tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28711715991611526962024-03-05T20:24:11.606-08:00Elder Kade LarsenThe adventures of Elder Kade Larsen while serving in the Colombia Bogota North Mission!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17744592865469232152noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-57381251520979896492014-10-29T19:14:00.001-07:002014-10-29T19:14:33.844-07:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-RwKXUO-Htt6D1wgjQoqMdHBCQyRuog2SpsrJleqhKGI9Q1_FDLhm88P1bYG8l7FLIHDt6gCFynxnp0qmKT1DpgmeBooObUCJNHE9q4EKq1scRUwRqFDUcS1DtIMpHpltHgN2KVdLi9S8/s1600/Kade+end+of+mission+picture.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-RwKXUO-Htt6D1wgjQoqMdHBCQyRuog2SpsrJleqhKGI9Q1_FDLhm88P1bYG8l7FLIHDt6gCFynxnp0qmKT1DpgmeBooObUCJNHE9q4EKq1scRUwRqFDUcS1DtIMpHpltHgN2KVdLi9S8/s1600/Kade+end+of+mission+picture.png" height="640" width="491" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Elder Kade Larsen is coming home. Yahoo!!!!</span></td></tr>
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Wow.. My last written testimony through this email.</div>
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The mission has helped me grow and change so much. I feel I have changed in many ways in these two short years. I am still myself but I have changed. The Lord and the work has changed and molded me into who I am now. Everyone tells you what to try and expect on the mission but once you get here nothing is like what they said. Every mission is different and the only way to know what it's like; you have to try it yourself. I know can say with assurity that I KNOW what its like to be a full time missionary. The Lord has given me the chance to come to the Colombia Bogota North Mission. </div>
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I know that I have come to know my brother Jesus Christ a lot better. Before the mission I knew who he was and what he did but didn't feel it. During the mission when the load was just too heavy I felt him take it off and let me relax. He bore my burdens because he loves me and each and every one of you. We have been protected through many times of danger and confusion. I have learned many new things about Him and about His gospel. Honestly before the mission I didn't understand very well what the Atonement really meant. Now I know, I have put it to work in my own life. The atonement is the most important thing that has ever happened in this world. </div>
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I am Elder Larsen, a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of Him to declare his word among his people so that they might have everlasting life. Our calling as a missionary is more important than anything we could be doing at this point of our lives. Later on our job is to raise a family and that is our next calling. Yo amo el Señor. El me ama y me lo muestra por el hecho de darme bendiciones diariamente. Se que si soy fiel a El, el sera fiel conmigo. El ha dejado su ejemplo perfecto para seguir. El tiempo es ahora para hacerlo. Actuemos ahora. Gracias a ustedes estoy aquí donde estoy. Amo esta misión. Amo el país de Colombia. Me ha cambiado y moldeado a ser un hombre. Nos vemos el Sábado por la noche =) Les amo y les quiero mucho! Chao!</div>
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<b><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> Elder Kade Larsen</span></b><div>
<span style="color: #45818e;"><span style="font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="background-color: yellow;">Misión Col</span><span style="background-color: #0b5394;">o</span><span style="background-color: #0b5394;">mbia B</span><span style="background-color: #cc0000;">o</span><span style="background-color: #cc0000;">got</span></i></b></span><b><i><span style="font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #cc0000; line-height: 21px;">á</span><span style="background-color: #cc0000;"> No</span></span><span style="background-color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;">rte</span></span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="color: #660000;"> </span><span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span></i><span style="color: #cc0000;">2012-2014</span></b></span></div>
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There was a cool conference here just for Colombia. We had some awesome speakers. Elder Holland, Elder Nash, Elder Pino, and a Sister Wixom. Don't have time to write much about it but yeah. It was cool.. ha Well Gotta get going love ya!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-7844385756967597172014-10-05T14:36:00.001-07:002014-10-05T14:36:46.467-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhULEpEdpp5kcW8Y7u3FEPbM4UzalXWK29MoDYpVDVAKyzNUqi_Qe8BACJxg2EOHhCrIXSi9sQjHtbRXUtgd6yKrT3ZFRBb8uM0mO6jgMoWNiCP3aeYJqItpELRxbW3O5wBI_m64yyhELPX/s1600/Kade+by+cooking+meat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhULEpEdpp5kcW8Y7u3FEPbM4UzalXWK29MoDYpVDVAKyzNUqi_Qe8BACJxg2EOHhCrIXSi9sQjHtbRXUtgd6yKrT3ZFRBb8uM0mO6jgMoWNiCP3aeYJqItpELRxbW3O5wBI_m64yyhELPX/s1600/Kade+by+cooking+meat.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhwfR28ldEeyZrhyphenhyphensdJuqXrDn3j1nH9E6aFoqf2yuMPqbNoaGX25HeXWwCSUuYFHv1Vh0JKMUDM8SDz2qg29StzZ2t54HX_y66MZHHJ7Us4r4bmGG-q-yIondVPaIqIcxIOBWza37sSJIY/s1600/Meat+cooking+in+Colombia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhwfR28ldEeyZrhyphenhyphensdJuqXrDn3j1nH9E6aFoqf2yuMPqbNoaGX25HeXWwCSUuYFHv1Vh0JKMUDM8SDz2qg29StzZ2t54HX_y66MZHHJ7Us4r4bmGG-q-yIondVPaIqIcxIOBWza37sSJIY/s1600/Meat+cooking+in+Colombia.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kade said they cook meat like this for a large group. It looks yummy!</td></tr>
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Buenas! </div>
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I cant believe Jade (his cousin) finishes (his mission) on Wednesday. That is pretty cool. When is his welcome home? Here we had our fast and testimony meeting yesterday, I don't know why.. Maybe to not have to push it back to far or something.. who knows. When I get home, I am going to have to start going to a lot of the temples.. Totally slacked on that when I was home before the mission.. As a couple (with my future wife) would be cool.. </div>
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Our investigators are doing really really well. The only problem is that one of them needed a job really, really bad and we have been trying to help her get one with a member here. She ended up finding a job but its a job that she has to work on Sundays. NO!! Their baptismal date is for the 11th. We will have to get that all fixed up this week so they can get baptized and so they can attend General conference this weekend. </div>
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I am really excited for General Conference, should be pretty awesome. It will be my last general conference in the mission. I am stoked to see it all though. It will be a pretty good boost for our investigators if we can get them to attend it. This week... will be kind of crappy. On Wednesday morning we are leaving to go to Bogota and we will be back Friday morning. We are going to the monthly meeting again. Its an awesome meeting but not too excited for the bus ride, ha. We will get back around 6 or 7 Friday morning and work all that day. Saturday we will be in conference A L L day.. It will be a rough week with lessons.. </div>
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<br />We are doing well here in Yopal. I feel like there isn't time to do ANYTHING.. its kind of frustrating, wont lie.. There is so much to do but so little time. </div>
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Looks like you guys are doing pretty well. I liked the pictures from Saint George. Its similar to the climate here I think..</div>
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<b><span style="color: #660000; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> Elder Kade Larsen</span></b><div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;"><b><i>Misión Colombia Bogota Norte</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;"><b><i> </i>2012-2014</b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-55468271363965897732014-09-08T19:21:00.000-07:002014-09-08T19:21:51.181-07:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBmhbB-pxKEcFSySXBzXRCL9kh4pQVyK9gI4KTcxL4zcu8WmxYGjVpowBvZEMefH1H6xuavl6DzeFv4oK0dQQAJH_aPIS9Un26OC1r3T8MQk-zrpJac0Yh1keZ7YUnm2ZQWeawu5CgC40r/s1600/Cow+hide+sandals+from+Colombia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBmhbB-pxKEcFSySXBzXRCL9kh4pQVyK9gI4KTcxL4zcu8WmxYGjVpowBvZEMefH1H6xuavl6DzeFv4oK0dQQAJH_aPIS9Un26OC1r3T8MQk-zrpJac0Yh1keZ7YUnm2ZQWeawu5CgC40r/s1600/Cow+hide+sandals+from+Colombia.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cow hide slippers<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifnVfs0FpcevgDC9NFnEWQukY90RuxIZNsjJnT8uJit9KVWbCT0g6QJICj0B_6dmsZbSM2itCjkx0Bg0Vzomurl8M8Xj2C6zn6k489GXblVoPVskTRBnI9a4NJfqghSBP059PVl4IvCLw8/s1600/Kade+cooking+meat+outside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifnVfs0FpcevgDC9NFnEWQukY90RuxIZNsjJnT8uJit9KVWbCT0g6QJICj0B_6dmsZbSM2itCjkx0Bg0Vzomurl8M8Xj2C6zn6k489GXblVoPVskTRBnI9a4NJfqghSBP059PVl4IvCLw8/s1600/Kade+cooking+meat+outside.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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Dear Family,</div>
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This week was a pretty interesting week I guess you could say. Like I said last week, I had to go to Bogota <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1713469027" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Wednesday</span></span> for the meeting <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1713469028" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Thursday</span></span>. <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1713469029" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">On Wednesday</span></span> we left here around 10 in the morning because we had an emergency appointment in the morning. We arrived to Bogota around 7 because of traffic entering through the south of Bogota (horrible..) We got to the assistants house around 8:30 or so and we bought Dominos pizza (I LOVE AMERICAN PIZZA!!) We had my comp and I and also 4 Elders from the 2 Bucaramanga Zones there. With another gringo (North American) named Elder Shumway (from Arizona) we stayed up talking till around 1 or so until the assistants called us saying 4 more Elders were coming and would arrive around <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1713469030" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">2 am</span></span>. So we both stayed up to receive them and in the end we ended up falling asleep around 3:30 or so and getting up at 6 haha. Somehow we had enough energy to get through the day ha. It was a cool meeting (concilio) where we learned quite a bit of new stuff that we will now have to teach the zone <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1713469031" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Wednesday</span></span>.<br />
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The Family we are teaching had some tough moments with the son going to the Army but they are now back on track. The forms to get married should be ready today or <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1713469032" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">tomorrow</span></span> and we will be able to send those in this week. Last night we had a great lesson with them, we watched "On the way home". It was great and they related to it a lot. They both teared up in the movie. We will be working hard with them getting them prepared for the wedding and all.<br />
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We are teaching another neat lady. She and her son have baptism dates for the <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1713469033" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">5th of October</span></span> but we will probably move it up to the last week of September because the 5th is General Conference.. haha And they are going to be ready early =)<br />
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Another couple we are teaching have already decided they want to get married and do what they need to do to get baptized before leaving. The problem will be his job letting him go to church <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1713469035" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> morning. We´ll see what God can do.. He makes miracles happen ;)<br />
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Of course I know Mary Curtis, I had to cut and pull weeds at her house for years. I also did fast offerings and sacrament with her for a long long time. Sad to hear about her death. </div>
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About Dad losing weight.. I can totally tell. I have thought about asking but its kind of one of those awkward questions haha. Here in Colombia its actually not a big deal to tell someone that they are kind of fat.. (its weird sometimes).. Well fam, I gotta get moving with some stuff to send to the mission. I love you guys and hope your having an awesome <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1713469036" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Monday</span></span>. I love ya´ll and hope you have an awesome week. Today I bought a souvenir. they are sandals called Cotizas! They are so awesome and are from Cow leather (with hair). Here is a pic of them. they are classic from this part of Colombia. Totally going to rock these in the house when I get back and at college haha. They are supposed to be worn without socks. Well Have a good one! chao! </div>
