So here is something that you can share with your seminary class, Manner. Hopefully this is what you wanted...use all of it or pieces of it, whatever you need/want!
So this past week I have been thinking about high school and pre-mission life. During high school, I really just went through the motions rather than putting thought into religion or school. I went to church and seminary so that my parents wouldn't ground me and bring frustration in the home (which happened from time to time) and for the social experience. Since I was raised in the church, I was always taught the truth but I never saw the importance of gaining a real testimony for myself or truly becoming converted to the gospel. I felt this way almost all four years of high school. My older brothers all went on missions, as well as my dad, but from junior year on, I really lost all desire to go on a mission.
I was somewhat forced into going to BYUI, or else I would have to pay for the extra cost at another college, or stay at home which was not an option. Little did I know that this choice would change my life. My first semester was amazing and I loved it. I met some amazing friends and those friends gave me a little extra boost to go on a mission after the end of the semester. I hadn't received the Melchizedek priesthood because of past events, so that was the first step along with my mission papers. After the semester ended, I received my call and I was headed back to Idaho.
I really enjoyed the MTC and the experience there, but once I got to Boise, in the field, it all changed. After only a short time, I began to hate being a missionary and began to be depressed. After several talks and meetings with my mission president, I realized that I lacked a testimony that I needed to be a full-time missionary and I went out solely for my family and friends and not because I had a desire to serve the Lord and help others. I came back home after five weeks and never wanted to go back.
I went back to BYUI and planned to start my life without having a mission on my resume. After the first week of school, I started thinking more about going back out, but I tore my ACL and took that as a sign that I wasn't supposed to go back and really stopped thinking about it. My third semester began and I started hanging out with returned missionaries and friends that were planning on going on missions. That semester was really important in my life. I realized that I wasn't getting married anytime soon and I wasn't completely sure what I wanted to do with my life. I had also gained a little stronger testimony and had become more mature about life. I still lacked the desire to give up everything and become a servant of the Lord. But with certain feelings and thoughts, I decided to give it another shot. It was probably the toughest thing I have ever done. I was scared and nervous, but decided to do something that I lacked before and put my trust in the Lord.
It hasn't been the easiest last ten months, but it has been the most rewarding and the best thing that I've done with my life. I have been able to realize the purpose of religion and the love and happiness that can come from it. I love this gospel and my Savior so much and really do wish that I would have put more effort in my life during high school. I can see now how much more happy I would have been and how much more I would have learned in and out of the church. Believe me, I know how boring or lame it is at times to go to church and seminary, but I wish I would have known what I know now 3-7 years ago. Try to have a good attitude (it really will make the biggest difference in your lives and the lives around you) and also try to go to church meetings with a question in mind so that you will have more of a desire to be wherever you are at that time.
I hope this helps! Peace and blessings!
Elder Larsen
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Happy Birthday to the best dad in the world! It will be a boring Halloween for me because most people are busy and so not much work will occur that day, but we should have a good rest of the week. We had a zone mission tour this week and Elder Halek from the Seventy was the one that came and talked to us. It wasn't what I expected and was a tad bit dry. I wasn't the only one who thought so. It was good, just not as good as M. Russell Ballard. I did answer a lot of question to help liven up the meeting a bit. His wife said after one of my responses that if she had a cookie that she would give me one, so that was cool. She also personally came up to me afterwards and thanked me for helping so much with their presentation.
I started doing this work out called Insanity, which is kind of similar to P90X, but I think a little tougher. It has been good, but it gets me so tired and I'm ready for bed at about 7:00 at night. Elder West hit his year mark this past week and so that makes companion #4 that have hit the hump while I was with them...just ready for it to be my time, but I got about 2 months left. It has gone by fast the last four months.
Well, the golden baptism family that we thought we had isn't as golden as expected. So turns out the the mom is living with a guy that she is only dating and he isn't interested in the church. We set a date for December and the mom said she would figure it out, so we'll see what she decides. The Borens are doing great! We passed the sacrament yesterday with Chad and that was a super awesome experience. We have Tristan's baptism in less than 2 weeks and Elder Dees is going to come back for that and perform the baptism, which I'm excited for.
Overall it was a good week, but a lot slower than last week. We had so many cancellations which just made life tough, but it happens. Today we played football with a bunch of missionaries and it was a lot of fun. The mission usually has costume football halloween week, but the Assistants sent out a message yesterday saying that was not approved and we need to keep mission-minded. It was kind of frustrating because it seems like they go a bit overkill on certain things! That's pretty much all that happened. Hopefully we will get to see everyone this week and keep progressing.
