Week 98-It's the final countdown!

Well, this morning was my last chance to log onto my email not knowing what news of a transfer was awaiting me on the other side of the server, and... Nothing happened. Elder Cuadra Guerra's staying here to kill me.  It's going to be a tough transfer for many reasons, buuut I gotta make the best of it since "[My] mission is given unto [me], and it shall not be given again" (D&C 58:16).

WHY ARE SO MANY BABIES BEING BORN?!?  :D D: :D I guess I shouldn't complain too much about changes at home considering Rachel had two siblings get married, the other had a baby, and her parents had to move on her... But still. :P  I was thinking about it and, with all of the renovations to the house and changes to the family, sleeping at home that first night probably won't feel a whole lot like home... Just another transfer. But my family will be my companions, so I consider that a huge comfort!

This week has been absolutely stellar. :)  Remember that lesson we had scheduled with Cindy and Debbie?  ...It could not have gone any better.  But, to explain why, I'll start at the beginning of Thursday's events.

Boring stuff: Woke up. Showered. Got dressed. Ate breakfast. Brushed Teeth.  Studied. Began weekly planning. Took board updates.  (As a district leader, I make two weekly phone calls to the companionships in my district: one on Sunday night to collect their week-end key-indicators, and the other during weekly planning to update my own records of each companionship's investigators.)

As I was giving said updates to the zone leaders, a knock came on the door of our apartment.  Elder Cuadra Guerra answered, and Elder Rodriguez burst in excitedly, dressed as stylishly as usual, but with the addition of a gallon of milk in each hand and a devilish grin on his face.

I quickly got off the phone, and he greeted me with. "Larsen.  Do you love me?"

"Uh, yeah?" I responded.

"Then you and I are doing the Gallon Challenge right now!!"

...I looked him in the eye, glanced at each gallon, took a deep breath and said, "You're on."

His excitement resumed, and we went to the Church across the parking lot.

For those of you who aren't aware, the Gallon Challenge has only a few rules: 1. You have one hour to drink an entire gallon of milk. 2. After you finish, you cannot puke for at least 15 minutes. 3. If you puke before you finish the gallon, you then have to drink whatever you had left.  If you meet all of the above conditions, then you've beaten the challenge. :) Ordinarily I'd consider this a huge waste of what I'd otherwise consider to be liquid dairy gold, but Elder Rodriguez acquired the milk from the Bishop's Storehouse 2 days before its expiration date... And, really, how were we going to drink all of that? ;)

The challenge began, and Elder Rodriguez wasn't looking too hot. at each gulp he looked more and more frail and pale. at approximately the 17-minute mark, he only had 1/4 of the gallon left, and I had 1/3.

It took another 7 minutes, but Elder Rodriguez finally succumbed to the ill-feelings of his stomach, ran outside, and puked all over the white snow.  The best part was when, due to a Booster Juice consumed about 6 minutes prior to the challenge, part of it came out red, and Elder Gibbs (his companion) filmed the steam as warm innards met frozen snow. :P

At 1:58, the 26 minute mark, I had just under 1/4 of a gallon left... But we were supposed to go contacting in downtown at 2:00.  Soo Elder Gibbs coaxed me into just going for the most splendid throw-up I could muster.  I chugged as much as I could but, at that point, my stomach screamed, "NOOOO!!!!" as it emptied its contents right next to my contestor's.  We all laughed, cleaned it up, and went to resume our regular duties. I ate an omelet and three bowls of cereal for lunch. :)

All was well!  ...Until I got a call from Elder Gibbs at 4:00, informing me that Elder Rodriguez's bowels hadn't appreciated the beating received earlier that day, and he would now be confined to the area directly surrounding a bathroom for the remainder of the evening.  This would've been fine, except one thing: They had a supper scheduled for 4:30 with their most solid investigators. :(  In a panic, Elder Gibbs phoned me, asked if we had a supper, picked us up, dropped Cuad with Elder Rodriguez, and took me to the supper.

...We had a fantastic lesson. Chris and Kristina were already on-date for the 24th of January, and they know more about the Church than most members!  We taught them lesson 5, and they already knew everything about temples, FHE, Family History Work, Home/Visiting Teaching, the Priesthood, Callings.... You name it, they knew it. It was stellar!

