Corn bread whats good

Walking around in the dark

Hey family it is good to talk to all of you again! This week was a good one for sure! I can’t believe that I am done training after this week—that’s crazy! This transfer flew by so fast. We will find out Saturday what will happen with transfers next week. The area is picking up a little and we are finding a little more success which we are grateful. I read the talk by President Uchtdorf called “Being Grateful in our Circumstances”. So, we are just keeping a good attitude and doing what we can! But we eat a lot of seafood down here. I had some cat fish this week and shrimp and all that stuff. I actually really like it so that is a blessing. I guess one day I might have to try sushi!

Biking around in the dark

This week started with exchanges with Elder Storey. I love that kid and he is an awesome missionary. I went to his area and it was just a party all day. At one point, we were getting poured on while we were on our bikes so we went to hide in a thrift shop so all good times.

FRIENDS!

Exchanges with Elder Storey

Wednesday was the day I have been waiting for my whole life. We were out street contacting and visiting members and all that jazz when we ran into the legend himself, RED DOG! This guy is literally the most redneck person I have ever met. He was completely drunk when we tried to talk to him which made it even more interesting. He loves to talk about "John Smith, the Norman God" I was trying so hard not to bust out laughing just listening to this guy. It was nice to be able to smile and laugh with that guy. We actually got into a family we have been trying to get in with for a while. Their lives are super crazy because of the hurricane. Right now, they are living in a school bus that they bought outside of their house that got damaged by the water. So, we were able to teach them a little inside of their school bus which is super awesome! They took out all the seats and turned it into a full-on RV. I thought it was pretty dang cool.

 

Waiting for an appointment

Thanksgiving was super fun! We got to go on a little run in the morning which I was actually super excited about! The weather was super awesome too. It was actually cold in the morning so it felt so good. Then we biked up to the north of our area and had Thanksgiving with a huge family. There were like 70 of them there. We got to play some ball and frisbee and just have a good time with them. Then we did some planning and went to Thanksgiving part 2 at the Ashworths! The members are too good to us and we are super grateful for them!

Thanksgiving Day with Elder Bott

On Saturday, we tried to focus on the Priesthood since that seems to be the only day that men are home and able to talk. So, we were able to find 2 potential priesthood holders which was awesome! One of them lived in the house that I sent a jump in their backyard… so sending it for the boyz totally works with converting people to the gospel.

Brother Corley has a ton of football cards and baseball cards he collects. He asked me my favorite team and gave me a nice Eagles one. The card is Mack Hollins rookie card and it has a piece of the rookie’s jersey.

We were super busy on Sunday, we taught in both the 2nd and 3rd hour of church and then went out preaching! It has been hard to find people to teach but we have been doing a lot better! We talk to tons of people we just hope and pray that they will show up to their return appointment and see the importance of the gospel!

I sure do miss my family and friends lots during these times but there isn't anywhere I would rather be than on my mission! It is hard a lot of the time but it is so rewarding when you get to teach someone that Christs church is on the earth today and all of the joy that we receive from it! I know that it has blessed my life and I am eternally grateful for it! It is so good to hear from all of you and I hope you all had an amazing week with your family this Thanksgiving!


Elder Cameron Larson

Mom’s Questions

What do you think will happen at transfers?
We seriously have no idea. We know one of our zone leaders (Elder Anderson) is out of here because he and Elder Story have been together for 3 transfers. But as far as me and Elder Bott go I have no idea. Normally they try to give a new missionary a new companion right after they are done training just so they get like another perspective on how someone else does their missionary work. But since we white washed in this area we have no idea if me or Elder Bott are leaving or we could do another one together we don't really know but we find out Saturday

What did you do for Thanksgiving Day?

Thanksgiving we went over to the Torres family deal. We went to our Bishop’s house and they had like 70 people over there. And then we just planned because we didn't want to go do anything else that would bug someone. Then it was time for our dinner so we went there. And we were supposed to be in by 7 and planning some stuff for the light the world initiative! So that was lots of fun!

