Dec 16, 2010 - Texas Week 5 - Mission Week 14

From: Phillip Larsen
phillip.larsen@myldsmail.net
Date: Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 12:45 PM
Subject: Texas Week 5


Felis Navidad Minha Familia! (We listened to that song a lot in the
car while driving to appointments to Spanish)
12-16-2010

Well, its almost Christmas and I'll be able to call you guys! This
past week has been good in some ways and bad in others... We'll start
off with the bad I guess, well things I am not that happy about. I got
transferred from Midland 4th Spanish Branch. Elder White was also made
a Zone Leader in Roswell NM and I got moved to Midland 3rd Ward. We
are on bikes, and I'm in a trio with Elder Thode, Elder Yorgason, and
myself. I am just really bummed because now we're confined to one
section of the town in Midland, whereas when I was in the Spanish
Branch, all the spanish speakers in the town attended that ward. We
still meet at the same building but I don't get to teach the people
that I taught and I don't get to hang out with my old companions as
much. We are in the same district and on P-Days we play football and
spend time with all the missionaries in Midland TX, but it just sucks
because I really liked being in the Spanish Branch but oh well... In
several ways it is harder because I am literally going to the same
building for church and stuff and I'll be seeing the members of the
Branch but I won't be able to teach with them or go to dinner
appointments with them and what not. Hopefully I'll go on splits often
enough that I can see how everyone is doing, it is just really sad.
That is probably going to be one of the hardest things about
missionary work that I'll have to go through. I just wish I could be
in Midland 4th still. I wasn't expecting to get transferred, I found
out on Monday.

As for the good news, this past weekend we had 2 baptisms out of the
blue. Martin Flores, and Jesus Ramirez, (the guy who dropped us 2
weeks ago) Its a pretty awesome story! I'll start from the beginning
when we started to teach Jesus.

He called us one day from a street contact that another Elder in
Midland made at a McDonalds. He asked us to come by and teach him and
so we did. I can't remember if we taught at his house the first few
times but he attended Church and then went to the Thanksgiving party
as well. After he gained our trust we went and taught at his house and
we understood why he didn't like having company or wasn't sure. His
house was pretty bare. He had a T.V. sitting on the floor, a bike, 2
lawn chairs and a dvd player. His house was probably a 2 room
apartment, the main room/kitchen, and then the bedroom with a bathroom
there. We taught him a couple of times, he only speaks spanish so
really Elder White and Elder Simmons taught him but then Thanksgiving
day he called us and said he didn't want to hear anymore. He said that
he was going to get a new job and that he wouldn't have time and that
he didn't want us stopping by for lessons.

The next day we stopped by just to see how he was doing and kind of
give him a "drop" lesson where we tell him we'll stop coming by. We
just told him to pray and continue reading and went on our way. That
day we had 2 baptisms cancel on us and it sucked, wasn't too good for
our morale.

Well fast-forwarding 2 weeks into the future, last P-day Jesus calls
us and asks us to come over and teach some more. We went over to his
house and he said he was reading in the pamphlets we left him on the
Gospel of Jesus Christ and so we taught him that again. After the
lesson he asked us "When is the soonest that I can be baptized" This
caught us even more by surprise. For one he called us back after
dropping us, and then he asked when he could be baptized. We prepared
him to be baptized the following Sunday, he needed to be at church at
least 2 times before he could be baptized, (that is President
Robison's minimum) and that Sunday would be the 2nd time. We taught
him the restoration of the Gospel the next day and showed him the
Restoration movie which he really enjoyed.
Immediately his life started to improve from where it was before he
picked back up us teaching him. He didn't end up getting that job that
he was applying for and he lost his job at McDonalds but he was able
to get food from the Bishop's Storehouse and we also gave him some
donuts (donuts are really big here in Midland, big as in popularity,
not unusually sized pastries)

The Sunday he got baptized was also the same day Martin got baptized,
the water was freezing but he still went through with it and because
it was right after church the whole branch was pretty much there in
attendance and they all introduced themselves to him and he
immediately got fellowshipped into the branch. He is also wanting to
learn English and so he is going to be going to both the 3rd Ward and
the Branch afterwards to help with his English so I'll be able to see
him. We are also going to see him getting confirmed this Sunday which
is exciting.

It was very strange, he had a complete change of heart but he looks so
happy and he opened up so much to us. He jokes around with us now and
he just seems like a different person, a more happy person.

I got to set up Christmas lights for this one investigator's mom
yesterday. We were setting up Icicle lights, it was fun and reminded
me of me doing it at home. This whole season has had mixed effects too
being a missionary. There is a phrase used in the mission "Trunky"
where you are always thinking of home and having a hard time focusing
on the work. The closer it gets to Christmas the more strong the
feeling gets, its annoying. I miss you guys a lot and wish I could be
with you for Christmas, but that'll be in 2 years and that will be
awesome! I don't mean to be trunky, but it is kind of unavoidable.

