I'm Flooding My Brain With Information

Hello Family,

I have to make a confessioin. I have wasted so much time so far on my mission. I feel really bad. I can honestly tell you that 1/3 of my time here I have done absolutely nothing. Haha, get it, because we sleep 8 hours a day. Anyways, I scared you didn't I, Mother? Don't worry, I didn't come here to slack off.

P-day was yesterday, but we had President interviews and interviewed an investigator for baptism so there ended up being no time to email.

A girl called Prasna from Nepal will be baptized on the 31st. The first person I have taught from start to finish. Woohoo! There are a couple other people we are going to push for to be baptized on the 31st as well.

President Patch is great. He really is inspired for us missionaries. One thing I worry about, though, is that he will kick me out of Cambridge after this transfer. You see, there are 20 more missionaries coming in so Elder Vitorio will probably train. That's life though. I'm just going to keep on working as hard as I can.

Here are the answers to your questions:

Question #1: What was most challenging for you this week?

Honestly, the hardest thing is working really hard but seeing not so much success. We work so much and don't teach a whole lot of lessons. I take in all I can when on work-overs so that I can improve the effectiveness of our work. But it is on the rise.

Question #2: What was most rewarding for you this week?

We got more people out to church this week and Prasna is interviewed and ready for baptism.

Question #3: Are there missionaries in your mission that were called to speak in a language other than English?

Elder Vitorio is called as a Portuguese speaking missionary but there is only one area that speaks Portuguese. I don't think anyone is called to any other specific language though. But a lot of areas have lots of different people so any extra language someone knows is very useful.

Here are some British to American translations Joey might be interested in:

Cheers - Thank you
Bruv - Dude
Oh my days! - Oh my gosh!
You alright? - How are you?

Oh Joey, I wish I could talk to you about your mission. Something that made me think of you is when I get annoyed at the way my companions eat. Sometimes the littlest thing can make you so irritated. Ha ha.

This week I have gained a testimony of the power of planning. Yesterday we had a very good planning and I know it will make a huge difference in our effectiveness today.

Also this week, I am taking a look at the things keeping me from being 100% obedient. There are just a couple things I need to put more effort into and change. The challenge comes in when your companion doesn't feel the same way.

Right now my focus is totally on the Cambridge area. I am making a transition from being just a worker to working and doing lots of other things, such as: great planning, keeping up the area book, involving the ward more, and helping less actives. It is really hard to do all those things but, whatever it takes to make Cambridge better I want to do. Right now I'm flooding my brain with information which is useless unless I apply those things. Which I am starting to really do.

Mom and Dad, I'm so glad your cruise went well and I can't believe you saw Mr. Richards. What a guy. (Mom's note: On the cruise we ran into Mr. Richards who is an amazing older man who is a volunteer helper for the Woods teacher at Timpview and since Andy took tons of Woods classes he was quite familiar with him.) Fishing in Alaska - that had to be fun. It's probably a good thing that I wasn't home to go with you because I probably would have beaten up too many grizzlies up in Alaska.

And Pittsburg Lake. . . Matt and Lisa, that is so great that you went there, and with the little ones. Matt, you have to dunk yourself. Dunking yourself is like talking to a stranger - you just have to do it.

I love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Larsen