Last one
Kia ora katou e te whanau!! It feels super weird to say this, but this will be my last email as a missionary. I fly out on Thursday and have 24 hours of travel ahead of me. I will get to Utah on Thursday at about 4 PM though because I will be flying a day into the past. For the last email I would like to share with you all a very special experience that happened recently.
I would like to tell you all a story about a girl named Lili F. About 5 years ago, Lili got a knock on the door from a missionary senior couple from our church. They had a chat and the senior couple invited Lili to be baptized and to join the church. She politely declined because she didn't feel that she was ready at the time. For about the next 5 years, she continued to think about this experience up until recently. On the night of June 25th, 2024, she prayed and asked God about which church she should join. The very next day, she got a knock on the door and opened up and saw my goofy face and my companion. Us knocking on her door was the perfect answer to the questions that she had. Now, I want to tell you all about the story from me and my companions side. The week before, we felt prompted to go and knock a street, I picked this one street because it was one of the very few streets that I hadn't knocked yet. I've been in this area for 10 months so there isn't many streets that I haven't knocked but, I had felt a strong prompting to knock this specific one. We ended up knocking the street and nothing came of it, we stopped about half way down the street. Then, fast forward to June 26th, me and my companion were planning out our day in the morning. I felt another prompting that we should knock that same street around 4:30 PM. We had a bunch of other things planned out for that day though. As we went on with our day, we got caught up with a few more things than expected. So our schedule got quite backed up. When it came time to knock this street like we planned, we had to decide between two things. We either knocked the street or do all of the visits that we had planned for earlier in the day. I usually would prefer visits because they are more productive, but I had felt a very strong prompting that we needed to go knock this street. We get to the street and my comp says that we need to focus on inviting people to the chapel tour that we have planned this weekend. So we had a plan and we said a prayer and started to go knock. The very first door that we knocked on that day was Lili's door. When we knocked on her door she told us she had just started looking for a new church (she had just prayed the night before). She said that she just finished reading a book and was looking for a new book to read, so we gave her the Book of Mormon. She also said that she was too scared to just go to church all by herself, so the chapel tour was perfect for her. Everything was perfect about this first visit. She ended up coming to the chapel tour, and then coming to church for the last 4 weeks. We put her on date for baptism a couple of weeks ago, and 2 days ago she was just baptized and was confirmed a member of the church the very next day at church. This just so happened to be my last Saturday in the mission. What a miracle she has been in my life! I will never forget her story.
I just want to close my final email with my testimony. I know that God lives, and that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. I know God leads and guides us through the Holy Ghost. I know that God hears and answers all of our prayers, just as he answered Lili's. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it has the power to change lives. I know that the Atonement can and has changed my life. I know that God still works miracles today and that if we have faith, we can see those miracles in our lives. I know that Joseph Smith had a very similar question to that of Lili's, and I know that God answered Joseph's prayer. I know that through that simple prayer given by Joseph Smith, we now have the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ here on the earth. I know that we have a living prophet today named Russell M. Nelson. And most importantly, I know that I am a Son of God and that He loves me and all of you.
My mission has been the most life changing experience. I am so grateful for all of the incredibly hard times because they have shaped me to be who I am today. I invite anybody that is reading this and thinking about going on a mission to serve a mission. It will be the best decision that you will make in your life. I have never been so happy in my life.
Alright, that's it. Sorry this one was a little long, but I felt that I needed to share all of this. I love you all and I'm excited to see you all very soon. Kia kaha!!
Arohanui Elder Larson
Lili's baptism
I would like to tell you all a story about a girl named Lili F. About 5 years ago, Lili got a knock on the door from a missionary senior couple from our church. They had a chat and the senior couple invited Lili to be baptized and to join the church. She politely declined because she didn't feel that she was ready at the time. For about the next 5 years, she continued to think about this experience up until recently. On the night of June 25th, 2024, she prayed and asked God about which church she should join. The very next day, she got a knock on the door and opened up and saw my goofy face and my companion. Us knocking on her door was the perfect answer to the questions that she had. Now, I want to tell you all about the story from me and my companions side. The week before, we felt prompted to go and knock a street, I picked this one street because it was one of the very few streets that I hadn't knocked yet. I've been in this area for 10 months so there isn't many streets that I haven't knocked but, I had felt a strong prompting to knock this specific one. We ended up knocking the street and nothing came of it, we stopped about half way down the street. Then, fast forward to June 26th, me and my companion were planning out our day in the morning. I felt another prompting that we should knock that same street around 4:30 PM. We had a bunch of other things planned out for that day though. As we went on with our day, we got caught up with a few more things than expected. So our schedule got quite backed up. When it came time to knock this street like we planned, we had to decide between two things. We either knocked the street or do all of the visits that we had planned for earlier in the day. I usually would prefer visits because they are more productive, but I had felt a very strong prompting that we needed to go knock this street. We get to the street and my comp says that we need to focus on inviting people to the chapel tour that we have planned this weekend. So we had a plan and we said a prayer and started to go knock. The very first door that we knocked on that day was Lili's door. When we knocked on her door she told us she had just started looking for a new church (she had just prayed the night before). She said that she just finished reading a book and was looking for a new book to read, so we gave her the Book of Mormon. She also said that she was too scared to just go to church all by herself, so the chapel tour was perfect for her. Everything was perfect about this first visit. She ended up coming to the chapel tour, and then coming to church for the last 4 weeks. We put her on date for baptism a couple of weeks ago, and 2 days ago she was just baptized and was confirmed a member of the church the very next day at church. This just so happened to be my last Saturday in the mission. What a miracle she has been in my life! I will never forget her story.
I just want to close my final email with my testimony. I know that God lives, and that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. I know God leads and guides us through the Holy Ghost. I know that God hears and answers all of our prayers, just as he answered Lili's. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it has the power to change lives. I know that the Atonement can and has changed my life. I know that God still works miracles today and that if we have faith, we can see those miracles in our lives. I know that Joseph Smith had a very similar question to that of Lili's, and I know that God answered Joseph's prayer. I know that through that simple prayer given by Joseph Smith, we now have the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ here on the earth. I know that we have a living prophet today named Russell M. Nelson. And most importantly, I know that I am a Son of God and that He loves me and all of you.
My mission has been the most life changing experience. I am so grateful for all of the incredibly hard times because they have shaped me to be who I am today. I invite anybody that is reading this and thinking about going on a mission to serve a mission. It will be the best decision that you will make in your life. I have never been so happy in my life.
Alright, that's it. Sorry this one was a little long, but I felt that I needed to share all of this. I love you all and I'm excited to see you all very soon. Kia kaha!!
Arohanui Elder Larson
Lili's baptism
said goodbye to some of the elders I've served around.
exchanges with the Hawkes Bay and Palmerston North Elders
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