Elder Larsen's letter on April 22, 2013

The people in Colombia are spoiling Elder Larsen.  Apparently he had birthday parties all week long.  He writes, "Wow this week has been pretty dang stacked up with stuff for sure. This week we have had 6 different cakes to eat.. Wow right? Never ate so much cake in my life. Its ok though because it was really, really good. Three of them were the same kind. Vanilla with strawberries inside. Oh tan rico! lol I will try and send some of the pictures with this as well. There were plenty of parties so I have a lot of photos."

For P-day they went to Barbosa. Barbosa is the other area in their district and takes about an hour and a half to get there. They went and played futbol (soccer) with an investigator and a Hermano (around 55 years old). "It was pretty fun, it was also the first time I have played soccer in like 4 years."  It wasn't like normal soccer. It was called micro and is played with a smaller ball and on a lot smaller field.  "I was with Elder A_____ and an investigator. Elder A_____, before the mission, was given a contract to sign with a professional team in Honduras (needless to say he is pretty good). They were surprised that I, as a gringo, could play a little bit." He said it is a lot hotter in Barbosa than Tunja, "which kind of stinks".  Maybe he meant that literally because he said he was sweating like a criminal on the run. haha 

 

They had a couple lessons with a special family this week. He is so nervous right now about this family. He doesn't want to leave Tunja with them not being members of the church because they have spent so much time working with them. Transfers are in two weeks. They are inviting them, again, to get baptized on the 4th.  The dad needs to make some progression with the word of wisdom. He asked us to please pray specifically for this family and this date.

The people really liked the four missionaries that were there before the last transfer.  Members had gotten close to them.  Kade is nervous to leave and said the members are nervous about him leaving too.  They say he is the last of "the 4". When it was "the 4" they had a lot of success working with the members.  He said, "Every house we go to they are like "Your the only one left! When you leave we are going to cry!"  Kade says he is doing his best to keep the people happy and trying to have his companion make connections with the people. It is hard because his companion doesn't talk very much.

Kade said the people love the photos of our family.  I'm thinking, "Why is he flashing those around!"  haha  But then with three weddings last year we have plenty of recent family photos.  He said that most people think that Tanner is Kade in 80% of the photos. They always say "Is this your girlfriend! Very pretty!" about Tanner's wife.  He said it's always fun to talk about the family with them. "They think our family is awesome."  It is amazing how much more our kids appreciate our home AFTER they have left, especially when they leave Utah and get out in the world.  It would be interesting to hear what he is telling them about us, wouldn't it?

Kade is doing great!  If you would like to write him his email address is kade.larsen@myldsmail.net.

 

Elder Larsen with a birthday gift from some members.  It is a painting by a street artist that paints with cans of spray paint.  It was made especially for him and even says happy birthday in Spanish.



Elder Larsen holding a birthday cake that he thought was so delicious.  He said they put something like fireworks on them.

Elder Larsen had a great birthday and wanted to thank all of you that sent special birthday wishes.  He had birthday wishes from around 100 of you that respond to my plea.  THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!   He felt special and remembered, which is exactly what we were trying to accomplish.

 

On his birthday he was up at 3 AM and was traveling by 3:45 heading to Bogota.  He couldn't get any sleep in the bus because the driver had his music too loud.  They had a great day in Bogota.  They played basketball and also some good old American football.  He said it was nice to play with the other American elders that knew how to play and they played hard.  They had a lunch and then changed in to their suits for a conference with the President.  About the time the conference started, so did his migrain.  Blasted migrains!!!  That is an inherited thing that our kids get.  They are miserable!  He was able to locate a couple of ibuprofen and take them.  He felt sick the whole conference but made it through. 

 

The people in Tunja spoiled him for his birthday. He had a celebration with the Hermana Suezca family the night before his birthday and was taken to a pizza place.  They had a dinner, birthday cake, and a family home evening in the restaurant.  They also gave him the gift of the picure above. The picture is made from a street painter that paints with spray cans. It looks so well done.  He loves it.  They also had a popcorn party with one of the members he shares a close birthday with.  The members are so good to him in Tunja and from his family here in America, THANK YOU!  

