loving life here in São Luís!!

HEYYYY!!! what a good week we had! The Lord really blessed us this week in our work. WE had quite a few moments where we were really guided by the spirit. Brasil is crazy right now....nobody is studying because the world cup will start! also, the city buses are on strike...since they are on strike...everyone is!! we were going to mark the marriage of a couple we´re teaching, but the marriage office was closed!!! :( hopefully these strikes pass soon. Sunday we finally got some investigators AND various less actives to come to church. I feel like my teaching ability is at it´s best that its ever been in the mission. We´re really seeing difference in the people we are teaching. The members are helping us a lot in the form of meals....We finally found an apartment to rent....we just have to talk to president to confirm it. We have zone conf on saturday as well with him. On sunday, we were walking and i started looking at our contacts on our cell and i saw a name, edson. i told my comp that i felt like we should visit him. We called him and visited him. He went less active just because he traveled, hurt his foot, and never came back to church! We ended up teaching his whole family as well! They also gave us a referral of their neighbor as well who accepted us very well. We´ve been finding a lot more less actives being that we are getting to know the area better. A member passed by us the other day and was like, "elders, i really like you 2...do you see that pizza shop? if you ever are hungry, just stop by there, grab a pizza, and tell them that i´ll pay for it." I was like, well.....ok! perfect with me! no problem....! We´re teaching a girl named Vanderleia that is way cool as well. She went to a devotional in the chapel out of nowhere last sunday night and invited us to teach her! She was loaded with questions! Finally things are coming together in our area. loving life here in São Luís!!

ABRAÇÃO,

Elder Larsen

2 Baptisms!!

Hey yall!!! We had a good week here. A lot of running around. We had 2 baptisms this week: Rayssa who´s 20 and a boy named Matheus. We´ve been preparing them these last 2 weeks. It was such a rush to get their baptism ready because bishop didnt give us a key to the baptismal font here. He called everyone but nobody answered!! Finally we got ahold of the 1st counselor Hamon and he helped us out! Him and his family have helped us out a lot since i´ve gotten here. The baptism went very well...Matheus´ parents were there to watch it. His dad is an inactive and his mom is starting to investigate the church. We got to teach them after and it went great! his mom wants to be baptized. We will mark their marriage this thursday so that she can be baptized! We´ve been teaching another young man that i made a contact with, joao guilherme. he´s 14 and very intelligent! he understood so well everything that we taught. We had a talent show in the chapel on friday and he came with us! It was a lot of fun! They invited me and my comp to dance so we had our minute to shine ! hahahah!

I´m eating SO much here in this area, but i burn every calorie walking...its so big here! I´ve yet to see the ocean, but we will go there i think next p day. the members here are liking us a lot, which is good, because the last missionaries that were here really werent that wonderful. I love our district here. We take care of the 2 companionships of sisters in Maiobão. They crack me up! So...we went 2 days straight this week without water in our apartment...we called president to see if we could move and he gave us permission. We went looking for houses for rent yesterday but couldnt find ANY!!! the only ones we found are SO expensive!

I like the ward a lot here, just one thing...bishop is not a big fan of the missionaries...and never was. i will be sending some really cool pictures when i go to old town sao luis. 

LOVE YALL!

Elder Larsen

My Last Call Home...

HEY FAM!! Crazy that i had my last call with you guys on sunday!! Everyone (especially the kids) is so different!! First time we had good internet to call, so that was a miracle! I´m learning to love the area here. Every area in the mission has its ups and downs. I feel like this area has a lot of potential to bring a lot of members back. I looked at the list of members with my comp and there are about 600!! Our biggest downfall is HOW to find them! For every neighborhood here, there are 3 roads with the SAME name! We went walking in circles like crazy looking for an address but just ended up getting lost. We´re relying a lot on making contacts in the street right now and working close to the chapel. I´m really being tested right now, but it´ll go fine. We had district meeting on monday...it went swell. The sisters are awesome in our district AND they dont whine...which is good! There are 3 brasilians and i peruvian. Once again, i´m the only american! Today we´re gonna go to the mall and chill in the air conditioning for a bit :) This friday, the ward will be having a talent show at the church.....and they asked me to sing! hahahah! but what song?! first ones that came to mind were: 1. the national anthem 2. i will always love you - whitney houston 3. oh holy night - josh groban hahahaha! Well, wish me luck! I love yins! Have a great week!

love,

Elder Larsen

Lots of Pictures!!!

My Birthday!

 Transfer day

 Going crazy being in a bus for 8hrs with these girls

 My New Companion

 Playing a bit of Basketball

 Vera! She makes awesome food!!