Que tal?!
This week has been an interesting one. I know it but it is going to be hard to remember and explain. The past three weeks or so just seem like a blur to me. It is crazy how fast time flies here. I have already been here seis semanas and tengo menos de dos hasta salgo el CCM. Pues, there are about two main things I remember from this week...
Well, first thing is first... Last Sunday my companero y yo were called as Lideres de Zona(Zone Leaders). Just when I start to feel comfortable and start to smooth right in to the MTC, they call me as a Zone Leader... It has actually been a pretty big blessing this week so far because I get the opportunity to help out each member of the Zone individually and we solve problems and make this Zone the best it can be. There wasn't any new Districts coming into our Zone this week but next week when we get a new District, we get to go through orientation with them and teach them and give them tours. I'm lookin forward to next Miercoles y Jueves for sure! It has been a lot more of a toll on me being a Zone Leader though. Taking care of things in other districts often takes time out of personal or language study time and sometimes even out of class time. I have found myself on my knees more than ever this week for help with the Zone and for help with me. I know that God listens to my prayers. I have already seen miracles happen here and I believe that this is just a preview of what the next two years is going to be for me.
The second thing is that we had the amazing opportunity to hear from another apostle for Tuesday Night Devotional! That makes it three in the seis weeks that I have been here. One of my favorite apostle speakers, Richard G. Scott, came and addressed us on many important things that apply to us as missionaries--as should anyone that comes and speaks to us in the MTC...ha ha--. He spoke about some of the following:
~Don't go anywhere without having some sort of pen or pencil to write and paper to jot down spiritual things anywhere whether you are walking down the street in midday or waking up in the middle of the night and have a cool spiritual impression. He said that we can't control when the Holy Ghost works, but we can capture it. We need to pray to the Lord to receive these feelings and help us stay worthy to do so also. If we are casual about the spirit and don't acknowledge what it was, it will diminish. (D&C 8:2)
~Show the Lord how much you appreciate his guidance and direction in your life and he will continue to bless you more--vice versa--
~I thought this was really interesting. A large amount of his talk was focused on what we are supposed to be doing after the mission and about finding an eternal spouse...that's weird to think about right now. But it is very true, it is the next step in life and it should not be pushed forward. One profound comment that he made was "Hanging Out = Idleness in Flocks." Elder Scott said to seriously consider starting an eternal family soon after the mission, start it early, and the Lord will guide you if you follow thru prayerfully.
~I also noticed that Elder Scott always asks really good and sometimes profound questions that really get you thinking. If you get the chance to listen to him look out for these questions and apply them to yourselft. I need to study how to ask questions like this to help me with my teaching.
~Usually when Elder Scott comes and speaks to the MTC he takes time after and shakes every individual hand or every missionary. This time he for some reason told us that he could not do that. But I could still feel the genuine love that comes from him to us so it is okay.
~The last thing that I thought was awesome about his devotional was his testimony. The testimonies of special witnesses of Jesus Christ(apostles) are very powerful and bring the spirit like nothing else. You can really tell that these men have testimonies where they really know and not just simply testify of these sacred truths.
Now, as I said the last few weeks have been a blur to me so it is hard to remember anything else, especially because I have been so busy with new responsiblities. But at least I have the important stuff down. I also want to take this space in this weekly report to apologize to all those who I lied to in the last report. There really is no ping pong or mtc dances here... ha ha. Just wanted to see the reactions and let you in on some jokes we have here.
The Spanish Frase of the Week made up by the District is: Estoy in lo mismo barco-------->I'm in the same boat
I hope that comes of good use to you in your daily activities and conversations. Thank you for your time to read this. Thank you for all the prayers! Love you all!
Con Amor,
Elder Larisch
La iglesia es verdadera!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
If I were serving time...menos de tres semanas mas!
Hola!
Looking back on this week I guess I have to say that it has been pretty good!
On Saturday, we found out something very interesting about our progressive investigator Ernesto. We were teaching him the last commandment before he could be given the green light for baptism the following Monday, which was Obeying the Law of the Land. At that point Ernesto confessed to us that he was an illegal immigrant...not really knowing what to do, I just tried to make it sound like he could still be baptized, even though I didn't think he could, and told him that he would have a meeting with the mission president an hour or two before his baptismt the following Monday. We weren't able to talk to anyone who knew the answer to if an illegal immigrant from Mexico could be baptized so we just waited to see if he got baptized. It turns out that the church's stand on that is that they can get baptized. I never knew that. But I am going to count that as my first baptism--even though it wasn't 100% real.
