Elder Pearson spittin some fire 🔥

Wow what a week!  This week was so awesome I'll share some experiences.

This week me and Elder Toledo have seen so many miracles from following the Spirit. We had to change our oil this week in our car. We went to Firestone and for some reason they wouldn't let us change it there. So we figured out there was one closer to our apartment but for some reason we felt like we should go to the one 9 miles away. So we got that fixed up and then we visited a less active right by there. The night before she had found her patriarchal blessing and was reading over it. The next day we knocked on her door and she started crying and told us that she needed to be back at church. 

Later that day we were out biking trying formers and street contacting. We took a wrong turn when going to visit someone and this truck pulled up to us and asked us where the nearest stake center was because he wanted to pay fast offerings. He was drinking beer and had a cigar but he said he is the best mormon investigator ever haha! Must be because he already pays fast offerings! Then on that same street we saw a kid biking around and we went and talked to him and got a return appointment. We went back and taught him and he came to church on Sunday. His name is Art and we are hoping to meet with him tomorrow with a YM leader and a YM. 

We had an interesting experience where we tried a less active and they weren't home when we were driving away we both felt like we needed to go back and so we knocked on the same door and told the girl that we felt impressed to come back and left her with a Book of Mormon. She is off to college so we don't know where that will go but I know we did what God needed us to do. 

We had so many other experiences like this where the Spirit led us exactly where we needed to be and I don't have enough time to tell all of them. This week we had a member of the 70 come, Elder Pearson. He basically roasted the people that weren't taking notes in the meeting but luckily I was haha! But he was amazing and I learned a ton of things to help me become a better missionary. I got to play the piano there so that was really cool!

The Zone

I also gave a talk pretty much on the spot because I forgot but it all worked out! I love you all and hope you are on that 65 day book of mormon grind! I'm on page 67 right now. One verse I loved was 1 Nephi chapter 15 vs 14. At the end of it it says that we know how to come unto him and be saved and that is the doctrine of Christ which the book of mormon teaches so simply. 

Well that's about all for this week. Love you all and keep on keeping on! Read your book of mormon!

Pic from last week bc I forgot to take them this week 

Questions from Mom:

Will you get an opportunity to go to the temple now that it is open?

We are going to the temple on May 8th!!! I'm so excited!!

 When can we expect to hear from you on Mother’s Day (what time)?  Where will you be?

 Oh wow, haha!  Mother’s Day is pretty soon! I will get that figured out and let you know 

What do you like best about your new area?

I love the members here! They all have kids which is really fun. None of my other wards really had young families but this one has like 7 million kids. 

What do you miss the most about Port Arthur?

 I really miss working out with the member at 5 a.m.  haha! Good times! I really miss Dallas family too. They were super awesome.

How does your current apartment compare to your previous apartments?

 Our apartment is really nice! Probably because we are in the city but it's awesome!

What do you and your companion do for exercise in the mornings?

For morning exercise, we go to the gym but if there is someone there we can't go in. And there's almost always someone there so we usually go for a run or something 

The Temple is Back!

This week was really awesome!! 

It started out with Zone Conference and the 2 zones that were there got their phones all set up and ready. They are still having some problems with them but we have some ballin tech missionaries that get all that stuff figured out. We got to teach at Zone Conference as well which was a lot of fun

This week we went on Exchanges with the Elders down in the Broadway District. I went with Elder Bowers and Elder Dowdle (who is my mom and my brother.....mission language is weird). They are both excellent missionaries and we saw some pretty cool miracles. We felt like we should stop by this less actives house and he said he had been thinking of us and we taught them and they are going back to church now!

I told them to not look like tourists

We got our car towed while we were on exchanges hahahaha Woe is me. I'm going to be broke by the end of the mission or figure out where I can park my car.

We did a ton of tracting and biking around to try to find new investigators this week. Biking around is literally my favorite thing in the mission because you talk to some crazy people. This week we had this guy telling us that there were 2 creations before Adam and Eve and their names were "Male and Female". He had a verse to back it up too! (Genisis 1:27) But hey now we know he is one of those people that reads the first chapter of the Bible and gives up.

