Larson, Josh

Hello everyone! This week has been a lot of fun, on Tuesday I dropped E. Mundt off in Santa Maria and picked up E. Maloy! It has been a lot of fun so far! We both had the same companion E. Nickle at one point so a lot of old sayings are coming back and it's been pretty fun. Same area, brand new stuff. It has been great so far. Our Zone has shrunk a little bit due to missionaries heading to original assignments We have had some fun experiences with the area and with the zone so far.  Honesty nothing too crazy has happened this week but I will share a story with a moral.  We taught this guy the restoration on his front porch, and extended him the invitation to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We were slightly surprised when he flat out refused. We asked him why not and he claimed that "All my answers come from within, I have my own back". I said back "So you are your own God?" Which he naturally denied. It was funny to see how hard this man tried to explain...

Hello everyone! Another great week has passed here in the great California Ventura Mission. We received our transfer news and I am going to be staying here in SLO and I will be receiving the one and only Elder Maloy! We were in the same zone down in Newbury Park, so this is going to be an exciting transfer! In other exciting news our friend Nidia got baptized and confirmed a member of the church this Saturday! It was truly a sweet experience that I will never forget. She is truly one of the sweetest people I know of.  I had an Interesting thought following Nidias baptism that I would like to share.  For some reason I was expecting this great overwhelming sense of joy after having baptized Nidia, but nothing came. Now don't misunderstand, I was happy. But I wasn't any happier than I would have been if I was sitting in the audience. And this led me to an interesting realization.  We as missionaries (and most members) have an unrealistic or unhealthy stigma towards baptism. ...

Hello world! Welcome back to another episode of missionary work in California! It's been a truly wonderful week though. We had Zone conference, a Temple trip, and some fun exchanges! One awesome thing was being able to see my trainee Elder Sutherland again! It was super cool to see him again and all the growth he has made. I also got to see my second grandson E. Stosich. We got a good multi-generational photo. It will be included. And naturally I can't NOT talk about going to the temple. It was wonderful to be back in the house of the Lord and to feel the Spirit that was there. We also got a picture with the entire MISSION, which was a first for me. That was the first time I can remember being with the whole mission. It was super cool. Alright now to make it all spiritual. As I sat in the temple surrounded by my friends in the CVM and surrounded by my mission leaders. A profound realization was reestablished in my mind. This was the thought: God loves you Individually. He knows...

Welp, another week has come and gone here in the great CVM. It's been a fun week though, full of lots of fun meetings and some good exchanges.  First off we had one of my favorite meetings ever on Tuesday, MLC! It was a lot of fun. We were able to council with the other leaders in the mission and determine how to best help the missionaries and the mission. We went through a lot of the things that are traditions in the mission and determined which ones helped us, and which ones were just tradition. It was super cool to see how revelation flowed as we Counseled together and determined what was best for the mission. I was also able to spend some time in my old hometown area of Templeton! Some of you will remember that I served for about 6 months in that area before going down to Newbury Park! It was pretty crazy to see how a lot had changed, but also nothing had changed. Some of the same people I had worked with were still there and it was pretty fun to see some of them again! One thi...