Post #55

Hey everyone!!

Hope everyone's Valentine's Day was great! Ours was good--probably a little bit different, but still good! This week has been full of different funny things happening, neat spiritual experiences, and disappointments (as usual! hah)

Now that I am back in the Visitors' Center everyday I've been able to answer calls from Church Headquarters, chats from mormon.org and that kind of thing. They always bring interesting experiences--to say the least! But this week we had a really neat opportunity to talk to a couple named Rindy and Domingo from Missouri. They had just moved into a new city in Missouri and were looking for a new church to attend. They live really close to an LDS church building and said that they didn't want to pass the LDS church by for ignorance. So they had come to mormon.org to learn more. It was really cool to answer all the questions that they had and see how through the course of the conversation their opinions were changing. As we explained what the Book of Mormon was and how they could know for themselves they completely changed. They said, "Are you kidding? That makes so much sense. We had no idea--you have no idea how much our eyes were just opened." It's so incredible for me to be apart of this work, and to see how people react when they recognize the truth. It like sounds familiar to them. I love it.

Sister Aquino and I have been exercising our faith this week--our faith to drop :] Maybe some of you have heard of that. haha. We have a decent amount of investigators but they aren't progressing. And we don't have a ton of time to work in our area. So we dropped a decent amount of people. We called Carlos Thome on Saturday. He hasn't met with us in like two weeks because he always says he is too busy. So we called to pretty much drop him. We told him that if he wants to learn and know for himself, make these changes and everything that we are always here. And told him that he knows where church is and if he wants to do these things that he can show up at church. And he came yesterday!!! It was awesome. I think that as we dropped him he realized that he needs to act. So we are excited to work with him this week and help him progress.

In the Visitors' Center I have a huge stack of referrals that haven't been called, that I need to call. And everyone in the Visitors' Center has the goal to have contacted all their referrals by the time the Easter Pageant starts (oh and mom was asking about when we start prep for that--already started. The stage is up. The cast has been practicing since October!! but the stage went up about two weeks ago!). So as I was looking at my huge stack feeling a little bit overwhelmed, I prayed that at least one of these referrals would be in our area. We need new investigators! So with that new enthusiasm I began making calls! And Sunday morning I talked to a girl named Karla that said that she would be willing to receive the  missionaries--and lives in our area!!! She was actually a referral from one of my investigators in Liahona 4, Brenda. That had given the referral when we were at the VC for a lesson while I was still serving there. Superr cool! God answers prayers :] And we're going to visit Karla this week.

This past week Hermana Mendoza was sent home for medical reasons :[ Super hard. We were never companions, but she was trained by Sister Cottrell, and we lived in the same house for 2 transfers when we were both in Mesa Grande. She'd only been out 4 transfers but had a couple of seizures last week. So it's been super sad this week at the VC. And it caused a huge companion exchange mess for like 3 days. But it was fun because one night I got to go on exchanges with Sister Cottrell! We hadn't been companions since the MTC and it was fun to work together in the field.

Anyways it's been a good week. I love you all and hope that everyone is doing well.

Have a great week!!

Love

Hermana Larson 

Post #54

Hey Family--

How is everyone doing? Fun to hear that Chad is in Houston right now working on house stuff! I'm excited to see the masterpiece :]

This week has been full of changes--like most transfer weeks are! We spent the beginning of the week getting ready for transfers--getting Sister Valladares comfortable to train. She's a perfectionist, so we spent our spare time rearranging furniture and making everything perfectt! haha. Transfers came fast. And because we had so many missionaries coming in transfer meeting was crazy. It's always in a stake center right by the mission office and I thought they were going to have to open the overflow haha. Practically the entire mission was there. President Ellsworth talked a lot about trusting in the Lord and accepting his will.