Biking Around

The coolest experience this week was on Sunday. We were super busy with meetings and we were at the church from 9 in the morning until 8 at night. The reason for that was because our Stake put on a temple rededication celebration. It was one of the coolest things I have got to be a part of! The missionaries sang a musical number in Spanish so you would be proud mom haha! The Spirit was super strong and everyone was so happy to have a temple again! I know it is the Lord's house in a very real sense.

Thats about it for this week! I'm having a good time and learning lots of things! Love you all and talk to you next week! 

Elder Cameron Larson

1.  biking around

2.  it was 420 this week.......you already know

3. I told them to not look like tourists

Mom’s Questions:

Your companion was sick last week, is he feeling better?

My companion is feeling fine now. 

Was your companion already in your area when you were transferred in?
Elder Toledo was in the area for 6 weeks before I got here

Do you currently have any investigators?

We have 2 people on date for May that should work out. Other than that, we are still looking for people to work with

What goals have you set as a zone?

Well one thing I wanted to do as a Zone is help missionaries achieve their weekly goals so we have been following up with that. Our District Leaders do a really good job at following up so they are the bomb. 

Our mission is reading the Book of Mormon in 65 days while we take a break from Facebook to get focused on our purpose again. It is 8 pages a day and we started on Sunday. I would love to do it with you guys and hear what you guys are learning!

What goals have you personally set?

Personally, I have been memorizing scriptures so I carry one around a week on a 3x5 card to memorize.

How many members in the family ward and YSA ward you are over?  Do you attend both wards on Sundays?

There are like 210 that come to the Fall Creek Ward and then about 49 that came last week to the YSA. 

Bangarang

I like to see the looks I get when I wear my helmet like this 

Alright so the area I am serving in covers both the Lake Houston YSA as well as a family ward. So we are pretty busy with meetings and planning quite a bit. The area is closer to Houston so it is completely different from the past areas I served in but it is really fun. 

The Elders didn't do a very good job with miles in the first half of the month so we are on our bikes a ton but I'm not complaning. We spent a ton of time looking for new investigators in our family ward since we don't have any but no buckets so far. It is a really nice area so usually people aren't as likely to listen to us. 

Our Zone has 15 sets of missionaries that we are over and we have 4 of them training. So we have to go on exchanges with all of the missionaries training and all of the District Leaders so we go on an exchange every week which will be a ton of fun. This week we were down in Pasadena and I got to go on exchanges with Elder Baker and Elder Durtchi while Elder Toledo went with the District Leader down there. It was a lot of fun since Elder Baker was my past companion. 

There's this place in our area called Persona that a member owns so we get to go there for free. They make some really good pizza and I decided to send it with some blue ice cream that was apparently cookies and creme. Anyways it was a fatal error since my mouth was super blue and it looked like I was a 5 year old leaving a birthday party. So the rest of the day my mouth was super blue and I couldn't take myself serious and pretty much starting laughing super hard everytime I tried to talk to someone. And I looked ridiculous because I was biking around with our left over pizza. Guess ya just had to be there.

Elder Toledo got sick late in the week so it was a really slow week. I'm excited for this next week so we can get out and work our area a little more. But I love our zone and there are some really amazing missionaries that we have. 

Love you all and have a great week! 

Mom’s Questions

Tell us about your new area.  How is it similar to your other areas or how is it different?

Our area is pretty different since we are in the City now.  The family ward is full of a bunch of young families. I was shocked at how many kids were in Sacrament meeting and it was the first Sunday I wasn't asked to pass or bless the sacrament so that was weird

Tell us 3 things about your new companion.

 Elder Toledo likes soccer and he is a really hard-working missionary. He also loves Christmas so we literally listen to Christmas music all the time. Guess it’s Christmas all year!

What are your responsibilities as a zone leader? 

We have a lot of calls with District Leaders and with the AP's on how we can help the missionaries and follow up with stuff. We also collect all of the numbers to send to the office missionaries. We go on exchanges with all of the District Leaders and the people training and go to all of the District Meetings in the zone. We will also teach a couple segments at zone Conference and go to the missionary leadership meetings. 