Love all of you and hope everything continues to go well!
Elder Larsen
So this past week I have been thinking about high school and pre-mission life. During high school, I really just went through the motions rather than putting thought into religion or school. I went to church and seminary so that my parents wouldn't ground me and bring frustration in the home (which happened from time to time) and for the social experience. Since I was raised in the church, I was always taught the truth but I never saw the importance of gaining a real testimony for myself or truly becoming converted to the gospel. I felt this way almost all four years of high school. My older brothers all went on missions, as well as my dad, but from junior year on, I really lost all desire to go on a mission.
I was somewhat forced into going to BYUI, or else I would have to pay for the extra cost at another college, or stay at home which was not an option. Little did I know that this choice would change my life. My first semester was amazing and I loved it. I met some amazing friends and those friends gave me a little extra boost to go on a mission after the end of the semester. I hadn't received the Melchizedek priesthood because of past events, so that was the first step along with my mission papers. After the semester ended, I received my call and I was headed back to Idaho.
I really enjoyed the MTC and the experience there, but once I got to Boise, in the field, it all changed. After only a short time, I began to hate being a missionary and began to be depressed. After several talks and meetings with my mission president, I realized that I lacked a testimony that I needed to be a full-time missionary and I went out solely for my family and friends and not because I had a desire to serve the Lord and help others. I came back home after five weeks and never wanted to go back.
I went back to BYUI and planned to start my life without having a mission on my resume. After the first week of school, I started thinking more about going back out, but I tore my ACL and took that as a sign that I wasn't supposed to go back and really stopped thinking about it. My third semester began and I started hanging out with returned missionaries and friends that were planning on going on missions. That semester was really important in my life. I realized that I wasn't getting married anytime soon and I wasn't completely sure what I wanted to do with my life. I had also gained a little stronger testimony and had become more mature about life. I still lacked the desire to give up everything and become a servant of the Lord. But with certain feelings and thoughts, I decided to give it another shot. It was probably the toughest thing I have ever done. I was scared and nervous, but decided to do something that I lacked before and put my trust in the Lord.
It hasn't been the easiest last ten months, but it has been the most rewarding and the best thing that I've done with my life. I have been able to realize the purpose of religion and the love and happiness that can come from it. I love this gospel and my Savior so much and really do wish that I would have put more effort in my life during high school. I can see now how much more happy I would have been and how much more I would have learned in and out of the church. Believe me, I know how boring or lame it is at times to go to church and seminary, but I wish I would have known what I know now 3-7 years ago. Try to have a good attitude (it really will make the biggest difference in your lives and the lives around you) and also try to go to church meetings with a question in mind so that you will have more of a desire to be wherever you are at that time.
I hope this helps! Peace and blessings!
Elder Larsen
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Happy Birthday to the best dad in the world! It will be a boring Halloween for me because most people are busy and so not much work will occur that day, but we should have a good rest of the week. We had a zone mission tour this week and Elder Halek from the Seventy was the one that came and talked to us. It wasn't what I expected and was a tad bit dry. I wasn't the only one who thought so. It was good, just not as good as M. Russell Ballard. I did answer a lot of question to help liven up the meeting a bit. His wife said after one of my responses that if she had a cookie that she would give me one, so that was cool. She also personally came up to me afterwards and thanked me for helping so much with their presentation.
I started doing this work out called Insanity, which is kind of similar to P90X, but I think a little tougher. It has been good, but it gets me so tired and I'm ready for bed at about 7:00 at night. Elder West hit his year mark this past week and so that makes companion #4 that have hit the hump while I was with them...just ready for it to be my time, but I got about 2 months left. It has gone by fast the last four months.
Well, the golden baptism family that we thought we had isn't as golden as expected. So turns out the the mom is living with a guy that she is only dating and he isn't interested in the church. We set a date for December and the mom said she would figure it out, so we'll see what she decides. The Borens are doing great! We passed the sacrament yesterday with Chad and that was a super awesome experience. We have Tristan's baptism in less than 2 weeks and Elder Dees is going to come back for that and perform the baptism, which I'm excited for.
Overall it was a good week, but a lot slower than last week. We had so many cancellations which just made life tough, but it happens. Today we played football with a bunch of missionaries and it was a lot of fun. The mission usually has costume football halloween week, but the Assistants sent out a message yesterday saying that was not approved and we need to keep mission-minded. It was kind of frustrating because it seems like they go a bit overkill on certain things! That's pretty much all that happened. Hopefully we will get to see everyone this week and keep progressing.
Love all of you and hope everything continues to go well!
Elder Larsen
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