 

They've taught some powerful lessons this week. One of his investigators is recovering from a surgery and then found out that her daughter has stomach cancer and it is really serious.   Nobody in the house is working because she just had a surgery and the daughter now has cancer.  The daughter has six little kids living with her. He has asked us to keep her in our prayers because they definitely need it. 

 

The rules for email have changed recently for the missionaries.  You can write him at kade.larsen@myldsmail.net  He may not have time to answer everyone immediately but he would love to hear from you.  He said he does think the "Dear Elder" does deliver to Bogota North because he sees elders with letters all the time from Dear Elder.  They are supposed to receive that in a week as opposed to a month going through the mail system.  I will have to try that and report if it works well or not.

 

Kade has had an experience this week that reinforces the reason I pray for his safety every single time that I pray. I am sure that he was directed by the Holy Ghost.

  

Elder Larsen says General Conference was pretty awesome he wasn't able to watch all of the sessions. If someone else could watch in English with him then he could go in tot he bishops office and have it streamed in on the internet.  Some sessions he had to watch in Spanish but said he had to concentrate so hard on what they were saying that he couldn't take too good of notes. The second Sunday session had just started when they had a "bit of a disturbance."   I will use Elder Larsen's words to describe it.  "Basically, a crazy guy came trying to stop his old fiance from coming to conference. They were fighting when they came in. She was trying to get away and one of our bishopric members stepped in and the guy punched him two or three times. When I entered the hall is when she got away from the guy and the counselor was just stepping in. I passed the Sister in the hall because she ran to the office. He saw me and didn't enter into the hallway any further. I separated them and the guy yelled at me for a bit and then left, slamming the door and throwin a fit. I wanted to do something more but I had the pretty strong thought to just wait for him to leave and listen. I stood between them both so that he didn't came after the counselor again. The people in the conference in the chapel didn't hear it because the volume was way loud because there are a few members who can't hear well. The police came and left quickly to go and find him. They found him and he got arrested. The counselor in the bishopric has to have surgery this week. After the guy left I was helping the counselor until more help came and we gave him a blessing there on the spot. The EMTs came to help as well and told him he needed to go to the hospital for an xray. I was there because I was watching it in English in the bishops office, so it was mainly just us. Thats a LONG story made really short."

He is bound and determined to go and watch the Sunday afternoon session sometime this week. Maybe for their companionship/language study. The disturbance happened during his favorite speaker. He liked the quote from  Elaine S. Dalton's talk "What e`er thy art; act well they part."

He thought it was amazing to hear the number of missionaries out in the mission field right now. These numbers were the numbers at December 2012 so there are definitly more out there now. The work is moving forward and he is glad to be a part of it. He is also glad that I was just before the huge boom. 

 

This last week they had around 10 different investigators attending one or more of the conference meetings.  They also had some great lessons with a family last week where the father asked all the questions he could think of and after he felt a lot better about the church. 

Elder Larsen was "really stoked" to hear about Cedar City getting a temple and is wanting to know where they are going to put it. He said he gets asked often how many temples are in the United States and in Utah.  So I was able to get a list and send it to him.  Now he can answer those types of questions too.

I sent his birthday package on March 1st to make sure that it got there by his birthday next week on April 16th.  He said, "Hey, I recieved the birthday package and ended up opening it this week because I didn't want to wait too much longer. I am actually wearing the Utah State Aggies shirt right now (Thanks Tan and Linds) haha Its a pretty sweet shirt and it honestly feels like a muscle shirt so thats always a good feeling right? lol"

Next week is his birthday and I would really like to make it special for him.  I would like all of you to leave a comment for him.  I will collect them on Sunday and get a special birthday email ready for him.  He's turning 20.  Please help me make his birthday special.  Thanks.

Elder Larsen just wrote and wanted to settle our worries.  He is so much better this week.  He says the week before was horrible but that by last Tuesday most of the ill effects went away and he felt totally better two or three days later.  "Man was it great to feel good again.  I felt like I was sick for a year or so.  Obviously not, but that's what it felt like." 