For this weeks Tuesday Night Devotional we had the awesome opportunity to hear from the General Relief Society President Julie B. Beck. She is a really cool person who brought a spirit with her when she spoke. Her topic was the importance of families and temples. She also talked a bit about her childhood and how she lived in Brazil for a time because her Dad was a mission president. She talked a bit about the church and missionary work in Brazil and it was cool (<--- I need to get some better descriptive words in my vocab don't I?) to hear that. She also talked about how we relate some of the things we teach to what most people care about the most, Families. The Creation makes it possible for God's family to be on Earth. The Fall makes it possible for the multiplication of families. The Atonement makes it possible so that families can be sealed and have the opportunity to be like God. She also taught that the 3 most important lessons I can learn on my mission work around one word: Love.
1) Love your Companion
2) Love the People
3) Love your President
It may be hard for us to love some people that just do not seem loveable. Our Heavenly Father doesn't have that same feeling about his children.
Another big thing that happened this week was a random mandatory move from residence halls. So for about 4 hours yesterday morning, we spent moving furniture and our own stuff into a new building. I went from being nice and comfortable in a room with just my companion and I to a room filled with 6 beds and 5 other elders. Que malo! But at least the showers are pretty nice in the new building. The showers in the old building were mucho cold!
I also found out this week that my departure date has been moved up a few days so now it is on 11/3...which believe it or not is now less than tres semanas! Santa Vaca! Times sure flies here in the CCM when you look back.
I am starting to see myself progress in Espanol tambien. This week I have been able to read almost fluently from the Libro de Mormon. Only rarely do I have to go and look up a word that I don't quite understand. It is really cool to read the book in a language other that English also because sometimes it is worded differently and can produce new insights and look at things from a different perspective.
I think that is just about all that I have time for today. My time is almost up. The Weekly Spiritual Message is a bit out of order today. You can just look at the Tuesday Night Devo parrafo for this week.
The Frase of the Week is: "Que'es arriba?" Simple, but straight to the point and English contraction style. What's up?
Adios por Ahora!
Con Amor,
Elder Larisch
Looking back on this week I guess I have to say that it has been pretty good!
On Saturday, we found out something very interesting about our progressive investigator Ernesto. We were teaching him the last commandment before he could be given the green light for baptism the following Monday, which was Obeying the Law of the Land. At that point Ernesto confessed to us that he was an illegal immigrant...not really knowing what to do, I just tried to make it sound like he could still be baptized, even though I didn't think he could, and told him that he would have a meeting with the mission president an hour or two before his baptismt the following Monday. We weren't able to talk to anyone who knew the answer to if an illegal immigrant from Mexico could be baptized so we just waited to see if he got baptized. It turns out that the church's stand on that is that they can get baptized. I never knew that. But I am going to count that as my first baptism--even though it wasn't 100% real.
For this weeks Tuesday Night Devotional we had the awesome opportunity to hear from the General Relief Society President Julie B. Beck. She is a really cool person who brought a spirit with her when she spoke. Her topic was the importance of families and temples. She also talked a bit about her childhood and how she lived in Brazil for a time because her Dad was a mission president. She talked a bit about the church and missionary work in Brazil and it was cool (<--- I need to get some better descriptive words in my vocab don't I?) to hear that. She also talked about how we relate some of the things we teach to what most people care about the most, Families. The Creation makes it possible for God's family to be on Earth. The Fall makes it possible for the multiplication of families. The Atonement makes it possible so that families can be sealed and have the opportunity to be like God. She also taught that the 3 most important lessons I can learn on my mission work around one word: Love.
1) Love your Companion
2) Love the People
3) Love your President
It may be hard for us to love some people that just do not seem loveable. Our Heavenly Father doesn't have that same feeling about his children.
Another big thing that happened this week was a random mandatory move from residence halls. So for about 4 hours yesterday morning, we spent moving furniture and our own stuff into a new building. I went from being nice and comfortable in a room with just my companion and I to a room filled with 6 beds and 5 other elders. Que malo! But at least the showers are pretty nice in the new building. The showers in the old building were mucho cold!
I also found out this week that my departure date has been moved up a few days so now it is on 11/3...which believe it or not is now less than tres semanas! Santa Vaca! Times sure flies here in the CCM when you look back.
I am starting to see myself progress in Espanol tambien. This week I have been able to read almost fluently from the Libro de Mormon. Only rarely do I have to go and look up a word that I don't quite understand. It is really cool to read the book in a language other that English also because sometimes it is worded differently and can produce new insights and look at things from a different perspective.
