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Week #33

You are all so awesome. Thank you so much for all the love and the support that I recieve from each of you. I can feel of the prayers that are given in my behalf. THANK YOU.

 

This week has been incredible. Incredibly hard. But so incredible because I have learned so much from it. It was Hermana Sordes and I first FULL week together. We had set some pretty high goals because we were so excited to be working together and know that God has put some people in our paths. BUT. We didn't reach most of them. Saturday was a particularly hard day. We had 5 lessons set up and were planning to have 5 member present lessons. We also had the baptism of Lupe and Kandy that we had been planning all week in the evening. During our companion study in the morning, Lupe called us to tell us that Kandy had called him and told him that she didn't feel ready to be baptized. Apparently she had had a sleepover at a friends house the night before. The friend and her family were Jehovah's Witnesses and had talked to her telling her she was too young to know and shouldn't get baptized. But Lupe was still planning to be baptized. Kandy was going to be with her friends until two hours before the baptism. So we could really talk to her until then. So we went about our day... just praying so much that Kandy would recogonize how many times that she has felt the spirit and realize that she really is ready to make this covenant with God.  We had members with us for every single lesson as we went through the day.. which made it worse when EVERY SINGLE LESSON CANCELLED. It was so frustrating. I just felt like all of our investigators were flaking, which shows us that this really isn't something that is important to them. But then when we went to go visit Lupe and Kandy in their house--Kandy had a beautiful dress on and was getting ready for the baptism. And when we asked her how she was feeling she told us that she was going to get baptized and she thought that maybe she was just a litte bit nervous before. So we had a baptism :] Lupe is the one that has diabetes and has had a lot of problems with a huge wound he has on his foot. The doctors kept telling him that he shouldn't get it wet. So we got special permission from President Ellsworth to put a bag over his foot when he's baptized. But right beforehand Lupe told us that he didn't want to use the bag. He said "I have faith that God will protect it as I make this promise with God." It was such an awesome baptism. Sister Sordes and I sang "Teach me to walk in the light." Kandy doesn't understand Spanish very well so we sang the first verse in Spanish, the second in English, and then the third we alternated between the two every other phrase. Everyone loved it because it is so evident of our lives--Spanglish! When we got home that night we were exhausted... but we sat down together for about an hour and talked about how our week went. Even though we had had a baptism... we didn't reach very many of our goals and we were a little bit frustrated and didn't understand what we were doing wrong. It was such an incredible experience for me. We talked about everything we could improve on and everthing we need to change. We realized that even though we are obedient and we are good missionaries--we have so much to change and so much to improve. I love being Sister Sordes' companion. I am learning so much. And ever since that night we have been on fire :]

 

So much has happened this past week though. We had an incredible zone conference. I have so much respect for President Ellsworth. He is just such a perfect example of humility to me. He has so much power... but is very humble.

 

One day while we were working in the VC we were working at the front desk. It wasn't very busy when two men walked in. It was pretty obvious that niether were members of the church. And as it turns out... one of them was visiting from Benin (not sure if I spelled that right). A french speaking country in Africa. The other man spoke Spanish. It was one of the most incredible moments of my mission as Sister Sordes taught the restoration in French and right next to her I taught the restoration in Spanish. I felt the spirit so strong testify to me that this is missionary work. It was not a coincidence that we were at the front desk when those men walked in and we were able to teach them in their tongue.

 

I love you all so much and am so grateful I'm here to share the gospel. I love being here--even in the Arizona heat :]

 

Have an incredible week.

 

Love,

Sister Larson

Reply to:

Week #32

How is everyone doing? I hope that things are going well for everyone else... because I have had a super awesome week! We had transfers on Wednesday. It was sad to leave Sister Falcon because she has been such a good companion to me and has helped me in so many ways. But we have had 12 weeks together and it was time to move on. And I LOVE Sister Sordes. We already knew that we get along so well... but it's just so good to realize that we have fun and love each other, but we also work really hard together! We've only have 5 days together but I have already learned so incredibly much. She is so fantastic at talking to people in the streets and having everything be so natural. I still sometimes feel nervous and awkward sometimes approaching people and talking to them in the streets, and then transitioning to talking about the gospel with them. So that is something that I am going to work on a lot while we are companions... I want to feel completely comfortable talking to people in the streets in Spanish and just stating our purpose with them by the end of the transfer.

