Oct 29, 2010 - MTC Week 7 - Mission Week 7

From: Phillip Larsen phillip.larsen@myldsmail.net
Date: Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 1:04 PM
Subject: Week 7

Boa Tarde!

It has been another week already in the MTC! The time certainly sneaks up on us, every week we are surprised it is already time for our TRC and for our other stuff.

This week has been quite eventful too! We got to hear from another Apostle! That is two in 2 weeks! That usually doesn't happen, we heard from Elder Richard G. Scott. I sang in choir again this week, it was very good.

This past Tuesday an Elder in our district, Elder Bitner had surgery and so that has been tough for him but its good that he got that. He is also one of my roommates in the residence hall.

Weather here in Utah is very strange! We got snow this past week, and then the next morning it was all gone. Today when we were walking to the temple, on some of the mountains there is a lot of snow. It is very cool looking (no pun intended)

We have been teaching in all Portuguese now a lot, and we're getting better each day. Still no news on visa situations. Funny story, Elder Smith, my companion got a memo from the Travel Desk here at the MTC that said "Come to the Travel Desk ASAP"

Our whole district was freaking out! Someone got something from the Travel Desk and that means visas. Well we went to the Travel Office and when Elder Smith gave them the paper they told him to wait at one of the seats then a lady came up with a pan of cinnamon rolls. Someone was friends with the lady and she knew Elder Smtih so she had the present delivered that way, quite a cruel joke if you ask me but it is all good.

Not much else has been happening really. The dress code for winter got instituted and now we need to wear our suit coats everywhere we go except in our Residence Halls, and while we are in classes. It is all for the better though I guess because it got pretty cold this past week although today is a pretty warm day.

That is great that Ricky got his Visa finally! (Note: Ricky is Phillip's cousin who served in Alabama for 2 months before his visa to Brazil finally arrived - John L.) I don't know what all is happening but I heard that the Brazilian Government has received so many visa applications that they told the Church to stop sending more until they finished getting the ones they have right now sorted out. That is the rumor at least...

I've been losing more weight, I was 150 when I got here and now I am 145.8. Yikes! I need to eat more and stop working out or something if I am planning on gaining more weight. We play volleyball a lot in the Gym during our Gym time and that is good.

I don't really know what else to say, the week has been pretty much the same. We aren't able to do temple walks on Sundays because some Elders were meeting with friends and family there when they weren't supposed to and they ruined it for everybody else. Its a bit annoying but the past few Sundays haven't been the best of weather anyways so we just do an MTC walk and walk around.

They really have decorated the area at the MTC but they won't turn on the lights until after Thanksgiving! It is frustrating! I want to see what it all looks like. It'll be really awesome! Maybe Mike will be able to see it, although he is only in the Provo MTC for a few weeks though so I am not sure.

Love you all lots, and miss you all, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Love,

Elder Phillip Larsen

Oct 22, 2010 - MTC Week 6 - Mission Week 6

From: Phillip Larsen phillip.larsen@myldsmail.net
Date: Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 2:39 PM
Subject: Week 6

Boa Tarde!

So its the start of week 6 here in the MTC. Feels kind of weird that we have 3 weeks left of classes here before we go off into the field, and whether or not we go to Brasil straight away, I don't know but it is in the Lord's hands.

This past week, on Tuesday we were blessed to hear from an apostle at the devotional, and it's a bit funny because it was Elder Russel M. Nelson again! That is the 3rd time I have heard from him in person, and I was also singing in the MTC choir for that devotional. Singing really brought me back to High School, Concert Choir time and such. I really liked it and I could feel the spirit. It's also neat that an elder in another district in our zone is Elder Nelson's grandson! Its crazy how many people here are related to General authorities of the Church!

Yesterday, at the TRC (where we teach an "investigator") we spoke in complete Portuguese! It was so cool, although I didn't do too well on the section about food... Oh well O_o We taught the same Investigator that we taught at the first TRC. It was a good teaching experience and I could feel the spirit.

Getting a haircut today finally! Gosh it has been difficult signing up for an appointment here at the MTC. There are like a billion other elders who also want haircuts, and a billion who have the same P-day as us because they are also visa waiters.

The weather here has been very hot, preparing us to go to Brasil, and we've played a lot of soccer! I am surprised at how well I can actually play. I am not really that good but I enjoy it very much. Our district plays sports together with other districts and it is a good time to release. We also got a nerf basket ball net in our room so we play that every once in a while. We did play hacki sack but then the guy who directs our room said we couldn't because the building was set apart... I dunno it was kind of annoying but we don't play that anymore in the hallways.

I have been grasping the language pretty well over the past few weeks. This week we tried to do a 3 day English fast, it went pretty well. The words we knew we used to make sentences instead of just spouting off memorized sentences and we are actually talking to each other! We did speak english in classes, and there have been times where we didn't do our best at speaking portuguese the whole time but we did a lot of speaking never the less!