I'm really just trying to get to know the area and the members as quickly as I can. This area has so much potential. So much. There are so many people to find--and we actually have a decent amount of investigators, but they aren't prepared. No one is progressing, no one comes to church. The area we have hasn't had anyone in church since November :/  It can be discouraging to be in an area like this, but I just know we need to work differently. It's not all about working HARD! It's about working smart. Not just being busy but being effective. So we are changing how we work. We're focusing more on working with members. One of the difficulties about the area is that only 3 families live in it. The ward has 6 missionaries in it and almost all the members live in the other areas. I went through the ward directory my 2nd day in the area and said okay--let's visit all the members in our area.... that didn't take very long.  Another difficulty we are facing is that we are spending even more time in the Visitors' Center. We are there 6 hours everyday. Add studies on top of that and it doesn't leave us very much. But I know that is my calling and as we do everything that lies in our power that God will make up for it.

I love all the changes in the Visitors' Center. At first I freaked out about not having time in my area--but then really realized that my calling is to the visitors' center. And we are all having so much more success on media. I finally have control of my investigators because I have time to plan and organize myself and make phone calls and follow up on referrals I've sent out and such. We will have growing pains in different ways as these changes are made into effect but I know that these changes are coming from Salt Lake and we will be blessed as we obey. I love being in the visitors' center and having the blessing of sharing the gospel in many different ways.

I love being Sister Aquino's companion. She works hard and we get along really well. Yesterday was her 22nd Birthday! Which was fun to be her companion and make it a special day for her. We decorated the apartment (the other set of sisters that we live with and I) and made her breakfast and just tried to make it special... but then just went about our day. So many things that are just not important as a missionary.

In the Mesa Stake we had stake conference yesterday! It was a great meeting. They talked a lot about the Christlike attribute of love. Loving others. Showing the love that we have for others. It was a great message for me as I really thought about the love that I have developed for the people here in Mesa. I am so grateful that I was called to serve here. The further I get into this the more I realize that God knows exactly what he is doing. I'm here for a reason. I love it.

I love you all!

Have a great week!

Love,

Holly

Post #53

February 4, 2013

Dear Family!!

I hope that things are going really well for you. Hard to believe that February is already here! We received transfer news on Saturday night and this upcoming transfer has tonsss of changes. But I'm excited for them. I've been transferred. I wasn't super surprised by it because I had a feeling Sister Valladares would be ready to train a new missionary :] She will be training a new missionary from Washington state that is learning Spanish. She'll be a great trainer. But because she is training... it means I am leaving the area. I'm really sad. This area is incredible. And I love our investigators so much. But I know that this is what the Lord wants me to do and I'm happy to just do what He wants. I'll be leaving the Liahona 4th ward and going to Liahona 3rd. It's a totally of 1.5 miles away! haha. That's about how transfers go when you are a VC Sister. My companion is Sister Aquino! She's from Mexico City and has been out for a little over 6 months. She's super cute and I already know her pretty well from working around her. I will be back working at the VC everyday. Which will be a change because I've been "full-field" since SEMPTEMBER. But it will be excited to be back. We received a lot of new changes from Salt Lake for how things run in the VC. This transfer the shifts change from having 3 shift of 9am-3pm, 3pm-6pm, and 6pm-9pm to only have two shifts a day, 9am-3pm and 3pm-9pm. Which means that we will always have 6 hours shifts. And I thought that that would mean we wouldn't have shifts every day but maybe have a day or two off a week... but no. We will still be there everyday. We will just have more time to work online and on the phones. At first I was like what. That leaves us NO time in our area! But after praying I remembered that this is my call. My call is to the Visitors' Center. And there is a reason we are having these changes. I'm just glad I'm not training. haha. Can you imagine 6 hours in the VC, 4 hours of studies... and like 1 or 2 hours in the area! How crazy. I suspect that as more missionaries come they will split the areas of VC Sisters to make them a lot smaller if we are going to be in the Visitors' Center so often. They have also put us on VC "teams" with 5 companionships on each "team" and we are ALWAYS on shift with those five companionships. It'll be interesting... but exciting. Because we had a lot of new sisters in the mission a lot of the sisters in the VC have been called to train "full field" sisters (like what I did with Sister Sanchez). Sister Valladares is actually the only Sister training in the VC. And we are on the same team so I'll see her all the time. This is all super complicated but hopefully some of it makes sense. Sister Cottrell is going full field this transfer. So funny. We haven't been in the VC together in forever. This transfer will only be five weeks.