Well we thought that we would have the baptisms of Lupe and Kandy this past week but Lupe wasn't feeling completely confident with his foot (remember that he had a big wound in his foot? ) and everything. BUT he did have his interview this past Friday and he and Kandy both passed and are ready to go. They are so good. I love them so much and am so happy for them. We have printed up invitations for their baptism that are so cute. So that they can invite all of their friends to their baptism. We are going to make their baptisms a missionary experience and are hoping to have a lot of nonmembers there. The spirit is always so strong in baptisms that it is so awesome for nonmembers to be able to be there and to feel the spirit.

We had a great lesson at the Visitors' Center with two youth- Rodrigo and Edgar. They're brothers that are 14 and 11. They have both had a lot of contact with the church for the past 2 years. But their parents are not interested--we've tried teaching them a lot... but just aren't open to it. But they have no problem though with their kids being involved in the church. So they come to everything, church, youth activity, scout camp. Everything. And they have a ton of support from the ward. Our young men's president has really helped the young men to have a lot of unity. So I feel like they are ready to be baptized. With all the young men in the branch helping them I really feel that they will stay active. So we are planning to set a date with them this week. I'm excited for them, because I really feel that they can be examples for their family, for the rest of their younger siblings, and cousins and aunts and uncles (they all live very close and practically all of them are formers.)

On Sunday Sister Sordes and I spoke in Sacrament meeting. This was the third time that I have spoken here in the field and it has been so incredible to see how each time I feel more comfortable talking in front of people in spanish. I can see how drastically my Spanish has improved since my time with Sister Falcon. She helped me so much with that! I am still learning so much... and know that even once I get home I will still have things that I need to work on. But I feel that I am doing really well with my Spanish. I don't want to get complacent. But I do feel pretty comfortable talking to people about whatever (for the most part :] )

My trainer Sister McKee came to the visitors' center while I was on shift this week! It was so weird to see her not as a missionary! Her brother lives in Phoenix so she was in town visiting him and came in to see how everyone was doing! She's so fun and I miss her! But it was weird to realize that she's been home for over 3 months. And that things have changed a lot since then. It is really almost September?? Ah! I love you all so much and I hope that everything is going well!!

Love,
Hermana Larson

Reply to:

Week #31

How is everyone doing! I hope well!! This week has been a really good one with the ups and downs that always come :] Friday night Paola was baptized. We were running all over the place because we got out of the VC late, and we had to make copies of the program and just got stuff ready. So we got to the stake center 10 minutes before the baptism... and the only person there was our branch president who was filling the font up. We then got a call from Paola's mom saying that she was still at work because she had gotten a flat tire. So then our ward mission leader went to help her, and we had a different member go pick Paola up. Anyways... again it got started pretty late... but it happened :] In the meantime that we were all waiting at the chapel, one of our members, Hermana Garcia went to go use the bathroom. The bathroom doors are right by the back door and she saw a lady walking around in the parking lot opened the door to talk to her thinking that she was coming to the baptism but was lost. But it turns out that she wasn't a member, just walking around on a Friday night trying to find what time this church starts on Sunday so that she could come. It was an incredible miracle. There isn't a Spanish branch in that building, it's just that our building doesn't have a font. But she is a Spanish speaker that just happened to be walking around the outside of the stake center when a Spanish baptism was about to happen. So Hermana Garcia invited her to attend the baptism, and she did. Her name is Marlyn, and she is now our investigator!