I also am afraid of getting back and being different and not being
able to hang out with a lot of friends that I had before mission like
Andrew, Geoff, Mike, Sam, Jesse, Weston and others. How is Weston
doing? Has he said anything about getting mail from me? I sent him 2
letters since going on a mission. I also haven't heard from Andrew
since getting in Texas. How are the Wilsons doing? The emails with
Geoff have been working well and I just print them out and reply to
them. I wonder if I'll be able to just reply with email in Brasil
since postage is ridiculous. I'll find out when I get there though. Do
you know if Andrew is working on anything for Missionary paperwork?

I did get the packages that you sent and its been great to have those!
I love getting mail, hearing from home is always nice. We're doing the
12 days of Christmas for these investigators that we have that just
had a baby a month and a half early. They're a really cool and chill
family. We don't have that many investigators here in Midland 3rd, but
we'll rebuild the pool and then Elder Yorgason and I will get our
visas right when things get moving... That seems to be how it happens.
Elder Yorgason just got things moving in Odessa where he was serving
earlier and then got transferred here.

So Geoff directed the Christmas Pageant this year? I heard it was in
Greeley Park on the side nearest to the church.
I also forgot about the creepy santa that was on the way to Rachel's
school. There are some very different things here in Texas than NH.
Most of the houses here have alleyways behind their house where they
get into the garage of their house and where the trash is picked up so
the street looks nicer I guess. All the trees here are foreign from
Texas, and the weather has still been very warm. Yesterday it was
about 75 degrees. The sunsets here are awesome and the sky is
gigantic! Supposed to get colder here, around the 40's but I'm not
sure it seems to be cold for a day then warm for a couple of days in a
row.

We're going to go to some members on Christmas and I get to call home
on Christmas too for an hour which I am excited for, and it has been
really fun opening the packages you sent me.

My new address is:

Elder Phillip Larsen
1501 North Garfield St
Midland, TX 79701

I'll get the mail eventually from the Andrew's Hwy one when I see
Elder Simmons and Elder Urry on P-day and District Meetings but this
is where I'll be for the next transfer at least.

Right now though we aren't even staying there for probably a week. Our
plumbing at our place and the member's that we are staying with has
gone dead so we're staying at 2nd Ward Elder's place which is also at
a members house and it is a gigantic place. The members they are
staying with are also members of the mission presidency.

We have a couple of Christmas parties which are going to happen this
weekend and 2 baptisms in the 2nd ward.

The closest temple we have is Lubbok which is about 2 hours away so
I'll probably not be able to go to the Temple on my mission because
Teresina doesn't have one either.

That is really strange that Kevin got his mission switched, but that
is still cool that he is going to Brasil. I had never heard of that
mission though. Hopefully the visa trouble goes away by then as well.
When does he go to the MTC? Maybe I'll be in Brasil by then.

I wish I could be with you guys for Christmas. I love you all so much
and miss you guys a lot. I look forward to being able to call you on
Christmas, we get the day off so we'll visit a few members and
probably go play football or something -_- but not the same as a
normal Christmas. Thanks for the packages again! I really appreciate
it! :)

Love,
Elder Phillip Larsen
(Or as Julia calls me Elder Phillip Edward Larsen Older Brother the
1st, or something like that)

Also, more pictures!

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Jesus Baptism Pictures


Hippo Christmas Decoration

Dec 8, 2010 - Texas Week 4 - Mission Week 13

From: Phillip Larsen
phillip.larsen@myldsmail.net
Date: Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 12:38 PM
Subject: Texas Week 4

Howdy Y'all!

It was great to have a lot to read when I got on the computer today!

So I forgot to write up a thing for what I wanted to say this week but
I'll write what I can remember, and I'll try to answer your questions.

Elder Simmons cut my hair, well more buzzed it... hahaha it has grown
out more though and I think it looks allright. We go to the Midland
City Library to do emails, and both districts in Midland come so
that's pretty fun, and then after that we go play football which I
have come to like to play. Its fun playing with a bunch of
missionaries!

Tomorrow is the Christmas Zone conference and it is more of a "let's
not have the missionaries be homesick" kind of conference so we're
doing a lot of Christmas stuff I guess. (Music etc.) I don't really
know what to expect.

That's great to hear that you got the lights up this year dad! We've
seen a lot of lights lately and there are a bunch of cool spots with
lights here. There was a house with lights going to music. I filmed it
for a couple of songs while we were on the way back to the apartment.
(This was when I was on splits yesterday biking) It is nice to see the
different houses though. Christmas time is so nice, and we also have
some Christmas music that we listen to while driving around.