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<b><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> Elder Kade Larsen</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;"><b><i>Misión Colombia Bogota Norte</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;"><b><i> </i>2012-2014</b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-28525421797112517772014-08-18T18:20:00.000-07:002014-08-18T18:20:33.327-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Larsen and Elder Bringhurst</td></tr>
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Dear Fam, (This letter has been edited and names have been removed)</div>
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Wow, well like I said <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1582110264" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Monday,</span></span> we had transfers. My companion finally ended up getting in <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1582110265" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Wednesday</span></span> morning around 5 in the morning and the other group that arrived got here at 4. At least they arrived around the same time so that we could do everything a bit easier. </div>
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The people that come to church are almost always progressing in the gospel. There is still a lot of work to do but we are doing well. The family we are teaching has a baptismal date for S<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1582110266" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">eptember 6th</span></span>. They have to get married first so we are working on that. They are an awesome family. (He is the dad of our last baptism).</div>
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Its crazy you guys went to California. When I get back I wouldn't mind running out there as well to check it out ha. Kind a crazy about fishing and all. Its been a LONG time since I have been fishing. Who knows if I remember how to do all that kind of stuff. </div>
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<br />Today we woke up early and hiked up to "La Virgen" There is a big monument on the hill by the city so we all got up and a bunch of members as well to go with us. We were at the base of the mountain around 5:30 a.m. Wow, it was hard to get out of bed an hour early haha. We went up, took pics, and came down. After we went and played soccer and basketball until around 1 in the afternoon before coming back to the house and passing out.. Now we are here at internet ha. It was cool and there were plenty of members which was good because it helps us get more trust with them when we do activities like this.</div>
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<b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> Elder Kade Larsen</span></b><div>
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;"><b><i>Misión Colombia Bogota Norte</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;"><b><i> 2012-2014</i></b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-29157579078011933572014-08-18T18:03:00.003-07:002014-08-18T18:03:52.394-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcqIOZx5T_HS4zTpINxyvrp97TKBpezSxlR-a-1g08eI0P-BGTcytrWzkpsPj_NpLOkRDPRrzhVCMkH3wcmCOzdZRHbCGcAbeW4-EfB8XbALcLuvJR8kY9Gup5HnKCMdgdVrS60SemFE9A/s1600/Kade+put+together+family+puzzle.+July+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcqIOZx5T_HS4zTpINxyvrp97TKBpezSxlR-a-1g08eI0P-BGTcytrWzkpsPj_NpLOkRDPRrzhVCMkH3wcmCOzdZRHbCGcAbeW4-EfB8XbALcLuvJR8kY9Gup5HnKCMdgdVrS60SemFE9A/s1600/Kade+put+together+family+puzzle.+July+2014.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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This letter is from August 11th. We had given him this puzzle for Christmas and it looks like he finally got it put together. Kade is a zone leader and so they help a lot with transfers. It sounds like they are really busy when he writes this letter. </div>
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Dear Family,</div>
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Things are going well down here. A bit hectic but well.. ha This last week in all honesty we weren't able to have many spiritual experiences.. My comp and I ended up going to the clinic on Tuesday morning because he was still sick. Turns out he had an infection in his lungs and they gave him some time to rest. The first day we were actually able to go and out work was on Saturday.. Dang! During the week we had a couple appointments by the house and that was it.. Other than that we had to just sit in the house. It was horrible. I was able to get some work done in the house though. Set up some new things I have been needing to do.. But anyways, the best part of the week was Sunday. We picked up an investigator to go with us to church because she needs to attend to get baptized. We got there and there were already others investigators there. Basically all in all, there were 13 investigators that came to church! BAM! Without teaching them the entire week that many people coming to church is insane! We usually average around 6 or 7.. It was so sick. To me its a testimony builder. It also means that they are also growing in testimonies. It was awesome. </div>
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In the afternoon it was cool as well but I dont have time to say much about it.. Today are transfers and there were many many transfers in my zone.. My companion was changed to Bucaramanga and My new comp should get here tomorrow. He is C<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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olombian and his name is Elder Reyes (Elder Kings). We are doing well here though. Well I honestly have no time to write because we have to go pick up other elders.. I love ya though and hope you're doing great. </div>
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Love, </div>
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Elder Larsen</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-20380010859611875552014-07-14T20:06:00.001-07:002014-07-14T20:06:30.355-07:00<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Kade shares a nice testimony while serving his mission in Colombia. I said to him that I hoped he was writing in his journal because his letters covered his travels but not a lot of experiences. That is why he comments on the journal. I had also asked him to share a spiritual experience. I shared a very strong impression that I'd received once and he comments on that. I do need to say that the majority of time the Holy Ghost does not give us strong impressions needing immediate action. Most of the time the Holy Ghost whispers to us. The more we listen to those whisperings, the better we get at hearing them and acting upon them. (Kade's letter has been edited.)</div>
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Dear Family, </div>
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First off.. In all honesty.. I am kind of struggling on the journal part. I am making up days from last week and so I have to write like 2 or 3 days at a time. It was worse when I was in Bogota for a week because my journal was here in Yopal. Now I write every day so that I can hopefully get caught up to where I should be. </div>
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In all honesty mom, I haven't had a huge spiritual promptings about things like that. For me, its usually something saying that we need to go and visit a certain person or at least call them. Usually when I don't listen or we decide not to.. I pay for it. </div>
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When we moved to our new apartment it was a really rainy day but there was a member (a 19 year old) who drove us in his dads car to bring our stuff over. It was nice. It was raining really really hard and the streets were basically rivers here. Anyways when we got out and left I told him over again to drive slow so he doesn't hydroplane. On the way back to his house, when he tried to stop at a light, he couldn't stop in time and rear ended someone. Before he called us I could feel like something had happened and low and behold, right after he sent us a text telling us to call him. He didn't get hurt and neither did the other person. But they had a pretty big check to pay to repair the other guys car. </div>
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Today was an interesting day because we are planning to get up and go play soccer/basketball. Right before leaving, a member (not that we know and is from Bogota) called us saying they needed blood donors to help her brother that is here in Yopal. He is in serious condition with about 5% of his body working. We started calling people and texting many people to see who could go to the hospital and donate (we can't as missionaries). In the end, they called us and told us that many members of the church showed up (probably around 7 or 8) ready to donate blood for the member. With the blood they donated they gave him the blood and life flighted him to Bogota. We were basically on the phone the entire morning and never even had to go to the hospital. It was fantastic to see the members offer their service (It wasn't easy, it's Monday and everyone works. and they need O+). To me it made me really happy to see the members offer their service for someone they have never met and probably will never see again. </div>
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The work of the Lord is big. There is a lot to do. We can't waste time. I know that every second that I waste someone else might be dying (spiritually). I can't let that happen. I have been called as a representative of Jesus Christ to bring others unto Christ. He is our Savior, our Redeemer, our Lord. He payed all so that we can live in peace. He "offered" all, so that we wouldn't have to. Every time we sin (with knowledge that its a sin) we are torturing him once again. I know he is my Brother. He is my light and my guide through the times of peril in my life. </div>
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I love you all and hope you have had an awesome week. Never underestimate the power of the Lord in someone. People change through the love of Christ. Thanks for the email and I hope to hear from ya next week. Don't forget to write if you go up on the mountain =) Chao!</div>
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<b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> Elder Kade Larsen</span></b><div>
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;"><b><i>Misión Colombia Bogota Norte</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;"><b><i> 2012-2014</i></b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-5095267641604035552014-06-30T20:47:00.000-07:002014-06-30T20:47:26.725-07:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBMhK6Gh_ZLXiUXX5I00V09tVGZaGNpGqFF6EBZBraCxwxAwZWAMNGQWviUH3H6jbMJzN2zt_yUzyX6XmxvSUH_kA_YPeDCDHcQQyXhK32mqtvQ70ZSpVnCIDS8y3OcE3vDwUvvctIvjkK/s1600/Kade+with+Colombia+mask+June+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBMhK6Gh_ZLXiUXX5I00V09tVGZaGNpGqFF6EBZBraCxwxAwZWAMNGQWviUH3H6jbMJzN2zt_yUzyX6XmxvSUH_kA_YPeDCDHcQQyXhK32mqtvQ70ZSpVnCIDS8y3OcE3vDwUvvctIvjkK/s1600/Kade+with+Colombia+mask+June+2014.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Totally excited about Colombia playing in the 2014 World Cup</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Thanks for the pics of the missionaries (cousins) last week. It was pretty cool to see. Brady and Jade have changed a ton. They both look pretty dang old now. Alex is still a young gun but I think in a year in the mission he will change quite a bit haha. </span><br />
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We are doing really well down here and honestly it feels like we have been running around like crazy without control.. Its frustrating because it feels like some of our investigators are falling out of the picture. Today was changes and there will be some big changes. President sent us 4 more missionaries to our zone and so our branch will have 8 missionaries. It will be awesome because we definitly need them here. We will be moving out of the old apartment <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2085210094" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">tomorrow</span></span> morning hopefully so that we can be out before the new 2 elders get here. We have a new apartment down in our area which will be a lot better. </div>
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This week we have to go to Bogota (first week of the month). We will be leaving <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2085210095" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Wednesday</span></span> probably around 3 or 4 in the morning. We will have to see what happens with the tickets. I kind of hope we leave around that time so I can sleep on the bus a bit better. </div>
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I totally miss camping.. Like crazy.. We will have to get up in the mountains when I get back home. You guys never bothered letting me know if I drew out for the deer hunt or not.. If I did, you should go in and turn in my tag and maybe we can buy a tag later on for November or something. (So far it looks like Kade's release date will be October 31, 2014)</div>
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Colombia is playing well in the Mundial (Brazil 2014 World Cup). They haven't lost yet. They won last Saturday against Uruguay (HUGE game) and <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2085210096" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">this Friday</span></span> will play Brazil. We can beat them but it will be hard because Brazil is obviously home team in the country.. There are a lot of Colombians there to support them though. Colombia is pretty excited about every game and so are we =) I love it! Hope you guys watch the game =) Its on the <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2085210097" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">4th of July</span></span> though.. </div>
