My Standard Has Been Raised by Far

Dear Family,

Here are the anwers to your questions.

Question #1: What is your new companion's greatest strength?

That's tough. I'm going to say two. First, he (Elder Vitorio) is always smiling and makes the people we meet smile. Second, he and I do some hard work and go at it all day.

Question #2: How is your British accent coming along? Do you speak to the Brits in their own lingo?

I do not develop any British accent. The only thing that has changed is some of the words I now use, "trousers", "proper", "posh", etc. My British accent is not great when I talk in my own voice to fake it. The only way it sounds good is if I talk posh (like a proper old man).

Question #3: Do you use cell phones in your mission?

We have a cell phone. We can't send texts but can receive them. We are supposed to use about 10 minutes a day on the phone with investigators. Without our mobile we would be much less effective with appointments.

It sounds like things are going well at home, the little ones are growing, you have a bowling team with an awesome name, and church was not too crazy for Matthew, haha, Matthew.

A lot happened this last week, but I thought I would tell you about last Saturday.

Saturday we had 5 or 6 appointments set up, not all were confirmed the night before but I thought that at least 2 would be solid. By the end of the day none of those appointments ended up happening, a drunk gave us a blessing, and a drunk snuck up behind me and yelled in my ear. Terrible, right? Wrong.

We worked from 10:30 am to 9:00 pm with a half hour lunch break. During that time we stopped 10 people who we taught lessons. Step-in lessons count as finding time so at the end of the day our accounted labor was 20 hours.

To put it in perspective, the mission goal is for each companionship to have 40 hours of accounted labor a week. People tell me they think that has to be a record for the mission. Not sure if that's true, but it was the best day of the mission for me and it will influence the rest of my life.

The day started with a great lesson to a girl from Nepal. So far she seems to be a golden investigator.

When you work hard you are blessed. All the appointments dropped and our legs were tired but we kept at it. At 6:00 pm my companion said, "If we get 3 more step-ins and keep finding, we will have 20 hours." To be honest with you, I didn't think there was a chance.

At 8:20 we were making our last stretch through the park back to the flat and we needed one more lesson. I didn't think it would come. Then I stopped a lady, had a chat getting to know her, and sat down to have a lesson. We taught Lesson 1, The Restoration.

After reading Joseph Smith's words about the First Vision, we asked her what she thought. She said, "Beautiful" and expounded on how amazing it is. Later I bore testimony of Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

That was the strongest I've felt the spirit probably since I was 17 or so. She is leaving Cambridge on Thursday but we'll see her again and I am sure that in the future she will be baptized.

We couldn't have done what we did without the help of Heavenly Father. It's not just coincidence that we ran into people to teach. Heavenly Father put people in our way that were ready to hear the message of Jesus Christ. The times we are blessed the most are when it's hardest. At 6:00 part of me just wanted to slack off but we didn't and it was a blessing.

The bad thing about that day is that my standard has been raised by far. Now I can't go back. I will work all day all the time. The pure joy of knowing you truly did your best isn't something I have really ever felt before. I know that my potential can't be measured. I know what I'm capable of and the only way to accomplish it is by giving my agency to Heavenly Father.

Elder Larsen