Monday, June 24, 2013

Bucaramanga Sunset
Elder Larsen received a brand new companion on Wednesday morning. The new missionaries arrived at 4:30 in the morning in the terminal. They call themselves the Dad of  a new elder.  Once the new missionaries arrived the Zone Leaders decided that they would wait around in the terminal until about 7:30 a.m. and then they could go to the immigration office that day. So they waited the three hours there in a corner with all the luggage of 5 new missionaries. At 7:30 Kade and two other elders, that had all been in the same MTC group, (woohoo!) were assigned to stay at the terminal with the luggage while the zone leaders took all the new guys to the immigration office. He said they took FOREVER. They didn't come back until 1 P.M. So the Elders had stayed almost ten hours in the terminal. They were pretty frustrated. Kade's new companion is from Ecuador. His trainer was also from Equador.
Kade had been in conferences for two days straight.  They had a conference with the Misson President on Saturday from 8 to 4.  It was also their stake conference and so they had their Priesthood Session Sunday morning from 8-10, regular session from 11-1 and the Worldwide Broadcast from 5-7. He said it just felt like they were in conference after conference after conference.  He wants us to clarify exactly what the deal was with the missionaries being able to use Facebook and technology to do missionary work. He said,  "You will have to let me know some of the details that you liked. I really did like the conference. How would that have been to be an Elder and have the chance to see Elder Holland (my fav), Scott, Packer, etc. all in one night. Wow. Jealous..."
 
Kade had a really good spiritual experience and so I am just going to share that in his words.
"Before our kids got here Elder G____ and I were together, two Gringos haha. We had a really good lesson together though on Tuesday with a 20 year old young woman who has been feeling like she is living a lost life. She had lost hope of ever going to heaven and ever having the chance to repent for the things she has done. We had a powerful lesson with her. She hadn't prayed for 6-7 months but had recently started once she started with the missionaries but had a big fear of telling God her sins. We promised that once she starts to confess these sins to God, He will manifest unto her that she can be clean. I even said something like ¨There is nothing that we can do that God won´t forgive, through the atonement of Christ. Use the atonement. Use this gift that He has given to you. He loves you and has His hand out to help you. Take it and let go of all the things that you have done.¨ We promised that if she prayed and asked she would instantly feel better. She prayed right after we left and called us that night. She was excited for the first time in weeks. She had felt it. She had felt cleansed from the things she had done. She now has a baptismal date for this Saturday." He commented about how strongly he and his companion had felt the spirit during that lesson.

If any of you know Kade very well, you also know that he was a very picky eater.  He mentioned that he ate chicken hearts and that they are very small and so you have to eat a lot of them.  He said "weird stuff for sure." I can't even believe that this is the same Kade. haha  We are proud of him for getting over his pickiness and eating what the people feed him.

Elder Hooker came and spoke at their stake conference on Sunday.  Kade said that he is an excellent speaker.  They also had conferences with the Mission President on Saturday and Kade said that they announced a six week fast from pop.  Some elders drink pop a lot and in the mission there have been quite a few missionaries that have been sick.  Sister Andelin thinks it is from drinking too much pop and not enough water.  Boy, I say once you're off pop NEVER go back! 

 
 
 
 

Monday, June 17, 2013

Elder Botera, Elder Larsen and Alvero Martinez with their matching ties.





Elder Larsen with the monkey named Baby

Finally a picture of the Monkey!  A few of you have mentioned that you were waiting to see a picture of the monkey so I am glad that he sent one this week. Kind of a cute little feller.  He was going to that house again tonight for a family home evening.
 
The other picture is of his companion, Elder Botero, Elder Larsen, and Alvero Martinez with their matching ties.  They went to the Centro and bought them as a kind of good joke.  They all wore them to church on Sunday and everyone thought it was funny.  It's pretty noticeable for sure!
 
Transfers are this week.  Kade's companion was transferred and he will be receiving a new elder straight from the MTC on Wednesday. Elder Botero was transferred fairly close and would still be in his district if he is still the district leader. 
 
Elder Larsen says, "This week we had kind of a rough week, to tell ya the truth. It felt like everyone we were working with, less actives, investigators, etc., were just not progressing and not wanting to progress. And then Sunday came and we had more than we've had this whole transfer in our Gospel Principles class.  We had 13 people that we have been working with come. It was pretty awesome, a good way to finish off the transfer, haha. I have grown pretty close with three or four families here. Its been really good."
I tell Kade when I talk to people and they ask about him or comment on his Facebook page that I keep updated.  He appreciates you thinking of him and wants to thank you for your support.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Elder Larsen and companion eating chicken tacos.
 
 
Elder Larsen said that things are going pretty well. This week they had to focus on talking to some new people. They were able to start teaching a new family. They had their first lesson with them on Sunday and it went really well. They met them in a mechanic shop. Kade said, "Who knows where you can find people that want to listen to the message of the gospel? Tonight we will have two family home evenings so that will be really cool. We are definitely gaining a lot more trust in the ward."
"Last night we also went to the house with the monkey. The Monkey is called Baby and is kind of a crazy monkey. It make sounds more like a gorilla than a monkey, lol The weird thing is that he REALLY likes me. I walk in the room and he runs over to me and jumps on to me. I had only met him once before. They say that he always likes to go to missionaries. I would give him to one of the other missionaries but 3 or 4 minutes later he would leave and run back to me. It was cool but a bit different haha. Not a big fan of holding him for a long time because they live down in a valley where its really humid and then he just clings on to you making it 100x hotter."  I need to tell Elder Larsen that we all want to see a picture of him with the monkey.
"Today we made the Chicken tacos with the seasoning that you sent. Oooooh they were good. We had three tacos each and were feeling pretty great after. I also found the same seasoning packet here in Exito (like Walmart). How crazy right? We had to take a picture. In the picture we only have two each but we still had more left so we decided to have one more after we finished. They were awesome though, reminded me a bit of home, haha."
 
This last week was a little rough in the category of health. The last half of the week Kade was really sick on Saturday and Sunday. Today he is feeling a lot better. He feels like he's been sick his entire time in Bucaramanga and he's getting pretty annoyed.
 
Kade thinks it's funny his dad didn't draw out for the deer hunt. But said that it's ok, he will draw out next year when it really matters. Kade gets back next year right before the deer hunt. =) 
 
Kade said that he got three letters this week. One from Jill, one from Brady, and one from Elder Mike Hales. The ones from Brady and Mike were sent on March 12th and he got them on May 30th. He said, "WHAT! horrible right?"  I have asked him and he said that even if you send a letter through Dear Elder.com that it still takes quite awhile to get to him.  However, he loves getting letters so don't quit writing.  His address is on the left side of this blog.  Send them to the mission home address or you can email him at kade.larsen@myldsmail.net