This week was a great week working with our investigators. I love being full-field and having some much time in our areas. I suspect that I will finish the rest of my mission in the Visitors' Center. We have a lot of progressing investigators and it's excited to see people change. I'm nervous about Sister Valladares training and not having time to keep up with them! But I know that the Lord has done this for a reason and He will take care of them.

Haley's last day in the hospital was yesterday... today she is being sent to a rehab center in Chandler (not in the mission) so we won't be able to visit her anymore but we will still be able to call her and keep up with her. I love her so much and it's been absolutely incredible to see all the changes that have happened in her life. She has such a bright future.

Wow. So many things have happened. Our departure meeting at the VC this week was so sweet. I gave the legacy for Sister Sordes (like just talk about her and her mission) and the spirit was so strong. I have said bye to her life 5 times thinking it is the last time I'll see her and it breaks my heart each time. She was such an incredible companion and such a close friend. I can't believe she is going home. The VC will be so different without her. Also Sister McKenzie from Kenya and Sister Holladay from Utah are going home. Changes changes changes.

I hope all is well! I love you all so much! And I hope that each of you were able to watch the Joseph Smith movie. I know mom and dad did... but I didn't hear back from any of the rest of you...   :]

Love,

Sister Larson 

Post #52

January 28, 2013

Dear Family!

Sister Valladares and I have had a great week! We found a lot of prepared people and are excited to help them progress. We doubled our goal in finding new investigators which was really excited. We are a little disappointed that not very many of these new investigators came to church. It is such an important key indicator. It really helps us to see who is prepared and who is going to progress. We are going to focus a lot this week on helping our investigators get to church the next week. We're going to try doing some church tours like President Ellsworth suggested, and also have a lot of member present lessons because we know that as they meet members they will feel more comfortable in church.

It's been raining here like CRAZY. Which does not happen very often in Arizona. But it rained like three days without stopping! I liked it... but I have a car. We felt so bad for the elders in our ward that would show up to dinner each night SOAKED.

On Monday we went and contacted a referral we had named Omar. He's awesome. He's 23 and has actually been to an English ward 5 times. He just walked into a church because he was curious and wanted to know about it. He is from Mexico but really wants to learn English. In our second lesson we watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration at the Visitors' Center and it was so incredible! He felt the spirit so strong. He has always been really religious but he just had never heard of the restoration before. He said that this is exactly everything he's been looking for. It just makes sense to him. We set a baptismal date for February 16th. Then he met the bishop yesterday. It was a great conversation,

Bishop Rodriguez: "Hello, how are you?"

Omar: "Great thanks."

Bishop Rodriguez: "So you are investigating the church?"

Omar: "No. I'm not investigating...."

Bishop Rodriguez: (confused...) "uhh... oh so you are a member?"

Omar: "Well no. Not yet. But I'm getting baptized so that I can be a member. And so that I can be a missionary."

Bishop Rodriguez: "Oh! Wow! That's awesome!!"

It was awesome. haha. He is seriously so prepared and we are excited about it.

On a sadder note... our investigator, Morena, that has a baptismal date for this coming Saturday is MIA :[ We haven't talked to her in like 5 days. Her phone is like blocked (goes straight to voicemail). And when we go to her house her aunt and uncle (who she lives with) just say that she left with her mom and they don't know when she'll come back or where they went. (and they aren't super supportive and won't give us the phone number of her mom :[ ) And we've talked to all her friends that we know, who say that they haven't had contact with her either. So we are really worried but aren't sure what else we can do. Sister Valladares and I fasted together yesterday and are just praying that we'll be able to talk to her and know what is going on. There were times when we were borderline freaking out. But I know that if we just do everything we know how that everything will work out.

