Colombia Bogota North Mission, Bogota zones meeting for Christmas.
 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.

This is called a Ruana or a poncho.  There is a ward member that has a business making ponchos and hammocks.

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.

Dear Family, 

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. 

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).   

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.

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. 

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.

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.

 

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. 

Love,

           Elder Kade Larsen

Colombia Bogota North Mission 

This 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.

Dear Fam,

 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 tomorrow. 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 Tuesday and we have our Christmas Conference with President on Wednesday. Dang it right? We had planned appointments and everthing for today so that we could go. 

 

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.

 

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. 

 

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.

 

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 21st of December. 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.

 

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. 

 

One experience... On Friday 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

 

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

Love

Elder Larsen

                                                 Helping a member move, November 2013

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.

Dear Family and friends,

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.")   

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.

 

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. 

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!

 

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.

Love

Elder Larsen

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.

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.

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.  ;)

Elder Larsen's companion is an elder that goes home in one month.  So they are trying to keep busy. 

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." 

 

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.  

 

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."

 

"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."

Love

Elder Larsen

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.

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.  .

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.

 

Dear Family,

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.

 

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. 

 

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.

 

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.

 

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 

 

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.

Elder Larsen

 

(Later in the day)

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!

Love

Elder Larsen

Dear Family and Friends, (edited by mom)

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.

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.

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.

 

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.

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).

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).

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.

 

Well love ya all. Chao!
ELder Larsen

 

Dear Family and Friends,  (edited by Cindy)

 

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.

 

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. 

 

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 on Friday 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.

 

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.

 

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. 

 

There is a sister from Tejar (the other ward that meets at our chapel) who is going to the states tomorrow. 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.

 

(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.

 

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.

Love

Elder Larsen 

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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) 

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.  =)

I 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 =)  "

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

 

There has been a lot of rioting in Colombia for the past few weeks.  The Colombian Missionary Mom site was very helpful to keep us informed of what was going on.  There was a special fast planned for Saturday and Sunday to protect the missionaries and to have the problems in the country resolved quickly so that the missionary work could move forward.  We want to thank everyone that was involved in that fast.  Many temples around the world had the Colombian missionaries on their prayer roll. It is always a worry where there is such unrest and violence but we also had faith that Heavenly Father would protect his missionaries.  We were very saddened to hear of a missionary in Colombia being shot this past weekend.  Our hearts and prayers go out to his family.  We were so grateful to hear from Elder Larsen today and to hear that things are slowly improving in Colombia.

Dear family and friends, (Edited by Cindy)   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 coming Sunday 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. On Thursday, 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 on Thursday. On Friday 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 on Friday 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.   We had the baptism on Saturday night and it turned out really great. I was able to baptize her.  My companion confirmed her at church on Sunday. My companion and I will only have one more week together here in Diamante.    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.    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.     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 =) Love Elder Larsen