I think that is just about all that I have time for today. My time is almost up. The Weekly Spiritual Message is a bit out of order today. You can just look at the Tuesday Night Devo parrafo for this week.
The Frase of the Week is: "Que'es arriba?" Simple, but straight to the point and English contraction style. What's up?
Adios por Ahora!
Con Amor,
Elder Larisch
Friday, October 7, 2011
Post GC/Hump Week
Hello!
Yes, that is right it is my hump week this week. Officially halfway! Well, we actually had a Devotional on Tuesday from Elder Lionel Kendrick of the setenta who said "it is important that you elders realize that you are not "serving time" here in the MTC like a prison or something, but you are here to serve the Lord on his time." So...but if I was serving time I would be exactly halfway today! The Devotionals were awesome this week. On Sunday, Chad Lewis--played for BYU and helped take the Eagles to the superbowl later--came and talked to us. He was a really good speaker and talked a lot about making the best of your mission because you "only" get two years to serve the Lord full-time at this point in your life. Elder Kendrick also gave a really good talk about how thin the veil is when you are on your mission and the complete truth that the Savior is helping us every moment on our mission as long as we stay worthy.
I don't know if this General Conference was the best Conference in history, but it sure felt like it here. One thing I did that helped me get the most out of conference was to ponder certain questions of my soul and write them down. I didn't quite know if they were going to get answered or not or what to expect. But I know that Heavenly Father is watching over every single one of his children. I got my questions pretty much answered in the first two or three talks of General Conference. I'll share just a bit about some of my favorite talks.
I very much liked Elder Tad R. Callister's talk on the Book of Mormon. The Bible itself can be interpreted in many different ways. That is exactly why there is so many churches in the world right now, because after the death of Christ and his apostles, wicked people changed the Gospel and many other things about Christ's church. But(here's the good stuff), put the Bible and the Book of Mormon together and you get a plain and simple truth with one interpretation(Eph. 4:5). With these two books you get the fulness of the Gospel. What is that? The fulness of the Gospel is simply what a child of God needs in order to return back to the presence of our Heavenly Father with our loved ones. I liked so much more about that talk because I have such a firm testimony of the Book of Mormon. I don't have enough time to talk more about it though so go watch it yourself on LDS.org.
I also liked Elder Kazuhiko Yamashita's (I know, I can't pronounce it either) talk on what is important in missionary work. He told a story about an investigator who accepted the message and took the lessons just because of the appearance of the missionaries. Loving the families is so important in missionary work. Our main message is to tell families that they can live together for an eternity. It is a message of love, hope, and faith. He said to bring 3 things with you on your mission: 1) A desire to preach the gospel 2) A developed testimony 3) Love for others.
All the talks were great, and they can be insighted in many different ways. No two people think the same exact way.
Well an update on the week...
I am starting to eat more, solamente because the food is very good here and they have too much variety so I wanna just grab every plate and shove it down my throat. So...if you have any dieting or self-control advice, don't be afraid to share.
The MTC dance last night was wild. It was 80's night so I bet you could imagine how fun that was. The dances are always the best part of the week!
Ping pong in the basement of the residence hall during free time gets pretty competitive! We play for hours on end with all of our free time.
But really...I met a chinese austraillian elder and it was probably the coolest experience I've had in the MTC so far(well not really). He looks asian but sounds just like any other Aussy.
Well, I'm just about out of time.
The Spiritual message of the week is found on LDS.org under the General Conference tab...(I don't have enough time to write a spiritual thought this go-around). Enjoy!
Con Amor,
Elder Larisch
Yes, that is right it is my hump week this week. Officially halfway! Well, we actually had a Devotional on Tuesday from Elder Lionel Kendrick of the setenta who said "it is important that you elders realize that you are not "serving time" here in the MTC like a prison or something, but you are here to serve the Lord on his time." So...but if I was serving time I would be exactly halfway today! The Devotionals were awesome this week. On Sunday, Chad Lewis--played for BYU and helped take the Eagles to the superbowl later--came and talked to us. He was a really good speaker and talked a lot about making the best of your mission because you "only" get two years to serve the Lord full-time at this point in your life. Elder Kendrick also gave a really good talk about how thin the veil is when you are on your mission and the complete truth that the Savior is helping us every moment on our mission as long as we stay worthy.
I don't know if this General Conference was the best Conference in history, but it sure felt like it here. One thing I did that helped me get the most out of conference was to ponder certain questions of my soul and write them down. I didn't quite know if they were going to get answered or not or what to expect. But I know that Heavenly Father is watching over every single one of his children. I got my questions pretty much answered in the first two or three talks of General Conference. I'll share just a bit about some of my favorite talks.