A Broken Family, A Broken Home

Haha got them!

Well big new is I got transferred which was a surprise since I didn't finish training Elder Slade yet. Guess he will be brought up in a broken home bc of me whoops. The other area in our district got shut down and so the elders now cover our entire ward which is like 90 square miles. So if you want to know a little bit about how Elder Slade feels just read Mormon 8:3 lol. I'll be headed to the Lake Houston Zone to be the zone leader. I'm pretty excited because there are a lot of guys I really love in that zone. My companion is Elder Toledo from Tuscan Arizona.

RIP Port Arthur District

I nailed that statue pose

Well this week was pretty crazy honestly, on Monday night at like 9:30 we had Sister Gordon call us who is the grandma of our recent convert Dallas. Well she told us that Dallas' dad had passed away unexpectedly and he wanted the missionaries to come over so we called president and he let us go over. Our bishop was there and he gave him a blessing. But we spent a lot of this week over at that home helping them out with stuff and just talking with Dallas. 

On Sunday Dallas got to pass the sacrament for the first time which was really cool. It was pretty hard for him because his dad who is inactive promised hi  he would come to church the first time he passed the sacrament. But Dallas ended up passing the sacrament to his family which was really special because he was able to administer that ordinance to his family. Because of the Savior I know they will be comforted and find understanding during this hard time. Then we went and said bye to them later that night, I'll really miss that family and I loved the time that I got to spend with them! 

I hope that you all have an amazing week and don't forget to be good and all that stuff, love you all! 

Elder Cameron Larson

Mom’s Questions

Any changes in your district with transfers?

So, everyone in the district left besides Elder Slade and they will, join the Beaumont district. 

How have you seen the Lord directing your work this week?

Well we found some potentially cool people that Elder Slade can work with in the future so I know we were led to them!

I know you are training your companion, but what have you learned from him?

Elder Slade was really good at bearing his testimony to lots of people that we met which I thought was really cool how willing he was. 

Is your mission moving to smart phones? 

Yup we are moving to smart phones this transfer so the Zone leaders already have them and the rest of the mission gets them at their zone conference 

Conference!!!

In front of my boy Batman's House

This week was shadowed by conference haha!  Conference was amazing! I can't get over how good it was! I'm so grateful for the opportunity we had to hear from our leaders!

Well Monday to report on our self referral that we got......I think she referred herself when she was drunk because she was super bad when we got over there. She kept holding Elder Slade and it took forever for us to just get away! 

We had a couple of really cool service opportunities. One of them we went to the Bagley's and raked just about a million leaves.......in March? I still have no idea what goes on in Texas it's crazy. We also went and set up a Pentecostal church's gym for their crawfish boil on Easter Sunday. Then they showed us around their church and you know it gets lit in there on Sunday! They had like a drum set, 10 microphones, and a million other things to praise. 

Elder Slade and Elder Larson raking leaves in March

Elder Slade invited our investigator JJ to be baptized and he wasn't really too sure right now so he is praying about that and we are excited for him! 

Setting up the church

Friday we met Batman! It is this guy we saw in Port Arthur and that is his street name. He wanted us to come in and we went and checked it out. It was super crazy and he is part of a gang and stuff and was showing us his phone that if it rings he said, "you know stuff is going down". Elder Slade offered to buy me lunch if I could get him to the church for general conference which was unsuccessful. 

Elder Slade and I stopped to play some ball with these kids so we were just playing in our Proselyting clothes. Well for those of you who know me know I don't like to lose so I was going hard. I went to make a jump stop in my Air-Monson's and I ate it so hard hahaha! I ripped up my shirt and that was the end of my ball playing! 

The highlight of the week was conference for sure! It was so amazing!! I learned so much and I knew the Lord was speaking to us. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to sustain President Nelson and I know without a doubt that he is the Lords prophet through the feelings that I felt. I know that the Lord is moving his work forward through our inspired leaders. 

