Week 13-Constructive Criticism vs. Giving criticism constructively, Open House

Good afternoon, family, and a happy birthday to Kaysie!  Hopefully it's been a good week for you, because it's been a pretty great week for me.  With transfers fast approaching, it's been quite a rush to keep things rolling here in the Elk Valley!

I'm glad you weren't super-sketched out by that massive envelope just showing up at home! I meant to tell you about it on three separate occasions, and forgot all three times; but it sounds like my letters are in good hands, and I trust you. :)  It's also good to hear about Annie's new calling: She's going to be fantastic!  I actually received a couple letters from some special needs youth counselors and their buddies last week; it was unexpected, but definitely memorable and uplifting.

So you'd asked me last week if I'd had any thoughts on Sister Wixom's talk from General Conference, but I unfortunately hadn't had an opportunity to study it before then; so, now I can provide a little more insight.  Even if it's a little bit later than usual.

Due to the unique experience I have at this time to be with my "mission dad," when I re-read Sister Wixom's talk, it struck a different chord than I'd previously thought about.  I found that her talk seemed to be telling me all about the difference between "constructive criticism" and "criticism given constructively."  Often times, it seems people are all-too willing to give their critique on a circumstance and then just walk away, stripping the victim bare of the confidence they had and leaving them to "construct" the pieces.  However, the scriptures seem to offer an entirely different perspective on the situation.

I'm brought now to the letter of Alma to his son Shiblon in Alma 38.  I won't re-write the entire chapter here, but I'll tell you the pattern I see.  First, he lays down the law for Shiblon.  Then, he tells him how proud he is of him.  Next, he offers counsel and promises blessings.  Following, he acknowledges the shortcomings and trials his son is facing.  After which, he proceeds to bear testimony, which is the most important step: Finishing with more blessings.  When we offer advice and criticism, the same pattern should be followed, and we'll all find more joy and peace in life.

Well, I've got to get running, but I'm going to paste my letter to President Nicholas on here, too.  I love you, and have a good week!

-Elder Larsen

Hey, President!  Well, you get a semi-short email from me this week; after some of my lengthier ones, you'll probably be a little relieved! But here goes.

We spent a good portion of this week preparing for an open house at the Sparwood Chapel.  When I say "preparing," I mean that we literally visited every house within the boundaries of the city of Sparwood and gave them one of 1500 personal invitations to attend.  Needless to say, we were anxious and excited to see how many people would attend!

The members arrived early, prepped and ready to aid in whatever way they could.  Elder Lauzon and I had made cookies for anyone in attendance, and members brought other refreshments.  With much anticipation, doors opened at 6:30 p.m. Sunday.  Half an hour ticked by, and no one showed up.  The members, getting antsy, began dancing on the street outside the chapel, inviting any passers-by to come inside, but to no avail.  Running low on spirits and cookies (the members were a little hungry), we'd almost thrown in the towel when, at 7:45, Connie showed up.  Suddenly, everything was abuzz, and everyone dashed to their stations.  By the end, Elder Lauzon and I had scheduled a dinner appointment with her and one of the member-families, and she left.

Out of 1500 invitations, one person came: And she hadn't even received an invitation.  More than mildly discouraged at the seeming fruitless-ness of our labors, Elder Lauzon and I cleaned and locked up the chapel in solemnity, neither wanting to discuss the cloud of disappointment that had fogged our minds.

It wasn't until later that we started to discuss the blessings of the event.  In the process of handing out these fliers, we met a woman named Gale whom I will swear is a prepared person.  When I arrived at her house, invitation in hand, she invited me over to discuss with her some of the challenges that she's facing in her life.  She was unable to attend the open house (and her landlord doesn't want missionaries on his property), but she committed to attend church with us this upcoming Sunday.  When we met her at the Supermarket today, she invited us out for coffee on Wednesday!  Despite the "coffee" thing, we were ecstatic.

In addition, we talked to a former investigator whom, we'd been told, had dropped us and didn't want any further contact.  Turns out, that information was false, and we should be able to teach her again.  We also met another man who told us we could stop by any time to share more about what we believe.

But the success of the open house extends far beyond the non-members.  There were more members at this activity than the ward has ever seen at any "extra-curricular" (For lack of a better term) activity, and some of them were even from the outlying areas.  The amount of support we had was extremely astonishing, and it gives me hope for the increase of member-missionary work in the area.

In short, President, this week I've honestly felt like I've become a missionary: I don't just do missionary things.  It's a metamorphosis that has taken an excruciatingly long amount of time, but at this point, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.  I finally feel like "Elder" is more than just my generic title; it's a part of who I am.  With transfers coming up, this realization will help me more than ever: But I'll always have more to learn!

Thanks for your prayers, President!

-Elder Larsen

P.S.- It wasn't short

Week 12-Margaret and the Book of Mormon

Greetings from Sparwood! It's just been a thoroughly enjoyable series of wet and rainy days here in the mountains: And that, combined with Elder Lauzon's minor food poisoning, meant we haven't done much biking this week.  Such a shame.

But really, it has been a fantastic week!  I got to go on a companion exchange with one of my zone leaders, had some fun dinners with members, and taught several spirit-heavy lessons: The most notable of which was to Margaret.

I don't know how much you remember of what I told you about Margaret, but she's a private taxi-driver here in Sparwood who happened across us whilst driving a random man she met to his apartment.  Which happened to be in the same building as ours!  She proceeded to talk religion with us, and eagerly took hold of all of my pamphlets to read at her leisure.  Since then, we've taught her on a number of occasions, and she attended one session of General Conference.  