Thanksgiving Part 2 at the Ashworth's home

Were you able to do a Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning?

Yes, we did! That whole morning, I was excited but Elder Bott didn’t want to run so I got him to bike alongside me while I ran! I actually ran pretty good! I ran 3.4 miles in 19:50! So, looks like I win🤗

How often do you communicate with your Mission President?

We email him every week but he doesn't email back. We talk to him once a transfer for interviews.

 

How often do you have zone meetings and/or district meetings?

We have district meeting every Friday and Zone Conference every transfer.

Did Sister Ashworth say what her plans are with the quilts your grandmother made?
Yeah, she will help find people that are in need. We delivered one to a brother Flores who we helped put in sheet rock and stuff a couple of weeks ago. He wasn't there when we dropped it off but he will be super grateful for it because he needs it so tell grandma thanks they are beautiful.

Quilts that Grandma Lynda made for Harvey Victims in Vidor

Quilts mailed to Sister Ashworth (RS President) to distribute to Harvey victims

Another week on that grind (Philppians 4:13)

Elder Bott and Elder Larson

I may not be a student athlete anymore but trust me I am still on that grind. This week went by crazy fast! Lots and ups and downs with missionary work but it is all good to be out serving the Lord!

This week we had zone conference which was awesome! President is the coolest! We talked a lot about how we are going to use the Christmas initiative to help others become disciples of Christ and we have some exciting plans! One thing I learned is how important it is to set clear expectations. People need to understand who we are and that we can help them with their lives if they keep our commitments! 

On Wednesday, we ran into this guy that was just walking on the streets and we stopped to talk to him like we normally do with people. We didn't expect much since usually they don't like to listen to what we have to say. But this guy actually had a ton of questions and we were able to answer all of them. He had struggled a lot in the past and was looking to fix and make the most of his life and there is no better way to improve your life than through the Savior and his restored gospel! He seems really excited but the problem is he is homeless so it is really hard to get a hold of him and work with him. 

Thursday was a really rough day. We had made some plans with all of these people that we were going to have lessons with. We had I think 4 lessons planned for that day which was crazy because it is so hard to get in with people right now. But as missionary work goes sometimes it happens to all fall through which was super hard. I was pretty discouraged after that day but seriously there is no better comfort than going to your Heavenly Father in prayer and reading the Book of Mormon! You can feel peace so fast when you turn to him! 

Friday was tons of fun because me and Elder Bott bought donuts and kolaches for our whole district! Then we went out finding the rest of the day and were able to set up some return appointments with people so hopefully they keep those commitments and continue to progress in the gospel. We ran into this guy that had learned to play the piano by ear and he was playing some insane stuff on his little synthesizer. It was super fun haha!

Saturday was an awesome day! I was on exchange with our zone leader Elder Anderson from Panguitch, Utah! He is an awesome missionary and I learned a lot from him! He came to my area and I had no idea what to do but luckily, we had a baptism and service almost all day. We did service for Christian Care and helped them make these packages for Thanksgiving and then we helped one of our members with their rental house. The baptism was awesome and I had the opportunity to play the piano there so shout out to mom for keeping me in piano because I have been able to use that lots! But eventually there came the time where I had to lead out our area with Elder Anderson there. I had absolutely no idea what to do and I said a prayer to Heavenly Father asking him where we should go for the hour we had to proselyte that day and he totally answers prayers! After we said that prayer I felt that we should try this Lady that we had been trying all week. She had never been home but we went over that night and she was in her garage with her kids! Her kids loved us and we were able to teach her which was awesome! Hopefully we are able to continue to work with her and she will keep the commitments we give her. 

We are excited for Thanksgiving this week and we will be eating with some members so we are on a special fast until that occasion! Just kidding but we are super grateful for our amazing members! I know the work has been super slow here but it has been cool to see how the gospel can change lives even in the smallest ways! Live the gospel because it will bless your lives! I love you all and I am so grateful for the people who take time out of their day to email and support me! I know that God answers prayers so turn to him for anything and he will help you!

