02.22.10

So mission tour is this week so tomorrow morning i'll be getting on a bus.  Then thursday morning i'll be on another bus coming back. Wednesday will be one big meeting with a few general authorities and all the missionaries in Kenya. This last week hasn't been very exciting, just another week, work all day and sleep all night.  wait, wednesday and thursday i was on exchanges with elder hawke.  that was pretty fun.  we had a good time here in kitale and sikhendu while elder molotsi went out to webuye to do a few interviews.  but nothing else really happened.  haha this saturday i mark six months!!  time sure has flown.  it feels like i just left and now i've been gone for six months.  kinda crazy.  i think i'll burn a tie.  hhhmmmm yup i'm
gonna do it.  :)   have a great week, love you guys.

elder larsen

02.15.10

Hi everybody,  so this week was pretty fun.  On friday we built a mud house.  its harder than you think to build a mud house.  have you ever thought about making that much mud, and mud is heavy!  but we had a good time and i slept really good that night. :)  I'm attaching a few pics of the house construction.   when we first got there there was this team of four oxen hooked up to a wagon hauling a load of water for the mud.  i wasn't quick enough to get a picture of them but it was cool to see.  they reminded me of  Kim's horses.  only there wasn't any harnesses or reins. then they left so we started getting water with the Watt's truck.  there is a pic of me carrying water on my head.  haha the bucket i'm carrying is a little smaller than the ones the women were carrying, haha and mine isn't full.   they were walking up that hill with full buckets and they didn't use their hands to balance it.  they got some crazy balance.  Well i hope all of you had a great valentines day.  Mine was awesome, i didn't do anything different, and i didn't spend a bunch of money on anyone. :)  but i did wrap up that elephant that i have.  i'm gonna send it and some other stuff as soon as i get a few letters written for all yall.  i have this box, but the elephant is a little to big for it. haha i hope it doesn't break.  if it does then dad will have to do a little repair work with the wood glue.  i think its gonna cost me about 3000 ksh so i'll be breaking the bank sometime soon.  Next week will be Mission Tour in Nairobi!  Its should be a good time.  We'll be traveling to Nairobi on Tuesday, Wednesday will be the conference and then Thursday we come back.  and then the week after that is transfer week.  I'm excited for Brandon!  Brazil will be pretty good, but i don't think it will be quite like Africa. :)  It'll be a great day when there are four "Elder Larsen's" in the mission field!      

This is a house for a widow.

This is Casey carrying water to the house.

The fast offerings paid for this house and the branch did most of the work!

She will put on the finishing touches on it!

Most people over there have this size of a house with walls in the middle.

It would be one room and one bedroom, with 5 kids and 2 parents!!

02.08.10

Well this week was pretty normal.  except for friday.  Our Zone Leaders came up to do our interview for us.  i went with Elder Casey while Elders Molotsi and Nkhoma went to take care of the interview.  Elder Casey has to be one of the funniest people i know.  its never a dull moment with him around.  i took him to some members homes. one of them had a baby, it was about a week old.  cute little feller.  Our baptism was a little delayed but otherwise went according to plan on saturday.  Elder Molotsi was the lucky one to get wet this time.  it was kind of a chilly day so i was glad that i wasn't chosen to do it.  its so hot here that if it gets down to about 70 i put on a long sleeve shirt.  i think i'll freeze to death when i make it back to Utah.   this heat is nice, but i still love the snow.  haha right now i want to throw a snow ball or make a snow man.  

this last week while we were tracting, we taught a couple, lesson two. that was the first time i have taught the lesson without the book of mormon.  it really strengthened my testimony/appreciation for it.  we are so lucky to have the knowledge that we have.  the book of mormon clarifies and makes everything understandable.  i hope all of you are reading from it daily.  it's strengthened my testimony and has answered every question that i've had.  

well i love you guys.  have a great week.   make a snow man for me!!!     

Elders Larsen, Casey, Molotsi, and Nkhoma

Molotsi, Esnus, Casey, Paul

02.01.10

Well this week was pretty much just another week.  i bought a tie with the kenyan flag colors on it, i was excited to see it, so i bought it today.  I went on exchanges with Elder Kunz, that was pretty fun.  Two white guys walking around a little village in the middle of nowhere.  haha good times.   we were suppose to have zone conference on friday, but it was cancelled.  we are going to have mission tour instead.  it should be at the end of the month.  that will be fun, we all get to hop on a bus for 8 hours, have a meeting the next day and then hop on another bus the following morning and come back, quick trip! President Taylor came up on friday and did all of our interviews.  oh i forgot to tell you that i made cinnamon rolls last week.  they turned out pretty darn good if i say so myself.  they grew and everything!!   i surprised myself.  yum yum, i think i'm gonna make some banana bread tonight.  so i hope it works out.   the other two elders that stay in kitale ( Chikenge and Kunz ) they don't have any water cuz the water company isn't very smart.  so every morning they come over and shower and we are constantly filtering water for all four of us.  but it's good to see them two, their both awesome guys.  have a fantastic week!
love ya -  Elder Larsen