Sons Of God

Hey everyone! 

This week was a roller coaster of emotions. For starters, Mark and Samuel, the two investigators we've had on date, dropped us for good. That was super sad, but we had already ended up postponing their baptismal date, and they had already been kinda flaky in the past. So, it will be good to focus on the people that are more interested. 

The funniest thing happened the other day. Elder Empey and I were walking down the street in front of a parking lot, and from clear across the parking lot, a man yelled at us, "SONS OF GOD!!!!" and he waved us over hahaha. Turns out his name is Steel Tango, he had a giant Turkey feather in his hat, he was wearing a suit (which also had a feather in it), with Lebron 11 basketball shoes, all while running a fruit stand. When he found out both of our first names are Jacob, he took his hat off, and looking up into the sky, he said a prayer thanking God for sending him "a double dose of Israel" hahahaha. He is quite the character and we've actually been able to meet with him since.  

This weekend was full of miracles. One in particular was the day after we lost Mark and Samuel. We friended a girl named Jordan, she gave us her number, and we taught her about the Book of Mormon over the phone. After we finished, she told us that the day before she had been praying for someone to help her back on to the straight and narrow. She couldn't believe it's all happened so fast and we're meeting with her tomorrow to get her a Book of Mormon. 

We had an amazing week and I can tell you that our Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives. All we have to do is look for His hand and we'll see it.

I love you all! I hope y'all have a good week.

Elder Larkin

Dogs

Hey everyone!

Sorry y'all didn't get an email last week, that was my bad. You didn't really miss out on anything, just that the mission leadership set the goal to find 1,000 new people in a month. We're all excited to see how it works out!

This week was a whole lot more eventful though. We had a zone conference on Tuesday in person! It was a great meeting and we talked more about our goals. I also ran into Sis. Abby Larkin! President was kinda confused about having an Elder and Sister Larkin, it was hilarious haha.

The rest of the week was very busy. On Friday, a funny story, I got bit by a dog. We were out for our morning run at 6:30 in the morning, and all of a sudden three pretty big dogs came tearing out of a house! One of them got me, and we wound up at insta care to make sure I didn't get an infection. Fast forward to yesterday, we decided to give their owners a call. We had their contact info and they were very nice about everything that happened, so we figured, why not give them a call? Long story short, we have an appointment with them next week. The Lord works in mysterious ways. 

In terms of a spiritual thought, I just finished President Monson's biography. It really emphasizes reaching out to the one. There are a lot of lonely people, especially those that are still social distancing. So, I'd like to challenge you all to reach out to someone new and make a new friend. We all need good friends and to feel loved. 

Because I recently got a new phone, I haven't been able to transfer all of my pictures over yet. I do have a couple, but you'll get more next week.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Larkin

Pics:

Thomas (the guy in the middle) was baptized into our ward on Sunday! Elder Empey did his interview and he took us out for hot dogs and shakes (very west virginian).

Also, at the zone conference I ran into Sis. Larkin! Super awesome!

1,000 Stairs

Olá todos!!

This week was pretty busy, which was good for a change haha. We taught some great lessons and had some great discussions with amazing people! Doesn't get any better than that.

Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting, and it was AMAZING! Thomas, a guy who the Sister in our ward has been working with, stood up and bore his testimony. He hasn't even been baptized yet, but his testimony was super powerful. He told his conversion story and how he came to know that the Book of Mormon is true. The spirit was strong and Elder Empey and I were blown away.

We've also been able to work more closely with the members in our area. It seems like everyone has a different story, they're all amazing. I love our ward so much. They're all so kind and helpful, it's been fun getting to know them better. 

We've also been able to volunteer at the Warm Hands from Warm Hearts food pantry. It's actually run by all of the different local denominations and churches. Everyone there is a pastor, except for us, the missionaries. It's been fun getting to represent the Church in that sort of scene. The local news actually stopped by while we were working there the other day and they talked to us for a little. Looks like we made a cameo on the news! That was super fun.

I love you all so much! I hope you all have a good week! I love hearing from you all,  keep those emails coming!

Se cuida. 

Elder Larkin

Pics:

1-2. We took a hike earlier. It had over 1,000 stairs, so I wouldn't really call it a hike haha.

3. Cool sunset and sign from our hike.

4. Different pastors we've been working with.