Unfortunately, the supper appointment went long, (plus, we'd been half an hour late) and we found ourselves leaving at 7.  ...The exact time Elder Cuadra Guerra and I were supposed to be at Cindy's.  Without time to exchange back, Elder Gibbs drove us to the appointment.

...And we had the best first lesson ever. Debbie wasn't there at the start, so we got to know Cindy, did some How to Begin Teaching, found out that she didn't remember anything she's been taught over the months ensuing since last January, and began again at lesson one.  She told us that she clicked better with us than any of the other missionaries that had taught her- that we explained things better, talked to her more "humanly," and actually listened.  She's the sweetest. :)  We got through most of the lesson before Debbie came in, so she joined us at the Apostasy.  The Spirit in that home was so strong, both Cindy and Debbie had a look of determination in their eyes, and as I asked each of them if they would follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by the priesthood authority of God, they looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Yes.  This is something I already promised God I would do."  Debbie should be baptized next month, and Cindy's looking for the Spring! :D  They requested that Elder Gibbs comes with me every time we teach them.

...That was probably the best day of the week.  We had stake conference, which was alright... we found out at Zone Training Meeting that the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders are being allowed to access Facebook for proselyting.  I also went on exchanges with Elder Downing on Friday, and the whole thing was a trunk-fest for Sparwood!!  We'd stayed up all night talking about all of the fun times we'd had, he went on Facebook and starting chatting with everyone we'd taught, and we had supper that night with someone who'd been at Terry and Terrance's wedding with us. O_o  I miss Sparwood soo bad!! So glad I got to serve there. :) Supposedly everyone in the mission might be okayed to use Facebook by the end of the month... But with the amount of changes I'd have to make to my profile, I honestly don't think it'd be worth it to do for the last month of my mission.

Glad to hear everyone's doing well!  I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!
With love,
Elder Jared D. Larsen

Week 97-Investigators and Transfer Predictions

"Only got 10 minutes to tell the world..." 

My time runs short... again. :(  This week's been pretty great.  I have a camera again, thanks to a wonderful family!! :D  It'll fit my purposes for the next little while haha.  Unfortunately, I now have to get back in the habit of taking pictures... :P

Let's see... Miracles... Well, we were street contacted by a recent convert who just moved here from the Philippines, asking us where the nearest chapel was, and he came to church with us on Sunday!  That was pretty stellar.

Also, we have our first meeting with Cindy, Garry, and Debbie On Thursday.  They're sweet.  I don't know if I told you the story, but Cindy's been investigating for a while.  Then she had Garry and Debbie move into her basement as renters.  Garry's a less-active, Debbie's a non-member.  So Cindy invited Debbie to be baptized. No big deal. :)

We also got a referral this week for a man named Harvey: His dad was a less-active member who never taught his kids about the Church, so when Harvey was looking for something more in his life he talked to his Uncle.  And now Harvey and his 12 year old daughter want to join the church.  Honestly, if I stay here this last transfer, I'd be extremely happy.

Next week is transfers: The ward predicts that Elder Cuad's out, and I'm inclined to think the same.  We'll see.

Annie's looking good in those scrubs!! :D So excited that she's found a direction in life. :)

Well, I love you, and hopefully next week's letter will be better. Have a good one! 

-Elder Larsen

Week 96-Christmas :)

Well, Christmas has come and gone with a week that was mildly uneventful: So I'll share the highlights. :)

On Tuesday, we had supper with a wonderful member: Brother St Laurent.  A very French last name, but doesn't speak any French.  When I pointed that out, Elder Cuadra Guerra (who doesn't speak Spanish) stated, "Hey, do you speak Danish?"  ...And we left it at that. :P

But really, this guy's cool.  He's in his fifties, single, no kids, no siblings, no parents... So that was kind of a bummer.  I was glad he signed up to feed us, though.  The most endearing moment was after we finished supper as he entered the kitchen to serve dessert.  I glanced over my shoulder in time to see him fiddling with a twist-tie that held four forks together- clearly purchased that day, clearly as a remedy to the fact that most bachelor's don't need that many forks.