Elder Cameron Larson

Mom’s Questions

What are your plans for Thanksgiving?  We have sent you and your companion annual “Larson Turkey Trot” shirts, race numbers and medals.  You will have to do the Turkey Trot for your 30-minute exercise Thanksgiving morning.  Your Grandpa Larson is excited to have a Vidor division this year.    

I can't believe it is thanksgiving this week. We are excited to do the turkey trot here in Vidor Texas. Elder Bott does not like running but I am making him! Haha!

Don't worry we will have an awesome time! We are going to our Bishop’s house! 

I’m sure you have to report on how you are doing with the work to someone. Who do you report to?  How often do you report?  What are you asked to report on?

We report to the zone leaders and we report sacrament meeting attendance, new investigators and people on date. We do that every week and on Thursdays we report how “hour of power” went which we do every Thursday. 

When did you feel the Spirit the strongest this week?

 The strongest was probably when I was in exchange with Elder Anderson when I prayed and had it answered 

How have you served Elder Bott this week?

From that pic I sent he was dead when we got back from church so I did the dishes and stuff while he took a quick nap 

Were you able to find a postcard for Mason and Tyler?

So I asked a member and she says there is nowhere in Vidor to get one..... So, I'm really lost there.   I've looked at every gas station and no luck. 

ODIN GOD!!

Thor came out sometime ago so I thought that title would be appropriate. We also wanted to get Wi-Fi in our apartment since we had to walk down to Taco Bell every time we needed to use Facebook. So, I knocked on some neighbors’ doors and asked them about Wi-Fi. The guy who lives next door gave his password to us and he is an Odinist and we talked to him for probably an hour and it was the funniest thing! He was a pretty strange guy and said some pretty crazy things about what he believes so that was really fun!

This week was pretty much the same. We are still trying to find stuff to do since we don't have a super solid investigator. We have been visiting lots of families in the ward just trying to figure out who is still here and such and we have lost like 15 families so far to the storm! 

Last P-day ended up being a little lame since the zone leaders had to leave to go to exchanges at like 1. So, they left us alone and we spent most the rest of our P-day helping some people move out an apartment so #extrablessings I think. 

Tuesday was pretty awesome! We got to bike from like the very top corner of our area to the bottom left! It was like almost 10 straight miles of biking! It was right after our dinner appointment and we had to be there in like 30 minutes so we were FLYING! Me and Elder Bott were drafting off of each other and everything so we were balling!! It reminded me of the good old days racing bikes at home! But we added this lady on Facebook and have been keeping in touch with her on there!

Pretty much every Wednesday we get a text from Sonic that there is some deal going on and the Zone Leaders are always down here so we always go to lunch together at Sonic which is super fun! We always do a comp study with them after so it is just the best of times! I love those guys!

Thursday was an adventure! We were biking in this part of our area that is pretty far away and none of the missionaries like to go there because they have to bike super far. We decided to do "hour of power" there. Every Thursday we go to a member’s house or call a member and have them say a prayer with us to have their faith combined with our faith to be able to find someone. We called one of our favorite members Bro. Scott. This guy is just the coolest guy and I love him so much! Anyway, after we prayed we were super excited to find someone and had lots of faith that we were going to have an awesome hour! So, the first house we went to there was these 2 dogs outside which is pretty common. The one was just sitting by the door and the other came over by us and was a homie. We played with him for a bit and then we decided to go knock. While I was walking up to the door the dog by the door just freaked out and then started chasing me! The Homie G dawg then came from behind me and bit my leg haha! It didn't break skin, but I still have a mark.  So that hurt but we weren't going to let that stop us and we ended up finding someone that was pretty cool to teach the message of the restored gospel to! Then we took this super crazy dirt road as a short cut to get to our next appointment! It was super awesome we found this little hut things and stopped and took tons of pictures on our little adventure!

