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.