I very much liked Elder Tad R. Callister's talk on the Book of Mormon. The Bible itself can be interpreted in many different ways. That is exactly why there is so many churches in the world right now, because after the death of Christ and his apostles, wicked people changed the Gospel and many other things about Christ's church. But(here's the good stuff), put the Bible and the Book of Mormon together and you get a plain and simple truth with one interpretation(Eph. 4:5). With these two books you get the fulness of the Gospel. What is that? The fulness of the Gospel is simply what a child of God needs in order to return back to the presence of our Heavenly Father with our loved ones. I liked so much more about that talk because I have such a firm testimony of the Book of Mormon. I don't have enough time to talk more about it though so go watch it yourself on LDS.org.
I also liked Elder Kazuhiko Yamashita's (I know, I can't pronounce it either) talk on what is important in missionary work. He told a story about an investigator who accepted the message and took the lessons just because of the appearance of the missionaries. Loving the families is so important in missionary work. Our main message is to tell families that they can live together for an eternity. It is a message of love, hope, and faith. He said to bring 3 things with you on your mission: 1) A desire to preach the gospel 2) A developed testimony 3) Love for others.
All the talks were great, and they can be insighted in many different ways. No two people think the same exact way.
Well an update on the week...
I am starting to eat more, solamente because the food is very good here and they have too much variety so I wanna just grab every plate and shove it down my throat. So...if you have any dieting or self-control advice, don't be afraid to share.
The MTC dance last night was wild. It was 80's night so I bet you could imagine how fun that was. The dances are always the best part of the week!
Ping pong in the basement of the residence hall during free time gets pretty competitive! We play for hours on end with all of our free time.
But really...I met a chinese austraillian elder and it was probably the coolest experience I've had in the MTC so far(well not really). He looks asian but sounds just like any other Aussy.
Well, I'm just about out of time.
The Spiritual message of the week is found on LDS.org under the General Conference tab...(I don't have enough time to write a spiritual thought this go-around). Enjoy!
Con Amor,
Elder Larisch
Friday, September 30, 2011
And then there were five..
Dear subcribers to my weekly report,
I give this title to my weekly report because of an event that happened in my district this week. Believe it or not half of my district including three hermanas and two elders have left and ran off to the Republica Dominicana(Dominican Republic...) MTC and left us to suffer the last six weeks. I keep seeing elders and hermanas coming out of the mail room with blue packets labeled flight plans and I get a bit jealous. I am going to miss the old district but it will be very nice to have some more personal time with our teachers. Since there are only two companionships that means that we are going to be teaching a heck of a lot more also! I am already teaching two or three lessons a day. I talk to the more experience elders who have been here for like six or seven weeks and they are telling us that planning and teaching lessons is going to get much simpler when it comes to week seven because we have spanish down a lot better along with the lessons.
Let's see what else do I have that happened this week...I am starting to understand Espanol a lot more than the first day! I guess I am making some progress...ha. One of my teachers is from Chile and speaks super fast and slurs his sentences really bad and he expects us to understand most of what he is saying. This teacher is also really cool because he is also a professional badminton player. He participates in badminton tournaments all over north and south america!
My weekly weight check in is not so good news. The cafeteria had some ultra good food this week so I did partake of much of it. Since coming here 23 days ago I have gained about 6 or 7 lbs. No bueno!
The tuesday night devotional this week was an elder from the quorum of the seventy named Ron E. Clarke...I think. He gave an amazing talk to us about the importance of the Holy Ghost in our teaching and what resources are most important to a missionary.
This past week has probably been the hardest for me since I got here. Minor discouragement hit me a bit earlier in the week for some reason. I think it was right before a class with Hermano Trigo(the Chilean Professional Badminton Player) but now I am over it. Serving a mission is not a selfish act. It is important to realize that I am going to go through really hard times here but I know that through the Lord all things are possible. Because of all the help that I have needed recently, my knees have started hurting. My testimony of prayer has grown so much in the past few weeks. I have found some things that I wasn't including in my prayers before I left on my mission. If you want an answer to your prayers, then try going into a quiet place and pray sincerely with real intent and Heavenly Father will reveal his answer to you. Before your prayer, picture Heavenly Father right in front of you. It is also really important that we realize that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that he is our friend. He is there to help us.
I feel like I have much more to say in this email but I cannot remember. I accidentaly left my journal in my classroom. I only have a few minutes left anyways so I will just end with a message:
Spiritual Message of the Week:
One thing that is really cool is starting at the beginning of the Book of Mormon in first nephi 1 and reading for the first few chapters noticing when it talks about family. You can learn many cool things by studying in that section of the Book of Mormon about families.
