Jeremys insights on Quentin Cooks talk

Pres. (503) 602-1367, Sister (503) 602-1722

Salem Mission Office

700 Deborah rd. suite 260  

Newburg, Oregon 97132

Send this to everyone! This is the new mission home address!


On Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 2:13 PM, Jeremy Larsen <jeremyl@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Also I have been talking to a few docs that work for Samaritan hospital here. IHC ALL DAY! Bro Larsen, who is an OB/GYN btw (crazy huh) He is in from 630-8pm all the time... Blew my mind. I told him there was a better way, and its was called Utah hahaha He agrees but he doesn't want to uproot the family and start at square one again with work. Just interesting stuff haha.

On Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 2:11 PM, Jeremy Larsen <jeremyl@myldsmail.net> wrote:

So which Megan we talkin about? is there more then one Megan? We talkin Megan Cambell?? She's goin on a mission? I didn't even know hahaha. The best advice that I would have for anyone goin out on a mission right now get involved in a lot of prayer, a lot of fasting and study of PMG. Sanctify yourself now so you don't have to do it on your mission and it makes life a lot better and easier. I've learned that if we aren't obedient to God's commandments then we are unclean and so then we aren't able to receive blessings of the spirit because it can't dwell with us. That much goin on doesn't even sound like vacation hahaha I definitely will those good times, but luckily for me, mountains are fairly sturdy and don't like to get up and move around to much. So they will be there when I am going to need to use them. As for now I feel like the Lord is blessing me a whole ton just to keep me occupied so I don't think of camping haha We've moved 2 pianos and helped 3 people move out of there house and into a new one. Also have you ever heard of Cleon Skousen?? He is an old BYU teacher, he's pretty awesome.. He's made me want to actually study a whole bunch of stuff. One day.. On the topic of BYU, it doesn't seem as crazy to me to want to go to school there. Also We had an awesome discussion at church on Quentin L Cook's talk on Personal Peace: The Reward of Righteousness.. Which reads to me "the reward of obedience". So we got talking about what the worlds version of peace is and what eternal peace is. What it came down to the worlds idea of peace is  this: The absence of adversity. While eternal peace is: best described in 2nep 2:25 "..that we may have joy." Now both of these ideas have been fought about once before somewhere... Like in heaven before we came here. So the idea that the world's idea of peace is in support of Satan's plan is a very disturbing thing. He's got a pretty good grip on the hearts of all of us, but also of all of our government. Its a dark thought. There is a guy in our ward, Bro. Davis, that has become quite a role model in the ways of teaching for me. He only asks inspired questions and follows up with one or two sentences that are just as inspired haha. One of the things that he said was something I'll quote for the rest of my life for sure. "As we become more secular as a society, we begin to lose a wide scope of our liberties". Now why is that? Its something that I've given a good deal of thought on and I have many ideas, to many to write. Its crazy to me that we are fighting the same battle that we were in heaven before. Its something I've always known, but never really applied it to that train of though. Its been a crazy week though. We have a 14 year old, Justin O' Keefe getting baptized this saturday. Keep him in your prayers. I love ya'll and hope all is well. Tell everyone that I say hello and that I love them very much and pray for them often. Hope you have a great week and great vacation time. Be safe!

Elder Larsen Sr.

Zack digs ditches and baptizes!

