Transferring to Wiener Neustadt, Austria!

Hi Mother!!

My week was great! How was yours?? 

I'm glad to hear you have a good study schedule going!! It makes a huge difference in every day life, no doubt about it. I'm so thankful dad is back with you guys. It must be such a weight off of you all. It sounds like the cabin is just as beautiful as ever. Scriptural discussions are some of my favorite things to do here. Especially with members. When you can get a good conversation going the spirit just takes the wheel and you learn a lot. Keep doing that together :) 

Using the white board to teach.

I'm glad Rachel's coming for thanksgiving. That'll be a very special time for all of you. I can't believe Tyler is already preparing for the priesthood! Wow! That's so exciting. You are all speaking on the same day?? Wow! Wish I could hear that :) 

Christmas box!! Woo! 

Um, i have a Short List of things I might need.... 

The Gel-like Deodorant I've always had... European deodorant is not good at all...

American Tooth-paste (same reason) 

Letters

BAGELS (if possible) they don't have them here... 

Any music you want to send

Any other treats or goodies

And of course... my nerf gun. *cough*

Because I'm moving, you'll have to send it to our office, and they'll get it to me... 

Missionsbüro

Kirche Jesu Christi HLT

Lommelstraße 7

81479 München

Deutschland

Thanks guys!! :) 

Well now I can tell you about my crazy week! :) 

On Monday we planned to go again to the climbing park! The tree thingy... but that didn't work out... :( so we decided to go to Gummi Bären Land! (It's exactly what it sounds like) which is a giant warehouse full of nothing but Gummis! But... it was closed... :( so we went back to the apartment, cleaned up a bit and had a nerf war (after we cleaned up, of course) Then we had two appointments! We went to the family Bullas home and they let us do our emails there. Then we went to the Family Macionczyk, and they fed us dinner and we had a good discussion with them :) a good Monday.

On Tuesday we went to district meeting and we did a roleplay where I got to teach Snoop Dog what it means to pray xD (we were all given celebrity identities and told to practice with eachother) one of the strangest meetings ever.... afterwards I went on Tausch with a brand new missionary, Elder Swenson! He is quite the interesting elder... very funny guy. We made Wiener Schnitzel, and had some good times trying to talk to people on the street. I figured out they have a HUGE apartment in Esslingen. I was amazed. We had a good conversation with a man from Pakistan on a train. He was trying to read our name tags, so i stepped right up all like: let me help you wit dat. He was cool :) 

just a hand puppet made by Elder Hales.

On Wednesday we exchanged back and I got back to good ol Ellwangen! Right afterwards we had a huge service project with Sebi! But it ended up giving a thunderstorm, so we got very wet. It was awesome though! After that we got home and ate some much needed dinner. 

On Thursday a missionary senior couple came to Stuttgart to do some apartment inspections, and they were so nice. Elder and Sister Hansen. We got 100% on our inspection, btw... but before they left, Elder Hale said: he's a singer, and he has a cd, wanna hear it?? So they heard my cd... and i let them copy it... so now my cd is floating around the mission xD wooooooo! After that we met with Evan, Thomas's step son. We taught him some German and then had a conversation about families. We asked him what it means for him to have a family. It made me also think about the questions. What is a family for me? I thought of my own family. What do they do that makes them my family? (besides being blood related) and what can I do and learn to help me have a successful family in the future? Very good questions for the soul... After that we met with Michael again, and we gave him root beer (he'd never had it before) and he LOVED it. After that we showed him the movie about Joseph Smith's life. He's been wanting to find out more about it, so we thought it a perfect opportunity. He really enjoyed it, and understands a lot more than he did before! 

 

Making spaghetti.

 

On Friday, we basically just went door to door all day again in the little town of Buch. We had a great time. The hardest part about missionary work is just getting up and going to do things. Once you're there, only adventure awaits. And oh man, can it be fun. You just meet so many different kinds of people, and have so many wonderful conversations. And sometimes, you're walking up someones front steps, and they're made of giant stones. And just like Indiana Jones, one of the stones is a trap. You step on it, and it flips up and smacks you right in the shin. Then you have a big gash on your leg and keep going anyway cause why not xD that was so funny. But anyways, The opportunity to bear your testimony of the Savior every single day with almost everyone you meet is such a blessing. 

On Saturday we helped Thomas work more on his house. But this time we weren't building.. we were destroying! >:D it was lots of fun! We basically just tore down an old building for materials. And, you would be very proud of me... because I was on the roof doing things!! I was horrified, but after a while it wasn't so bad! After that we went by the Family Bullas to practice a song! (I'll tell you about that later) after that there was an amazing broadcast for teachers and missionaries that we got to take part in. My favorite quote was: through worthiness and humility, we receive the Holy Ghost.... that is such a powerful statement... ponder about that one.

SUNDAY WAS AMAZING. Why, you may ask? JUSTINE WAS BAPTIZED!! We were so excited and the service was so good. The spirit was so strong... and i got to sing!! After I sang in Sakrament meeting, 4 sisters came up and mobbed me and told me i needed to sing again during the baptismal service... so indie xD I'll send that to you, because someone recorded it :) we had refreshments and everything worked out wonderfully. After that we went to visit sister Richter again. It's always so nice to meet with her :) she's like the missionary grandma. Then the Starrs invited us over and we had MEXICAN STREET TACOS. Oh man it was good.... so good! We had a great evening with them. 

BIG NEWS TIME. 

Im being transferred!!! On Wednesday I will be going to Wienerneustadt! In Austria! It'll take about 10 hours to get there, but I'll get there! I have so many mixed feelings. I'll miss Elder Hale, and all the members very much. But I'm also so excited to see new things, and I've heard it's a beautiful place. Really hard to understand the people though... heh. My companion... I can't remember his name, but he's the only Tongan elder in our mission, and apparently he is very cool! On the words of our zone leader, he is "bro" so I'm also excited. We are actually opening up the area, which means both him and I are new to it! Weird, huh? There's also sister missionaries in our area, so we'll get to work with them! I gotta pack... 

 

Our walk on the path.

 

It was so hard saying goodbye to everyone. But I know good things are coming :)

Well that's about it for my week :) sorry there's not so much detail, I'm very stripped for time right now. 

Thank you so much for the wonderful emails. I don't have time to reply to you all right now, but I will do my best. Thank you all so much :) I love you. 

P.S. Gracie sent me a recording of her singing "You Raise Me Up" and... oh my gosh. I was in tears. First off, she is growing up way too fast while I'm gone and needs to stop. Second, I didn't even recognize her voice because of how much different it sounds... third, it was absolutely beautiful. With words I can't say in Englisch, it was wunderschön, unbeschreiblich, und unglaublich, how much she's improved. Elder Hale and I both cried. Absolutely beautiful. Keep it up, Gracie. 

I love hearing from you all. I hope you have a wonderful week :) 

Elder Larson