Saturday, we got to study with the Stake President Harris and he is the coolest guy! He knows so much about the gospel it is insane so our studies with him are the coolest things ever! Then we got to go do some service for a guy we met a couple of weeks ago! He is really cool and is going to start reading the Book of Mormon now! We are going back to see him on Thursday so we are hoping that he reads and prays with that real intent so he can find the answer and know it is true!

Of course, every Sunday is the best! I love the Sabbath day and you can always receive revelation if you go to church with the attitude do listen and to learn what God would want you to learn!  This week we went to the Nations house for dinner on Sunday and Brother Nation actually served his mission in THE mission! AND he was companions with Coach Henry!! They both served in Beaumont! So, if Connor still has him for school (I’m not sure he does anymore) then he can tell him that I am serving where he did! 

Being on a mission has been such an awesome thing and I have grown so much as a person and my testimony is stronger than it has ever been! I love this gospel and I know this is the way to bring the most happiness into your lives! Love you all and talk to you next week!

Pretty much all of our pictures were taken on our adventure so enjoy!!

Elder Cameron Larson 

Mom’s Questions:

Is there anything you would like us to send you for Christmas?

I don't know about anything specific. Maybe like a nice duffle bag that I can put my stuff in that I collect over the years... but I really don't have too much!

I have heard of some 12-week training for new missionaries.  What is that and how is it going?

Yea, they have extra study stuff they have you do with your trainer for the first 12 weeks. We honestly haven't been the best at doing it, we never really got in the habit when Harvey came and threw off the normal schedule. but we are working on being better at that! This was week 9 for me so starting next week I will only have 3 more weeks of 12 week! 

What advice would you give to Connor as he is preparing for a mission?

Well there is a lot that is different with a mission. Probably the biggest thing is to have your own testimony when you get out here. There are a lot of times when you don't have a ton of success that would make you want to not try as hard or shake your testimony. But if you know the reason you want to serve is to help others come closer to Christ and feel the same joy that you and your family have already felt then you will just love the people even if they treat you badly and such! So, I think the biggest thing is get your own testimony which needs to be done by reading the Book of Mormon. I wasn't super good at reading until like halfway through my senior year but when I was really reading and wanting to know the gospel more for myself I got way more out of it and started to love reading and going to seminary! The other big thing is to apply what you learn. It is cool to learn the gospel but until you put your faith in the gospel and actually live it you won't FEEL it is true. 

Do you and Elder Bott have any inside jokes? 

Mom we beeennnn havin’ millions of inside jokes. It would just take so long to explain so maybe I will let you know more when I get home hahaha! Plus, they wouldn't be inside jokes if I told you…..would they.   *insert dab*   Mostly we just say all of the funny things we hear people say like (N'allthatN'errythang).

HOMECOMING!!

Zone Leaders, Elder Bott and Larson at Vidor Homecoming Game

Wow wow wow lots happened this week!

Monday night we went on exchanges. I was with an elder McBride and Elder Wood who both came out the same time as me! My first lesson was planned for that night and it was all the new guys haha! I totally had to rely on the spirit to take over that lesson and it ended up being pretty good!  I was able to testify to her that if she would read the Book of Mormon she would have the same feelings of peace and comfort that she had felt at other times in churches. And she said when she knew the book was true she would get baptized so we will have to see if we can ever get in contact with her again and how sincere she was about praying and learning about the gospel.  She of course is not going to be living in her home and is staying with relatives while her home is being fixed so she won't be in the area for a bit haha! Typical! 

Tuesday was Halloween! It was really just a normal day! We woke up and did service and went out and did work the rest of the day! Nobody was really home that day and we didn't have much success. We had to be in early for Halloween.  We were given some talks to read and discuss with our companions. I guess the best thing about Halloween was the 50 cent corn dogs at Sonic!