In Tunja, Holy Week is a big deal. In other areas of Colombia they have reenactments of the crucifixion but not in Tunja, thank goodness.  Kade's cousin, Jade, is a missionary in Mexico and they had to be in early every day and weren't able to leave the house on Friday. They do have a lot of traditions that they do in Tunja.  He said that the Klu Klux Klan  is there in Tunja.  They wear the same stuff that they did in the states.  He hardly dared take a picture but I think they were in a parade there.  He was going to send pictures of something and must have forgotten.  He said in the parades each group has a part of the crucifixion so they have things like a cross or a casket. 

In Colombia, the unspiritual part of Easter is nonexistent.  They do not have anything to do with Easter eggs or the Easter bunny.  He said the speakers in church did speak about Easter and the events having to do with Christ.

He said, "Satan's presence is everywhere and sometimes he really makes me mad!"  They are still working with some really good investigators.

The first week with his new companion went really well.  Elder Larsen said when he met with the Mission President a few weeks ago the President was really impressed with his Spanish.  He said the president even said, "Wow, gift of tongues Elder!"  He said the President must have had a lot of faith in his Spanish because after that he sent him a Costinian as a companion.  He said the only Spanish he can't understand is his companions. haha  With time it is getting better. He said that he uses other words that he has never heard in his life.  That is just how Spanish is, different area of the country they use different words.  Because it was Holy Week it was very hard to meet with people.  Many people left town to visit family.  They visited with a lot of members, which was good so that the new elder to the area could meet them.  They were able to teach investigators a little bit but not as much as they wanted.

Kade is jealous of his cousin serving in Mexico because he gets to eat chips and salsa almost every day.  He said they found out there was a store that had peanut butter.  They went there and he was "so excited to have peanut butter once again in my life." But, the store had ran out and won't have any for at least a week.  

Kade also found out this week that his favorite teacher, Laura Stoker, from Colombia Basin College passed away.  He said, "She is one of my favorite people from Washington and was willing to help me with anything I would need to get started in this career."  He appreciates friends keeping in touch with him to let him know things like that.

Elder Larsen had a rough week this last week.  To start off, he and his companion celebrated and bought out dinner last Monday because it was their last P-day together.  A few hours after his "stomach started to go a little crazy but not too bad.  Within a day it was a killer!  It's like a cat is in my stomach and wants to get out."  He says the worst part of it is that he is having so much pain in his back where his kidneys are.  He said it was too painful to sit and type a very long letter.  (Now I am worried sick!)

 

Saturday a baptism was scheduled for a family that they have been working with.  They have worked really hard to help this family receive the blessings of the gospel in their lives.  The pictures were taken before the baptism.  The talks were given and then an older son and his girlfriend came in.  The girlfriend had been looking up all kinds of anti information on the internet and had already discussed it with the family before they came to be baptised.  The son talked with the dad again for ten minutes right before he was to be baptised.  Finally the dad put back on his street clothes and the baptism was called off.  This was really hard for the elders and I'm sure they were heartbroken.  There were a lot of great ward members there to support the family and I think everyone was in shock.  I believe Satan hates to see families come in to the gospel and will do everything he can to keep them from entering in to the true church of Jesus Christ.  The family is still talking with the missionaries to have their questions answered.

 

Elder Larsen's companion was transferred and so was the other American elder that was in Tunja.  He is receiving an elder from Barranquilla that has been out just over a year.  He said that now he will be the only American in the entire area and will have to speak Spanish ALL of the time.  He said it will be six weeks of a lot of progression with his Spanish.  To top the week off, during transfers his phone fell out of his pocket and now he doesn't have a phone and may not have one for a month. 

 

This week is Holy Week called Semana Santa.  He said that everything is closed.  He hopes it's not like that the entire week because it sure makes the work harder to do.   The celebration is huge there and he hopes to send pictures next week.  They have taught some good first lessons this week and are even teaching a professor.  He said he is teaching him English for about 20 minutes and the gospel for about 40. 

 

It is starting to be the rainy season there and they have had rain almost every day for the last week.  For the next two months they will be getting a lot of rain. "Yipee!"  The best part of his week was when he got his scripture cases that were special made for him.  This is what he bought with his Christmas money.  His favorite is of Enos praying but he loves them both.

 

 

I have discovered this past week that we are not allowed to repost the Elder's actual letters.  This is to protect people that they are working with and their companions.  So if I do post a picture or give a name, I have permission to do so. 

