December 6, 2014

One night this week, when we were returning home around 9:15 at night, we were walking on an empty street.  There was a very worn down, dirty, garbage sifter sitting on the side of the road thinking.  We passed right by him, told him good-evening, and continued walking.  We had walked about 50 yards when I stopped and asked Elder Thieme if he had a “Ele É O Presente” card.  He smiled, said no, and then went on to tell me that he was thinking the same thing.  We turned around and walked back to the man.  He was a man who looked like he lives on the streets, had a worn down buggy to collect trash, and has definitely felt the effects of drugs during his life.  I asked him, “Excuse me sir, do you know where Rua Rui Barbosa is located?”  He smiled and said that he thought it was a few streets down.  We went on to talk with him.  In the middle of the conversation, a shop owner came out with a 2-Liter coke bottle filled halfway with water.  The man had stopped to ask for water since he did not have any money to buy it.  It turns out that he spends the entire night scavenging for trash in order to provide for his family.  We were shocked to find out that he has a family.  He has a wife and two children, 10 and 9 years old.  We were both very humbled by the situation.  At first glance, we would have simply thought he was a homeless man due to drug addiction.  However, he explained to us that he walks about 10 miles each night to Aldeota in order to find the valuable trash.  He returns home every morning about 10:00, eats with his family, sleeps, and then does the same routine all over again.  We told him that we had a message about the Gospel of Christ and we would love to share it with him.  He was super happy and told us that the missionaries could come by.  Who knows if anything will come of it, but I know that the simple action of us turning around and taking the time to talk with him made him light up.  It made him realize that he is of worth in the world.  These small actions create true humanity…

It has been a very interesting week.  It has been super busy in the office but things are working out.  I have taken the time this week to completely memorize the song “Come Thou Fount.”  It is by far my favorite hymn.  Now, anytime I get discouraged, I start singing it!  I love the Gospel.  The Lord answers prayers. 

He always listens to our prayers. 

November 8, 2014

This past week has been very interesting to say the least.  At the beginning of the week, I had to organize a collective marriage for the entire mission.  It is going to occur on the 29^th of November and the judge is going to marry about 30 couples for free (a really big deal here because people don’t have the money to pay for marriages.)  They will then have a large baptismal service afterwards.  At the last minute the mission president put me in charge of organizing everything and but I was never told any of the details.  Turns out that Monday night was the deadline, so I had to rush and travel all around the city to get legal documents from the missionaries.  After spending countless hours on Monday, I travelled to another area of the mission to deliver the documents on Tuesday.  I have never been so tired.

However, there were some neat experiences this week.  As I was running around the city to deliver the documents, I began talking with the taxi cab drivers.  I have found that this is one of my favorite things to do.  They are so nice and so willing to talk.  It is interesting because the topic of the church always comes up.  Elder Z* and I had the opportunity to talk with one of them about the church and it was a really great conversation.  We wrote down his address and the missionaries are now visiting him.

This morning we did a service project for a member of the ward who lives in our apartment building.  We decorated for Christmas.  She is the mother of Derek’s mission mom.  It was super fun decorating for Christmas.  It is funny - everyone decorates for Christmas here

during the first week of November. 

I hope you all have a great week!

November 15, 2014

This week has been of the craziest of my mission.  I am so tired.  It all started out with this marriage fiasco again.  Everything fell through with the court house and I had to reorganize everything.

We then had Zone Conference this week on Wednesday and Thursday but I wasn't able to attend.  I had to wake up at 5:00 AM to take six Elders, who are going home on Monday, to the Federal Police station.  I had to renew their visas in order that they can leave the country.  Since their documents were approved only last week it meant that I couldn't make an appointment at the station--we were on the standby list.  I spent all day there waiting to be attended.  Finally, in the late afternoon we were able to get their visas renewed.

November 22, 2014

Wow, this week has been very interesting.  I started by taking all of the missionaries (19) to

 the airport on Monday.  That was crazy.  But, after a lot of organization and hard work, we

were able to get it all worked out.  It is the largest group of missionaries that the mission has ever taken to the airport at one time.

This past week, I have been super tired.  However, we are getting a lot of work done.  I can’t believe how quickly the week flew by.  Elder Z* got transferred on Monday and is now in Canindé.  He is super excited.  I called him yesterday and he told me that he definitely has gone from one extreme to another.  He no longer has air conditioning, the water stinks, and it is incredibly hot.  I told him I knew exactly what he was going through.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving this week!