I have been reading and studying a lot about prayer during the past week and have found some really good scriptures. If I had my journal with my I could tell them to you, but that is not possible right now. The power of the holy ghost and prayer work hand in hand with each other and give an amazing result.
1 Nephi 15:11
the famous Moroni 10:3-5
I have more, but I can't remember them so you'll just have to deeply study those two. They are both great!
That's it for this week! I hope all is going well!
Con Amor,
Elder Larisch
La Iglesia es verdadera!
Addition...-----> Oh! And I can't stop thinking about General Conference this weekend! Classes are cancelled on saturday!!! Wooooh! But more importantly we get to hear the words of God throught his prophets!
I give this title to my weekly report because of an event that happened in my district this week. Believe it or not half of my district including three hermanas and two elders have left and ran off to the Republica Dominicana(Dominican Republic...) MTC and left us to suffer the last six weeks. I keep seeing elders and hermanas coming out of the mail room with blue packets labeled flight plans and I get a bit jealous. I am going to miss the old district but it will be very nice to have some more personal time with our teachers. Since there are only two companionships that means that we are going to be teaching a heck of a lot more also! I am already teaching two or three lessons a day. I talk to the more experience elders who have been here for like six or seven weeks and they are telling us that planning and teaching lessons is going to get much simpler when it comes to week seven because we have spanish down a lot better along with the lessons.
Let's see what else do I have that happened this week...I am starting to understand Espanol a lot more than the first day! I guess I am making some progress...ha. One of my teachers is from Chile and speaks super fast and slurs his sentences really bad and he expects us to understand most of what he is saying. This teacher is also really cool because he is also a professional badminton player. He participates in badminton tournaments all over north and south america!
My weekly weight check in is not so good news. The cafeteria had some ultra good food this week so I did partake of much of it. Since coming here 23 days ago I have gained about 6 or 7 lbs. No bueno!
The tuesday night devotional this week was an elder from the quorum of the seventy named Ron E. Clarke...I think. He gave an amazing talk to us about the importance of the Holy Ghost in our teaching and what resources are most important to a missionary.
This past week has probably been the hardest for me since I got here. Minor discouragement hit me a bit earlier in the week for some reason. I think it was right before a class with Hermano Trigo(the Chilean Professional Badminton Player) but now I am over it. Serving a mission is not a selfish act. It is important to realize that I am going to go through really hard times here but I know that through the Lord all things are possible. Because of all the help that I have needed recently, my knees have started hurting. My testimony of prayer has grown so much in the past few weeks. I have found some things that I wasn't including in my prayers before I left on my mission. If you want an answer to your prayers, then try going into a quiet place and pray sincerely with real intent and Heavenly Father will reveal his answer to you. Before your prayer, picture Heavenly Father right in front of you. It is also really important that we realize that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that he is our friend. He is there to help us.
I feel like I have much more to say in this email but I cannot remember. I accidentaly left my journal in my classroom. I only have a few minutes left anyways so I will just end with a message:
Spiritual Message of the Week:
One thing that is really cool is starting at the beginning of the Book of Mormon in first nephi 1 and reading for the first few chapters noticing when it talks about family. You can learn many cool things by studying in that section of the Book of Mormon about families.
I have been reading and studying a lot about prayer during the past week and have found some really good scriptures. If I had my journal with my I could tell them to you, but that is not possible right now. The power of the holy ghost and prayer work hand in hand with each other and give an amazing result.
1 Nephi 15:11
the famous Moroni 10:3-5
I have more, but I can't remember them so you'll just have to deeply study those two. They are both great!
That's it for this week! I hope all is going well!
Con Amor,
Elder Larisch
La Iglesia es verdadera!
Addition...-----> Oh! And I can't stop thinking about General Conference this weekend! Classes are cancelled on saturday!!! Wooooh! But more importantly we get to hear the words of God throught his prophets!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Pictures from the MTC
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| Famous window at the MTC |
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| BUSTED!!! |
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| Deven's MTC companion Elder Squires from American Fork |
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| Deven said they get along great and it feels like they have known each other a long time!! |
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| Deven's district |
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| WOW-- That only took him 3 weeks to grow...Argentinian mustachio. |
Not sure where he found the facial hair at the MTC...Let's hope it wasn't in the dumpster too!!
Friday, September 23, 2011
La Tercera Semana en el CCM
Hola!
