5????/SECTION 89

Fam​,

My goal in writing this weekly email is to guilt trip all of you that are members of the church that maybe haven't been doing as much missionary work as you should be.... Just kidding, take it how it is, but if that is the case then I invite you to start doing more missionary work:)

We were all over the place this week! We started off in Jones Falls at their district meeting and then exchanged after! I'm sure it was amusing for all around us to watch two, peculiarly dressed, white kids hauling around a huge bag of luggage and and excessive amount of groceries. We carried this load from Towson to Baltimore with only a little bit of assistance from the bus #BusLife. All in all the exchange was pretty eventful, between soap box preaching on the bus and teaching people that may or may not have been under the influence of something illegal and/or smelled like urine. (Welcome to Baltimore)

Wednesday we exchanged back and later that evening went on another exchange with the Essex elders, Elder Campbell came here with me. We celebrated Doctrine and Covenants Section 89 Appreciation Day (commonly known in the world as "4/20" or #420blazeitYOLOswag) while on this exchange with a dinner appointment at a members home. After the dinner appointment we became aware of the fact that their entire kitchen was completely infested with ants and a very fresh arrangement of other insects as well. Yummy!

Our investigator Justin has been on fire lately. We stopped by on Friday to get him prepared for his baptism interview on Saturday and he had an interesting request from us... He wanted NOT 1, NOT 2, NOT 3, NOT 4, BUT 5 COPIES OF THE BOOK OF MORMON that he could give to his girlfriend, cousins and brothers who he has already been sharing his testimony with about the Book of Mormon. He has had some really cool experiences with the Book of Mormon and all he wants to do is share it with everyone! Not to get into too much detail, but he had a dream (before he read anything from the Book of Mormon) with great spiritual significance that actually quoted a passage of scripture from the Book of Mormon. He tells everyone he sees that the Book of Mormon is a book of answers, and he is exactly right! If you don't know that for yourself then read it and you will soon know that! If you aren't sharing it like Justin is then I encourage you to also read it and pray about it and you will want to! Justin has already passed out 2 copies of the Book of Mormon and is getting baptized this Saturday. We're super pumped about that!

Have a good week!!

-Elder Larson

#Section 89

Under Armour HQ

Somebody crashed their car through the doors of the Inner Harbor building in Baltimore and drove off afterwards haha.

COW SKIN, SEBASTIAN'S BAPTISM & TEACHING ABOUT COMP. INVENTORIES???

My beloved weekly email list,

This week was delicious, or as Lehi would say: "it was desirable above all other fruit." (1 Nephi 8:12). Literally speaking now, I'm not sure if all of us here would have considered my week to have been "delicious", unless you are a big fan of cow skin. In fact, cow skin was on the menu this week and was consumed by myself. Cow skin tastes just about how it sounds like it would taste, so let your imagination go to work and I'll send a picture of it to finalize that thought. That being said, more effort and sacrifice was put into that meal than probably any other meal I've had in a while, perhaps on my mission! It is interesting how the families that have the least tend to give the most and are the most willing to help others out. On top of that, they are always the happiest too! In this case it was the Jeghedes who have only been in the country (from Africa) for a little over a year and are trying to get on their feet here. They are seriously some of the greatest people you will ever meet!

On the topic of Africans, Sebastian got baptized this week! He's such a stud! After he got baptized he bore his testimony and told how grateful he was for us, it was awesome! After the baptism we got ice cream at Cold Stone and the worker lived in Utah for 2 years so we're gonna go back to teach him now! Sick!

We had zone conference this week which was fantastic. Afterwards we went on exchanges with the Susquehanna elders and that went really well! I went with Elder Barney who is fairly new in the mission up to Susquehanna. As soon as we got into the apartment, I told him that we were gonna take some time to clean up their apartment, especially to mop the floors (it was nasty). But in response he told me (with enthusiasm) that we were gonna go out and work instead! #GreenieFire I decided not to extinguish said fire and we went out to work haha! (Don't worry though, we eventually got it cleaned). But we were able to find 2 new investigators for them so that was good!

