And Then He Was Home

Harry flew into Sacramento. April 23. The kids had made signs and had a great time running back and forth between windows, holding them up so he would be sure to see them.

It was such a long day for him, filled with great joy to be home but some sadness to have left his beloved London.

Its been nearly a year since...and with his mission behind him...a new chapter in his life begins.  

When He Gets Home

HE'S COMING HOME!!!
APRIL 23, 2014
7:25PM
SACRAMENTO AIRPORT

What is he looking forward to?

I do intend to eat Taco Bell, Panda Express, Olive Garden, and El Rosal, within the first month back home. Just so you're ready ;P In terms of groceries to have... i don't know! because i kind of don't really remember what i should miss. But i do miss elbows! and chicken fried steak. And tacos. And fake mashed potatoes. And biscuits and gravy! And REAL MILKSHAKES. That would be awesome. Add Velvet Creamery to the list of places i'd like to go ;3 they don't do milkshakes over here, and even the ones they try to do are so awful! I don't understand why either, cuz they're not like difficult to make or something. Don't know. But i miss them

Also! Can i have an iphone? Is this an option? Cuz i've all of a sudden become very jealous of people's iphones, as i only have a nokia brick that costs £5. I had a dream i was on my iphone, i consider this to be prophecy, i hope you'll assist my in the fulfillment thereof.

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The Life of a Missionary

so today. today is London P-Day, and i also had to do lots and lots of cleaning today so my mission president's wife will be satisfied with our flat. Missionaries are FILTHY! true. so generally i have to clean up after generations of missionaries having lived in a flat. so yeah ;P not lots of time to email! :( but i do love you! ;) let's see. a family in the ward. today you'll hear about the Cobbs family! Consisting of Dad from America, Mom from (used to be) Czechoslovakia, and three daughters! Oldest is like 17 or so, then, i think like 12, and 10? potentially. anyway, the two younger ones are like nuts about gymnastics, and every time we go there they do some crazy gymnastics stuff! It's cool! and yeah, they're fun and we like them. we're going to their house on friday to bake a
cake for one of their birthdays! also. yesterday. was awesome! first. i gave a talk. FIRST TALK IN MY WHOLE MISSION. whoa! i've avoided it for 22 months! not intentionally, it just never happened. i've been assigned three times before but twice i moved areas before i had to give it, and the other there was no time left in sacrament meeting for me to give it. weird! But yeah, i killed it, everyone said it was just wonderful ;P bishop said they might ask me to speak again before i leave because he liked it. sounds alright! and then! in the evening..... WE HOSTED A FIRESIDE! so cool! first time i've used any amount of my theatre skills on my mission. we did several skits and things, the mission president was there, we had some Q&A, the missionary band was there, and it was just fantastic! One of the best experiences of my mission for sure. The subject was serving a mission, meant to give a real glimpse into missionary life to encourage the youth to serve missions. so it wasn't all pink and glittery, but a real impression of what it's like. and we threw a fair amount of humor in there. they loved it! but yes, i have to leave now, but I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D write again next week! bye! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

CAKE

What's Harry up to now that he's been released from leadership and is once again a regular missionary? Just as he did at the beginning of his mission, he's Baking CAKES!
































Well...and playing with swords.








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Knowing a Little of a Different Language

Our family was so glad Harry was sent to an English speaking country so he wouldn't have to learn a foreign language. Little did we know that he was being sent to an English speaking country where he would have to learn lots of different languages.

i've met two people from Botswana this week! it was so cool. it's this little country from north of South Africa (well, i guess nothing is south of South Africa.) and i've never met anyone from there before! anyway, when i met the second lady, i gave her the phone number of the first one, and she called her right then and there, and the other lady came to meet us! so cool! they were very happy to have met each other. such a cool miracle!

and i met a lady from Ghana, i said hello how are you, and my name is elder larsen to her in her language. she freaked out, she was so happy to hear someone speaking her language! i love doing that. anyway, then before we left, i said God bless you in her language as well, and she gave me two referrals, people who work at her hairdresser. and we met them and we're teaching all three of them now! so yeah, i've loved my week!