As we sat in the living room, I admired the curios and knick knacks he'd collected over the years, asking questions about each.  There was a pair of wooden scissors that had been hand-carved by his great-grandfather, a WANTED poster for Porter Rockwell, and pictures taken by Ansel Adams amidst other things.  Then, we talked about the plethora of books that decorated his shelves- of which he had an in-depth knowledge of each.  This was made readily apparent as we began our message and he pulled two gospel-related bindings off different shelves, adding insightful comments from various authorities from a myriad of years.

As we left, I noticed a simple sheet of white paper taped to the door with words written carefully in this man's pen.  The words read like so:

"1.  Pray morning and night.
2. Read the Book of Mormon daily.
3. Attend the temple once a month
4. Be a true friend."

I asked Brother St Laurent about these, and he told me that these were his personal goals: Placed in such a location so as he would never forget them.  He told me he'd seen tons of improvement: He still had things he needed to work on, but the blessings were readily apparent.

This interaction was inspiring.  That night, I went home and began to write in whiteboard marker on our large mirror in the living room.  At the top is this quote: "The unexamined life is not worth living." -Socrates

Beneath are penetrating questions, such as: Do I give 1st class devotion to 2nd class causes?  Do I counsel the Lord or counsel with the Lord?  Can others tell whom I represent based on my actions?  Can I "feel so now?" Do I love the Lord?

I've begun to answer these questions in a nightly evaluation, looking myself in the eye as I do so.  Honestly, it kind of hurt at first: But I'm already seeing myself improve, and plan to see more improvement in the coming days. :)

Wednesday was a supper with the Laycock family for Christmas Eve.  They invited the Spanish Elders along, as well as a semi-active couple and a less-active Sister- the Young's and Sister Loewen.  We had a wonderful time!  Brother Young used to teach French in Montreal, so we talked throughout the whole meal.  When it came time for the message, Brother Laycock asked each of us missionaries to share something. 

Honestly, I was amazed by the message that Elder Fleshman shared.  He talked about the story contained in the latter part of Luke chapter 2 where, unbeknownst to his parents, Jesus stays behind to teach in the temple while the rest of the caravan heads out.  Upon discovering his absence, Mary and Joseph rush back to the temple.  When they arrived, the scriptures say: "And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing."

Their reaction isn't surprising, but, with an understanding of the culture of the time, Christ's response is.

"And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?"

At that time, it was expected that all sons would take upon themselves the trade of their fathers: So Christ was to be a carpenter.  But, in this moment, He proclaimed that He was to inherit a much different capacity.

Just as Mary and Joseph had to come to find Christ whilst He was about His Father's business, likewise, we can find Christ as we engage ourselves in the same.

Okay, my timer says I have 2 minutes, so I'm going to have to run- I love you, and I'll talk to you later!

-Elder Jared D. Larsen

Week 95-Merry Christmahannakwanzaakah!

And a Happy New Year!  :D  Christmas is here, and there's definitely a change in the way people are acting.  People haven't yelled at us in at least a week! :P

My week's been pretty good.  Pretty full, but pretty good.

Day 1:  Sister Lewis!! :D

I logged on to my email last week only to discover a witty and cleverly coined email from none other than Sister Lewis: One of my best missionary friends. :)  She told me she and her sister were here in Calgary, and she'd brought my Christmas package with her!  I told her to meet us at the Stake Centre for P-day, but that if it was too out of the way, she could just drop it off at the mission office.  Fortunately for me, she chose the first. :)

It was soo great to see her again!  Definitely made that day so much better to sit and talk with a good friend as we ate roasted almonds and mom's signature ginger snaps. ;)  Thanks so much, mom!!  And Annie, the tree is front and centre in our apartment.  We hadn't really planned on many decorations, but, somehow, once the tree entered the picture festive objects seemed to just collect around it.  Aaand now it's Christmas inside. :)

Day 2: Brother Woolward.

At some point during this day, we got a phone call from Brother Woolward: 15 year convert to the church, RM, happily married, and one of the best member missionaries I've ever seen!!  My first Sunday in the ward he stood and bore his testimony about the importance of sharing the gift of the Saviour with friends, which he gained through his gratitude for his friend giving that gift to him.  The Spirit was strong, and, from him, I expected no less than what happened this Tuesday.