actually I must say that I have taken up liking some country music :) sorry dad! I better get some pics because I want to be updated I send home pics so you need to send me pics on the email ok? ok good! :) anyway well I had a good interview with president and he asked me how my testimony is doing and ii told him that when you had no testimony any testimony is a vast improvement right? and then he proceeded to tell me how my testimony is because he is a psychic and a cool dude. as you can tell my slay the slang is not really working out for me haha! I need angry words sometimes :) so we have been digging ditches for members and putting in waterlines and they have been giving us people to go see so I finally found how to get to the hearts of the people but you have already heard my sermon about serving others so I wont go into more detail than that :) great news though, this family that im digging ditches for said that they will hold onto their ford ranger until I get home and sell it to me because he was selling it and I said I want it and so he took it off the market and said he will sell it to me :)tell grandma and grandpa falgoust and rex thank you for the wonderful birthday cards!!!! we had a baptism one Saturday! I also had the opportunity to do the confirmation. I went to church alone this sunday because both my companion and another missionary got really really sick so nobody can be around them..... infact on Sunday they went to the ER for some kidney problems but they are doing well now and I should be with them soon :) :)   its been a crazy week 3 bikes got stolen and 2 missionaries went to the ER. well I don't know who megan is or when she is leaving on her mission but if I had any advice for her it would be KNOW YOUR PURPOSE AS A MISSIONARY and don't forget it, always strive to fulfill it because the life of a disciple of jesus Christ is a good one. well love you all so much!! your great! bye!!

Zack gets a shiner and a baptism and maybe a wedding?

hey dad im glad things are going well!  yea the wisemanns could use the gospel but don't share it with those dirty Californians next door, that's my job haha :) :) you know im jokin! I love the missionary ammon! if I could be like any book of Mormon missionary it would be ammon :) I love that guy! anyway I got a cowboy hat while wrestling so I also got a shiner :) oh well. baptism this week!!! once we get them married which is easy :) I hope I can perform the wedding that would be dope! anyway Jason is still lame for not writing me and he needs to hurry up and propose, California girls don't wait around to long if you don't seal the deal :) glad kate and kev are doing awesome! and I may join Jason with the nursing but don't worry im still being a firefighter I just need a second job so im not homeless :) well I love you and I really feel the spirit helping us out here. we got 5 people to church and we have 3 investigators with a baptismal date hopefully going to get 3 more this week :) I love you all and miss you, time is going to fast out here! I only have like 8 or 7 transfers left so I need to buck up and stop messin around haha :) I love you all so much and I know youa re all doing great things!

More hard work brings Miracles to Jeremys group!

Its like that but to a much less degree. To me its huge because I've never ever felt the way that I have been over the last transfer. I was pretty apprehensive to change at all but at this point I'm just thinkin God knows what to do with me so I may as well let him. Since I've been doin that miracles are goin on so I guess I'm doin a few things right. This last week we had the coolest lesson with a guy. He is friends with a bunch of kids in the ward and he decided that he wanted to take the discussions. So we met with him and it was a spirit bomb lesson. We talked about revelation and how its the base of our church and such and then the bofm and we had him say the prayer at the end. So he starts to pray and then halfway through it he goes silent. We sat there for 5 min in silent prayer and I'm tellin ya it was intense. He accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 31 of Aug and it was just insane. We are going to start meeting with his family now as well. The Lord really blessed us again. Its just been another week of miracles and I'll be stayin here to see them all finish up and continue. The district is changing big time though. In my district we are going to have 3 sets of sisters...... Myself, Muir and the zone leaders are the only guys in the district.... Gonna be funky. And 3 of them are going to be greenies... So it'll be an interesting transfer, probably my last one in the area but we will see. Life is good though, I'm starting to feel a little healthier, we have been doing tons of service and its been awesome. We laid sod the other day and we have roofed 2 houses so far haha We are helpin people move in and out everywhere. I'll be honest if the Lord wasn't given us the strength to do all this stuff I don't think I'd be able to keep up.  By the end of the day I'm just done, but then we got tons to do at night to plan and so on... I figure the rest of my life will be like this though so I better get used to it and get the sand outta my you know what. I love this work, I love this mission, I love you and the rest of the family. You are always in my prayers and I feel yours blessing me everyday. Hope ya'll have safe camping trips. Get pictures! I'll try and send you some soon! Love ya!

Elder Larsen Sr.

Jeremy teaches 30 lessons a week!!!