November 29, 2014

I hope all is well with you.  This past week has been a good week.  We have done a lot of work.  On Tuesday, I had a interesting experience.  We had worked all day in the office and went out to tract at night.  We went to Campo America (a “flavela,” or “ghetto”) in our area because we met an inactive member who lives there and wanted us to do a visit.  We found them on the street in the small alleyway.  (As a side note, the alleyways in the flavelas are small and the majority of the people spend all their time on the street in chairs drinking. The culture is very interesting in the flavelas and most of the time we teach on the street.)   We began to “bater papo” (converse) with them and they were really friendly.  We asked the inactive members about their history with the church and they explained that they fell away because they were embarrassed about addictions with The Word of Wisdom.  However, they still really enjoy the church and go occasionally.

I had the opportunity this week to give a training session on prayer.  The week was so rushed that I did not have any time to prepare the training.  Therefore, on Wednesday morning I woke up and opened the Ensign from last General Conference.  I decided that I would read President Uchtdorf’s discourse on revelation and prayer.  It is a fantastic talk and I ended up giving the training on it.  If you have an opportunity this week, I encourage you to read the talk.  I really enjoy a quote from the talk.  He says, “Your personal testimony of light and truth will not only bless you and your posterity here in mortality, but it will also accompany you throughout all eternity, among worlds without end.”  The testimonies that we gain here in mortality will remain with us as we pass through the phases of The Plan of Salvation.  I look forward to the day when our testimonies of the pre-mortal existence, mortality, and beyond will be combined to work collectively for our benefit.

The attached picture shows our Thanksgiving Dinner.  Sister E* suggested that since we couldn’t find anyone serving turkey, Americana would hit the spot.  It was great.

01 de novembro de 2014

Highlight of the week: 

I decided to make Chinese food.  I got so tired of eating rice and beans everyday, I decided that I would venture out and make my own food.  It ended up being really good.

One of the neat things that happened this week was a lesson we had with L*.  She is a recent convert and we decided that we would talk about temples and family history work.

As I shared some scriptures, a thought came to mind and we talked about it.  The thought was about how we can’t be saved without our ancestors and they can’t be saved without us.  We began talking about the structure of the family.  The family is where we learn most of our valuable life lessons.  I then began to think about the resurrection.  We know that we will continue to learn, grow, and progress after the resurrection.  I thought about the opportunities we will have to learn from our ancestors.  We will learn from their experiences and they will learn from our experiences.  We will continue to work towards perfection together.  It is really hard to describe the insight I gained during this lesson but it was really neat. 

We also had the opportunity to teach B* last night.  He is a recent convert who is 18 and has had some difficulties in coming to church because of family issues.  We were able to contact him and talk with him.  He is one of the most humble individuals I have ever met.  It was really neat to talk with him and I learned a lot.  He is very timid and shy but he was willing to open up with us.  We talked about conversion and how we know that the gospel is true.  I shared my stories of conversion with him and he shared his experiences.  Though it was only about a 5 minute lesson, I think it was one of the most impactful lessons I have experienced.  A simple conversation can go a long way in the life of an individual.

Things are going well.  I am just trying to move forward and learn.  I have a lot to learn.  I have come to the realization that life is super short and that we need to make every day count. 

We need to enjoy all the small things.

25 October 2014

This past week has been very, very busy.  There are so many things to do in the office.  So many little problems to fix and so many things to coordinate.  It is amazing to see how everything must come together to run a mission.  Everyday I am in contact with people from all over South America and Salt Lake City.  I receive countless emails everyday.  However, I am still really enjoying it.  There are a lot of opportunities to serve.

This past week I had a fun little challenge that brought some good memories from my science days.  While serving in Aldeota, I have the opportunity to live in a good house because it is located in the middle of the city.  We have a hot shower (which is plugged into the wall.)  The person who installed it did not do a good job and the machine blew.  And, the person who installed ours had also installed Elder and Sister Evans’ shower.  Therefore, I became the repair man for both.  It took me a while to track down all the parts but I finally did it.  It was one of my favorite service projects in the mission.  It brought back many fun memories.