I've been sick a few days now, I had a really bad sore throat, it is getting better though. I have a nasty cough still, and I think I might have a sinus infection again but it isn't that annoying.

Well I don't really feel like I have much to say this week. It has been the same as other weeks. The schedule here has become habit and it is easy to get through the day when you know what you're going to do. Our district has grown really close, and I hope kind of that we'll stay here for the whole MTC experience because I would like to see Mike before I head out to Brasil but we'll see.

I love you lots and miss home. I hope everything is going well in NH and that the leaves have changed! I look forward to hearing from you! Love you Mom, Dad, Heather, Standford, Bradford, Julia, and Winston!

Love,

-Elder Phillip Larsen

Elder Smith got Halloween decorations and the letters spelled "Happy Halloween" and with a few tweaks we were able to do this! Love you mom!


This is our residence hall building I am in front of. I have since had a haircut.


May the force be with you! Some fun pictures we took with primitive photoshop!


Look at my mighty muscles! Some more primitive photoshop!

Oct 15, 2010 - MTC Week 5 - Mission Week 5

From: Phillip Larsen phillip.larsen@myldsmail.net
Date: Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 3:22 PM
Subject: Week 5?

Oi Familia!

How are you all doing?

Wow the time is flying by, already week 5! Pretty soon we're going to be the oldies in our residence hall!

We just got done with a temple session and went straight to a computer lab to email from. I like this way better rather than going to the laundry room and trying to email with all the noise.

It was a shock to read the letter about Brother Eberhard. Its a very strange feeling, yet when I read that I was happy because I knew that Tony was progressing to the next part of life and helping those who have passed on already receive the gospel. The Eberhard family and the Ward have been in my prayers, but how great a blessing it is to have a knowledge of the plan of salvation. This is actually the lesson that we have been teaching to investigators here lately. We are going to start teaching in all Portuguese next week, we are already doing a lot in our teaching practices in Portuguese. We talk a lot in class and at meals in Portuguese and the best way to learn a language is to just speak it.

So some cool stories from the MTC this week. Well first off, Irmau Taylor, one of our teachers told a story about how he got to go eat lunch with an apostle, and then while they were in the cafeteria, President Monson came in and said hello and asked if they would come upstairs to his office so he could show them some stuff. He got to go into the office and see some stuff that President Monson had and they had some cool stories about each thing he showed them. It seems like a cool experience to have, and it made for a great story!

One thing that I have been grateful for this week was being prepared to give a talk at Stake Conference every time. We have to prepare a talk for Sacrament meeting here every week so that wasn't too much of an adjustment, although they have to be in Portuguese and we usually leave them for the last minute... whoops... O_o

I saw Danny... err Elder Marks this Wednesday! It was really cool to be able to greet someone I knew that was coming in to the MTC. I know how much of a blessing it is to know someone here. It was a little hard at first when I arrived, me not knowing anyone really until I saw Jordan Hopkins and Ryan Hill. Its pretty awesome!

The weather here this week has been a lot better. It has been sunny everyday and the sun shines on the mountains and they look amazing. We also got to go to the field this week and play soccer, I'm becoming more Brazilian every day! :P

We don't have gym time on P-days so I hope the weather is nice for tomorrow.

So I have seen about close to 10 other Elder Larsen/Larson's here at the MTC. One of them is from Denmark and I was not sure if we are related at all because of that email that you got from distant cousins. I think I mentioned this in my last email or a letter I sent.

I've been able to talk with a lot of British people here at he MTC. One sister that I was talking to told me that I was probably the only person in Utah that knew of "Keeping up Appearances". Also I heard that flight costs to go to Britain were about $500 round trip. I don't know what you have to go through but someone was talking about how awesome it was. Every British person I have talked to and mentioned Doctor Who to knows what it is which I think is pretty flipping awesome!

Love you all a lot and I hope that you are doing well and hope to hear from you soon!

-Love Elder Phillip Larsen

Oct 8, 2010 - MTC Week 4 - Mission Week 4

From: Phillip Larsen phillip.larsen@myldsmail.net
Date: Fri, Oct 8, 2010 at 2:48 PM
Subject: Week 3?

Oi minha Familia!

Yesterday (Friday Oct 7th) 30 visas came in for Brazilian missionaries and they left this morning. We are not sure yet if this is just a random occurance or if it means more in the future but thought I'd let you know. When we get our visas I heard that we are allowed to call home too and tell about when we're leaving so I could call again if my visa comes. I don't want my visa to come yet if the rest of my district's don't come as well, but since I am the only one from out East I think it might turn out that I get mine first.

I accidently cut a small hole in my pants, but mom, don't worry I sat for 30 minutes and mended it and the mending job seems to be holding!

They give us so much food here at the MTC, it is kind of crazy. A lot of times it is too much. I really like the icecream they have here, but it isn't the same as at home. They had salmon here for the Missionaries, I didn't take it though because I am not a big fan of fish but I did try some of it.

Yesterday we had a pretty crazy hailstorm, and this whole past week has been overcast.. Bleargh... I liked it more when it was sunny but oh well.

