Just Happy Days!

Howdy! Thanks for the emails all!

Yes, dad E Ball and I are getting along well. He is such a good guy. Good hearted and honest to the core. He is a smart, cool guy too. He speaks Californian, and loves surfing, and is majoring in physics (might change). Just a cool dude. He keeps us working hard too!

Yesterday we saw Presidnet Bize. He is a cool dude, who just breathes, CEO. hehehe . Not a bad thing. His French is awesome, with natural French accent (duh), his English is too, with less accent, and he speaks Tahitian with an American accent. Crazy. He is a nice man. He asked me where I'm from and then talked to me about potatoes, after I told him Idaho. I look forward to his direction, and help. He says his goal is to make the current leadership, REAL leaders, and to put the church on the map here. The poll of religions says PROTESTANT, CATHOLIC, and  OTHER, according to the almanac. To be listed as a percentage other than OTHER, it has to be at 10 percent or higher, so that's his goal for his time as pres. Cool, I thought. Excited too. Saying bye to President Sinjoux last night was hard and weird. He took the time to shake each one of our hands, and say goodbye. He hugged me, and whispered some advice to me in the crowd. I will really miss him, and his character. He is truly full of Christlike love. I hope to learn from Pres Bize too!

This week was a good one, ended in a pair of BAPTISMS! wooho! The middle of the week was a bit off though. Elder Ball's been sick, and I've been a little sick too. I think we ate something a bit off, but I think I just have like a cold. Sore throat and all. But we're OK. Got through the worst of it listening to talks on Elder Ball's USB.

The baptisms were of two children, 9 and 10, of a sweet lady who used to be a member. She had a miracle that lead her back to church, and E Ball and I taught and just baptized her two kids. I felt crazy deja vu from my lessons as and 8 year old. WOW. Weird huh,? It made me realize what a big role the missionaries have, and teaching kids is just as important as teaching 30 year olds, if not more important. If done well, it will lead a whole family to successful, happy, Gospel life, not just a single 30 year old guy. Wow. It's been a sacred and fun chance to teach these girls. They are so cute, and very very attentive. One asked me to baptize her, and the other asked Elder Ball. Just cool! Their dad was touched by the baptism too! Just cool! I really have high hopes for this whole family. Just happy days!

This week was good. Lots of cancellations, and lots of back up plans, and some change. I took the 3rd hour class with E Ball for 5th Sunday, and it was great. I read in Jacob 4 (favourite chapter) today about how God gives us weaknesses so we can recognize his hand when we succeed. I really appreciated his help in the fireside, and in the class. These are really moments of weakness for me, made strong. I relish these sacred chances. I just love being a missionary. I just love it!

Good to hear travels are going OK. Have fun back East! Be safe!!! Sorry to hear about the surgery Mom :(. I will pray for you! I love you tons!

Thanks for sending pants! Mom, St. Patrick's isn't a holiday to me either, hehehe. :P I feel very lucky, and very LOVED with the level of support and love you guys give me, apart from, and including packages and mail. I know you guys love me! Oh, and THANKS for the chocolate fish Cherise and mom! Made it intact :).

With the pants, if you could send a bit of scripture study materials that would be cool too, like a Scripture master Book mark or something like that. I love looking up scriptures. Thanks for the SDs too! They are GREAT! Really though, THANK YOU THANK YOU! Thank you SOOO much for all the prayers, pants, love, and mail! I love you tons!

I love you family! Have a good week, and I will too!

Brigham

Just before transfers a week back.  I love Elder Houde (in yellow).  He's my buddy.

Cool Clouds

Very Brief E-mail

Thanks for the emails! Crazy cool travels, Dad :) Hope the next owner of the trailer has as much fun with it as we did. Weird to think about how little value the object carries, but how great the times were we had together inside of it. I love my family. AND I love that "pacificy" smell.

