GOODBYE ANNAPOLIS:'( / TEACHING J-LO

Howdy!!

This week was outrageous!!! Super wild!! First of all, we got the news this week that they are changing the mission boundaries, we are losing the Annapolis stake from our mission and it and all the missionaries in it are going to the Washington DC North Mission, that's crazy!!! If I would have stayed in Glen Burnie one more transfer I could be getting moved to the DC North Mission at the end of this week... Good thing I got transferred because Maryland Baltimore Mission is the best!!!! So I called and said goodbye to a bunch of the elders leaving our mission in that zone, including my last companion, it's super crazy! We are getting 2 stakes from the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania mission, Chaimbersburg and Lancaster PA so we will see how that is! Big changes!!

The work is starting to get going out here in Walkersville/Frederick!! We put our investigator, Howard, on date for July 23 so we're pumped for that! Him and our other investigator Brian both came to church on Sunday so that was good! After church we took Howard to the DC temple visitors center and the sisters there gave him a tour. Things are looking pretty good here! We had a few more lessons with our investigator Carlos, he is still doing well and has been reading the Book of Mormon a bunch! It is super funny because this last weekend there was a gay pride festival in downtown Frederick and he was performing there dressed up as Jennifer Lopez, and the whole time while he was making his costume of her he was listening to the Book of Mormon.. My man!!! Hahaha it's gonna be an adventure! Also we picked up a new investigator this week, his name is Arthur and he's a stud!! Hopefully you will be hearing more about him in the future!

Last preparation day Elder Chester jumped off of a rock and hurt his heel so we ended up going to urgent care to get that checked out for him, it is only bruised but they gave him crutches and a splint and told him to stay off of it for a while so that has been fun to deal with! Also we went to the chiropractor for him because he has this neck/head ache that he has had for a while so we spent a bunch of time in the doctors last week. Hopefully we will be back to 100% this week!!

Anyways, I hope y'all have a good week!!!!

-Elder Larson

Elder Chester lol!!!

DC Temple with Howard!

FIREFLIES (&dragqueens)

What's up!!!

Walkersville so far has been pretty dang good! We have been working aka thrusting in our sickle super hard! We installed this finding idea called Mini Zion where we go to the same area at the same time every day and talk to everyone there everyday(not about the gospel). We counsel with the Lord on where and when we should do it and then go and make a bunch of friends in that area! After talking to the people there ideally every day and getting to know them, on Sunday we go around and knock on the doors of the people that we know and then it changes from two 19 and 20 year old strangers to some friends that share a message that can help them out. This week was the first week that we have done it but we already found an investigator from it! His name is Carlos and he is from Mexico. I'll tell you a little more about him later haha;) We have also been trying a bunch of different ideas on getting member referrals and working through members, hopefully the member missionary work will take off here! Also the members feed us pretty much every day here, it is a good thing we are on bikes a lot of the time because I don't want to get fat again!! (I've lost almost 20 pounds since I left Antietam ward hahaha). Also the fireflies are out and they are dope!!

We had some pretty sweet experiences this week. We were walking around and contacting on the street and this older lady was struggling to fix the lamp on the front of her house so we offered to help and she went into shock! "Do you really want to help?????" "Yes ma'am how can we help you?" She then started venting to us about how good God is and how she had prayed not even minutes before then for help and then we showed up asking her to help. After we helped her fix it we started talking to her about the Book of Mormon but she was not into it and wouldn't even accept a copy of it because she is Muslim. We both felt inspired to keep trying and explain a little more and finally she accepted a copy and as soon as she was holding it her jaw dropped... She said that she had goosebumps on her arms just from holding it and she expressed to us that it was what she has been looking for for a long time, apparently a while ago somebody told her about how there were prophets in America but she had no idea who or when they were there. It's amazing how the Spirit can change situations so much!!! Then Carlos... Haha.. So we were walking around in our Mini Zion and we talked to this guy named Carlos. He was super nice and invited us in and offered water bottles to us and all that good stuff so we were pretty pumped! We taught him about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and he felt the Spirit testify of it and he promised us that he would read the whole book before the end of the transfer!! While talking to him we found out that Carlos is gay, and that as a side job he does entertainment at the local gay bar as a drag queen...... But so far he is super solid!! We will see what happens!!

Other than that, Howard is still doing good, we'll probably go with him to the temple sometime soon so that should be fun! I hope y'all have a good week!!!

-Elder Larson

Fashion killaz

Annapolis Rock!! (Elder Chester, Ari, and I)

Elder Chester and myself

WALKERSVILLE!!!

What's up guys??

This week was so crazy! First of all, I said goodbye to Glen Burnie:/ and was transferred to Walkersville, MD on Wednesday! My new companion is Elder Chester from Oklahoma and came out a transfer before me, he's a stud! The work is definitely a lot slower out here so we've got a bunch of work to do!! The area is a lot more rural than Glen Burnie was but there are still a few ghetto neighborhoods (thank goodness). The ward is awesome here! I've been fed every single day so far and I think I've already eaten with members here more than I did in Glen Burnie the 3 months that I was there haha! We share the car with the sisters, so half of the time we are biking and walking so I shouldn't get too fat!