Elder Larsen wrote a great letter this week.  He's all excited about missionary work. He said that he wrote us much earlier last week because they were informed that they were heading to Bogota for some special meetings.  They had a bus prepaid and were scheduled to be picked up at 5:45 on Monday night.  The bus never came. Around 8:30 P.M. a different company came and offered them a ride to Bogota.  He said that on the temple grounds there is an area that is almost like apartments/motels for the people that travel from far distances and need to spend the night.  All of the missionaries in his zone spent the night there.  The next day there was an awesome devotional with Elder Nash as the speaker.  He is a member of the quorum of the 70.  He is currently living in Salt Lake City but has been in Peru for the past four or five years.  His area was the northern part of South America.  The missionaries were taught many things and it was a very spiritual meeting for them.  They also had a question/answer session and were able to get some questions answered about how best to do certain things in the mission like get people to get married that had been living together for years and had children together.  Elder Larsen said that it was an awesome experience and he learned a lot.

They have been working towards getting a couple married in his area before they could be baptised.  The couple got married this week.  He was so excited about that.  The missionaries said they would bring the pop (gaseosa) to the wedding.  The couple thought they were joking and were surprised when they actually showed up with the goods.  He said, "We don't kid around about stuff like that. haha  But yeah, it was really fun and we met a bunch of new people."  They are already teaching some of them and they have come to church.  The couple that got married has been working towards a baptism date of this coming Saturday.

His companionship will change next week.  Elder Larsen thinks his companion will probably be leaving Tunja and he will be staying.  There will also be a third area created in Tunja to help absorb all of the new missionaries coming.  He is so worried the new area will take some of the people he is working with or that he's become so close to.  He'll soon realize that is what happens in a mission.....you get transferred and leave the people behind.  It's hard.  It is nice to hear that he has become close to the people and has learned to love them.

Kade has been helping people with their English homework and helping to write important letters for a girl that is coming to America on exchange.  He joked that he feels like he sometimes studies more English there than he does Spanish.

He was excited to hear about the new bishopbric at the prison branch in Gunnison.  He thinks Bob and Don will be terrific.  He was also wondering if that meant Weapon and the old bishopbric got realsed  or if there is more than one ward there.

He loves hearing about all of his friends being called on missions and is so excited for Kaesen who got his call last week and it's the exact same mission and departure date as another friend of his.  He wonders if anyone that he knows will ever get sent to his mission.  He said, "I have a feeling that stuff like that is going to happen a lot more often because of how many people are heading out.  How cool would it be if someone gets sent to my mission (just saying ha)."

Elder Larsen sends his love and hopes that everyone has an awesome week. 

Dear Family, That is so awesome to hear about Brady´s new mission call. He leaves in April as well.  That is so awesome. Before my birthday even, lol. I am excited for him. Yeah it was a pretty bold promise for Emily to say (he would be serving out on his mission before  her birthday in May) but I had been thinking about it as well and I thought it was definitely possible.  Family and Church History is an awesome calling. We had a part of our training where we studied some things about the Church history sites and how  to use it. It was probably my favorite part of my training and is a fun thing to do. It will  be awesome for him to help other people, members and nonmembers, search for their ancestors. Family is the central unit of society and people from all cultures believe that so he will be able to have some great experiences with it all.   Emily´s situation sounds kind of crazy but hey, I guess that kind of stuff happens right? She will probably be training this coming transfer so she doesn't need to worry. If I get  to train I think it will be fun. I honestly think training will be better than not but who  knows, I haven't experienced either of the two. I will experience one or other starting on March 25th. It would be rough having a companion that was negative. Makes things a lot harder but Emily knows how to be happy and nothing can stop that.    I will send you a note for the Bells. That will be really great and so I really thank them for that.  It really means a lot when people send stuff or offer help for the mission.   Oakley is a total stud and I have had a few emails with him during the mission. He has had some pretty neat experiences. Maybe I will have some other cool ones like he has   had sooner or later, ha. The other day I ate a chicken foot for lunch. We had a normal lunch and then the Hermana brought out a bowl of them. I could only eat one but she didn't care because she loves them and ate the rest.   Those pictures for sight seeing and bowling were the week before last. Last week we had to go to Duitama and help some Elders over there and we got back to Tunja too late for email. Yeah, who knows what (knowledge) I will end up using. I have fixed a   pipe or two so far but it was basically just gluing it back together. Most people here that have these pipes don't bother spending the money for the glue or at least not much glue so they don't last that long (in my opinion).   The baptism went well.  Jaime was the only person to get baptized. The family has some internal problems they are trying to settle before they get baptized.  Its been hard for the North Elders with this family because they have been focusing so hard on them but just cant quite get them there. They called about 15 minutes before the baptism and said they  wouldn't be able to do it that day. Jaime was baptized and confirmed in church the next day. He was given the priesthood as well and everything went great. He showed up in our house Sunday morning before church in a suit ready to go but didn't have a tie so I gave him one of mine. He plans on leaving for a mission in a year from now because he is done studying after this semester.   I am staying healthy, well I think so. I really want to check my weight but I don't know where I can do that. Hopefully I am gaining weight but who knows since we walk so   much every day. We also eat quite a bit as well. I love you guys and hope that this week was a great week back home. 60 degrees will be good for you guys. I don't know how  hot it is here but to me its pretty nice. I think its around 17 degrees celcius and I don't  remember how to convert it. Anyways, I hope you all are healthy and safe. I love you guys and miss you a lot.   Love, Elder Larsen   P.S. The ZL called and said I have another package, its from Whitney Calton. I'm excited to get it.  I don't know what happened to the one from the seminary´s and Joettas.  I hope they arrive eventually.

