Staying in Lea Valley

Dear Family,

Question #1: Who is the woman in the white dress in one of the pictures you sent last week?

That is Dency Baptista. We originally taught her and handed her over to the Lea Valley 2 missionaries who baptized her. She is from Peru, great person.

Question #2: How was it seeing Elder Sikahema again?

It was super exciting. I was giving the Zone's numbers to one of the Assistants at the Hyde Park Chapel before the Zone Conference when a head popped through the window of the door. When we saw each other, "Trey" and I both jumped and ran for a big hug. He and his dad (Vai) both spoke at the meeting. It was really inspirational. We got to watch a clip of Vai running for a punt return TD and him beating up Jose Conseco (tell John Brooks to watch that one). It was so great to see Elder Sikahema, he has done loads for me.

Question #3: What kind of impact have the Olympics had on you this week?

Very little impact yet again, we haven't ended up going too close to the main events. We went to the main place for under an hour to see what it is like. It wasn't very busy when we went but I did get some guy to stick a mike and camera in my face.

It has been an eventful past few days, we had Zone Leader Council and Moves calls. Our mission can now use texting and will do 5 hours of member missionary work a week. I will be staying in Lea Valley with Elder Montgomery and Elder Flament. This is going to be an exciting transfer. We hope to get the members more involved in missionary work. We hope to meet with the Stake President soon, the Bishop next Monday, and other members.

This Thursday we have a Zone Meeting, we will be relaying info from Zone Leader Council to the missionaries and training on Goals we have and Preach My Gospel.

We have had great success recently in working with less active members. We have found 4 new people/families to work with. It will give us consistency in our work, as well as strengthen the ward a lot.

Last week we prayed that Elder Flament would find someone for us to teach and went out of the chapel to talk to people. Less than 5 minutes later he brought a Hungarian man into the church. We taught him and he expressed that he was looking for a house so we prayed that he would find one. The next day we saw him and he had the signed contract for his place, he came to the church with a friend, and we will teach him more.

I am so convinced that this is the Lord's work. No matter how hard we work, if we are doing it on our own, we don't see any results. When we work with the Lord, miracles happen left and right. As experienced missionaries sometimes Elder Montgomery and I would rely on ourselves. It's great to see the example of Elder Flament. Stick with the basics. My excitement is at a high.

Enjoy your last bit of summer break.

Elder Larsen