Haley is doing so awesome! Sister Ellsworth came to a lesson that we had with her and it was great for her to meet her! She is progressing so much. She was considering for a while moving back to Idaho with her mom after she got out of the hospital. That is what her mom really wants her to do. It's the easier decision because her mom would be able to pay for everything and she would have a place to live. But that is really not a good atmosphere for her. Staying here is scary because she doesn't have a place to live or anything. Apparently her mom is really good at convincing her to do things and talking her into it. But we are really happy because she has finally made the decision to go to a rehab center in Chandler when she gets out... and then move back here to Mesa :] We love her SO much. And we're sad that while she is in Chandler we won't get to visit her. (It's out of the mission) But we are hoping to have permission from President to still call her everyday. I'm not sure if she'll be allowed to have visitors (like other missionaries) while there but she needs to still have contact with someone. And then hopefully when she comes back to Mesa she'll be close enough that we can keep teaching her and help her to get baptized!

Last week I started reading the book "Our Heritage" that is part of the missionary library. I can't believe I've been our over a year and have never read it!!! It's so incredible all the stories that are in that book and all the trials that the early saints went though. Today I read about the Martyrdom of the Prophet. And I love in Doctrine and Covenants 135 when John Taylor recounts the events. And especially the verses in Ether that Hyrum was reading. It just is so perfect for what they were going through. I invite each of you this coming week (for FHE tonight or next Sunday) to watch the movie Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. This is the one that we watched with Omar this week. It's an incredible movie and each time I see it it strengthens my faith. Maybe some of you have a copy of it, but if not you can watch it online at this site:

http://www.mormonchannel.org/joseph?lang=eng

I hope each of you find the time to watch it... and I'm in missionary mode, so don't worry I'll follow up next week :] (We invite, They commit, We follow up! yayy for the 8 fundamentals!)

I truly know that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet. And that he really "did more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it." (D&C 135:3) It's an incredible privilege that we have to have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.

I'm doing so well. So happy with where I am at. I know that my mission has changed every aspect of who I am. I can't believe this Saturday we receive transfer news, AGAIN. It was a 7 week transfer and it still flew by! I honestly have no idea what to expect, but am up for anything. Whatever the Lord wants from me.

I love you all so much.

Love,

Sister Larson

Post #51

January 21, 2013

Hope that everything is going well!! this is going to be a little bit on the shorter side because I don't have a ton of time today!!

this has been such a great week. We got to go to the temple earlier than usual because the temple will be closing for two weeks for cleaning and maitenence and all of that! it was so wonderful to be inside of the temple! such a beautiful place to feel the spirit!

I spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday. this ward is interesting... they have the missionaries speak ALLL the time. but they aren't super missionary oriented. We're working on helping them out and really moving the work along here. I've really come to realize that the members are so important. SO important. They are how you find the people that are prepared... because they have had that contact. They are how you help your investigators feel welcome in the church... and have a desire to return. They are just so vital. And it is their duty. There are so many quotes from prophets about the duties of members to share the gospel. But most people don't get it. They think that we are just asking for help in our work--this is their work too. This is their duty, and because a lot of people don't know how to do it we are helping them :] I just hope to help people here. And I hope each of you are sharing the gospel with the people around you the best you can. And are always kind to investigators in church. And I hope that I can really be a good member missionary when the time comes for me to go home.

We were able to set a super sold baptismal date with Morena this week! She's super ready and super excited. She's getting baptized Feb 2nd at 7 pm :] She stood up in relief society and announced it. So cute. She came to a mission president's fireside we had last night that was so awesome. the spirit was so strong. Sister Valladares sang a version of "savior redeemer of my soul" in Spanish that was soo good. She has an awesome voice.