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Well I gotta get going.. Love ya and hope you have an awesome week =) thanks for everything =). </div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Elder Kade Larsen</span></b></span><div>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;"><b><i>Misión Colombia Bogota Norte</i></b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-80979146603533308212014-05-20T19:05:00.000-07:002014-05-20T19:05:44.156-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Larsen leaving Barbosa<br />
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Elder Kade Larsen's letter 5/20/14. He didn't write on Monday because he got transferred and was traveling all day. I was able to chat with him for a few minutes when he e-mailed and I have just inserted those parts in to his letter. CL</div>
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Dear Family,</div>
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Well it turns out that I got transferred from the Barbosa Branch. I am now a Zone Leader and my new city is called Yopal (pronounced Joe-Paul). My area is called Cravo Sur (Cravo South). This is also a branch, but a big branch. Supposedly we have around 170 attending on Sunday. That will be a nice change =) haha. </div>
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My new companion is Elder Morales from California. My first real Gringo Companion so that will be a bit different than before. He has one change less than me in the mission. He has been here in the area for 3 months. This Saturday there will be 4 baptisms for my area. They are all children of reactivated families so its pretty cool. The other area also has a baptism so that will be cool too. </div>
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My Zone is a small zone of 10 missionaries; our branch and the other branch called Agua Sul. There are 4 in the other branch and there are 6 here, 2 of which are sister missionaries. </div>
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The reason I didn't write.. Yopal is pretty far away from Barbosa. I left Barbosa at noon yesterday and went to Bogota, got there around 530 or so (traffic) and we left Bogota to come to Yopal around 7. We arrived to Yopal around 4 in the morning. It was a long day. Got to the house and I still couldn't sleep (couldn't on the bus). I probably slept an hour before getting up at 7 or so. I think it will hit me hard later on today ha. </div>
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I asked why they traveled so late at night and how many hours he had traveled. He answered, "Its better at night than in the day. Basically around 13 or 14 hours. Should have been like 12 but there was traffic at times." I asked why it was better at night and he said because it is cooler and some people can actually sleep so they can work the next day.</div>
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Last week did go a bit better but we still weren't able to get baptismal dates because they didn't accept them. Frustrating but we had some good strong lessons with the spirit. Unfortunately I don't have time to tell ya about it all because we got to get going soon (to lunch). </div>
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Pretty cool to hear that there are a lot getting their Eagles back home. Well I need to get going, I love ya and I hope all is going well for you both. Sorry I couldn't inform you yesterday that I wasn't going to write..</div>
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I told him that I had seen a picture on Facebook of him and his companion both with luggage. He said, "My comp didn't get transferred but he had to go with me to Tunja and he has to stay there till Wednesday to pick up his new comp so he will be going back to Barbosa. I still don't know anything here. haha You will have to look it up. Its close to the south, close to the Amazon, I think.. But its flat here basically.. Like Kansas. ha chao!</div>
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Love </div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Elder Kade Larsen</span></b></span><div>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;"><b><i>Misión Colombia Bogota Norte</i></b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-14551171077624338932014-04-21T18:34:00.001-07:002014-04-21T18:34:30.156-07:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivHhFQrQT_vL7aDhkaxOe7L96PwzfL-lxwQAjhVY9_THFo7FLEbu8jehMwgAE8RaUmP0zs4Nx085F0o9_i2pzPjmLUbuipDHJkmv_q5tC1rjFN1Q1Fe3ILYgrhq_shJ3rLd1SCZPIPCrEF/s1600/Kade's+21st+birthday+getting+plastered+with+foam..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivHhFQrQT_vL7aDhkaxOe7L96PwzfL-lxwQAjhVY9_THFo7FLEbu8jehMwgAE8RaUmP0zs4Nx085F0o9_i2pzPjmLUbuipDHJkmv_q5tC1rjFN1Q1Fe3ILYgrhq_shJ3rLd1SCZPIPCrEF/s1600/Kade's+21st+birthday+getting+plastered+with+foam..jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Larsen getting plastered with foam for his 21st birthday.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgksFAsze25qdK9Y3-804mPyoTbnWB-g2o7d4SLCz-98haDbHpDy0X8vB4i4BUawyOGN8ojhgcoXmc1KlO2ESYLHkV4fNJ9C8mZd-_uERfMrEaysqxx1FCGBjacwn14k9M2f41sqlDzpFHO/s1600/Kade+wearing+red+and+white+Junior+shirt+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgksFAsze25qdK9Y3-804mPyoTbnWB-g2o7d4SLCz-98haDbHpDy0X8vB4i4BUawyOGN8ojhgcoXmc1KlO2ESYLHkV4fNJ9C8mZd-_uERfMrEaysqxx1FCGBjacwn14k9M2f41sqlDzpFHO/s1600/Kade+wearing+red+and+white+Junior+shirt+2014.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Larsen wearing a new team's jersey from Baranquilla. Thanks to friends from there that sent it to him.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_4mvwMXbUKa21LBtHJILLp3Qb_SeZCQD8jkGk4yPsTJW_OGqh6LNUJac_ILajWrWnCbGRSua5PG2MoeGxN5JPaVT_rc95MbrLyy0wer738mjG52VMG9TQ-IUR7FDnEAw9Tn0LJ_TgUHT/s1600/Kade's+21st+birthday+in+Colombia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_4mvwMXbUKa21LBtHJILLp3Qb_SeZCQD8jkGk4yPsTJW_OGqh6LNUJac_ILajWrWnCbGRSua5PG2MoeGxN5JPaVT_rc95MbrLyy0wer738mjG52VMG9TQ-IUR7FDnEAw9Tn0LJ_TgUHT/s1600/Kade's+21st+birthday+in+Colombia.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Kade Larsen turned 21 on April 16, 2014.<br /><br /><div dir="ltr">
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Dear Family and friends, (edited by Cindy to remove people's names)</div>
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Things are going well for my companion and I here in Barbosa. We are still planning for the baptism <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_390455496" tabindex="0">on Saturday</span>, the 26th. She seems really firm in her decision to get baptized. She will have the interview <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_390455497" tabindex="0">on Friday</span> afternoon. We are really excited for her though. She told me <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_390455498" tabindex="0">on Saturday</span> that she has already decided that she wants me to baptize her. One of these months I will have to try and find some bigger pants because the white ones I have are really really tight. My companion used them for the last baptism we had. </div>
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Last week went really well. Not many of the members knew about my birthday so it wasn't as big as last year but a few of them found out so we had a little party. I will send you the pictures in another email. It was a fun night with them. They brought out a birthday foam thing and sprayed it all over plenty of times. There is a pic of it with my comp. The one who bought it and brought all the stuff is F.O. We were in the house of J. O. We are teaching him and also his girlfriend. They need to get married so they can get baptized. It was a fun night though and it went really well.</div>
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The other picture with the jersey is a new jersey that some investigators sent me from Barranquilla. The team is called Junior and is from Barranquilla. It was a cool gift from them. </div>
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This last week I was actually able to send a package home. I sent it with a return missionary called Zack. He should be passing by one of these days. Hopefully you guys will get it soon. He is from St. George. He is a good kid and was passing through and offered to take it. I spent a bit of money on the stuff but still haven't bought anything for my birthday. Just stuff for you guys. Well love ya´ll and wish ya the best this week =) I will send ya the pics of the baptism =). Chao! </div>
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Elder Larsen</div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Elder Kade Larsen</span></b></span></div>
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<b><i>Misión Colombia Bogota Norte</i></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;"> </span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-22596310602447769642014-03-31T20:06:00.000-07:002014-03-31T20:06:30.777-07:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfg9_NbKlq4oWdTfJ33QOydmE2cr2SRwoKKw0sNhYX3QFfeFQO2qsDSJX_iRtxzQiuPkg0Kd3oG_GRmfJEquROYWjI33vK4NLD2QOr7ZV1tuLxIt1E5BCM36LaYskmmbBvopQIjxnpgkZ5/s1600/IMG_7248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfg9_NbKlq4oWdTfJ33QOydmE2cr2SRwoKKw0sNhYX3QFfeFQO2qsDSJX_iRtxzQiuPkg0Kd3oG_GRmfJEquROYWjI33vK4NLD2QOr7ZV1tuLxIt1E5BCM36LaYskmmbBvopQIjxnpgkZ5/s1600/IMG_7248.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Lazo and Elder Larsen<br /><br /></td></tr>
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Elder Larsen said that last week they were able to go to Bogota and hear Elder Uceda speak. He mentioned that he heard him once while he was in the MTC in Bogota but was concentrating on translating it to English so much that he kind of missed out on the spirit of the talk. This time he didn't have to worry about translating and thought that Elder Uceda was a very powerful speaker. <br />
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This past week they were able to have a baptism of a sweet girl that he says is so spiritual and ready for baptism. Her family is also listening to the lessons and they look forward to teaching them. <br />
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He is really excited for General Conference this coming weekend. They will travel to his old area for it and he is excited about seeing the members there. He says, "Watch ALL of the sessions of General Conference. I now understand how important they are in our lives. (I did before...Just not as much as now.)"Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-86421061973530553032014-03-10T16:39:00.001-07:002014-03-10T16:39:48.241-07:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEvV3pOcnMR4Rq27BVMS7miP2ye1Zs-w9n6cqO5ZVZ6PNu45lqo1hmoFiUoD6gqCjiifKil5nE8xTwrVYHmyd4yeU7802VtIHyPcU-7yUdDF62nKbWcSxw4elzHTBBqRcflUyh1OsydYLB/s1600/Elders+Larsen+and+Lazo+march+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEvV3pOcnMR4Rq27BVMS7miP2ye1Zs-w9n6cqO5ZVZ6PNu45lqo1hmoFiUoD6gqCjiifKil5nE8xTwrVYHmyd4yeU7802VtIHyPcU-7yUdDF62nKbWcSxw4elzHTBBqRcflUyh1OsydYLB/s1600/Elders+Larsen+and+Lazo+march+2014.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Larsen and Elder Lazo in Barbosa, Colombia</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTmegBVA0-bHsDBH8q1mBUSj1A5HSb-Z-iJyVGHPHbj3IaXEJ_fknyQP1_JBzKcoxf4fXGM9kAcpmaZIL3tgVtvB2v0Zu5uxhgw9sDgMF62HiJhS5Fsh0AbkyMoGLE5eJy1YwZ4XZzLxZm/s1600/Elder+Larsen+March+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTmegBVA0-bHsDBH8q1mBUSj1A5HSb-Z-iJyVGHPHbj3IaXEJ_fknyQP1_JBzKcoxf4fXGM9kAcpmaZIL3tgVtvB2v0Zu5uxhgw9sDgMF62HiJhS5Fsh0AbkyMoGLE5eJy1YwZ4XZzLxZm/s1600/Elder+Larsen+March+2014.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Larsen, March 2014<br /><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">
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Elder Larsen is training a new elder from Lima, Peru. He says that things are going pretty well. And he mentioned last week that there is a thing they refer to as "Greenie Power". That is when more people want to listen and there are more references when they have a greenie companion. They are working hard every day and trying to find more and more people to teach the message of the Restored Gospel. He and his companion get along really well and so it makes the work go pretty well. "We are pretty similar I guess. Kind of a laid back, not to crazy, but cool sport guys haha."</div>
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They are teaching a few people with baptismal dates right now and he shared a funny story about teaching a lesson. "We were teaching Lesson 3, The Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were talking about baptism showing the photo of when Jesus was baptized by John. We asked him what he could see or what he thought of the image. He looks at it, looks back at us and said "It looks like John is going to hit Jesus!" The entire family went crazy laughing and we laughed a bit too but it was an honest answer so we just had to teach him that is how people get baptized, but it was funny. haha." </div>
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They are teaching another lady that was a referral from a member family. "She is great and progressing as well. She is very receptive to the gospel because she had a daughter die years ago and needed to hear the Plan of Salvation. It was a rough lesson because it was my comps first time teaching it but she understood it all so it was good =) The spirit always talks louder than we do so its ok." </div>
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Dad wanted a few thoughts.. "I love Colombia and I love the people. Look in the pics I sent, Its GREEN. And its always that way. Its just a beautiful country and I hope that one day you guys will be able to see it.</div>
