Elder Colby Larson's Mission Blog: 10/05/15

MALO LAVA LAVA LAVA LAVA LAVA LAVA LO"U AIGA!!!! I LOVE YA!!!

Thank you all for the update emails!!! Haha I know you want a face pic, but I really looked horrid the past two weeks but I'll send one next week I promise! Elder Lamo and I are gonna kick it at the beach today, but it's raining way hard and we don't care! I really want to send more but I can only send 2 a week): Haha thanks for the flea email Grandmama! We found out it was bed bugs, but we got bug bombs to set off in our room for tomoroww when we go over there so we'll do that then(: It's basically a poison grenade, so we'll probs reenact a movie while we do it just for fun! Haha yeah the packages and letters here get here in 2 weeks, even though they tell you 3 days. BUT I did get your package with goodies and my soa and I ate all the boogies!! THANKYOU SO MUCH!!! Oh and the speaker is bluetooth and the walkman isn't cause it doesnt' have the right plug in, so should I keep it til I send a package back to you?? It'll be a while cause I want to send you all ie's so it won't be til I get to Upolu. I might be able to buy one here but I'm not sure/: I'll have to look and let you know next week!! THe bag is fine, I just carry around in my left hand away from my body so it's a good workout!

The language is semi coming along, it's a little better, but not quite there yet...my soa and I are getting along great!! We've been blessed with enough food each week, with fafaga's falling through and they just give us like $20 so that get's us by through the week so don't worry about sending money! The Lord will bless us as long as we put in work!!

Anyways!! This has been my week!

Oct 1nd

Welp, real quick I've just got to jot down some things cause I'm way tired but I'm awake so I've got time(: Anyways, real fast today was way awesome!! WE caught 2 rides all the way to Poloa where we were to meet an investigator and while we were riding in the back of a pick up, we were talking about how the Lord blesses those who set out with a purpose! So we got all the way down there, and our investigator, Alafua, wasnt' home...so we thought, "K, there's no way Heavenly Father would have us come all the way over here, just to walk all the way back, there's someone else we need to visit.....but there are only 2 other houses in the section of Poloa (we thought) and one is a faifeau's. So we decided to go check out down the road to see if there was another home we could visit, and we said we'll walk for 5 minutes and if we don't see a house, then we'll walk back. So we started walking and we got to the end of the road in a couple minutes but we saw that it curved up towards a house!! We went up and met with 2 guys working on a car in the front and chatted for a bit, and when we asked when we could return visit he said the coolest testimony builder...."YOu know, it's a miracle you two found me because I work at a car body shop and I'm NEVER home, nor my wife yet today my plans fell through and I needed to work from home." THIS IS WHO WE NEEDED TO VISIT!!! His name is Pacifika which is Pacific in Samaon, (they have some dope names btdubs) and we set up to visit later this week, we'll give him a call today and check his schedule, but it was the MOST AWESOME EXPERIENCE of listening to the Holy Ghost promptings!!

Oct 2nd

Guess what?!?!? First baptisimal invite today, with a possible yes!!! His name is Lui and we've been visiting him and his wife who's a member but less active twice and we invisted him first lesson, but he said he didn't want to really belong to a church, he just wanted it to be him and the Lord. But we gave him the 1st 2 lessons, and the Plan of Salvation hit him hard because he really want eternal life and to spend it with his aiga!!!(family) So hopefully he accepts!! He's going to pray about it with his wife and we'll meet with him on Tuesday!! AND....right before we visited Lui and Mau, we went to a house, knocked and were invited in. It was an older guy, Malota, and he had lots o family milling around the house. And whe it came time to bear my testimony, I struggled for words and nothing came out right, I haven't been having a problem until just then, and then he interupted me during it all, and I just felt like kaka. AFter we left, my soa slapped me on the back and said MY MAN!! And I was just totally lost cause I thought I totally just sounded like an idiot, but when he interupted me, he said, "I know it's hard for you to speak the language and there's that barrier, but you both have the language of the spirit which is way more important." And we're meeting with him again next week sometime, so I'm way excited!! WE were watching the Preach My Gospel segments today and in one of them, Elder HOlland said, "These people you are teaching are not just baptismal numbers in a book! They are your brothers and sisters and they NEED what we have!" It's not exact but it's close! Ou te alofa le Talalelei ma la'u Faaola, o Iesu Keriso!!!

And I don't know if if everyone caught conference, but I just want to reiterate what Elder Bednar concluded with Sunday morning(it was morning for us cause since we watched it live, we had to wake up at 3 to get to the stake center by the time it started at 5am(:) But he quoted D&C 1:38 near the end and testified that we need to really listen to these prophets an apostles the Lord has called to lead His church!!! And then during personal study, I read Ether 4:10-11!! And it says almost the exact same thing!!! So I challenge You to go back and read, or listen, or watch and study the talks again, because GC is basically scripture for what we need right now!!

Thankyou for all the updates!!!

Kyle..hope you had a bomb week this week!! Keep up the lifting and growing your spiritual and physical muscles!!!!!! I'm still coming home bigger than you though!

Cade!! Haha I didn't get fleas, we found out it was just bed bugs(: Hope school is going well and you're choosing the right!!! Good job at staying awake during confernce!! To you and Kyle and Keato...Go back and read them as often as you can!!! You'll find that some of them will help you with school and keep you on the straight and narrow, even though no else is!!

KEATO!! My cracka! Thanks for the update!! Hope you had fun with Jacko!! Haha with the "way" thing, everything said that during the MTC and out here, so I just kind of caught on(: I pretty sure it's a Utah thing, cause a bunch of people we're saying at the ambassador retreat!

LOVE YOU BROS!!!!!!

MOM AND DAD!! First of all, Mom, during Elder Hollands talk during conference, all I could think about was You, Audge, Grammy, Grandmama., and Grandma Merrill! I just want to thank you so much for hleping me stay on the straight and narrow and keeping me in line!! You've loved me even when I was being a poo, and I hope that I've lived up and continue to grow into the young man you want me to become!! DAd, thanks for being awesome! I can't remember who's talk it was, but they talked about there son, and all I could think about was playing football with you in the back yard at the HIdden Springs house, and that one flex pic we took together when I was like 11! I INIFITELY LOVE YOU BOTH!!

All is well, and I can't believe that I'm already 2 months done with my mission! It's flown by, yet at the same time I look back and I've made so many memories with so many awesome people!! Oh and Elder Lamoreaux and I got knives this week for our food to open cans with(totally ghetto but it's dope) and we reenacted the scene in the Princess Bride where WEsley and Inigo Montoya fight on the top of the cliffs of insanity!!

I LOVE YOUS ALL AND I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!!!!! I'M SO HAPPY THAT OUR FAMILY CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER WITH THIS WONDERFUL GIFT OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN HAS GIVEN US!!!!!

ALOFA OUTOU,

Elder Larson