September 13, 2010

Hello Family!
I am gaining some weight (Shane saw it in the face) . It is due to a lack of cardiovascular activity. The 30 minutes in the morning is just not cutting it, especially since we don't run for the exercise. oh well. It is really cool to see that wards across the world are on the same page. We talked about Job on Sunday as well. That sister mom was talking about is from the Ukraine. One of our members (who is the American) gave that Job lesson and related himself to Job. He got in a fight (supposedly he knows kung fu well and is okay at fighting), had us unload and reload a truck for service because they got the order wrong, he got stuck in the elevator, and he was on the bus all through the city about 2 or 3 times throughout, which would have taken probably 5 or 6 hours out of his day. He was fine and had a good laugh about his experiences.

It is good to hear that the brakes are good and that Erik is safe and that the kids are doing better and that Shane is having good times. I am also excited about Sean's news. When does Blaine leave for the mission? I am really happy for Brendan that he is on the mission. I think it will really build him and it is good that he is enjoying it. Thank you mom for the package. Right now, it feels like an Arizona mid November. It is kind of cold, and for the past two weeks, it has been raining on and off. Mom would be happy to hear I bought boots, so all my winter clothes are in order. It should'nt start getting really cold until the middle to the end of October I hear.

Dad, you said you wanted a story about my mission. Maybe I will try to include two. The first on relates to teaching simply, requiring faith on those you teach, and the fruit of your labors. We had the investigator Michael. We randomly met him on a bus, and he was practically a genius. New 5 languages, was the 5 best at Russian grammer for his age in Russia, had won other various competitions, and played instruments. He had done everything we asked him to, read, pray, keep the commandments, and even talking about the gospel to friends. But then he wanted to know more, searching for the answers, using wisdom of man rather than faith. He fell of the radar, but I am confident he will find what he is looking for in this church and find comfort and healing from it. He fell back to smoking as well. The friend (who he referred who was not as smart, couldn't read well, and smoked) started hearing from us. I left. What I hear from the zone leaders is that someone in my old area is getting baptized soon and it was a friend of Michael. Although we made a mistake teaching too deeply, our hard work allowed us for another opportunity and success in helping someone exercising faith unto repentance. I hope Michael too decides to move forward with faith.

The other story relates to love. Some people (including missionaries) after constant rejection or torment or comments, begin to bend and get angry at their situation. I have seen it, and I get frustrated, but you all know I am fairly calm. Others get made at races, religions, and the world. Christ loved people until the last minute and asked God to forgive the people that did not know what they are doing. People sometimes reject us as a whole (and maybe missionaries more often), but it really should not diminish your love towards them. It is hard, but remembering to love God and your neighbor as yourself are the great commandments.

I love you all. Bye- Elder Larson