Mail Goodies, Subway, and the Creepy Consulate

[What a treat--another mid-week letter! Click a page to zoom for reading. -Steve]

I"M AT THE MTC!!!

HI DAD!!! I"M AT THE MTC!!! and yes the brace would be lovely. We get to check email on P-Days, which are mondays. I also would like it if you could send some stamps, envelopes, looseleaf paper, and my big english PMG. It turns out that physical letters are prefered because I can focus on responding not just reading durring Email.

I wrote a letter that should arrive today, or like last friday. Don't be worried about me. I realized I might sound distressed when I wrote that message, Thurday was hard. So far It's all been better, and time is beging to fly. Yesterday we got to go to the Provo temple to walk on the grounds and take pictures but I forgot my camera, so next sunday I will take some.

The spirit is SOOO strong here. Everyday I have like 10 tender mercies, where Heavenly father helps me feel his love. I'll try to explain but Im not sure how effective It will be:

Our class is in all french, and from day 1 we've been teaching a "investigator" in french. It's been tough, but my French is starting to come back. My companions are elder Franco, and elder Palombo. Elder Palombo is the only one in our district who hasnt had french, so we've been trying as hard as we can to include him and help him learn.

Sunday was the most incredible day ever, but it started out TERRRIBLE. I had a bad dream, and lost like 2 hours of sleep. So when I woke up at 6:20 i was super nervous and panicky. I prayed for help and I got it throughout the day. We went to early sacrament meeting, and my president, President Mangum (branch pres.) talked about the empowering aspect of the atonement. It helped me calm down, and remember that the Lord's got my back. After sacrament, we had interviews with our branch presidency. I got to talk to pres mangum, and the spirit helped me calm down again. I felt so calm talking to him, and knew that he loved us as his missionaries. Felt like I was talking to you. I left the room feeling high self esteem, which helped me not barf breakfast (:P). SPEAKING OF WHICH!!! they have powerade at everymeal. I live on blue powerade.

After breakfast my branch had preisthood meeting. That boosted me too. I felt the spirit witness about almost everything that was said. I have felt the spirit testify before, but not about every detail. It is the COOOLEST thing ever. In preisthood, brother Howes gave a super awesome lesson about enduring to the end, and how WE need to aply it so we can help others to. Durring classes on thursday, the same thing happened with Frere Assay. He told us about teaching to meet investigators needs, and every time he would give advice, I felt the spirt say it was true. not like a little good fuzzy thing either, it was like a full on semi of love from god (odd sentece I know).

It turns out my whole district likes choir, YAY! I got to go to Choir with 2000+ missionaries, right after dinner and before the devotional. That was soooo good. It helped me calm down even more, and was super fun. I love being able to sing with 200 other basses. Sounds like General conference missionary choir. After practice, we all got to get seated for the devotional given by brother and sister lant (primary president that was just released). That was fun, and again, helped me feel better about my imperfections, and about my purpose as a missionary.

Then, last thing of all, I got to watch a recording of President bednar's christmas MTC devotional (2years ago) called the Character of Christ. I can't explain that in enough detail via email, so you should see if its viewable online. SOOO AMAZING. Durring it, elder bednar encourages people to only write notes of what the spirit promts them to while listening to a speaker, instead of transcribing a meeting. I tried it durring his devotional, and WOW, that was a miracle. I felt like I should write a phrase, then after doing so, I could look down at what I wrote and feel the spirit saying YES. Then everytime I'd ask, should I write that, I would feel YES! It was predictable like a science expirament. It was like nothing I've ever felt. The spirit was effectively communicating what I should do, and what Elder Bednar was saying was true. Truly a miracle for me.

By the end of sunday, I felt better than I did like 2 weeks ago, and FULL of confidence, love and pure excitement. I just wanted to grab one of my companions and say ELDER THIS IS SOOO COOOL!!!! Sunday was an answer to my prayes.

I AM SOOOOOO GLAD to be here. I love it. The food is ok, there are nice elders and mean elders, (and only nice sisters for some reason) but the only thing that matters is that God loves me, and is blessing me for comming here out of selflessness. (and on the bright side I get to hear all the chimes from the BYU bell tower yay!)

Thanks for the prayers. I have felt so much love the past 72 hours.

Mom, I love you, and Dad, and Eulalia, and Cherise (who texted my email! I love you too :) ) and Zeph and James.

First Letter from the MTC

[Elder Larsen's first letter was a snail mail note that he wrote on his second night.  I have scanned it--click each page to read. -Dad]

A Wonderful Day

During his early preparations, Brigham read that he should not post a mission blog.  However, in light of recent changes, and based on the great value we got from reading the experiences of other Tahitian missionaries, he asked me to post his correspondence, which I will.  Today we had a great day, dropping him off at the MTC.  As we pulled to the curb, a couple of his friends who were hosting today called out, "Brigham!"  I thought, "Elder Who?"  Suitcases and a boxed bicycle to the curb, a quick hug, and off he went.

-Steve (Dad)

Unloading at the Curb