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He's Really in England

Big Ben




The Eye



London Bus




The Tube




Post! (It took me awhile to figure out he meant mail.)

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Happy Birthday

Chinatown for my birthday!!!!!






we ate chinese buffet at Mr Wu's. i ate way too much ;p

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The Pidgeon

We were waiting for the tube to come, at a point where the platform is above ground, even though it's still called the "underground." anyway, so there's this pigeon. happy pigeon. hoppin around on the platform where we're standing. it decides to jump down to the tracks below and chill out. it hides away in a corner, then i see a train approaching... as it approaches, the pigeon does not understand that there is not enough room for both it and the train... it tries to fly away as the train is already starting to occupy the rails next to it.... we see a flutter of feathers from "the gap" between the train and the platform... we were supposed to get on the train, but we just HAD to wait and see the fate of the pigeon. the train left. the pigeon didn't. because it was now on both sides of the rails. in half. with some of it's feathers super-glue-deep-fried to the rails. my companion, later in this week, used this story in a lesson in conjunction with Alma 34:31-35.

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Opposition In All Things from January 20

Harry usually tells us funny stories about his experiences in the mission field. Or he shares his successes. He hardly ever talks about struggling. We always laugh that he's having way more fun than he should. So I asked him:

3. Tell me a story where you struggled somehow so I won't feel guilty anymore.

3. sooo, i'll make it short ;D in st albans, i worked in the poshest area outside London. ain't nothin' but rich English folks! i spent hours and hours street contacting in town center, tracting, offering service, sending out flyers, networking with local shopkeeps, having a little banner-stall thing we thought up to put in the local market, working with members and less-actives and part-member families... everything! well of course not everything, but we sure tried hard. and! never had a single new investigator past the first appointment for six weeks of hard labor! ;p but gosh darn, it made me real good for missionary work after that! :) blessings! goodness gracious, i'm grateful beyond belief for that time in my mission, taught me more than probably any other area. opposition in all things :)


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Answering The Numbers from 1/1/14

Sometimes it's hard to get Harry to answer all the questions I have so I've started using numbers and it kind of keeps him on task:
So
1. tell me about your new companion
2. What are you gonna do with 9 new ties
3. Did anyone record a Christmas performance
4. Who are you teaching?

1. Elder Moraza!!! He's great, and from Spain! Kinda close to where Elder Gonzalez was from, kinda not really, but he's from the South. So everything has a th-th-th where the s's go. does that make sense? Maybe ask dad. He's fun, he's never served in London, he loves musicals, he's composing one right now apparently, and he likes to eat out. yeah! He also studied International Trade back home. Cool guy. 2. Wear them and look posh. 3. Yes! Go on soundcloud and look up England London Mission!! We sound like a choir of angels.

Go to:soundcloud.com/england-london-mission -Listen to Hallelujah 2.0 Harry is the second voice.

4. We're teaching a couple cool people from the Philippines! One is the daughter of a less active lady, the daughter's name is Theresa, she's 19 and pretty cool! She's in 2 Nephi chapter 8! Hardcore. also, a member referred a whole Filipino family to us whom we are now teaching. It's pretty great and they're really nice :) I'm so happy! This transfer is gonna be an awesome one. Who knows, it might be my last transfer as a zone leader, president likes to release leadership two transfers before they go home... Who knows what will happen! But I love you guys all so much!!! And i'm glad you had a good Christmas, next Christmas, I'll be home :) I love you, Happy new year!!! :D

