4 NEW GATORS!

What's good?

This week was pretty wild! To start things off, Monday night we were on our way to an appointment with Cheryl (who ended up being really solid) and our tire popped #MoreAdversity so we spent the rest of the night changing that and trying to get it to the shop but they were all closed... Luckily the next morning we were able to get it taken care of and we got to district meeting up in Harford County on time, miracle! After that we drove all the way back down to Essex and I gave a baptism interview to the other Chesapeake elders' investigator Christopher. It was a very spiritual interview and he ended up getting baptized on Saturday it was awesome! He is from Nigeria! After that I went on exchanges with Elder Gardner and he came into our area with me. We had an awesome lesson with Renee, she and her family will be getting baptized in January hopefully! She is facing a lot of opposition though, so please pray for them!! And then after that we went to our lesson with Cheryl and she was so solid! We taught her the Restoration and as we taught her about Joseph Smith and the First Vision the Spirit was so strong! After we told her about that she explained to us how when we were telling her about that story, she felt so close to God and that her heart was so warm! It was amazing how strong the Spirit was in that lesson. She told us after that earlier this year she was in a coma for 8 days and probably shouldn't have survived but that she knows God is keeping her here for a reason. I know that the reason she is still here is so she could hear about the Restoration of Christ's church! Such a powerful experience!

On Saturday we left our apartment at 6 AM to go help out at the bishop's storehouse in inner city Baltimore, a member was going to drive us there. Because of the temperature and the fact that it rained, all the roads were frozen over. Don't worry, we didn't get in an accident! But took the 95 down there which was a really bad idea! Long story short, we sat in traffic for 6 hours to move a mile because there were some crazy car accidents down the road! We saw at least 15 cars crashed on the sides of the roads that weren't even a part of the big crash. Around an hour before we drove through there, a big tanker lost control and hit the barrier on the bridge and barrel rolled over it and off the bridge into the Chesapeake Bay... In the midst of that the tanker exploded and caught the bridge on fire where all the rest of the semis and cars that couldn't stop slid through it into a gigantic pile-up, there is even a video of it somewhere! Crazy!! But we found 4 new investigators this week!! Have a good week!!

-Elder Larson

Fixing the flat

Exchanges with my trainer!!!  Elder Singleton!!!

HEAVENLY FATHER HAS OUR BACKS

What's good???

This week was crazy and I'm gonna be honest this email will be short because not a lot happened!! To start the week off we had zone training on Tuesday and as part of our instruction we brought in our recent convert Tihiseen who was baptized in October to talk about the adversity he has faced since he started meeting with missionaries and how he has overcome that. He talked about his conversion story and bore one of the most fiery testimonies I have ever heard. The Spirit was so strong in the meeting! After that we went on exchanges and I went up to Susquehanna for the day with Elder Ainsworth (who is from Farmington too). The exchange went well, we saw a lot of success! The week took a sharp turn that night when I woke up at 12 and spent the rest of the night in the bathroom sick. The next morning my companion and the Elder that he was with drove up here so we could exchange back and so I could go back to be in my own bed but as soon as they got there, my companion started throwing up too!!! Hahahaha!!! So we spent most of the rest of that day up in Susquehanna, both sick as a dog (2 dogs) and then when we finally had the strength we made it back home. But we were still out of commission for a couple days. Dang!!!

Because of this said sickness, it was Thursday and we hadn't done like any missionary work in our area! But Heavenly Father had our backs and hooked us up with some sweet referrals and we still found 2 new investigators and taught a bunch of lessons with ease. Money!!!! Other than that the only exciting thing that happened was during sacrament meeting when some dude with a big Rick Ross jacket and headphones started running laps in the chapel (yes during sacrament meeting) and nobody even blinked haha!!! Welcome to Baltimore!!!

Have a good week!!

-Elder Larson

Throwback to when the other elders got jumped and we had to pick them up from the police station at midnight!!!

TROY, MIRACLE CALLS AND I ALMOST KILLED MYSELF AND MY COMP!!!!

What's good????