I better update Elder Larsen's blog since someone told me last night they were so worried about him because I hadn't heard from him for two weeks. Elder Kade Larsen has been writing every week but his mother has not been blogging every week. Sorry. I will try to do better. I do appreciate all of you telling me that you actually read the blog. It inspires me to keep it up. Sorry the one picture came in sideways. It is not on my file like that so I don't know how to turn it in the blog. Letter from February 25, 2013 Dear Family, Hey I am really glad that you guys were able to get the package. How could I forget the stupid zip code?! lol Next time I will remember, I promise. The problem was is I was running through the house and what not trying to get it ready for that same day and must have just forgotten that part. But I am glad it got to you before your birthday, that was the goal anyways. I hope you wear the necklace and earings once in awhile, after all, show off that Colombian pride! Yeah it is a kind of nut and the flat peaces are as well I think. The same kind of nut as the kind in that zoo place in San Diego remember? I can't remember the name but its probably easy to find on the internet if you want to search for it. Those picture cd's I sent were good. The problem with the CCM (MTC in Colombia) is I dont think they are actually in order from old to new so I will have to try and remember which was the first group and which was the second group when I get back. I am glad that Caci, Tim, and Kenna were able to go to the house for your birthday! I thought about ya all day. I even mentioned it to some of the people we were with. I was helping a 12 year old boy with his english homework yesterday and his mom and I were talking a little bit and I mentioned today was your birthday and it was her birthday as well. So I drew a little paper thing saying happy birthday to you and we took a picture together. They are some great members here in the ward. Sounds like you guys had some awesome food this last weekend. I miss stuff like baby back ribs and Cafe Rio food. There is nothing like it here. Hey do you have some kind of recipe or anything for chicken tacos. Like what spices and stuff to use on the chicken? I want to make chicken tacos. Its better than Ramen almost every night. I miss A LOT of American foods, or I guess the way that we Americans make it. Like, spaghetti, shrimp and these kind of things are way different here. The food here is usually always pretty good though and I like it a lot. In Boyaca, this state, they eat loads of potatoes so when I get back I will be eating more potatoes, lol. (Kade NEVER ate potatoes) We have probably 4 or 5 potatoes in every meal with a member. That's on the plate and doesn't include what we have first, which usually has more. All of these young women are getting mission calls! It is so crazy but so exciting. Michael is in the Atlanta Georgia North Mission so she might be in the same one but there are probably 3 or 4 Atlanta Georgia missions. Let me know about Sara too if you can. I am excited for Doug in the MTC and everything! The baptism for Maria went great last week and we had the one baptism this past Saturday. Jaime was still in Bucaramanga so he couldn't make it back yet again, BUT, I baptized Sneider B. (*We try not to post full names in the Blog) He is one of the ones that you said wanted to be friends with me on Facebook. He is a stud and I was so excited for this baptism! We have grown really close throughout my time here. And I am so happy he made the decision to become a member of the church. The Sabedra will probably be getting married next week because we have to wait 6 days after submitting the paperwork. We have a lot of lessons with them, last night was on the word of wisdom and went well. Even Sergio, the son, accepted to follow it and this was like his second lesson so that was awesome. Supposedly the zone leaders said I have more letters and another package in their house in Duitama and they are passing through Tunja tomorrow and should be bringing it then. They said it was a small package so I don't know who it is from. I guess we will find out tomorrow. I hope that you guys are doing awesome back home. This coming