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I know that God loves us. I know we have many problems and trials in this life but with his support we can get through anything. As a missionary I have learned that this is the best job/work there is out there. We are giving away salvation to these people. And when they accept it and make the changes necessary God blesses their life tremendously. We have to keep working, there is just NO time to waste.. I am growing to like this town a lot more than before. Its better that I like it =) I will be here quite awhile. haha"</div>
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I miss ya¨ll and love ya.. </div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Elder Kade Larsen</span></b></span><div>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: arial narrow, sans-serif;"><b><i>Misión Colombia Bogota Norte</i></b></span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-10262602266798249042014-02-17T15:58:00.000-08:002014-02-17T15:58:09.365-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzKjlsW1GQ0ui17O9poKt4ylr9Oed9bvlaZdOzLCLzCwvoMr81GCozgyt-NEe8GbTfNlY6boKjmXJfJItDI5KenG9ToFjSVrwwP9-OaQ4phVEgsUUMOQA-KcbNT8PDUpjpS2wY3QV473rM/s1600/Kade+eating+sugar+cane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzKjlsW1GQ0ui17O9poKt4ylr9Oed9bvlaZdOzLCLzCwvoMr81GCozgyt-NEe8GbTfNlY6boKjmXJfJItDI5KenG9ToFjSVrwwP9-OaQ4phVEgsUUMOQA-KcbNT8PDUpjpS2wY3QV473rM/s1600/Kade+eating+sugar+cane.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Last week Elder Larsen went to a thing called Molino. It is where they make all of their Panela that they drink. They drink a lot of aguapanela. They got to see the whole process of the drink being made. This picture if of him eating sugar cane. I am not sure what is on the sugar cane that looks like caramel. (If you are from Colombia and you know, please feel free to inform me.)<br />
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Dear Family,<br />
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Well things this week, I guess you could say, were a lot bigger than planned. As planned, we left early from Barbosa to go to Duitama on Wednesday morning. We got there around 8 for my meeting as a district leader. It was good. We had the zone meeting after that and it went pretty well. After the zone meeting we went to Tunja and went on splits with a companionship from there. Elder Dickson went with me (he is from San Jose, California) </div>
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We were able to find a decent amount of old investigators and people, like planned. I was able to talk to Sneider (the cyclist convert) and he is actually leaving to go to France on the 25th because there is a team or something that is picking him up over there. He will have a contract for about 10 months. How cool is that right?? I will have to find out what part he is going to so we can let Alex know ha. The problem is is that Sneider only speaks Spanish and is trying to learn French. Alex only speaks English and French. Who knows... (Alex is Kade's cousin that is now serving his mission in France)</div>
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Also talked with ______________ (first convert in the mission) She has gotten married to her RM boyfriend. She is pregnant and they plan on getting sealed this coming October. We also met up with one of the families but weren't able to talk much with them.. Just was like 10 minutes but we weren't able to talk much.. (I am not allowed to post names of people from the area without their permission so I have left it blank or changed his sentence a little)</div>
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Thursday we had interviews and they went really well. I feel like President is trusting in me a little bit more than before. I talked to him to see if I could go back to Tunja and perform a baptism of someone I taught. He said it might be possible but we´ll have to see. That would be really neat, honestly it would change a lot of things ha. Complete a dream I have had since leaving there, I guess you could say.</div>
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<span style="color: black;">(Kade's companion ended up being moved out in the middle of transfers) I think my next companion will come next Monday so right now I am in a trio.. Kind of weird.. But yeah. Changes are next week so we will see what happens. President also might take a companionship out of Barbosa so I could actually leave but who knows what he will decide to do. I am with Elder Coffman and Elder Mejia. Sorry that this email is not very informative with stories and stuff. I have to send in numbers and do some kind of exam thing on here today so not much time.. Well I love ya and hope you have a great week =) </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Love</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Elder Larsen</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-34270671066969832842014-02-10T15:38:00.002-08:002014-02-10T15:38:54.910-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Dear Family,</span><br />
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Hey it sounds like things are going pretty well back home. About the Olympics the people here honestly don't watch it all that much but I have seen it on a few televisions once and awhile, just not too often like in the states. They honestly probably don't have that many athletes in these Olympics.. Who knows. </div>
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Do me a favor and put the picture of us walking with the Barbosa sign as the Big picture on the top of the page on Facebook. But make it so you see everything good.<br /></div>
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I was wondering when Nielson would finish the mission, he left way before I ever did. That's pretty cool, I think I have heard people having those problems (Visa expiring before two years) but that's normal so it doesn't matter. One month early isn't that big of a deal. More than that then yeah its kind of different.. </div>
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This week was honestly a pretty hard week for us, mentally and physically. We just don't have investigators who are progressing. We weren't able to find as many new ones this week either. We are still trying to work hard and all. The Branch and us missionaries have now made some new plans to get the work moving a bit in the Branch. Every other <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2032705093" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> we are going to meet up with the Priesthood of the Branch to go on splits with them to visit the less actives in the ward. To also help them learn how to teach the lessons and all.. The first time was yesterday and we hope to keep it going. We as missionaries are going to have to start teaching classes on "How to give talks" and stuff like that. All most every week we have to teach one of the classes at church. For example my comp gave a talk <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2032705094" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Sunday</span></span> and I had to teach the Priesthood class. The other missionaries taught the Gospel Principles class ha. I talked my first <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2032705095" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> here. Kind of different right? But its ok, helps us learn more.</div>
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This morning we went to a thing called a Molino. I have no idea what that is in English. Its where they make all of their Panela that we drink here. Remember me saying we drink a lot of Aguapanela. Its that, we got to see it all get made, the whole process and all. We ate a bunch of it fresh out, the pic I sent Makenna.. Also we ate sugar canes and stuff. </div>
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We found this huge bug thing <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2032705096" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Saturday</span></span> which was almost as big as my agenda, it turned out awesome.. I had a bunch of good pics of it.</div>
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This week will be kind of cool because we will be traveling a bit. We have zone meeting <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2032705097" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Wednesday</span></span> morning at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2032705098" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">9 am</span></span>. I have a meeting as a District leader at 8. We will have to leave our house around 430 in the morning to get to Duitama on time. After the meeting we will go to Tunja (where I started the mission) and work that day. <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2032705099" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">On Thursday</span></span> we will have interviews with President around 11 in the morning. Honestly I am pretty excited to leave here for a day or two... I will be also be able to see some familiar faces in Tunja which will be pretty dang awesome. Hopefully we can cram quite a few appointments.. </div>
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This week we had some pretty awesome pictures and all. BUT, honestly, I am pretty sure this computer attacked it with a virus. I have a copy memory card with the pictures and all but of everything from this last week, no.. I am trying to get it scanned and all that good stuff. I will be pretty dang mad if it gets all deleted. </div>
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I hope everything is going pretty well back home. We are trying to get the work going here. Honestly didn't have too many experiences to share this week.. Well, got to get going.. Love ya and miss ya´ll. </div>
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Love</div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: medium;"> Elder Kade Larsen</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: garamond, serif;"> Colombia Bogota North Mission</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-8952760937989318962014-01-20T20:03:00.000-08:002014-01-20T20:03:26.254-08:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTkwop0oEo42ax7Gh-Vs-Pn9-PBrJVa8mcVufCe85NexQyBFYGHVpVQKp_jUH42lwwqfGyIvjU1Zrv29_CqJH5u2ljpcK7oycJLwsSzYi0x4Vl4uEIlL-DXFZMrdZSVTPi5RGaQR64r_wC/s1600/Kade+in+front+of+Bogota+Temple+January+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTkwop0oEo42ax7Gh-Vs-Pn9-PBrJVa8mcVufCe85NexQyBFYGHVpVQKp_jUH42lwwqfGyIvjU1Zrv29_CqJH5u2ljpcK7oycJLwsSzYi0x4Vl4uEIlL-DXFZMrdZSVTPi5RGaQR64r_wC/s1600/Kade+in+front+of+Bogota+Temple+January+2014.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Elder Kade Larsen in front of the Bogota Colombia Temple, January 2014<br /><div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Dear Family, (January 14, 2014) These letters have been edited.</span></div>
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Well, I got transferred.. How frustrating right? I guess that's what happens usually so you just kind of have to deal with it. This last week went really well, we had around 6 or 7 attend on Sunday. There is a baptism this week and then on the <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1466890256" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">1st of February. </span></span> There are like 5 or 6 dates and then on the 8th there is one or two. I left there with quite a bit of people ready to get baptized. It was pretty dang hard to leave. I hope that every one of those dates are fulfilled. There are also like 4 or 5 other people ready to get a date for February but still didn't have a date. I just hope I can see the pictures after their baptisms. </div>
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I was transferred to Barbosa. It's a little town in the Boyaca Zone. (Do you remember when I was in Tunja, sometimes we came here to play soccer or to hang out with the Elders). Same town. It's a HOT little town. So basically the closest other town with missionaries is Tunja. Kind of weird that I am close to my first area. We are like an hour and a half away. To go to Zone meetings and all its about 4 hours on bus and about 20 dollars. </div>
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I am now District Leader again and my comp and I both new to the area. We are basically starting from nothing. Looks like we are going to be doing some contacting. I wonder if I can find some of the people I met a year ago here.. If they will remember me. We arrived here around <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1466890257" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">midnight</span></span> last night.. We don't have a ward here, its a branch. Kind of different. Its a Casa Capilla. Which is like an apartment building changed to a church. I will have to take a picture.</div>
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We live with 4 Elders once again and our house is kind of destroyed. My comp and I will have to try and fix it up a bit. My seems like a good kid who also wants to work. He is from Bogota, Colombia. He also had three months in his last area when he got taken out. He has almost the same amount of time as me but has had problems so he has been in and out of Bogota South, North, and the Bolivia Missions. Medical Problems, etc.. He knows Sign Language and is going to teach me. Hopefully my mind capacity can handle it =).</div>
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Here in this new area its pretty Hot. I remember from when I had come before and am already dying here, ha. My body enjoys the cold parts of the mission.. Once again we have cold water showers but I still don't enjoy them very much ha. </div>
