New companion sings too
Hi sweet mother!
This week has been AWESOME. Your prayers are working, because this week was great. My new companion, Elder Donald, is simply wonderful. He's from Memphis, Tennessee, and we are very much alike. We get along really well, and both want to work really hard. Also... He's an amazing singer. We recorded us singing a song together and I'm sending it toyou today and it's going to make you cry. Basically, he is better than I could have imagined, these next couple transfers are going to be very good. I look forward to working with him, and know we are going to become very good friends.
I can't believe it either! I'll no longer be a teenager! I've been a teenager for 7 years! You can't just take that away from me, life! I have not gotten my package yet, but i imagine it'll come soon. I'm excited :) I agree...you guys should watch my Pirates of Penzance DVD, that would be so great! Oddly, I wish I could sit and watch it with you, even though you'll be watching me... Lol. I guess it's fitting that I'm sending this video to you.
It was hard to say goodbye to elder Sorenson, but this transfer is looking very promising.
Wow, things are really moving fast aren't they? I can't believe I won't be going home to the house I knew. That'll be weird. But it'll be worth it because you guys are there. As long as you're all there, it'll be a very happy place. I'm so glad the ward helps so much. We
just move from one special ward to another, don't we? The Lord knows his children, and how to send Angels to help them.
Hey good job in the tennis tourney! And good luck with sectionals! That's something I miss very much. Tennis. But ping pong is pretty common here :)
I did indeed have new food! I had frikadellen. It's like a really really unhealthy meatball. It's so good though. Probably some of the best meat I've ever had here. We had that with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. I don't know what's happening to me, but salad has
started becoming very appealing to me... A meal feels incomplete without it.
We have one of the best wards in the mission for missionary work. Lots of people are involved in it. It's very very helpful and stress relieving. Well get calls from the ward members randomly, and they'll say: I have a friend who would like to meet the missionaries! So cool.
This last Sunday was crazy! We're lucky if we get 1 investigator to church. This last Sunday we had FIVE. It was so crazy! We were completely unprepared, and I also happened to be giving a talk about the sealing power that day.... So that was both hard and nerve racking, because that is a very deep subject for our investigators....
The weather has been so weird this summer! It's not even summer! Some days it's so cold we have to wear jackets.
Emotionally, I'm doing very good. I had a good talk with president Kohler in Stuttgart when it was pretty stressful, and I figured a few things out. He told me I was trying to do so much I was forgetting to enjoy my mission. To enjoy Germany, and all it has to offer. So these past couple weeks I've taken it a bit slower. I've also been easier on myself. The results were instantaneous. I've been having a good time, while also working hard. It's a delicate balance, but now the work had become delicious to me. Going out and talking to people on the street is fun. You meet so many amazing people, and even if they don't want the gospel, you're learning so much.
This week i have learned why missionary work is so hard in this last dispensation. In reading the Book of Mormon, you read about amazing sermons by prophets and missionaries. Thousands converted in a short amount of time. It's crazy I tell you. And in interacting with people, you see what has changed in so many years. In the old times, there were many people that knew nothing about Christ and God. They were content with their lives, but the quality of life back then usually provided a steady flow of humility and hardships, which chipped the hardness away from their hearts, and prepared them to hear the Savior's invitation: come to me, and your burdens will be made light.
But in the world we live in, everyone knows who Christ is. Everyone has had some kind of contact with a religion, whether it be a bad experience or good. The quality of life is raised just so that there's not enough visible hardship to recognize the need for more. People no longer have to work as hard as they used to just to live. When missionaries come along and offer Jesus Christ, and happiness, they believe we have nothing to offer that they don't already know.
But what is the difference?
When we bear our testimonies, the Holy Ghost brings a feeling to their hearts they maybe have never felt before. People look at us. There's something different about us, and they don't know what. Yeah, maybe it's the white shirts and ties, but I like to think it's something more. I like to think that it's the smiles on our faces that make us stand out. The confidence. The spirit.
Missionary work is not easy, because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation was never easy. But it is available to all that hearken unto the voice of the Lord, and follow him. And I am completely honored to be invited to share that with the world. To let
the spirit carry his invitation through me. To watch the atonement change lives. It is a wonderful and dreadful and amazing and hard experience.
