The Voyage

So this week has been a little special with it being our last week at the MTC. We've been getting flight plans one Elder in our district didn't get them until yesterday which is a little nuts because he was supposed to leave on Sunday. He would get us all the time by saying, "Hey, look!" and then he'd just say, "still don't have my flight plans". But he got them and he was psyched.

But for me, I had my plans to Spain, but this week I also got a temporary reassignment email. And guess where I'm going for six weeks? Evertt Washington! That's the current plan at least, but if my visa comes in on time, they'll ship me off to Spain. But I'm pretty excited for it. Being able to teach in an English mission and a Spanish mission is gonna be really neat. The only sad part is all the Spain people I was going to be with leave in the morning and I leave at noon so I'm gonna be all alone here for a bit and then it's just me going to Washington. But once it gets to November, I'll be back with them.

 I had some close calls with the water fountains this week, but I'm still alive so thats nice.

This Tuesday was our last devotional :( but we got to hear from Patrick Kearon his wife Jenifer. They're messages were great and he had a British accent which just made things a ton better. They shared the story of Sad-Drack, Me-Shack, and A-Bed-Knee-Go (or how ever you spell their names) and said that when they were put into the furnace, they saw Christ. And related the furnace to anything difficult we face. Difficulties give us the ability to really see Christ in our lives. They also called out some missionaries to do a little roll play with them and showed the difference between trying to give your message to people and actually living the message and actually wanting to share it with people so they can enjoy the same happiness found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the devotional review with our district that night as we were discussing it, my district leader said, "We're not trying to make a sales pitch here, we're missionaries". Which is facts. We know what we know is true and we're just inviting people to come to Christ. 

So we've been getting new missionaries in the dorms and it's pretty cool to meet all these random people. I guess it's good practice for the mission. But invitation for the week is find some random person and get to know em. You'll probably have more in common than you think.

Love you guys. I'm super excited to start this week and can't wait to tell you about it. Talk to ya in the next one,

Elder Larchar

Here we go

Happy weekend everyone. I feel like weeks just keep getting faster. And I only have one left here which is weird to think about.

It's pretty weird how so many people go through the MTC and how few people it seems there are now. We got here at the peak and now everyone is pretty much disappearing. With everything calmed down and being used to the schedule, it feels like home (sort of). Just in a different way.

So there are water fountains in our dorms right? Well, they're a little bit special and the spout spins. And some kind fellow seems to keep turning the nozel out. You'd think I would have figured it out by now, but I don't know how many times I've soaked myself. Some people just never learn...

But anyway, I'm supposed to be leaving for Spain on Oct. 1st. or at least that's what my flight plans say. It's gonna take pretty much a full 24 hours to get from here to Madrid, but we have a nice little squad traveling together so it should be great. It all depends on when my visa is available. But this week, we're going on a field trip to the embassy with our district so I guess I'll know then. I wish our whole district was going to Spain because they're awesome and I'm gonna miss em. 

I made a great discovery this week. There's a 'creamery' here and it's pretty much heaven. So I can get all stocked up with snacks for the travel.

This Sunday, we got to watch the broadcast of the Q+A with Elder Soires. That was pretty cool and for the parts in other languages the translators are kinda funny, but it was fun. Then on Tuesday, we were thinking we might get to hear from President Nelson because he had just spoken at BYU across the road, but I guess it was not to be. But we got to see Steven W. Owen of the Young Men's Presidency. He talked about as missionaries we need to make sure we're not just giving a lesson that we have memorized, but really personalize it and help that person feel the love Christ has for them. One quote from him that I really liked was that "good leaders are always the best followers". I think that can apply to a lot of areas in our lives and it's definitely something to think about.

The MTC has been great so far and I can't wait to start in Spain. Y'all have a good one.

Past half way

Well, I've past my half way point in the Missionary Training Center which is pretty crazy to think about. Time has started to fly and it's hard to imagine being in Spain talking to people all the time in spanish in just a little bit. But it's pretty amazing how much Spanish I've learned so far. Pretty much all I've been able to say has been in present tense, but that's about to change so class could be a little interesting.

So believe it or not, it rains in Utah. It happened the first time this week and a decent amount. (Picture) Plus it's super weird to see snow up in the mountains just right there.

It's gonna be hard to separate from my district. (Other Picture) We have a ton of fun together in class, the dorms, in the gym or game field, but thankfully 8 of the 14 will be going to Spain Madrid so I'll probably see them. 

But this week, we had a class where our teacher took half outside the room for instruction and inside the classroom it got interesting. Two people were in wheeled chairs and decided to pretty much joust but pushed eachother apart with their legs and one of them ended up hitting the wall and a desk. One of the teachers downstairs came up and apparently we were making a ton of noise. Whoops.