So this week has been super crazy.. First off we have been able to see this ward explode in missionary work. We are doing almost 30 lessons a week and over half with members, so the Lord has really hooked us up with so much. We have been blessed to start working with a kid that's 14 yrs old and he is a lot more mature then me in many ways. He lives with some pretty rough people but he knows that that life isn't for him. He wants to be baptized on the 3rd and confirmed the 4th of Aug. KEVINS BDAY WOOT WOOT!! He is just such a cool guy, I love him and he really gives me hope for the youth. So I was able to go on exchanges this week with Elder Tandy-Trammel, he's got a background a lot like mine. Him and I had a really good talk about a lot of stuff. He told me his conversion story and it blew me away. I'll tell ya it one day, but I'll let ya know how grateful I have become for the savior in my life, As I've sanctified myself and I'm continuing to do that. I'm blown away by the amount of love he has for people like him and me. Alma 26 really describes t he feelings that I have at this moment. I have really been trying to humble myself, its goin well so far but I feel like he is gettin ready to test me even more. However, these past few weeks I've really begun to "sing the song of redeeming love" in my heart. Life is good. I'm sorry for such a short letter and not really replying to everything all at once. I'll try and get back to you on a bunch of it when I can. I love ya and am glad to hear that you are all doing well. keep golfin and such cause I'm gonna own ya when I get back haha Look how humble I've become! love all of you

Elder Larsen Sr.

Zack channels Ammon in Wilton!

oh also we hit 92 baptisms in the mission for the month of june and hopefully this month we will do better :)

On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 10:37 AM, Zachary Larsen <zlarsen@myldsmail.net> wrote:

well dad i dunno what to say other than ui sent my email to ya. we are super busy out here in the wilton and sheldon wards. we have 7 solid investigators and several progressing part member families. we have a baptism set up for the 27th of july and 4 set up in august and hopefuly 6 in august if this week goes well. we are really working hard and im hoping it wil be enough to get my comp engaged with the work because he still aint doing anything. we had a great heart to heart convo and i got to know him really well. the lord has been teaching me patience and how to correct with love i think thats a very important attribute to have as a parent so i never thought i would be parenting in the mission field. i know that the lord has helped up 100% this week we were able to get 4 investigators to church and 3 up to the temple grounds so its been such a fantastic week. i know that if we are obedient which i really try to be then we will see miracle and i will be able to get the most out of my mission. im loving the mission field and i recommend it to everyone! i know its tough and hard but there is no growing in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growing zone and the gospel of jesus christ is simple and easy but not comfortable. its very hot out here and the service projects are really in full fledge between welding fences building metal aircraft shelters and moving 70 yards of rock i have been able to work up a remarkably sexy tan :) so now the ladies really got love me :) we have the members out here really booming with missionary work as the church has made a big push on it and as we have been able to teach them a specific lesson me and my last comp came up with! serving others is the way to baptize and to get members to trust and help you. if i could be like any missionary other than nephi of course i would want to be like ammon because of how he serves the lamanites, he came in and said im here to serve you not to teach the gospel or to get you to do stuff but to serve you and probably till i die here. this is how you gain the trust and ability to teach others. as you serve others a great spirit comes into the situation and they get curious why you do what you do and in those crummy clothes haha. well sounds like the family is in full summer swing busy busy busy! glad kevin is out and about with the chicas! when is jason getting married eh? also when is he going to send me a letter tell him i get more mail from me ex girlfriends than i do from him. even the one from manti gosh! i even get more mail from a random girl who is the sister of one of my comps and i aint ever even met her. anyway 6 months huh> congrats 6 months seems like not so long ago but i guess its 6 months!?!?! crazyness. ia int got the birthday packages yet sadly :( the office elders suck pretty bad! i yelled at emi should get em this week :) my birthday was gerat thougH! i love you all so muchand if you aint sent my guitar just dont send it because idecided it would be tough to move around with me :) i love you your all amazing! im interested to hear about this new travel plan but sad we dont have a spot in vegas anymore how am i to go home and go less active if i cant stay in vegas?!?!?! jokes jokes jokes :) love youa ll so much! keep being amazing!

