06/06/2012 - THE VISA IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welp, the Visa is here!!!!.... I am so excited to finally be heading down to Peru and really begining my mission. I am so grateful to all of you who kept me and continue to keep me in your prayers. I feel your help all the time and I love and miss you all....

The details go like this.... Tuesday, June 12th, I will be be leaving at 3:00 a.m (yes in the morning) and head to the Salt lake City Airport. I fly then to Fortworth, Texas have a layover 'til 10:55 then I fly to Miami, have another layover 'til 4:30, then fly to Peru and arrive (9:10 their time). I will be able to call home at each airport stop, but once I am in Peru I am done, so I don't know how we can talk, but I will try to call everytime just pick up the phone :) and sisters if you want a quick call give me your phone number, because I forgot it...

Thank you so much for my rootbeer and warheads, I shared the rootbeer with the guys in my district and told them i was a connoisseur in the rootbeer field....but seriously thank you sooo much for the letters and packages. I am so grateful.

So something hilarious happened while teaching this week. We were teaching the law of chastity to an investigator and towards the end elder Burgi wanted to bear his testimony. He was doing great 'til he got to the end and said something along the lines of "I have a daily good relation with women, they bless me very well" and I just saw our investigator do everything he could to not laugh, and he was surprised and looked at me and I just gave him a big thumbs up.  I bore my testimony after and we left and I explained what he said.... it was a good laugh.... glad it happened here not down in Peru....

The speaker last night was amazing. Elder Marlin K. Jensen who is being released spoke and he was awesome. He said he wanted to give advice to missionaries. He talked about why is it that we stray away from our temple obedience and promises. He also said that some guys come on their missions not wanting to change, but he said you cannot go home and be the same person you were if you were an honest missionary.  I liked that and I hope it is true. He also talked about when he was a mission president. He had 210 missionaries to interview and could only have 5 mins with each so he asked one question, "what would you want me (mission pres) to know about you?" I liked that. I thought about what I would have said-- that I wanted to work hard for two years and never miss an opportunity to open my mouth like it says in D&C 33 7-10. That's what I would have said.

Also, Elder Chantz Davis got in here (MTC) a daily early and I ran into him.... It was soooo awesome to see that bud of mine. He was lost and and I guess didn't have a companion, so I took him with my district for a little 'til he got settled in. It was great to see him.

Had a fun trip down memory lane. There was a kid singing william tell overture, and I remembered how when me and dad would go to the dump he would sing that song but to the words.... ""to the dump, to the dump, to the dump, dump, dump"" and I started to laugh right there.  So that was fun. I also used mom's saying "a goal not written down is a wish" in one of my lessons. So thank you for that mom....knew your saying would help me someday ;) 

I also have begun to try memorizing scriptures and things in spanish. I memorized my purpose, the first vission and now am trying to do D&C 4. Wish me luck.

I want you all to know I love and miss you, but that I am sorry I can't come home because this work is too joyous and fun. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Keep being the wonderful people you are.

I want to leave with you my two favorite quotes.....

1. "Only a fool would trifle with the souls of men" -Joseph Smith
    meaning get serious about the work and work hard or it is on your head....and.....

2. "you cant hug every cat, but you should try" -crazy eHarmony girl

     pretty self-explanatory

Hasta Luego,

Elder Larson