Yesterday I went on splits with another Elder and he is in a bike
mission so we were riding bikes the whole day. Boy was my rear sore
after that and not riding for several months. Also riding in a suit is
terrible and with a big backpack but it was awesome because you get to
talk to so many people while doing that. The bike I was on also was
breaking down as I rode it. If I peddled too fast when trying to get
out of the busy roads that we had to cross to get to our area, the
gears would skip and also the back rear tire was getting flat all the
time because it has a leak but we just kept pumping it back up after
lessons and tracting in an area, it was quite fun. We also went "Trick
or Treating" where you go tracting at night. Kind of ironic how it is
now Christmas time, but some houses here still have Halloween
decorations up so I guess it is Decemberween! We taught a lot of
people and found hopefully a couple of potential investigators. We
also witnessed a car jacking, but when we were biking by that house
again we saw the car back in their yard so all is well.

While tracting yesterday we went to this one house and a lady opened
up the door and her children were there. We were talking a little with
her about the Gospel and then she mentioned that her Husband recently
passed away and that her sister did as well. She already goes to
another Church but allowed us to talk to her about our message that we
have and I felt love for their family and I mentioned about Stanford.
I have talked to a few investigators about that while teaching the
plan of salvation. The gospel is true and when people find that out we
can see the change that it brings in their lives.

I wasn't too sure if DearElder worked outside of the MTC, I got
Rachel's DearElder. Also Elder Simmons made the comment that he forgot
why he didn't like being with greenies because this past week I've
been getting mail quite often. He also has the habit of when I walk
out of the bathroom sometimes he'll tackle me, did it about 6 times so
far but I've got him back 3 times. We do some pranks but not too much.

Last week we went to Ross's. Is there a Ross's in NH? It is like a
salvation army but with brand new stuff. We got some nice cleats for
football for $15, so we use those when playing. I don't know what I'll
do with them when I go to Brasil though... Already past the weight
limit as it is.

The Nativity exhibit happened this past week and unfortunately the
members of the stake that were putting it on would boss us around like
we had nothing to do. Kind of felt really lazy with that and Elder
Simmons being sick this past weekend but everything worked out and we
still were pretty effective. I did take a lot of pictures though so
I'll email that to you guys. There were a lot of really cool
Nativities!

Cool thing that I read last night was the King Fallot Discourse. I
don't know if you have read it or not but it was something that Joseph
Smith talked about at a funeral of this one guy. It is some pretty
deep doctrine but it is amazing and really cool!

For Thanksgiving we ate Turkey, and yams. These cookies that the
member made were with Ritz crackers covered in chocolate with frosting
in the middle I think. They were really good! We also had rice, and
bean casserole. No corn or mashed potatoes though :( It was still
delicious. The members are really nice too. We'll be teaching them
tonight, well their kids while the parents take temple prep classes.
We also play games with them which is really fun.

Transfers are coming up soon, it's a bit weird. I don't really know
what is going to happen with them but we'll find out in a week. Also
is there any way you can check on progress for visas online? I don't
want to do that but one elder in my district at the MTC said that his
parents did that for him. I had to fill out an online form, but yeah
was just wondering if there was any way to check up on that. Elder
Yorgason is still here in Texas as well but I don't know anything
about the other Elders or what the situation is.

Spanish is not really coming along for the speaking part, but I am
able to understand a lot of what people say as long as I concentrate
on the topic of conversation. The Mexican investigators and members
though are so friendly and very cool to be around. We even got invited
to Kevin's ( a recent convert) sister's husband's surprise birthday
party. It was funny, like 20 members of their extended family and then
3 white missionaries, but we're pretty close to that family so I guess
that is why we were invited haha

This past week has been pretty hot. Last thursday was about 80 degrees
outside and it was really hot while playing football (american) to
answer your question Heather. I have only played Football (soccer)
with the Flores' children a couple weeks ago in the gym but I know
I'll be playing a lot of it in Brasil. Today it is about 60 degrees
outside.

I've been hearing a lot of different Texan speak here, "Y'all", and
"I've been fixin to ...(Leave, make a phone call, etc)" I don't think
I'll be picking up any of the accent though.

We met this one family, and the one person who is actually interested
is their son Daniel. After we taught him he ran up to us while we were
walking to our car outside and handed Elder Simmons $15 dollars and
said we should go eat out or something. We declined the offer a couple
of times and then finally Daniel said that "in our religion we believe
that when you don't accept a gift you deny the blessing" and so we
reluctantly took his offer. We're going to go teach him tomorrow, and
we also have a dinner appointment with a family whose son just got his
mission call to Mexico.

Well that's all for now I think. I hope I answered the questions that
you had, and if not I'll answer more next week.

Love you,
Love Elder Phillip Larsen

The first picture is a nativity that Brother Alcocer carved, I liked
it a lot.


