Monday, October 29, 2012

Elder Burt, Sister Judkins & Elder Larsen
3 first cousins at the MTC map

Elder Larsen, Abbott, and Gale at the MTC    October 2012


First cousins: Elder Burt and Elder Larsen  October 2012

Kade's letter 29Oct2012
It is good to hear that things are going good at home.  It was so sad hearing about Neal Coates though. I hope that his wife and daughter are doing okay. 
Thank you for all of the emails this week.  But since I have such a short amount of time I won't be able to answer each and every one of them.  That is why the handwritten letters are a bit easier for me.  I can read them and write back when I have a few minutes.  There are no printers for us to print off letters so I have to just remember what people said.  I did get Dad's letter from dearelder.com a few hours after I mailed his.  That website is so awesome and helps so many people get mail.  I don't even want to think about how many letters they have to print off and give to the MTC every day.
The MTC is still going pretty smoothly even though sometimes can be a little rougher than others.  "The days are long, but the weeks are short."  That is the best way to put it.  Except P-day, it goes by insanely fast, haha.  I will use the card reader you sent to send pictures so thanks for that.  The MTC food is pretty good even though, like many elders say, it gives you gas.  I eat a lot every meal in hopes that I might gain some weight. ;)  I wrote grandma all about the meals. She was right, I had not yet received the candy from Emily when I sent her that letter but I was very thankful for it!  Made me miss Glades real bad. 
One of my roommates has really suffered with allergies and asked us to give him a blessing yesterday after sacrament meeting.  I have always loved being a part of those types of things even though I have only been a part of a few of them.  We have grown pretty close with our roommates and it's going to be pretty hard to depart next Tuesday without them.  There will only be 5 elders in our district left.  They are going to a mission in Mexico. The spanish is about the same as it was but we are working on conjugating and that stuff is very very difficult so we are working on it a lot.
I wore my Air Mormon shirt today and I have had like 10 people ask where I got it.  They love it. Thank you for sending it to me. Well, love ya and hope to hear from you throughout the week in whatever way you desire.  ;)  Love, Elder Kade Larsen

Monday, October 22, 2012

Elder Larsen with first cousin, Sister Judkins in the MTC on
October 22, 2012

Elder Larsen writing his first emails at the MTC on October 22, 2012. 
Thank goodness he has a first cousin there that
takes pictures and sends them to the family.

Kade's letter  10/22/2012

Dear Mom & Fam,
Man I couldn't wait for this day to come!  I have only been here for 5 days but in all honesty those 5 days feel like 5 months lol.  The language is taught insanely fast and it is very hard to keep up.  I am doing my best and actually learning a lot of Spanish.  Like people say, I learned more in my first 2 days here than I did that whole quarter up at college.  Why?  Because your mind has no choice but to learn it and to learn it well haha.  I hope that I can keep learning as much as I can and as fast as I can because we are learning quickly.  I can pray and bare my testimony in Spanish, which is pretty dang cool.  When I write letters or type this email I keep thinking of the words in Spanish before I think of them in English and sometimes it is hard haha.  That's perfectly ok with me, that means I'm learning!  The other companionship we share our room with is Elder Arnold and Elder Westwood.  I think they are from the Salt Lake Area.  We all get along great and love to be around each other.  We started a tradition on Saturday and we call it Fiesta Saturday!  We buy chips and salsa or just good food from the bookstore and have a mini party while we plan out the next day.  Man was I happy to have chips and salsa again.  It was so good except it makes me miss El Mexicano like crazy!  We plan to do this everyweek and then the night before Elder Bentley and I leave to Colombia we plan on having a BIG FIESTA because it will obviously be our lst night together.  The other elders in our room are going to Tampico, Mexico and will be in the Provo MTC for all 9 weeks.  I see Elder Gale from home.  He is in my district so that is cool. 

Jade is in my zone and so I see him a lot as well, which is awesome.  Today Elder Bentley and I did a session for a couple family names Jade had.  Not our relative but the Burt side of the family.  We have not been able to get a picture yet with the map.  We will try this week sometime and try to get it out to all of you sisters  :)  I finally found Elder Abbott last night after the devotional!  Man it was good to see him.  He is doing well and I have missed him.  We don't have similar schedules at all.

My companion is from Lindon, Utah and is a great companion.  We will be companions until we leave to Colombia.  President Ricks (Our Branch President) said that they have had some troubles with Colombia's MTC and sending missionaries there.  They have a very small MTC so they don't always take ALL the missionaries from here when they are supposed to go.  Meaning, the ones who get left behind end up having to be in the Provo MTC for 9 weeks instead of 3.  I hope I don't get stuck behind because I want to be in Colombia so bad right now.  I want to go really bad but I know I have so much to learn and am not ready for that yet.  We teach fake investigators and ours is from Argentina.  We had to teach him Friday, two days after arriving, and Saturday.  IN SPANISH.  Yea, I know right??  It actually went ok but it was pretty nerve wracking.  We teach him again tonight and we are going to teach him on the Plan of Salvation.  Last week we did the atonement (Expiacion).

Thank you so much for the box that you sent me.  I was totally stoked to see it and so was everyone else in my district haha.  The swedish fish are being saved because of how precious they are.  I loved the letter and loved the candy in it even though I haven't eaten all of it yet.  I am trying to ration it out just in case you forget to send more later.   :) 

Last night we listened to a talk from Elder Holland titled "Forever a Missionary."  Wow, talk about getting pumped up about missionary work.  I love that man and his talks are always powerful to me.  He gave it a few years ago.  He had some great quotes in it. 

Not all of the computers will read SD cards so I can't send pictures this week.  I will try next week.  Tell everyone to write.  I got a letter from Whitney using Dearelder.com.  That works really well.  I miss you and love you all.  Love,  Elder Kade Larsen

Friday, October 19, 2012


Elder Larsen packed and ready to start this new adventure.
Farewell luncheon with Grandma and Grandpa Webb & Mom and Dad
Elder Kade Larsen with mom and dad just before entering the MTC
 


                        Elder Larsen in front of the Provo Temple just before entering the MTC.


 

 
 One final text to say goodbye to everyone for two years.  Kade will miss you all and has sure appreciated your support and friendship. 


 


Sunday, October 7, 2012

Pre Mission!

Well I have a week and a half until I enter the Provo MTC for three weeks (October 17th - November 7th). I made this blog so that my mom could update everyone back home. They can follow this blog so that they get updated every week. My mom will put letter's and pictures on this blog for everyone to see. Hope everyone has a great two years back home in Utah or wherever you happen to be! I will miss you all so much. I love you all and thank you for all the support that you have given me! Thanks! See ya in two years!

Provo MTC:
    (October 17th - November 7th)

Colombia MTC:
    (November 7th - December 19th)

Mission Field!
    (December 19th - October 2014)