I’ve come to realize that the Lord truly magnifies people through growth.  This week, I was invited by Elder Evans to give a training for the district meeting. It was on the importance of inviting people to accept commitments.  Nine months ago I would have been petrified.  I was so worried about the language and my social skills.  This week I still had those same feelings, but I asked the Lord for help and I used one of my old outlines.  It is amazing to see how the Spirit works.  Scriptures, thoughts, and passages flooded my mind.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about small growth: line upon line, precept upon precept.  Trust in the Lord and move forward.

I don’t think I have ever described the food here.  Let me tell you what I ate for lunch yesterday to help describe the culture.  We had a huge mound of rice, black beans, frango frito (fried chicken), frango ao molho (chicken covered in sauce), tomato, raisin, and many, many juices.  There was orange peel juice, grape juice, pineapple skin juice, and pineapple juice.  The pineapple juice here is to die for.  It is so good.  Also, the pineapple skin juice is awesome.  It has a taste that is completely different but really good.  What a lot of people do here is make the juice from the skins of the fruit and then add mint.  It is really delicious.

Have a great week.

Elder Larkin

11 October 2014

Fortaleza

This past week has been an awesome change. Serving in the office is a lot of work but I have 

the best two companions. Elder Z* is awesome and super nice. We get along great. Elder 

T* is absolutely hilarious and an awesome worker. My apartment is in downtown Fortaleza.

This area is different from any other that I’ve seen in Ceará. It reminds me a lot of New York 

City. It is known for its amazing seafood and many, many restaurants. Most of people who live 

here are not from Ceará. They are from other parts of the country, so there are many different

accents. It is awesome.

The work is difficult because this is the richest part of the state, and there are only tall

buildings. However, we have a baptism on the 29th of October of a 22 year-old girl named L*.

It should be awesome. The ward is great. I am going to get so fat here. The lunches are

banquets. Yesterday, for example, was endless shrimp, chicken, and steak.

 Many of the members here have been mission presidents and

love spoiling the missionaries. They know that it is difficult for us so

they always give us food.

Being in the office is a lot of work but I really enjoy it. Let’s just say that my Portuguese is

going to improve a lot out of necessity. All day, every day, I am talking on the phone

with people from all over the country. I have to organize all the visas, passports, medical

appointments, etc. I also have to deal with all the mission problems.

It can be a little stressful but I get to know the entire mission.

My phone is constantly ringing. Please know that I am doing very well and that I 

am very happy.

October 6, 2014

I got transferred!  I will be serving in downtown Fortaleza (near where the temple will be built) and living next door to the mission office so that I can work as the mission secretary.  Elder Z* will train me for the next 6 weeks and then Elder T* (who is Brazilian and awesome) and I will take over the office for the following transfer.  We will work in the office during the day, and then tract or teach in the evenings.

I absolutely loved Conference this week.  First, there was a quote from CS Lewis that says, “Courage is the form of every virtue at the testing point.”  That was from Elder Robbins’ talk, which I really enjoyed.  I also loved Elder Bednar’s talk, which has prompted me to reach out through letter-writing to some non-member friends back home.

Oh, best thing about this new transfer…the apartment has hot water!  Yeh!!!

September 22, 2014

This past week has been difficult. We found some new people to teach but it has been hard. 

C* was progressing great but then fell back into hard-drinking. He was all excited to come 

to church but he then didn't show up. I hope that everything is ok with him and that he will 

continue to make progress. All of our investigators seem to have fallen off the map and don't 

really want to make changes in their lives. I understand where they are coming from (I have 

been there). However, I am going to continue strong with my testimony that it is all about small 

This past week I had the opportunity to do two interviews. The first was for a 9 year-old boy 

named C**. It was great interview. At the end, I asked him if he had any questions or doubts 

about the things the Elders had taught him or anything he had heard in church. He thought for 

a second and then with complete innocence asked me, "Is the church true?" I smiled, and then 

bore my testimony. As I told him, "I know the church is true," a sweet spirit entered the room.

I also had the opportunity to do an interview for a 20 year-old girl named T*. It was a very good 

This week has been difficult because of the stresses of missionary work. However, I am just 

going to try to move forward. I am just going to continue to make small changes...

changes. Maybe I can just plant some seeds in this area.

interview. She is very humble and grateful for meeting the missionaries.