The second one is self explanitory. :P There were over 300
nativities there.


Next picture is another sunset on the way to Odessa for a dinner
appointment with some recently reactivated members.


Next is a picture of this place covered in lights, kind of hard to
take dark pictures though so it is a little blury, but it is a cool
little set up.


Next is a spongebob lawn decoration that was too cool to pass up a picture of.

Dec 2, 2010 - Texas Week 3 - Mission Week 12

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



The Flores Family the day Andrez was baptized



Sunrise on the way to Midland from Lubbock Texas my first day



Palm trees at McDonalds.

Nov 24, 2010 - Texas Week 2 - Mission Week 11

From: Phillip Larsen
phillip.larsen@myldsmail.net
Date: Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 12:28 PM
Subject: Texas Week 2


Howdy Y'all!

So I've really come to like Midland Texas now, it is so great to
finally be in the field! Missionary work is such a fun job! Did you
get my last email that I sent you? Today we have P-day on Wednesday
instead of Thursday because of Thanksgiving

So it has been pretty awesome, we teach a lot of Mexican people here
in Texas and it is nice because I can understand mostly what is being
said in the lessons that we teach people but I still can't talk to
them easily yet but eventually I'll be able to. Most of the Branch
members speak English as well as Spanish too so its all good, but I
like listening in on Spanish lessons.

Texas is quite the place! It has been around 77 degrees this whole
past week, I've heard that it is supposed to get cold though so it was
fun while it lasted. We play football on P-Days and tomorrow we have
Thanksgiving off because proselyting isn't fruitful on holidays so
we'll just be visiting members houses who have invited us over.
Yesterday I was on exchanges with a Zone Leader in the Odessa Ward. I
went to Odessa and he came here to Midland. I like Midland more
though, my companions are cool I am used to how they teach and we get
along pretty well.

So at this one investigator's house we ate rattlesnake. It was very
weird! He had killed it in his backyard, he lives in a trailer. He
gave the skin to Elder Simmons and he put it on the binding for his
Spanish scriptures. The missionaries here have this cool thing where
they rebind their scriptures with a leather case. I am going to
combine my Portuguese Book of Mormon and Bible together and give them
a leather case because it looks cool and it would be nice to have.

This morning before we came to email, Elder Simmons was saying how my
hands smelled and all and that I should wash my hands, then I took a
drink from a cup and he said to wash it, turns out that he wanted me
to turn on the sink because he taped the gun attachment closed so then
I got soaked, it was pretty funny though.

When I was on exchanges with the ZL's, (Elder Yorgason is with them in
Odessa) we were tracting and then we came to this one house and they
said it was my turn so I knocked on the door and then 2 children
opened it and said "Come on in" and then I looked at my companions and
they were like "Okay, sweet" just really cool about it but you don't
do that normally so I was confused. I then asked if their parents were
home and they said "My grandma is, hold on" and so we were waiting and
then they told us to go into their grandma's room. Turns out it was a
members house. Missionary work is fun. It reminded me of God's Army
with the pranks they pulled on them.

We had a baptism last Saturday, Andrez, a 9 year old kid of a recent
convert/activated family. This weekend we have Obed scheduled for his
baptism, and the week after we have a mexican man named Jesus
scheduled. We're booked with baptisms and its exciting! I love
teaching people and seeing the changes that come into their lives when
they begin to receive the blessings from accepting the gospel.

On Monday we went and did service for a member of the ward, we helped
him empty a big trailer from brush from this yard he was cleaning and
so we were at that for 6 hours, and then because of the help we gave
him he bought us lunch at a place just like grand buffet called Taste
of China. It was very good food and they had a cool pond inside with
lots of koi fish.

I hope you all have a good thanksgiving, Christmas Lights are already
getting put up around here, I wonder if there will be anything like
that in Brasil for Christmas. Who is setting up lights at the house
this year or are you not going to have any set up? There are some
pretty decked out houses here, but no snow to finish the scenery.

Do you remember the Ramos family? They lived in Nashua, NH about 20
years ago, well that is what they said. They hadn't remembered when
they lived in Nashua for a while but they are members. Brother Ramos
was the High Priest group leader for a bit, and he is a doctor and
worked in Boston. I dunno, it was pretty cool though, very small
world.

Love you all and miss you, hope everything is going well, and that
you're enjoying the holiday season!

Love,
Elder Phillip Larsen

Elder Larsen with President and Sister Robinson


Elder Larsen and Elder Yorgason with President and Sister Robinson

Nov 18, 2010 - Texas Week 1 - Mission Week 10

From: Phillip Larsen
phillip.larsen@myldsmail.net
Date: Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 12:42 PM
Subject: Texas!


Yeehaw Family! I'm in Midland Texas!