Also this week we received transfer news!! Because Hermana Falcon is a trainer in the VC she found out transfer news on Friday. She has been asked to train Hermana Aquino, in a different area. Both of them are from Mexico and don't have drivers licenses. So Hermana Falcon has been asked to learn to drive! So that has been an adventure with me teaching her! I feel like I now understand what mom and dad went through driving with me when I was first learning... it's kind of scary!!! I feel like mom grabbing onto the handle on the side of the car haha. I found out on Saturday night that I'll be staying here in Mesa Grande, with Hermana Sordes coming to be my companion!! I'm very excited! She's the one from France that know Uncle Larry and Aunt Arlene! And we have worked together a lot in Liahona 4th and in the visitors' center. I think we are going to be able to work together really well and so I'm really excited. I feel like I have learned so much from Hermana Falcon because she is such an incredible missionary, and now I'm going to be able to take a little bit more of a lead and put everything into practice.

Last Tuesday we had the mission tour by Elder Aidukaitis and it was so incredible. He really beat down on us... but in a good way. He really showed us that we are not planning very well... and that is why we are not reaching our goals. He took a look at every single persons planner, and area book and was extremely straight forward and direct about how we are not doing what we need to do. So this past week we went through and weekly planned the way that he taught us we need to and it took us a good 5 hours to do it. It's extremely in depth and during weekly planning you fill in your planner for the next 9 days... every slot with what you are going to do to fulfill your goals. You do it in pencil because obviously in 9 days you are going to need to make some adjustments... but that is all daily planning is--making those adjustments. So it's been a big change. But I am excited to put all that we learned into practice and see the blessings that come from being obedient... and having a plan :]

Well I ought to get going! It's been a busy p-day already. I finally went to the eye doctor and got some new contacts. I've been needing to for a while. But it just eats up so much time!! I love you and hope all is well!!

Love,
Hermana Larson

Reply to:

Week #30

Hey everyone.

Well this week has maybe been the busiest and most eventful on my mission? It's hard to compare them all. But a lot of things have happened. Also we don't have a real preparation day this week because we were in the visitors' center from 9-3 this morning, and we have the mission tour tomorrow. So we are just trying to take the hours as they come. And we are running late today because a VERY prepared man came into the visitors' center just as we were leaving and we couldn't just leave him... so we were like 40 minutes late from that... so, hopefully, I can write about everything that has happened!

Well for the most exciting news; I don't remember what exactly I said last week because plans were still tentative and we weren't sure if people were going to be able to pass their interviews. But we had five investigators pass their interviews! So on Saturday night we had a baptismal service for Maribel, Evelin, Paola, Blanca and Victoria. Two women with their daughters. It was extremely hectic and stressful putting everything together, because I am my mother's daughter (love you mom :] ) and I just want everything to be nice, and I want everything planned.... but that is not the culture of the people I am working with and I am still learning to adjust to that! When we got to the church and were fitting them in the jumpsuits when Paola told us that she was on her period (she's 12) and wasn't comfortable getting baptized right now. We talked to her for a while and promised her that all would be okay if she trusted in God, but in the end she didn't want to. Which is totally understandable; We want it to be a good experience for her. So we had a baptismal service that started 20 minutes late (oops!) and it was incredible. Practically the entire branch was there and you could feel the love in the room so strong. I was on the side of the font with the moms while the daughters were baptized and it was a really sweet experience. Hermana Falcon and I sang "Where Love Is" in the children's hymnbook right before the baptisms (in Spanish of course haha). Afterwards the relief society had refreshments and the branch was able to get to know them a little better.

What else happened this week? H. Falcon had a zone leader conference, so I went on exchanges with Sister Dashjav from Mongolia for a day. She is such a sweet missionary. We had lunch at their apartment where she cooked me Mongolian food that was actually really delicious! (not that that's really surprising or anything!) Last preparation day we had a zone activity that was so fun. We split into two teams (junior companions versus senior companions) and played "minute it to win it" games that were completely random, but ended up being really fun. We had a zone training meeting on Thursday. The mission has switched from having zone conferences once a transfer to having zone training meetings once a month. President Ellsworth isn't present; It's just a meeting where the zone leaders give the training that the assistants gave them earlier that week. One of the trainings this week was about how to take control of lessons where the investigators are asking a lot of off topic questions and talking too much. Because we have an investigator that we have been teaching for about two months that does exactly this... the zone leaders asked if we would be the investigators for the practice. We tried to remember some of the hilarious questions that Lupe has asked us before... but when we got into the practice I couldn't stop myself from laughing and Sister Falcon had to take over. haha. The zone got a good laugh out of it and that's what matters, right?

