Coldest Week Yet

Dear Family,

Here are the answers to your questions.

Question #1: Do you know how many stakes there are in London?

Hmmm, Hyde Park Stake covers mainly Zones 1-3 of London and has 7 wards, other Stakes have parts of London, Watford Stake is basically London, not totally sure about all that though.

Question #2: How was your interview with President Patch?

Interviews are great. President said I could pretty easily extend at least 6 weeks but to bring it up in 4-5 months......when he won't be here. Haha. I need to sign up for a driving test as well. I asked him for advice on how to talk to big groups and he gave me some good ideas for that. What a great man.

Question #3: What memorable experience did you have on the streets of London this week?

Hmmm, I guess the best experience on the streets was that during Sunday School in Church all of the sudden there was loud music and loads of people walking by the church chanting and so forth. It turns out it was Mohammed's birthday so they were doing a parade. For a second I thought it was a protest of some sort against our church.

Things here are going great. This week we taught 20 lessons and had 5 investigators at Church. Things here are getting good at a fast pace. Hopefully we keep that trend going. We have an investigator called Kingsley heading to be baptized on the 18th. This week we just need to solidify him for the interview.

It was the coldest week yet of my mission. There were about 5 inches of snow or so after Saturday. My toes felt like they were about to fall off most days, but I like doing it. The things we have to share make it worth it, no doubt. I'd not be doing it if not.

We've been putting a big white board in front of the church with the Plan of Salvation on it to show people. It worked quite well.

Wow, Matt, you seem to be doing well on your scriptures. Mate, I haven't even read loads of the Old Testament yet, you should definitely read the standard works. Leaving it to your mission doesn't work out too well. I love the Bible. If read with proper interpretation it is fantastic, but I can definitely understand why there is so much confusion concerning it.

The Larsen missionary scriptures are coming along nicely. I've developed a thirst for spiritual things, I always want to learn and study the scriptures. I suppose that's a good addiction?

It is so hard to see others not going down the right path. I often pray for those people. Sadly, I have seen that simply praying about it rarely produces results. When we pray for things concerning the agency of another child of God, we must also act. We must pray and put effort into it. Elder Sikahema once told me, "If you want to move mountains, pick up a shovel." It is a challenge because those going down the wrong path are not usually good for us as people to mix with. We must find a way to help them without hurting ourselves.

Hope things continue to go well with you guys, they are going well here. The Gospel is true, I know it.

Elder Larsen