Jeremys new mission president!

SOOO... My address is 930 9th st sw Albany Or 97321. But who knows what is going to happen, we have transfers in 2 weeks so I dunno what is going to go on. Our new president is awesome. I totally love the guy. P Young was awesome and I'll miss him, but this guy seems really interested in getting our lives off to a good start. Not our missions, he's talking about preparing us for our lives. Thats how I've really felt over the last month or two. This isn't just me doing stuff for 2 years, its just how my life is going to be from now on. I like the twist that he's put on it and the love he has for us. I really do hope that I'm able to keep up this kind of life style for the rest of my life. Not teaching people in lessons every day, but having this work ethic, doing this kind of studying and having this positive attitude all the time. I'm looking back now on this last year and I don't even recognize myself a lot of the time. I really feel like I've had some huge changes in my heart. Its pretty dope. Our 4th of July was fun. I had some good times with my America Tie!! Then we had a picnic with a our investigators! Bunch of the ward came out and we had a party. I wish we were at the parade with my nephews. I don't have a whole lot of time to talk unfortunately I've gotta bunch to do. We've topped out lessons this week, most I've had on my mission so far. This ward is something else, I really love it up here haha. I've seen tons of crazy stuff this last week. I love ya'll! if it was possible to send me clif bars the 20g protein ones and the energy bars that would be helpful so I'm not spendin so much, they are pricey.. Mint chocolate/Peanut butter and then whatever for the energy ones. Also for the doctor thing I haven't been in except for my back, I'm just kinda livin with it for now cause I don't have time to go see a doctor at the moment. I'm still alive so  it must not be to bad. Definitely buggin me and such but hey nothing I can do about it for now. I love ya and am glad that ya'll are having fun times!

Elder Larsen Sr.

Zack with new baptisms and new investigators...through service!

oh and the chaples thing is going to be missionaries will be in the chaples on the internet from 10 AM to 3 or 5 PM talking online and on facebook but also doing church tours and treating it like a visitors center.

On Tue, Jul 2, 2013 at 11:38 AM, Zachary Larsen <zlarsen@myldsmail.net> wrote:

so we are building this huge sheet metal house 38 metal sheets about 4 feet wide and about 115 feet tall and we are building it with a non member that was referred to us by the heathcotes! this guy went from oh crap missionaries to loving us for helping and inviting us back we are going to start teaching him and I truly think its a blessing from the lord honestly we have been stuck with no investigators in wilton after our baptisms and now we are getting an influx of them! then we just stopped by a former investigators house to see whats up and he let us in and started telling us how he is wanting to be a Mormon and wants us to come back and start teaching him again. then we go toa members home who said oh our neighbor down the road might be receptive we will invite them to a bbq and bring yall along and we are also adopting 2 maybe 3 kids and we want you to teach them about the gospel. so its been a great week of major blessings but with every great week there is an opposing side and that is im def again and I dunno why yet but I am in my right ear. its not the typical reason either so im going back to the docs. if I don't survive my mission it wil be because California killed me haha. well im off to go play with the zonkie and the fainting goat that the heathcotes have! I love this mission and I love being able to be so close to the spirit and working with our heavenly father in the work of salvation!

On Tue, Jul 2, 2013 at 11:06 AM, Zachary Larsen <zlarsen@myldsmail.net> wrote:

