Venezuela Caracas

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Just a short note to see how everything is going. Also I thought I would forward this letter that Hermana Larsen wrote to our kids. You should be grateful that we all served in Venezuela. Here is the letter:

Many of the women are really beautiful and the children are darling. The "best of times" was our dinner at a resort hotel up in the mountains. Lunch up in the mountains in a different direction. The mountains were covered with vegetable farms and everything was so green. The restaurant was part of a Baptist complex with a hospital, orphanage, clinics, rest home schools etc.

An LDS doctor came down to teach some techniques and when they found out he was a Mormon they wouldn't allow him to do it because "he wasn't a Christian". One of the doctors instrumental in getting him there said, "It is too bad these people don't practice what they preach."

Anyway the food was clean and good. The Millers also had their maid make a Haitian dinner for us last night. It was very good, but I prefer the flavorings of the food in the Dominican Republic. Both days we went shopping for mementos.

"The Worst of Times" was [when] we ended up in some pretty sorry looking places. The roads off the main streets are not paved and it takes a 4-wheel drive to go over most of them. The building we went into today was filled with craftsmen selling there wares in cubicles and little trails winding through. It was hot and smelly, and the venders won't leave you alone. I knew a little bit what it would be like but it was worse than I had expected. I took it quite well and just tried to think how interesting it was.

The Butterfields were the other couple we went with, and she wanted to check every item she wanted in almost every cubicle. We were with her husband, Sister Miller and a missionary. Many of the venders knew Sister Miller as she shops there often with visitors.

The streets going there and back were a mass of humanity selling foods and wares. What a sad life and situation. There is no government support and no law enforcement.

They are very religious and know the Bible very well. The baptism rate has been very high and the retention rate is one of the best in the world.

Dean and I gave our talks at a fireside held in the early evening. We got to speak in English, which was almost impossible for Dean, and then they were translated by a missionary into Creole. It was a fun experience. There were over eighty young adults there and over forty of them wrote their name down to go on a mission sometime this next year.

President Miller's stories are incredible. I wish you could read the letters he has shared with family and friends. I have been reading them and can't wait for the next month’s edition.

Our flight over and back was very smooth even though we were in a small, eighteen-seat plane. I was especially glad to land today. I can now say "I have been there and done that". I can't tell you how grateful I am for the privilege of being born in the United States, to wonderful parents who helped me learn the gospel. I hope never to complain of anything ever again. Why have we been so blessed to have everything in this life to make us happy? I pray that we will live worthy of each and every blessing, privilege and opportunity we have had.

See you soon

President Larsen

Thanks to Matt Hirst for making this information available to the webmaster 05-24-2002.