On Friday we felt like we needed to stop by Justin, so we did and when we got there he was super bummed out! Apparently he was having some hardcore GF problems, they had been in a huge fight right before we came by. He was super pumped that we stopped by though because he needed to talk to the boys! As you might guess (if you guessed this then you are the GOAT) we then taught him about the companionship inventory which is found in Preach My Gospel. (If you are unaware, we hold companionship inventories every week to resolve any problems or conflict in the companionship) and it helped him out a ton! #TeachPeopleNotLessons!!!

This week we found 3 new investigators, Meagan who is a referral from a less active member, Noel who can't read but is a stud, and Aayuba who is straight from Africa and barely speaks English! 

Have a good week!!

-Elder Larson

Sebastian!

TRANSFORMATION TUESDAY!!! (

Elder Larson on the left, Elder Collins on the right

Cow skin...

MAN IN THE MIRROR

Fam,

Guilt and shame entered into my soul after I sent my weekly group email to you last week... Horrific images and memories filled my mind. In particular, my memory was brought to a letter that I received from my mom after I sent a similar group email over a year ago. Attached in the letter was my weekly email compared with three or four of my friends weekly emails. Disappointment filled the envelope as my mother lovingly rebuked me for my lack of effort put into my weekly email. As I pondered concerning the matter I realized that my priorities were misplaced and that I needed to "make that change" (-Michael Jackson) in my behaviors before they became too big of a problem.

Luckily for me, the principle that we learn in Ether 12:27 is true and works miracles! Our weaknesses can in fact be made strengths through the Lord! As you all are aware, my weekly email last week was in fact "weakness". I hope that through the Lord this weakness of mine will be made into a strength. I put a little bit more preparation into my weekly email this week in hopes that I won't receive another letter of disappointment from my beloved mom.

"Yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land (Baltimore), for which we will praise his name forever." (Alma 26:12) Indeed, many mighty miracles we have witnessed this week.

We had zone training on Tuesday and that turned out to be a good meeting. The theme was on the church that Christ established while He was on earth, the great apostasy and the Restoration of Christ's church. If you haven't had the chance to historically study these events and the events that lead up to them, I encourage you to do so because they are fascinating! Studying for that definitely strengthened my testimony of it!

After zone training we had a money lesson with Justin and his god-brother Malik on the Law of Chastity. Let's just say that Justin was pretty bummed out about it because Prom with his girlfriend is coming up next month and he was looking forward to that (if you know what I mean). But he knew that he needs to follow God's commandments. By the time we came back for the next lesson he had already talked to his girlfriend and set the expectation that he was going to follow the Law of Chastity and that they weren't going to do anything until they get married, if they get married. Now his girlfriend is interested in learning more about the church. Let me remind you, he is 18 years old in his first year of college. I'm not sure about you, but I wouldn't have had the faith to do that if I was in his shoes! What a stud!

Last week we invited Sebastian to pray about a date that he could get baptized on and he set himself on date for this Saturday (the 15th). We're super pumped for him! We had an awesome lesson with him about temple work and he is stoked to get sealed in the temple with his family one day! This week we were able to find two new investigators, Cindy and Joseph, and we started teaching an old investigator named Ed again. Things are rolling here! 

Quote of the week: 

"Greg you're a stud!" "I'm not a stud, I'm just a senior!" ~Our investigator Greg

Have a good week!​​

-Elder Larson

Tihiseen

Justin

SUPER BOWL $$$$!!!!

FAM!

This week was good! In my subject line the Super Bowl is in reference to general conference because that's how hyped we were for it!! Missionaries turn up for general conference! Elder Collins got here and we got to work! We were super low on miles so we spent some quality time on the bus, which if you aren't aware is definitely a luxurious experience here in Baltimore. (Not really)

I feel inadequate because my email is going to be shorter than usual today. (Poor management of time and distractions) But one quick story for the week! While we were watching conference with our investigator Sebastian and his family, Brother Costa gave a super good talk directed at investigators. After conference, Sebastian told us that he was super grateful for what we do as missionaries and he is praying about when he should get baptized so hopefully he will be on date next week! Also we put Justin on date for April 29th!!

Have a good week!!

-Elder Larson

Lifting weights with Elder Collins

Michael obsession