This week may have been one of the most stressful weeks on my mission though haha... So on Tuesday I had district meeting all planned out, Elder Boyde was going to instruct, and we had a bunch of appointments after it and we were going to go say goodbye to a bunch of our investigators because it was my last day and everything was going to work out great! But sometimes your faith has to be tested haha.. Elder Boyde has been off and on sick with some sort of cold the whole transfer and of course it decided to kick in on the best day! Basically he was too sick to instruct or even go to district meeting or get out and do any missionary work so we had to do another crazy exchange with the other Glen Burnie elders and myself so Elder Boyde could rest. Also I had to fill in for Elder Boyde on his instruction with only last minute preparation. We were gonna go drop Elder Boyde off at the other elders apartment and one of them would come with me to district meeting while the other stayed with Elder Boyde, so we pulled up to their apartment already rushed on time and they weren't answering their phone!! Turns out they just barely woke up!! So I took Elder Boyde in and one of them ran out while throwing his clothes and tie and we still had to go pick up the zone leaders. Somehow amazingly we made it to the church just in time for district meeting. Miracle! And my last minute instruction actually went pretty well too. Then the rest of the day we were running from appointment to appointment for both us and the other GB elders. At about 8:30 at night we ended up taking Elder Boyde to urgent care to figure out what was wrong with him, but they couldn't find anything wrong, they just said it was probably a bug or something. Then we got back at almost 10 and I haven't even started packing yet and I leave the next morning! Haha such a fun day!!

To end the week on a good note, we found a new investigator who is way solid! Sunday night we had an appointment with a potential named Howard and we had a money lesson with him! He accepted baptism and loves the Restoration! Hopefully this week we will be able to pick up a bunch more investigators just like him!

I hope y'all have a fantastic week!!

Also my new address is:

7994 Windsail Ct.

Frederick, MD 21701

HMU;)

-Elder Larson

Goodbye district:(

Ward crab out/BBQ

GOODBYE GLEN BURNIE! :(

Howdy!

This week was super crazy but super good! First of all, we got transfer call outs last night and I'm gonna be leaving Glen Burnie:(:( I'm heading off to Walkersville, MD on Wednesday! I'm excited for a new adventure but I'm definitely gonna miss the people here in the Dirty Burnie:/:/

Because of sicknesses and a bunch of other craziness we had to push exchanges with a bunch of elders in the district back to the last week of the transfer, so last week was crazy!!! On Tuesday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders, I went with Elder Sherrat to Annapolis, it was so much fun! Annapolis is paradise! Literally we were contacting people on this cliff over the Chesapeake Bay with trees and below was this nice beach and all the houses probably cost millions of dollars, swimming pools in every back yard where everyone rides around on their beach cruisers, it was a joke! I was definitely excited to get back into my element (the hood) in Glen Burnie haha. On Wednesday, right after we exchanged back, we exchanged with the Odenton elders and Elder Peterson came with me to GB. After that exchange, we immediately exchanged with the other Glen Burnie elders and I went with Elder Tharp into his area and we had some sweet lessons with some of their investigators. One of them, Kathy, who I have actually been there to teach her every lesson so far haha, got the sickest answer to her prayers about the Book of Mormon! She had been reading and praying a ton with real intent (which is what you need to do to get an answer about the Book of Mormon) and she had a dream where apparently she heard God's voice saying that the Book of Mormon was true!! So sick!! And we got to go on base at Fort Meade to help this guy move into Glen Burnie which was pretty cool. That was all in 3 days!

Jamel was able to pass the sacrament this week it was awesome! It's sweet to see somebody who has so recently received the Priesthood be so eager to exercise his authority to bless others, he's a stud!! I'm gonna miss him! Also we had some sick lessons with our investigators this week. We found out that Jason has been getting a lot of push back from his girlfriend and the people that he lives with about him meeting with us. We have been trying to get them involved but it turns out that none of them want anything to do with the church, and they have been asking Jason when he is gonna tell us to buzz off. But Jason stood up for us and for himself and testified to them that he knows what we have been teaching him is true and he doesn't care what any of them think, he wants to be baptized!! Super sick!!! Then we shared the Restoration video with Terrance and he loved it! He has some concerns with the Law of Chastity but he believes that the Book of Mormon is true and he wants to do what God wants him to do. Of course all this happens right as I'm leaving haha! Also we are going to teach this part member family tomorrow and the wife wants to get baptized! Dang! I'm gonna miss Glen Burnie!

I hope y'all have a great week!!!

-Elder Larson

Hey Elder McRae!!! (For Jen & Engor;))

The Bay!

Iggy