I'm also grateful for the opportunity we had to celebrate Easter! I know that the Savior lives and I am so grateful that he does! He really is the light and the life of the world and Im grateful I get to share that with people here in Texas! 

I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Mom’s Questions

Can you tell if you have grown any taller on your mission?  Connor is still growing.

I don't think I have grown any on my mission so Connor has for sure passed me. 

Where did you watch Conference?

 We just watched at the church since we were supposed to have some people show up. 

Who did you watch Conference with?

The Spanish Elders were at the church and we always had another Priesthood Holder so that anyone who couldn't watch at their home for any reason they could come to the church

What were some of your main takeaways from Conference?

It is so important to follow the Prophet! I also know that this is the Lord's work and he is going to accomplish it all! So, no need to stress, just work hard, love people and he takes care of the rest! 

What’s the update on the bedbug situation?

 So we think we are ok again... The sisters in my district also got them but theirs broke out super bad and so they are staying at a members home right now. Bed bugs are the worst!

How have you served your companion this week?

I know I made him eggs a couple of times this week since that's what I always eat for breakfast! 

Crawfish!!!

Hey friends and family!  This week was a good one!  It felt like we went to meetings all week, probably because we did.  We figured we went to 21 hours of meeting this week haha!  It was a lot but I really enjoyed it!

Tuesday was Zone conference up in Beaumont. We focused a lot on the Holy Ghost and how important it is in conversion. It was a lot of fun to see some of my old mission friends as well! After Zone Conference we got to go teach some kids in our ward and a couple of them haven't been baptized. They are a ton of fun and we are going back to see them tonight. 

We also had new missionary training which was in Kingwood so thats a pretty far drive for us. We stayed the night in Summerwood with my buddy Elder Storey so that was a ton of fun! And then the meeting was really good of course. I love to hear from President and he has a lot of cool insights to things. 

Friday was probably the best day of my mission because we got to have crawfish! I was super sketched out when I saw what they looked like but they are super good. Probably the best food I have had on my mission! It was a ton of work to get the tail and stuff off them for just a little bit of food but It was so worth it! We will probably go buy some live ones and cook them up since I'm converted. I literally felt like I was in another univerese it was a crazy dinner! 

This week we had our investigator that was supposed to have her baptism in 2 weeks drop us. They were not married and we were trying to explain to them the law of chastity and stuff and they got super mad and kicked us out of their home. They actually fed us that night but we made sure to have dinner first haha! But it was super sad because they brought all of their books and pamphlets we gave them back to us and said they were done. So looks like we will be doing some good finding this next week!

Sunday we had meetings all day again but I really enjoyed it. The spirit was super strong all day and I learned a lot from our stake presidency and the other people in our ward. 

Well that's all for this week! I'm so grateful for the things I have learned about the Savior here on my mission and I love serving and being served by the people in Texas. Love you all! 

Elder Cameron Larson 

Tell us about the family that took you to dinner (eating crawfish).

It was the first time I had ever eaten with them. They invited us because they figured out we hadn't ever had any crawfish after their child’s baptism. (it was right after Dallas baptism)

Did you get your Easter package?

Yes, I did get it thank you so much! 

Any new investigators this week?

Yeah, we got a couple. Nobody super solid but we will go back and see if they progress! 

How will you be spending your P-Day?

 We will prolly be going up to Beaumont to play ball with the Elders up there

What is the greatest “lesson” have you learned so far on your mission?

Well I've seen how important it is to trust in the Savior and his plan for us! He knows exactly what he is doing and when we follow his plan and put our trust in him we are the happiest!

What has been your favorite food you have had so far in Texas?

Crawfish!!

Where will you watch conference this weekend?

I think we will just be at the Church since we will try to get all our investigators to go there 

Car Towed, Potentials arrested, and First Baptism

Dallas' Baptism

Hey Y’all! Hows Yall’s doing y’all? I hope Y’all had a good week y’all! Y’all! 

Well to start off the week we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I was with Elder Fowers from Roy UT.  We got to witness a lit bible bash in the Catholic soup kitchen so things were getting lit! We had a really good day and Elder Fowers taught me a lot about teaching!