Christmas from 12/25/13

Hey!! Oh my goodness, it was so good to see you yesterday :DD I love you guys so much!! ;D my goodness, everyone has gotten so much bigger and looks so different!! It's so cool :) well hey, this is gonna be a very quick email today, but i wanted to re-express my love for you ;) and! We got moves calls this morning, and I'm staying put! Elder Titus is taking a trip down to the bottom of the mission by the cliffs of Dover, and a somewhat new Zone Leader named Elder Moraza from Spain will be coming here with me!! It should be very exciting, and. I'm so tired. my brain is like not functioning right now. we went Boxing day shopping for real. and I got some good stuff! Got a coat, and some socks, and two jumpers. :) and there's this tie shop called Tie Rack which is really fancy, but it's going out of business all over England, so they're having a 70% or more off sale!!!!! I got 9 ties for the price of one. I'm stoked ;p so i'm very sleepy as I've been running around like crazy in Black Friday equivalent people traffic all over London. I love you :) so much! <33 i'll email again on Monday :) see you soon guys!

-Elder Larsen

It was great to see him and know he's having fun on Christmas. 

Wicked from 12/14/13

Harry had the opportunity to see "Wicked" in London.

I've been up since 4:30! I stood in line from 6:00 until 10:00 to get tickets! :O but we got FRONT SEATS! all five of us, so cool. so i'm pretty pumped














OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!! WICKED WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!! LIKE oh my days, one of the top experiences of my life. Being on a mission is great and all, but man!! Oh my gosh it was so cool! Like for real, it just blew my mind and our brains were just dribbling out of our ears by the end of it. They're SO good!!!!!!!!! man, we had FRONT ROW SEATS, it was phenomenal, just beyond description. I LOVED IT SO MUCH!!!! xD and at the end of the first act, oh my goodness, it was just like AHHHH!!!!!!! :DDDD and the lights all went out and it was just like CRAZY!!!! So I'm very happy :) oh my goodness, so the costumes, just ridiculous and amazing. the lighting was genius. the sound was perfect, the mix of all the choir and orchestra levels was just perfect. and the set was just above and beyond, so beautiful and actually very simple. All the scene transitions were smooth as silk, and ELFEBA! no idea how to spell her name, but, ELFEBA!!!! Elfy, my girl! What an AMAZING VOICE!!! Just beautiful, deep tone, very R&B, just amazing. and her RANGE, just goes on forever! and she hits every note with POWER. I was just in absolute heaven!!!! The best £29.50 I've ever spent in my whole LIFE! oh my goodness, I have to see it with you when I get home. for real. :) And it will be lovely ;)

On the Occasion of my Birthday!

MOM!!!!! I love you ;D and i can't email today! NO! but i will email on Saturday because...... I'M GOING TO WICKED!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D woop woop! gonna go see a musical in London! very happy. so this money you sent me will be put to use! anyway, so i can't email today! :O but.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!!!! :D HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOOOUUUUU!!!! I love you so much mom ;) you're my favorite in the whole world! I love you :) I have like five more seconds to email so i'm gonna email you because i LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!! :D you are the poshest mom in the world ;) and you should post that quote online because i want the world to know it!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!! :) and i'm grateful to be your son ;) cuz you're GREAT! ;) I'm glad you had a really nice birthday ;) and I can't wait until Christmas so i can see you!!!!! :D Bye!!!!


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Funeral for Sister Steel

We've seen pictures of her since they were in the MTC. And now she's going home to Colorado.

When missionaries get into the mission, we call it being born. Their trainer is their parent, and the senior missionary of opposite gender in the district is the other parent. Then, when you go home, it's called dying. so usually at the last meeting we'll hold a funeral for them, as we did with sister steele! It was a time to be remembered.










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Just Pictures

A funny accidental picture taken from my desk.



you can't see it very well but the sign in the back says elders!!!! We had to take a picture.






I made dinner for my favorite chinese missionary, Elder Tam!!


pyi (pronounced like the letter "p") our recent convert fed us a Burmese feast.

From Elder Nolan

When your kid is on their mission, you hope they're being a good example as a representative of the Church and a disciple of Christ. You also hope that the people who associate with him, like him.

