06.27.11

yiippee, i'm so excited to go elk hunting now!!!  i'm glad i have a couple diaphrams to practice with.  My comp just might go crazy with me making all kinds of weird noises.  hehehe so i hope you guys do some scouting.....find us 6 biguns and we'll go slaughter them :) 
this weekend we had a sweet combined baptismal service.  All the missionaries in our district had a baptism this weekend so we did them all together in one service.  Sister Elizabeth was baptized from our teaching pool, Elder Jimu baptized her.  Today we had a sports day for all the nairobi missionaries who could come.  We all went to the chapel here in Buru Buru and played american football and then basketball.  it was a lot of fun, we ran a ton though, tomorrow's morning jog might be a little painful.  Right now we have 18 investigators with a baptismal date, most of them (15) are on the 9th of July, it's gonna be a crazy day so we're working with them as much as possible to make sure that they are all prepared and interviewed before that day, the problem is that we have a hard time meeting them during the week, so weekends seem to be crazy.  church at 2 pm doesn't help much.  but i ain't worried about it, everything always seems to work out just like it should.  i attached two pics of the baptism on saturday.  one is of the group of missionaries and people being baptized and the other is Elder Jimu, sister Elizabeth, and her brother Tony.  I've decided that the members here in the Kayole Ward are awesome, they are so welcoming and helpful when it comes to missionary work.  It seems like we always have referrals who are ready to be taught and the members are usually ready to help us teach.  Well i hope that you all have a great week and that you enjoy the 4th of July.  love ya all
Elder Larsen

06.19.11

so this weekend we had a baptism.  sister carol was baptized by elder Mutadhuba.  it was a sweet little service.  Bro Justice, our ward mission leader asked me to conduct the service, and an RM gave a good talk.  it was right after institute, so not only did we have investigators and the family of carol, but we also had a ton of YSA's attend.  I attached a few photos of the flat, the baptism, and my fellow missionary roommates ( excluding the sister in the photo) :)  the cyber is so fast, i love it.  i can upload pics in a matter of seconds.  i've always been told that the best cyber in the mission is this one, now i believe it.  But anyways, our flat is sweet, the only problem is that today we don't have any water so we haven't been able to wash our clothes yet, i hope there is water tonight so that i can have clean clothes to wear this week.  we have an oven out in the sevant's quarters, it needs a new element, so we're gonna try to get it fixed.  until then we'll bake cakes and brownies at the chapel. :)  there is this orphanage in our area that is basically run by members.  the sponsors are members in the states and pretty much everybody who works there is either an RM or a member.  every week they hire a bus to take them all to church.  oh the Lurf's are there a lot, i was able to see them this week, they are doing good and they're so happy.  anyway back to the orphanage, we're teaching the kids there.  there are 36 total and right now we're teaching 14.  we set baptismal dates for them on 9 July.  As soon as the ward moves into the meeting house in Kayole then we'll be able to start teaching the rest of them.  right now the Kayole ward meets in the Buru buru chapel along with two other wards, we meet at 2:00 pm and the other wards are at 9 and 11.  All them kids attend the 9 am block so for now the primary in Nairobi 2nd ward is doing really good :)    oh i got that package that you sent, thanks for the candy and card, you guys are awesome.  that card was funny, it was playing long before i got the envelope open, but it was skipping so i wasn't sure what you had sent me until i was able to rip it open. 
Well this week i've been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon,  I've been looking for all the references to the Savior and it's amazing how the Lord works in not only the Nephite's and Lamanite's lives, but in our own.  He truly is our Redeemer, He loves us and wants the best for us.  I was studying about mercy and justice and it's amazing how the Lord just fits right into the mix and makes everything a perfect balance.  One thing that i've learned, in a nut shell, is that when we are obedient and just, the Lord has more room to apply mercy at the last day.   so..... lets be good now and we'll reap at a later point in time. :)   well gotta split, have a great week, love ya
Elder Larsen
ps, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!  :)

06.13.11

Mom,
hey sorry i didn't write last week, i was sitting on a bus all day.  i was dropped off late monday night in my new area which is the Kayole ward just out side of nairobi, kinda out by the airport to the south east of downtown.  So my time in kisumu ended with a bang, we had nine baptisms last saturday and i was asked to do seven of them.  it was so cool to just dunk people one after the other.  following the baptism, the branch had an anniversary for the second year as a branch.  we four elders turned the party into a water fight and entertained everyone as we all got soaked through.  Elder Jackson, the black one, got thrown in the baptismal tank!  i think everyone else got the bucket.  its a good thing the sun is hot in kisumu cuz we were all dry in a matter of a couple hours.  sunday was amazing, we had a nice and short testimony meeting after the confirmation of all 9 of them people who were baptized.  this whole week i've been working with my new companion who is Elder Jimu, he's from Harare, Zimbabwe, he's been in the field for six weeks now.  He's a cool kid, i like him and we get along good.  We live with two other elders E. Frost (same district in Arusha) and E. Mutaduba (who i trained last year) This morning we went into the office to check some paper work for my trip home.  it's weird how those papers are getting put together so soon, kinda scary to think about.  oh when i went to that leadership conference in Eldoret i got the package that you sent, the one with the ranch, reese's and calls in there.  thanks for sending that :)   
well i hope that you have a great week and that all goes well, try not to get flooded!  if nothing else then follow the prophet and build and ark. :)  haha i love you guys, have a great week

Elder Larsen

06.06.11

Casey didn't send a letter today.  He has been transferred.  Elder Dick & Sister Janet Tuttle (from Farmington) called to say they had him at their house in Nairobi.  They were feeding him a turkey sandwich, chips and a glass of milk.  Sister Tuttle says he is doing great.  Elder Tuttle says he was happy to talk "HUNTING".  Thank you Tuttles for looking out for Casey.