Got like NO emails time today, a cause de le repetition in Papeete today. SO; just know that I love you guys, and I'm doing great. I am happy to be here, and I had a big mac today. YES! Its the real thing man... ooh yeah. Rare, but cherished chance :)

SO happy to hear about Zephne, and to just hear about things at home. I'm almost half way done, and time is going way to fast. June is turning out to be a tough month for the work, but I am learning a lot. Got insulted and laughed at by an Adventist lady, in front of my investigators, and while I walked away I felt the Holy Ghost, and was reminded to always be humble. Not retorting made that situation easy, and I was glad to know I will never do that as a disciple. Interesting experience, and I just felt happy afterwards, knowing that I'm doing the RIGHT thing; weird huh? Kind of another witness for me, even though it came in an odd way.

I love you guys, lots to say this week, but like NO time to say it. Gotta go, so the new elder can use Email. LOVE YOU TONS!!!

Elder Larsen

PS I LOVE YOU

OH, and thanks for all your prayers and mail and love!

:D

Hi All!

Hello!

This week went by FAST. Sheesh. I have no idea what to say because I have a hard time remembering the difference between weeks :P Here goes anyways!

Thanks for the mail!!!! I got the two packages on Friday :) Thank you so much for the SD cards, and the journals, and carabiners, and shirts!! Maruru! Turns out the shirts survived! That was AWESOME! All the elders in the house laughed, and they made a WHOOSH noise when all the air got pulled in, and the shirt fluffed up. Just funny. They fit PERFECTLY, and the collars survived the vacuum sealing. OH, and THANKS for the ties :) They are sooo nice :) They are perfect, and its fun to have a variety. I wore the yellow one with my khakis this weekend. :) That might be the most feminine thing Ive ever said... Coordinating my ties with pants... :P

So, this weeks been crazy. We've had a bunch of lessons fall through, but still taught about 22 investigator lessons. It felt slow day by day, but looking back, it was FAST. We did tons of splits too. That feels slow, but makes it twice as effective in one day. Fun to split with the Priests here.

Elder Ball and went to the jungley half of the island for his second time. We went and recontacted some folks that we've not seen for 6 weeks or so. It was good, and we had fun on the rainy beach. It is SO pretty here.

This week, a HUGE transfer happened, and like half of the mission got moved. AWESOME! We got some sweet elders and sisters in our zone, and there is an old Zone leader in each elder companionship, minus one, that's training. WOW. Gonna keep on getting better in the zone :) Just weird being a ZL to my first ZL. Ive been doing lots of driving now, and we traded the truck for a minivan this week, so the assistants can use the truck to move bikes. Its still stick, but lots different from the truck. Its been fun to learn how to drive stick, and get better driving multiple ones. The truck is EASY and geared way high, but the minivan is spongy, and the clutch is like on or off. Fun, and goes faster, NOT that I'd know.

I love you all very much! Thanks for supporting me, and for being awesome! I love you and miss you. I just filled out my planner for the next 6 weeks, and wrote JULY 24 on a page. Yikes. Thats my halfway day. Its going FAST. Like really. FAST

Have fun traveling. I love you and hope you guys are safe. You and the Gospel are the most important things in my life. When I get home I want to have a family too! That's weird to think about though... I'll stick to being a missionary for at least 13 more months :)

Again, I LOVE YOU! Thanks for your love and support. Thanks for the prayers too; keep em coming :) Thank you thank you thank you!

LOVE YOU!

Elder Larsen

This is the Coolest Thing I Have Ever Done

Hi all! Hows it going!? Thanks for the emails and for the mails! Yes mom, the water is pretty cold actually, though its always so hot here. Our water heater is some solar powered thing, and the shower is usually warm. :)

This week's been great. It started out with some lesson filled days and ended with a split with the assistants. It was fun to be with them, and learn from their example. They do a lot of non typical work to help the mission. Helping other missionaries (like us) and running errands for the President, and the office. Just cool, and crazy.

This Sunday we did a fireside in our ward. Holly cow it went well. We didn't have a huge turn out, but it wasn't bad either. The fireside was specifically just for members, and it was to motivate them and help them have the desire to do missionary work and catch the vision of our stake. It went super well, and the Holy Ghost helped me and Elder Ball a lot. I had no problem speaking at the pulpit, and I got all the ideas I wanted to express, and more off. We then had some converts bear their testimonies, and watched some district videos in french. It was really cool how much heavenly father helped us! Hopefully we shall see the results soon!