We did some service for a non member we found. She was trying to move her pile and we were just able to stop and help her and it was so awesome! I love being able to help people! You guys might have seen that a lot of people got Facebook in our mission and I'm excited to use it so feel free to add me if you want to see the things I'm doing on there! 

Now for the best part!! Homecoming is a huge deal here! The town shuts down at like noon and everyone gets out of school early and then the parade starts down main street at 2. Since nothing else is going on the missionaries are allowed to go! We got a shootout at the parade! This guy was blasting music on the back of this semi in the parade and he grabbed his mic and yelled shout out to the Mormon missionaries! Then we got to attend the homecoming football game!! Seriously the best day! There are only like 10,000 people that live in Vidor and 8,000+ attend the game so everyone goes! The girls all get like these massive corsage things that cover their entire body and they have to put them on stands when they aren't using it haha! But halftime was legit! They turn the lights completely off and then the band will perform while marching in the dark while fireworks are going! It is super lit!! We went with our zone leaders and had such a good time! 

Elder Bott and Larson arriving at the Vidor Homecoming Game

Parade at Vidor Homecoming

Corsages at Homecoming

Lights out Half Time performance show, complete with fireworks

Saturday was kind of a long day we were out on our bikes all day just trying to find someone find someone to teach! We bike around a lot of our area but nobody was interested which just is super sad! I've come to learn of how true this church is and it makes me sad when people don't want to hear it! 

Sunday we had an awesome study with one of the members of the stake presidency! They all know so much about the gospel and I love learning about it. The conference we had after was so good! The spirit was so strong and I learned so much! It was fun hearing them talk about Harvey because I knew some of the people and places they talked about! We aren't seeing a ton of success in our area right now but I know this is what we need to be doing! If there's one thing I've found it is that service makes a huge difference. It's crazy that we still have people thanking us for hurricane Ike and Rita help.

This week we didn't have to much success but we keep praying and hoping for someone to teach. I get discouraged sometimes.  I know the gospel is true and can bless the lives of everyone but they just aren't ready to accept it yet. But I love studying on my mission! I read lots of talks and have been reading the Book of Mormon again. Mostly for my studies I spend like half my time in Preach My Gospel and the other half in the Book of Mormon.  I'm so grateful for the chance I have to study on my mission! I love this church so much and it is the way to be happy in this life and in the next! My testimony has grown so much out here and I know the Lord will prepare someone to hear our message! Love you all and have a blessed week! 

Elder Cameron Larson

Mom's Questions

How did you spend Halloween?

We spent Halloween like any other day. We did service at a Christian care center and then we got some corn dogs and tried to visit people the rest of the day!

What training have you received about Facebook for your mission?  How will you use it as a missionary?

Facebook is going to be interesting.  Like I said in my post I can use it to invite others to come unto Christ. We haven't got specific direction and we will just use the spirit. We have been trying to use messenger to communicate with some people in our ward that need help and stuff and can send a message or video to them.  We really haven't received too much instruction on how to use it. We have been trying to chat with one or our investigators on messenger but we also don't have Wi-Fi in our apartment so we are figuring out how to use it. We have zone conference coming up and we will learn a ton more about it then. ( November 14th).  We are also getting smart phones (1 per companionship starting in February) but now all the missionaries will start to come out with those. That will be nice because we will be able to stay in contact better. 

Are you reading or have you read any of the books we had to purchase for your mission?

Not yet but I would like to!

Were you able to get a coat/jacket for service days?

Not yet, it's super hot here again So I'm good haha 

What is your Sunday schedule like?

 Sunday's we get up at 6 and have a meeting at 7:30 church at 8:30 then a member will usually feed us and then the rest of the day we for out and try to find or visit people! 

First FaceBook Post

Hello friends and family! I am grateful for this opportunity to use Facebook as a missionary tool to share my testimony of the savior Jesus Christ and his gospel!


Please don't try to contact me in any way that will distract me from my missionary purpose which is to help others come closer to Christ. I know that through him we can find lasting peace, joy, and happiness!


Enjoy these cute pictures!