Saturday we should have a huge baptismal service. There is a family of three from the north area and we should have Jaime, so four. The other elders in Barbose (our district) have 3 baptisms this week as well so our district will rock it hard this week. Thanks for the email and the info. I love you guys and miss you a lot! have a great week back home and I hope it is warming up a bit ;). Love, Elder Larsen Letter from March 3, 2013 Dear Family, First off, I did get the package from The Sorensons earlier. Turns out the package that came this week wasn't from Joetta or the Seminary, it was from Brother and Sister Mason. So thank you both for sending packages. It was awesome! Sorensons sent some cadbury eggs and a new book by Elder Bednar which I have been reading and its been awesome. The Masons sent 3 CDs and a Christmas tie. The Christmas tie might have to wait till next year but its pretty awesome as well. I recieved quite a few letters this week but I won't list them all. A few are from the ward members; Brother and Sister Bennett, Brother Johnson, you guys (the obituaries), J. Durrant, the Brunsons, and Elder DeGraffenried. So quite a few. It was Christmas all over again haha. Thanks for sending the chicken seasoning and stuff. I look forward to getting it. Looks like Elder Avila won't be here to test out the chicken tacos but the next companion will be, haha. He will probably be leaving on the 25th of March. Thats when this transfer ends. I will more than likely be training after this change like Emily is right now. To tell you the truth I am actually pretty comfortable with the language I guess you could say. I can say what I want when I want to. Sometimes I have some troubles conjugating but that will probably be my entire mission, lol. Elder Franks is a stud and it will come with some more time. He is in Barranquilla and people there speak a different Spanish and is very very hard to understand. Just comes with more time I guess. Right now I am talking to a man about the states and music there and just got his information for the Elders here in Duitama. I am in Duitama right now because we came and picked up our mail and brought a package or two for some other Elders that are here. John was a pretty good guy to work with. He liked to work hard so we were able to get quite a bit of things done. Hopefully he can get in to some classes at Snow or something like he was planning on doing. It was good working with John and his brother Rodger, especially up in the mountains cutting trees. I don't think my skills installing sprinklers will come in handy down here. Why? Because people dont have lawns here and I am pretty sure that 98% of Colombia is the same way but who knows, maybe one day. I have never seen sprinklers being used in Colombia yet. Its amazing how many people are heading out on missions but it's the coolest thing ever. I will be anxiously awaiting the call of Kaesen ha. Sara is going to Malaga Spain! That is totally insane! We will both know Spanish! Whoot Whoot! They speak differently over there though, they speak with a "lisp" so its kind of funny to listen to them talk. There was an elder in the MTC in Colombia from Spain so I talked to him a bit. He talked pretty fast as well. I am glad the kids at school enjoyed the earings and jewelry I sent for your birthday. The thing you have on your rearview mirror is actually like a key chain key ring thing but its kind of big so I don't blame you for using it in the car. This last Monday we went to a place called "Pantano de Vargas". Its a pretty famous monument and the soccer from here in Tunja has a picture of it on the jerseys. Its really huge and pretty awesome. The guy in the middle of our picture was a less active member until he found us in the street a few weeks ago and is attending again with his new girlfriend. I have never seen someone with so much energy or craziness than this guy. That includes everyone from back home, Christin lol. Jaime is finally back from Bucaramanga and will be getting baptized this coming saturday. My companion will baptize him. The Elders in the North also have a family getting baptized this week of 3 people. I hope all is well back home and you guys are great. Love, Elder Larsen