yea I heard about that crew that died its really sad and hasn't happened in a long time I hate hearing about that. also firefighters are kinda hated here in California because theya re over paid and some other problems going on. anyway its super super super HOT out here!!! they said it will cool down to 101 degrees by Friday or Saturday. its going to be 108 today and 111 tomorrow and 113 Thursday :( its so so so so hot. also we as a mission baptized 93 people in june!  well I was thinking of maybe you sending me my electric acoustic guitar! im learning some songs :) and a tuner would be nice! so Jason is getting hitched huh? he still aint sent me a letter and this is my year mark transfer so he is lame or since you don't know tongan I can say meaner things he is faka lati! :) or faka fafine! :) he needs to send me a letter. well glad all is going wella nd alan is aHPG leader huh? that's nuts he isn't old enough. uuhh lets see our ward does great with member missionary work we have really jump started the two wards. we have been doing a fun lesson and teaching how it relates to doing missionary work and to serving the community and we have seen a TON of success we have 3 baptisms lined up and 2 more that's are close so we are very excited for everything! I found out that taho is in our mission!! im excited and going there for sure! it is my birthday huh well that's fun! :) thanks for the package! love ya! also lots of fires out here and I hang with my firefighter members whoa re sick they all want me to come out here and work since they make way more money. a 7 year battalion chief makes half a million out here! but I said ill probably never live in the terrible state of California and he said he doesn't blame me but he is way sick I love that guy he is going to take me to taho!  there were some things I was going to say but forgot because my memory is still bad. I dunno if my  comp is going to make it out here! he is talking about going home and I dunno how to report him or report that he wants to go home. he lied to my face and called family on the cell phone and i found out so that's as problem and he is pretty much just not caring about anything so its rough but we just keep trying ill teach hima ll I know and everything I got and help the best I can but the rest is between him and the lord. well I love you all and you guys are the greatest ever! YEAR MARK COMING UP!!!!!!! LOVE YOU!

Jeremy and a miracle of the week

Well well well, This week has been a week a day and a month all in one, its been nuts. I don't even know whats hit me the last little bit, its just runnin by. Time needs to slow down so I can catch up hahaha We have been teaching a ton of people, the ward has been helpin us out a ton. At sacrament this week our bishop got up at the pulpit and was just like... so everyone pull out your phones... now this is the missionaries number.... now call them for referrals and for helping them with lessons.... now this is the WML number call him for the same things.. HAHA it was dope. We have really been enjoying the time up here in Albany, we are bustin butt everyday. The Lord has really been keepin me on the up and up cause otherwise  I don't think that I would be able to be doin what I'm doin. I've really noticed the work part in missionary work as of late. I think your work ethic is rubbing off on me..... How is Jason doin? him and Jennica just a married couple by now or what hahaha Everyone over there has caught a bug I think. (the love bug harharhar...) So miracle of the week. So we were thinkin should we do daily contact with our neighbor, and I'm like nah... and then I thought more and talked to Muir about it and we decided yaaaa... So we go over there and knock, she looks like she isn't happy to see us to much. She comes out and I go to Moroni 7 and read the vs. on Charity. So she starts to tell us a story about how she had been offended and was pissed, but that the scripture was exactly what she had forgotten to apply. She was really moved by it, I just pulled it outta no where, it was totally by the spirit. It was the perfect scripture that she needed. Only the spirit knows stuff like that... I really do love this constant companionship thing, its pretty awesome, I've just gotta stay humble and give thanks to him all the time. I've really been trying to apply the pray always thing in my life also its keepin me on track to keep the ghosty around; its been a toughy though, but I'm getting a bit better at it.  Well I love ya and I hope that you guys are doin well. I'm in the OSM now, with President Samulain (Samulon) straight outta the bofm.. Also I found the shoes, they are 140bucks ecco's. Also here is a list of the things that I have been stayin alive on the last little bit just so you get an idea of what I'm buying at walmart- Bread, eggs, Protein  drink, 2 boxes of Cliff Protein bars, 1 box of Carb bars, milk, cereal, and vitamins C, D, and Calcium as well as a joint support thing for my ankle. So I've talked to a doctor about it and they said that its a good idea to supplement since I'm losing so much but it really does cost more. I'm going to stop going out to eat though, I've been wastin cash and its not mine to waste so I'm sorry for that. I repent of my spendyness and hope that you forgive me. I love ya'll! Tell kevin to hit me up and Jason Darlene and whoever else as well. I love ya and hope all is well.

Elder Larsen Sr.