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At the temple it went really well and was cool. I enjoyed the movie. I did like how they used Utah for the desert.</div>
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<br />Well honestly we got to get going because we have to get to lunch... We are running a bit tired because we got to bed around 2 or so. Hopefully we can get some work done this week. We have to win back the ward so we will be visiting the members we can find as well. I miss ya´ll and love ya. Have an awesome week =) </div>
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Love<br />Elder Larsen,</div>
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Dear Mom, (January 20, 2014)</div>
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This week was kind of a hard week I guess you could say. We basically had to try and find some of the ward leaders on our own and we basically spent the week searching less actives and contacting. We were able to find around 11 people or so to have lessons with. We will be searching quite a bit in these few weeks so it will be good. Its an interesting process. We have met some really good member families. This town is pretty small. After about 2 days we basically know our way around like 90% of it. There are still a few parts we haven't gone to but those are in the plans for these next few days. Mainly we get to know more members so that we can have lessons with members.</div>
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It turns out that the other gringo here bought a water heater shower thing so sometimes I shower in their bathroom ha. </div>
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Today for P-day we went and played basketball at a park with the two sons of the branch president. They had two friends who actually play really well. It turned out pretty cool but we played at 2:30 so it was insanely hot. It's ok mom, I plastered on sunscreen so I didn't get too burnt. =) We also had an investigator come and play with us. We are teaching him and his mom. They are pretty cool. It was good because we gained a bit of trust with him. Also the other two friends of the members said we can start talking with them. One actually lives in Tunja so that kind of stinks but he comes here like every weekend or so. We will try and work that one out. ha. </div>
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One of the people that had baptismal dates back in Bogota got baptized last week. I will try and send you the pic but I still haven't received it.. </div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">It was interesting to hear Emily's stories. </span><span style="color: red;"> (His cousin on a Spanish speaking mission</span><span style="color: #222222;">) If I was her, I would have been pretty ticked as well when they were correcting her Spanish. I know how she feels as well. Its one of those things that get under the skin pretty quickly haha. I haven't really had anyone correct my Spanish for quite awhile but once in a while they correct a vocabulary word or something. It all depends on how they correct you, haha. </span></div>
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But anyways, things are going well here. We are working hard. I am pretty exhausted. Walking A LOT haha. But its ok. Hope all is well. Miss ya´ll and love ya´ll tambien.</div>
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Love</div>
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Elder Larsen</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-79693141153966197572013-12-31T16:11:00.001-08:002013-12-31T16:11:14.946-08:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZe73Cw2Jq8NKaXhpDUetCDiol-ApGNypNUtMKDjzkQAhlPJ-9IyjHUb9Oj6DC-H8_FR788mF0XcqYZ92XZqktDo2PD7LokMn2s9YbJW9WTHLSm6EHFN3-WBDZBRBjoLMIc6nRaFdeySm/s1600/Bogota+zones+Christmas+group+Dec+2013+236+missionaries+half+pictures.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZe73Cw2Jq8NKaXhpDUetCDiol-ApGNypNUtMKDjzkQAhlPJ-9IyjHUb9Oj6DC-H8_FR788mF0XcqYZ92XZqktDo2PD7LokMn2s9YbJW9WTHLSm6EHFN3-WBDZBRBjoLMIc6nRaFdeySm/s640/Bogota+zones+Christmas+group+Dec+2013+236+missionaries+half+pictures.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Colombia Bogota North Mission, Bogota zones meeting for Christmas. <br /> 263 missionaries in mission and this is only about half. Elder Larsen said he is one of the two tall gringos in the third row back, just left of the center.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibUEaLbgD3xMCpZpzE8BqP71UVYSCK_RMmhkrAeb9TxEN0BkcbrBN9p4fNlps5DPq1tkOV6flhmPkUkZhVlS4rPT0REnIz78XeeZH_UeMW3ZM6z3c0ujhFJKecxlJmpnYExuDkgkH8ic1J/s1600/Kade+in+poncho+Ruana+Dec+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibUEaLbgD3xMCpZpzE8BqP71UVYSCK_RMmhkrAeb9TxEN0BkcbrBN9p4fNlps5DPq1tkOV6flhmPkUkZhVlS4rPT0REnIz78XeeZH_UeMW3ZM6z3c0ujhFJKecxlJmpnYExuDkgkH8ic1J/s640/Kade+in+poncho+Ruana+Dec+2013.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is called a Ruana or a poncho. There is a ward member that has a business making ponchos and hammocks.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcBWAHy9E_FVflJS7DPLn7T_niEvENBxPI9P4UN6QaXgOOwsX8g4XhhI5QnyXfCzDfxiENVstI1tB-u6tNNcw0pxsAbrirljIrjDkOPdZhnKqlHyN0ROSGXMeKM3GqDXry4vl5jiXvmEcZ/s1600/Elder+Larsen+and+Elder+Castillo+Dec+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcBWAHy9E_FVflJS7DPLn7T_niEvENBxPI9P4UN6QaXgOOwsX8g4XhhI5QnyXfCzDfxiENVstI1tB-u6tNNcw0pxsAbrirljIrjDkOPdZhnKqlHyN0ROSGXMeKM3GqDXry4vl5jiXvmEcZ/s400/Elder+Larsen+and+Elder+Castillo+Dec+2013.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We have sure appreciate the hard working companion that Elder Larsen has right now. He is from Peru and has been a great Elder. They were thanked by the ward mission leader and the ward council for all of their hard work in the area.<br /><br /><br /><div class="ii gt m1434b089fc2792aa adP adO" id=":rw" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; direction: ltr; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 15px 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; position: relative; text-align: start; z-index: 0;">
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Dear Family, <div>
This week was pretty good I guess except many people travel because of the holidays and stuff. We still were able to have a decent amount of lessons though so I guess it wasn't as bad as we thought. But many of our investigators left so we will be anxiously awaiting for when they come back to continue the process with them. This Sunday we had 5 investigators come to church. We should have had more but who knows what happened with some of them. </div>
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On Tuesday night, the 24th, we went to visit the S_______ Family, which was pretty cool. (He sent us a picture telling us the names of each person but I can't post it without permission). </div>
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For the 25th, after the call home, we went to the L______ Family. (Another photo I can't post) They are a really cool family. On Christmas we honestly had like 1 or 2 lessons so most the day we just walked around to every ones house asking if they could meet and most people were sleeping or busy.. Turned out to be an okay Christmas though.</div>
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<br />Last night we had another little Christmas party with our 2nd counselor in the bishopric. I didn't take the picture so I will have to try and get it from the other Elder who took it. They gave us a mini Christmas stocking with a little chocolate bar or two. The little sock has our names on them too. I forgot to take a pic of it before leaving the house. </div>
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We still have our 2 baptismal dates for the 11th of January.. Some of our investigators aren't here and won't be back for a little bit so we will be searching for some new people this week as well. Hopefully January will be full of baptisms. We will have to see. We will also have to see if I am still around.</div>
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Sounds like everyone is doing well back home. I miss you guys and hope you are all doing well there. Hope you enjoyed the pictures that I sent today, I sent quite a few. I enjoyed seeing your pictures as well. Minute to win it and all of that stuff. I remember that show ha. Its funny because most of our programs in the states they have copies of here in Colombia. Minute to Win it I haven't seen it yet so I don't know if there is a show like that or not. But there is The Voice, Colombian Idle, Price is Right, etc. In Spanish obviously, ha.</div>
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Anyways, we are going to rest up a little bit. P-day ends at 5 today because President told us we have to be in the house at 7:30 for safety reasons tonight so we will try and get some visits in before that time. Love ya all and miss ya. </div>
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Love,</div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><b> Elder Kade Larsen</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><b><i>Colombia Bogota North Mission </i></b></span></div>
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<br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-36498656811359549952013-12-09T19:43:00.002-08:002013-12-09T19:43:48.310-08:00This is Elder Larsen's letter from December 9, 2013. He just received a new companion and they are working hard together and seeing success. The letter has been edited.<br />
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Dear Fam,<br />
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This week has a been a really busy week for us I guess you could say. It turns out that we aren't going to the temple <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_219861598" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"><span style="color: #222222;">tomorrow</span></span></span>. We had been planning on it and everything but they called and told us that this week we won't be able to because they changed our zone meeting to <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_219861599" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"><span style="color: #222222;">Tuesday</span></span></span> and we have our Christmas Conference with President <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_219861600" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"><span style="color: #222222;">on Wednesday</span></span></span>. Dang it right? We had planned appointments and everthing for today so that we could go. </div>
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Sounds like its getting pretty cold there in the states. I am kind of glad I am not sitting there in the snow. Here its getting hotter every day because the raining season is finishing up. Hopefully it doesn't get too hot here. </div>
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A good friend from my ward here is going to the same mission as Kyron, in January. He is 26 years old and will be Elder Perez. How long has Kyron been out on the mission? He plans on searching for him once he gets out there. </div>
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I know how Jade feels (about being turned down by their zone leaders when asking if they could go to the Centro). Happened to me before too. It was because our ZLs were both new in the area and they didn't know if we could or not so they would just say to no to everything. Pretty dang frustrating to tell ya the truth.</div>
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My comp and I are doing really well. This last week were able to have 10 new investigators which is good. One of them has a baptismal date for the <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_219861601" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"><span style="color: #222222;">21st of December</span></span></span>. He is a old investigator who had a few problems and didn't finish the process but really wants to get baptized, so thats the plan. We also have some other investigators that are two older women but who are also progressing well. They have some relatives who are members from another ward. The family members are from a ward in Northern Bogota. But they come for every appointment we have with them which is great. We have some others who are progressing as well and we hope to get dates for them right now as well. </div>
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My companion doesn't know any English, but thats ok with me. We are actually searching for a new house right now so that we can live on our own instead of living with 4. President likes it with 2 in a house as well. It's just a lot easier of a life I guess. </div>
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One experience... <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_219861602" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"><span style="color: #222222;">On Friday</span></span></span> night we were in an appointment when the Assistants called us. They called us and told us we needed to head over to a certain house. We had to go and see what was happening as soon as possible. We got there and when we got there we immediatly had to leave to go to the Clinic because one of the Elders there was sick and had to go there. We went with them to help with everything. Ended up having an infection in his stomach or something and will be fine in a few days. We left the clinic around 11 at night.. So late. I was so tired. The clinic is about 45 minutes away from the house I was with the Elder in the ER and everything because his gringo companion is still learning Spanish and doesn't understand much of what the doctors say. Turned out to be a long night but turned out ok. ha</div>