So we have guest speakers every Tuesday. Sometimes it's one of the twelve apostles. So on Tuesday, we were at choir practice and they started moving us around because they were going to be broadcasting us to the other MTC's. Then when the meeting was about to start, they usually have a slideshow showing announcements and who's speaking, but that didn't happen either. This started some rumors of who was going to speak and it turned out to be to Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the twelve and his wife Lisa which was super cool. They spoke about missionary work (shocker) and Sister Stevenson had some really cool quotes:

"We wear Christ's name on our hearts" quite literally with a nametag and spiritually as representatives of Jesus Christ or in my case, Jesucristo.

Another thing she said was "Christ takes the slums out of people, but only the people can take themselves out of the slums."

One of my spanish teachers gave us a little lesson and in part of it he said: Christ can help us with so much, but it is completely up to us. During his earthly ministry, he taught people and many rejected him. He was the perfect missionary, but still he knows what it is like for someone to walk away.

My invitation this week would be to study a characteristic of Christ and try to work on it or simply find our something new about Him.

Daily Schedule

Wake up 6:30

Shower

7:30 breakfast

8:15 class

Spanish

Practice speaking with other students and other classes

Lunch 11:30

Study /exercise time

Dinner

More classes 

Bed

Today for preparation day they got up at 5:30 and arrived at laundry just in time to get their loads in and head to breakfast without a line. They got off to a good start. 

9-7-19 video chat

We visited with Caleb during a backyard picnic. A nice long visit. Spanish continues to be challenging. He said he loves listening to people speak it. Not feeling very comfortable speaking it himself, though. Nice to have companions with Spanish experience. And there will be 14 of them traveling to the mission together- strength in numbers. 

Where in the world?

Oh How Lovely

(was the morning)

This week for choir we sang Joseph Smith's first prayer. At least I think that's the name of the song, but it was so cool. The director wanted us to imagine that we were teaching the first vision to someone in a lesson (luckily, this lesson didn't have to be in Spanish) because that's pretty much what the song is. But it was very powerful and I'm excited to see what we'll sing this week.

As practice for missionary work, we get to teach a few people every week which is pretty nice, but this week I saw in the email for our lesson, 'you'll be teaching in Spanish' and I thought "oh boy, I didn't sign up for this". But it wasn't actually that bad. Thankfully my companion took 4 years of Spanish so at least he knew what he was doing, but I was just sitting there following along and adding things where I could. But then if they started telling us about something, they'd talk crazy fast and I'd be hanging on for dear life. But other than that I think our lessons have been good and Spanish gets better every day.

In our Tuesday devotional, this quote (or at least something similar) was shared.

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny."

The speaker talked about how we need to make sure we are conscious of the things we are doing in our lives and make sure that they are turning us into the people we need to be.

So in the cafeteria this week I ran into a missionary that was talking about his mission and I over heard that he's going to the Syarcuse New York mission. He's also speaking Spanish which is a little crazy so maybe he won't be serving in Sherburne at all, but I guess there's a chance. (His name is Elder Hyatt by the way). Elder Bell of the work crew also joined us in the MTC this week (the 8th one I've seen)

Oh, and apparently I have a blog now too. So if you want to view it here it is: https://larcharmission.blogspot.com (thanks mom)

That's all for the week I think, I might add some pictures.

Have a good one,

Elder Larchar

Second Saturday Calls

Elder Larchar reached Scott for a phone visit, and then he Hangout video chatted with Lydia, Isaac and Jenni. Josh missed it for a soccer tournament. 

When he smiled he was glowing with the Spirit! Beautiful! He still didn’t want to recite any Spanish for us, but he’s sure he knows 100 words by now. He thinks about how he knows these words he is learning in French already! The rule about early morning laundry only applied on that one day he tried. It changed back to 5:30. 

He called right before dinner again. The kids (especially Isaac) wanted to fill him in on their happenings (and mishaps- like Isaac falling down the stairs). He joined the MTC Choir - which has got to just be amazing! He is scheduled to leave for Madrid the week before General Conference, so he won’t be singing for that ...

Lovely Leche

Well hello everyone. Hope you all are having a wonderful day. I had some trouble sending last week so that email should also be out today if you didn't already get it. 

So this week we had a few devotionals and I love them. We have a devotional every Tuesday from a church leader. This week we got to hear from Gérald Caussé. He talked about being bold as missionaries. He went into depth on four characteristics. Namely humble, joyful, obedient and consecrated. But one thing that really made his talk for me was what he did at the end. He wanted to leave us with an example and not just a bunch of words. So after he was done speaking he played the piano. It was just beautiful and it's not every day that you hear a General Authority play the piano. 

We also got to hear a talk from Elder Bednar that was given on Christmas in the MTC one year. He speaks on the Charatcer of Christ and it's such a good talk. Plus I've heard it's on YouTube so I'd encourage you to go watch it. 

So the language is still a struggle, but I can now say a short prayer, somewhat teach a lesson (or at least chime in as my companion teaches the lesson), and testify a little bit. But it's pretty good for only one week of it.