I have 20 minutes left on the computer so if you want to email me and
have me reply quickly do it! I have time :D

I got here on Monday around 4ish, we got into the airport, Elder
Yorgason and me and we met the Assistants to the President: Elder
Garling, and Elder Maughan. We got to spend time with President
Robison and we ate out at Blue Sky burgers. It was very good. Hmm, I
think I should probably talk about the days before and the flight to
Texas. We had a 2 hour layover in Dallas and we ate McDonalds there.
The fries were consistantly good, unlike the ones in the MTC. We then
took a little flight to Lubbock and the plane had propellers. It was
pretty fun, but we didn't get to talk to anyone on that flight. I was
sitting next to Elder Yorgason and I was very tired so I just slept
the entire 1 hour flight, or however long it was, but it was good. The
first flight I sat next to a Sister from Uruguay and I was able to
speak a little Portuguese to her, she spoke Spanish but could
understand me alright most of the time. It was nice to be able to talk
to people though, a big culture shock though. People do exist, not
just missionaries! :P

But back to arriving here: We took pictures in front of cotton fields
and that was pretty fun. The mission car we were in was a truck which
was kind of unexpected but it was nice, and their apartment was pretty
huge too. Texas is so different from Utah, no mountains whatsoever. It
is so flat here but it is very nice, pretty warm sometimes windy. We
went with them to the Mission home which is pretty sweet. Elder
Garling showed us the mission map and it is the biggest mission in the
USA. They have 130 missionaries here. So we met with President and
Sister Robison, took pictures, ate dinner, and then we went to the
Mission Office with the APs and then we were there till about
10:30ish. They are so busy! They do a lot of work and we got to the
apartment at about 11:00ish. They were preparing for a leadership
training meeting in Midland which is where Elder Yorgason and I were
for the past 2 days. We were with the Zone Leaders and District
leaders of the area and just being trained on different things for the
mission. It was nice but my favorite parts of the past 2 days have to
be when we started proselyting. I really feel like a missionary now.
In the MTC I was still set apart and a missionary, but we were all
missionaries so it didn't feel like it all the time.

My companions are Elder White and Elder Simmons. Elder White is the
district leader for our district. We are in a Spanish Branch! Their
apartment is really nice and they're very relaxed missionaries meaning
they don't really care what I eat and we hit it off pretty well. They
say I'm their son, and they are pretty young to be training me but its
pretty cool. Being in a trio is nice. On Tuesday, after the leadership
training meeting we went and started teaching. we had a dinner
appointment with a ward member who was recently reactivated and then
we went and picked up 2 members who are recent converts, Junior, and
Kevin and went on splits and taught Obed, a young man who is
investigating the Church. We were teaching him and a cool thing was
that his sister who wasn't taking the lessons was there and we invited
her to listen and she did! We were teaching the lesson The Gospel of
Jesus Christ, well the principles of that anyways and she participated
a lot. Elder Simmons asked me if I could share an experience that was
faith promoting to me and I thought for a bit and shared about
Stanford and that whole event. The spirit was really strong and then
Obed's sister got interested even more and so we're teaching her
tonight as well as Obed. She said the prayer at the end of the lesson
as well! It was very cool.

After we taught them we left and went to another investigator's house.
His name is David, and he is very cool too. All the people here that
we are teaching speak Spanish and English. I really like it a lot, it
is just so fun to be teaching finally! We got to David's house a
little late so we didn't get to teach him a full lesson but Elder
Simmon's did that trick with the lined paper, you know like with the
Cross and the word Life at the end. I remember some missionaries doing
that at our house before but I don't remember who. But he did that and
David really liked that. Part of the story Elder Simmons said during
the object lesson was about Temples and then we started talking about
temples and the great blessings that come from it. It was a nice
little chat. David and his Daughter were playing Wii sports when we
got there. He has a pet turtle, a few fish, and a shark.

We left after that and it was about 9:10 and then we went to the
Mission Leader's house where Elder White was. He went with the mission
leader and went teaching, and then we dropped off Kevin and Junior and
went to the apartment to plan and finish off the day.

Wednesday was similar to Tuesday, we went to the leadership training
meeting. For lunch there we ate at Chick-Fil-A I've never been there
before it was good though. we were going to get Icecream and President
asked who wanted ice cream and had a cone, he handed it to me and then
the machine broke. I felt a little bad, 3rd day in the mission field,
but they went and bought icecream at a nearby grocery store and gave
it to the rest of the Elders.

Going to the meetings was a very educational experience, I think it
may have been one of the reasons why the Lord wanted me to come here
to Texas.

Wednesday was great too!

