Week Thirty Three

I can tell there's been storms all over Utah but none of them seem to want to hit where I am and it's usually still really hot and sunny. 

Because we will be teaching now there's been so many changes going on lately that it's hard to keep up.  First of all we now have young missionaries assigned as zone leaders now who will help with our teaching.  Here's what our mission leadership looks like now:

 I now have to teach two lessons every district meeting.  I have to prepare my regular lesson as well as tell my elders what we are going to be teaching out of Preach My Gospel this week and sort of help them along with preparing their lessons with that.  And then of course I have to teach a lesson with my companion on Sundays.  Oh and You'll also notice that Elder Gandolph is going to be living with me, but I'm not going to be training him.  Elder Tabor and Elder Hamblin are moving out because we were all surprised to hear that Elder Tabor is going to be a district leader too now.

(Molly mentioned to Eric that there were lots of nicknames in her mission. Eric teaches her the following lesson):

In our missionary handbook, which is just the same as all missionary handbooks with the few exceptions conditioned to our mission, it says that you are not to refer to any other missionary other than Elder or Sister and their last name period.  So I guess times have changed.

(Actually, times haven't changed. I remember my mission president getting after us for calling each other by nicknames. He asked us if we thought that in the councils in heaven we thought that they called each other by nicknames -- "Abe, Abe! So good to see you. How you been Mo?" -- probably not.)

I'm glad school has started and that Becca already has a job (at Chick-fil-A) and that everyone will be doing productive things.  I gave Dad some ideas for some good family home evenings that I believe will help but I guess it's up to him.

So yes our mission leadership is now the same as every other mission, I'm going to be doing a lot more now, and Elder Seitz is still my companion.  That's all I can think of sorry.

Love,
Elder Larson

Thirty Two

Molly asked Eric if the woman he helped last week came back to the library for more help.

Eric replies:

Yes she did come back.  Her name is Sandra.  And she'll be back tomorrow as well.

All I did was ask here what she knew and typed that into FamilySearch and for some reason it was the first person that came up.  From that I was able to to find a microfilm with more information, then we used that method until the generations kept flowing in.  I don't know if it's what I did or if she was lying to me when she said she's tried familysearch before (she seems to forget things very easily) or if the name was just indexed like in this video right here:

http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-03-01-familysearch-indexing-is-vital?category=family-history&lang=eng

Molly asked Eric if he received his iPod that we loaded with Mormon Tabernacle Choir songs and Conversational Swedish lessons.

Eric replies:

No I haven't gotten my iPod back but it will probably be here today if you've sent it.

Molly told Eric about Becca finally getting her driver's license and driving her sisters to the University Mall.

Eric says:

Yes that is big news for Becca and she's told me about it.  Everybody's told me about it.  Because, well, it's big news.  I'm surprised she's already confident enough to drive on the freeway if that's the route she took to the mall.

Molly is coaching Katie's soccer team and is 2-0 on the season so far.

Eric says:

It's cool that your soccer is having success. I recall you saying you wouldn't be good at it but both you and Katie are giving good reports so far.

We saw an article in the Deseret News about Elder Olsen in Eric's mission. The article is about how he can accurately type 180+ words per minute. Click here if you are interested in reading the article.

Eric says:

You might find this exciting but Elder Olsen was in my district.  He is one of the coolest and most interesting persons I've ever met.  He can type 200 wpm, and I've seen it with my own eyes.  He also has an incredible memory when it comes to numbers.  If you tell him your birthday he will never forget it.  I'm serious, he greeted me by saying, "Elder Larson! 3-4-93!"

But about that article, we were actually pretty upset to hear about it.  We have a pretty strict rule in our mission when it comes to nicknames, as it shows disrespect for your calling as a missionary.  So when we found out that his zone leaders managed to send in a Deseret News article with a big blazing title of "Elder Awesome!," we kind of panicked.  I told Elder Davis about it and he said that the mission presidency was aware of it, and had already talked to who needed to be talked to.  The biggest problem in our mission right now is the senior missionaries misunderstanding of our mission rules, and things like this happen.  Oh well, the intentions were good it's just unfortunate that rules were broken.

Alright so I have some big news concerning my mission as well so here it is:
We had our young missionary conference last Wednesday and President Workman made a huge announcement concerning how we are going to be doing things in our mission.  He said that as he was interviewing all the elders over the past month, he was startled to find how little of them seemed to understand gospel principles.  He found this pretty sad, considering we're missionaries and all.  So this was his solution: us elders as companions are now going to be teaching.  We're not going to be teaching investigators, but we are going to have a senior missionary couple assigned to us every week and we're going to be teaching them lessons from Preach My Gospel as companions.  It's still new and we're trying to work out more details but that's a very exciting announcement and I'm really excited to be teaching.  (Well I already teach because I'm a district leader but most elders don't, now they're going to have an even better missionary experience.)

I also got a letter from Sister Mariah Johnson, she's in Finland now and already has some really cool stories that I'm not going to tell you because I forgot to bring her letter with me and I forget what she said.  So take that.

Anyway, I think that's all that I have.