We were able to find a lot of new investigators this week--that are pretty solid. Like you can tell they are interested and want to make changes in their lives. It's really exciting and we feel really blessed. I just hope that we can help them to progress this upcoming week.

It's interesting being in award ward where I have served before... because some of my converts are there. Emanuel is in this ward and it's great to be able to see him again. He's having a hard time right now. He wants to do what is right but it is hard for him. He actually wants to go on a mission but just has a short little frame because he hits one year in march, but then turns 26 in july. The bishop told him that he needs to work things out financially because the ward can't support him :/ But he doesn't have papers... has no family in the united states. He doesn't know what to do. So we are working with him for him to just prepare himself spiritually. But I trust that if he does his part, the lord with work it out.

Well I need to get going. But I hope you are all doing so well :]

Love

Holly 

Post #50

January 14 2013

Good morning!

I hope that everyone has had a good week. I'm sure it's been pretty cold everywhere. It has been FREEZING HERE. So cold. And actually freezing. Like below freezing. haha. We don't pay attention much to degrees or anything (mostly because we don't really have access to that... ) but that is what everyone has been telling us. And in the mornings our car is covered in ice. I never really thought I would come to AZ and be so cold. But I'm grateful to at least have a car right now :] And I think also wearing a skirt all the time is a factor. It makes it colder than where you're wearing jeans!

Sister Valladares and I have had a good week. We had a mission-wide fast last week for the health of the mission and finding the elect. Both of which were perfect... because they are both things I've been having problems with! I got sick again! Sister Valladares was like really? Are you sure it's not in your mind? haha but I got a cough. Being sick on the mission is the worst because you want to work hard and you don't want to bring your companion down. And you super over analyze everything. Like is God okay that I'm taking a break right now? Should I push myself harder. It's good though to analyze where you are though. Sister Valladares and I have also really been trying to figure out how to find the elect in this area. I don't even know how to describe this area... there are so many people. SO many people. But from what I can see... there are tons of former investigators and not a ton of baptisms. It's not uncommon in this area to find 15 new investigators a week. But then they don't progress and we waste a lot of time trying to contact people that aren't really interested. I think we need to change our ways of finding. We both want to help this area so much. We are praying and fasting to know how we are supposed to find the prepared in this area--because I know that they are there. The family mission plan is a tool president has given us to work with the members better and assist them in their missionary efforts. It hasn't been used a ton in this ward so we have done it a couple times this week and have appointments set up with families for the upcoming week. And we are also trying to work better with the ward council. This ward didn't have a ward mission plan last year... so we are talking to the ward mission leader and the bishop to make it happen. Liahona 4th is a huge ward with huge potential. We should be baptizing every weekend. So that is the goal and we're working to make it happen.

One of our progressing investigators, Morena is doing awesome. We've asked her multiple times to be baptized with a particular date but she always says... can't I pick it? or I want to pray more about it. So we've kind of backed off a little bit, because we don't want to push her away. But we know she is so ready. At the very beginning of our lesson yesterday she said (with out us saying anything) I am going to get baptized either January 26th or February 2nd. So she is praying tonight and we'll set the date tomorrow. It's great working with her.

The less active family that we are working with, The Rascons, is such a good family. The kids are great... but the parents just don't quite get it. They just want us to come and teach their kids. And we are happy to be there and help their family, but it's the parents responsibility to teach their kids! We are planning to share D&C 68:28 with them tonight and be quite bold... because they aren't really getting it any other way. The husband sent his wife with the kids to church... but still hasn't come himself. They just want us to teach their kids so they can get baptized... but if the parents don't get involved the kids won't be able to keep the covenants they are making. I'm learning to be more bold... while still being loving. Because I get afraid of offending people. But I know I need to be more bold.

Towards the beginning of the week I lost my planner! I was like devastated. It was the first time that it had happened to me. A missionary's planner is like their life. EVERYTHING is written in their. So we backtracked our steps and tried to find it with no luck :[ Luckily I had been obedient the night before and had updated all of the potential investigators in the area book so I didn't really lose any information. But it was still a pain. I need to be more responsible and not lose things!

