked it up. It scratched me and launched all kinds of excrement at me. It was madness. I wanted my revenge. I was going to eat it, but the DL said to get a bigger one because there wasn't that much meat on the one I had. So I let him go, but then we ran out of time before we found another one. TURTLES!!

Giving Service Can Be Amazing!

There is a less active member in the word I’m serving in who has many challenges. She is from Taiwan, and does not have an expert mastery of the English language. She is a single mother who battles with depression. She has two children, and they are living off of alimony and child support. The oldest child is a boy with Asperger’s or high functioning autism. He also has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, and about everything else you can think of, but he has an enormous I.Q. This makes things more difficult because it makes him more capable of finding ways out of doing his homework. She also has a daughter that started talking when she was one.

Over the past few months we have stopped by, and mostly just listened. Our understanding and love for her grew, as well as her trust for us. She eventually answered our phone calls and the front door more consistently, which is a privilege not all are granted. It came to a point when I felt prompted to extend service to clean up her overgrown yard. After insisting, and rescheduling a couple times, the day finally came. My companion and I, along with her home teacher, went to serve. We pruned, and picked up scores and scores of seed pods that had fallen from her magnolia trees. Halfway through the yard clean up she invited us inside, and showed us her rather large rock collection. As she picked up a small unimpressive stone she said, "I am rock." She dipped it in water, washing off the dust, revealing a beautiful display of color. She then said, "The world only sees rock. Heavenly Father sees beauty."

She asked for help putting some boxes in the attic, so we formed a relay. I stood at the bottom, my companion stood on the middle of the ladder leading to the attic, and her home teacher was at the top. In a matter of seconds all of her boxes of Christmas decorations were neatly stacked in her attic. Tears came to her eyes as she said, "It took me four hours to get it all down." Her home teacher pointed to the smile on my face and said, "See how much we love to serve."Then she said something that I will never forget, "He’s a little cute cupcake." She said in her thick accent. I couldn't help laughing a little, but her thanks was touching just the same. It’s amazing the affect service can bring.

Elder Larsen-Email Excerpt

I’ve biked hills way harder then El Camino Real, but I don't do a whole lot of biking in this area mostly because my headlight and rear reflector broke. I also have another reason not to bike. I didn't mention it earlier because I didn't want to worry y’all. A couple of weeks ago I passed out, and woke up on the ground with a sore nose. I have been getting headaches, and I have been really tired. I was worried I had a brain tumor, but nope I have asthma. Well the doctor thinks it is asthma. I don't get enough air when I breathe. I went to the doctor, and he had me breathe into a machine that calculated things like air volume, muscle strength, and how much air I get in, as opposed to how much air I get out. On Thursday I’ll do the Methacholine bronchial provocation test which goes as follows: There is a chemical that will give anyone an asthma attack. They will dilute it with saline solution, and give me different doses. If I react at a lower does than a normal person would, then it is official, I have asthma. As of right now, I just have a respiratory problem.

Oh, and I also have an intestinal parasite that I most likely got in my last area because the doctor who was treating me got the same parasite. Don't drink well water in the hills. LOL…ha, ha, ha, good times! Currently, I also caught a virus that’s going around, and I can't talk without a stabbing, horrible pain in my throat, which is probably not good for my already reduced respiratory function. LOL…I’m loving life. =] It’s not every day you get a friend that hangs out in your intestine. I think I’ll name him Steve. That’s short for Stevie Wonder because I wonder whose well I got it from. LOL.

Email Excerpts from Elder Larsen

We had another baptism on Saturday. It was the first time I actually got to perform the ordinance. It was the experience of a lifetime. You mentioned your studying the adversity of the sons of Mosiah. I have not suffered everything they did, but I have experienced days full of closed doors and lots of walking, days full of rejection and blind people, days full of frustration and dropped investigators, and I see it is for my good. I thank Heavenly Father for the opportunity to see that I am not enough. It is only when I see that clearly that I can sufficiently lean on the Lord in faith. With those hard days come beautiful ones when lives change, testimonies grow, and everything falls into place. The way I look at is, the hard days are for me, and the beautiful days are for them. I’m glad I can do all I can when those days come.

I didn't get to watch the inauguration, but it was on in the background during a lesson we taught.

I’m staying in this area for three more months. I’ve been here 4½ months, so that’s a total of 7½ months in this area. That is a total of 11 months out before my third area. Ask me how I know it will be three more months? I’ll tell you. My companion is going home at the end of this transfer. I’ll have to show the next Elder the area the transfer after that. A transfer is six weeks. Two transfers are three months. So I’m going to know this ward real well before I get moved again.