Love ya lots more,
Elder Larson

Week Thirty One

This week Eric introduces us to his new trainee, Elder Seitz.

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If baking a pizza counts as cooking then yes I did cook.  Or rather I bought a bunch of pizzas and Elder Tabor cooked and we had an apartment meal together since Elder Tabor is training someone new as well, Elder Hamblin.  But even if I didn't cook Elder Seitz and Elder Hamblin would have been fine because unlike me they brought in a horrifying amount of food with them:

This is only half of Elder Seitz' stuff.  The rest is jammed full in our fridge with Elder Hamblin's stuff.  Elder Seitz told me that his mom made him bring all this stuff. Elder Seitz is from Vernal, Utah.  He's a really nice guy and we're having a blast together, and I think he really looks up to me which is good.  Here's a picture of us from left to right, Elder Seitz, Me, Elder Tabor, Elder Hamblin:

I had a lot of reasons for sending my iPod home.  First of all, I need the "How to Train your Dragon" soundtrack taken off as it was deemed inappropriate.  Second, I already have all the [Mormon Tabernacle Choir] CDs you've mentioned except for the last two but go ahead and put them all on my iPod because they'll be nice to have. Also I love every song on Come Thou Fount except for "Rock-A-My Soul" and "Old Time Religion", those [songs] drive me nuts.  But I'm surprised you don't like "Jericho" because I think that song is epic (maybe because it's all A Cappella.)  And I love the extra manly version of "You Raise Me Up" and it's the only one I'll ever be able to stand, I listen to it all the time.  Now you've hurt my feelings. Anyway the third reason why is (and try not to laugh) I've been trying to learn Swedish with the limited resources that I have.  I've been reading a lot of Swedish books here at the library, reading (and listening to) scriptures and conference talks on lds.org in Swedish, and I got a little chart for pronunciation.  I'm slowly getting the hang of it but it's still really hard without listening to it so I was wondering if you could find some sort of language thingies and put it on my iPod so I can try learning.  Again try not to laugh.  (Because everyone here is already making fun of me for trying to learn.)  Oh and an English/Svenska dictionary would be nice.

I'm pretty good at finding stories on my own but if you want you can try sending me more (or just add them yourself because you can do that.)

Your description of the horse riding seemed a little bit more negative than Dad's, I think he may have enjoyed it more.

Okay well I'm having a good week, or had a good last week, even, and I don't have anything to complain about because I'm getting more and more confident.  The letters you send really help I just wish it was the same with my friends, but I guess they're all busier than me or something. 

Okay I love you bye bye,

Elder Larson

Week Thirty

When I walked into to the Elijah Choir practice my first time they asked me what part I sing and I said, "No idea."  So they just stuck me with the baritones.  I sang a bunch of music for our Monday Morning Devotional Pioneer Day Special.  And I forgot what song I'm working on now.

Here's another kitten sighting: 

Well tell dad that the concert (Mormon Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Day Concert) is great despite Lindsey Stirling if you haven't already watched it.  And if you haven't it's available online on the Motab's site.  I told Elder Davis that I'd be willing to become a dancing kazooist and prance around the stage while using a kazoo. Hopefully they don't take me seriously and make me do that for a Hail and Farewell or something.

Elder Call's mission ended last Friday and he went home so I'm currently companionless.  They're having me bunk in another elder who went home's vacant bed because his companion is currently companionless as well.  But they still let me go back to my apartment to eat and get dressed and whatever.  I'm moving into my new (and maybe permanent apartment for the rest of the mission) tomorrow.  Last Wednesday we got the new moving sheets for August and that's when I found out that my new companion was going to be a new elder coming in for the month of August.  I'm going to be a trainer!  I don't know anything about him yet because unfortunately I don't learn all that stuff until tonight at 6.  But I do know that his name is Elder Seitz.  Elder Tabor is going to be living with me and he'll be training too.  So it will be two seasoned elders living with two new elders.

On Wednesday we watched the parade (well I didn't because I hate parades but then I found out that I was supposed to go especially since I'm a district leader and need to set an example so whoops) then we had a cookout, then we hiked to Ensign Peak.  I got a ton of pictures of all of that so I think I'll just attach them in a folder and send them over.  But here's a couple of choice ones:

Yes, I love my tanline too.

 

Thanks for all the mail and pictures and e-mails and horses and whatever you guys sent me.  I read them all and enjoyed it.  I think I need to stress that as a district leader, I really like preparing lessons because I like to teach.  And according to everyone else I'm actually a really good teacher which is good.  The only hard part about it is being a leader and example to the other elders, especially the ones who need correcting.  But thank you for all the prayers and feelings in my behalf.


And in case anyone is confused, I've found out a lot of family history stuff on my own and seem to know a lot more than you guys.  Like I said before I've posted a lot of stories and pictures on familysearch that you can look at.  Also don't send me checks because I just found out that there's no way I can cash those around here except at Walmart.  And if I do it at Walmart they have to put it on a Walmart shopping like card that I'm weary of getting because I'm afraid additional fees may come later or something.  

It's been a big week and the next one will be bigger, so I'll talk to you then.

Love, Elder Larson