He called us with a request: 10 copies of a Church Christmas DVD and 5 hard-cover copies of the Book of Mormon.  He'd made it a personal quest to give, as Christmas gifts, his testimony, and he wanted to give it to everybody! :)  We quickly prepared a "Mormon Care Package" with 10 copies of Joy to the World, 10 copies of Stories of Christmas, 10 of the supplements to the Ensign, and his requested five hard-cover copies of the Book of Mormon.  The best part of all of this?  ...24 hours later he'd given it all away and was asking for a second order!! :D  I. Love. Him. :')

Day 3:  Exchanges in the Ghetto.

On Wednesday, I left my area and went to 1st ward with Elder Rodriguez.  He's sweet, by the way: 24 year-old Puerto Rican, amateur boxer, military special-ops crew-member, re-activated less-active, and excited to serve. What more could I ask? :)

Anyway, in deciding what to do for the day, we determined to go tracting in Inglewood: A neighbourhood that has a reputation for being... Er, humble. ;)  Within the first five houses, a junkyard dog came out of nowhere: Hair raised, teeth bared, and an unmistakable "I plan on killing you" snarl. Classic. :)  It advanced toward us and Elder Rodriguez took a defensive position: Right hand firmly clasped on a copy of the Book of Mormon and raised in a "Not if I kill you first" batting position.  ...Between Fight and Flight, he's definitely the first.  ...But I'm apparently neither. :P  I just stood there and stared at it haha.  Fortunately one of the neighbours helped us out and lured off the dog, but I've waited my whole mission for that scenario. :)

After a while, we decided to go in search of the more run-down neighbourhood, so we crossed the train tracks.  Unfortunately, we got lost.  In the industrial area.  In the dark.

Honestly, I don't think I've ever been somewhere so sketchy.  We walked for about an hour, witnessing some sketchy scenes.  We finally decided to turn back when the only landmark we found was a cross with the name of someone who died there on it. :/

The best thing that came out of that night was probably the Cambodian family.  We contacted this 12-year-old as he was exiting his friend's house, gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, and let him go on his way as we knocked on the door.  The people inside weren't interested, so we knocked the next one.  Who was inside?  ...The 12-year old we'd just contacted and his mom. :)  At first I thought it would be really awkward, but it was actually perfect!  Cambodian's her first language, so we had to speak pretty slowly, but she accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon, a picture of Christ, and a return appointment! :D Sweet.

Day 4: No good, awful, very bad day.

...You might be wondering why I haven't yet included any pictures with this email.  On Thursday, we were scheduled to go contact/caroling in Downtown Calgary.  I had thought we would be the last ones there (we were running at least half an hour late), so I just shoved 14 copies of the Book of Mormon in my bag and ran.  However, it turned out that we were the first ones to Stephen Avenue, so I decided we should street contact while we waited.  I sat on a bench, took out my books, and began writing our phone number in each one.  Elder Cuadra Guerra sat next to me.  After about the third one, I told him he didn't have to wait for me to start contacting people.  He gave me an uncomfortable look and said, "But we're supposed to wait for the others."  ...It already hadn't been the best day, so I just sighed and resumed my task.  Once I'd finished, I placed 13 copies of the Book of Mormon in my bag, took one in hand, and left my bag with Elder Cuadra Guerra as I went to go street contact.  After placing that copy of the Book of Mormon, I returned to our bench to acquire another only to discover both Elder Cuadra Guerra and my bag were missing.  I looked around and assumed he'd taken my bag with him wherever he went, and when I saw him about 15 feet away I wasn't too concerned.  ...Until he didn't have my bag with him.  Apparently after he'd seen me start contacted, he resigned himself to do the same.  Good intentions, but my bag was left unattended, and was stolen within the 4 minutes I was gone.

Soo I lost my camera.  And all of my collectible pins.  Honestly, those are the only two things I'm still ticked about: Everything else was easily replaced.  But with the loss of the camera, the only pictures I have of my mission are the ones I've sent home...  Also, I lost the camera. :/  I'm sorry, mom... Please forgive me!!  I've filed necessary reports with lost & founds, and plan to search some of the pawn shops around downtown, buuut based on some of the "miracles" I experienced leading up to this, I don't think I'm going to be getting it back.  (Miracles: I'd accidently left my quad at church on Sunday, three of my pins had fallen off my bag already,  and I felt prompted to remove the contents of the main pocket of my bag [patriarchal blessing, genealogy info, the book Brianna made for me, Preach my Gospel, etc.] to make room for more street contacting materials.)

