Week 56: SENAHU & SEAMAY

well happy fourth of july you people!

i didnt celebrate it. unfortunately. we found a tarantula instead. in fact this last week we found three tarantulas and caught a bat. that was pretty exciting.

we didnt have much progress in church yesterday. we started on time and everything and then all of a sudden the first counselor is sitting in the congregation. it confused me kinda. i dont know how you forget something like that. but whatever.

this last week was full of goodbyes. i got a transfer. i am in senahu right now writing. my new area is called seamay. it is gorgeous here. they say the area is ready to progress and have found lots of cool new places that havent got the gospel yet. the church is still young here i guess. my new companion is elder Fadel from Bountiful Utah. he is awesome! apparently he and elder goodwin went to school together and are great friends. he is very humble, hilarious and this change is gonna be awesome. its funny. when i found out i was getting a change i had a feeling i was going to be with elder fadel. he likes the word neener too. just for everything.

i am way tired. i was up till twelve packing and got up at 530. and you cannot sleep on buses here. it hurts.

well we went with a good friend this last week. his name is estevan. he is an amazing friend and his family is too. he has too little kids maybe 7 years old (his son) and his daughter is probably 5 ish. they arent members but when the little girl heard i was leaving she cried i guess. i will have to come and visit them someday.

everyone in actela and santo domingo didnt want me to leave. one guy even told me not to leave and that i should build a house there. well they dont sell land here. it is inherited and i told him such and he told me he would give me some land to build a house. very humbling.

i am excited for this new change. i feel new and ready to go. i felt stagnant and not progressing in santo domingo. it was time for a new face there.

oh and im district leader now. my district consists of my companionship, sister eduarte and sister colato. its not too much so its a good start. :)

so i was waiting for the bus to come up to senahu and one of the ladies from actela was there traveling to senahu also. well she came up shook my hand and grabbed my shoulder and talked to me. she treated me like a good friend. that really hit me. i may have got crap from little kids (calling me corn hair!) but the people in actela, despite their wealth, are humble and respect me. they are my brothers and sisters and i am their brother. it is kind of interesting the bond that can be formed when in the service of your fellow man.

someday i wanna go back and visit.

so the internet here is really slow. i will try and send some pictures next week for sure. i still owe you guys the pictures of the marshmallow roast. will work on that.

well imma turn the comp off and go eat some ice creamage. oh btw the house here is right in senahu. so im close to everything but still can find and see really cool places.

i love and miss each and every one of you. and i send a shout out to all those reading the blog haha.

until next week!

elder larsen

(TAY)

Week 55: Marshmallows and a Girl Named Griselda

well hey hey hey familia. ¿que tal, como estan?

questions first:

How was the week teaching? Did you have luck getting anyone to church?
nope. teaching was fine though. the people know that this is His church. it is just a matter of giving up the past and looking towards the future. belief requires action and they are lacking in that. we should get them this next week though. well do everything possible.

Do you need more garments?
i dont think so. im all good.

Has anyone said anything to you about your blog? (My blog?)
no nothing. you would probably be the one to hear about it anyway. but no i havent heard anything.

Do you know your family loves you?!
yes

When are transfers? This week?
yes. thursday or friday i will know if im leaving this area or not. it will be hard. i have a lot of great friends in this area. we will have to come back to visit them.

Did you see I deposited your tax refund checks in your account? ($88)
i havent checked my personal account. ill use that to buy the mayan head though. thank you for depositing it :)

Any pictures this week?
well im trying to send pictures. the internet is really slow. they are pictures of a family we roasted marshmallows with. they thought those things were a heaven send. they loved those. better than the pancakes we made with them. they hated those things haha. but ill see if i can get it to send. the other picture of the little girl is a girl named Griselda. she's the cutest dang thing ever. she cracks me up too. but she likes marshmallows too. especially toasted.

well this was a pretty long week. we taught tons of lessons with tons of awesome people that want the blessings of the gospel. they just couldnt make it to church. maybe well get some wheelbarrows and haul them to church next week. yep i think that is what were gonna have to do!

but its probably a good thing they didnt make it to church. honestly i dont think anyone is coming to church or progressing because of how the church is operating. and until the branch is functioning as it should i dont think anything will progress. i guess the Lord may be waiting until they can have a conversion and see the difference.

this last week we had everything prepared. the branch president told us who would talk so i wrote a talk for the member that was gonna talk and went and dropped it off at his house. even asked if he had any questions about it and just tried to help as much as possible. well sunday rolled around. the person directing the meeting says " jose will now give a talk on tithes and fast offerings." well Jose just sat there for like 30 seconds just rubbing his face and staring at the ground. like in the RM when the guy is supposed to teach Elders Quorum. well he finally gets up, goes to the front, no books nothing. and says that he didnt have time to prepare a talk and that he didnt have a talk. he did say he was happy to be there though. that honestly frustrated the crud outta me. and my companion. i wrote the dang thing for him. so then after that (while the members are still just arriving at church-at like 9:30/9:50) president gets up and just rips apart everything apostate that the branch is doing. two things i like that he shared. the first: he said "every sunday you guys need to bring your books and bibles" (speaking to the members). and said-"if you dont, then what good is it to have them? if you arent gonna bring your books just sell them." that one cracked me up.
second: he said " you guys need to be awesome members. we have the blessing of having missionaries in our ward. you guys need to be so awesome that these missionaries are sad when they have to leave. make it so they dont want to leave."
sometimes the branch president is the man.

second thing that frustrated me and calmed me was primary. nobody wanted to say a prayer. opening or closing. well on the closing prayer i wouldnt let them leave until we said the prayer. they just sat there playing and messing around for like 10 minutes. it was getting way frustrating. but the little boy sitting next to me-i dont know what it was that made him do it-but he grabbed my hand, looked at me and said calmly and in the most humble way you can imagine "i'll give the prayer.".
that one touched me and im very grateful for his meekness and his example.

seeing how he acted just enforces the scriptures about little children. i wish we could get the people to see that here.

we went with a bunch of less active members yesterday. we talked about matthew and the scripture that talks about the narrow path and the large path. how alot of people go down the large path and few down the narrow path. but the narrow path is the truth. i think they understood. they seem to think that saying the most important thing about faith is just believing in Christ. but you gotta act and you gotta look for Christ. thats what is the most important. were trying to help them. its very slow.

im glad to hear you guys are all ok. what happened with lindsey? allergies or what? thats scary stuff. im sorry that happened linds. and i love you.

does a commercial bakery look very lucrative? what would be the winnings from it? just a Q.

well im running out of time. the keyboard keeps jamming and the pictures are loading slowly. i love you and am so grateful to have you as my family. you have no idea how blessed I am to have you guys.

i love each and every one of you. take care and next week i'll write more.


Elder Tay

:)
not sure if the picture will work. but will keep trying.