This week we had our last leadership meeting with President Sinjoux. He is about done. It's weird, sad, and happy at the same time. I love him, and look up to him, and at the same time, I'm excited to learn from President Bize too. I think we're lucky to see two presidents. During the meeting, President talked about having FAITH which will enable us to succeed. I though of Enoch, and realized that if Heavenly father wants us to succeed, WE CAN! Its dumb, but it just kinda clicked. I realized that I AM NOT SET UP TO FAIL. I'm set up to win!

I was nervous before the fireside then I read Moses chapter seven. I read verse 13, felt the spirit and knelt and prayed for the spirit of revelation, and the POWER of language that Enoch had. I prayed for the power to accurately say what heavenly father would want said, and it just was like a buffalo miracle for me (mom gets this one). I know I'm just a missionary, but I felt the Holy Ghost and after the fireside, I knew my prayer had been answered! I felt that I had been a good tool for Heavenly father, and it was one of the sweetest things I've ever felt. I am soo happy. This was just a special special experience for me. :)

I love you family! I am truly finding joy in the service. This is the coolest thing I have ever done, and as I approach half way, I am seeing the truths in the oath and covenant of the priesthood. I can do ANYTHING! I really can; but the kicker is that I gotta qualify for Jesus to be on my team :) D&C 84:88

I love you! Have a good week and be safe! I will see you all in 15 months..... sheesh, it used to be 24. Wow.

I LOVE YOU!

Elder Larsen

Slow P-Day and a Baptism

Hello! How's it going! This week was awesome for Elder Ball and me. It started strong, we had like 15 lessons with a member there, and 5 others. It ended with a baptism, and the sister asked me to baptize her!! Yay! I was happy to do so, and consider it an honor! It was my first time, and I was a bit nervous like usual, but It went fine, and I didn't even have to do it multiple times. Woo hoo! I'll send some pictures of that, OK!

This Saturday, I got the package with the green journal and the little brown one! Thank you a TON!!! The green one will be put into use in about 3 days, and got here just in time. Thank you thank you thank you! I'm using the little brown one now for writing spiritual experiences. Oh and THANKS for the huge letter Zephne!

This Sunday we had a large stake meeting for planning missionary work in the stake. It went awesome, but I could have used my speaking time better. I didn't quite get all of what I wanted to out, but it's OK because Elder Ball and President TUBAI did super good. President gave us homework, and engaged all of the members there really well. He is like a prophetic speaker, and has loads of cool spiritual experiences. I would love to be able to talk like him. Every time he speaks, everyone listens, even if he is like 10 years younger than them. During stake conf, last month, he spoke, and each time he spoke the people were glued to his words and you could just FEEL the Spirit from them. Super cool dude.

P-day's been a nice slow one, full of like NOTHING!! Woohoo, not one scheduled thing, besides our FHE tonight. That is nice to take it slow once in a week. Its gonna be weird to get home and not have my little planner with me. I feel guilty about time usage here during the week, and I never did before. I forget that before my mission, every minute still counted; but it wasn't set apart for God. I really appreciate my calling, and can't imagine what the Apostles, and 70s feel like, because they've been set apart for like life. Cool, but that's gotta be hard. I have lots of respect for them.

This week I also got my General conference Ensign!! Super stoked about that one because that means that I get to study GC again! I really ran through the last issue, and now I get to repeat with this April's!

Thanks again for the mail, and for the love. I miss you guys, and please keep praying for me! I need help recognizing the Spirit's voice all the time, and not being tired :)

I love you tons and TONS! You guys are my heroes and I can't wait to see you all again. Thanks for the love and care. Have a good week!

OROMETUA LARSEN

Turns out orometua means like pastor. Cool that I get tags that say PASTOR LARSEN! :)

UA HERE VAU IA OE!!!

Cold Water!

Pic of Baptism

I Haz Bananaz