Speaking of Lupe... he and his daughter Kandy are getting baptized this Saturday and I am so excited for them. I have grown to love them so much. It's been difficult to teach them because he loves to talk so much. But what was frustrating in the beginning I'm starting to love. He has changed so much from when we first started teaching them. And I know they are ready for this Saturday. He's been telling everyone about it!

On Saturday at the visitors' center a little bit of drama went down. To be honest I really don't know all that happened. There is a three some of Spanish sisters. One came out with me, one is in her last transfer, and one is in her first transfer. So they are training. I know that Hermana Aquino (the one who is in her first transfer) has been having a hard time. But the extent of it all I really don't know. But President came to the VC and did some interviews, and there was an emergency transfer. So now I am in a three some with Hermana Falcon and Hermana Aquino. I'm liking it though. Our bedroom is really small for three people so most of the time I feel like I'm in a tent (all nice and cozy :] ) but at the end of this transfer we are moving. Transfers are next week so I have no idea what is going to end up happening! But Hermana Aquino is really sweet and I enjoy having her a part of our companionship. She is from Mexico City as well... although she didn't know Hermana Falcon before the mission.

Hmm last things... our ward mission leader backed into our car while we were eating dinner with another family... so we had to fill out all of this paperwork even though we weren't even present! haha. On Friday there was a big event at the Mesa Temple that was on Good Morning America. A family had five children get married the same day. I think three daughters and two sons. It was really fun to hear about it all day. They rented an airplane hanger for the reception. What a hoot.

Bekka Fogle (one of my roommates from when I was living in Florida) moved out here to Mesa to do her student teaching and I ran into her while on  a shift at the VC! It was fun to see a familiar face and to hear that she is doing well!

Well I had better get going! Love you all and hope that all is well!

Love,
Hermana Larson

Reply to:

Week #29

Hello!

I hope that everyone is doing well. It is hard to believe that it is August! Schools here in Arizona are starting this week. Oh, and we are having a mission tour coming up next week! It is going to be August 14th and a member of the 70 is coming. I have forgotten his name at the current moment... it starts with an A. That's helpful I'm sure. He's the first one with all the pictures in the most recent general conference edition of the Ensign. haha. Oops. We are excited for the mission tour though. Should be great to have some training! 

This week our ward mission leader helped us so much. He's been really busy with work and hasn't been able to attend very many lessons with us. But our branch had a young men's camp out this week and he made a huge effort to get as many youth there as he could. And there were about 6 nonmembers there which is so exciting. We also had 12 investigators at church on Sunday--because our ward mission leader was so good about contacting them, and having members invite them to church. We weren't even at sacrament meeting because we were on shift at the VC, but our branch took good care of them! 

One of the nonmembers that went to the ward camp out was the son of a recent convert and one of our investigators. His name is Alberto and is such an awesome kid. He's fifteen and we had our first lesson with him last night. He had a really good experience at the camp out and during our lesson it became clear to us that he really doesn't know anything about God. He believes in God, but hasn't really ever been taught anything. But when we asked him if he wanted to learn more and grow closer to God and be able to say more firmly that he believes in Jesus Christ, he said yes. So we are really excited to teach him. We're excited that his dad will be able to bear testimony to him and talk about his conversion, and also that he can be an example to his mom and his mom can see the change it makes in his son. They are going to Mexico for two weeks from August 12-25, so we won't be able to make much progress while they are gone, but we are trying to do as much as we can while they are here!

We are hoping to have a couple of baptisms this coming Saturday. Blanca and her two daughters are going to be ready and we are excited. She has been ready for a long time but hasn't been able to quit smoking. But she is doing SO good and we are so excited for her to be baptized! We have a couple other people that have dates for this Saturday that are less firm... I don't know how else to say that haha. We are praying they happen but we aren't as certain with them.