So we finished with the leadership meeting and then we went to the
apartment for a second to go to get ready to proselyte and then we
went to a few houses to follow up on some investigators but they
weren't home so we went to this referral we got from the mission
president about a Brasilian lady who was friends with Dr.Ramos. Do you
remember the Ramos's? They lived in Nashua about 20 years ago near DW
College. Small world! and how cool is it that they hear about a
Brasilian lady who was interested in the church and then 2 Brasilian
elders come to Texas?!?! It was so awesome! We stayed at the Ramos's
house for a bit. The Brasilian lady wasn't there at the time, she is
in the national volleyball tournament and was playing a game away from
Texas. Brother Ramos taught us instead of us teaching him. It was just
over all an awesome experience. He said that Keyworth was his bishop
or something? I can't remember. He said he hadn't thought about Nashua
forever. He was the high priest group leader though.

We went to mutual afterwards to teach this one boy who is getting
baptized this Saturday. It was very neat to teach him and his
siblings. He has 3 brothers and a sister and while his mom and dad
were in Temple Prep class we taught them also the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. Elder White was getting a little stressed out because they
were so rowdy but their rowdyness didn't even phase me and I didn't
even notice Elder White being a little stressed out but I just turned
to him and said "This is so cool!" He thought it was funny.
Elder Simmons relates with everybody and anybody. He played Wall ball
with the children as I was meeting different members of the Ward. We
set up tables in the Gym to get ready for a Thanksgiving party that is
on Friday and I cut my hand on a part of the table that was broken but
no biggy. They have pretty much all the same stuff they have at our
stake center. I showed the kids my rubix cube and solved it and let
them play with it. I think all that babysitting that I ended up doing
before my mission helped me a lot. The baby sitting at the church
during mutual and what not.

All the branch members that I've met are so cool and awesome. I really
love them all, they are so friendly and nice. It was very good to be
in a church building again, weird feeling at first but good.

Today we went to a funeral for a lady that Elder Simmon's gave a
blessing to a few days ago. Both Elder White and Elder Simmons knew
she was going to die after they gave it. The funeral service was short
and the attendance was small but the lady who died, her neighbors are
in the Branch and so they asked if we could come. I don't know what
religion the man that was conducting the service was but when he saw
us come in I guess he had a weird face when he saw us or something.
That is what my companions said. The scriptures he used were a little
weird, not from King James version and he didn't remember them all the
way but the service was good. One person sang the song that goes "I
pray you'll be our eyes" I don't remember the name... "Our Prayer" I
dunno. She is a member, and the song was really good. The service was
a lot different from Stanford's.

Before we went to the funeral I had Language study with Elder Yorgason
so we could work on our Portuguese. That went good. we weren't able to
do that for 3 days.

I have loved these past 3 days. It is so good to be in the field, I
just love it so much! I was a little homesick at first when I got to
Texas but once I got to meet my companions and get to know them I was
able to focus on the work and the reason why I am here.

If you didn't notice, our P-Days are on Thursday. We also get 1 hour
of email instead of 30 minutes so that is pretty flipping awesome!
I love it here a lot, it is so fun and cool and awesome to be serving
finally! This is the work of the Lord and we are blessed to be able to
participate in it. Hope to hear from you soon, Love you all very much,
and I am so happy to be serving finally.

Love,
Elder Phillip Larsen

Nov 12, 2010 - MTC Week 9 - Mission Week 9

From: Phillip Larsen
phillip.larsen@myldsmail.net
Date: Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 7:59 PM
Subject: Last Pday in the MTC


Happy P-Day!

Sorry for emailing so late today, the schedule was different and today
has felt very rushed!

So it is the last week I have here in the MTC and today has really
flown by and I already forgot stuff to bring to say to you. Okay so
I'll try to remember as much as I can:

So I am going to Lubbok Texas, we leave at 5:00 am Monday Morning, and
then we leave for our flight to Dallas at 8ish? I think it might be
8:30. I meant to bring my travel plans when I emailed so I could let
you know all the information but alas I forgot... Sorry. We have a 2
hour layover in Dallas Texas so I can call you then mom and you can
talk to me then! I'll use my phone card, I don't really know how to
use it though. The layover is from 12:00ish to 2:30ish maybe? I don't
remember, it was something like 2 hours though and then I fly to
Lubbok Texas with Elder Yorgason. It is very weird thinking that in
less than a week we will be in the field teaching and proselyting with
real investigators! Wow!

I really liked the package I got from you! It was awesome, I really
enjoyed the pictures you sent and my district did as well. I also
liked the shirt, I wore that several times this past week. I got the
package on Monday.

We ate at the temple's cafeteria today and the food there was so good!
Quite a bit better in many regards to the food here but the food here
isn't bad, just that it is relatively the same stuff over and over
again, it was nice to have something different today for lunch. We had
5 different languages in the session we did today too. The Brasilian
Elders that we know from our building and from them teaching us were
there, and there was an Italian Elder, a German Elder, Spanish Sister,
and then there was also an Elder who spoke Arabic, although I do not
know what country he is from, but it was really neat to see them at
the temple.