Dear Fam, Man, I wish I could have heard both Doug and Kyron speak this week. I didn't know that Doug was leaving this soon! I thought he was leaving in March or something because you never told me the date. I am so excited for both of them to get out in the field. Doug will only have 2 weeks in the MTC, that is so short and crazy. Kyron will probably only have 6 which is also crazy because that's not very much time to learn a language and what not. That was a pretty good story about the boy and the lamb. I hope they are both excited to get out there in the field. When are they both entering the MTC? I don't remember Kyrons and I don't know Doug's date. That would be really awesome if we had 9 missionaries from our ward out in the field at the same time. Heather and I will actually be getting back almost the exact same time. Crazy huh? Yeah I was thinking about Daniels birthday. He is one of the few people I can remember for some reason. But I thought it was on the 17th right? not the 16th. Who knows. I am glad Robert is out of the hospital, it would be hard to stay there all the time and I am glad he is able to work from home a little bit. I hope he keeps on progressing. Yeah, you guys didn't have too many people at your Women's Retreat. Whats up with that?? lol You guys need to force the importance of it or something. Why was it in February this year? Isn't it usually around the deer hunt more or am I just thinking of something else. I am glad Josh liked “A” town. People think there is nothing in small towns like ours but hey, it's “A” town! We got just about everything... except stores and things like that lol. The double baptism didn't end up going through on Saturday, but we did have one of them. I baptized Maria L. She is 19 years old and the girlfriend to a return missionary. He had surgery the night before on his leg and was in the hospital until the baptism that night, I am glad he was able to come and watch. He was in a lot of pain, his name is Alejandro. He is next to her in the photos. The picture with the other elders is like this. The ones with the suits are the zone leaders from Duitama, Elder Holmes and Elder Rodrigues. The other elders, without suits, are the Elders from Unicentro (The North Area of Tunja). Those 4 had to leave after I baptized her because they had other lessons they needed to be at. It was a good baptism though and I am really happy about it. Jaime was not able to return to Tunja last week because the baby is having worse problems. She needs a heart transplant but he is coming back this week, possibly today. He will be baptized this coming weekend with Sneider, one of the ones from Facebook. They are both really awesome and I am really excited for it. TOday we are sacrificing the latter part of our p-day because we are going to go with the Sabedra Family and buy the Registros for the Wedding. This was the day that they could go so we need to go and do it with them or else they probably wont do it. Their date is for the second so they would need to get married this week or early next week. Depending on if their older son, Sergio, wants to get baptized later we might move it back a week. We had our first lesson with him this week which was mainly practicing English and stuff but he became a lot more receptive to hearing the message. That would be cool, a whole family on the path of righteousness together forever! About the money thing, this week I bought a backpack. Yes I know I had a really good backpack. My companions backpacks (he had 2) both broke this week and he doesn't have much money to buy another because a decent to good one here is over 100 mil so he bought mine for 50 mil, which is what he had and I bought a new one for around 100 mil. That's what the last two withdraws was for. Sorry but it kinda needed to happen. I bought a smaller one, its actually a High Sierra backpack from the States and has a warranty on it here for 2 years. I got the package for Valentines day! whoot whoot! Thanks for sending that, I was a little nervous I wouldn't get it until March. I got everything in it which is awesome, thanks for the photo album, the ipod, the candy and all. I also got a package from Weapon with a few things. The package from Joetta never came so I don'tknow whats up with that. Oh and the Seminary letters. Did they ever send them or no? lol Yes, mom I know about the Jersey but I couldn't wear it unless it was P-day and I couldn't wear it that day, soon I will have a p-day where I will wear it. Today I can't because of the registros with the Sabedra family. Hope all is well back home with the family and all. I miss you guys a lot and hope you like the baptism pictures from this last Saturday, my first baptism! I should have 2 more this coming Saturday as well! I am excited for this coming Saturday. Hope you guys had a great Valentine's Day and have a great week this week. Love you all and miss you. Thanks again for the package. Love, Elder Larsen