So this week we had a little bit of a mishap. So we walked into our dorm room after exercise time on Wednesday and it thought it smelled a little weird. So I said (hesitantly because I thought it might have been one one of my room mates) "Does it smell weird to anybody else?" And they all agreed. So we started looking for the cause of the stench and I finally came across a brown paper bag. I peered inside and what did I see? Popcorn popping... No, it was the breakfast of my companion that he got on Saturday. And lucky for us, he decided to get milk that day. And that milk was still there and it was nice and curdled. A little bit of whey had leaked out as the milk expanded to. It was just lovely. And then when we threw it in the bathroom trash, the smell wafted through the whole dorm complex. What a day.

But the guys in my district and in my room all get along pretty well and all have the same class so all is well here in Provo and I will talk to you guys next week.

Love, Elder Larchar

First Saturday’s Letter

Well, I'm finally here and it pretty much feels normal. My name tag had a nice little red sticker that said "hey I'm new come say welcome to me" and with there being 3,000 missionaries here, there were many, many welcomes. We now have a set schedule each day with Spanish class, workshops, devotionals, meals, exercise and study time. So were pretty much busy all day. I'm in a room of four. We have me, Elder Brandt (my companion), Elder Boulter, and Elder Linerude. 

While I've been here for only three days, I've already met 5 elders from the Hill Cumorah Pageant Work Crew. My old companion Elder Rytting, Elders Nicholas, Bishop, Bean, Curby, and Hirschi.

So this morning we decided to get up at 5:30 to go do laundry and when we got there there was a person who said we can't do laundry before 6:30 so that was nice. But I guess this is a new rule; missionaries who have been here have been waking up early so I don't know.

So here we're broken up into districts, then zones, then branches. And our Branch President invited me to start reading the Book of Mormon here at the MTC from the very beginning and then mark anytime I see a reference to Christ. So this includes His name, something he said, or really any other connection. And I'd invite anyone willing to try it to join me.

We had a really cool lesson yesterday. We read the first 11 verses of 1 Nephi 1. The things being talked about in these verses are first, a prophet, then a prayer, a vision, Jesus Christ, and finally a book. Sound familiar? How about Joseph Smith's story? I thought it was super cool. This email was kinda brief, but it's only been three days and there will definitely be more to come.

Until next week, 

Elder Larchar

First Video Chat

We were on the road home from our westward trip when we received our first video call from Elder Larchar. It took a little work to take care of technical bugs, but we figured it out, and everyone enjoyed the connection. He was calling just before dinner from the room he shared with a few other elders- who were also calling home. He had learned a few Spanish words and been greeted by many missionaries. He was adjusting fine to his new world. He had already received his first MTC haircut. It was shorter that any he had requested at home!

Setting Apart

Elder Larchar was set apart in Smithfield, Utah where we could be joined by the Dawes family, Dennis & Beth, Beth Hansen, Elisa (& Paul). Before the setting apart the kids had a romp in a nearby creek and Caleb took his last solo walk for two years through the park.

First Letter

Elder Larchar’s first letter from the MTC:

So they wanted me to check in today just to let you know I made it from the van to the MTC. And everything is going pretty well. We just got things set up, ate dinner, and had some discussions as groups of like 60 missionaries with investigators. This is the biggest group they have gotten all year and it's 700 new missionaries. But as I was walking down the hall, I saw this picture shown below and thought it was kinda funny. It follows up with the word repentance, but it was still funny. My P day is Saturday so hopefully you'll get a hangouts call or something then, but y'all have fun.

Love, Elder Larchar

REPENTANCE

Provo Temple Parking Lot

Tyler ran from his apartment to meet us for goodbyes. He sure knew the place where this is done! There were so many families and friends gathered around their missionaries!

Many hugs, Tyler’s last minute advice about laundry, food and remembering the Priesthood power Caleb holds, and only a few tears.

Temple Square

We spent a couple days in SLC. Everyone enjoyed the Family History Museum where we could log onto our FamilySearch accounts and click into large tv screens for research activities. 

We went to the Temple Wednesday before sending Caleb off.  Josh and Lydia joined a baptismal session, Elisa and Isaac hiked to the library, and Scott, Caleb and Jenni did a session in the temple.

We met Rosemary Wixom (previous General Primary President) and her husband in the lobby. She said she noticed something special about our family and said she would be praying for us. 

wildlife

One of our favorite things about the trip was seeing wildlife. Elk in our campsite, black bear on the side of the road (you always knew there was something to pull over for because the cars would start lining up), elk taking over our picnic spot at Mammoth Hot Springs, borrowing binoculars to see a grizzly eating a bison, live bison (nursing baby) on the side of the road and more elk in our campsite. 

Westward Journey

On Saturday, August 10, 2019 the 6 of us began our westward journey to deliver Caleb to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. We made stops in Cleveland, Des Moines, Sioux City, The Badlands, Black Hills, Greybull WY, Cody, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Smithfield, SLC, Antelope Island, Lehi and Provo.