The next morning when we got up our car was just gone..... at first I thought it was Port Arthurs fault but really it was ours. Guess we can't park under the covers and so someone called us in and towed our car away. That was a major L and we had to drop some fat cash to get our car back. So in other words looks like we will be eating all the left over MRE's from the hurricane! #sodiumgainz

Oh then we were laboring in Port Arthur. There were these homies just chilling outside so we decided to go and talk to them. They were higher than a kite so I let Elder Slade practice teaching them. Well not 2 minutes later the Sherrifs SUV pulls up behind us and had a warrent for their arrest so we left and figured it would be hard to have some faith unto repentance in that moment.

Lit "Truck" in Port Arthur

So missing March Madness has been a trial but I just decided I can try to pick who the next apostles are going to be and that will be kind of the same! So you know I'll be doing my research these next couple weeks! 

Saturday we had Dallas' baptism! Our building is the worst and the pipes were leaking so we were sucking water that leaked into the carpet like 5 minutes before lol. But other than that things went really well! The Spirit was super strong and he had a lot of people to support him. His grandparents from Utah were down here and they got him a new suit so he was lookin fly! Then the family took us to Cheddars after to feed us. The only problem was it got over at 5:30 and we had a dinner at 6 with our investigators. So it was a miracle I got anything down at the next dinner. 

Well this week I thought a lot about the gift of the Holy Ghost. I love the talk by Elder Stevenson where he asked the question "How Does The Holy Ghost Help You?" The Holy Ghost helps me in like a million ways and I'm grateful we have the companionship of him as we live worthily! Love you all and have a good week! 

Elder Cameron Larson

How are your allergies?  Are you feeling better?

Yes, my allergies are all good. I just was under it for a bit but I feel all good now!

What happens if you get sick (like you need an antibiotic or inhaler) how does that work?  Do you contact the mission office and they tell you which Doctor to go to or what do you do?

If you get sick you call Sister Hewlett and tell her you can't go work for that day and if it gets worse or you need something you tell the mission nurse and I’m sure they would tell you where to go and what to do.

Did the baptism take place yesterday and do you still have another one on date for next week?

 Yes, we had the baptism! Next week won't happen. She’s struggling with smoking and we just figured out she isn't married to her husband so we are working that out with them

In what way has your testimony grown the most on your mission?

Probably the Restoration and that the Lord leads His church. I know that this is His church and he leads and loves all of us!

How often do you eat with members?

 We usually eat with members like 2-3 times a week

Are there any YSA wards in your area?

Yeah there is a YSA branch up in Beaumont 

I done got casted out

Hello friends, family and people of the internet.  I guess I spoke to soon last week about the power of allergy medicine or just staying healthy because I died this week. I woke up on Wednesday and all I could get down that day was a piece of toast so good times!  Poor Elder Slade just had to sit in the apartment which was no fun but I got a blessing and was mostly better the rest of the week.

When we went out on Tuesday I went up to talk to this lady that was just chillin outside and she freaked at me hahaha! We tried to calm her down and then she casted us out in the name of Jesus like 10 times. Elder Slade said we should have stayed and talked to her but I joked and told him that I physically couldn't. 

We had a funeral again in our ward. It was a Lady in our ward and most of her family is not LDS but it was still at the LDS chapel. None of our Bishopbric could attend so things got pretty lit. I don't even know what was going on but at one point I think I was carrying her ashes for them. But they fed us some gumbo which was pretty sweet!

This week we had to take in our car so we had no wheels for this week. So that was hard since I was feeling like death but we got a lot of help with the ward and still made it to most of our lessons. We are hoping to get our car back today so pray for us! 

Our investigator Dallas is up in Utah this week with his grandparents and then when we gets back he will be getting baptized so that is super exciting! We are also working with this Lady named Sis. Rockford who is on date and she is doing really well! 

But I'm really enjoying my time down here! We are working hard and we are seeing tons of good things happen! One thing I was thinking about this week is how because of the gospel we can always have joy! No matter what our circumstances, if we place Jesus Christ at the center of our lives, we will be able to overcome any trial and have the assurance of Eternal life with our families. I love you all and I hope that you have a good week!