I got to see Mike this week, and I got some pictures with him. Saw him
every once in a while and he also sang in Choir with us and guess who
came to the devotional this past Tuesday... Elder Bednar!!! It was
really good, and very uplifting and helped me understand stuff about
teaching Doctrine to people's objections and questions because the
Doctrine answers the "Why" Also this past fireside, the speaker was
Sheri Dew, so we had quite the spiritual feast this past week. The
song was nice too that we sang but I liked the one the week before
more.

Apparently, word on the street is there is a new Brasilian President
and I have heard 2 rumors about her. One, she hates Americans, and two
she loves Americans so depending on which one is true will determine
our visa situation. Hopefully the first. I did hear from our District
President that we should get our visas in the next month or by the end
of the month so we'll see what happens.

We all got our reassignments except for Elder Bitner. He had more
surgery this past week and he is really sad that he isn't going to be
able to leave with us. He was told he was going to get his
reassignment today but then they said he can't get it until he is
better and ready to serve. It has been really hard on him and us.
Elder Smith, Elder Harris, and Elder Sharp all got called to
Pocatella, Idaho, and Elder Sharp lives an hour away from that mission
too. Its quite funny, but they're excited to go there. Elder Woolsey
and Elder Billin are going to Spokane, Washington, and their mission
has parts of Canada in it. Elder Vanwagoner and Elder Jorgenson are
going to Balitmore, Maryland. That was very unexpected since all the
other elders in another district and us were all going Western
stateside. Elder Iverson is going to Mac Ellen, Texas, and Elder
Yorgason and I are going to Lubbock, Texas. Its very exciting and we
all leave at 5:00 am. 5 of us are also going to Dallas together on the
same flight which will be fun. I am not looking forward to having to
say goodbye to them all though, we're really close and I really have
enjoyed these past 9 weeks.

It'll be weird not getting Dearelders that often either, but I'll have
to get used to it, especially since I'll be in Brasil eventually.
Still doesn't feel like we'll be leaving this Monday. Time has really
flown by. The days are like weeks and the weeks are like days.
Yesterday we did a teaching exersize with Irmao Call and he said it
would be in English, it was pretty funny though because it took me a
second to realize they were teaching in English because it sounded
weird doing that. We have been teaching in Portuguese for so long that
it threw us off. I don't know if I'll be in a trio with Elder Yorgason
but we will have an hour of language study time. I hope I am ready and
prepared enough to be able to study on my own.

One minute left now, so I gotta get going. I love you all very much
and miss you. Pretty crazy, already been 2 months off of my mission
already just here in the MTC. It is really flying by... I am grateful
for this opportunity to serve the Lord and I know that Texas is where
he needs me now. "Don't you dare take the name of Texas in vain!"

Love,

Elder Phillip Larsen the 1st


One night we all got ninja hoods and took pictures. It came out a little blurry, but I like it.


We went trick or treating in our residence hall on October 30th. I was a ninja. Elder Smith has the mask. Elder Yorgason was Elder Woolsey. Elder Woolsey was a batman fan. Elder Sharp was a hobbit. Elder Billin had hobo teeth. Elder Bitner was an old man (after his surgery) We got donuts from a room we went to.


This is the Samuel H. Smith statue that is comemorating 1,000,000 total missionaries in the church. (And Elder Smith and me)


There is a map here with all the mission zones. That one is Teresina. Lubbock Texas is the big red on in the southern tip of America, err... the USA. Both big missions though!


Saw this on a missionary field sign. Had to get a picture.

Nov 5, 2010 - MTC Week 8 - Mission Week 8

From: Phillip Larsen
phillip.larsen@myldsmail.net
Date: Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 2:32 PM
Subject: Week 8


Happy P-day Family!

This week has been quite awesome! (and I wrote up a list of things to
talk about too! huzzah!)

So on Sunday we got to sing in Sacrament Meeting and we sung Nearer My
God to Thee in Portuguese, so Mais Perto Quero Estar. It was very fun
and our Branch really enjoyed it and one of the counselors in the
Branch Presidency complimented one of the elders in our district a lot
on the musical number. The MTC president was also in our sacrament
meeting that week and we also got to go on a Temple walk again
finally! It was very fun. I really liked it and I got some pictures of
it. Unfortunately the picture people here have been having trouble
lately and were backed up so I am hoping to get the pictures later
today but we'll see what happens!

This past Tuesday I got sent down to the Travel Office with about 6
other elders from Brazilian Districts and we ended up applying online
through a website for our visas so I think it'll be a few weeks before
we hear anything more about visas to Brasil. We will be getting
reassignments next week or we'll be applying for them anyways. It is
actually pretty exciting! Those go through the 12 apostles and it'll
be cool to be able to serve somewhere stateside for a bit, I wonder
where I'd get sent.