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We have to leave to go and have a lesson right now. Its because today we were pretty dang busy with everything. I did recieve the letters from seminary last year. I also recieved a package from Bishop, which I assume is from the ward in general but who knows, ha. I love ya and hope your doing great at home. I miss ya and love ya a lot. Have an awesome week this week. Love ya</div>
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<br />Love</div>
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Elder Larsen</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-62767570763055018822013-11-18T19:09:00.001-08:002013-11-18T19:09:38.310-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqftVabRkzJdKdvkNhXfViewRwmlwm9AJSRfH-GJ1UtWAngCFdhrHV7xA-SF_ePNdrEKLdQ6MHO1ycVCrgfut0IH3mwwyfA7lkwgQlPS4n_w8dPwoxo2R339f7tkRcb-jpPDMKZqpP4mcS/s1600/Elder+Martinez,+Elder+Gomez,+Kade+Nov+2013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqftVabRkzJdKdvkNhXfViewRwmlwm9AJSRfH-GJ1UtWAngCFdhrHV7xA-SF_ePNdrEKLdQ6MHO1ycVCrgfut0IH3mwwyfA7lkwgQlPS4n_w8dPwoxo2R339f7tkRcb-jpPDMKZqpP4mcS/s400/Elder+Martinez,+Elder+Gomez,+Kade+Nov+2013.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Helping a member move, November 2013<br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I was on the computer today when Kade wrote and so we were able to write back and forth just a little bit. I have inserted a bit of extra information that he gave me from our chat. I have also edited the letter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Dear Family and friends,</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Yes, I am fully aware that there are only 11 months left. I was thinking about it quite a bit and I wont lie, this last month went by pretty fast which means I honestly hope it slows down a little bit more. There is just a lot of work to do and not that much time do it.. Only 11 months. </div>
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This last week we had interviews with President. I totally forgot to ask them about the person you guys know. My interview went pretty well. I let him know whats going on here. My companion will be leaving in a week and a half so that will be here pretty quick. I have a lot to get to know in a week and a half. Wish me luck, ha. </div>
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I can't believe that Alex's farewell is in 3 weeks. He probably feels pretty good about not having to be in the MTC so long. How long will he be in there? He will probably have 6 weeks anyway. The crazy thing is that knowing the language from classes and knowing it in real life is a whole new world but it will help him get started. I am stoked that he is getting out there. Make sure you get me his email and address when he gets out there. </div>
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I also would have loved to go to Oakley's welcome home. (I told him a story of following a prompting that Oakley shared.) I won't lie, a lot of times we ignore the small promptings because we are running to appointments and stuff like that. I have been trying to focus a lot on that as well. (Elder Larsen has had an experience where the spirit told him to talk with a certain guy sitting on the street. They are having a hard time getting appointments with him) We haven't had much contact but we have an appointment tomorrow. I'm pretty sure. </div>
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This last week we found 7 new investigators. I decided we needed a new crop of investigators which means dropping the ones that just haven't progressed. Dropping people is one of the hardest things to do as a missionary. But a lot of the times it's the best thing for them. </div>
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Today we were going to go to Monserrate but we didn't end up going because my comp decided not to. I am kind of letting him decide what to do for this p-day and next p-day because they are his last p-days. Just because usually people have stuff they want to try and get done before leaving. (The weird thing is they ended up doing "nothing.....absolutely nothing.") </div>
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I worked on our area book for 3-4 hours this morning which is good because I got quite a bit of work done. Nobody has been keeping the area book for like 8 months. Joy right? haha. Its ok, I like doing it my way anyway. This week we also bought a new study table so now I can finally study on my own personal table! Woohoo =) It was around 30 bucks. The mission will pay me back for it as well.</div>
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This coming Saturday we are going to have a baptism. It will be nice to have a baptism. I'm pretty sure her uncle will be baptizing her, which will be pretty cool. This week we need to pick up a lot of new baptismal dates. Mainly with all of our new investigators. Without goals there isn't progression so we need to start making goals with them. </div>
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I can't lie, I love my mission! I am not excited to have to come home in 11 months. (I lied, I am excited but it will be really hard). I feel like I have a lot more to do here. President told me in my interview that I should have quite a bit of time here. Who knows, I could be one of the few missionaries who only serve in 4 areas on their mission. There just isn't time to waste if you get what I am saying. I know that God and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in that Sacred Grove. I know that through him, they restored the priesthood authority once again on the earth. I know that The Book of Mormon contains the word of God. It was written by inspired prophets from the antigüedad (I don't know how to say that word in English). Through studying it we can learn "The mysteries of Heaven." I love the mission and love this opportunity I have to serve here in Colombia. This is the mission for me!</div>
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I love you and hope all is going great with you guys. Have an awesome week and hope you are having an awesome holiday season so far.</div>
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Love</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Elder Larsen</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-7245161091115482592013-10-28T19:24:00.000-07:002013-10-28T19:24:16.294-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA76_vqhRfeo7LdbM4W_7WN3P2t0oaJqxrw5rqLGQJC94MbPF8ux6d33JVE9s_6Ik_8qbLWBt1rGKo1R3Khd9bnQU0P9Gbu26rw2oCF2isHIPD_fXuGgSz_SF-bB2wio0Hwfiazuz1E7ZB/s1600/IMG_4773.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA76_vqhRfeo7LdbM4W_7WN3P2t0oaJqxrw5rqLGQJC94MbPF8ux6d33JVE9s_6Ik_8qbLWBt1rGKo1R3Khd9bnQU0P9Gbu26rw2oCF2isHIPD_fXuGgSz_SF-bB2wio0Hwfiazuz1E7ZB/s400/IMG_4773.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
This picture is from a year ago when Elder Larsen was still in the Bogota MTC. It is just to show the size of the city of Bogota.<br />
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Elder Larsen got transferred to Bogota last week. It was a ten hour bus ride back to the city. They arrived in Bogota at 10 P.M. and were dropped off at an address in a rough neighborhood. It ended up being the wrong address so there they were, two guys in suits with five pieces of luggage, no phone, no numbers to call if they had a phone, after dark in a bad area. He said it was pretty sketchy for a little bit. It's a good thing Elder Larsen's mother knows that Heavenly Father takes care of his missionaries. They were able to find someone and borrow a phone. They had to call his old zone leader that lived ten hours away to get them help. Luckily they found a man that let them use his phone and receive a call on his phone. They were about two huge city blocks away from where they were supposed to be.<br />
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Kade said being in the capitol city of Bogota confirms his roots that he is NOT a city guy. He's a country boy born and raised. ;)<br />
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Elder Larsen's companion is an elder that goes home in one month. So they are trying to keep busy. <br />
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He said this week was actually a pretty long week. They have been working well and have been able to have some good lessons. They hope to have a baptism in two weeks of a young women. He has been able to meet quite a few people. Sadly, he only knows where a few of them live. He is still confused most of the time of where they are going in the city. He hopes he can pick it up soon. He said "Our ward has around 100 people attending so hopefully we can raise that up a bit." </div>
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He writes that one of the Elders that he lives with had to have surgery this morning and his companion had a doctors appointment so that has taken up their whole day. The elder that had to have surgery will be on bed rest for three days. </div>
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He writes, "I am exhausted.. Today it rained hardcore.. Elder M. had to run to the drug store to buy medicine for his companion that had the surgery. We were in the rain for like 10 seconds and were drenched. It's stopped now though."</div>
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"Have an awesome Halloween this week. It will be interesting to see how Colombia celebrates it. Everyone says they celebrate it though so thats good. Have an awesome week."</div>
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Love</div>
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Elder Larsen</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-89185213657454982902013-10-14T20:10:00.000-07:002013-10-14T20:10:07.807-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm_PALwv5ldgtISojdfq3ZbsIiS4ymrmh3oxSXlrg_Z9ivxjHgebE-pzj7jZt-nldT8I-LGVeat2zNbGz8eVeTTaBRqtr8-3cSqUI_jWvZtR_0g0pV3yubpFtZzKJSzy4lD4ab30Kofh8T/s1600/The+Fat+Lady+of+Botero+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm_PALwv5ldgtISojdfq3ZbsIiS4ymrmh3oxSXlrg_Z9ivxjHgebE-pzj7jZt-nldT8I-LGVeat2zNbGz8eVeTTaBRqtr8-3cSqUI_jWvZtR_0g0pV3yubpFtZzKJSzy4lD4ab30Kofh8T/s400/The+Fat+Lady+of+Botero+1.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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This statue is called La Gorda de Botero (The Fat Lady of Botero). Elder Larsen said that many families have a picture of it on their walls or a statue in their homes. It would be interesting to know what the meaning is behind the statue. I suppose the U.S.A. has naked statues in different cities also although I've never been a fan.<br />
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Kade has been out one year on Thursday, October 17th. Can I just say HORRAY!!!! Gary and I got shirts printed and I got the goodies ready and took pictures of them. A Colombian lady was coming up to conference and I was supposed to meet her to pick something up and send a package back with her. She never called so I just mailed the package. (There was already a half-way package in the mail that he may get on time.) I sent him a copy of the pictures because I knew the box wouldn't be there yet. The problem is that I sent the pictures to all of the family and I forgot to send them to Kade until he wrote back today and asked what pictures I was talking about. haha The candy is all cut in half because it is his Half-way mark. He gets half of the treats and his companion the other half. .<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9oMzkzbjPO_yBdDhutKGoV5c4pP3cHBSjjhmJkB9w9u92mEwIiC98hMYdym7j3Eodz_aVgMTXtgrQIBEYvW6d4a_kIUUchTyqdd0p0wVTHGxoJIaMhO2o0_7YhJGRPQpxF_ATswaCIuDg/s1600/Kade's+half+way+mark+2013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9oMzkzbjPO_yBdDhutKGoV5c4pP3cHBSjjhmJkB9w9u92mEwIiC98hMYdym7j3Eodz_aVgMTXtgrQIBEYvW6d4a_kIUUchTyqdd0p0wVTHGxoJIaMhO2o0_7YhJGRPQpxF_ATswaCIuDg/s320/Kade's+half+way+mark+2013.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsfAEuTb7W7WgLmTEUHndV3i12wX2sDA8cHQx0pgfWUWIIDfzPlVVNyLiftFTRKnr7VEmSMk9uqKuetLG1SE-Rn_5NcuW1Ti4sNMD923_oJ4XIj8glTKViFkGlLPsnRhn0_UAnsD786_K3/s1600/Kade's+half+way+mark+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsfAEuTb7W7WgLmTEUHndV3i12wX2sDA8cHQx0pgfWUWIIDfzPlVVNyLiftFTRKnr7VEmSMk9uqKuetLG1SE-Rn_5NcuW1Ti4sNMD923_oJ4XIj8glTKViFkGlLPsnRhn0_UAnsD786_K3/s320/Kade's+half+way+mark+5.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Sounds like his week could have been better. They've had some disappointments and he says that Satan is working hard in the area. Here is his edited letter.</div>
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Dear Family,</div>
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Half Way Mark! Just like in your subject line, ha. Well I guess I will complete one year this coming Thursday. Crazy right? I guess you could say I complete the 365 days on Wednesday or tomorrow I think. Elder Himes had the count going but I don't. First, what happened to the pictures that you said you were going to send? I never recieved any pictures this week. You paid quite a bit of money for the postage for the Christmas packages. Hopefully they all get here well. What I actually wanted to ask you (that I thought of this week) was Dr. Scholls Gel inserts. Just because my feet are killing me and have been for the last two months. Let me know if you happened to put those in it or not. If not, don't send a new package. If worst came to worst there is a person in Utah that I know from here that could bring them back. He is coming back in December sometime but we could figure it out I think. Who knows. Just let me know. There aren't any Dr. Scholls here, I dont think.</div>
