Consider the blessings

Happy New Year everyone! Feels like the last time I talked to any of you was like... last year... lol... I'm not funny ok. Anyways update on Christmas... super cool and fun! I was so happy I was able to see my family and talk to them. We went to a member's house and had a gingerbread competition and hung out there for a really long time. The whole day was a lot of fun. I hope everyone else had a fantastic Christmas as well.

We've put in a LOT of work this last week. We've talked to so many people and saw so many potential investigators. We're bound to find someone with how much we have been out. The average amount and usual goal for "contacts" is 12. A contact is simply when you introduce yourself to someone. On Saturday we had 43, Thursday we had 37, and we also had a lot on Tuesday and Wednesday. We are bound to find someone looking for the gospel and happiness. 

The coolest thing happened Tuesday night! We went to this recent converts house that is kinda already less active. One had gotten a surgery and the other has back problems and they just haven't had the strength to get to church. We talked with them about there dogs and bearded dragons for a awhile and finally shared a message with them. We extended the invitation to come to church yesterday since they hadn't come for about 3 months. We didn't think too much about it but they ended up posting on the ward Facebook page asking for a few articles of clothing because they were planning on coming!!! That made us so happy to see that. Then sure enough the whole family showed up! They also brought along their sister who is one of our current investigators so that was super cool. I'm so happy we invited them to come because that was the first step.

Playing with the bearded dragons

Yesterday in Elders quorum we had a lesson on finding the positive in trials. I was reminded of what happened I believe 2 weeks ago. Our bikes broke again for a day and it was like... yeah it sucks but whatever. So we still went out and walked to all our lessons and walked all day. We ended up walking into these 3 women who we started talking to and they eventually became 3 investigators. It wasn't until after when we realized if the bike didn't break we would've rode our bikes right past them. Super cool to find the blessings in that small trial.

I was also reminded of a story told in the MTC. To shorten the story, this missionary was crying because he couldn't figure out how to "lose himself without losing his self." The other missionary talking to him (I think it was his zone leader or district leader) said are you afraid heavenly father is going to "mess you up." I guess relating that to not missionarys... are you afraid God isn't looking out for you? Are you afraid he's going to mess you up? Let him shape you to how he knows is best. I shared this Mormon message at a dinner message this week and I would like you to all watch it. It's called "the will of god." I would like to invite everyone to consider the blessings from trails this week. Everything happens for a reason. I can testify that as you humble yourself and seek the lords will, you will be able to see the growth from trials. Life will be better and you will gain a bigger perspective of things. I have experienced this myself. 

I love you all so much and miss you. I hope everyone had a great Christmas as well as new years eve. Set some new goals to better yourself. Have a great week... and year!

Love Elder Larson 

Also I've had some questions on my address because some of you lost it haha, so just as a reminder it's 2100 West Texas St. Unit 142 Fairfield CA 94533

A week and a half ago in a park

Dinner with one of my favorite families in the ward (The Judd's)

Five guys for lunch (sorry my tie is tucked in, this is how we keep them clean)