This is the email that Kelly got this week. Its from a missionary who's been out only 5 weeks.  

hey, so I have a good missionary friend next to me named Elder Nolan, I said that I didn't have a story to tell about this week so he volunteered to write for me!

This guy, your brother, my friend, my zone leader, my inspiration. You should know that Elder Larsen inspires missionaries to do work on the daily. This man studies the scriptures whilst he exercises in the park whilst finding people to teach. He has the most wonderful face ive ever seen and If I had the ability I would right a comic book about his missionary efforts. He'd have a cape though. Either a green or peach coloured cape. With tassels. And glitter. We sing songs together which makes my soul smile. You have a great brother, and he'll be even better when he gets back. Hugs and handshakes, Elder Nolan =D


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New Members

The Church is growing by leaps and bounds! The Spanish missionaries in our ward have had such great success bringing new members to the truth. It's great to hear that Harry is also experiencing such success in England.

yeah we've had a pretty sweet time as of late. this weekend we had TWO baptisms!!!! Ayan and Min, man, these kids are so cool. Ayan is 17 and Min is 16.


Ayan is from Somalia and couldn't get her parents to sign her baptismal form for about a year, but this weekend it all happened!


and Min is our other recent convert's brother. Pyi's brother. and man, he's so cool, and so knowledgeable, it's crazy. and he plays basketball, HARD. he's my little, big bro. and yeah, we're having a good time :D

I'm really proud of my missionary. But more than that, I'm so happy for all the new members who are about to learn the gospel and get to know our savior in a more personal way.

D&C 4:4
4 For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;


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Drawings

I send Harry drawings every once in a while. A few weeks ago I asked him to send me one.

silly picture of us getting chewed out by another missionary xD

music!

Hey! Maybe he does have some of my talent.

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When To Knock

"No Jehova's Witnesses." hey! that's not me!! :D so we took pictures before knocking.... then we knocked! And we were pointing at our tags and smiling really big, hey! We're Mormons!!! and the lady answered the door and started talking to us, then Elder Moura-Netto notices she has an accent and says, where are you from? Portugal. Bam! my companion starts talking in Portuguese and she's super cool, then we talk in English and tell her about the Restoration and she loves it and we get a return appointment for this week. SO POSH.

Proper Missionary Work

:) ummm, let's see. man, nothing too amazing happens to us to be real! We just do proper missionary work all the time.

This week I met a crazy English preacher guy who was just yelling random bible stuff to the street. He came up to me to tell me that Mormon's are racist because of something Brigham Young apparently said. Then he wouldn't entertain speaking to me as he had to go back to his street-yelling, so one of his lackey's came up to me and started yelling as well. So I showed him one verse in the Book of Mormon and he was like..... oh. well, this guy over here was telling me that you're racist, but ok. xD Owned!


Hey, here's a little spiritual message about the atonement:
I wore a flat cap for the first time the other day, it's Elder Moura-Netto's. They're quite fun. We got caught in the rain. I was wearing a waterproof jacket tho!... but it still soaked me thru to the skin. We came home and i took off my jacket and my jumper (sweater), and my white shirt had all of these AWFUL, NASTY, YELLOW stains all over it! it looked like i'd popped a giant zit all over my body. it was disgusting. But it washed out ;p


We were talking to this crazy I-use-a-megaphone-to-preach-hellfire-and-damnation-to-the-whole-world guy... and he's just talking about nothing, and all kinds of doctrine that isn't found in the Bible, Then! I stopped him and said "Hey, here's a deep spiritual truth for you. Have you ever wondered what the difference between knowledge and wisdom is? I'll tell you. Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit... wisdom is not putting a tomato in a fruit salad. Now you think on that!" and we walked away. Good times!

Do you remember the scotch bonnet pepper I ate in Romford? Today I brought some to the district in London North... Five of us took the scotch bonnet challenge, and it was the most hilarious thing ever. If i could send videos, I would so send you the video of it, it's marvelous! x