Elder Phillip Larsen: Dec 2, 2010 - Texas Week 3

From: Phillip Larsen
phillip.larsen@myldsmail.net
Date: Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 12:30
Subject: Texas Week 3

Howdy Y'all!

I remembered to bring a list of stuff that I wanted to say to you so
I'll be using that for some of the email.

Last week was kind of a bummer in terms of missionary work... Our
baptismal date for Obed fell through and he dropped off the face of
the Earth and stopped talking to us and his friends about the gospel
at all. Also later Wednesday (P-day) we got dropped from another one
of our investigators so I have now seen how annoying things can be
while serving as well.

We have been doing a lot of tracting lately, well more finding. We
don't knock on doors as much as just talking to people outside. That
seems to work better because we can actually have a conversation with
them and they are able to see us as real people instead of their
stereotype of us being robots. I don't get to participate in too many
lessons as a missionary because a lot of them are in Spanish, but its
all good either way. I can understand most of it and I guess I am here
to learn to listen :P

I like being in the field a lot more than being in the MTC. The MTC is
nice but not real in the slightest I feel compared to actual teaching.
They try their hardest to make it real but since we aren't teaching
real people with real concerns, it didn't prepare me as well as I wish
I had been prepared.

So this past Sunday was a pretty interesting day. At sacrament meeting
I can't understand that much of the speakers or the lessons afterwards
because it is the Spanish branch but I understand the sacrament
prayers and that is the main reason we go to church on Sundays
anyways. We get done with church, (our schedule is 11:30-2:30) and we
go to our apartment and Elder White asks about what we'll teach this
one investigator today. Elder Simmons says nothing and reads a text
she had sent us saying she was sick and wasn't going to be able to be
taught. So then he asks when we're going to this family for lunch and
then Elder Simmons says something similar to the previous answer: "No
lunch today either" so hearing that I think to myself that I need to
eat lunch at the apartment so I eat a sandwich and some other stuff
and felt quite full. Well turns out Elder Simmons had been joking
about that and we went to the members house and ate lunch and I didn't
want to offend people because Mexicans are proud of their cooking so I
took 2 plates of food and was bloated.

So we finish eating and sharing a spiritual thought there and then we
get into the car and then Elder Simmons says we are going to a dinner
appointment and that they get really offended if you do not eat their
food. Instantly I sought help because I felt like I was going to
explode but luckily I wasn't too full by the time we got to the
members house. We started off eating corn on the cob and then we ate
soup and guess what I got to eat there?
Cow Stomach!
It was a very weird thing that I thought I would never eat ever. Seems
like two things. That and rattle snake.

We had Thanksgiving lunch/dinner at the Flores's house. That is the
family whose son we baptized 2 weeks ago and we'll be baptizing their
other son soon I think. The food was very good, they had the yams that
Sister Cole always made which was awesome. I'm glad you enjoyed
thanksgiving at the Cole's.

We play a lot of football here and I have realized that I am pretty
good at that too and I like playing that on P-days.

The weather here today is 64 degrees. Nothing like New England. The
coldest it has been during the day is probably 40, I'm not sure but it
hasn't snowed or rained since I've been here. Its always sunny and the
sunsets are crazy! (I'll email some pictures, and some of them are
sunsets/sunrises here.)

We went teaching to a lot of places that have little children, this
one family that is completely spanish speaking has 5 children and I
showed them some magic tricks that I had learned in the MTC and they
loved it. Their reactions were funny, Elder Simmons said this one boy
said in spanish "Its a miracle!" I found that amusing.

In Texas, the main vehicles that people drive here seem to be Trucks,
Mustangs, Camarros and Corvettes. Just an observation I made since
living here for 3 weeks.

People are putting up their Christmas lights here now and it's awesome
to look at them. A lot of the decorations are very detailed and
awesome looking. People wrap trees and outline their houses and just
lots of stuff so its nice to see that. There isn't any snow though to
finish the scenery :( oh well. Also something funny here in Texas is
that people's yards usually have either cactus or Palm trees, lots of
them all over.

What about the pageant? Doesn't that happen like the second weekend of
December? They don't have a pageant here but they have a nativity
display for the stake at the stake center and that is for
investigators and everyone to go see. I'll be sure to take pictures
when we go there and I'll send them over. There are going to be a lot
of different displays. We are also staying overnight one of the days
to make sure the displays stay there :P so that'll be fun.

That's cool that the Blanchette's are expecting twins! That is one
thing that is going to be crazy is how much the ward will have changed
by the time I get back!

Yesterday morning President Robison came to our apartment for
companionship study. He's an awesome mission president. I wouldn't be
surprised if he is a General authority after he finishes serving here.
They'll be done in the middle of next year. He also gave our phone
texting so we could contact investigators that we couldn't talk to
before except through other people.

I love life as a missionary, even though last week didn't go too well
and every once in a while appointments just fall through I just love
being able to walk around and talk to people about the Gospel. Seeing
the change that goes through people's lives when we teach them and
they understand is amazing and is a testimony to me of the
truthfulness of the Gospel and how it blesses our lives.

Its weird being away from home during the holiday season, remembering
the different things we would do. We have a fireplace in my apartment
and we got wood a week ago and used that. Elder White knows "The
Christmas Story" pretty good so we were having fun just quizzing each
other about different details or things that happened in the movie. We
also drive a lot since we don't have 3 bikes so we get to see the
lights as we go around after it gets dark here. I'll get to call home
then though so that'll be fun!

I'm glad everything is going well. I love you all and hope you enjoy
the Christmas season!

Love,
Elder Phillip Larsen

P.S I also got a haircut. O_o.

The pictures are a sunset in Odessa Texas