1 Year!! Baptisms!! 2011!!

So many events have happened in the last week, that i am struggling to know where to start!! Well…. i guess i will say some kinda big news! I HIT THE YEAR MARK!!!! I absolutely cannot believe it! It really seems like yesterday that i got here on my mission. But now i can say that it’s half over. Its really scary how fast time flies!! I hope that the Lord will bless me so that i can make the best out of this year!! Because it will be my last on my mission! But we did have a little 1 year party. The other companionship in our house bought me a little cake and two pizzas. So it was pretty fun!!!

As well i passed my first new years here in brasil. And it was pretty crazy. But i want you to know that i was obedient and went to bed on time. But because of the rucas that occurred outside i woke up at about mid night. Here in brasil, it is very common to have play bombs and fireworks and loud music, so that is what we listened to all night and thats what woke me up to tell me that it was the new year!

I also got quite a few letters this week. I got a letter from the walkers, from lindsey and family, from my friend elder watkins,  from the seversons, and from my grandma billie. It was great to hear from everybody, but i really enjoyed my letter from grandma. I could really feel her love!! I will always keep that letter with me. So thank you grandma. And happy Birthday! I hope that everything went well on your 89th birthday!

And for some really great news, we had three baptisms this weekend! They were jonathan maria and sonia.

Jonathan is a friend of one of the members of the ward, and he is an awesome little boy. He did struggle with coffee, but his testimony was stronger than his desire to drink coffee so he stopped and was baptized!! As well, his father didn´t want to allow him to be baptized, because he said that jonathan was already baptized and didn’t need to be again. But with prayer his dad let him!

Maria is eliaquim’s mom and sonia is his sister. And this week what i saw with maria i will never forget! She has a lot of faith. Maria has 9 children. And beyond eliaquim and sonia the others are evangelical! And they are strong. It got to the point that we couldn’t teach there in their home if her other children were there because all they wanted to do was argue and tell us that are church is wrong. But as we tried explaining to her children through the scriptures that the church of Jesus Christ is really true, maria gained a testimony that what we were saying was true and that God really did call a prophet in our days. So we started marking appointments with maria without her other children so that the Spirit could be with us. And as we were teaching her the Spirit was always really strong. Last Wednesday we went there to mark her baptismal date. And as i invited her to follow the example of our Savior through baptism she said, “ what’s today?” We said wendnesday, then she said, “ well i will pray a lot and on Sunday i will!” so much joy filled my heart because i  knew that she had found the truth and was using her faith to follow Christ! Then a couple of days later as we were teaching her, she began to bear her testimony! She said that she had been searching for the truth but wasn’t finding it. She said she didn’t agree with any of the churchs that her children attended. Then she said we showed up and started teaching the truth to her and she felt that it was true. This experience has truly been precious to me! It is interesting to see how the Lord works. He showed us a house that is well known as “os crentes”, which means strong believer in other evangelical churches. And in that house we were able to find three elects that were looking for the truth! We have to trust in the Lord, because he will really guide us and lead us to those who are looking. And he will help us with whatever!!

Well as i have been thinking about my mission this last week i can honestly say that it is saving my life! Just because of the simple things that i am learning, i know that this is the only path that leads back to our Heavenly Father. And it is so simple but very important. I love my mission! And i love my Savior, Jesus Christ! He lives and i am his representative! The gospel was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith and today we have a living prophet!! The book of Mormon is true and touches me everyday when i read it. i love you all. Thank you for your support and you love. I feel your prayers everyday! I hope that you are all very happy and that you keep going faithful and strong!! Just smile!!

Love, elder T. Larsen


Playing ping-pong today at the 
church. 


A huge coconut tree!