And that was pretty much the start of the bad day.  On the way home, the C-train broke down within the Downtown core, so I phoned our supper and told them we were going to be a little bit late.  We hoofed it over to the nearest station outside of the Downtown District, but got lost in the Stampede Grounds and, long story short, due to my own inability to read maps and an unwise suggestion, we recreated the crossing of the sweet water by fording across the Bow River to escape the park.  Only to discover that if we'd gone towards the bridge I'd suggested we use, we would've been closer to our ultimate destination, and dry. :/  We were about 45 minutes late to supper instead.

Day 5:  Exchanges in China Town.

Friday was infinitely better.  I left my area once more to go with Elder Li: Also a fantastic guy. :)  He's a 26-year old convert to the church from Taiwan serving as a Mandarin Missionary here in Calgary.  He's been a member for 7 years, his English is stellar, and I just love him to death haha.

My personal favourite part of the day was our lesson with Coral and Caroline.  I knew it was going to be gong-show for me: The extent of my Mandarin is what Kaysie taught me haha. But I was still excited. :)  Coral and Caroline take transit, so we went to the train station to meet them and walk them to the chapel.  While we were waiting, the member-present fell-through.  Frantically, we began calling around when miraculously a member of the YSA ward was sitting at the bus stop next to us the entire time!  He volunteered to come, Coral and Caroline showed up, and we all walked to the chapel.

It was weird for the member and I to sit there while Elder Li taught, but I felt the Spirit so strongly.  The Gospel is so true: No matter what language it's in.  And you don't even have to understand it to know that. :)

We also went caroling in Chinatown with the other Mandarin missionaries.  I'm sure I sounded like a fool as I tried to read the pin-ying in their hymnbooks, but it was stellar to watch Elder Li single-handedly pass out 19 copies of the Book of Mormon, 10 Joy to the World DVDs, and 50 He is the Gift pass-along cards.  Man, he's a great missionary!

Day 6: Randomness.

We went with 1st ward to Inglewood once more.  Unfortunately, the best story is one of a bashing session I had with a J-dub... Soo I don't think I'll share that. :(  Also, if I'm back up here in March, I found someone that needs volunteers for their music festival! Haha.

That night we had supper with the zone leaders.  Again, SO fun to see how much Elder Downing's changed!!  I love him, too. :)

Day 7: Bus time.

...We got lost on the bus.  And left our zone twice.  By staying on the same bus.  *facepalm*

Day 8: Interviews of all varieties.

Our DTM took place in the morning, and Interviews with President took place directly after.  ...It was so weird: This was my last regular interview, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it.  President gave me a lot of counsel and advice, and he said exactly what I needed to hear.  At the end of the interview, I asked him for a priesthood blessing, and I'm infinitely glad I did.  It was good. :')

The other big event of the day was at about 9:15 at night.  We'd been sensing some tension in one of the companionships in our district, and it wasn't ultimately surprising when we got a call to come and mediate some of the concerns.  We were there for quite some time, and things seem to be better: But if you could pray for them, I wouldn't mind at all.
 

All in all, that's pretty much my week... I got tired of typing so much (sorry for the long email), so the last few days are less-descriptive...  Sorry. :P  But I guess I'll be seeing you on Thursday, anyhow! :D

I love you, and I'll see you then!  Merry Christmas!

-Elder Larsen

Week 94-I don't feel trunky everyday, but when I do...

Hey there, hi there, ho there!  It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood, with -10 weather putting a stop to our "above-zero" vacation.  But I'd be lying to say the weather could put a damper on my spirits.

...THEY'RE ENGAGED?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!!  :D  Okay, I don't think I'll ever get this smile off my face! :D  Mom's kept me pretty well-informed, and seeing Ben in Taylor and Ashley's home videos was pretty good prep, too, but still! :)  Well, I guess that's one more thing to be looking forward to!  Congratulations, and good luck!  Let me know if there's any prep I can help with!

This week's officially the first time I can say I've been pretty trunky, and in my summation of the events I hope it will be apparent why.