Last night there was a mission president's fireside in English and we took an investigator, Lupe. He speaks English even better than he does Spanish, but insists on attending the Spanish branch. (It actually caused a little bit of drama with the English elders that cover our area. They kept passing by to see him and inviting him to the English ward. Lupe told us that he felt like he was in a tug of war and we had to get some leaders involved. haha) I think it is because he is a single dad of an 11 year old girl and wants the sisters to teach her and not elders. I'm not exactly sure of all his reasoning, but we teach them in English for the most part. But Lupe absolutely loved the fireside. He is so excited for the day when he can get up and share his story and testimony with other people. He is planning to be baptized on July 18th... and he's telling everyone about it!

This past week we had interviews with President Ellsworth. He is such an incredible mission president. I honestly don't know how he does it. We have over 200 missionaries in the mission, and somehow he remembers everything that I write about in my letters, and everything I say about our investigators. I've been struggling lately with feelings of inadequacy. Here in the mission there is a lot that is expected of you... you have to be exactly obedient and are constantly self-evaluating yourself, setting goals and looking for ways that we can improve--which is so good. That's something that everyone needs to be doing in their lives. If you aren't trying to improve and don't have goals, then you are probably aren't making any progress. But it's been hard for me to feel like I'm never quite there, and that I'm not good enough. That's sounds silly saying it like that, but it's how I've been feeling. But President Ellsworth helped me a lot to realize that we are never going to be perfect here, and that we need to just try our best... and be happy now. 

We also got to go to the temple and do a session this past Wednesday! It was pretty busy because it had just opened back up from the two weeks of maintenance they do every July! But was so good to go to the temple and feel the spirit and peace that is there! 

I love you all so much and I hope that everything is going well!! Be good :]

Love,
Sister Larson

Week #28

Well, I sent some pictures. Hopefully you get them. I feel like they were sent in some weird format again. But I don't know how to change it. And we use the computers at the Mesa Regional family history center... and the computers are kind of slow. So I don't have time to try and figure it out. Hopefully, Julie can decode it again if they don't go through right! haha. 


Well this week has gone by really fast. It's so hard to believe that it's time to write you guys again! So weird. This past week I hit 7 months out. Sometimes that really freaks me out! I told Sister Falcon (who only has 2.5 transfers left) and she was like it's going to fly by. You're practically done. And I was like NOOO! I still have to learn Spanish! haha. It's good though. 

Well, today is technically not even my p-day. The entire mission (except the VC sisters) have p-day on Monday. And so sometimes the mission schedules meetings for Tuesday. which is a problem when your p-day is Tuesday! But it's okay! We are taking a couple hours today, and then we'll take the rest of the time tomorrow. Sometimes we just take it when we can; which works just fine for me.

Funny story. Well not actually. But it's a story. We live in a house with some members. And we have our own little door... it's still on the front of the house. And we always park our car in the front of the house. So the car and the door to our room are fairly close,  both visible from street view. Well,  one night last week we were coming home, and I don't remember why but we had a lot of stuff to carry in the house, and I had a hard time unlocking the door and getting in. Well. Fast forward to the next morning when we are getting ready to go out for the day and I CAN'T FIND THE KEYS. Yeah.   After like 10 minutes of searching we discover that they are still in the door to the house (outside). The car could have been stolen SO easily. So. Yeah. We were very thankful to God that he protected them all night. And we said sorry for being so careless (oops!). 

We had two of our investigators (Evelin and Paola) go to girl's camp this week. Which was so awesome. I'm so glad they got to go because they had such an incredible experience. They were really nervous because they don't really know anyone or anything. But they both loved it and I'm so glad that they went! We have a young men campout coming up this weekend and should have 6 nonmembers going. (only two are our investigators... but we're hoping the others will become investigators! haha). School here starts next week. So hard to believe that's it is that time already. Well they start really early here... but even so. 

Well I need to get going! I love you all so much and hope that everything is going well!!

Have a good week!!

Love,
Hermana Larson