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This week was kind of a rough week mentally I guess. We DID have some baptismal dates for 18th of October. BUT, right now we don't. We had one lady set for the 18th but she is pretty hesitant right now. We don't know why she doesn't feel ready but hopefully we can help her during this week so that she can do it next week or in two weeks. Who knows. The story that you don't know, remember we started two new people after Conference. On Tuesday we met up with them and invited them to be baptized on the 18th as well. They accepted and were progressing really well. We were teaching them almost every day this week (with the member that found them) until Saturday they called us and told us that the people where they were living kicked them out of the house. They had been here about a week and a half and were living with a friend of hers, the friend never paid her rent. So it ends up that they had to leave Saturday night to go back to the city they are from (close to Bogota) because they had no where to live here and no money to live off of. How frustrating. I hope that the missionaries there can follow up where we left off and get them in the church. They were changing a lot. Seems like I have the worst luck here in this area. When finally good things start happening it just seems to crash back down. Satan is working hard in this world. Satan seems to like ruining everything. </div>
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I will be leaving this coming Monday. Who knows where I will be going but It's pretty dang sure that I am leaving. This is my 4th change here in Diamante (finishing 6 months). I don't really know where I want to go. I wouldn't mind going to Bogota so that I can visit the temple once again. I also wouldn't mind going to Cucuta (but its hotter than here). But who knows where. Hopefully somewhere where the work is already started. In my first two areas when I arrive we have had to open the area basically because they didn't have any investigators when I arrived. The work is growing really well in Cucuta and Bogota which is great. Here in Bucaramanga its kind of stayed the same but hopefully the work can pick up soon.</div>
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Today as our last P-day. We went to Dominos with our Ward Mission Leader. He is also moving this week to Bogota which stinks for this ward because he was a good mission leader. </div>
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It was awesome to have some American pizza once again. Its been a LONG time. Colombia pizza is horrible compared to ours, ha. Dominos opened like 2 weeks ago here in Bucaramanga. So today we made the sacrifice to go there and buy it. After we took a picture with the Fat Naked Lady Statue.. lol Its a statue called "La Gorda de Botero" The Fat Lady of Botero. There is this statue and others in other cities here in Bucaramanga. Many people have paintings and what not of "la gorda de botero" in their houses. How weird right? Grover wanted to take a pic so we took one. Hope you like it.. lol </div>
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Well we got to get going so I guess I am done writing for today. Hope you guys are doing great. Have an awesome week this week with the deer hunt and all that is going on. I miss you and love ya. Hopefully we have a little party here ha. I am supposed to burn a shirt (I will burn a crappy one) ha. Love ya.</div>
<div>
Elder Larsen</div>
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(Later in the day)<br />
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Ha I like the pictures. We had to pass by internet again because my comp needed to write President. He forgot earlier.. Love ya. Have an awesome week. Of course they spelled Colombia wrong.. Everyone who writes me spells it wrong lol.Well love ya all!<br />
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Love</div>
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Elder Larsen</div>
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<img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" /></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-18958223867028741582013-10-08T18:14:00.003-07:002013-10-08T18:14:28.409-07:00<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Dear Family and Friends, (edited by mom)</div>
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<br />Things are going really well I guess you could say, here in Colombia. Conference was obviously awesome. We were able to watch all 5 sessions in English so that was a big plus. President puts a big emphasis on that just because he wants us to understand 100% of what they say. Understandable. It's Gods word, we need to know. There were loads of talks that were great. My favorite session was probably Saturday morning and also Saturday afternoon. The sessions were packed full of the 12 and also 70s who gave great great talks. For example Elder Dube, the African guy. Awesome. Edward, "Never look back, look at what we have left to do." There were many many themes and sayings that I have written down in my journal back at the house. One was like "Don't forget to look up!" I wish I had my notes! Dang it. Also when Thomas S. Monson said that it was the most powerful session he had been in. Do you know how many conferences he has had to attend in his life!? Wow. That says something pretty big.</div>
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<br />That lady that went to the states ended up just giving the poster to Elder Himes' mom, I am pretty sure, and she will get a hold of you. So I´m pretty sure she won't be calling to pick up the package you prepared.. Sorry about that. Remember how Elder Himes, Elder Grover, and I all arrived here together and we were all going to have our 6 months together. That changed last night. The assistants called Elder Himes late last night to tell him he has to leave today to go and be a secretary in Bogota. Meaning we won't be able to have a party on our one year mark together, ha. They also called Elder Nieman (from our same MTC group) to be a secretary as well. Both from my MTC group got taken out to go be secretaries. Dang it... lol I guess stuff happens.</div>
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<br />We are doing well here. Our investigators are progressing. One was having some doubts but she was able to come to conference (three sessions!) and I feel she really enjoyed it. We have changed her baptismal date from the 11th to the 18th. And we still aren't too sure about the 18th because she is kind of on the iffy side right now of it all. I think she is just scared to actually make the change in her life. We have a lesson with her tomorrow so we will be talking about that with her. We also had two new investigators go to conference and they really enjoyed it. A lady and her son. We actually might be able to baptize them on the 18th but we will see what happens with them as well. That is pretty dang fast but hey, people have done it in two weeks before, why not now? The other families are doing well as well. They weren't able to come on Sunday which was heart breaking but we are working with them.</div>
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There are many members who are getting involved with the work. FINALLY. There are many who want to visit those families in their houses, without us missionaries. This would be good because it would make us less important in the conversion process of these people. Which is a good thing. We are the least important people in the process. I have learned many things I guess you could say. My comp started working a bit better after the conference sessions so that is great to see.</div>
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<br />Kind of crazy to hear about the capital (Government shutdown) and all that stuff going on down there. Sorry to hear about it. People have brought up some stuff about it but I haven't heard anything about it because we don't watch the news. Fricken Obama (sorry about the fricken but I'm just not a big fan of the guy).</div>
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<br />Did you guys listen to ALL of conference this weekend or did you miss some sessions. If you missed, get on the computer and listen to them (it isn't the same but you need to do it).</div>
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<br />Today we had a SUPER P-day because our mission had 120 baptisms in September. We basically played basketball all day and right now I am about to fall asleep at the computer. We played pretty hard, but hey it was cool because it was with Gringos and they know how to play a bit better, ha. But anyways, I love ya and hope all is going great for you guys. I need to get off because we have an appointment right at 6 and its not that close to here.</div>
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Well love ya all. Chao!<br />ELder Larsen</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-65338127620242546432013-10-02T20:04:00.000-07:002013-10-02T20:04:16.463-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I am pretty sure I would die if I had to be in 30 degree weather right now. Sorry but I think I would. Here it has been the opposite. It used to rain almost every day but now its just HOT and a lot of the time its really humid. How great right? ha. Like today we went to La Cumbre (an area in our zone) and had a little BBQ with other elders and it was HOT.. I got burned. </div>
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That is pretty cool that you went to the Women's Conference. I guess they do broadcast it here but its not very well known. Like not that many of the sisters go to it. Kind of sad right? We are really stoked to have conference come up this weekend. Hopefully we will be able to bring some of our investigators to some of the sessions. Its always a given that they will feel the spirit during some of the talks. </div>
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Things here in Colombia have been going pretty dang good actually. Its kind of amazing. I guess you could say that in the last 2 or 3 weeks all of the sudden many of the people that I have found in my time here (3-6 months ago) all of a sudden had the *click* moment. Its been amazing to see. Seriously, like people I found when I first got here that we basically had dropped, all of a sudden have clicked and want to follow the gospel plan. Its been legit. Crazy but awesome. The family is progressing a lot, they couldn't attend yesterday though. DANG IT. But there was a dance <span><span>on Friday</span></span> that the stake put on and so we invited them (a dance for adults with a Pioneer them). AND THEY CAME! BOOM. It was awesome. We introduced them to the Stake President and the Bishop and then we had to leave because it was already 9 o' clock. They will have to get married so we will see what happens with that as well. They might be able to get baptized before I leave if we hurry the process up. </div>
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We actually have quite a few people who had that clicking moment and so in reality probably in the next change my comp will have like 6 baptisms. So frustrating that I will be gone. I have worked with these people for so long. But sometimes you only get to plant the seed and you don't get to reap the harvest. Its hard when that happens, kind of a downer on the confidence part of the mission. </div>
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We are working hard. We are getting better every week with our stats so its going well. The ward is also waking up a bit more and wanting to accompany us quite a bit and that's a huge deal. Its awesome because we can have a lot of lessons with members. </div>
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There is a sister from Tejar (the other ward that meets at our chapel) who is going to the states <span><span>tomorrow</span></span>. She is going so that she can watch the General Conference. She is going to take my painting that I received in Tunja to the states. It has all of your numbers and what not so that she can call you when she gets there. I was also thinking that if you can, you should prepare a little package so that she can bring that back to here. She will be coming back next week. </div>
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(I told him I recognized his hand holding a bag of hormigas, the big butt ants, in a picture that another mother posted from her Elder) I don't remember if I was holding the bag of ants in the picture. I would have to see the picture. Elder Grover told me he sent a pic but that was a week or two ago so I don't have a clue. I bought some too and will also be sending them to you guys. =) And like Grover told them. You can't throw them away and you can't give to animals. Everyone in the family needs to eat them and after you can give some to friends. We also decided that you need to wait to eat them when we are talking on SKYPE so that we can see your reactions haha =). Awesome right? haha. </div>
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Well anyways, I need to get going. I hope that all is going well for you guys. I miss ya and hope you have an awesome week with conference and all. I'm pretty excited for it. Conference is totally different as a missionary.. just sayin. Love ya.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-67964781591730514312013-09-24T20:33:00.000-07:002013-09-24T20:33:07.464-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Kade sent some pictures of his p-day activities and they usually include playing soccer. He was excited this week because they got some members to come and play with them. He asked me to post this picture and said that he had received permission from everyone in it.<br />
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He is excited about the missionary work. The way that they keep their records has changed and there is a lot of emphasis being put on reactivating members. Kade has spent quite a bit of time doing that and so he is excited about being able to count those statistics. <br />