Later on Tuesday for the devotional guess what! We heard from ANOTHER
apostle! It was awesome. We heard from M. Russell Ballard, and he
talked about being master communicators and being completely confident
in our knowledge of the Gospel so we could teach well. Rumor has it
that we are hearing from another Apostle this upcoming week and
possibly another after that. Heard that we were hearing from 4 in a
row or 5 so we'll figure it out. We also sang in choir again for this
devotional and the song was awesome. Look it up when you get the
chance, it is "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer"

On Wednesday I got to be a host missionary for the missionaries coming
in this week, unfortunately I didn't get to be the host for Mike, but
I did get to see him once. I don't know what building he is in, or
what schedule he has and I really want to talk to him some and get
pictures with him as well. I saw him before he went into a meeting
that new missionaries have but it was great to be able to see him
again. Kind of felt like Alma when I saw him and he was an elder as
well. I look forward to coming back and being able to see everyone
again and know that they are still strong in the gospel as well!

I have been working on a parody on "Make a Man out of You" because we
sing a lot of disney so we were making it more appropriate to
missionary stuff. Here is the stuff that is good so far:

Lets get down to business, to defeat, Satan!
Bring the world the Gospel, and baptize all men!
We prepare each day to serve our Lord,
So pack up, we're on our way!
We will go, serve our God, every day!

I don't know, just something fun I have been working on every once in
a while this past week.

Lately I started reading in the New Testament. It is awesome, I really
love reading it! I am in Mark now, read Matthew. I just love reading
about the savior's ministry here on Earth. I also like watching the
movies that the church has produced about Jesus Christ. Have you been
able to see the Joseph Smith movie I was talking about yet? It is a
really good one. Also, the Testaments is a good movie too. We go to
see the "Big" movies every week and it switches off between Joseph
Smith Prophet of the Restoration to Testaments, back to Joseph Smith,
then Legacy. I really like the church produced movies.

Go to LDS.org sometime and watch the mormon messages there. They are
very good! I think we've watched most of them. Also, did you hear
about the project the church is doing now? They are filming a movie on
the New Testament. There is also information there on LDS.org about
that. They also have a little video on the Good Samaritan which was
nice to watch and see a sort of preview on what it will be like.

This week we were doing an English fast to increase in our Portuguese
skills, but it is very hard to do that and we're kind of failing at
speaking it all the time but we are definitely getting better.

Thank you so much for the Halloween Care Package! I didn't expect it
and it was awesome to get it! More candy :D

Nanowrimo this month Mom, Heather, Julia, and Rachel! Are you doing
well with the word count? I sure as heck fire ain't :P I have had some
inspirational ideas though during gym time or what not. I wrote them
down. It is in a steam punk world, like purely steam punk. I got the
idea when I was playing volleyball and someone spiked the ball. Vernon
Cannonhand, a steam punk pirate! OoOoOo It'll be fun to write about it
when I get back. Just keeping notes on it now and what not. How are
your stories coming though? It is an exciting time and its pretty
amazing that it has already been a year from last time! I was working
for UPS last year O_o

Did you hear anything about the stake centers in Utah being burned? I
heard something about that from Ammon, the guy who directs our service
on Wednesday mornings. He said it was because of the talk on You can't
change laws of Nature and that made a lot of people angry, but it is
from an apostle of the Lord... Sad that the world has to be so
corrupted... But is that true about the stake centers? I don't think
they burned down but they were damaged to some degree.

I love seeing so many foreign elders and sisters here. At the fireside
last Sunday I had a chat with a German elder and it was cool. I've
talked with several Elders from Britain, and a Sister from Hungary. An
Elder from Mexico, and we have been talking a lot with some Elders
from Brasil. One elder, Elder Viera De Sousa is going to the Boston
mission with english speaking, so if you ever see him soon let me
know! It has been cool being able to talk to him in class.

They are still setting up Christmas lights here at the MTC, most of
the trees in this section are covered and it is quite impressive when
we get to see the few that are on but they won't be turning them all
on anytime soon which is a bit annoying! Oh well.

A bird got into the cafeteria here as well, just a random tangeant,
and people were trying to catch it. I still don't think that they have
got it out of the MTC, who knows. The birds here are quite stupid too,
they walk right up to you. I went, pretending to grab one of the birds
here and instead of it flying away, it just crouched down right
underneath my hand. It was unexpected.

Well I am now at 5 minutes left and the timer has started to blink.

I love you all lots and love hearing from you and how you are all
doing. I miss you back home but I am excited to be able to go to the
field soon and preach the gospel!

Love you, hope to hear from you soon!

Love,
Elder Phillip Edward Larsen the first :P