Dear Family, This week has actually been really great. That is sweet that Marcus and Morgan are leaving really soon on their missions. Heather! WHAT THE HECK! That is so awesome! lol I am so excited for her to get out there in May. I honestly didn't expect that. Indiana will be so awesome for her. I know how Marcus and Morgan feel about speaking at Stake Conference. It's a scary experience for sure. Wow that is a lot of sisters, (going to Emily's mission) but yeah that is cool they are receiving a lot more in March. Sister Missionaries can touch people differently than Elders can for sure and they always seem to have baptismal dates. We are getting new people here and there as well and they created another zone in Duitama for sisters and after 2 days of work they had 2 baptismal dates. Wow right? At the end of this last cambio we get 32 more new missionaries (some are probably temporal as well) but quite a few. They are planning for a huge increase here as well so I think I will be training sooner than most people do in their missions. Maybe similar after this cambio which ends at the end of March but who knows. That kind of stinks about Jade and where they have to wait for 2 weeks for permission (to go anywhere on P-day). Why two weeks? Thats a long time! We call the zone leaders in Duitama and see if its all good, we have a bigger trip planned later this month but we have to meet a goal of 6 baptisms before leaving. There are rules in our mission like we need to return to Tunja before 3 o'clock P.M. The music thing as well, dang. (I told him in his cousins mission they are not allowed to have any music) No, I haven't recieved your package or anything because we haven't had the zone meeting. Zone meeting will be next Wednesday in Duitama. I am betting that I get it next month though. I am praying that no one will mess up the music thing for us here because, like you said, music is the song of the soul! lol To tell you the truth I do not want to leave Tunja for quite a while. Why? Because of this next sentence haha. "My companion and I now have 9 baptismal dates!" Bam! lol As of right now we have 6 in February and then 3 for March 2nd. This includes Jaime who is getting baptized this coming Saturday. He will be my first baptism of the mission! Im not going to lie, I am really happy he is the first because I think he will go on a mission too. We have about 4 people preparing for the 23rd of February. One of them is Sneider. The one from Facebook. His mom and sister are Mormon but he is Catholic because he wasn't here when they recieved the lessons. He didn't really want to learn about the church but one day we had cambios and I was with a new latino Elder and we had a lesson on the B.o.M. He accepted and began reading. He reads every pamphlet we give him in one night and always has great questions for us. He accepted the date on the second lesson and attended church yesterday for the first time. Through the last like 4 or 5 weeks we have grown pretty close as friends and I am so excited for him to enter the waters of baptism. Later today we are going to go and play basketball with him, Jaime, Ronny (RM) and more people. Should be pretty fun. We have a family that now have a date for the 3rd of March. The daughter, Vanessa, and the mom, Lus Marina, have been investigators for the last 4 months or more and attend church every week but they are not baptized. The problem is that she is not married to her boyfriend (The father of both their kids) They accepted the baptismal date but now need to get married before that date. He hadn't recieved lessons because he never wanted to this whole time but we were able to get him last week and now he is progressing very fast and enjoying all that the gospel has to offer. THe other kid is a son who is like 22 but he doesn't want much with the lessons. I am so excited for them. We have Noche de Hogar with them tonight, (Family Home Evening) where Elder Avila and I are making pancakes and other stuff. So yeah we have 9 dates and we have probably 14 progressing right now overall. We have a pretty heavy workload but I wouldn't have it any other way. We are trying to set some kind of record for Tunja or something for this cambio, lol. Who knows, we might, ha. Super Bowl! I heard that it was going to be on yesterday. That is super sick that Pitta scored the first TD. Cougar Alumni! lol I like the 49ers more overall but its kind of cool because they are both not the annoying teams like the Patriots or teams like that. I wish I could have watched a play or two haha ;) lol One day we had lunch with a member and there was a basketball game on when we came on. That was cool for a few minutes. It was Miami Heat vs Brooklyn Nets (Deron Williams). I dont know how it ended we just watched it for a minute or two before turning on a church movie. D Will and King James did good for that minute or two though. Bryce Canyon stuff looks pretty awesome. For some reason a lot of people know about the Grand Canyon here. I dont know why. There are lot cooler parks than the Grand Canyon, in my opinion. Hope you guys have an awesome week and I will be sure to send pictures of my first baptism this Saturday with Jaime. Love you guys, be safe and have fun.

Love, Elder Larsen