We had interviews with President Ellsworth last Wednesday. I love interviews. I know that they are super taxing on him (can you imagine over 200 missionaries and dealing with all their problems? haha plus ALL their investigators??) but I always feel so inspired coming out of them. We read Moses 1 together talking about our divine potential and how we are sons and daughters of God. It's a great chapter.

I'm so happy with Sister Valladares. She makes me want to be better. I've been a little sick this week so that has been hard. But she's been patient with me. I'm so far from perfect, but I hope I can just help this area and help her. This transfer is going by fast--even though we are full field and it is a 7 week transfer. It's going by fast. But we are finding new people and I'm learning so much.

So fun to hear from everyone and hear how they are doing. I love you all. I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Larson

Post #49

December 31, 2012

Hope everyone's Christmas was great! And Happy New Year! I will be bringing it in by working in the visitors' center and then going to bed by 11:30 :] Yayy for being obedient :]

I LOVED seeing all the pictures from the wedding. I'll look forward to seeing more... of the family :] But Julie and Ryan looked so great! Congratulations!

This week has been insane. Insane. Well So cool that I got to talk to some of the family. It was weird how it didn't really effect me very much. I guess it's a blessing from God. Or I'm just a lot more focused than I was 8 months ago. But I didn't really think about it very much before. Not really very much afterwards. It was great to talk to you. And even though I miss you guys so much... I don't feel homesick one bit. Actually the opposite. I am realizing I have like 5 months left and I never want to stop being a missionary. I love it so much! We had a miracle on Saturday!!! Juanita--the one that I taught in Mesa Grande from June until I left--was baptized!! A super huge miracle because she has been ready for so long. And I had set so many dates with her but she just didn't ever follow through. Right before I left a week and a half ago Sister Sanchez and I set the date of December 29th with her. And apparently even the morning of she wasn't sure. But she did it!!! And I'm so excited for her. I'm so proud of Sister Sanchez. I saw her at a sisters' activity this morning and she is doing so good. She's such a great missionary.

On Christmas Eve night I started getting a sore throat (I don't know if you remember me saying when we skyped that I wasn't feeling too good). Well it got worse as the days went on. And so there were like 3 nights at the VC when I didn't work the whole night--I just felt so sick. But it was actually really nice to have it be during the Christmas lights because we would work super hard in our area and then when we got to the VC I would crash--I couldn't do any more. But Sister Valladares could keep working and I didn't have to slow her down! But I'm starting to feel better now which is nice because I hate being sick as a missionary! Tonight is our last night in the VC. Tomorrow full-field starts and I'm so excited! I'll be full-field until the first week of February!

Christmas Day our entire zone went to President Castañeda's house which was super fun! The food was good and they had a cactus Christmas tree which was super fun to take pictures with! haha.

On Wednesday we got a call from President Ellsworth. He had a referral for us-a girl named Haley that was in a hospital in our area. She's English speaking but gave us permission to teach her because she wants sisters! And she is SO awesome. She's been like the highlight of our week (maybe the transfer :] ) She's been in the hospital for like a month and has a least 4 weeks left. She has a fungal infection in her heart? I'm not sure exactly but it's a pretty serious condition. But right now she is responding well to the treatments. She's 21. Doesn't have family in Arizona. Her mom lives in Idaho and has come down to visit her once since she's been in the hospital. But she's so sweet. And I love teaching her. She's always so excited when we come by because she doesn't have anyone else that visits her. And we're working with the local YSA ward and helping her to meet some of the girls from the RS there. It's just so incredible how God has blessed me with such a huge love for her. I don't know. The moment that I met her I just loved her so much. And I'm just so scared that when her four weeks are up they are going to send her to a rehab facility that is in Chandler (out of the mission!!)

Well I hope that everyone is doing so well! I love you all so much!

Have a great week!

Love

Holly