To answer your question about temple attendance mom, yes we go every week. I went today just before typing this email and it was good but I was really drowsy. We get enough sleep here, I guess, but we are working so hard. I don't know what the schedule would be when we go to Brasil's MTC.

Portuguese is going well. Our teachers are speaking more Portuguese to us, and we are getting a hang of the language and replacing the different words we learn with the Portuguese words. We are also having English fasts during lunch where we only speak Portuguese to each other which really helps. It's surprising how much we have retained and how much we are getting in the language. A funny thing about portuguese to english translation, the scripture James 1:5 in portuguese directly translates to "If any of you lack knowledge, let him ask God, that give to all liberally, and he won't throw it in your face, and it shall be given him." Some silly things we find while studying the language!

I have really enjoyed learning different tricks from Elder's in my district. I have taught 2 how to solve the Rubick's cube already, and I've learned several magic tricks which are fun to do.

General Conference here at the MTC was nice, although it was a lot of sitting. We would go to a session, sit, go to eat, sit, go back to a session, and sit some more and that was pretty much the entire schedule that we had, so not much working out!

One thing that I have started recently that is kind of insane is called the Elder Brown Workout. It is where you do 1 pushup, wait a second then do 2, then 1 pull up, then 3 push ups, then wait a second, then 4 pushups, and then 2 pullups. In total, if you go up to 10 pushups in one set, you do about 110 pushups total, and 15 pullups. In the past 2 days I've done 280ish pushups because after the workout you burnout with the most pushups you can do. Doing this makes my arms really sore but it is supposed to wear off after a while. So that has been something that was pretty fun :P

I met another Elder Larsen who is from Denmark! Could he be related to us? I remember hearing about that email we got from Denmark, that would be cool if I met a distant cousin!

I love you all, and miss you. I'll keep you posted on the Visa stuff as well.

The counter is blinking now so I'll talk to you later! Hope to hear from you soon!

-Elder Phillip Larsen

Oct 1, 2010 - MTC Week 3 - Mission Week 3

From: Phillip Larsen phillip.larsen@myldsmail.net
Date: Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 5:38 PM
Subject: Week 3

Boa Tarde minha familia!

It seems like just yesterday since the last p-day. Time is weird here like the twilight zone! Its rather strange. General Conference sounds like it'll be quite exciting here at the MTC, we won't have any classes and our schedule will be very different than usual.

That is going to be weird having Conference with so few people at Ruby Tuesday, but I'm sure it will be fun.

I'm glad both Brother Bentall and Brother Henkel are doing well. I hadn't heard about Brother Bentall though but I am glad that everything is good with him. I don't really know what to say this week, kind of lost for words. We hid stuff in our room today in the Narnia Holes that we had found. We only found one secret in our room but we made some clues and left a room roster and $1.12 underneath a carpet square. It was fun!

We have devotionals every week and it is with a General Authority. So far we've only had members of the 70 but their talks have been great!

If you haven't seen the movie Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration, do it. It is a very very good church produced movie of the life of Joseph Smith and we got to watch it last Sunday. Every Sunday we watch a movie, the first week we watched the Testament, and the last week was the Joseph Smith movie. It is very well made and by far my most favorite movie about his life and the lives of the early saints of the church.

Laundry time is quite ridiculous. There are so many missionaries trying to do their laundry that you sometimes have to wait in line for a dryer or washer.

Cool fact, my teacher Irmao Taylor is a direct descendant of John Taylor. John Taylor is his great, great, great, grandfather. Elder Bitner, an elder in my room is also related to Gordon B. Hinckley, and another elder in my district is also related to John Taylor. It was really cool to find that out.

I really like my teachers Irmao Call and Irmao Taylor. They are very good at speaking Portuguese and Irmao Taylor said that when we get back from our missions, we can take a test at BYU for Portuguese and get 16 college credits, so I'm going to look into that! He also said it was very easy to do too.

So that whole worry about me gaining weight at the MTC doesn't apply to me. I have actually lost weight which is weird since we mostly sit around and eat lots of food with 50 minutes of gym time a day. Ah we started playing Volley Ball outside at the MTC field as a district and it is so fun! We get to be barefoot and the sand feels so nice. We have done that several times and we're going to play against another District.

I'm out of tune with the world. What kind of world events are happening?

I love you all so much and miss you. I'll try to have more written for you next week and reply to more questions.

-Elder Phillip Larsen

This is a picture of my district taken during a "Temple Walk." Starting from the left: Elder Harris, Elder Bitner, Elder Jorgenson, Elder Billin, Elder VanWagoner, Elder Iverson, Elder Smith, Elder Larsen, Elder Woolsey, Elder Yorgason, Elder Sharp.


This is Elder Bitner, Elder Harris, Elder Larsen, and Elder Smith:


Elder Yorgason, Elder Larsen, Elder Iverson, all going to Terresina Brazil:


This is my companion Elder Smith. He's a funny guy.