This week was outrageous!!! We had MLC and a bunch of other stuff that we had to take care of so we didn't get to do as much proselyting as we wished we could have this week.. Our goal this week was to find 2 new investigators and by Friday we hadn't found any and didn't really have any potential to find anything the rest of the week so we were stressing out pretty bad about finding someone.... We had a bunch of plans for the whole day but every one of them was falling through, nobody would answer their doors! It was like 7:15 and we had 45 minutes until we had a lesson with some recently baptized members and we felt like we were supposed to find somebody that night. So my companion and I said a prayer right there on the side of the road and asked Heavenly Father to guide us to a new investigator before our appointment. Within 10 minutes we knocked on this guys door and he let us right in and we taught him and picked him up as an investigator! So sick!! Also we got a call from somebody this week that is a less active family and they told us that they want to get their 12 year old daughter baptized, we can definitely help with that!!! Also one of Renee's sons just moved into their house with them (he moved here from Jamaica(he's 19)) and we picked him up as an investigator and he seems way solid! Now all 5 of them want to get baptized!!!! His name is Troy BTW.

For the #LightTheWorld initiative this week we were doing a service project with the missionaries in our ward and we went to a river to clear out fallen trees and garbage that was there. Long story short I was sawing one side of a HUGE tree and my companion was sawing the other side of it 40 feet away and as I pushed the log so that it would break somehow the tree ended up on top of me and at the same time it landed on my companion!!! Haha luckily we were both alright, I'm sure it looked hilarious though!!!! Have a good week!!

-Elder Larson

Tihiseen (our recent convert) is such a stud!!!

DANG!!!!!!!!!!!

We are idiots!!!!!!

This week was decent haha.... To start things off we had district meetings on Tuesday and afterwards I slammed a guitar on my companion's back (I'll try to send a video below). Then transfers was the next day, we both stayed. I don't know what it is but transfer weeks and holiday weeks are really slow and when you combine the two it (or we) gets stupid.

A while back I told y'all about how an elder in our zone got jumped, in the mix of all that he lost his Charm Card (basically a bus debit card) so we lent him one of ours and he ended up losing that one too... So our task this week was to get that one replaced so we could use the bus and save some miles for the end of the month. After 2 trips to the heart of Baltimore, we finally got it replaced and reactivated. As we returned to the 7/11 that we parked at down the street from where we got the card (the parking in Baltimore is horrible), it then became known to us that our car wasn't there. Flip!!!!!! Turns out that someone towed our car (within 5 minutes of us parking there) and it cost $350 in cash to get it back. In case you aren't aware, missionaries definitely do not have $350 cash on them in inner city Baltimore, or ever because we are poor!! After being stranded in Baltimore for several hours our vehicle coordinator picked us up and luckily his wife had $350 in cash that she lent to us to pay for it. They saved the day!!! Super grateful for Elder and Sister Sturgeon! Now my companion and I are super broke!!!

Now for the missionary part that y'all are actually here to read about: we were in a lesson with our investigator Renee and we took a member that lives nearby to fellowship with her. (BTW Renee and her kids are on date to be baptized on December 17) We taught her about tithing and her member friend did an awesome job testifying of it, the Spirit was very strong in the lesson. We committed Renee to pay tithing after she gets baptized but essentially she said no.... She said she is gonna start paying tithing right now because she doesn't want to wait until she gets baptized to do that! She's a stud!!!

Have a good week!!

-Elder Larson​

Guitar smash on Elder Carlson

CRAMPING IN SACRAMENT

What's good??

This week was awesome! It is starting to get super cold here! It is 45 degrees but with the wind and the humidity it feels like it is -20!!! It's gonna be a long winter, last winter I had 20 lbs more of insulation (fat (Antietam ward members fed really good)) to keep me warm! I'm hosed!!

Anyways, yesterday the Jeghedes were confirmed in sacrament meeting and that took up half of the meeting haha! All 5 of them were confirmed and while I was standing in the circle to confirm them my calf started cramping because we had been standing there for so long!! Dang that hurt!!!! It's okay though, the Spirit in the meeting comforted me. ;) The Jeghedes are way pumped to have the Holy Ghost now and to be members, they were glowing yesterday!!