Elder Larson

Soooooo I forgot to take pictures this week mostly because we were in the apartment a ton but here are some pics of the district from a while ago. 

Your subject line last week, who is Lisa?!?

So the whole Lisa story. We were down in Port Arthur and we were talking to this Lady. She asked where I was from so I told her that I was from Utah. Then she decided to ask me if I knew her friend Lisa. So I thought to myself, "ummmmm there’s like 50 million Lisa's in Utah". I think she could tell that I was confused and so she decided she would narrow it down for me and so she said, "she white!" I was dying laughing about it hahaha!

Tell us a little bit about your new companion. 

So Elder Slade is from Payson Utah and is the oldest of 10 children. He played basketball when he was living in California but then moved to Utah Sophomore year and stopped. He entered the MTC in October and was in the MTC almost the whole time before he hurt his knee and then it took him 4 months to recover.

Are your investigators still progressing and still on date?

Ahhh Yeahhhhh!

What are your responsibilities as a trainer? 

I will send you a video of my responsibilities as a trainer hahaha. But I just make sure he is doing alright and get him to the point where he could train after 12 weeks!

Y'all Know Lisa??!?!?

What’s up family and friends! Its been a hot minute but I’m back and better than ever! Sorry I didn't send a mass email last week but things got pretty crazy with transfers. My old companion Elder Baker got transfered to a place called Pasadena so he will have a ton of fun there. But President called me and told me that I would be training a new missionary so Tuesday I went and picked him up and it took a lot of time with driving and such so I didn't have time to email.  

Elder Baker and Elder Larson

But the last two weeks went really solid. We got to go to the beach which was one of the most fun Pdays I have had on my mission. We brought a frisbee and just hung out and played spike ball, soccer, and frisbee with my district and the spanish elders.

So my new companion is named Elder Slade and he is from Payson UT. He comes from a family of 10 and he is the oldest.  He actually came straight from home since he tore his ACL and all that good stuff in the MTC getting buckets. So he went from zero to hero and is now here in Port Arthur. We have a lot in common and he is a good missionary so it is going to be a super fun couple of transfers!

Elder Swoldier (Slade)

This week we saw some progress with our investigators. We put a Lady named Sister Rockford on date for the 24th and then we have a kid named Dallas that we have been working with on date for the 17th so that would be super sweet if that works out. 

I've been spending a lot of time helping the ward figure out where errybody is at since we have like 600 households of members on our ward list but only have like 130 coming to church. So I've been letting them know if we visit someone and they have moved or something.

Friday's district meeting was a ton of fun. The ZL's came down and we had a really fun activity with the Spanish district about having the faith to find.   It was Sister Christensen’s birthday (shes in our district) so we threw her a party as well! 

But things are still rolling along here! Shout out to Zyrtec for keeping me alive with all of the pollen! But really though there's so much pollen and I’m just happy to still be alive! One thing I was thinking about this week was how important every single calling in the church is. It takes a lot more than just a good bishop or ward council to run a ward. 

Anyways I love you all and I hope you enjoy not having mesquitos up where you are at. 

Elder Cameron Larson

How are your investigators progressing?

Dallas is on date for the 17th. Sis Rockford is on date for the 24th and Juan has been smoking and we haven't been able to meet with him so we don't really know about him

Any new investigators this week?

Yeah, we went back and taught one of them but then nothing has really progressed past that

What do you think is the biggest challenge your investigators are facing?  What is stopping their progression in the gospel?

Well usually if people aren't progressing it is because they haven't been reading the Book of Mormon so we try to read with our investigators quite a bit

Do you interact with the youth in the ward very much? 

Yeah we did some activities with the YM last month because they had a missionary month so we went and they asked us some questions about missions

Have you read any of the books you took out on your mission (ie Jesus the Christ)?

Um maybe I have read some here and there but mostly just the Book of Mormon and other talks and stuff

Did your car get fixed?

 Not yet