Well that was my rant about my happiness. Deal with it ;)
Well I should go, but I'm so excited to keep moving forward. People say this mission is hard, but I think it just requires a different kind of missionary. People here are not feeding on the surface, you gotta cast your line deep if you want to catch anything.
Thank you guys for supporting me. I miss you all and look forward to next weeks updates :)
-Elder Larson. Your son Tanner.
This week has been AWESOME. Your prayers are working, because this week was great. My new companion, Elder Donald, is simply wonderful. He's from Memphis, Tennessee, and we are very much alike. We get along really well, and both want to work really hard. Also... He's an amazing singer. We recorded us singing a song together and I'm sending it toyou today and it's going to make you cry. Basically, he is better than I could have imagined, these next couple transfers are going to be very good. I look forward to working with him, and know we are going to become very good friends.
 |
| Thomas, me and Elder Donald, my new companion. |
It was hard to say goodbye to elder Sorenson, but this transfer is looking very promising.
 |
| Saying goodbye to my first comp, Elder Sorenson. |
just move from one special ward to another, don't we? The Lord knows his children, and how to send Angels to help them.
Hey good job in the tennis tourney! And good luck with sectionals! That's something I miss very much. Tennis. But ping pong is pretty common here :)
I did indeed have new food! I had frikadellen. It's like a really really unhealthy meatball. It's so good though. Probably some of the best meat I've ever had here. We had that with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. I don't know what's happening to me, but salad has
started becoming very appealing to me... A meal feels incomplete without it.
We have one of the best wards in the mission for missionary work. Lots of people are involved in it. It's very very helpful and stress relieving. Well get calls from the ward members randomly, and they'll say: I have a friend who would like to meet the missionaries! So cool.
This last Sunday was crazy! We're lucky if we get 1 investigator to church. This last Sunday we had FIVE. It was so crazy! We were completely unprepared, and I also happened to be giving a talk about the sealing power that day.... So that was both hard and nerve racking, because that is a very deep subject for our investigators....
The weather has been so weird this summer! It's not even summer! Some days it's so cold we have to wear jackets.
Emotionally, I'm doing very good. I had a good talk with president Kohler in Stuttgart when it was pretty stressful, and I figured a few things out. He told me I was trying to do so much I was forgetting to enjoy my mission. To enjoy Germany, and all it has to offer. So these past couple weeks I've taken it a bit slower. I've also been easier on myself. The results were instantaneous. I've been having a good time, while also working hard. It's a delicate balance, but now the work had become delicious to me. Going out and talking to people on the street is fun. You meet so many amazing people, and even if they don't want the gospel, you're learning so much.
 | |
| Avedis (Avo) from Armenia. His name means "good news" in Armenian. |
But in the world we live in, everyone knows who Christ is. Everyone has had some kind of contact with a religion, whether it be a bad experience or good. The quality of life is raised just so that there's not enough visible hardship to recognize the need for more. People no longer have to work as hard as they used to just to live. When missionaries come along and offer Jesus Christ, and happiness, they believe we have nothing to offer that they don't already know.
But what is the difference?
When we bear our testimonies, the Holy Ghost brings a feeling to their hearts they maybe have never felt before. People look at us. There's something different about us, and they don't know what. Yeah, maybe it's the white shirts and ties, but I like to think it's something more. I like to think that it's the smiles on our faces that make us stand out. The confidence. The spirit.
 |
| Elder Donald broke his pick ax on the first day... |
Missionary work is not easy, because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation was never easy. But it is available to all that hearken unto the voice of the Lord, and follow him. And I am completely honored to be invited to share that with the world. To let
the spirit carry his invitation through me. To watch the atonement change lives. It is a wonderful and dreadful and amazing and hard experience.
Well that was my rant about my happiness. Deal with it ;)
Well I should go, but I'm so excited to keep moving forward. People say this mission is hard, but I think it just requires a different kind of missionary. People here are not feeding on the surface, you gotta cast your line deep if you want to catch anything.
Thank you guys for supporting me. I miss you all and look forward to next weeks updates :)
-Elder Larson. Your son Tanner.
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