We had MLC this week out in Walkersville and after the meeting, Brother and Sister Pederson from the Walkersville ward took us out to dinner, super grateful!! I miss the Walkersville ward!! Also we picked up 3 new investigators this week who all seem pretty solid! Shirell was a headquarters referral and the first thing she started talking about when we got there was how she noticed that the world was in an apostasy! Those aren't the words that she used but that's pretty much what she said! Salomon moved here to the United States 3 months ago from Congo, and he is super pumped about the gospel! Then we picked up Larry and it was pretty cool how we found him. We felt really strongly a couple weeks ago that we needed to knock this street so we started knocking doors and literally every single door was either slammed in our face mid-door approach or it was slammed in our face after they swore at us haha it was awesome!! But we kept knocking and at the end of the street we talked to a guy named Steve who said we could come back. So we came back and he wasn't interested anymore... But his dad Larry was there and we taught him!! He said that what we shared with him is what he needed in his life. Super cool!! Also on Sunday we fasted with Renee to help her quit smoking, she's a stud!!

Have a good week!!

-Elder Larson

The squad

Natty-Bo fam

3 MORE ON DATE + CHURCH WITH NFL PLAYERS

What's up guys?

This week was crazy!!! It started off pretty slow not gonna lie... Usually after 1 baptism the missionary work seems to get really slow and we had 5 last week which was like half of our teaching pool... Elder Carlson and I really didn't want the work to die so we were doing everything we could to keep things rolling but things weren't going how we necessarily wanted them to. We had a lesson with the Silvers and we were planning on teaching them the Word of Wisdom but we really didn't know what member we could get to go over to teach them with us that would be a good friend to them. After thinking a lot about it we felt like we should ask a less active lady that lived really close to them to come teaching with us, but it was really risky because she hadn't been to church in a long time! So we went and talked to her about it and she was surprisingly super excited to help out in the teaching and even said that this might be what gets her back into church! Sure enough we taught them the Word of Wisdom (even though I was on exchanges) and committed them all to live it (all 3 of them drank coffee and tea and Renae, the mom, smokes cigarettes) and then committed them to be baptized on December 10. Super sick! The less active lady (Stephanie) came in clutch and gave them all a ride to church yesterday! Super cool!!

I went on exchanges to Jones Falls with Elder Tucker on Saturday and Sunday and I had the opportunity to attend their ward yesterday. This ward isn't like most other wards though... In the Jones Falls ward there are 3 active NFL players that attend when possible, and I got to meet 2 of them yesterday!!! I got to talk to Dennis Pitta and Bronson Kafusi who both play for the Ravens, it was super sick!! Unfortunately Eric Weddle (who also plays for the Ravens) wasn't at church yesterday so I didn't get to meet him but it was still super cool!! This week was crazy!! Also, while we were knocking doors we got some free fried chicken from one of the ladies we knocked into haha!! #BlessingsOfBaltimore

Have a good week!!

-Elder Larson

Service with Elder Carlson at the Wood's

Baltimore from afar!!  It's a lot better looking from far away!!

THE JEGHEDES!!!!

What's up guys??

This week was crazy but amazing!!! To start the week off, I went on exchanges with Elder Tharp (who served in the Glen Burnie ward with me when I was there) and we had a ton of fun! (That was our 3rd time on exchanges together haha). Then we had zone conference and because our car was so clean we won the cleanest car award and got some free Chic-Fil-A gift cards, super stoked about that haha! Then from there I went on exchanges with Elder Head into his area (down in Dundalk and Essex). We had a good exchange! Even though it was a short one we managed to contact a guy named Isaiah and picked him up as an investigator the next day, pretty cool!

Finally, after many crazy situations and madness that I am not authorized to talk about, the Jeghedes got baptized on Sunday!!! All 5 of them!!! It was amazing!!! We had been working pretty closely with our mission president through some things and he told us that he thinks it would be alright for us to get in the water and baptize a few of them which is crazy because he never lets missionaries baptize people!!! And we didn't even ask him either!! So I got to baptize Favour, the youngest daughter. The baptism went really smooth and there was a lot of support from the ward and even the stake! After the baptism Favour came up to me and gave me the biggest hug that a 9 year old can give and she wouldn't let go, it was adorable!! It is always amazing to see the joy that the gospel brings into the lives of those that choose to live it, and the Jeghedes are a prime example of that! 

Other than that we found 3 new investigators this week which was good! One of them, Charles, was actually drafted into the MLB a few years ago but gave it up so he could be with his family. Super cool! A lot of good stuff is happening out here!!

Have a good week!!

-Elder Larson

The Jeghedes and us!!