I can't believe that I have already been here for more than two full weeks! The time in the CCM(MTC) goes by really fast and really slow at the same time. The weeks go by fast and the days go by slow. This week had its ups and downs.
On Wednesday, our service morning of the week, I went and weighed myself and found out some not so good news... my metabolism is finally starting to fail me, or I am just eating way too much more than any human being can handle, not sure which one. They always just have such good food and make me want to grab like four plates at a time...then I eat all of it! I gained 5 pounds in the last week. I also haven't been running as much because we have been playing softball like everyday for our gym-time. So I am going to have to start watching what I eat...that probably won't do much either because I will just eat everything that I watch!
This week we had another AMAZING opportunity to hear from another quorum of the twelve member! After sacrament on Sunday the branch presidency handed out October Ensigns to everyone saying to study it and read all of it before Tuesday Night Devotional and then bring it to the devotional. It doesn't happen very often that the MTC just hands out an issue of the Ensign to every missionary there so we were all thinking that someone from the first presidency was coming to speak to us, but we still got it good with an apostle. Russell M. Nelson and his wife came and spoke to us about the Book of Mormon--because that was what the special edition of the October Ensign was. It was an amazing talk from the both of them and the Ensign is also great! I encourage all of you to go and read it. It has got some really important stuff in there including Ezra Taft Benson's famous Book of Mormon talk many years ago in a general conference. Hearing two apostles in a row each week makes me excited to hear from even more of them this coming conference in a week.
We also got two new progressive investigators this week--Ernesto and Gustavo--whose parts are played by both my teachers, Hermano Brown and Hermano Trigo. Teaching is really cool but really hard at the same time. I have been having a hard time preparing and being organized with the last few meetings, but hey, that's what practice in the Missionary Training Center is for right?
A few other Elders and I are really cool and have started translating some English phrases into really terrible Spanish. For example:
Como le gusta estas manzanas----> How do you like them apples
Cualquiera---->Whatever(This one is actually something they say. Hermana Arcos, a tutor here taught me that)
Cierra la puerta----> Shut the door
Que en el mundo----> What in the world!(This may or may not be the most popular one...)
Paz afuera niño exploradora----> Peace out boy scout
And many more! I will put more in next time for your entertainment.
This week when my companion and I were walking out the bookstore we saw a garbage can full of books so me, being myself, went and checked it out, because I am a big fan of dumpster diving for free things, or just free things in general...The books turned out to be tons of misprinted in some way FHE books in different languages like Tagalog(the only one I could even remotely recognize...). I grabbed tons of them and found out that they had a section of colored pictures which consisted of a bunch of pictures from Christ's life and also some relating to Jose(Joseph) Smith. Jackpot!!! So we made a huge collage in nuestro cuarto(our room). The next day we went back and found more treasures like a big broken heater and a long panoramic picture of the BYU bookstore taken back in like the 80's or somethin...so forever ago! That is also one of the main masterpieces of art in our room. Those finds had just about completed my week!
How about let's finish with some bad news. I had to get a shot yesterday. And they gave me a sparkly band-aid, I wasn't going to deal with that. So I complained a bit and they gave me a Toy Story one which was much better. And the good news is that I probably don't have to get any more shots,
There have been a lot of things that have happened this week but I don't quite have enough time to write all of them. But you got a good feel of what has happened here this week.
The spirit is amazing here in the MTC.
The spiritual thought of the week is to go and read the whole October Ensign! Well, if your a busy person and have things to do and people to see, I would recommend even just reading the amazing talk by President Benson. It brought up some great points back to my memory. The Book of Mormon is a very powerful book and is also the most correct book on this earth. I agree with Joseph Smith's words of "a man can get closer to god" by reading it and abiding by it's teachings.
The Church is true!
Con Todo Mi Amor,
Elder Larisch
I can't believe that I have already been here for more than two full weeks! The time in the CCM(MTC) goes by really fast and really slow at the same time. The weeks go by fast and the days go by slow. This week had its ups and downs.
On Wednesday, our service morning of the week, I went and weighed myself and found out some not so good news... my metabolism is finally starting to fail me, or I am just eating way too much more than any human being can handle, not sure which one. They always just have such good food and make me want to grab like four plates at a time...then I eat all of it! I gained 5 pounds in the last week. I also haven't been running as much because we have been playing softball like everyday for our gym-time. So I am going to have to start watching what I eat...that probably won't do much either because I will just eat everything that I watch!