Day 1: P-day.  Zone P-days have become increasingly less fun for me, so most of the time I find myself practicing the piano or talking to some of the other missionaries who don't particularly like the athletic events of popular choice.  However, this P-day Elder Barlow (My zone leader, and a fellow-trainee of Elder Lauzon) approached me, handing me a letter with a return address in Orem.  Inside was a fantastic and enthralling story from (Sister) Lauren (Butler) about our entire friendship together.  Honestly, I couldn't think of a better way to spend P-day than reading that letter!

Day 2: Zone Training Meeting.  We met with the Stake President to talk about our ward, which was great: President Litchfield seems like he's going to do what he can to help us out.  By far the best part of the meeting, however, was watching Elder Downing filling his capacity as a Zone Leader.  No longer is he a flightless bird in need of sheltering and protection: He's become a California Condor seemingly overnight! :P  ...But then I thought about it, and realized he's been on the mission for over 18 months... Which reminded me of how old I am. :/  But still: Seeing my son in front of 20+ missionaries, calm and collected, providing inspiration and needed training, I could not have been more proud. :)

Day 3: Exchanges.  Elder Barlow and I went on exchanges this week, and it was pretty great: He's a very simple guy, which means he teaches more simply than I ever thought possible.  I learned so much about how Teaching for Understanding helps someone teach with more confidence!  But the most unexpected part of the day was when we got called to come to a "North of the Mission" Christmas party!  The upper half of the mission all gathered together in a Stake Centre and celebrated Christmas kind of like we did last year: singing, the Christmas Story, and general camaraderie.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, President says, "How would you all like to see Meet the Mormons?"

...I understand more clearly what it means in the beginning of Mosiah 5:2.  We all cried with one voice saying, "Yes!!!"

\

So President pulled out a special copy the First Presidency has sent to all of the Mission Presidents throughout the world and we all watched it together.

...That was probably the trunkiest.  I was sitting next to Elder Jackman (whom I came out with) when the "Missionary Mom" portion played.  We both died a little when they showed Elder Armstrong walking into the University Mall.  I leaned over and said, "...There's a Cinnabon in that mall now. :/"  When it showed him hugging his mom at the airport, Elder Jackman leaned over and said, "...11 and a half weeks.  I'll hug your mom if you hug my mom!"

Aaand then I looked around the room and realized it would probably be the last time that I'd see most of those missionaries. So after the movie I went and hugged as many people as I could. :/

Okay, funny story: That's when I found Elder Johnson from my last District.  :)  Now, I'd been helping him through some girl troubles he'd been having.  While her letters, though the ratio for each of his letters to one of hers is about 8:1, denoted she'd been completely devoted to him, his girlfriend had been cheating on him pretty majorly.  So he decided to break up with her about 4 weeks ago.  ...However, she sent him a Christmas package 5 weeks ago!!  :D  That was easily the most uncomfortable and awkward package I've ever seen opened! Hahahaha..... :)

Day 4: B-dubs. :)  There's a Buffalo Wild Wings in our zone, so it's apparently tradition for us and the 1st Ward Elders to go every Thursdayfor the Boneless Wings deal.  And it reminded me a ton of hanging out with Bean, Jordan, Andrew, Michael, Izak, Kenny... Except we didn't play the electronic games while we waited. :)

Also, I got to go on mini-exchanges with Elder Perfili to contact downtown!  It was a solid session of contacting: The first 5 people I talked to each took a B.o.M.  Then, for some reason, I felt prompted to sit on the sidewalk next to this homeless man and just talk with him for a while.  We talked for probably 45 minutes about his life.  Suddenly, one of the people who'd already passed us by came back and said, "Hey, sorry, but could I take a picture of you guys?  I don't know why, but I just think it's a really cool shot."  He took the picture, and Elder Perfili and I both felt like that was why we I was supposed to stop.  I guess only God knows what'll come from that. :)

Day 5: The Heights. :) Elder Cuadra Guerra and I were called upon to help set up for a nativity pageant in our area.  This particular nativity has been held for 51 years now, having started out in the small stretch of land right next to the mission office.  Since then, it's moved locations to Heritage Park: A local historic/museum/theme park.  We spent a good deal of time there, and Elder Cuadra Guerra learned how to drive a Bobcat.  ...Probably one of the scarier moments of my life.  My favourite part was setting up the scaffolding.  They had me scurrying up and down all sorts of high places: Definitely the closest I've come to rock climbing on the mission!