Due to some adverse circumstances, she got hooked on reading the Doctrine and Covenants, and her Book of Mormon reading began to suffer.  Two Wednesdays ago, we met with her and stressed the absolute importance of the Book of Mormon, declaring it to be the way by which she would get a clear answer about the truthfulness of the doctrine we've taught her.  Begrudgingly, she agreed to read one chapter of the Book of Mormon in addition to her usual fifteen sections of the Doctrine and Covenants.  After a week's worth of prayer (and not seeing her at church), we again met for the weekly lesson.  

We anxiously asked how her reading went, and I was absolutely delighted to hear that she'd read six chapters in the Book of Mormon!  After reviewing what she'd read and teaching about recognizing the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives, we asked her if she'd yet received an answer regarding the veracity of that sacred book of scripture, she responded, "I... I think I'm starting to believe.  As I read, it just makes sense!" After providing much encouragement and many personal experiences surrounding our personal witnesses of the Book of Mormon, we again asked if she believed.  She replied, "Yes.  And I'm more confident in that than I've been in anything for a long time."

Very few things compare to the feeling I had when I heard these words: About one of the only things that can is how I felt when I saw Margaret pull in to the church parking lot on Sunday morning.  She stayed for two hours and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it!  We're teaching her again this Wednesday, so I'll keep you updated!

It sounds like life back home continues to plug away: both the trials and the blessings.  I feel your prayers for me out here, and I continue to pray for you as well.  I love you all, and I know the Lord is watching us in our corners of the world!

Hoping you have a good week,

-Elder Larsen

Week 11-Reflections

Unfortunately, I'm afraid I have even less time than I did last week, but I'm typing like mad, so we'll see what comes out!

It was quite the treat to be able to see you all yesterday! Hearing Leila make all of those animal sounds made me realize just how much time really has passed since I first got here, and it forced me to reflect on how much my perceptions on the world and the people therein have changed in just such a short time.  It's such a blessing to be able to be numbered among the Lord's army, and it always surprises me just how short of a time I have to be an official representative of Jesus Christ!  At least I have the consolation that I can always be His representative: even without the name tag.

I love you all, and very rarely does a day go by where I don't think about some funny story or memory to share with Elder Lauzon; he's probably sick of it by now, but it happens anyway.  I just have too many good memories to share!

Have a great week!
-Elder Larsen

Mother's Day Call

We were able to Skype with Jared for an hour this afternoon.  We tried to record it, but due to technical errors we ended up with a soundless video.  So you'll just have to take my word when I say he looked and sounded amazing!  Here are some bullet points we covered during the call:

• Zone Conference/Mission President Interview schedules-Jared says each of these only happens once every two transfers.  So he will have his first zone conference next week and has met with the mission president once.
• Milk-Jared says the milk in Canada is different, and not in a good way.  He described it as being more pasty than American milk.  His companion was also blown away when Jared bought 2 gallons of milk for one week.  Jared replied, "I could probably drink 3."
• Metric Conversions-We told him it looked like it had really warmed up in Sparwood this week, like 80 degrees.  He replied, "Is that how warm it was?  All I knew was that it was 20 degrees Celsius."  A similar conversation ensued about miles vs. kilometers.
• Upcoming Transfers-We were speculating whether or not Jared would be transferred in the next transfer.  We had sort of assumed he would be.  He told us that since he and Elder Lauzon arrived at the same time, it would most likely be a one or the other type of situation unless they were doing a horrible job and the companionship had to be purged.
• Callings-Jared is helping out playing piano in Elders Quorum.  He says it is stressful and hard, but fun too.
• Sparwood-He told us a little more about some of the members in the ward and how the ward functions.  The shifts at the local mine run 4 days on days, 4 days on night, and then 4 days off.  As a result, they only get about a quarter of the active members at church each week.

As our time drew to a close, Jared asked if he could sing his mom a song.  He proceeded to sing the Primary song "Mother, I Love You."  So picture him singing ever so tenderly as you read the lyrics:

Mother, I love you; mother, I do.
Father in Heaven has sent me to you.
When I am near you, I love you to hear you
Singing so softly that you love me too.

Mother, I love you; mother, I do.
I want to help you because I love you.
I want to mind you; I want to find you
Happy and smiling because I love you.
Mother, I love you; I love you, I do.

Week 10-Quick Update and Mother's Day

First things first: Mom, I'm not dead!  I'm sorry for not emailing you yesterday!  We had an investigator who needed some service done, and we severely underestimated the amount of time it would take to complete; so P-day ended before we could get back here to the Family History Library at the church.  But all is well, and I'm emailing you today!

As far as Mother's day goes, I'm probably going to be Skyping you on Sunday and it looks like Ashley got me all of the necessary information, for which I'm extremely grateful!  I was kicking myself for not asking about it all last week!  But I'm really looking forward to seeing you all; it sounds like there's been a lot going on to talk about!

Now Austin has a call, too?!  Man!  The mission field's going to be full!  Here in Calgary, we're anticipating to have over 250 missionaries serving at one time by September.  Which is fantastic.  Except that means they've been buying more mission vehicles and slashing our clicks (mileage allotment)!  We lost 400 kilometers this month, and we expect further cuts; I guess this just means I get to start biking off all of those member dinners. :P

Well, we don't have the time to do proper emails, so this is all for this week... But I'm looking forward to sharing some of my experiences with you on Sunday!

I love you, and I'm praying for you!

-Elder Jared D. Larsen