This week we had another AMAZING opportunity to hear from another quorum of the twelve member! After sacrament on Sunday the branch presidency handed out October Ensigns to everyone saying to study it and read all of it before Tuesday Night Devotional and then bring it to the devotional. It doesn't happen very often that the MTC just hands out an issue of the Ensign to every missionary there so we were all thinking that someone from the first presidency was coming to speak to us, but we still got it good with an apostle. Russell M. Nelson and his wife came and spoke to us about the Book of Mormon--because that was what the special edition of the October Ensign was. It was an amazing talk from the both of them and the Ensign is also great! I encourage all of you to go and read it. It has got some really important stuff in there including Ezra Taft Benson's famous Book of Mormon talk many years ago in a general conference. Hearing two apostles in a row each week makes me excited to hear from even more of them this coming conference in a week.
We also got two new progressive investigators this week--Ernesto and Gustavo--whose parts are played by both my teachers, Hermano Brown and Hermano Trigo. Teaching is really cool but really hard at the same time. I have been having a hard time preparing and being organized with the last few meetings, but hey, that's what practice in the Missionary Training Center is for right?
A few other Elders and I are really cool and have started translating some English phrases into really terrible Spanish. For example:
Como le gusta estas manzanas----> How do you like them apples
Cualquiera---->Whatever(This one is actually something they say. Hermana Arcos, a tutor here taught me that)
Cierra la puerta----> Shut the door
Que en el mundo----> What in the world!(This may or may not be the most popular one...)
Paz afuera niño exploradora----> Peace out boy scout
And many more! I will put more in next time for your entertainment.
This week when my companion and I were walking out the bookstore we saw a garbage can full of books so me, being myself, went and checked it out, because I am a big fan of dumpster diving for free things, or just free things in general...The books turned out to be tons of misprinted in some way FHE books in different languages like Tagalog(the only one I could even remotely recognize...). I grabbed tons of them and found out that they had a section of colored pictures which consisted of a bunch of pictures from Christ's life and also some relating to Jose(Joseph) Smith. Jackpot!!! So we made a huge collage in nuestro cuarto(our room). The next day we went back and found more treasures like a big broken heater and a long panoramic picture of the BYU bookstore taken back in like the 80's or somethin...so forever ago! That is also one of the main masterpieces of art in our room. Those finds had just about completed my week!
How about let's finish with some bad news. I had to get a shot yesterday. And they gave me a sparkly band-aid, I wasn't going to deal with that. So I complained a bit and they gave me a Toy Story one which was much better. And the good news is that I probably don't have to get any more shots,
There have been a lot of things that have happened this week but I don't quite have enough time to write all of them. But you got a good feel of what has happened here this week.
The spirit is amazing here in the MTC.
The spiritual thought of the week is to go and read the whole October Ensign! Well, if your a busy person and have things to do and people to see, I would recommend even just reading the amazing talk by President Benson. It brought up some great points back to my memory. The Book of Mormon is a very powerful book and is also the most correct book on this earth. I agree with Joseph Smith's words of "a man can get closer to god" by reading it and abiding by it's teachings.
The Church is true!
Con Todo Mi Amor,
Elder Larisch
Friday, September 16, 2011
Second week in the MTC
Hello everyone!
The day has finally come when I am not in the group of the newest missionaries! We get to say "Bienvenidos"(welcome) or "Buena Suerte"(good luck) to all of the noobs who have an orange dork dot (as we call it) on their nametag. This week has been one of the hardest weeks of my life along with one of the most learningful weeks of my life. At this point I have taught cinco lecciones(5 lesssons) to an investigator. He is now our teacher and goes by the name of Hermano(brother) Brown. Starting lunes(monday) of next week we will have two or more investigators at a time...so me and my companion definitely need to find ways on how to prepare lessons faster. One of the things that I have found out from this past week is that if you don't have the spirit with you in the MTC, you can't ever get much done. In the second to last lesson with our investigator I very much was blessed with the gift of tongues and I was able to understand and communicate back with him the whole time! Spanish is coming along just swell! The new teacher, who was the investigator, kept pointing me out in class yesterday saying that I was a good spanish speaker and if my district has any questions they should talk to me...I'm not sure how I feel about that. My district consists of 5 companionships: Elder Larisch and Elder Squires, Elder Wilson(DL) and Elder Harker, Elder Phenix and Elder Rose, Elder Wright and Elder Terris, and a threesome of Hermanas Collette, Ball, and Hafen. They are all pretty cool people. I will maybe send some pics home and give you a visualization on how things are goin here! Today we had the opportunity to go to the Provo Temple! Any time that we get to get some fresh air is quite the opportunity. We always go out to the field for gym time. Even more than getting some fresh air, we also get the blessings of the temple!