Day 6: ...Surprisingly, not a lot to report on... Hm.

Day 7: Sunday.  So many miracles for our District.  5 investigators came to Church total, wherein there had been none last week! :D  Our area's still kicking behind, but we'll see what we can do about that. :)

The best part of this day was the musical fireside last night.  I'd dragged Elder Cuadra Guerra to the practices last week so we could perform with the Stake Choir, and it was fantastic!  I miss singing in a group- I'm definitely trying for the Barbershop Quartet club at BYU. :)

One of the members of a different ward had invited a friend to participate in the choir with them, and as a result, she wants to be baptized!  Miracles truly do happen!

I also found out the mission will be reading the B.o.M. together with an emphasis on the Gathering of Israel.  ...They plan to finish in 3 transfers. (-_-)

Aaand that pretty much brings us to today.  So I'll answer some of Mom's questions. :) We're emailing in one of Calgary's Public Libraries.  I'd gotten away without getting a library card my whole mission, but somehow found myself dreading the prospects of paying the $17 for a year-long membership...  Much to my surprise, an anonymous donor has paid for all Library Cards for the months of November and December as a Christmas gift to encourage reading! :D  But yes, we email in the library now.  Apparently missionaries have abused the Family History Centre here. :/

The apartment's okay.  How to rate this... The Mid/Chap apartment was probably the coziest and most functional, with Airdrie 3rd falling right beneath it only because it lacked a lot of basic amenities.  Otherwise, it'd be on top. Then, it'd be Sparwood.  Then... It's a pretty close tie between this apartment and Pincher Creek.  Except Pincher Creek was only bad because the neighbours smoked weed and there weren't enough lights.  This one's got live wires hanging out of the wall, pubic hairs growing out of the apartment, a mouldy dishwasher, and a lot of expired food that nobody'd bothered to clear out.  Soo I've been doing a lot of cleaning.  :P  I'm okay with clutter.  I'm not okay with filth. :/

As of yesterday, Elder Cuadra Guerra's been serving for 16 months.  This is his... 4th area I think?  I'm his 8th companion. :P

Well, I think that's a pretty good run-down for the week. Hopefully that wasn't super boring... Just know that I love you a lot and, while I'm excited to see you eventually, I'm excited to make my time count!

-Elder Jared D. Larsen

P.S.- Thanks for all of the updates!  Keep 'em coming. :)

Week 93-Near, Far, Wherever you are...

Well, today I found myself just across the tracks from my last zone, and almost my last area. :P  I'm now serving in the Calgary Stake, Heritage Ward.  What was one of the first things any of the members of the ward said to me?

"We already had a Larson.  Nobody liked him."

...That's kind of a big indicator of what this week's been like haha.  I'll paste in my letters to President first-off. :)

Good morning, President Nicholas! It's a beautiful day here in the Calgary zone, and this transfer shows a lot of promise: It's going to be a difficult one, but it can be a great one. :)

Elder Cuadra Guerra's an... interesting fellow. I've decided that all of my companions seem to fit into to categories, and he fits into the one that also contains Elder Eastes. With the amount of love I have now for Elder Eastes, this could be a fantastic thing- but only time will really tell...I am grateful that I have an opportunity to serve with him. He's a great guy. :)

Heritage Ward... It appears to be struggling quite a bit. The members in this stake (especially the younger ones) are some of the most judgemental people I've ever met, and the Bishop doesn't have any sort of a vision for what he wants accomplished in the ward...Our meeting with him on Sunday...he just talked and talked but didn't actually say anything that wasn't self-contradictory. Of course, Elder Cuad sorta took over from our end, so we talked with him for probably about an hour and the only thing I gathered was that He has no idea how to "juggle all of the initiatives that the Church wants us to do."...And the only things he asked us to do were the things we were already doing.

Elder Cuad's never met our ward mission leader, and he went to the hospital the day I got here and has since left on his trip to Hawaii... So I don't anticipate much help on that front. There's no assistant ward mission leader, and neither Elder Christensen nor Cuad were aware that we even had ward missionaries... But I've found out who they are, and we're making efforts to inspire and encourage them.