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He has some great investigators that they are working with and is excited to be teaching some with baptismal dates. It is exciting to see people accept the gospel into their lives and make the changes needed to be baptized.<br />
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They had investigators at church last week and he said the meetings were great. The talks were all about families and so it was great to have a family there with them. The missionaries sang the song, Praise To The Man and Kade had the little tape recorder I sent in his pocket. I'm excited to hear that. He said that he and Elder Grecci sang the low part. The other two, Elders Grover and Barros' voices didn't pick up as well because they were further away from him. <br />
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He was impressed that their Gospel Principles class had about 20 people come. Between the two companionships they had a lot of people attending church this week and they were excited about that. <br />
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I told him that his Dad and I had made fresh salsa and it was the best we'd ever made. He LOVES salsa and misses it a lot. He's put in his request for that to be the first thing that he eats when he gets home. He also said he misses the leaves changing color in the fall, the deer hunt, the smell of a campfire and the smell of a 4-wheeler exhaust. (yuck) <br />
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He is excited about Conference coming up and wants to encourage everyone to be sure and watch all of the sessions. He said that there are three "Gringo Elders" this time in his area and so he will get to watch it in English. They are planning a Gringo party which means they are going to have FOOD. =)<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-63029498424243647172013-09-16T20:07:00.000-07:002013-09-16T20:07:58.835-07:00I happened to be on the computer when Kade sent an email and was able to email back and forth for a few minutes. He said, "Love ya and hope all is going well for your guys. Put a smile on =) if you don't already have one on =) Miss ya and love ya. A nice big HUG for ya right now. It's Dia de Amor y Amistad here in Colombia (yesterday). Like St. Valentine's Day kind of but it's bigger here. Well love ya =) "<br />
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Kade has been serving for 11 months tomorrow. He thought he was going to be transferred last week and wasn't. He will be in Bucaramanga for six months by the time next transfers come around. His companion did get transferred to a different place in the city and he got his old companion from Tunja back again. I don't think that happens very often but I think that transfers were affected by the unrest in Colombia.<br />
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Kade said, "We ate "Mute" for lunch. Its a typical plate from this state here in Colombia. It has some things in it which are kind of gross. One of which is called Tripa. Which is like intestines or the animals gut." He said that overall it was good. I can't believe that he is eating these things because he was quite a picky eater before his mission. It makes me wonder what we eat that Colombians would think was really weird.<br />
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This week he introduced his new companion to all of the ward members and they were also able to start teaching some new people. He is excited about that. <br />
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Today they were able to go out and play soccer on the synthetic field for p-day. They were able to get quite a group of members and investigators together to play with them. He enjoys the friendships that he is building while serving on his mission. <br />
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He received some packages today and was excited to get a new journal so he could start writing every day. He also loved the dill pickle sunflower seeds that we sent. He said just putting a handful of those in his mouth brings back loads of memories.<br />
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We are thankful to the members in Colombia who have been keeping us updated with pictures on Facebook and with little messages about Elder Larsen. Thank you for caring for him. He did send some pictures but I can't share them without the permission of everyone in the picture. Sorry.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-65993557508266890042013-09-02T20:31:00.000-07:002013-09-02T20:31:12.827-07:00<div class="ii gt undefined" id=":oi" style="display: none;">
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This week has been quite a bit different than usual I guess you could say. Yes, things in Colombia were a bit crazy this last week but it is getting a lot better. I think the agriculture argument has calmed down quite a bit so now there are only a few other groups that are looking for agreements with the government. It feels like almost all types of people have a beef with the government right now. The Zone Leaders are supposed to go to Bogota this week and we don't know if they will be able to go. Supposedly everything has cooled down quite a bit compared to the past couple of weeks. But who knows if they unblocked the road to Bogota or not, hopefully. Transfers are this <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2113771038" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">coming Sunday</span></span> and if things are still bad by then, we probably won't have transfers. That would be kind of crazy wouldn't it? It would throw off the time scale pretty badly for a lot of missionaries.</div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2113771039" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">On Thursday</span></span>, the Zone Leaders called us around 7 in the morning saying that we could not leave the house for any reason for the entire day. It was because throughout the country people had planned a bunch of marches so it was better to not leave the house. So NOBODY (missionaries) left their houses <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2113771040" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">on Thursday</span></span>. <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2113771041" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">On Friday</span></span> we were able to leave but only till 6 at night when we had to return to our house. When we saw the most stuff happening was <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2113771042" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">on Friday</span></span> morning. There is that bridge in front of our apartments and that bridge is highly used. There was a group of like 250 motorcyclists or more that blocked the bridge for a bit and then they all went to the center to block it there so it wasn't in front of our house too long.</div>
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We had the baptism <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2113771043" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">on Saturday</span></span> night and it turned out really great. I was able to baptize her. My companion confirmed her at church <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2113771044" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">on Sunday</span></span>. My companion and I will only have one more week together here in Diamante. </div>
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This week we don't have any baptism dates because we weren't able to get our investigators to church this week. DANG IT. So Frustrating sometimes how people don't understand the importance of the gospel. We have quite a few people that we are teaching who are doing really well though so it has been really good. </div>
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Today we went on kind of a nature hike. You have NO IDEA how far we walked because we didn't really know how far it was to get there. My companion was pretty mad at me that we went. We went as a zone so I couldn't really say that we wouldn't go. </div>
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Today we are exhausted and we want to go to the house and rest a bit. I hope that you guys have a super great week. The things here in Colombia are getting better so all is well here for us. Thank you for the fast that you guys put on. It was cool to hear about it. Love ya and miss ya all =)</div>
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Love<br />Elder Larsen</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978830435673591221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871171599161152696.post-49765212397120186952013-08-26T21:07:00.001-07:002013-08-26T21:07:50.652-07:00<div class="iw ajw">
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Elder Kade Larsen wrote today and mentioned the uprising that is going on in Colombia. I heard about it briefly from the Colombia Missionary Mom site but hadn't heard that things had gotten out of control in some areas. I am so glad that Kade isn't in Tunja right now although there are still many missionaries and members there. It sounds like the missionaries are taking some precautions and trying to have some food on hand. The Colombian Missionary Moms are holding a special fast for our missionaries and for this situation in Colombia to be resolved quickly this Saturday and Sunday if anyone would like to join us. I looked up a little bit about the strike on the internet and am sharing this tiny bit. Feel free to it up yourselves.</div>
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"A nationwide strike in Colombia—which started as a rural peasant uprising and spread to miners, teachers, medical professionals, truckers, and students—reached its 7th day Sunday as <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23829482">at least 200,000</a> people blocked roads and launched protests against a U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement and devastating policies of poverty and privatization pushed by US-backed right-wing President Juan Manuel Santos."</div>
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Kade wrote, "Well this week in Colombia has actually been pretty crazy as well. You will have to look it all up online or something. I am surprised you haven't heard anything about it. Elder Grover's mom knew about it, ha. There have been a lot of protests here. I don't know if it's in the country or kind of just our mission. Probably most of the country. The worst part of it all is Tunja (where I was at a few months ago). The protests are basically about everything. There are also quite a few going on here in Bucaramanga but not close to us. The protesters are blocking off the highways between the cities so that people can't leave or enter the cities. In Tunja, (I called them), they can't leave their house and haven't been able to since <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_621554095" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">Friday</span></span>. How horrible right? </div>
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The assistants called us all and have told all the missionaries we have to go out and buy rice, water, pastas, things that would last for at least a week if we weren't able to leave the house. My companion and I bought some rice the other day but in all honesty I have NO money. I didn't want to take more out without saying first so I am now asking you to put some money in there for this emergency. We need it to be able to buy some things and also to have some money if we have to leave all of the sudden. In Bogota it is a bit crazier too. YOU DONT NEED TO WORRY, NOTHING HORRIBLE IS HAPPENING HERE WHERE I AM AT. I promise. Its just kind of precautionary type things. </div>
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Things have been going really well here. Of course, there have been some rough days and all. But we are getting better and better every day we are here. I hope that all of you are doing great back home and I hope that all is well. Thanks for the emails. It was great to hear from you guys after a long week."</div>
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<div class="hq gt" id=":lx">
<div class="hp">
</div>
<div class="ho">
</div>
<table aria-role="presentation" cellpadding="0" class="cf hr"><tbody>
<tr><td class="hw"><span id=":m0"><a class="e" href="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=cb6549b12c&view=att&th=140bccfdf0bc9b3b&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_hku9rvaw0&safe=1&zw" target="_blank"></a></span></td><td><span id=":lz"></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table aria-role="presentation" cellpadding="0" class="cf hr"><tbody>
<tr><td class="hw"><span id=":m2"></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</span></div>
<div class="ii gt undefined" id=":mu" style="display: none;">
<div id=":mv" style="overflow: hidden;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="hq gt" id=":lx">
<div class="hp">
</div>
<table aria-role="presentation" cellpadding="0" class="cf hr"><tbody>
<tr><td class="hw"><span id=":m0"><a class="e" href="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=cb6549b12c&view=att&th=140bccfdf0bc9b3b&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_hku9rvaw0&safe=1&zw" target="_blank"></a></span></td><td><span id=":lz"> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table aria-role="presentation" cellpadding="0" class="cf hr"><tbody>
<tr><td class="hw"><span id=":m2"><a class="e" href="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=cb6549b12c&view=att&th=140bccfdf0bc9b3b&attid=0.2&disp=inline&realattid=f_hku9rvbh1&safe=1&zw" target="_blank"></a></span></td></tr>
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