This week I was officially made senior companion. Which doesn't really mean too much, it just means that I tell Elder Squires what to do and he has to obey my commands. Whenever I want an ice cream, he gets me an ice cream. Ha ha. Just kidding, it doesnt really work that way, although it would be nice.
Every Tuesday night in the MTC we have a special General Authority devotional. Usually it is just people in the 70 that no one knows. A few weeks ago it was Elder Holland(I very much so wish that I could have been there for that one!). This week we had the awesome opportunity to hear from Elder M. Russell Ballard of the 12!!! What great words of wisdom he had to talk to us about. He had a lot of uplifting words to say about us as missionaries and the great purpose we have in inviting the world to come unto Christ.
The last few days I have had a progressive cold that is really annoying! It started with a sore throat, the next day it was just a really bad runny nose, then yesterday it was more of a headache, now it is a cough...and a runny nose...No Bueno!
I don't have much time left today to write more in the email because I got distracted from another Elder earlier. But if you wanna talk to me you should just write me a letter or somethin! or send me cookies, brownies, or anything sweet... ha ha. Missionaries love packages!!
Missionary Message of the Week:
The missionary purpose is to INVITE others to come unto Christ by HELPING them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end.
The reason why I capitalized the words 'invite' and 'helping' is because those are the two verbs/actions we as missionaries must do to bring the world his truth. The investigator of the church must find out for themselves if the church is true or not through the testification of the Holy Ghost to their heart! I am thankful for the eternal blessing of the gospel in my life!
Con Amor,
Elder Larisch
The Church is true!
The day has finally come when I am not in the group of the newest missionaries! We get to say "Bienvenidos"(welcome) or "Buena Suerte"(good luck) to all of the noobs who have an orange dork dot (as we call it) on their nametag. This week has been one of the hardest weeks of my life along with one of the most learningful weeks of my life. At this point I have taught cinco lecciones(5 lesssons) to an investigator. He is now our teacher and goes by the name of Hermano(brother) Brown. Starting lunes(monday) of next week we will have two or more investigators at a time...so me and my companion definitely need to find ways on how to prepare lessons faster. One of the things that I have found out from this past week is that if you don't have the spirit with you in the MTC, you can't ever get much done. In the second to last lesson with our investigator I very much was blessed with the gift of tongues and I was able to understand and communicate back with him the whole time! Spanish is coming along just swell! The new teacher, who was the investigator, kept pointing me out in class yesterday saying that I was a good spanish speaker and if my district has any questions they should talk to me...I'm not sure how I feel about that. My district consists of 5 companionships: Elder Larisch and Elder Squires, Elder Wilson(DL) and Elder Harker, Elder Phenix and Elder Rose, Elder Wright and Elder Terris, and a threesome of Hermanas Collette, Ball, and Hafen. They are all pretty cool people. I will maybe send some pics home and give you a visualization on how things are goin here! Today we had the opportunity to go to the Provo Temple! Any time that we get to get some fresh air is quite the opportunity. We always go out to the field for gym time. Even more than getting some fresh air, we also get the blessings of the temple!
This week I was officially made senior companion. Which doesn't really mean too much, it just means that I tell Elder Squires what to do and he has to obey my commands. Whenever I want an ice cream, he gets me an ice cream. Ha ha. Just kidding, it doesnt really work that way, although it would be nice.
Every Tuesday night in the MTC we have a special General Authority devotional. Usually it is just people in the 70 that no one knows. A few weeks ago it was Elder Holland(I very much so wish that I could have been there for that one!). This week we had the awesome opportunity to hear from Elder M. Russell Ballard of the 12!!! What great words of wisdom he had to talk to us about. He had a lot of uplifting words to say about us as missionaries and the great purpose we have in inviting the world to come unto Christ.
The last few days I have had a progressive cold that is really annoying! It started with a sore throat, the next day it was just a really bad runny nose, then yesterday it was more of a headache, now it is a cough...and a runny nose...No Bueno!
I don't have much time left today to write more in the email because I got distracted from another Elder earlier. But if you wanna talk to me you should just write me a letter or somethin! or send me cookies, brownies, or anything sweet... ha ha. Missionaries love packages!!
Missionary Message of the Week:
The missionary purpose is to INVITE others to come unto Christ by HELPING them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end.
The reason why I capitalized the words 'invite' and 'helping' is because those are the two verbs/actions we as missionaries must do to bring the world his truth. The investigator of the church must find out for themselves if the church is true or not through the testification of the Holy Ghost to their heart! I am thankful for the eternal blessing of the gospel in my life!
Con Amor,
Elder Larisch
The Church is true!
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