...Honestly, it's kind of like purging the area. No investigators, no LARCs, no Area Goals, no anything. And the leadership situation is actually quite reminiscent of my "birth-days" in Sparwood. Which means, if it follows the same trend, this could easily become my most productive area. :)

I'm doing pretty well; I can tell things with Elder Cuadra Guerra are going to get rough at times, but he's a genuine, sweet-hearted guy that wants to do anything he can, so I think we'll get along great. :) On other fronts...my ability to feel the Spirit's increasing. I love being a missionary!! Once people hear that I've been out for 21 months they say, "Oh, you're ready to go home!" And, similar to Luke Skywalker's eruption when he discovers his lineage, I'm just like, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" ...Any chance you'd let me stay out an extra couple years, President? ;)

Well, I should get to emailing my family. By the way, I think it's funny that you/the Lord placed me in Elder Larson's old area. Also, that both of us are currently serving in "Heritage Ward." :P

Love ya, President! I'm sure I'll see you shortly enough. Have a great week!
-Elder Jared D. Larsen

Well, I realized I hadn't quite said everything I wanted to say, so here's email 2.0. :P

I wanted to say thank you for letting me continue to be a District Leader. The district here is great, fun, and solid: Elder Li and Elder Whitney are doing pretty swell! They come to a lot of our supper appointments, so it's been pretty fun to get to know them better. Elder Whitney's a great guy: He's got a little bit of "strictness" to him, but I love him all the same. Elders Rodriguez and Gibbs are hilarious, and they're getting work done: Obedience might be more of a concern for them, but we'll see. If I die a District Leader, that'll be 18 months. Is that a record, Pres? ;) I guess I just haven't learned it all yet! We're going on our first set of exchanges next week.

There's so much "family" in this zone!! My son and brother are my zone leaders, and my nephew's in my district. Honestly, with the zone we have, I couldn't have asked for better: It has most of my favourite people, and some people, like Elder Peci, who are quickly becoming my favourite. I think it's going to be a great transfer!

Okay, for real now, I'll talk to you later!
-Elder Larsen

Soo that's the latest update I have. :)  Elder Downing's now my zone leader, which is simultaneously weird and stellar!  It's so cool to see him all grown up, an independent missionary who's been making the best of his mission.  I'm so proud. :')

To answer some of Mom's questions, there are 6 stakes in Calgary: North, South, East, West, Foothills, and Calgary Stake (commonly referred to as Central), with 7 zones- all of the before mentioned with the addition of Airdrie (part of the North Stake).  To look at a map of our mission, Central Zone's kind of been this vortex that's been waiting to suck me in this whole time!  Sparwood, Pincher, Airdrie, South, and here... This is probably my last area, so I find that fitting. :P

Elder Cuadra Guerra is now my second Canadian companion, hailing from Toronto!  That makes only 3 companions that don't come from Utah, and with Elder Lauzon at BYU, that's 7/9 within an hour's drive of home. :P Crazy, eh?  I'd send some pictures, but I misplaced my camera last week... Transfer week is not the time to misplace something. :(  Elder Williams will mission mail it to me if he finds it.

I think that's about all I have... If you see Sister Jones, tell her I miss her, love her, and will definitely be hanging out with her when I get back! ;)

I love you, family!  Stay good, stay healthy, and Merry Christmas!!

-Elder Jared D. Larsen

#sharethegift

Week 92.2-Transfer Notice

Well, as anticipated, I found this message in my inbox this morning... Still a little unsure about how to feel.  Elder Williams has been a great companion, and I'll miss him a lot...  But I promised "I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord," so I guess I will!

Love you!
-Elder Larsen

Being Transferred within Calgary

- You are being transferred somewhere In Calgary; meet at the Willow Park Chapel at 9:00. Move your entire luggage to the GYM in the church. DON’T leave any luggage in your cars, all luggage needs to be brought into the gym before we start the transfer meeting.  Be seated in the chapel by 9:15. The meeting will be starting at 9:30.  We will hold a devotional and transfer meeting where you will be assigned your new area and companion.  The meeting will end about 10:15. 

                       

Remember that transfers is a missionary meeting, and Sunday best is required.